Chapter 9

Happy Hollidays Loves! Let's kick off the new year with more updates! Review if you like this direction... got a steamy chapter coming soon!

Walking into her bathroom, Olivia could still feel her nerves on fire.

"Too worked up, might as well work out." She mumbled as she spotted her neglected running shoes by her hamper in the corner.

It's been weeks since she hit the pavement with the latest cold front making it impossible to run without turning into an icicle by the time she got around the block, but it would be the perfect distraction. Last time she ran was after Sonya Paxton's funeral just a few weeks ago.

After a long set up to collaborate with a news station to catch perps, Olivia found herself working with Fin to catch the stalker of the host of the show. Before long, the stalker was discovered to be a serial killer tied the the tv show's host's past. The former ADA was tangled in their dark history, and was murdered while at an A.A. meeting. It shook Olivia hard, even keeping her from drinking lately. But it was when Elliot came back from Quantico that made it the toughest.

Seeing him right after discovering Paxton's body, Olivia briefly remembered him literally running to her, wrapping his body around her as if only he could be the only one in the world that would keep her standing.

And he was right.

Once they got back into Stabler and Benson mode, she instantly felt grounded again. Like he was her missing half. Only he could make her feel complete like that. And she knew she was that for him, even if he never spoke of it.

She shook the memory from her head as she scooped up her running shoes.

Changing into long thermal leggings and a running jacket, Olivia hoped this would be the distraction she needed so she could focus in the morning. Early in her career, she'd be able to hit the gym several times a week. Sure… She'd be able to out shoot any of the fellas on the squad, but her physical strength would never be questioned. Although not as muscular as her partner, she was able to keep up with any perp that dared to outrun her.

She only got two blocks in before she was warm enough to finish a full mile. By that time, her mind had pushed aside the vivid dreams that kept her up. It wasn't often Elliot was the focus of her subconscious, but it was even more rare he was trying to undress her. For a moment, she wondered if they'd actually talk about what happened at the club on the couch. Usually he'd chuck up any obvious flirtation while undercover as a part of the job, but they'd never talk about how natural it felt to release some of the tension. Even if it was just for 45 damn seconds.

Feeling more rejuvenated rather than tired, she walked up the stairs to her apartment as the sun started to come up. A warm shower will have to be quick if she wanted to beat Elliot to the precinct. May not leave much time to grab a coffee on the way in, but a small sacrifice to make to avoid Elliot staring at her coming into the squad room. The less awkwardness, the better.

Her bathroom was full of steam in no time, but she was on double time, knowing she had a few minutes to hit the road to get to work early.

She barely finished her shower when she heard a knock at the door. In such a rush, Olivia didn't even remember if she locked her door. Her dying phone, workout top and leggings where tossed by her bedroom door from earlier, but luckily she was nearly done in the bathroom when she heard the knocking a second time.

Assuming it was Elliot, Olivia threw on her camisole and finished zipping up her work slacks as she went to the door. But she was surprised when she swung open the door, it was a much taller guest.

"Good morning. I wanted to call, but you didn't return any of my texts last night."

Trevor said with two coffees and a bag of pastries in hand. He hoped if he had a bargaining tool, he'd be able to earn some time with her before she went into work.

"Oh, I didn't even charge my phone when I got home. My bad. Is that a donut from Joe's..?" She could smell the bag before she spotted it, waving Trevor inside.

"Yeah, I figured New York's best detective deserved a decent donut every now and then. Plus I have something of yours from last night. Where can I put this..?" He was looking for a table to set down the goodies so he could open the inside of his jacket.

They had a comfortable unspoken groove since their dance last night. Even though she was working, their moment on the dance floor sparked something in the detective that she hadn't felt in a while. Especially odd. with someone as unlikely as Trevor Langan.

Now Olivia wasn't sure if it was because she was because he caught her off guard during her morning rush, but something felt pleasant about having the lawyer in her home. Especially with food.

