AN: Hi, hello. Not too much to say; sorry for the wait, hope you enjoy, read & review please, etc., etc. Another short chapter, but it's always so hard to find time to write during the school year. Thanks for reading.
Chapter 13 – A Midmorning Jog
Olivia regretted ever opening her mouth and complaining about the temperature of her office.
It seemed that after a few weeks of her complaining about the warmth of the small room, her boss had finally listened. But now, it seemed like the heating had been turned off completely. As a result, her office was an icebox. She sat at her desk now, her coat still on, trying to ignore the slowly spreading numbness of her fingertips.
It seems like it's impossible to focus on her work. She clicks her tongue and sets down her pen, deciding to sit on her hands to attempt to warm them. As she does this, and as she gives up on focusing on the stack of paperwork in front of her, she makes the mistake of letting her mind wander. And of course, her subconscious leads her to a memory she had been trying very hard not to dwell on.
The day after Thanksgiving.
Olivia looks around the room, with one last feeble attempt to distract herself, but fails in finding anything that her brain deems more important than the memory of Elliot's warm arms around her…
"There was never a reason for you to be jealous," she'd said.
That statement had seemed to spark something in Elliot. When his lips landed on hers he kissed her so deeply that her knees had nearly buckled beneath her. Elliot's arm around her back had provided a sufficient amount of support but she'd leaned into him anyways in a moment of girlish weakness. His grip on her waist had tightened as they kissed, and she'd inhaled sharply, giving Elliot an opportunity to deepen the kiss that he'd readily taken. At that point, Olivia had felt her head begin to spin; the only thing pulling her back to Earth was a soft tug in her navel that she hadn't felt for such a long time. Her hands, resting at the nape of his neck, moved on their own to pull him in closer. It had felt like there was no one else but them in the world.
Olivia shivers in her seat now – just a little. Her fingertips felt much warmer now, and she slipped them out from under her thighs and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to recall how nice it'd felt to be held so closely by Elliot.
With how, ahem, intensely she'd been feeling on that morning, had they not been interrupted when they were, Olivia may have further tested the limits of her relationship with Elliot. Of course, that meant that it was probably best that they had been forced to separate.
Elliot's free hand had slipped up to cradle her jaw. An involuntary sigh of satisfaction slipped from Olivia's mouth and she felt Elliot smile against her lips in response. Olivia was starting to crave more touch; her worries were the farthest they'd ever been from her mind. So, slowly, she slid one of her hands down and moved it to cover the one Elliot had on her lower back, guiding it up under the hem of her shirt to graze against her bare skin…
"Shit!" comes from a voice from the hallway. In a fraction of a second, Olivia's conscious comes back from wherever it had floated off to and she shoves Elliot off her roughly, her eyes flicking towards the entrance to the kitchen.
Maureen appears after a moment, half-hopping in and cradling her right foot. Her eyebrows raise in surprise when she sees Elliot and Olivia, and her cheeks flush. A sinking feeling had quickly appeared in Olivia's stomach, but it seemed that Maureen was focused on something else.
"Ah, sorry, Dad," she says slowly. "I stepped on a toy." It takes Olivia a few seconds to realize that the exclamation that had caused her to push Elliot away was a swear word. Anyway, there was no need for Maureen to apologize. Elliot was still staring at Olivia in a painstakingly intense way, catching his breath. Olivia doubted he'd even heard his daughter.
Her theory is confirmed when Elliot finally looks away from her and his eyes find Maureen, his brows raising in surprise.
"I don't usually say that," Maureen tries, but Elliot just shakes his head, looking a little confused.
"S'okay," he says. "You're up early." His tone on the second half of the statement makes it sound like he'd rather Maureen be asleep, at least to Olivia.
"I got hungry," Maureen explains, flicking her eyes over to Olivia as if asking why her father is acting so strangely. "Are there any rolls left over?"
"Here," Olivia says, stepping towards the kitchen table and away from Elliot, uncovering the basket that sat in the center. "I'm about to start on breakfast."
"Thanks, Liv," Maureen says, grabbing a roll. She glances back at her uncharacteristically silent father one more time before exiting the kitchen.
After she's gone, Olivia recovers the bread basket and exhales, letting some of her nerves leave her body. However, Elliot shifts to stand behind her, and lightly touches her waist, making every hair on her person stand up.
