I must apologize for the very long delay in updates. I must confess that I have been having a bit of writers block lately or perhaps it's just life that has been getting in the way. Either way, here is the next chapter and I hope you all enjoy. I don't see myself continuing the story too much longer so I'll try to update soon.

And I must thank linda p for her PM that encouraged me to get my butt in gear and finish this chapter! Thank you!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Rookie Blue characters.

Oliver's chest began to pound as he looked up at Emily. He took in a deep breath and paused. "Uh, ab ... about how nervous I am to ask you out," he finally said, with a grin, like it was no big deal.

"What?" Emily practically giggled.

Oliver felt his stomach drop. He hadn't expected Emily to laugh at his confession and now he regretted what he had just admitted to her. Since they had met, Oliver felt that there was something very sincere about Emily and after bumping into her a few times he started to feel a real connection with her. He foolishly had thought that perhaps she felt it too, or at least hoped she had. Now, he wasn't so sure.

Then, just as he resolved to apologize and walk away, he saw it. He saw the way that her mouth nervously twitched into a smile and how her eyes quickly darted around, looking everywhere but at him, then finally locked onto his own with hesitation. He smiled as he watched Emily's eyelashes flutter and she bit on her bottom lip. He knew in that instant that she felt the connection too.

Oliver's smile deepened and he took a step closer, feeling confident by her reaction. "I, uh ... I've been meaning to ask you out for a while now. But, I wasn't sure if it would have been appropriate, or if you would have even wanted me to..."

"I wanted you to," Emily cut him off quickly. She wasn't sure where all of this was coming from but she was thrilled.

"Really?" Oliver asked, unable to stop his voice from going an octave higher than usual.

Emily smiled broadly and nodded, enjoying Oliver's reaction. She turned to her right when she heard someone clear their throat and realized that her drinks were still sitting on the bar. Emily grabbed two of them, and saw Oliver's hands reaching in for the remaining two. She looked over at him and smiled.

"Thanks."

Oliver accepted Emily's gratitude with a smile and waited for her to lead the way back to her table. She turned and headed towards the middle of the bar, weaving back and forth between the people in her way.

As they approached her table, Emily thought about what Oliver had just told her and hoped that he was being honest with her. She recalled the times that they had bumped into each other since they met and how Oliver had acted around her. He usually seemed happy to see her and, like herself, a little nervous. When she had overheard him speaking to Sam that day in the parking lot, she felt that it was completely out of character for him, or at least what she knew of him. Perhaps he was being honest with her when he told her that it had been a misunderstanding. After all, he did confess that he had been wanting to ask her out. She couldn't help but smile as she thought about the way that Oliver admitted that he liked her. She felt herself growing warm as she blushed and wondered if he would officially ask her out soon.

As Oliver followed behind Emily he debated over how to ask Emily out. The last time he had asked a woman out on a date he was in his early twenties, and he felt himself revert back to his old timid self. He couldn't believe that he was getting so nervous about asking Emily out. He dealt with stressful and sometimes life threatening situations on a daily basis with his job but here he was trying to psych himself up to ask out a woman. He wasn't sure if he should be sincere and honest or try to play it funny and cool.

They made it back to Emily's table and her friends looked up at them in surprise. Emily smiled at Heather, who she was sure recognized Oliver and remembered their conversation about him. Heather grinned then tucked in her bottom lip in an attempt to hide her smile.

"And who's this?" Janelle asked, as Emily had expected.

"This is Oliver," Emily answered while putting down the drinks and turning to grab the others from Oliver. She caught his eye while she took the drinks and mouthed "Sorry" to him before turning back to the table. "Oliver, this is Heather, Janelle, and Claire," she introduced as she pointed everyone out.

"Hi," they all answered in unison.

"Hello," Oliver chuckled. He then reached up and lightly grabbed Emily's arm, just above her elbow. "Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked quietly.

"Sure," Emily answered then turned to her friends. "I'll be right back," she said and received a wink from Janelle. Emily let out a small playful scoff and turned to follow Oliver who stepped back just a few paces to give them some privacy, from her friends at least.

As Emily stepped up to Oliver she could tell that he was nervous by the way he let out a deep breath and rubbed his hands together. When she reached him, Emily felt a wave of warmth run through her and was sure that she was blushing, being both nervous and excited about what Oliver was going to say. She took in a shallow breath and waited for Oliver to say something.

"So..." Oliver started in a quiet tone, then sniffed and rubbed his forefinger under his nose. "You think we could run into each other sometime on purpose?" he asked playfully, thinking about their previous meetings. He then squinted slightly and grimaced, thinking about how insincere that sounded and knew that Emily was a woman who deserved to be asked out properly. Oliver cleared his throat and tried again. "Would you like to have dinner with me, or maybe coffee?"

