Chapter Seventy Five – Private Life

Olivia was camped out in the records room digging through old case files. She'd been given permission to use some of the old files for her presentation in California. When she'd first looked at the request she'd thought she would be presenting at another conference. A second look had proven her wrong. She was going to be presenting information about sex crime suspects' evolution, signature, and trophies to criminology students. Crime scene photos would help with that. She had just pulled out another file and begun flipping through it when the door opened. The old file room wasn't exactly a high traffic area, so she hadn't been expecting company.

Amanda closed the door behind her and hopped up on the table Olivia was working on. She pushed the free chair out with her toes and dropped her feet onto the seat.

"So?" Amanda asked excitedly.

It was like she thought Olivia would simply know what she wanted to talk about without actually saying it. Olivia, however, was seriously confused.

"So… what? Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Well, yeah, but it's quiet and Fin knows where I am if he needs me. So!" She clapped her hands together. "What happened with Valentine's Day?"

"That's what we're talking about?" Olivia laughed.

"You can't leave me hangin'! Tell me what happened."

The last she'd heard Ben hadn't mentioned anything about Valentine's Day to Olivia and there hadn't appeared to be any kind of plan in the works.

"Ben set up a whole dinner for me."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I didn't even need to hint at anything. He had it all planned out, and it was incredible."

She couldn't help smiling as she remembered that night. It was hard to see why she'd been so concerned about his apparent lack of activity on the Valentine's issue at first. She definitely shouldn't have been worried. He'd gone above and beyond, completely blowing away her expectations. Next time he didn't say anything about a holiday plan she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"So he hadn't forgotten."

"No, definitely not. I don't think he could have done anything to make it better."

"Nothin', huh?"

There was a hint of teasing in her voice and a sparkle in her blue eyes that made Olivia uneasy. Amanda was getting at something, but Olivia wasn't sure what that was. She had a feeling she wouldn't like the answer though, whatever it was.

"I don't think so," she replied warily.

"That mean you got more than jus' dinner that night?"

Her suspicions had been right. She definitely didn't like where the conversation had gone.

"Amanda!"

"What? Fin and Nick made a bet."

Olivia was seriously struggling to process the meaning of that. Her friends were taking bets on her sex life. She was going to kill them.

"Were you involved in this or did you just give them the information they needed?" Olivia growled.

"I just heard the whole thing. No bettin' for me, remember? But I am curious."

"That doesn't make it any better."

Furious, Olivia called Suvi to her, fighting to keep her voice calm as she did. If her voice was raised Suvi wouldn't understand that she wasn't upset with him but with someone else. He stood in front of her eagerly awaiting his instructions.

"Get Nick."

Suvi didn't need to be told twice. He trotted out the door and back through the halls to the bullpen. It wasn't hard to find Nick, and once he did he pawed at Nick's knee and trotted away a few steps.

Nick frowned and glanced over at Fin. He had no idea what was going on with Suvi. Fin shrugged, just as confused. Suvi was confused too, only he didn't understand why Nick wasn't getting it. Irritated, he barked once. Maybe that would do the trick. It at least got Nick to stand up which was a start. He took a few steps away again and paused to make sure Nick was following. This time Nick understood and followed Suvi back to the old files room. Nick's eyes flickered from an uneasy Amanda to a seriously pissed off Olivia. What was going on?

"Olivia?"

She shot him a sharp glare to silence him and then looked down at Suvi. After rubbing his head in return for a job well done she gave him her next order.

"Get Fin."

Easy enough. Suvi vanished back out the door. This time he returned a lot faster since Fin got the message on the first attempt. When he walked in, Fin's expression was nearly identical to Nick's. He didn't know what was going on, but he definitely didn't like the look on Olivia's face. As Suvi trotted to Olivia's side and sat down proudly next to her Fin felt a growing unease. Olivia stroked his head once and turned searing eyes on Fin, Nick, and Amanda.

"Let me make something very clear to all of you. My sex life is not for you to discuss. EVER. You're all getting way too comfortable with talking about my personal life since I'm not here to actually hear it and rip you all a new one. Back off."

As Olivia glowered at them she was pleased to see they looked at least somewhat ashamed. Good. They should be.

"I'm sorry, Liv," Nick said, squirming under her glare.

"Yeah, won't happen again," Fin confirmed.

"Better not," she grumbled.

"We just wanted to know how close you two are getting," Nick explained. "It's good to see you happy."

Olivia groaned. If they kept this up they were going to drive her nuts. Of course they had already managed to do just that. This wasn't exactly the first time either. Knowing she wouldn't win and not having the energy to argue further, she grabbed Suvi's leash and simply left them in the storage room. She would dig through more files later.

Olivia stepped into Cragen's office without bothering to knock and closed the door behind her. Cragen glanced up and instantly spotted the tension racing through her body. She paced back and forth across the office. When she finally stopped she stood facing him, her face still creased with frustration.

"Did you join in on the betting too?"

Cragen's forehead wrinkled in confusion. He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

"About what?"

"Ben."

Now Cragen was even more confused, and he was concerned too. He only had bits and pieces of this, but whatever the full story was, it was making Olivia seriously upset.

"Ben? Why would I be placing bets about your boyfriend?"

Olivia sighed heavily and sat down in front of his desk.

"You wouldn't," she said tiredly. "You have more common sense than that."

She heard Cragen's desk drawer open and looked up. Cragen had just pulled out a treat and was holding it out to Suvi. Suvi glanced up at her, and she nodded permission. He happily snapped the treat up and began munching away.

"You seriously spoil him, you know."

"He saved my best detective. It's only right that I should."

Olivia smiled and looked down at Suvi as the last of her anger filtered away, only Cragen was about to return to the same topic.

"Fin, Amanda, and Nick were doing some betting, huh?"

"Just Fin and Nick, though Amanda was just as curious about it."

"About what?"

Even though Cragen hadn't been involved, she didn't want to discuss what the betting had been about. She didn't even want him to know what it had been about.

"Nothing."

Cragen lifted an eyebrow, but Olivia didn't add anything else. Well, that was fine. If she didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't push. He knew how much Olivia valued her private life. Plus she could be one of the most stubborn people he knew. Then there was always the possibility that whatever they'd been betting on was something that he actually didn't want to know about. There was one thing he wanted to make sure of however.

"He's treating you right?"

Olivia smiled warmly and shook her head at him. So he was going to be nosey too, huh? At least his protectiveness was better than the others' rather inappropriate digging. She could handle the protectiveness on a small scale. Cragen always worked on the small scale, and she appreciated that. Unlike the rest of the squad, Cragen hadn't had much of an opportunity to meet Ben. When the rest of the squad had met Ben at the bar Cragen hadn't been around. It wasn't like there was much opportunity to talk during the few times Ben had come into the precinct to pick Olivia up either. With how little he knew about Ben first hand, Cragen had a good reason to ask questions and check in on her.

"Yeah. Better than anyone else I've ever been with."

"Good."

He seemed satisfied, which only made Olivia smile in amusement.

"You don't have to worry, Captain. He's a good guy. A really good guy. If he weren't I'd fear for his life considering how many of you are keeping an eye on me."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about. From what I've heard they all like him. Or at least approve of him."

Olivia couldn't help feeling happy with that pronouncement. She'd known it before, but it was good to hear again, especially from an outside source.

"Have you found the files you need?" he asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Ah, not yet. I got a little sidetracked when Amanda showed up asking questions."

"Ah." His eyes flickered to his office window briefly. "Well, they're back to doing what they are supposed to be doing. Working. You should be in the clear."

"Thanks, Captain."

"Good luck."