Chapter Five
It was early when Mike woke up to the sensation of Daniel's day old stubble grazing the tender skin in the curve of his neck. His lover's mischievous lips fastened on that deviant spot, the one just under the hinge of his jaw causing Mike to let out a low throaty moan as his hand reached back and threaded through Daniel's mused hair.
He could feel the plains of Daniel's naked chest pressing against his back, his arousal pressing against just the right place as he slowly rocked his hips. Mike's head tipped back allowing Daniel's inquisitive mouth more access to his needy flesh.
"Don't stop." Mike uttered as his lover's skilled hands began to roam the contours of his body through the thin fabric of his t-shirt.
"Handsome, I'm just getting started." Daniel drawled, his breath ghosting in Mike's ear, sending a pinpricks of anticipation chasing up along the length of the detective's spine. He nipped that tender spot, the one that he knew drove Mike insane as his hand delved into his lover's clinging boxer shorts.
"So hard for me already." he whispered, thrusting slightly against Mike's taunt ass as he wrapped his long fingers around his sexy deteive's's leaking cock. "I love how I can do that to you."
The noise that Mike made, it was music to Daniel's ears as he began to slowly stroke his lover's throbbing member. Fuck, they'd only been apart five days and he could barely wait to get his hands on his boyfriend. His suit cases were still piled up by the door from when he'd let himself into Mike's apartment with the key his lover had given him. He'd managed to catch an earlier flight and the first person he'd wanted to see was Mike. Seeing his boyfriend wrapped up in those freshly laundered sheets of his...
It made him realize just how integral this man had become in his life. It didn't matter where he ended up, with all the places his job took him it was hard to find a place that felt like home. However whenever he was with Mike, where ever they were...
It felt like Daniel had found his place in the world.
Mike arched against him, his ragged breathing punctuated with husky groans as Daniel picked up the pace, his hand pumping his lover's demanding cock faster now. He tipped his hips just a little, biting down on the curve of Mike's shoulder as that delicious friction sent a thrill of heat through him.
"Come for me." he murmured against his lover's marked skin as Mike's entire body began to tense, his grip in Daniel's hair grew tight making Daniel moan out loud. "Show me how much you missed me."
His words tipped Mike over the edge, he thrust into Daniel's grasp, crying out his lover's name as the orgasm tore through his athletic form. Daniel continue to kiss him, his lips chasing over the curve of his lover's neck as Mike leaned back against him spent.
"Good morning sunshine." Daniel said quietly, that sexy smile crossing his worn features as he cuddled against Mike's blissful form. Mike settled into his lover's embrace, closing his eyes for a moment while he struggled to catch his breath.
"Love you." he mumbled, the back of his dark head coming to rest against Daniel's chest as he whispered.
"I love you too."
Liv's office had always been a safe haven for Jen. When the storms in their lives were at their very worst, the two of them would sit in here and right the wrongs of the world over a couple of sodas and snacks from the vending machine. There was a homely feel to the place, one that she knew was due to the person who was sitting directly across from her behind the large desk. There was a warmth that radiated from Liv, an empathy and a compassion that touched the lives of those around her. It made Jen want to be a better a better cop, a better person.
Liv gave her that sincere smile of hers as she leaned back in her chair, her whiskey colored eyes fixated on the younger detective.
"So it's been a couple of weeks since we last checked in with one another." Liv said openly. "I just wanted to sit down and catch up with how you were doing."
Her body language was friendly, amicable even, leaving Jen feeling completely at ease as Liv steered the conversation. She had known that this was coming, this would be the third chat they had had since Jen had returned to work three months ago. The monthly check ins had become mandatory after she had completely lost her shit during the Keisha Ozuna case. She'd ended up in Liv's office breaking down and bawling her eyes out for what seemed like hours as she recounted the violent, sickness she felt writhing around inside of her. She had meant the things she had said at the time about leaving SVU, about this job eating her up from the inside. She had barely been able eat, she hadn't been able to sleep because every time she closed her damn eyes she just kept seeing the images of those children, the ones that social services had let down, the ones like Keisha.
"Better." Jen concluded honestly. "Speaking to Doctor Lindstrom helped me deal with some of the trauma, we're still working through a lot of things but talking to him..." she trailed off for a second trying to select the right words. "...it's been helping me to move forward with my life."
"I'm glad you're continuing to see him." Olivia spoke genuinely, Jen could hear the veracity of it in her words as the other woman picked up a pen and began tap it lightly upon the desk. "I know how the job can take over your life, the toll it takes on a person."
"It started long before the Keisha case." Jen admitted to her Lieutenant, her gaze focusing on something distant, something Olivia couldn't see. "I was getting burned out and then we found Keisha and it was like something inside of me just snapped."
"I've been there." Olivia reminded her, her thoughts drifting back briefly to William Lewis before she turned her attention back to the woman in front of her. "It's important to keep something something for yourself, that you can go home, talk to someone you love and make sure that this job doesn't become your life."
"It gets easier each day." Jen told her Lieutenant, her tone resolute as she spoke. "Right now SVU is where I need to be."
Olivia looked up at her, her whisky colored eyes fixed upon Jen as she studied the other woman intently. In the four years that they had known each other Olivia thought she had gotten a fair measure of the younger detective. She had noticed the warning signs from the onset of the Keisha Ozuna case, the dark circles and snarling temper had just been the very beginning and it hadn't taken her long to realise that Jen had been traumatized by the events of that day.
It had been Jen that had cradled Keisha in her arms, talking to her in that low soothing way of hers as she supporting her malnourished body. Liv had called in the ambulance whilst Carisi had secured the rest of the trashed apartment but they'd found that dehydrated little girl far too late. At the hospital her organs had begun to shut down, one by one until she had slipped away into the night. There had been a vengeance in Jen after that, one that consumed her in a way that Olivia recognized in herself from when she had beaten William Lewis within an inch of his life with a steel bar. There was no doubt in her mind that if Jen had gotten anywhere near Janette Grayson, after they had discovered all of the other kids that social services had neglected she would have lost control.
She'd taken a couple of weeks leave after that. Liv had recommended the name of a therapist and with a little coercion she had finally taken the time to see him. Over the past few months Liv had started to see that lively, dedicated detective coming back and she was glad that Jen had changed her mind about transferring out of SVU.
"Well ok then." Olivia said with an earnest smile as her clasped hands came to rest upon the surface of her desk. "I'm glad you've decided to stick around."