The weather was warm, that was what made her choose this particular dress, it was a little more revealing than she was used to, but it was pretty and was sitting in the back of her closet for a long time. Since it was a grown up night, she thought she'd go for it. The dress was black, had a sweetheart neckline and went just a little above her knees. She curled the ends of her hair, which now was darker, only a trace of highlights left. The compass necklace sitting proudly at her chest.

It was funny, she never made much of an effort to dress up for boyfriends, sure she looked nice, but she didn't have this high expectation. It wasn't even a date, really. It was Kathleen's birthday, and she insisted on going to a bar to celebrate, that being said, the kids would be participating in a nice lunch over the weekend.

She made her way through the crowd alone, knowing Elliot was running late because of his latest case in OC. The bar was full, but she found the Stables easily and made her way to the table they were in. Katie was the first to see her and got up to give her a hug.

"Oh Livie, I'm so gladd you came!" her words were a little slurred.

"Forgive my sister, Liv, she started to party a little earlier than us" Dickie said smiling and giving her a hug as well quickly followed by Lizzie and Maureen. "You look awesome!" Maureen said to her.

"Thanks, honey" her neck turned a little red and she was again doubting her choice of clothing.

"You look soooo hot! Right, Joey?" The girl had her arms around the detective's shoulders. Katie was really far gone, and her boyfriend couldn't be more embarrassed to be put on the spot with his captain. Sensing her discomfort with the attention, Lizzie came to the rescue "Do you want to drink something, Liv?"

"I do, but don't worry, I'll get it myself" she excused herself and made her way toward the bar.

The music was louder than needed, and the crowd younger than her usual, but what didn't she do for those kids, right?

Getting to the bar, she signed to the bartender and he made his way over to her "How can I help you?"

"Do you have Cabernet?" She knew it was a long shot but it was worth a try.

"We do, actually" the younger man smiled.

"Give me a glass, please" she grinned kindly and waited for him to come with her drink.

"A fancy lady, huh?" she heard a deep voice say behind her. She turned to see a man, probably in his late 40's, looking appreciatively down her cleavage."Can I pay that for you, sweetheart?" he moved closer.

"No, thank you. I can pay for my drinks, also, I'm not interested" she didn't want to prolong the exchange. However, the man took it as a challenge.

"Come on, lemme buy you a drink and then I can tell you a few ways you can thank me later" he said boldly.

"Look, I'm not trying to be hard to get, I'm genuinely not interested. Besides I'm here with someone" she said trying to get rid of him again.

The bartender put her wine glass on the counter, she put the bills down and turned to go back to her group thanking god Elliot wasn't there yet. Before she could get very far, she felt a hand grabbing her arm "Oh baby, no one would leave you by yourself in that dress"

"I'll give you five seconds to let go of me, before you really regret it" Under normal circumstances, he would have regretted it already, but she was trying not to make a scene on the bar, not wanting to ruin Katie's birthday.

"Oh please, make me regret it, I've been a bad boy" he said, not letting go of her arm and moving closer to her.

"I said to let go" she tried to get her arm free, but her movement made him spill his drink over himself and over her arm.

"Hey! Let go of her" she heard the voice just as the smell of vodka hit her nostrils and her back straightened instinctively. Her heart beated faster, she felt her hand turning cold and her vision tunneling.

"Oh, I see now, you like them young, hm sunshine?" The nickname being the last drop in her screaming mind sending her into a state of panic, she was breathing heavily, and could barely hear the argument right in front of her. She felt her arm being freed from the grasp, saw flashes of the man holding his jaw, and suddenly she was being led out of the bar.

"Liv? Liv? Olivia!" her eyes focused on the blue eyes in front of her, but she knew it wasn't Elliot's. "Can you hear me? I need you to breath with me, or you are going to pass out"

She looked around noticing she was in the back of the bar, the music still playing behind the closed door, and she finally identified her companion.

"Dickie?" she said, still confused, and breathing hard.

"I'll let you call me that this time, ok?" he put her hands in his chest "Feel my chest going up and down, match my breathing" she focused on it and started to calm down "That's it, Liv"

She was finally calm enough, he took a step back and her armas fell to her side. She pushed her hair back, and looked at him "Oh God, I'm so sorry!" she was horrified, it was her worst nightmare.

"You have nothing to be sorry about" he said "I don't know what happened in there, but that guy will have trouble chewing for at least a week" he said smirking.

She looked at his hand, noticing his red knuckles, and gasped "Oh no, Dickie, you are hurt"

"Shush, Liv, it's just bruising, you think I would stand by and let some asshole manhandle my stepmom?" he said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She gaped at him, thinking she heard him wrong.

"What? Just because you are not married, doesn't mean it's not true, ok? Liv, you are never getting hurt again with us around, and you'll find it's very hard to get rid of us" he said smirking just like his father.

"Did…did anyone see what happened?" she asked, afraid of the answer.

"Lizzie did, but no one else, don't worry" she let out a relieved breath "Does that still happen a lot?"

"No, I think it was the vodka, and too much stimulation to my senses with the loud music" she said sincerely "You did a really nice job, calming me down"

"Well, I'm a paramedic, but it was a lot scarier with someone I love" he said, blushing like a schoolboy. She felt her heart growing warm, and felt a great sense of gratitude to the universe for getting to this point in her life.

"I love you too, and your siblings, you were the first kids I loved as my own and until Noah, I didn't think I'd get to be a mom, so thank you" she hugged him, feeling him grow tense and finally relax into her arms and hug her back.

She heard the backdoor open and suddenly a sense of calm took her body as she heard his voice.

"Hey, that's my girl, keep your hands to yourself" he joked sensing the mood, but his eyes were guarded so she figured Lizzie told him what happened.

Dickie let go of her but kept his right hand on her waist and joked right back at his father "Well, Pops, haven't you heard? She likes them young" he winked at Liv and she couldn't help but laugh at him, joining on the joke.

"Sorry, El, I figured I'd go for a younger model" they all paused and then fell together into a loud laughter.

"Alright, alright… let's get back to the party, Katie is gonna think we abandoned her" Livie said leading to the door. Elliot held her back and asked "Hey, you ok?"

She beamed at him, finally feeling peace "Yeah, I wasn't alone, Dickie took care of me" she gave him a quick kiss and they both went back to the party.