They left half past eight, Olivia having added his clothes to her suitcase and made them both lunch before they hit the road. If he'd had it his way he'd have driven straight through, not bothering with food or sleep til he got there; but he hadn't slept the night before, nor had he eaten, so when she asked him to pull over for dinner he obliged willingly. The only other time he stopped was for her to pee. The first time he'd pulled over on the side of the road and relieved himself before climbing back in the car and motioned for her to get out; though a look at her hard eyes and he'd sighed before taking her to a gas station.
"You going to Bemidji too?" she asked sitting across from him in the restaurant, knowing the thin line she walked when asking about his line of work.
"St Paul," he told her, his face all the answer she needed to know he wouldn't say more about it.
And so she waited until their waitress set their plates down, and he had food in his mouth, before she next spoke. "So we're stopping on the way there?"
He exhaled sharply before looking at her to find a soft look in her eye as she waited patiently for him to answer, and he paused a moment as he thought of how to respond. "I've been good."
"What?" she asked confused, that having been neither what she asked him nor what she'd expected.
Taking another bite he continued. "Idle conversation is pointless Liv," he told her blandly. "It's been a while, you can ask how I've been and I've been good."
"Okay," she said with knitted brows. "I've been good too, studying for my boards saving lives, nothing out of the ordinary. So are we stopping on the way there, cause I have to be at work on Monday morning and I'd like a full night's rest Sunday night?" she asked smiling softly when he turned back to her. "It's been a while, Lorne, you can ask how I am; idle conversation being pointless and all."
His mouth straightened in annoyance as he rolled his eyes. "Pay the check, I'm taking a piss," he said tossing her his wallet before standing, leaving her still smiling amused.
She held the old leather wallet he used when he wasn't 'working', wondering why he'd carelessly admitted he wanted to know how she'd been; but her answer came when she opened the wallet and pulled out a twenty for their meal and found a folded photograph. It surprised her at seeing it was a picture of her - her mouth was curled slightly and though the person she was looking at was torn out of the photo she knew she was smiling at him – he didn't like her being connected to him. She didn't know how long he'd had it, only from the ragged crease and the thinning edges he took it out often; and though it shouldn't, though she knew the man he was, she found herself touched at knowing he kept a little memento of her – until he came back to the table and she saw the slight curl of the side of his mouth as he put on his jacket. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," he answered.
She put the photograph back in his wallet before handing it to him, and letting him help her into her jacket when she stood. "The non-casual admitting you missed me, the photo in your wallet, you being quite nice to me," she said as they left the restaurant and walked to the car, where he held the door open for her to get in. "I'm not gonna like your job, am I?"
He smiled briefly before turning to her seriously. "No," he answered before turning back to the road.
With a sigh she settled back having figured she wouldn't, he was pleasant enough on any given day if not a bit irritating, but him being charming was never a good thing. "How long are you planning on driving for."
"St Paul," he told her, not needing to see her face to know she wasn't happy with that.
Nor was she, she'd have stopped in two hours at the most and found a hotel and finished the drive tomorrow; he planned to continue until they were where he wanted to be – something that shouldn't have surprised her – and that would put them getting there sometime after midnight. "You're a pain in the ass," she muttered before grabbing the blanket she'd put in the back seat and wrapping around herself.
"I can tell you mean that," he said at the feel of her head on his shoulder.
She nearly smiled when he took his hand from the steering wheel to sit his elbow on the armrest, knowing it was more comfortable for her; she knew it wasn't a thought to him, at least not anymore, he did little things for her all the time that barely crossed his mind. "One more question," she said looking up at him to see his irritated face as he sighed, "then I'll go to sleep." She waited until he turned to her and gave a short nod before looking back to the road, him knowing she'd ask no matter if he wanted her to or not. "After you drop me off in Bemidji are you planning on coming back when you finish your job or do I call when I'm ready to go home?"
"You're assuming that I plan to drive you home," he said without looking at her, knowing she'd read the answer on his face – she had the infuriating habit of being able to do that.
She considered calling him an ass again knowing he was being difficult for the sake of being difficult. "You're driving me there you're driving me back," she said having thought that was the plan; she thought he would pick up whatever he had to do, if it would take no more than a day like he was making it seem, and then drop her off at the hotel the hospital was paying for and then finish his job in time to take her back when she done.
But he only looked down at her and shrugged. "Then I guess I'll be back to drive you home," he told her smirking when she sat up to stare at him.
"Are you coming back?" she asked again, that having been what she'd wanted to know.
Again he only shrugged though now the corners of his mouth were curled in a smile. "You said one question, I answered it."
With a heavy sigh she sat back in her seat knowing he wouldn't answer without more from her, and she hated admitted her feelings; so after several minutes of silence she finally rolled her eyes and turned to him. "I want you to come back," she said bitterly, watching as he turned with raised brows – and even then she could see the amusement behind his perfectly innocent eyes. "I missed you."
He smiled before looking back to the road. "That's very sweet, Liv."
She rolled her eyes and lowered her seat to sleep. "I'll just ask you tomorrow," she mumbled moving the seatbelt behind her and pulling the blanket up to her chin. She was already half asleep when she felt his hand on her leg; he didn't pat her, didn't rub his thumb soothingly, he simply sat with a hand on her leg, just touching her. And she wondered as she drifted off to sleep if he possibly had missed her, and he certainly would never admit it – at least not using anything more than the gesture he used now, which was nothing more than a hand on her leg.
…
"Hello Mr. Johnson, I'm Dr. Anderson, I see you came in for abdominal pain," Olivia said looking up from the chart to see her patient. He was an interesting looking man to say in the least: mid fifties as the chart had said, six foot and underweight which she could see in his slim shoulders, and his hair – it literally looked like someone put a bowl on his head and cut straight across.
