Part 1

Leo groaned, hand rubbing at the back of his neck as he forced himself out of the chair. How the
hell can you sit hunched like that for hours and not even Olivia looked up at him blinking,
apparently oblivious to what he had just said. Forget it he replied realising it wasnt worth
repeating. Coffee run? Olivia didnt respond, already refocused on the files in front of her and Leo
found himself smiling fondly even though there was a faint feeling of annoyance fringing on his
mind. Olivia was a double edged sword, she would do everything to help you without complaint but
if it spanned any length of time then it felt almost like she was ignoring you. He knew she wasnt
though, a distracted Olivia was about as useless as, well hed yet to come up with a suitable
comparison, but a distracted Olivia just left everyone frustrated, mostly herself and Leo wasnt a fan
of putting her in that state (unlike some of his co-workers who found it amusing to mess with her on
the days where work was slow and paper work was all they had).
He watched her face reading the page and when he was sure she had finished her sentence he
placed his hand on the table to catch her attention. Coffee? He asked when Olivia tilted her head
towards him, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks.
Please. She answered, fingers toying with the blank pages itching to get back to her work. Leo
smiled at her, it was refreshing to spend time with someone like Olivia, especially nice that she had
manners too. As he turned to leave Olivia spoke again, Leo, popcorn? Please. She added and Leo
nodded with a smile. That was another thing he liked, Olivia liked to eat popcorn while she worked.
(Not in the lab Leo! she had yelped when she caught him with his hand in a bag that he had found
on her desk and Leo was glad that she wasnt mad he had picked up her popcorn). Olivia mindlessly
would eat popcorn and it would fall from her hands and into the crevices of her lab coat, at any
given time he was sure that there would be an entire cinemas worth of popcorn in that coat.
Of course Olivia, anything else?
Yes, a perp would be nice. She gave him a tired smile and that was another reason Leo loved her.
Olivia filled a lot of clichs according to the people he worked with, not that clichs were bad, but
one thing no one seemed to pick up on was her sense of humour. He once heard one of the ballistics
experts complain that she was very boring and Leo had to take a moment to remember that he too
once thought that about her. Still he at least still had the respect for her back then, which couldnt
be said for a lot of the other people he worked with.
As he left, Leo brushed past a figure in the doorway, eyes narrowing when he saw who it was. Six
foot one with slicked back hair and a face Leo could only describe as belonging to a weasel, Officer
Whyte stood looming in the doorway.
Whyte he said tersely, Leo made no secret of how he felt around people, something that regularly
got him into trouble, and everyone and their dogs knew that he could not stand Gerard Whyte in the
slightest. Depending on who you asked, you would get a different answer about why Leo did not like
the man, but not even he himself could give a single reason to why the man made him bristle with
rage. It was a lot of things, the man was terrible.
Detective. Whyte replied with a smirk. At least Leo had the decency to address him with a name
he thought as his fingers curled into his palms.
What do you want? Leo moved to take up more space, a tactic he much despised when it was
used by other but it was sometimes the only way to deal with those men that think they are better
than everyone else. Whyte laughed and went to push him aside.
To speak to the lab rat, she never sent me the results and I need them. Lab rat, Leo felt his eyes
narrow at that.
You know Olivia is the only punctual person in this place, if she has them shell send them. So
leave.
Whyte shook his head with a grin, Come on now partner, the level of condescending in his voice
was so much that Leo thought that he would be able to reach out and touch it, you dont have a
monopoly on her time. Who are you? Her handler?
He bit his tongue so hard that he almost tasted blood, Whyte outranked him and he didnt want to
lose his job but it was hard to try and collect a response that didnt dissolve into him kicking the
bastard in the shins and cursing him to hell. Before he could get his mouth to work though Olivia was
behind him.
No, hes my friend. Leo could hear the way her lips turned up when she said that and it made his
chest swell, I told you I would email you the results but they arent back yet. They wont be back
tonight, it wasnt a rush job and the lab closed already. Ill pass them on as soon as I get them. Now if
you dont leave Ill call the front desk and ask them to personally remove you. Again.
That was another reason he liked Olivia, while she was either oblivious or uncaring about what
people said about her, she had no qualms about standing up for herself if she felt it was necessary.
Leo assumed it was something she had had to learn early on working there but he never asked, the
past was the past with them and in the past it stayed. It was nice to have that with someone, but he
did wonder what Olivia would think of him if she knew everything.
Whyte huffed and left and Leo felt like he owed Olivia an apology. For starting trouble, for sticking
his nose where it didnt belong, for not defending her faster. But the lab technician squeezed his
shoulders and said her thanks before returning to her desk. Open or closed he asked indicating to
the door.
Open. No closed. Half open? No open, leave it open the cleaners locked me in here last time
thinking Id gone home. She laughed as she said that and shook her head and Leo left with a smile
on his face.