"Well, I'll never turn down a free donut, let me help." Olivia smiled as she moved the food to the kitchen island. She looked over at Trevor, curious at what he could have possibly came all the way over for.

He had been to her apartment to drop off paperwork from her arrest years ago, so it wasn't unusual he remembered where she lived. But she kicked herself for not responding to his text last night, finally hearing her phone beep again from the forgotten pile of her bedroom floor. Last night she had quickly passed out once she changed out of that dress, and didn't get a real proper shower to wake up, let alone put make up on yet.

Langan danced around the kitchen island as he laid down the coffees, clearing his throat.

"I, uh, wasn't sure if you could tell me if it was still working or not. I hate to say more than I should... well, um, you can tell me when it's safe to talk." He pulled out a folded up Manila folder from his jacket pocket and handed it to Olivia.

She gave it a curious look as she unwrapped it. He had put bubble wrap on the inside to keep it safe, but she finally saw it. Her borrowed earrings from last night. The tiny light was still blinking, so she turned to find a small indicator button to turn it off.

"There, that's enough recording for one night. I didn't realize I left them in the club. Thanks for bringing them all the way over!" Olivia said, putting the earrings back in their folder.

"Well I had a little time before my first briefing. Plus I wanted to apologize in person. I shouldn't have been so honest last night." The lawyer looked down as he spoke. Remembering sharing his Truth with the group was supposed to be part of the game. Not to get her in trouble at work.

Then a blush came across his face. "Primarily since it may be heard by your Captain."

She bit the inside of her lip, debating on what to say. She wasn't mad or angry with him, but Olivia didn't want him to feel embarrassed. Him sharing that story was oddly the nicest compliment she had been given in a long time. Instead, she shook her head and placed her hand over him to get his attention.

"Well luckily Morales owes me. Since it wasn't relevant to the investigation I'll see if that part can be left out of the records." she said assuring him.

"So does that mean I'll be seeing you around there again soon? I mean, if it's safe there..?"

"Umm, you know, it may be best to lay low for a bit. Just until this case is closed." Olivia gave his hand a single pat before pulling away. She didn't want to give too much about an open investigation, but Trevor picked up on that.

"Well I'm glad I got to actually talk with you last night. Even under the circumstance." His eyes finally looked into hers. She didn't notice how the blue played with the green specks when he smiled. He was surprisingly charming. Were his eyes always that handsome? She had to remind herself to take a breath.

Then she realized she was only partially dressed when she opened the door, and still needed to get ready for work. But they where distracted by a sudden ring.

Both of them reached for their cell phones at the same time.

"That's me. It's probably for the best, my briefing starts soon. Do you mind if I hit your bathroom while I take this?" Trevor said, glued to his tiny screen.

"Uh, yeah, it's through the bedroom. I need to get dressed for work."

"Yeah. Um, you have a.. well. Check your... " he was trying not to look down, but he motioned to her lower neck, "you may want to cover that."

Olivia looked down but didn't see anything.

She shot him an inquisitive look as she followed him to her bedroom, directing him to her bathroom. As he shut the door, answering his phone, she caught a glimpse in the mirror.

A love bite. Deep red, small, but still a noticeable contrast against her tanned skin. She could kill Elliot. She didn't even notice it earlier, but with the low scoop of her undershirt, Trevor could see it clearly.

Correction: She WILL kill Elliot.

So she shot him a text instead. He quickly called her back in response before she could decide on a top that may cover it up.

"Hey, why do I have to check my health insurance this early in the morning?" Elliot said in between breaths. He sounded winded.

"Because I have a little souvenir from last night that I haven't had since high school." She quickly said, trying not to be too loud since Trevor was still in her bathroom.

"Wait, are you okay, you sound funny."

She couldn't tell, but his voice was strained, like he was working out. But he usually hit the gym much earlier in the day. She didn't even want to think of any other activities that would have him breathless after their games last night.

"Yeah, I'm climbing the stairs. Your elevator is always slow."

