Chapter Seventy – Published Celebrations

January's passing days brought more snow flurries and a lull in consulting jobs. That was fine with Olivia. She simply used the extra time to check in on Connie. Her case might have been closed thanks to Barba's deal, but just because Connie would be spared from a trial didn't mean she was suddenly alright. She'd been doing surprisingly well lately. Most of their conversations had shifted from support to companionship. Connie had decided to use her attack to get further involved with Hudson's women's movement, and she'd become incredibly excited about sharing ideas with Olivia. That was perfectly fine with Olivia, and she was glad to see Connie doing so well. With Connie getting back to her life Olivia had more time to relax. Or try to at least. Since winter kept her inside more often Suvi was a furry ball of pent up energy. He constantly wanted to play and race around her apartment.

They were both sprawled across her living room floor playing tug of war when someone knocked on her door. Suvi immediately released the rope toy they'd been playing with, sending Olivia off balance and toppling over backwards. He raced to the door and began dancing in excited circles. Grumbling, Olivia got to her feet and joined him. She opened the door to find Nick and Amanda standing on the other side.

"What are you guys doing here? Is something wrong?"

"The exact opposite actually. Something is awesome, and we're here to celebrate," Nick explained as he held up the bottle of wine he'd brought.

Olivia grinned and leaned against her doorframe.

"And what is this awesome thing we are celebrating?"

"You becomin' a published author," Amanda replied and lifted a magazine for Olivia to see.

She recognized the magazine as the one that had just published her article.

"Oh, yeah. Apparently there have already been some good reviews on it. The editor called to tell me and said they might ask me to write another for a later issue."

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Nick demanded.

Olivia shrugged and grabbed at Suvi's collar to drag him back into her apartment. When she'd leaned against the wall he'd slipped out to inspect Nick and Amanda.

"It's not that big of a deal."

"We all thought it was a pretty big deal. A good reason to celebrate too."

Turning her gaze to Amanda Olivia asked, "So where's your partner then?"

"Gettin' pizza."

Just then Fin walked down the hallway toward Olivia's door, a pizza box balanced on one hand. A second, smaller box was resting on top.

"Yeah, because apparently I'm a better pizza delivery boy than an alcohol delivery one. Not that I know why," Fin grumbled.

"Hey, someone needed to get the pizza," Nick replied with a grin.

"Yeah, and you could have gotten it. I've got a better taste when it comes to booze."

Olivia chuckled and plucked the bottle of cabernet out of Nick's hands. A quick glance at the label confirmed her initial thought that he'd made a good choice. She would definitely enjoy this. Before she could tell Fin what she thought of the wine choice she had to thrust out her leg to stop Suvi from escaping into the hallway again. This time though he probably had more interest in the pizza arrival than the human one.

"Looks like he had decent enough taste to me," Olivia said once she was sure Suvi was securely behind her leg and in the apartment.

"Maybe, but I would have brought a bigger variety."

"We're not here to get drunk, Fin," Nick grumbled.

"So? Doesn't mean you can't enjoy options."

Despite their argument Olivia was enjoying the situation. She was used to their fights that could easily be considered simple banter. Hearing it again made her feel at home and comfortable. She might have lost her job, but at least she hadn't lost one of the best parts of it: her friends and their light taunting. They could certainly make life fun even surrounded by so much darkness. It was just as enjoyable to be a part of even outside of the squad.

"Alright, alright. You two aren't makin' this into a party," Amanda growled at the guys. "We should be inside celebratin'."

"Point taken," Nick told her.

They all turned and headed into Olivia's apartment. It was a little more challenging than it should have been considering Suvi was darting around all of their legs and getting in the way. After quite a few stumbles and tripped up steps they managed to set everything down in the kitchen. Amanda and Olivia started pulling out plates and glasses while Nick and Fin opened the boxes of pizza and cake. Nick stared down at the white rectangle with strange orange and green decorations. He couldn't quite decide what they were. Tridents? Messed up paintbrushes? Considering the colors they were probably carrots, but they were pretty pathetic carrots. Why the hell would Fin have bought a cake decorated with vegetables anyway?

"What the hell is that?" Nick asked, pointing at the cake.

"It's carrot cake," Fin returned coolly.

"Carrot cake?" Nick almost laughed.

"There weren't a lot of options alrigh'?"

"Carrot cake is fine, Fin," Olivia called.

"See? Liv thinks it's good, and that's all that matters."

"She didn't say good. She said it was fine. There's a difference."

"No there ain't."

Olivia looked over at Amanda and rolled her eyes. Amanda grinned. She felt the same way about the mild arguing as Olivia did.

"I better go stop them before a fist fight breaks out in my kitchen."

"Good luck."

Olivia moved toward the guys and dropped a hand on their shoulders. They glanced back at her, immediately quiet.

"Both of you need to knock it off or I'll shove pizza down your throats to shut you up."

Smiles flickered across both of their faces. They weren't concerned at all about the threat since Olivia was grinning at them too. Fin snapped a hand to his forehead in a salute.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Olivia gave him a light shove and headed back toward the counter to get herself some pizza and wine. She turned to head into the living room but was stopped. Suvi had sat down right in front of her and was watching her closely. When she looked down at him his tail wagged happily.

Hiya, mom. Do I get something good too?

"Alright, you."

Olivia changed course and grabbed him a few treats out of the cabinet. After setting two milkbones down in front of him she ruffled his fur. Suvi sniffed at the bones and looked up at her pitifully. They all got pizza, which smelled like heaven, and all he got was this? It really didn't seem fair.

"You like those," she told him. "Don't look so disappointed."

Suvi huffed at her indignantly, but dropped his head to snap up the treats. He wasn't going to turn them down if he couldn't convince her into something better. There was always the chance he could mooch some pizza toppings off her friends later.

"Guys please don't sneak Suvi anything, even a tiny piece of sausage. He doesn't need it," Olivia told everyone on their way to sit down.

So much for that idea. There was no point in trying anything anymore. He finished his treats and followed after all of them into the living room. If he couldn't steal their food he could at least steal their attention, and Amanda was probably his best chance. He sat down in front of her and scooted back so he was touching her legs and the base of the couch. Amanda obliged him immediately, petting his head while she ate her pizza.

"So how much did you get for this article, Liv?" Fin asked.

"Enough to make it worth it."

"This is you, Liv," Nick laughed. "You'd probably think it was worth it just to get the information out to people."

"Wouldn't you?"

"I guess, but I still wouldn't do it for free."

"I didn't do it for free, and I won't do the second one for free either. You forget that I don't have a steady income. I take whatever I can get whenever I can get it."

"But you're doin' okay, right?" Amanda asked worriedly.

"I'm doing fine, Amanda."

"Sure she is," Fin assured. "She's got savin's and it's not like she ever took a vacation."

"Thanks, Fin," Olivia muttered.

So she hadn't taken many vacations or even days off when she'd been on the force. What was wrong with that?

"You're welcome. Now you got anythin' better than this swill Amaro brought?"

"It's not swill. It's wine," Olivia teased. "And it's good. I'm sure I have some beer in the fridge though."

"You're a lifesaver, Liv."

Author's Note: I swear these chapters have been sitting on my computer, typed up and ready to go after just a minor proofread for weeks. And then I got a million tests and a research paper dropped on me. Sorry guys. At least they're here now? And you know this story is getting to be too long when my word document keeps having trouble opening and running with the size of it...