The smile that spread across Emily's lips actually started to hurt her cheeks. She knew that Oliver was about to ask her out but actually hearing him say the words made her really happy. She watched as Oliver waited for her to answer him, his eyebrows pulled up nervously. The lower than usual lighting in the bar really softened his eyes and Emily felt her stomach flutter as she looked into them.

"I'd love to," she finally said, then let out a small laugh when Oliver let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

"Great," he replied, feeling more at ease now that he got that out of the way.

They stood for a moment, awkwardly staring at each other, wondering what to do next when Oliver finally spoke up. "Did you want to join me for a drink or ..." he left the question open, allowing Emily to decide what she wanted to do. Oliver watched her look back quickly to her friends then turned back to him, enjoying the way that her hair swayed as she moved.

"Thank you, but I'm gonna head back to my friends. We're celebrating the end of our volleyball season," Emily explained, even though she would have loved to spend a bit more time with him. Later, she told herself then felt her stomach flip at the thought of going on a date with Oliver.

Although he would have loved to spend time with Emily that night, Oliver was glad that she opted to go back to her friends instead. He appreciated that she was close with her friends and didn't neglect them, especially since they had plans for the night. Every so often he needed some time with his brothers and he liked that Emily seemed to feel the same about her friends.

Oliver slowly nodded and gave her a playful smile. "I totally get that," he said, then looked over his shoulder back to where Sam was sitting. "Well, how about I give you a call. Say, Sunday?" he asked, knowing that he would be busy the next day with his girls.

"I'll talk to you on Sunday," Emily answered with a grin.

"Okay," Oliver said cheerfully, pushing his hands in his pockets and lifting his shoulders. He stood there for a few seconds, wondering if he should just walk away or shake her hand or wait for her to so something else.

"Have a good night," Emily said, lightly touching his arm, then turned away and headed back to her table. Oliver watched her walk away then let out a happy sigh while smiling. He turned back towards Sam, forgetting about using the washroom and walked back to sit at the bar.

Sam didn't say anything to Oliver when he returned. He had been watching Oliver and Emily the whole time they were talking and assumed that it went well by the smile on both of their faces when they walked away from each other. He looked over at Oliver and saw him take a drink from his beer. Sam had to hold back a laugh as he saw the way Oliver was grinning and had his eyes cast over at Emily's table.

"And who was that?" Janelle leaned in and asked Emily excitedly. She cocked her head to look over to where Oliver was sitting and noticed Sam sitting beside him. "And who is that!?" she added.

Emily followed Janelle's gaze and spotted Oliver and Sam sitting at the bar. Oliver was looking back at her and raised his beer to her and smiled, making Emily smile back. She turned to answer Janelle. "That was Oliver and that," she said, pointing her thumb towards the bar, "is Sam. They're police officers. They took my statement the night I saw those guys outside of my apartment," Emily explained, knowing that she had told Janelle about that night.

"Hmm, do you think they'll be coming over here at all," Janelle asked, not taking her eyes off of Sam.

Emily shook her head and smirked. "I doubt it," she answered, then looked over at Heather, who was smiling at her.

"What did he say?" Heather asked, wondering why Oliver had pulled Emily aside.

Emily tried to hide her big smile by looking down for a second, then licked her lips and looked back up at Heather. "He asked me out."

Heather almost jumped back in her chair, then leaned forward again to speak to Emily. "That's great," she said, remembering how excited Emily had been when she talked about Oliver.

At that moment Emily was glad that she hadn't told Heather about the "stalker" comment she overheard. If she had, she knew that Heather would be questioning her about whether it was a good idea to go out with him.

Oliver kept his gaze on Emily for quite some time after he sat down next to Sam. He figured Sam would be curious to know why he was ignoring him but he didn't care. He just couldn't take his eyes off of her. She frequently turned around and stole glances at him with a quick grin, which made Oliver smile and feel very flattered. He felt a little guilty knowing that she had thought that he was upset with her, thinking that she had been following him around. I'll have to explain to her what really happened, he thought, knowing that he really didn't clarify it during their brief conversation.

He finally looked away from Emily and turned to find Sam staring at him with an expectant look on his face. Oliver took a sip of his beer in an attempt to act like nothing had happened.

"Want to explain that?" Sam asked while still looking at Oliver. He had been watching him since he sat down and he hadn't taken his eyes off of Emily. He also had a big smirk on his face.

"Explain what?" Oliver turned and answered, not knowing what Sam meant.

Sam pointed at Oliver's mouth. "That," he said, referring to his smile. "You haven't stopped smiling since you sat down," he went on.

Oliver laughed. "What, now I'm not allowed to smile?" he joked.

"No, no, you can smile all you want, I'm just not used to seeing you with that kind of smile," Sam explained. He was having fun bugging Oliver, seeing as how he was the one who always teased him about Andy. He liked being on this end of the teasing.

Oliver gave in, knowing that Sam was about to tease him. "Oh, and what kind of smile do I have?" he asked, having a pretty good idea of what was coming next.

"The 'Gee golly, she sure is pretty' kind of smile," Sam answered with an innocent voice. "What happened with Emily?"

