Chapter 3
Munch arrived at Olivia's door the next night, wearing black suit pants and a button down blue dress shirt with a sports coat to top it of. There was no way he was going to wear a tie, they cut of his airway, or so he claimed. He knocked on her door twice, trying not to seem nervous. He had told her to dress up for the occasion, because even though it was her idea to go out that night, he still wanted to choose where they went. Even so, when she answered the door in an elegant black dress, he gazed open mouthed for a second before remembering to give her the rose he had hidden behind his back. She accepted the rose and smiled shyly under his stare. "You look very handsome." She said, looking him up and down quickly.
Don't blush John, Don't blush
"Thanks," He said, waving of the compliment, he still wasn't used to someone actually thinking he looked okay, let alone even handsome, " But I bet I don't look half as good as you do right now."
Unlike Munch, Olivia allowed herself to blush, "So, John, you insisted you should pick where we're going. Can you tell me where your taking me?" She asked sweetly.
" I can," He began seriously, but then added with a playful twinkle in his eye Olivia had never seen before, "but I'm not going to." She rolled her eyes, which John chose to ignore. He grabbed her hand, and they both were comforted by the contact. "Lets go, Livvy."
Her eyebrow rose delicately, "Livvy? No one's ever called me that before." Munch waited a bit nervously for her opinion on it, so she continued with a small smile, "I like it." Munch nodded in satisfaction and kissed her quickly on the lips, then lead her to his car. He opened the door for her, which she had already come to expect and appreciate, and then got into the drivers side. Starting the engine, he turned to her and asked, "Do you like that Italian place down the road?" She nodded.
"Good, that's where I made reservations," He stated as he began to drive off. She rolled her eyes, which he chose to acknowledge this time with, "You know, they could get stuck like that." She was half way through rolling her eyes again when he wagged his finger at her, "Ah, ah, ah " He said in a disapproving and joking tone. This time she outright laughed.
Music to my ears, thought Munch dreamily. Then snapped himself out of it. Olivia smiled seductively at him. "Something distracting you, John?"
There she goes again with the flirting! His face flushed, though it definitely wasn't from embarrassment. Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
"Nothing's distracting me." He assured her half-heartedly as he pulled into the Parking lot of Dolce Vida. He stepped out of the car again, but this time Olivia got to the door before he did. She laughed at him standing there with his hand halfway toward the handle. "Don't you get tired of opening it every time?" She asked teasingly. He tried hard to fight the pink tinge rising to his cheeks.
Idiot, your not supposed to blush! He inwardly shouted at himself. He wasn't really sure why he shouldn't blush, maybe it was just a manly thing. He shrugged away his inner pondering and allowed Olivia to link her arm with his.
They entered the fairly crowded building, admiring the beautiful Tuscan style decor. Munch gave his name to the Matre'Di and they were seated in a fairly decent amount of time. When he picked up the menu he was slightly put off by the fact they had changed it so it was all in Italian since he last came. He was about to call the waiter for translation when he noticed Olivia skimming through the thick pages confidently. "You speak Italian?" He asked with mild surprise.
"Yeah," She responded, "I took it in college."
"Cool."
After a few moments of Olivia reading and him sitting there helplessly, Munch got her attention and gestured towards the menu, " A little help?" He asked sheepishly. She smiled at him and spent the next five minutes translating everything perfectly. Munch adored her well practiced Italian accent, and wondered how long it took her to perfect it. Within five minutes they had signaled the waiter, ( Munch got a funny look from half the restaurant when he yelled "Garsaunt ", and Olivia Had to remind him that that was a french thing. This time he didn't try to stop the embarrassed blush from flooding his cheeks, ) and ordered their food. They spent the thirty minutes before the food came engaging in basic small talk, but once they had started eating they became more comfortable about talking about more specific things. "Why did you become a cop?" Asked Olivia, wanting to know a little more about her date.
" I ended up stuck in the middle of a corner store robbery once when I was about thirteen, and saw someone almost get shot by one of the robbers. A bunch of police rushed in and cuffed them all, throwing them to the ground. I knew I wanted to be able to throw bad guys around too." He explained,
" That, and the gun's cool." He joked, "What about you?"
Olivia took a deep breath, " My mom was raped, and the jerk got away. Nine months later, I was born. I started off my career as a cop believing I would be able to catch the rapist," she gulped, " my father. As time went on I felt obligated to help others through the same thing my mom went through."
"I'm sorry." Said Munch sincerely, "It must have been tough growing up without a father, and knowing what he was."
"Thanks." She whispered.
They spent what seemed like forever in an uncomfortable silence. Munch glanced up at Olivia to see if she had cheered up, and once noticing the reminiscing and troubled look was off her face, asked with laughter in his voice, " So, was Finn and Stabler's reaction funny or what?"
Olivia threw her head back and laughed.
He always manages to lighten the mood, She thought with a smile.
They spent the rest of their dinner, including dessert, mocking their fellow detectives reactions, and also plotting how to scar them for life even more.
This time, Olivia allowed Munch to be his closet-gentlemanly self and pay for the meal. He drove her back to her place and walked her to the door. When she looked at her watch and noticed it was only nine o' clock she kissed him passionately before pulling away and asking, "Wanna come up and watch a movie...or something?" Based on her seductive smile, Munch had a feeling a movie wouldn't be their main activity that night. He nodded, and said is as sexy a voice as he could manage, which was pretty damn sexy in Olivia's opinion, "Sure, Livvie," and she pulled him through the door gently. They stood at the threshold, flush against each other, making out, and before they stumbled all the way down the hall, Munch took one of his roaming hands away from Olivia's body long enough to close the door behind them.
TBC