"You're not cooking breakfast," he says. "Not after last night, I can't let you do that."
"They have to eat, Elliot," Olivia says, her voice hushed. She clears her throat and tries to tell herself to get a grip. "It's really no problem."
"No," Elliot says, his voice firm. Olivia wished her heart would stop pounding. "I'll go pick up some food, okay?" Olivia nearly told him to stay. Nearly pulled him back into her to kiss him again. But instead, she just nodded and offered a small smile.
"Okay."
After that, Olivia hadn't gotten to spend any time with Elliot really or to muse over what had really occurred. While he was gone, she got the kids up and made sure everyone was ready. Then, once Elliot had gotten back, they'd all had a rather noisy breakfast. Eventually, Elliot just got up and told the kids that it was time to get out of Olivia's hair. After a quick clean up, he'd managed to usher his family out of the front door, only having time to give Olivia a quick hug and whisper: "I'll call you."
And that about brought Olivia to the present. Only Elliot hadn't called. And that had only been Friday she supposed, and it was only Tuesday now, but she had truthfully expected him to call that same night. But he hadn't, and now here she was replaying the scene from the kitchen in her head and wondering if Elliot had been a little too blasé about the whole thing. He had been, hadn't he? They had never done anything like what they had that Friday, and now he wasn't even in a rush to talk to her, which seemed out of character. She had expected to be doing the "avoiding the conversation" bit but it seemed like Elliot had decided not to even give her the chance.
She huffs to herself now, her pleasant mood from just a few moments ago melting into tentative insecurity. In any case, she doesn't feel any readier to work than she did when she started this entire internal musing and to top it all off, her chill had come back.
She glances around the room once more, her eyes landing on her workout bag, lone and forgotten in the corner. It had been a while since she'd gone for a run in the park. And it wasn't like she was any warmer than she'd be outside right now. A jog might even warm her up if she paced herself correctly.
Making her decision, she stands and shakes her legs a little to bring some feeling into them, then grabs her workout bag from the corner and heads into the bathroom to change.
It doesn't take Olivia very long to regret her decision. The cold air stings her lungs, and it seems like her gloves do little to guard her fingers against the cold. It almost seemed like her body had forgotten what it was like to work out. When she stops by a bench to take a break about 30 minutes in, her hands on her knees as she attempts to slow her breathing, she is somehow both sweating and chilly at the same time.
She doesn't get to take more than a couple of breaths before she hears someone call "Olivia!" is a gasping voice. As she looks up, she sees a blonde woman in athletic pants approaching. When the woman gets a little closer, Olivia manages to identify her.
"Alex, isn't it?" she asks, surprised. Alex nods, panting as she reaches Olivia. It takes her a few seconds to catch her breath before she responds.
"Yeah," she says, sucking in another breath. "I saw you run past about 5 minutes ago. If you hadn't stopped, I don't think I would have been able to catch you."
"You're flattering me," Olivia says, a small smile on her lips. "It's nice to see you."
"You too," Alex says, returning Olivia's smile. "Do you run over here often? I don't think I've seen you before."
"I haven't been out here in a while," Olivia admits. "I'm paying for it now of course."
"I heard running was good for stress," Alex says, pushing back a glove to check her watch. "But I think it's causing more than it relieves." Olivia chuckles and Alex smiles.
"I have to be back at the courthouse before 1," Alex continues. "Do you mind if I run with you for a few minutes though? It seems like keeping up with you would be a good pacer." Olivia lets out a small noise of surprise, but nods, smiling sheepishly.
"Sure," she says. "I don't mind at all."
After another 20 minutes, Olivia and Alex are both sufficiently tired. As they stretch out on a bench near the entrance to the park, Olivia gains the courage to ask Alex about Elliot.
"Hey, have you talked to Elliot at all?" she asks as she reaches for her toes, trying to sound as casual as possible.
"I haven't in the past week or so, but I haven't had to go by the precinct," Alex says. "Why do you ask?"
"No reason," Olivia says. When she leans up, she sees that Alex is looking at her expectantly, so she concedes. "I just hadn't heard from him in a couple of days."
"Oh," Alex says. After a moment she shrugs. "Have you tried calling him?"
