Prompt #18: "You deserve all the cliches."
and
Prompt #101: Storybook Story by Mark Knopfler
A Storybook Love
~oOo~
My love is like a storybook story
But it's as real as the feelings I feel
Elliot typed romance into the search bar. He started scrolling past the dictionary definition and the questions people also asked when a related search caught his attention. Romance novel clichés? He clicked on it and almost immediately found a list of about twenty. "Kissing in the rain? Camping? Sleeping under the stars?"
For the last weeks of his undercover op, Elliot had spent a lot of time thinking about what to do for Olivia on Valentine's Day. They'd tentatively agreed to try dating. He wanted to get it right with her—to make her feel loved and special.
She'd probably laugh at the idea of a romantic cliché. So, why not do all of them? He had a few weeks off when he arrived back in New York; he'd insisted on it, wanting to reconnect with his family, which to him included Olivia and Noah.
With a bit of cajoling, Elliot had managed to convince Olivia to take a week off. Noah had a trip planned with his half-brother, so it worked out perfectly. He hadn't told her where they were going but had given her a rough idea of what to pack.
"El? What are we doing? Where are we going?" Olivia had been asking some version of those questions since she'd agreed to go. She'd met him downstairs with her suitcase when he'd come to pick her up.
"We're going on a road trip up to New Hampshire. I've booked a cabin for us for a week." Elliot stowed her bags into the back of his vehicle along with his. He found her standing on the curb and not getting into the passenger's seat. "What?"
"What are you up to?" Olivia stood stubbornly by the passenger door, arms folded with her 'Captain's glare' directed his way. "Elliot."
"I can't be romantic?"
"I have known you for over twenty years." Olivia broke into a grin when she lightly pushed her shoulder. "You and romance aren't usually in the same sentence or paragraph."
"Then it's time I learned. I have a list."
"You have a list?"
"Of all the things that happen in romantic movies." Elliot could feel the heat of a flush going up his neck to his ears. He refused to back down from his plans even in the face of her amusement. "If I'm going to fall into a cliché, I figured you deserved all of them. Now, get in the damn vehicle so we can leave the city at a decent time. It's about a five-hour drive…probably longer since we're going to make a few stops."
"A few stops?"
"Road trips apparently feature heavily in romance novels." Elliot reached around her and opened the door for her. He brushed a quick kiss against her lips. "What can it hurt?"
My love is like a storybook story
But it's as real as the feelings I feel
The cabin they eventually found in the middle of a snow-covered forest was picture-perfect. Elliot was fairly confident it would feature heavily in a romance novel. Olivia finally stopped needling him when she noticed the large hot tub on the back deck. It was a beautiful log cabin with multiple fireplaces, two bedrooms, and a full kitchen.
It was too late in the evening to do much more than fix something for dinner. The owner of the cabin had fully stocked the fridge for him. Elliot grinned when Olivia came out of the bedroom wearing plaid pajamas and very fluffy socks.
"Stylish."
"You said to pack warm. This is warm." Olivia came into the small kitchenette. "What are you making?"
"Pasta." Elliot turned his attention to the sliced bacon in the pan. He smiled when she came up behind him, wrapping her arms around him. He dropped a hand down to grasp hers for a moment. "I figured we could eat by the fireplace. Maybe enjoy a good book before hopping into the hot tub."
"Did you bring something to wear in the hot tub?"
Elliot glanced back at her over his shoulder. "I wasn't planning on wearing anything at all."
My love is like a storybook story
But it's as real as the feelings I feel
"A sleigh ride."
Elliot held up a thermos and basket. "I have breakfast and spiked hot chocolate. There's plenty of blankets. It's snowing—and we'll supposedly have an amazing sunset view."
Olivia followed him silently onto the sleigh. She helped him arrange the blankets around their legs as the horses started moving. "El. Why are you going to all of this effort? I would've been just as happy with a long weekend at home together."
"You deserve more, Liv. Now sip your hot chocolate and scoot closer. I'm fucking freezing." Elliot lifted his arm so she could squeeze in next to him. He tugged the blanket more tightly around them. "It's beautiful out here."
"Cold but beautiful." Olivia laughed when a snowflake fell onto her nose. She turned towards him, quieting when he bent his head to kiss the flake away. "El."
"Pretty sure nose kissing was on the list."
"I think you're making up this list." Olivia rested her head against his shoulder.
The sleigh ride took them through the forest. Olivia gasped softly when they came through an arched opening into a clearing. It finally came to a halt by the large frozen pond that was used for ice skating.
Elliot breathed in the crisp air. "Good morning, Liv."
My love is like a storybook story
But it's as real as the feelings I feel
"Monopoly is not a two-person game—and we are too competitive and sober to make it a good idea." Olivia perused the stack of board games on the bookshelf near the fireplace. "Go Fish?"
"Last time we played Go Fish, you threw the entire deck of cards at me." Elliot remembered the night early in their partnership when they'd been stuck at the precinct and bored out of their minds. He'd found the game in his desk, left by the twins at some point. "You're way more competitive than I am."
"How about poker?"
"Strip poker?" Elliot caught the deck of cards she threw at him. "It's not on my list of clichés, but it should be."
Olivia moved to the shelf on the other side of the fireplace. She began inspecting some of the books. "Sonnets by Shakespeare."
Setting the pack of cards down, Elliot plucked the book out of her hands. He flipped through the paper. It was a beautifully illustrated edition.
"How about we grab our wine, sit by the fire, and I read through some of these? We can put on one of the classical albums by the record player." Elliot was fairly confident reading poetry had been on the list that he'd made.
"You want to read sonnets?"
Elliot tucked the book carefully under his arm, then headed over to inspect the stack of albums, wanting to find a record that would be good background noise. "Why not?"
"I'm going to laugh." Olivia wandered over to refill their glasses of wine. She carried them over to set them on the coffee table, along with a plate of snacks. "I'm going to laugh a lot."
She didn't.
A few sonnets into his reading, Olivia shifted around on the sofa until she was lying down with her head in his lap. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her so relaxed. He lowered his voice a little but continued on.
"El?"
"Hmm?" He paused in his reading.
"I love you."
Elliot smiled down at her. He glanced at the next sonnet on the page—the 40th. "No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call; All mine was thine before thou hadst this more."
My love is like a storybook story
But it's as real as the feelings I feel
The author of this SVU - Love Leads You Home story will be revealed in March