Chapter Forty Two – Watery Residue

Ben propped his elbow onto the couch's armrest and watched Olivia. He'd been talking to her for a while now, but it was like she was in another world. Despite the fact that she was sitting only a foot away from him he seriously doubted she'd heard a single word he'd said.

"Suvi and I are going out on a date, Liv. Hope you're okay with that."

"Mm."

Yeah, that was what he thought. She wasn't paying any attention at all. Ben reached out and grabbed her foot, catching her attention for the first time that evening.

"You're sure you're okay with me dating your dog?"

That time instead of approval Ben received a dark glare. Before she could ball him out, he explained.

"I asked you that a moment ago and you were so distracted that you agreed."

The anger immediately faded off of her face to be replaced by the same tired, dull, almost sad look she'd worn for most of the evening.

"Sorry, Ben," she said as she rubbed at her face. "What were you talking about before that?"

"Nothing important. Why don't you share what was holding your attention so firmly?"

"It's not that important either."

"Come on, Liv. I saw the look on your face. Something is bothering you."

"Just thinking about things I shouldn't be since there's no real answer or reason for them anyway."

Ben shifted so he was turned sideways on the couch and faced her.

"So talk. Get it out of your system."

Olivia hesitated and looked down at her lap. It wouldn't be a pleasant discussion and she wasn't sure she wanted to bring that onto Ben. Having only one of them lost in the darkness of her thoughts was bad enough. She was about to tell him it was fine and she didn't need to talk when Ben leaned over and touched her knee.

"You know, talking works a lot better when you open your mouth."

Olivia swatted at his hand and gave him a weak smile.

"You should give it a try," Ben insisted.

"I guess the case I was helping with yesterday got to me."

"It was bad?"

"Not compared to some of the things I've seen, I guess. A six year old's parents were murdered. He was right there and could have been killed too. It just makes me wonder how anyone could do that. Stupid question, I know, but…"

She'd seen and experienced some of the worst people could do to each other her entire life. In a way she'd experienced it before her life had even legally begun. With everything she'd seen over the years Olivia had simply taught herself not to ask why. It was better that way. There were simply no answers and trying to find one only drove her crazy. Unfortunately there were times when she couldn't follow her own advice. Todd's case had hit her hard enough that she couldn't help wondering about the why again even though she knew it wouldn't get her anywhere. As if killing two people wasn't bad enough, Olivia had to assume that this man knew the people he killed had a little boy since he'd known who they were. He had to have known his actions would leave a child orphaned and traumatized, yet he hadn't cared. It completely baffled Olivia and left her feeling sick to her stomach.

Ben saw her distress and slid down to her side of the couch. She wasn't crying, but he suspected she was pretty close to it. (Not that he saw Olivia cry very often, but he knew what it looked like when she was fighting hard not to.) Wanting to offer her at least some comfort he wrapped an arm around her. Olivia nearly melted into his touch. While she didn't bury her face into his shoulder or anything she did lean into him and relax slightly.

"Don't drive yourself crazy, Liv."

"I know."

"Sometimes you need to hear it again though. You can't prevent everyone from doing something bad. All you can do is try to stop them before they do something worse."

"And pick up the pieces when they're done," Olivia sighed.

"Which is something you are very good at," he replied as he squeezed her shoulder. "Suvi's even better at it. You should try to give him a puzzle. I bet he'd be really good at it. Ultimate puzzle master. The only one in the world that can solve one with a million pieces."

"Yeah, I'm sure that would work out really well."

She'd barely finished the word "well" when Suvi snapped to his feet and barked at her. Olivia groaned and rubbed at her head as she got off the couch. About the last thing she wanted to deal with at the moment was a seizure, but it wasn't like they ever listened to what she wanted. When she settled herself on the ground Ben moved to sit next to her.

"I'm right here."

Ben's assurance faded out at the end as her seizure struck. It was short lived and mild. When Olivia returned to awareness Suvi's head was inches from her face and she could feel Ben's fingers running through her hair. As she rolled slightly she caught a solid whiff of Suvi's fur.

"Ugh. Someone needs a bath."