"Um," Olivia says, her cheeks turning red. Luckily, this can be blamed on the cold air. She hadn't really considered just picking up the phone and calling Elliot herself. She didn't even know what she'd say. "No, I hadn't."
"Well, maybe try that," Alex says, but when Olivia looks at her, she looks amused.
"Yeah, maybe I should," Olivia mumbles, now embarrassed. There's a brief pause before she continues. "I'm going to go ahead and head back, but it was really nice to run into you-"
"Olivia, Elliot really likes you," Alex interjects, her tone soft. "I know he was worried about stepping on Brian's toes at the bar, but he wants to be with you. And I hope I'm not out of line, but I just though you should know. Whatever you decide to do."
He wants to be with you.
Olivia's mind leaves her body for just a moment as she remembers his lips on hers, wonders what would have happened if Maureen had just stayed in bed for a few more minutes. She can almost feel him lifting her onto the counter, gripping her waist…
"Olivia," Alex says, interrupting her thoughts. She looks a bit worried. "I didn't mean to overstep."
"No," Olivia says, smiling to reassure Alex. "You didn't. Thanks for letting me know."
"Oh," Alex says. "Okay then."
"And Brian and I...we aren't a thing anymore," Olivia adds, although she doesn't know why she finds this information necessary to include. But Alex smiles slightly, and Olivia feels that she understands.
"Alright," she says, glancing down at her watch briefly, her eyes widening when she sees the time. "Oh, I really need to get back. Thanks for letting me run with you. We should do it again sometime."
"Sure," Olivia says, surprising herself. "I'll call you."
"And Elliot," Alex prods, with what appears to be a sly grin on her face.
"And Elliot," Olivia confirms, nodding slightly. Alex smile widens as she waves a little, then turns and walks away. Olivia watches her for a little while, then takes a breath and begins her walk back to the office.
As she walks, Olivia tries to collect her thoughts as best she can. She's going to call Elliot when she gets back to the office, and even though there's only a slim chance he'll be able to pick up at this time of day, she wants to have her thoughts organized just in case he does.
I like you. I do. But with the kids, and with Kathy, it just doesn't seem like it would be a good idea for us to pursue anything romantic at the time…
Ugh. It was so formal, and it sounded rehearsed and fake, and honestly, the more she ran the words over in her mind, the less Olivia believed they were true. It seemed like the closer Olivia got to Elliot, the harder it was to care about why they might not work. He did something to her, made all of her senses run in overdrive. She wondered if she'd even be able to get two words out on the phone if he picked up.
As she steps into her building, she decides that it'll be best for her to take a quick shower in the locker room to calm her nerves, and then maybe by the time she comes back down to her office, she'll have thought of something better to say on the phone.
She walks through the lobby, going down the hallway and heading to her office to grab a change of clothes. But when she opens the door, she freezes as she sees Elliot, carefully removing takeout containers from a paper bag at her desk. Her breath catches in her throat, and she coughs, getting Elliot to turn around.
He smiles when he sees her, although he looks more nervous than usual. When he speaks, his voice shakes just a bit.
"I figured that if I asked you out to lunch, you'd find a way to say you couldn't, so I brought the lunch to you. I didn't know you'd be gone, though…"
"Elliot," Olivia interrupts because she feels herself getting caught up as he speaks. "I have to tell you something."
"Oh," he says, setting down the container in his hand. He steps in towards Olivia and she struggles to keep her breathing even. "Okay, what's up?"
"I," she tries, her voice cracking. She coughs again, forcing herself to focus. "I like you. I like you a lot–"
"Yeah?" Elliot says, his cheeks pink. A grin is slowly spreading across his face. "You like me?"
"You're such a kid," Olivia says, her own cheeks warming. "I'm trying to be serious."
"Wait," Elliot says. He seems less nervous now, that goofy grin lighting his face up. Slowly, he takes another step in, bringing him close enough to wrap an arm around Olivia's waist. Olivia's eyes nearly flutter close. She's slipping. "Olivia."
She looks up at him, and just like that, the rest of her statement flies from her head.
"Seriously," Elliot begins, and she nearly snorts. "I like you too. A lot."
"A lot?" Olivia muses, her eyes already flicking down from Elliot's eyes to his mouth.
"A lot," Elliot whispers, leaning down.
Olivia's lips meet his halfway.