Disclaimer: I own nothing
Hey all. Just a small one to get my muse back in the game. Went missing while I was having fun fishing. No real drama, just the morning after stuff through Olivia's POV.
Olivia groaned when the alarm went off at 5.45 the next morning. Tyler had set it as late as possible for them to make it to breakfast by 6. She really felt for Tate and Alex who would have been up at 5 or so. Tate needed a pay rise.
Throwing back the covers and smiling at Tyler's own groan she raced for the bathroom, shivering in the early morning chill. It took her just a couple of minutes to go about her toilet and strip out of the thin track pants and shirt she had used for pj's last night.
Hurrying back into the bedroom she played tag with a half dressed, semi asleep Tyler. Pulling on Wranglers, undershirt, t-shirt, check flannel shirt and a jumper. A pair of socks later and a brush of the hair and Tyler stepped out of the bathroom looking slightly more awake.
Together they headed downstairs to the mud room where hats, coats and boots were added to their outfit. Olivia remembered to grab some gloves Beau had given her last night to protect her hands, shoving them in a pocket. She looked at her cut, a scab had formed but it looked nasty and a little irritated. She would keep an eye on it.
Stepping outside her breath caught at the morning chill. Far out, she thought New York was still cold at this time of year. The air was crisp and white puffs formed in front of their faces as they walked. The sky was clear though, a beautiful red and yellow glow to the east rising over the plains, a few stars lingering to the west over the Mountains. She loved it here and she thanked her lucky stars her car had broken down.
Hand in hand they stepped into the Mess and realised they were one of the first ones to arrive, even though it was dead on 6. Olivia didn't blame anyone, yesterday had been a long day and besides it appeared even Tate had slept in as she was only now placing the bacon on the grill.
Sofia was helping Tate, looking after some sausages, Alex was working at the coffee machine, Judy was at the toaster and Hank was sitting at a table sipping his coffee while Rafe slept peacefully in his pram beside him.
Tyler moved to sit by her father while Olivia went over to speak to Alex, noticing the light smudges around her eyes.
"Hey" she sighed and Alex turned and offered her a tired smile
"Hey Liv, you look about how I feel" Alex teased and Olivia gave her a gentle shoulder bump
"Thanks." She looked at Tate who was now frantically cutting tomatoes while Sofia looked after the hotplate "Sleep in a bit?" she teased.
"Tate turned off the alarm and fell back asleep" Alex chuckled "Thank God for Sofia. She had gotten things started and sent Judy to wake us up. We got here 5 minutes before you did"
"Well it's not like everyone is on time, yesterday wore a lot of people out" Olivia shrugged and accepted her coffee mug from Alex, hissing in pain as the hot mug scalded her sore palm. Quick as a flash Alex grabbed her hand and taking the mug placed it aside while turning over her hand to examine the palm.
"What have you done?" she asked and inspected the cut, probing at the red inflamed site.
"Ow, Jesus Alex" Olivia hissed
"You should get that checked out" Alex told her concerned
"I'm putting antiseptic cream on it" Olivia told her "Yes Tyler knows and told me to get it seen to if it's not better by lunch" guessing what Alex's next question would be.
"Well I will be checking on it at lunch" Alex informed. "If it hasn't improved out of sight I will drag you to the Medical Centre myself"
"Yes mum" Olivia chuckled as Alex shot her a mock glare. Olivia smiled and gave her friend an impromptu hug, sighing when Alex returned it "Seriously, thanks for caring"
"Liv you're my best friend and sister" Alex scolded lightly "I will always care and worry. Iwant you around for a long time"
"Ditto" Olivia kissed her temple then pulled back and took her mug, leaving Alex to make more coffee.
Breakfast was ready by 6.15 and by then the majority of people had turned up. The last stragglers came in just in time. Olivia practically inhaled the breakfast. She loved that it was a big hardy breakfast, it should see them thru until lunch.
She kissed Tyler goodbye quickly, her lover was heading into town to meet the arson investigator to go through what had happened and show them to the farm. Olivia herself found herself in one of the farms giant trucks heading into town with Beau to buy new fencing products before they tackled the last of the fence that had been burnt.
As they drove along Olivia was very aware that Beau wanted to ask her something and was waiting patiently while wondering what it was about. She presumed it must be about her and Tyler. He had never said a word for or against them and she finally figured he was going to say his peace. When he did speak she was left slightly stunned at the topic.
"So Olivia" he paused "You know Sofia a bit right, I mean she was a crime reporter" he stopped again noticing her stare "What?"
