THE RETURN

Chapter 38

As Elliot and Fin made their way back towards the girls, Fin looked around. "Alright now where the hell did Carisi go now?"

"I think he was getting a little friendly with the hostess." Amanda answered.

Fin nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets, while Elliot leaned against the car next to Olivia. "Everything good?" she asked.

"As good as it's going to get." Elliot answered.

She smiled and nodded her head. "Are you guys planning anything after this?"

Fin laughed, "Like what Liv? Bowling or pool? Because you can't do either of those things yet."

She crossed her arms in front of her, "That doesn't mean I can't watch."

Amanda checked her watch, "I actually think I'm gonna head out. Relieve the babysitter early and spend a little extra time with the little one. But if you guys go bowling, please take a video of Carisi getting mad because he can't get a strike, because that shit is hilarious every single time."

Olivia laughed and gave the young detective's arm a squeeze, "See you later."

"You too Lieutenant."

"Bye Fin. Bye Elliot."

"Bye."

They watched her walk across the parking lot to her car, get in and drive off before Fin spoke again, "I'll probably get going too, maybe try to catch more than 4 hours of sleep." When his phone rang at that moment, he sighed heavily, "Or not. Sergeant Tutuola... Oh, hey... No, I'm not busy...yeah, I'll see you soon."

The smile on his face as he hung up the phone had Olivia raising her eyebrows at him, "A friend?"

"None of your business Liv."

She raised her hands in surrender, "Well, I hope we'll get to meet her one day."

He groaned and said, "Yeah, yeah," as he walked away.

Both Olivia and Elliot laughed lightly. "Just as private as he always was?" He asked.

"Just as private as we all were."

He nodded his head and pushed himself off the car so that he could step forward and turn his body towards her, effectively pinning her in between his body and the car behind her. When she tilted her chin up, he kissed her gently. "You want to go on a date with me?"

She smiled against his lips, "Of course I do."

He kissed her once more before reaching for the door handle, "Let's go."

"Wait, now?"

"Yes, now."

She raised her eyebrows at him, "Elliot, we just ate dinner."

"So? A date doesn't always have to contain food Liv."

She didn't know if that was true or not. Every date she had been on, contained food. "If it doesn't contain food and I still can't do much, then what are we going to do?"

He kissed her again and opened her door, "That's a surprise baby."

Once he pulled out of the restaurant's parking lot, Olivia willed herself to relax. Surprises were never really her thing. Thinking about it, that probably had a lot to do with her childhood. Her mother never gifted her with surprises, she cursed her with them. Everytime Serena told her she had a surprise, it usually consisted of her throwing things at her. She looked over at Elliot, who was tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as someone cut in front of him. "Is that what you do when you're trying to not yell out of the window?" She gestured towards his fingers when he glanced at her.