I feel bad for taking forever to update, but lately, I just haven't had much time to sit down and write. And when I do have ideas for this story, I don't have an opportunity to jot them down, which causes me to lose my train of thought. I'm thinking that I won't continue this story for too much longer, seeing as how I'm having a hard enough time getting only a few chapters out and I don't want to drag it on too long.
So here is the next chapter in my little Oliver story. I am so happy that Rookie Blue is back on, and I feel bad that Oliver is having a hard time readjusting to life back in his marriage. But I must admit that while watching it, I thought "But what about Emily?" Then realized, "Yeah, that's all just in my head."
Anyways, please review and let me know what you think. Getting reviews really motivates me to keep on writing and the few that I am getting are great, I just kind of wish that more of you would let me know what you're thinking.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Rookie Blue characters.
He sat back in his stool watching his best friend, his brother, of 15 years, opening up to a woman he clearly liked. Sam couldn't help but hold a grin on his face as he overheard Oliver and Emily talking and genuinely enjoying each others company. He listened to Oliver talk about how he had decided to become a police officer and how much he loved his job, most of the time. Sam heard Emily describe how she originally wanted to become a teacher but realized that she loved working with the children who needed a different approach to learning. He understood why Oliver liked Emily. In the short time that he was listening to them, Sam realized that Emily was sweet and sincere. And she was able to handle and play off of Oliver's sarcasm, which he knew Oliver would appreciate. Sam thought it was great how she became really interested when Oliver spoke about his daughters and asked how they were handling the whole seperation, which was a big deal considering that most people only ever asked Oliver how he was handling it. Sam also appreciated how easy going and independent Emily seemed, thinking it was great that she had hobbies and a life of her own. Since they had the kind of job where plans could be cancelled at the last minute, he figured that Emily would be able to handle disappointments like that if her and Oliver started dating.
Sam looked carefully at Emily and noticed the way that she was looking at Oliver. Her eyes bounced between watching Oliver's lips and eyes and when she did look into his eyes for more than a few seconds, she blushed and smiled, all while finding a way to fiddle with her hands. It was the same look he had seen on Andy's face before they started dating, which he always loved seeing. He smiled and looked away, feeling that Emily truly liked Oliver and could be a good match for him.
"How'd they meet?" Andy whispered, leaning in to Sam while keeping her eyes on Oliver and Emily. She had also been keeping a close eye on them and wondered what was going on.
Sam turned and looked at Oliver, assuming that was who Andy was asking about. Seeing as how they were laughing loudly at something, Sam didn't think it was necessary to answer Andy in a whisper. "She called in a complaint and then helped us identify a suspect," he recalled. "Then they just kept bumping into each other after that." Sam then felt a twinge of guilt about teasing Oliver about her.
"Huh," Andy laughed, feeling happy for Oliver. "It's funny, I'm not used to seeing him like this," she went on.
"Like what?" Sam asked.
"Just," she shook her head slightly and raised her hand in an "I don't know gesture," trying to find the right way to say it. "Just, so happy … and relaxed." Andy appreciated Oliver's sense of humor and could always count on him to lighhten the mood. However, after his separation from Zoe, he had seemed a little off and not his normal outgoing self. But tonight, he seemed different. Despite being excited around Emily, which was obvious as soon as Emily had sat down, Oliver also seemed at ease around her as well. Andy liked seeing the old Oliver return.
"You guys wanna grab a table?" Oliver turned and asked, feeling bad for ignoring Sam and Andy for the last 10 minutes while he was talking to Emily.
"Yeah, lead the way," Sam answered, shifting in his stool to stand up. He glanced over at Andy and raised his eyebrows, finding it curious that Oliver didn't want to keep Emily all to himself.
Emily slid off of her stool, grabbed her drink like the others did and waited for Oliver to step in front of her and take the lead. Once he did, she fell in behind and followed him towards the back of the bar, watching him say hello and shake hands with several people along the way who seemed happy to see him. She smiled, liking how friendly and outgoing Oliver was.
Since her friends had left, giving her an opportunity to speak with Oliver, she was really enjoying his company and was starting to relax a little. He had told her about his shopping trip with his girls and their plans to have dinner and a movie night the following night, and she filled him in on her week at work and her night out with her volleyball team. She liked how he beamed when he talked about his daughters and how much he looked forward to their time together. Emily got butterflies whenever he smiled a particular way, leaving him look carefree and so innocent. She was glad that Heather had pushed her into staying behind. It gave her a chance to get to know Oliver better without the added pressure of labelling it a date.
