"Reservation for two under the name Benson" Olivia said as she stepped up to the maître de.
"Yes ma'am" She said glancing down at the reservation list and appearing to mark her name off the list. "Please give us ten minutes and your table will be ready. You may wait at the bar if you like.'
"Thank you" Olivia answered as she turned to Alex and begin to guide her to the bar "It will be about ten minutes before our table is ready and they will get us from here."
Alex nodded as she took a seat at the bar and smiled at how Olivia stepped close to her and turned her body where she could see everything. That simple action told Alex that Olivia was starting to return to normal. She was thrilled yet sad at the same time.
"Hey you ok?" Olivia asked noticing the change in Alex's eyes "If you would like to go elsewhere we can but I thought you would like it here."
"I am fine Olivia I just realized how well you are progressing in your treatments."
Olivia turned her head to the side with a questioning look on her face.
"Olivia for the first time since you have been injured you have positioned yourself so that you can see everything. Something you always did before the shooting and hadn't done since."
"Officer Survival." Olivia answered as if she was telling her the game score "Fin has been working with me on it. I have to be back in the game within the next month."
"Back in the game as in back to work?"
"Yeah my disability runs out and I have to get back to work so I can keep bringing in the money."
"Gather all your bills and I will take them to my accountant. He will handle everything from there and you can continue to stay out of work until you are hundred percent ready."
"I will not be a kept woman and you are already paying too much for me. I am eternally grateful for it and will forever be in your debt but I will not have you paying my bills."
"Too late detective." Alex said with a smile "I know how you feel about this so let's compromise. I refuse to accept any money for your medical expenses but I will happily work out a payment plan for your bills once you return to work. One month after you return to full duty we will negotiate a repayment plan."
Olivia was about to argue the point when the maitre de arrived and escorted them to their table. She had managed to get them a secluded table near the fire place. It offered them all the privacy they would need and yet offered Ramirez, who was sitting with a red head at a nearby table, full vision of them.
"What is good?" Alex asked as she picked up the menu and began to look it over.
"You haven't eaten here before?" Olivia asked shocked.
"No I haven't." Alex answered catching Olivia's eyes "I have been wanting too but being scared to leave your apartment and then having to eat alone in a restaurant like this is not my idea of a Friday night for me."
"The Pancetta wrapped pork loin and the roasted organic chicken is my favorite. Although I hear the spiced duck breast and braised octopus is outstanding as well."
"Exactly how many women have you brought here?" Alex asked suddenly wondering if this was a regular first date place for her and would she just be another notch on the bed post.
"Just one well now two" Olivia said reaching out and catching Alex's hand before she pulled away completely "The first one was my mother. She loved Scarpetta's and always wanted to eat here whenever we met for dinner."
"Oh Liv" Alex choked out feeling tears spring to her eyes "I'm sorry"
"Don't be." Olivia said trying to shrug it off even though it hurt her deeply "I have quite the reputation and I can see where you would misinterpret this."
"Order for me" Alex said squeezing Olivia's hand "You have been here before and know what I would like and not like."
"Alex?'
"I trust you order for me" Alex said closing her menu and smiling as the waiter approached.
Olivia took a second glance at Alex before turning her attention to the waiter. She ordered the roasted organic chicken for herself and the spiced duck breast for Alex. Once the waiter had left Alex continued to try and apologize to Olivia for her earlier action but Olivia kept brushing it off.
"Tell me about your mother?" Alex finally said after moments of silence. "I know she was a professor that taught English lit and apparently loved Scarpetta's and raised an amazing daughter entirely on her own."
"My mother was a falling down drunk up until the day she died. When she was sober she was a very loving and caring mother but when she was drunk that was a different story. When I was born abortion was still illegal and for some reason she refused to put me up for adoption. I had very little contact with my grandparents because they felt as if she had shamed the whole family being unwed and pregnant."
"She was raped." Alex stated shocked that they would feel like that.
"Back then it didn't matter. If you came up pregnant you married the father of the baby or whoever you were dating at the time. That was that. Tell me about your parents." Olivia said wanting to change the subject.
"What do you want to know? I had the Norman Rockwell photograph family, or so it appeared, growing up. My father was a high powered attorney and my mother was a house wife that looked the other way constantly. He was highly disappointed when his first and what ended up being his only child was a girl."
"They never had other children?"
"They tried and I would have had a sibling had my father not gotten mad at my mother and pushed her down a flight of stairs. Apparently asking my father to at least change shirts when he was with other women was unacceptable. He reminded her that he was the man of the house and could do as he pleased. She said something back to him so he shoved her down the flight of stairs. She was seven months pregnant."
"Alex I'm sorry."
"So was my mother. She delivered my brother still born later that night and had to have an emergency hysterectomy as well."
"Did he ever turn his anger on you?" Olivia asked suddenly hating a man that she had never met.
"There were a couple of times. Once being when he informed me that I was not only to date but I was too marry Trevor Langen as well. That was when I informed him that Trevor wasn't that lucky and I wasn't that desperate but his sister on the other hand was a different story. She had been very lucky several times and if I had my way she would continue to be lucky."
"You didn't?" Olivia said with slight laughter in her voice "You dated Trevor's sister?"
"I did for close to three years. Trevor, bless his heart, would always appear and escort me out on dates or so everyone thought. He would take me somewhere to meet his sister and then go do his thing. We would met back up in time for me to get home and he would escort me back home always being the perfect gentleman."
"Wow so Langen does have a heart or shall I say did." Olivia said shocked that Alex had known Trevor for as long as she had.
"He still does" Alex said feeling the need to defend the man that was her hero on more than one occasion "it's just hardened over the years."
"Why law were you wanting to follow in your father's footsteps since you were an only child?"
"No I was forced to become a lawyer. Since my father had no son's to follow in his shadow I was groomed for law school since age eight. Despite the fact that was the last thing I wanted to do I went along with it. I figured I could use my degree for good and help women like my mother, ironically to only to wind up being my mother years later."
"If you didn't want to be a lawyer what did you want to do?"
"Believe it or not I wanted to work in the medical field. I wanted to be a doctor specializing in pediatrics. What about you? Did you always want to be a cop?"
"Actually yes." Olivia answered leaning back so the waiter, who had arrived, could place their plates in front of them "I wanted to find the bastard who raped my mother." She said continuing once the waiter was gone "I wanted victims to know that not all cops were like the ass holes that investigated my mother's rape. I entered the hiring process toward the end of my junior year of college. Half way through my senior year I had completed everything and was set to enter the next academy class exactly three days after my graduation."
"Talk about jumping out of the pan and into the fire."
"You have no clue at all Alex" Olivia said laughing as they settled into a comfortable silence and began to eat their meal.