He woke lying over her back to find it was almost noon, and after smoothing the hair away from her face he knew she wouldn't wake for another hour in the least. And he wasn't wrong, it was nearing half past two when she finally pulled herself out of the bed to find him gone and a note lying where he should've been. She read it briefly and rolled her eyes taking the gun from beneath the pillow he'd left "just in case", and went to shower. It was close to three when she stepped out of the bathroom, and grabbing a medical book and the tv remote she sat back on the bed til Lorne came back in two hours.

On the dot the door opened and she looked up to see him in a hideous coat with black fur on the collar. "Is the bag packed?" he asked nodding to her suitcase. He waited for her to put the book back in before he picked it up. "I got something for you," he told her as he carried the bag to the car.

"Does it match what you got yourself?" she asked following him out and closing the door behind her, hoping very much that it didn't. He gave her a look before taking an olive coat out of a bag and putting it on her, and then taking the blue scarf and wrapping it around her neck. "It's better than what I was expecting," she said enjoying how warm it was as he zipped it up. "How do I look?"

He stared down at her pretty face and her long blonde hair, not bothering to look at the coat. "You look beautiful," he told her making her smile as he bent to kiss her.

In the time she'd known him she didn't know if he'd ever told her that before, and she wrapped her arms around her shoulders to hold his lips against her own for a few seconds longer; knowing exactly what he was doing. "There's a guy in the trunk, isn't there?" she asked when he pulled away, seeing in the curling of his mouth she was right. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes she stepped away from him and moved around the car, hearing for the first time the man's blubbering from inside. "I guess it'd be rude to tell him to keep it down," she said climbing in the passenger's side and grabbing the ipod he'd given her months ago. She didn't know who he'd taken it from or if the person was still alive, she'd given up thinking of those things; she couldn't think of his jobs as actual people and stomach it. She'd had to choose between her humanity and him, and she'd chosen him.

"You can tell him whatever you'd like, I don't think he'll listen," he said climbing in beside her and reaching for his case in the backseat. He offered her a smile when he dropped it on her lap and started the car.

For almost four hours she was going to sit with the man in the trunk crying and yelling and hitting the roof, and Lorne's heavy case on top of her legs; it'd be a hell of a long ride. She turned to him morosely and opened the case. "Which one do you want?" He chuckled lightly before grabbing the one he wanted and putting it in, running a hand over the back of her head almost affectionately as he drove while she put in her earphones to drown out the noise.

…

She'd nearly forgotten the strange man completely by the time a week passed, busy making good decisions in her first year of residency – currently at the top of a streak in not making a single mistake, which she knew she'd break eventually.

"Hey Olivia, a patient's here to see you, he requested you; a Mr. Johnson."

She turned surprised knowing exactly who that was and why he was there, and she nodded quickly before leaving her lunch break to go see him; not wanting anyone to offer to go since she was taking her break and then having to explain why she'd given a man she'd said had kidney stones sutures. "I believe I told you a week and a half, Mr. Johnson," she said walking in the room with his chart and closing the door.

"Lorne," he said making her pause.

She turned to him confused to find him sitting on the examination table staring at her with the corner of his mouth curled. "I didn't quite catch that."

"Lorne Malvo," he said again before leaving the end up to her to respond to.

She continued staring at him with knitted brows though her confusion quickly melted into realization and then to irritation; "you didn't even give me your real name," she said shaking her head at the gall on him.

He smiled and held his hand out. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms Anderson."

After hesitating a moment she reluctantly took his hand and shook it. "Olivia," she muttered not even trying for pleasantry as she turned to get the hand sanitizer and gloves.

"Olivia," he said looking her over, "beautiful name."

She gave a derisive snort turning to him and pushing his shoulders back before lifting his shirt. "You're not getting on my good side," she told him as she gently prodded around the sutures. "Do you feel any pain?" she asked looking at him.

He stared hard at her seeing she quickly grew uncomfortable. "No."

Taking a breath she tore her eyes from his and looked back to the scar. "Well you've healed nicely so far, but taking them out five days early,"

"I leave tomorrow," he said interrupting her, meeting her gaze when she turned to him.

"Well," she said looking away from him, "I guess you can afford a more noticeable scar."