"Sorry" Olivia grinned and relaxed "I could tell you wanted to say something but figured you were finally going to say your peace on your sister and I"
Beau snorted and rolled his eyes
"Yeah well I figured you knew if you hurt my sister there would be nowhere to hide, from me or the family" he grinned "But since you are so disgustingly and obviously in love that doesn't seem to be an issue" he chuckled and Olivia was glad for her dark skin which would hide the severity of her blush. Yeah they were pretty obvious.
"A ha, so Sofia?"
"I just want to make sure she's on the up and up" he stated trying to keep a neutral tone of voice and a straight face. It didn't work on Olivia at all. She wasn't a veteran cop for nothing.
"Bull shit" she gave him one of her best interrogation looks and had to bite back a smile when he squirmed uncomfortably. Poor Beau, he had better stick to ranching, he would make an incredibly bad criminal. He crumbled like an addict promised his next hit of crack.
"Ok, she seems nice. I was wondering what you knew about her situation?" he asked and she watched him bite his lip nervously.
"What situation would that be?" she asked with a raised brow, in full teasing mode. Beau sighed and shook his head.
"Olivia come on, I have never joined my family in teasing you, not even when you love sounds kept me up all night. Cut me some slack here" he pleaded.
"Well I can tell you she was a great reporter, always told the facts as they were. Alex liked her, would often give her interviews, so would Casey, another ADA we had" she elaborated when Beau shot her a questioning look. She sat back and contemplated "She always asked smart questions and if one got shot down she wouldn't push the issue. She was well respected."
"So she is a good reporter" Beau nodded "I got that or we wouldn't have let her on the Ranch" he paused again and she could see the wheels turning in his head as to whether he should ask his next line of questions. Olivia knew exactly what he wanted to know of course but was being deliberately obtuse. She wanted him to ask it.
"So" he finally stated "I noticed she wasn't wearing rings"
"Personal questions?" Olivia gave him a mock surprised look "What makes you think I know anything about that?"
"Olivia!" Beau groaned and Olivia sighed, suddenly serious.
"Let's just say she is single and Rafe won't know his sperm donor" she grumbled, her anger showing in her tone and the look on her face. Beau nodded and decided he would wait for any further questions. He didn't know a lot about Olivia, just enough to know that he had hit a bit of a personal sore spot and decided to leave well enough alone. Just as well as they were coming into the town outskirts.
5 minutes later they were pulling into the rear parking of the Hardware store. They jumped out together and headed in the back door to find someone to help them load their supplies. It would need a fork lift as it was too heavy to carry.
The owner of the store himself came up to them, offering Beau a few words of sympathy about the incident and hoping they found the culprit soon. Olivia just hoped they found some evidence in the ruins to point a finger at Ballantyne.
Beau hurried the man along, she was sure they would have stayed there all day talking otherwise. Soon they had several large strainer posts, some wire and some steel posts loaded in the back of the truck. Olivia was slightly amazed that they were able to book it all onto a Ranch account and they pulled out of the lot without a single cent swapping hands. That was extremely trusting. Not that she was worried that the Gates family would have any issue in paying.
She rose a questioning brow when Beau turned in the opposite direction to home. It turned into a scowl when he turned into the parking lot of the Medical centre.
"Beau" she growled and Beau smiled
"What? You think I am too male to notice that the gash on your hand is causing you grief and probably should have been looked at yesterday?" he asked then grinned "I can call Tyler"
"She has seen it" Olivia remained stubborn
"Yes, I bet she wanted you to get it seen to" Beau was just as stubborn
"Only if it hadn't healed by lunch"
Beau reached over quickly and snagged her wrist, turning her hand palm up, giving her a pointed look when she tried to curl her fingers and hissed in pain. Damn thing hurt like a son of a bitch.
"Olivia, if that isn't infected I will eat my hat. Get your ass out of the truck you big baby and let's get it seen to" he released her wrist and opening his door slid out of the cab.
"I am not a baby" she pouted as she opened the door and slid out too, following him into the centre rather dejectedly.
They fussed over her. Tsk tsked that she hadn't come in yesterday, gave her a shot, 3 stitches and some antibiotics. She was to come back in a week to get them out and to try not to over use the hand.
Olivia was muttering as she left the place and slammed her way back into the truck.
"Who is going to help you with the fence now wise guy?" she smirked at him and he shrugged
"You still have one good hand smart ass, don't think you are getting out of it that easy" he chuckled and she opened her mouth to reply, realised she had nothing to say and snapped it shut again. Beau couldn't help but laugh and she glared at him "Oooh, the silent treatment Liv. You're such a girl"
"I hope to hell Sofia makes your life miserable" she growled but effectively shut him up.