Especially when a hidden, relentless and annoying voice in the back of her head and deep in her heart reminded her that there had been another option, but he would be sleeping on the couch in the next room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She had to admit – Cassidy was a good cook. The food had been as delicious as it had smelled, everyone had cleared their plates in a second, and soon the lingering warmth had spread through their limbs and made them all drowsy. Olivia sipped water from her glass, the tiredness of the early morning weighed down her eyelids, out of the corner of her eye she saw Elliot yawning, and she glanced at the clock. 1:13 p.m.

"Do you mind if I'll hit the hay for a minute?"

The others turned to look at her, sleep swirling in their eyes as well, and Fin shook his head.

"No, because I was just thinking the same thing."

"Me too," Brian agreed. "There's no way I'll be able to drink beer late into the night if I can't close my eyes for a while before that."

As if by unspoken agreement, they got up almost at the same time, put their dirty dishes into the sink, and then Elliot threw himself onto the couch, sighing deeply. Olivia walked into the bedroom, closed the door, laid down and took a deep breath. She looked at the ceiling lamp hanging above the bed, the undulating patterns on its surface, listened to distant sounds coming from the living room. The room was cool, surprisingly cool compared to how warm it had been in the kitchen and living room, and for a moment she considered digging out a blanket from under the bedspread, but her tired body resisted putting the sheets on, so she gave up.

She closed her eyes, crossed her arms over her chest to warm herself even a little and sighed. But just then the door to the room opened, she opened her eyes to look questioningly at the person coming in, but when she saw Cassidy, she realized that this was his room too. Not only at night, but also during the day. Why he hadn't gone to the loft, for example, was a little unclear, but technically he had as much right to sleep in the bed as she did.

However, he did have some discretion, because before he entered the room, he asked:

"Is it okay if I come for a nap too? I mean… This is my bed too, and I… Thought…"

"It's fine, Brian," Olivia replied before closing her eyes again. "I don't mind."

She didn't see his nod, but she heard the door close and felt the bed sag beneath him.

"How is it so cold in here?" He asked, apparently not expecting an answer, as the bedspread under her began to move as he dug out the blanket. Then he stopped, causing Olivia to open her other eye.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just… Looks like we have a double blanket."

"You're kidding."

"Hey, it can't be that bad," Brian chuckled when he heard the disbelief in her voice. "I mean, we've done this before..."

He brought it up sooner than Olivia would have expected, making her groan quietly in her mind. She was tired, and she didn't have the slightest desire to start reminiscing the situation from 12 years ago with her former colleague. It wasn't that she regretted it, no, but it belonged to the past, it was history, and she didn't want to drag it with her to this day.

She could have asked him to drop it. She could have said that she had come here for a quiet and relaxing weekend, not to reminisce about a brief relationship that was over a decade old. Or had it even been a relationship? She couldn't say for sure. But she couldn't bring herself to argue with him now, she had enough to argue with her partner, and that's why she heard herself say:

"I know, Brian. But I hate double blankets. They always cause a fight because one always owns the blanket in the middle of the night, and then the other has to tug it back. And if both know how to share it when you sleep, it's as hot under it as in a sauna, and then you don't know whether you should stay under it or throw it away, and then when you let go of it, the other one pulls it back, and the same fight starts all over again and…"

She heard her voice in her ears, knew it sounded like a terrible, panicked explanation, but for some reason she couldn't stop it. Brian raised one eyebrow in amusement before diving under the covers.

"Okay, okay, I get it," he interrupted her barrage of speech, and she wanted to slap herself. Fortunately, the room was at least dim enough to hide the blush that crept onto her face. "You hate double blankets." Then he pulled the blanket over his ears and fell silent. Olivia was left staring at him, frantically trying to think of something to save her face.

"Doesn't it disgust you to sleep there without sheets?" She asked when she realized that Brian had just burrowed into the bed like it was his own. She saw him shrug.

"Nah. People usually use sheets in these. But when you sleep at the station…" He paused, but Olivia heard a smile in his voice. "You don't even want to know what has happened in those beds."

And then he fell silent, leaving Olivia to ponder his words, grimace and turn her back on him. The room was really cold, and the warm blanket was attracting her more and more, but because of principle, she could no longer retract her words, so she curled up and tried not to think about the coldness around her. The cabin was silent, only a clock was ticking distantly somewhere, and despite the cold, sleep began to creep back into her limbs and wrap her in its soothing embrace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Olivia hadn't noticed that she had fallen asleep. Not before cold hands wrapped around her ankles jolted her awake, and before she realized where she was, she felt a strong tug. She raised her head, annoyed, expecting to see the mischievous faces of Cassidy or her partner, but instead she was met with only an empty, dim room and a pale wall.

"What the -…"

She turned to look at Brian, who seemed to be fast asleep, happily buried in his blankets, and then she pulled her legs into her lap, tried her bare ankles and frowned. The cold hands around her ankles had felt so real, not to mention the tug of her legs, that cold shivers ran down her spine.

It couldn't have been real.