"Oh, are you here? I'm not ready yet... I will just meet you downstairs El." She held the phone up with her shoulder as she looked between two blouses, trying to remember which was still clean. But she heard Trevor moving in the bathroom and instead decided to use the hallway mirror to put a swipe of concealer on her bruised neck.

"I can wait in the living room a bit, I'm already at your door." he knocked as he finished his sentence.

Olivia tossed her concealer and her phone down as she dropped her head, realizing Elliot was already there to take her to work and she was still indecent.

"You really didn't need to come all this way El. I could have met you in the squad room." She said as she opened the door. He brushed passed her, so she tried ushering him to stay in the living room as she tried to figure out how to sneak out Trevor without Elliot asking questions.

"Nah, it's really no biggie. Captain wants us to start at the hospital to talk with the vic's wife. I told him we had some holes to fill in the vic's timeline. Apparently bits of audio from last night wasn't very clear, so we'll need to walk Morales through it later too. Figured this would give us a little time to check intel." Elliot said, taking notice of the fresh coffee smell from the kitchen.

"Did you get Joe's without me?" He feigned being hurt as he grabbed one of the coffees and took a sip.

"Hey, that one was mine." She said, hoping that Trevor didn't already claim one for himself before it was swiped by her partner.

"Since when do you take your coffee this strong..? This would wake up the dead!" Elliot said as he curiously examined the cup, right as Olivia noticed it had the name "Trevor" handwritten across the other side of the beverage.

"I still need to get dressed, can you get my spare charger from the side table by the couch? My phone didn't get much juice last night." Olivia tried to corral him from snooping further. Already walking towards her room.

But as she tried to escape, Elliot's face dropped suddenly. His attention was caught by her bedroom door quickly opening, and a tall figure walking out as he tucked in his shirt.

"Hey, sorry we didn't get to finish, my briefing got moved up... oh, morning." Trevor was focused on getting his button down smoothed out before grabbing his jacket that was left on the kitchen island. Slightly humored that he'd obviously lost his coffee to the new guest.

Elliot hadn't even noticed the jacket laying in plain view earlier, but now was fully investigating the lawyer's every move. The detective definitely noticed the big grin on his face so early in the morning.

"Uh, am I interrupting something?" Elliot's eyes darted over to Olivia, who was trying avoid looking at either one of the guests.

"No, uh, no… actually I'm on my way out now. Olivia, I'll catch up with you another time." Trevor tried to quickly excuse himself.

She still looked down, but walked between the men to open the door. Even if it's extremely awkward, she could still be a gracious host.

The lawyer silently thanked her for walking him out, dropping his head to Olivia's ear to whisper "I liked the purple one, I left it on your pillow."

He simply nodded good bye to Elliot from his view over Olivia's shoulder, and gently closed the door behind himself.

"Oookay." Elliot said. His face still towards the door, but his eyebrows threaded together, trying to piece together the interaction that just happened.

Olivia knew she was blushing, feeling the heat of embarrassment flood her cheeks and chest. So she began to shrink away towards her bedroom to finish getting dressed instead of waiting for Elliot to ask the obvious. Which he did anyways.

He was on her heels as she walked down the hall, "So was he your hot date after the club?".

Elliot wasn't accusatory. Just curious. He did see Langan had texted her when she arrived at her building last night. But didn't think he'd be seeing the lawyer walk out of his partner's bedroom just hours later.

"What?" Olivia said, focused on finding her blouse. Her tone wasn't as much questioning as it was to let Elliot know he already knew the answer. But she didn't have time to think of a rebuttal as she tossed her top on. Trevor picked the darker of the two she was debating on earlier, leaving it wrapped around a note he scribbled before he left.

"So he just came by to, what? Give you fashion advice?" He kept his eyes on her as she quickly completed the buttons and looked for a jacket.

"And get me one hell of a good coffee. Now let me get dressed so we can go, El." She shooed him out of her room while she finished putting make up in her bag so they could head to the hospital.