"This good?" Oliver asked, pointing towards an empty table in front of him.
Emily nodded then heard Sam agree from a step behind her. Oliver pulled out a chair for Emily with a smile then sat down in the one next to hers. Sam, following Oliver's lead, pulled out a chair for Andy beside Emily, receiving an odd look from her, who was not used to his chivalrous side. Sam shrugged and smirked at her look then sat down between Oliver and Andy.
"So Emily, you ever been to the Penny before? " Sam asked, feeling he owed it to Oliver to be friendly with her.
"No, this is my first time," Emily answered with a shake of her head. "My friend Janelle recommended it," she added with a smile, then blinked and looked over at Oliver, feeling grateful that she had decided to go out for a drink instead of heading home right after dinner.
"What do you think of it?" Sam added.
"I like it," she answered with a sincere smile. "Seems like a good group of people."
Oliver looked at Sam who was already staring back at him with a knowing grin. He raised his bottle up to Sam in a toast. "To good people," he cheered, clinking his bottle to Sam and then to Andy, knowing that the Penny was full of mostly police officers that night. Emily watched and felt a little out of the loop as they all wore proud smiles looking around the bar.
The next hour went by too quickly. Emily and Oliver talked about anything and everything that happened to come up, never once feeling an awkward pause in their conversation. Sam and Andy watched on and enjoyed seeing their brother so happy, liking that Emily was brining him out of his recent funk. They both felt a debt of gratitude to Oliver who was always there for them and believed that they right for each other, even if they didn't believe it themselves.
"Ollie!" a man shouted from behind Emily. She leaned forward, almost ducking at how loud he was and looked at Oliver as he stood up and hugged the man who called his name. Ollie, she thought. That's cute.
"Cooper, man, how are you?" Oliver asked with his arm still around the man's shoulders.
"Really good. Just got back from vacation. Start again in a few days," Cooper answered, looking over at Sam and Andy. "McNally. Swarek," he said cheerfully, leaning over the table and shaking their hands.
"Emily this is Shaun Cooper, one of the officers we work with. Cooper, this is Emily," Oliver introduced them, not wanting Emily to feel left out of anything.
She extended her hand and shook Coopers'. "Nice to meet you," Emily said, noticing how he tried to discreetly look over at Oliver before he answered that it was nice to meet her too.
Emily sat back and watched as Andy, Sam and Oliver visited with Cooper and had a laugh at some of the work related stories they told. Oliver, who was still standing, caught Emily's eye a few times and smiled at her, letting the eye contact linger, almost to the point where one of them felt the need to look away in embarrassment. He was having a really nice time with her and couldn't deny that the more time he spent with her the more he wanted to know about her. He was really looking forward to spending some time with her, without his friends around.
Cooper left a few minutes later, allowing Oliver to sit back down next to Emily. When he slid his chair in towards the table, his knee brushed up against Emily's. As a reflex, Emily flinched and pulled her leg away, but quickly replaced it and left it resting against Olivers. While still feeling the chills that burst through his body when Emily placed her leg back against his own, Oliver leaned forward and took a drink of his beer, peaking over at Emily who smiled back at him, feeling equally excited.
"Bathroom break?" Andy asked, looking over at Emily.
"Oh, um ... yeah," she answered in surprise, at first not knowing that Andy was talking to her.
"Don't talk about us too much," Sam lazily called out as Emily followed behind Andy, causing them both to laugh.
Not needing to actually use the washroom, Emily stood in front of a mirror while Andy chose a stall. She wiped away at a small smudge of mascara on her eyelid that she hoped wasn't too noticeable and dug in her purse for her Chapstick.
"He's a really good guy," Andy said as she came out of her stall.
"Sorry?" Emily said, not quite sure what Andy was saying.
"Oliver. He's a really good guy. Great guy actually," Andy clarified as she stepped closer to Emily at the sinks and washed her hands.
Emily smiled and looked down at the ground. "Yeah, I'm ... I'm starting to realize that," she answered fondly. It was obvious that he was a nice guy when they first met, but the more time she spent with him the more Emily realized that there were so many great qualities about him that she wanted to see more of.
Andy watched Emily and saw how her face lit up when she spoke about Oliver. She turned and leaned against the sink, crossing her arms.