Her brain had just played tricks on her in the cold room air. That was the only reasonable explanation. The rest had been just a dream, just mixed reality as her waking brain started its gearwheels.

But even so, the memory of the hands on her ankles sent a very uncomfortable feeling to her stomach, and she shivered, carefully placed her feet on the floor, trying not to wake Brian, who was still fast asleep, quietly sneaked out of the room and closed the door. Warmth immediately enveloped her, the soft light of the living room made her feel better quickly, an uncomfortable swirling settled inside her, and she took a deep breath.

The cabin was still quiet, the others seemed to be still sleeping, and she walked quietly to the kitchen table and sat on a chair. Her eyes landed on Elliot, who was sleeping on his back, one hand behind his head, one hand on his stomach, snoring lightly. His face was relaxed, and he looked so contented that a slight smile involuntarily spread across Olivia's lips. The memory of the cold hands on her ankles began to ease quickly as she watched her sleeping partner, it weakened, lost its scariest, most real grip, and soon it began to feel like just a dream, an unpleasant, scary dream that she could still separate from reality, recognize as a figment of her imagination.

And as the memory weakened, the more the desire to step next to Elliot on the couch, lie down next to him, wrap her arms around his calmly heaving chest and press her face against his warm, familiar body, grew and intensified. The longer she watched him, the greater the desire grew, and finally she was forced to look away, remind herself of the situation they were in, and hammer reason into her head that her partner would not likely be overjoyed if he suddenly woke up with her in his arms. Besides, she had promised herself she wouldn't go to this; one spur-of-the-moment mistake would likely render her years of work useless. She knew it because she'd experienced it before—one hug after little Eli was born, and she hadn't gone to bed in a couple of weeks without thinking about the moment Elliot had pulled her into his arms, wrapped his arms around her and let out a deep sigh. She couldn't…

"Liv?"

Her partner's voice snapped her back to reality, and she looked up only to meet bright blue eyes looking at her questioningly.

"Morning."

"Why are not you sleeping? You went to the bedroom…" He looked at his watch. "… Less than a quarter of an hour ago." But Olivia knew him, she saw in his eyes how his brain made hasty conclusions, she saw how a new flame flared in his eyes as he squinted them a little and asked: "Is it Cassidy? Did he…"

"No!" Olivia shook her head quickly before he could hop any further into his thoughts, despite his immediate concern warmed her. "Brian is sleeping like a baby. It was just so cold in the room, and I didn't want to use a blanket without a sheet, so I didn't sleep very well," she replied, deliberately leaving out part of the story. "But I'm not sleepy anymore, so it's okay," she added and then grinned. "You snored as if there wasn't a worry in the world."

"Ha ha," he snorted. "At least I slept, unlike someone."

"I did sleep. But I'm worried about how I can sleep next night, because we have a double blanket, and I only have a regular sheet with me, so…"

"A double blanket, huh?" Elliot raised his eyebrows. "What an excellent opportunity to rekindle a lost passion..."

Olivia was sure she blushed despite trying her hardest to stop it because a smug grin spread across her partner's face. She grabbed the nearest thing on the table and threw the car keys at him. They hit his chin obviously painfully because he turned his head and began to rub his chin.

"Hey!"

"Shut up."

"What? I just said it's an excellent opportunity, I didn't…"

"Do I have to come over there and shut your mouth with my own hands?" The fear of exposure caused anger to flare up inside her, and Elliot clearly saw it because he raised his hands in surrender.

"No, I'm good," he announced and then turned his gaze out the window. It wasn't raining outside, the air had become brighter, and that clearly made him happy, because he asked: "How about a little walk? I would like to explore the surroundings a bit."

"Are you going to look for a hidden treasure or something?" Olivia asked sarcastically, anger still slowly coursing through her veins, but her partner's genuinely innocent look of excitement calmed her down, and she shrugged. "Well, why not. I have another jacket in the car so…"

"If you lovebirds are okay with it, I could come too," Fin's voice interrupted them, and they turned to look at their colleague, who was rubbing his eyes. Olivia was about to open her mouth to protest the term he had just used, but then let it go. Munch, who was walking behind his partner, nodded.

"Fresh air wouldn't hurt."

"We should wake Cassidy."

And Olivia couldn't help it as a wave of disappointment pinched her chest. She couldn't help it when some unknown, but at the same time so familiar voice inside her formed a silent question: why can't we go alone? But the more she became aware of what was going on inside her, the more determinedly she nodded her head.

"No one has said that you are not allowed to join us."

Munch went to wake up Cassidy, who wanted to go out too, and they started digging through their bags, put their outwears on, discuss how Cragen had told Munch he'd be arriving in about 4 hours. But when the others had already managed to get out, and Olivia was still tying her shoelaces, Elliot, who was waiting at the door, suddenly started to grin widely.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just realized something."

"I don't know if I even want to hear."

"Well," he shrugged. "I'll tell you anyway."

Olivia tied her shoes, straightened her back and looked expectantly at her partner, who suddenly looked like a child on Christmas morning.

"If you two have a double blanket... Munch and Fin probably have one too."