Leo walked with his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, forgoing his scarf and gloves in favour of
speed (something which he was beginning to regret). Usually he would take his car but it suddenly
seemed like an awful lot of effort to go a couple of blocks away, plus the admonishment he would
face from Olivia was not worth it.
He felt like he was thirteen again as he almost jogged along the path, fixating on the shadow he cast
in the street lights and knowing that shadows offer the best view of yourself but still, he found
reasons to pick at his figure. His shoulders too small, hips too wide, legs not in proportion the rest of
him. Confrontation always did this to him and he remembered why he usually took the car instead.
As usual, the cashier tried to slip him their number despite him politely declining, and as usual he
tipped the change into the charity collection bucket and left with coffee in hand and popcorn tucked
underneath his arm. If he had the car with him, he would have picked up the fresh stuff but he didnt
so they would just have to deal with. (Or Leo would. Olivia was not particularly fussy about her
popcorn habit at two am in the morning she would have been grateful even for a half open bag
which had gone slightly stale). With his hands being warmed, the walk back seemed to take much
less time and he sighed in relief as he got in just before the rain started.
You and PD working late again? Hank the officer at the front desk smiled at him. Leo and Hank had
been friends since the academy, they had even been partners but when Hank and his husband
adopted their first child Hank had asked to spend more time at the precinct instead of the field. Leo
missed Hank but he also knew the boss were glad those two had been split up: Hank was a bleeding
heart and looked like he bench pressed elephants for fun, Leo had a tongue that often got him into
trouble and together it was disastrous. Still they had solved more cases together than most people
he knew from the academy so there was that.
Leo snorted, PD? Does she know you still call her that? Leo shook his head remembering some of
the more memorable occasions the three of them had together. Hank laughed too, his eyes crinkling
around the edges but he nodded his head in reply. Anyway, I gotta head before this coffee gets cold
and I have to go get more. See you Hank.
Take care Baron and tell Olivia I was asking for her.

Coffee. Olivia was out of her seat and beside Leo astonishingly fast, in fact had he not witnessed it
before it might have thrown him in a loop at how fast she moved. Thank you, I thought you might
have got caught in the rain. I put the heater on.
I cant even get AC in the bat mobile but you get a heater in your office? Thats not even fair. Leo
huffed shrugging off his jacket, I would have been back sooner but I stopped to talk to Hank. He
looked up at Olivia who seemed to be hovering between her bookcase and the office door. Where
are you going?
Olivia bit her lip and stopped moving. Luce just emailed me saying that the new equipment
catalogue is here. Apparently theres a mass spectrometer that-
A mass.. I thought those things were just lies that CSI made up to sound interesting. Olivia puffed
out her cheeks slightly and Leo averted his gaze to avoid laughing. Im sorry, I didnt even know you
two were still friends I mean you guys sort of he trailed off.
Leo didnt actually know what happened between them. They dated for over a year and then just
stopped and seemed to carry on rather amicably where work was concerned but he always got the
impression that Olivia wasnt telling the complete truth to him about how she was feeling. They
spent a lot of nights doing cold cases although Leo did actually learn a lot about some of the more
interesting processes that the lab technician carried out. Olivia attempted a smile but it didnt seem
to reach her eyes and Leo offered his hands up in surrender. Im sorry, overstepping, wont do it
again. Go enjoy your mash potato meter with Luce or whatever. Ill still be here probably, this place
is better furnished than my house.
You could, no Olivia paused, That wouldnt be a good idea would it?
Leo just smiled, It wasnt that he and Luce didnt get on, because they did, but Luce seemed to know
a lot more about him that he liked and her attitude after Olivia rubbed him the wrong way what
once was good banter in the morgue turned into a pissing match and catty insult exchanging. At
least he never started it.
Lets just work some more. She decided and Leo nodded, settling into his seat across from her,
smiling when he caught her glancing at him to try and get a read on how he felt. The night was still
young by both of their standards and they hadnt even started drinking their coffee yet.

Part 2
Rose tapped her fingers idly against the dashboard watching her watch intently as the second hand
seemed to crawl around the dial. She was, what Leo had dubbed, Rose early which was the act of
being ten minutes early for being early. Rose didnt intend to be this early (or at least thats what she
told herself and her bouncing knee that despite having ample room in the car, was still managing to
clatter against the glove box in the passengers seat), but she had underestimated the level of traffic
and now she didnt want to be too early. Not because she didnt want people to think she was eager
about the job, that didnt faze her at all, rather she was all too aware that people were already going
to attempt to take advantage of her and turning up that early would only make things easier for
them.
Rose had gotten a friend to drive her to work. Her car, or what remained of her car, had not been fit
to drive three states over and, since only arriving yesterday