He lay still as she removed the stitches, glancing over every inch of her face as she worked. "Hey Dr. Anderson, I pooped this morning." Lorne looked out of the window to see an aged man in a hospital gown smiling in at her

"That's great," Olivia said returning his smile before turning back to the man lying in front of her. "He had rectal cancer, stool is a good sign after surgery," she said at seeing his raised brows. "It was actually my first solo surgery," she admitted.

He stared at her youthful face seeing she was proud. "I'd say it went well."

"Yeah," she said, her smile a mix of bashful and pride. Until she realized she was almost completely at ease with this man who'd all but forced her to give him stitches and then cover it up, and in a flash her mouth was a straight line and she stepped away. "You can sit up now," she told him removing her gloves.

Doing as she said he sat up and watched as she scribbled on his chart. "Would you oppose my coming back?"

"What?" she asked looking at him confused.

He offered a small smile before continuing. "I'm leaving tomorrow, would you oppose my coming back?"

She looked at his waiting face wondering what game he was playing. "And what, take me out to dinner?" she retorted sarcastically, though he shrugged as though it were an option and it left her now having to answer her own question. "I'd say you owe me more than a dinner."

"I'll buy you two dinners," he said with a raise of a shoulder.

She laughed almost speechless at realizing he had every intention of coming back, and buying her dinner since she'd suggested it. "Sure, come back and take me out."

With a serious face he stood and stepped closer to her, watching her smile melt into curiosity as she stared up at him. "I'll see you then Olivia," he said, his tone sounding a promise.

She felt a heat in her stomach at the ferocity in his eyes, as though his stare was burning her. "See you then Mr. Johnson," she said making him smile before he left, leaving her caught between knowing it'd be best if he never came back and hoping he did if only to quench her now starved curiosity.

…

"She won't, she won't stop you know. Day after… I'm gonna make her. I'm gonna do it tonight. But I'm scared."

Lorne stopped the tape and looked over at the case he kept them in, seeing it closed on Olivia's lap and her sitting back with her headphones still in the strap of her seatbelt behind her and her eyes closed as they had been for an hour, and he left the tape for the moment instead of waking her.

The moment they hit the deer she jolted awake feeling the car swerve off the road, Lorne's arm slamming into her chest before they crashed keeping her from going through the windshield. She sat still for a moment breathing as she tried to see if she was hurt, tearing the earbuds out and looking to see Lorne slowly sitting up; keeping her back when the car crashed had taken any time he might've had to protect his head. "Hey," she said taking his face in her hands and turning him toward her, seeing the line of blood where he'd hit the steering wheel. "How many fingers?"

"Three," he answered taking her hand from his face and opening the door.

She sat back satisfied and picked up his case off the floor, taking the cassette from the player and putting it with the others; looking up when she saw a flash of movement to see a round man running in the beams from the headlights. "Was he naked in the trunk the whole time?" she asked looking to where Lorne had gotten out to find him standing further away. She pushed against her door trying to open it only to find the snow piled too thick, with a sigh she climbed over the gearshift and out of the driver's side to see Lorne standing over the deer he'd hit. "What should we do with her?" she asked kneeling down to get a better look; seeing from the knot in her spine her back was broken, and from her short breaths a rib had probably impaled her lung – she'd now suffocate in her own blood. She sighed regretfully knowing there was nothing to do for the poor thing, something that pulled at her heart because it was only a fawn; at the feel of his hand on her shoulder she leaned against him, taking the little comfort he offered. "We could put her in the trunk," she said taking his hand and standing, "she'd be warm and away from," she trailed off knowing she sounded silly for caring about a deer that wrecked their car.

"From the wolves," Lorne finished for her nodding; the amount of caring in her being what had attracted him to her from the very first time he saw her. "Go get the bags."

She did as he said grabbing her suitcase and purse and his case before waiting as he carried the deer and closed the trunk, going back long enough to kick some snow over the blood. "Come on," he sighed, grabbing everything but her purse, "we got about an hour of a walk."

"You want me to take anything?" she asked seeing from his clenched jaw and the line his lips thinned out to that something was hurting besides his head. But he only muttered no before continuing on down the road, leaving her little else to do but follow behind him.