Ben laughed and teased, "You have a very good way of changing the subject."

It hadn't been Olivia's intention, but she was rather glad it had worked out that way anyway. She definitely didn't want to continue discussing the case. When Olivia moved to get up Ben rested a hand on her shoulder to keep her down on the ground.

"You rest. I'll start the water for a bath."

Ben vanished down the hallway to her bathroom while Olivia resumed petting Suvi. When the bath was full he returned and held out a hand to help her up. As they headed toward the bathroom Suvi realized where they were going. He raced past them, nearly bowling Olivia over in the process, and skidded to a stop so close to the tub that he was all bunched up and nearly falling over the edge. Once he regained his balance he whipped around to face Ben and Olivia. There was a look of pure excitement on his face and his tail was wagging so hard it was impacting the tub with a resounding thud each time.

"I've never seen a dog get that excited about a bath," Ben mused.

"Doesn't surprise me at all. There's water involved."

She unclipped Suvi's collar, and he happily jumped into the tub. Olivia immediately rested a hand on his back. Ben knelt down next to her to help with the washing. They only managed to soak Suvi down and get some shampoo on his back before Olivia's cell phone rang. She looked down at her soapy hands and wet dog and sighed.

"I've got this. Go on," Ben promised.

"Thanks."

Olivia quickly wiped her hands on a towel in the bathroom and jogged out of the room to grab her phone. She caught it on the fourth ring.

"Benson."

"Detective Benson, it's Detective Dorian with Homicide. I wanted to let you know that we caught Riley, the man that murdered Todd's parents."

A smile blossomed across Olivia's face. Her earlier seizure might not have been welcome, but this news absolutely was even if it did make her think about the case again.

"That's really good news. You have enough to hold him?"

"Definitely."

Before Olivia could respond she heard a splash and a small thud followed by a yelp from Ben.

"Suvi! Hey, Suvi! Stop!" Ben called out.

"Detective, I need to go. Thank you for getting the guy and letting me know you closed the case."

"Sure. Thanks for your help."

Olivia hung up and hurried back to the bathroom. What she saw shouldn't have surprised her, and it didn't but it did take a moment for her to process. Suvi was upside down and rolling around in the tub. Water had sloshed out onto the floor, leaving Ben kneeling there soaking wet. When Suvi rolled to his feet he immediately shook off, slinging water around the room. Ben couldn't do anything to stop him. Olivia stood there watching them with a hand pressed over her mouth. The longer she remained rooted in place the more details of the disaster she could pick out. Trails of water were still running down the side of the tub in twisted paths. There was a growing puddle on the floor that was slowly seeping into her bathroom rug. As she continued looking around she had to wonder if any part of her bathroom had escaped unscathed. Even her bathroom mirror had droplets of water on it. Finally she turned her attention away from the room itself and onto the two occupants. Suvi wagged his tail happily at her, clearly saying, "Hi, mom!" He wasn't at all perturbed by the state of the room. Unlike Suvi, Ben could only look at Olivia apologetically.

"Sorry, Liv. I tried to stop him once I realized what was happening, but I couldn't. He caught me totally by surprise. I swear I'll clean it up. Promise."

If the mere scene in front of her wasn't enough to tip her over the edge into laughter Ben's worry that she was upset with him did. Her eyes danced and she snorted out a few laughs.

"It's okay. He did the same thing to me during his second bath. I can usually see it coming now so I didn't really think about it. Sorry I forgot to warn you."

"Maybe you should apologize to your bathroom. It's the one paying for it."

"And so is my living room carpet since I guarantee you he will be out there rubbing his wet back into it when he's unsupervised."

Ben grinned at the joke and reached out to squeeze her hand.

"Look, I'm rubbing off on you."

"Come on. Let's clean up before Suvi decides to soak something else."

Not that she knew what else there was for him to soak. The room and everything in it was pretty thoroughly wet already.

"Sure," he returned before swiping his fingers across Suvi's back to cover them with bubbles and rubbing them onto Olivia's nose. "Let's clean."

A smirk slowly spread across Olivia's face.

"I am so getting you back for that."