In the car, Elliot tried not to bring it up again. He knew it wasn't any of his business if Langan had came by last night or just that morning. But it was still on his mind.

Elliot cleared his throat when trying not to glimpse over at his partner who was finishing putting on concealer under her eyes.

He's used to having a passenger in his car fix their makeup. His wife or one of his daughters where constantly multitasking with waiting between the action of traffic to apply mascara or lipgloss, so he knew when to drive careful.

But then she yawns. Again.

"Someone didn't get enough sleep last night."

He was fishing. But she wasn't biting.

She knew that shower didn't do enough to wake her up, but she wasn't too tired to roll her eyes.

He cleared his throat for the third time in two minutes.

"He didn't stay the night, El."

His jaw flexed as he clenched it. "Would it matter if he did?".

Olivia pauses for a beat, closing her concealer and mirror as she ignores Elliot's response.

They both looked onto the road, neither ready to fill the silence just yet.

Usually they could sit in silence, not needing small talk so early in the morning. But after last night, they needed to clear the air. Olivia could still feel the slight stubble burn along her neck. Although quick, just the thought of her partner's lips on her stirred something inside her that usually she'd be able to keep under control.

Quickly remembering why she brought her makeup bag with her that morning, Olivia flipped the sun visor down to open the mirror, double checking that the new bruise on her neck was carefully out of view.

"Was it that bad?" Elliot said, darting his eyes to the exposed passenger mirror. He was so distracted in her apartment earlier that he hadn't even looked for what she was trying to hide now under her blouse. A modesty habit he's trained his eyes over the last decade of having a female partner.

She pulled the neckline down just an inch more to show the deep red reflection that caught his eye.

He sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth. It was just a blur once he started kissing her neck last night, but he didn't know he had marked her. Briefly he thought about telling Kathy about his Dare, but he left out the details of the "games" when he came home late in the evening. Just simply said he didn't have "too much fun", but now regretted leaving out that detail.

His modest eyes failed to move from the mirror, now blatantly starring at every inch of her slightly exposed chest. He flickered his sights back to the road when his peripheral sensed her smiling. He was caught.

"So, did that qualify as your pass with Kathy?" Olivia broke Elliot out of his daze.

They both chuckle.

"She trusts you more than me, you know?" Elliot focused on the road as he hits the turn signal.

Olivia thinks… So he already told her about last night? He hadn't even told me what really happened. Well, past that apprently he had 'permission', whatever that meant. Interesting.

"Oh, so hickeys are the norm now Mr Vanilla?" Olivia smirked as she pulled up her collar and fixed her hair in the mirror.

"I'm sure that's fine after you going rouge as a pro." Elliot teased their last minute schtick during the Brushido case.

"What exactly did you tell Kathy about that night? She tried to ask how I ended up able to leave, yet you ended up with a bullet in the street..." she'd recalled the awkward phone call, saying she was simply in the area when the undercover gig went south.

"I told her you where my lady of the night, and the scumbags couldn't afford your fee, so they kicked you out. Which was true." He shrugged as he completed his turn towards the parking garage.

Olivia looked horrified, "Are you kidding me? She ignored my calls for months! I had to pry Maureen for ideas for Liz and Dicky's birthday gift… No wonder she avoided me at the twins' party..! She must have thought… thought that we where... or already had.." her words kept getting faster as she tried to wait for him to park so she could hit him.

He was already getting ready to block her animated hands. She always talked with her hands when she got too anxious or excited. He often wondered if his partner was Italian in a past life. But knew to place his hand on her knee to keep her grounded (and not connect her backhand to him while he was driving) but he miscalculated in the chaos, and landed higher on her thigh than he intended.

Her hands stopped at the surprise boldness. But she was still talking a mile a minute.

"Hey, hey, slow down. See this is why I don't like to lie. I hate when we're not on the same page."

Olivia just sat quiet, shaking her head.

Did he mean him and Kathy, or him and her..?