He looked her over briefly before turning back to her eyes, seeing she was looking through his chart again. "You look very familiar," he said calling her attention to him.
She looked at him closer wondering if he'd come in before, if he was having chronic abdominal pain she might have seen him sometime at the hospital. "Have we met?" she asked when she found nothing about him familiar, and with that haircut and his incredibly dark eyes, she knew she'd remember him.
The corner of his mouth curled knowing she hadn't noticed him that night, and he'd caught her license plate number and followed her back to Baltimore. "Throw any chairs at a pharmacist recently?" he asked, his smirk spreading into a smile when she pressed her lips together and turned to the counter behind her.
"I got reprimanded for that," she told him as she pulled on a pair of gloves. "It was reckless and an endangerment, and he was only doing his stupid job," she said turning back to him. "Can you lie back for me Mr. Johnson?"
He did as she asked and waited as she pulled up his shirt, watching her face closely as she caught sight of the bloody bandage on his side. "How did you get this?" she asked per protocol, realizing now the darkness in his eyes reminded her of danger.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you," he told her seriously though he kept his face pleasant.
Her brow rose irritably as she stared down at him with hard eyes. "And why is that?"
He offered a charming smile as he looked up at her, glad to see the fire in her that had been there in the pharmacy. "Because then you'll report it and I can't have that, and I'd hate to have to restrain you."
She stared open mouthed at the nerve he had coming here with a knife wound and refusing to give any sort of statement. There was protocol for this, she was to excuse herself and get security, but something in his eyes kept her feet where they were – and he didn't even seem to blink as his eyes continued staring hard into her own. "So you found yourself in another state and just so happened to come to this very hospital? That's quite the coincidence."
"That it is," he said with an easy smile, his eyes almost daring her.
She released a heavy breath and rolled her eyes already done with him. "Why don't you just tell me what it is you want," she said ready to stitch him up and send him on his way.
"You're going to give me stitches and then write on your chart I ate something that hadn't agreed with me, prescribe me something and then tell me to leave," he said as though it were that simple.
"Oh is that all?" she asked sarcastically before moving back to the counter and looking for the sutures in one of the drawers. She returned with the surgical thread and needle, and a gauze pad damp with hydrogen peroxide; she didn't bother numbing the wound, he didn't deserve it and she was now feeling particularly spiteful considering she could lose her job – yet even still, something in his dark eyes kept her from testing him. He didn't scare her, he stilled her.
He grit teeth at the feel of her fingers pushing down on the area around where he'd been stabbed. "What are you doing?" he asked when she stepped away and made for the door.
She turned to him with a stern face. "Don't make me sedate you," she warned him before leaving the room and returning with an ultrasound. "You were stabbed in the abdomen, do you know how many organs could have been lacerated," she grumbled as she quickly looked him over. "And somehow it managed to hit nothing," she said seeing he'd been stabbed far enough from his midline that it only tore through skin. Feeling no guilt she cleaned the wound with the peroxide hearing him release a hot breath before she began stitching him – stealing a glance at his face to find him laying back with his jaw clenched and his eyes still staring at her. "Come back in a week and a half and I'll take them out, request me specifically cause I'm saying you have kidney stones," she told him before throwing out the gauze and her gloves and grabbing his chart. At the feeling of his eyes on her face she turned to find him staring at her amused as he reached for his coat.
"Have a nice day, Dr. Anderson," he told her, stepping close enough to her she had to look up at him to see his face before he walked around her and out of the door. He left her staring after him shocked at the heat in his dark eyes, her mouth opening as though to speak but no words to give.
…
It was well after one before they reached St. Paul, and he'd turned to ask if she had a preference to what motel they stayed in only to find her still fast asleep. Without much thought to it he pulled the blanket back up to her shoulder before facing the empty road to look for a motel with the rooms outside; it'd make carrying her in easier.
He left her in the car to pay for the night, waking up the man behind the desk, before returning to grab her bag and bring it into the room – turning on the heat and pulling down the comforter so he could just lay her down. Though when he turned to get her he found her closing the door with his keys in her hand. "I would've brought you in," he said taking the keys and putting them on the table, his eyes following her to the bed as she pulled off her pants and climbed in it.
"I know," she mumbled too tired to care about anything other than how uncomfortable the car was in comparison to the bed.
He looked at her almost fondly as she lay once more asleep with the covers barely over her; he'd driven through the night to catch her before she left, and then he'd driven all day not asking her to switch with him when she'd gone back and forth napping most of the drive.
He sat on the edge of the bed and unlaced his boots, grabbing the gun he always kept on him and laying himself around her; she had the habit of laying on the side of the bed closest to the door and he reached around her to put the gun under her pillow, not caring to move as he lay with an arm slung over her and his head on her shoulder – she was soft and warm, and he was too tired to care.
Ziggystartdust: thank you so much for your kind review, I'm very glad to know you're interested in reading more. I didn't think I was going to get any reviews for this story, so thank you again it really made my whole day to read it :)
So I still haven't quite decided what my aim is with them, because I still haven't decided what I actually think about Lorne - like part of me thinks he's the devil, and then another part thinks he's just a psychotic murderer; but my intention is to show that whatever humanity he has, which lets face it he doesn't have very much I think the only time we saw it was with the deer in the very beginning of the first episode, so the little amount of humanity he is capable of he has put in Olivia: so she'll be the one who cares in most situations, and he won't. Also, cause I don't know how this comes out in writing, while I am trying to show that he is very fond of her and that he's typically nicer to her, I still think of him with the same stoic face and the same toneless voice; and I hope that it's showing. Thank you all for reading, if you have any suggestions for me in writing Lorne please let me know cause I'd love the help.