"Nothing," Oliver answered with a shrug. He waited a few seconds before continuing. "I just asked her out."

"Finally," Sam exclaimed, smacking Oliver on the back.

"Yeah, but look," Oliver began, feeling that he needed to explain to Sam about what Emily overheard. "She was under the impression that you thought she was talking me."

Sam squinted at Oliver, not knowing what he meant.

"She dropped off a letter for Sarah one day and walked by the lot and overheard you calling her my stalker. She was pretty convinced that we both felt that way," Oliver explained, feeling guilty again.

"Oh god, Ollie I'm sorry, you know I didn't mean anything by that comment..." Sam started.

"I know you didn't," Oliver cut him off. "But Emily did. And I'm going to try to explain it better to her what really happened, but from now on," he paused looking closely at Sam so he knew that he really meant what he was about to say, "No more of those comments, okay?"

Sam nodded and genuinely felt bad. "You got it," he answered then raised his beer to cheers Oliver, who gladly raised his own drink.

Over the next hour or so, Emily enjoyed her night out with her girlfriends. They continued to have a few more drinks and sang along with the music that was playing throughout the bar. Her friends were curious about Oliver and Emily described how they had met and kept running into each other, resulting in her little crush on him. They were happy for her and teased her a little when Emily told them that Oliver had asked her out. Janelle had tried to talk her into going over and chatting with Oliver again, but Emily refused. Even though he asked if she'd like to have a drink with him, she didn't want to push her luck and come on too strong with Oliver.

Another highlight of Emily's evening was sneaking glances over at Oliver who was sitting with Sam and a pretty brunette, who she assumed was Sam's girlfriend. Whenever Oliver caught her looking at him he would smile at her, making her blush and turned back to her friends. She felt a bit guilty at times, not being completely present with her friends but she couldn't help it. The idea of finally spending time with Oliver made her night out seem that much better.

Meanwhile, Oliver spent most of the night trying to stay focused on Sam and Andy. He was finding it difficult though, since they seemed to be in their own little world at times, and often found himself looking back towards Emily. He laughed when he caught her and her girlfriends singling along to the music playing within the Penny and liked that she had a bit of a goofy side, much like his own. He was guilty of belting out hair metal when a song inspired him on the radio and he chuckled at the thought of how often someone in custody would complain in the back seat, stating that he was torturing them.

His attention was caught and he became curious when he saw Emily stand up along with her girlfriends and made their way towards him and the entrance to the Penny. She was the first in line and was looking at him as they approached.

"Making it an early evening?" Oliver found himself asking as Emily got closer. It was only 11.

Emily nodded and tucked he hair behind her ear. "Yeah, we had a long day," she answered, even though she wasn't all that tired. It was Heather and Janelle who suggested they should head home.

"Hey Emily," Sam chimed in, surprising her.

"Oh. Hi," she answered, still feeling a little uncomfortable around Sam about his comment, even though Oliver cleared it up. "Nice to see you again," she added, not wanting to seem rude.

"You too. This is Andy," Sam went on, pointing over to Andy. "Andy, this is Emily. Oliver's friend," he added with a smirk that made Emily blush once again.

"Nice to meet you," Andy greeted her, finally getting a glimpse at the woman that Oliver was interested in.

"Nice to meet you, too," Emily said with a smile.

Emily went on to introduce her friends to Sam and Andy and they all exchanged pleasantries. As expected, Janelle offered her hand to Sam, eliciting a head shake and smile from Emily.

"You sure you don't have time for one more drink?" Oliver asked, feeling hopeful.

"We don't but Emily does," Heather cut in, before Emily could answer. She turned to Emily with a determined look and whispered, "You're not leaving yet," then turned back to look at Oliver. "Do you think you can get her home safely?" she asked, noticing Oliver's eyes growing wide.

"Yeah of course," he answered Heather, then shifted his attention to Emily. "If you wanted to stay," he added with raised eyebrows.

Emily couldn't really figure out what was happening. She looked back and forth between Oliver's hopeful gaze and Heather's determined one and gulped. "Um, sure," she said slowly then watched as Oliver smiled and pulled up a stool closer to him.

Heather pulled Emily closer and leaned in to her ear. "You're going to stay here and enjoy yourself. If you're not having a good time and need a ride, just call me, and Claire and I will come get you," she instructed.

"You sure?" Emily asked, appreciating Heather's encouragement and suggestion.

Heather didn't answer. Instead, she turned to Oliver, Sam and Andy. "It was nice to meet you guys," she said genuinely then nudged Janelle and Claire towards the door. "Have a good night," she added then looked back at Emily and gave her a quick wink.

Emily stood watching her friends leave the bar and wondered where Heather's boldness came from. She had never seen her take charge like that before and she was slightly baffled.

"Have a seat," she heard from beside her then turned and felt her heart pound when she saw Oliver gesturing to the stool next to him.