"Look, I'm not trying to be all high school about this but ... I think Oliver really likes you, and I can see why," Andy tried to explain her feelings, making Emily smile. "You're really nice and he deserves to be with someone like you. And he deserves to be happy," she paused, thinking about how much confidence he had had in her and Sam's relationship. He was always there for them and she wanted to be there for him as well. "I don't know if you guys'll start dating or whatever, but just ... just be good to him okay? He's one of the good ones."
Emily was surprised. She was excited about hearing Andy's thoughts of Oliver liking her and about how she seemed to have approved of her. "I will," she answered, appreciating how Andy was looking out for Oliver.
Andy nodded deeply and pushed herself off of the sink. "Alright, let's go see if we can catch them talking about us."
They returned to the table and Andy accused the guys of talking about them while they were away, to which they both raised their arms and played innocent. Emily sat down next to Oliver and received a wide grin from him, making her smile as well. She was really starting to like that particular smile of his.
For the next hour or so, Emily and Oliver got lost in their own little world, getting brought back to reality by a throat clearing or question from Sam or Andy. They were having a great time talking and flirting with each other, both blaming the noise in the bar and wanting to hear the other better as their reason for moving in closer to each other. On more than one occasion, Emily found herself almost holding her breath when her and Oliver silently stared at one another. She wondered how she could be liking someone so much after just recently not wanting to run into him again.
"Wow, it's already one," Andy remarked, while looking at her cell phone.
Oliver raised his eyebrows, not expecting it to be that late. He had been having such a great time with Emily that he didn't even bother to look at the time. "Should we call it a night?" he asked, saving Emily to look at last. She gave a small smirk and nodded yes after Sam and Andy both agreed that they should head out.
Sam and Andy stood up first, while Emily slipped into her jacket. It quickly dawned on her that she wasn't sure how she was getting home. She nervously looked around then stood up, grabbing her purse from the arm of her chair. As she was about to step away from her chair, she felt a warm hand press gently on her lower back, causing her to straighten up. She turned her head and took in a quick, shallow breath when she saw Oliver step in closer to her with a faint smile. She smiled back, feeling him lightly pressed up against her arm, and felt her heart pounding, then walked over towards the entrance to the bar, telling herself to calm down and keep walking.
Oliver kept his hand on Emily's lower back until they reached the entrance to the Penny, when he pushed open the door and held it open for her. She stepped through, feeling a cold spot where his hand had just been, and followed in Sam and Andy's direction. She then remembered her conversation with Heather before she left and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, noticing a new text message. She opened it and read "Well?" Smiling, she quickly responded "Great!" then put her phone away.
"You guys need a ride?" Sam offered over his shoulder, while heading towards his truck.
Emily, believing that Oliver would accept the offer, adjusted her purse and took a step forward, getting ready to head to Sam's truck. Instead, she saw Oliver look back at her, then back and forth down the street and finally quickly up at the sky.
"You know what, Sammy," he started. "I think we're gonna walk," then paused. "If that's okay with you?" he added, looking back at Emily with raised eyebrows.
Emily pulled her head back and quickly nodded. "Yeah, that's ... that's fine," she answered, surprised by Oliver's suggestion.
"Alright I'll see you in a few days," Sam said to Oliver. "And Emily, it was nice seeing you again," he continued with a wave as he backed up closer to his truck.
"Yeah, you too," Emily answered, looking over at Andy giving Oliver a hug and whispering something to him while smiling at her.
"It was nice meeting you, Emily," Andy called out to her as she backed away from Oliver. She held a smile on her face that Emily knew was meant for her to remember their conversation in the washroom.
"Nice meeting you too, Andy," she answered with her own smile, feeling glad to have met Andy and be accepted by her. She looked over to see Oliver approaching her, who looked like he had been blushing.
Once he reached Emily's side, Oliver turned around and waved at Sam and Andy who were pulling out of their parking spot.
"Hope it's okay that we walk. Sam just lives in the opposite direction and I didn't want him backtracking," he quickly thought up, while really only suggesting they walk because he wanted to spend more time with Emily. "And I had a few drinks so I shouldn't be driving so I figured we could just walk since we live somewhat close to each other then I could get my truck tomorrow morning," Oliver rambled on, causing Emily to smile and let out a small laugh.
"Oliver," she cut in, looking up at him with a sweet grin. " I don't mind walking."
Please let me know what you think!