THE RETURN

Chapter 46

Saturday came sooner than Olivia thought it would and before she knew it, she, Elliot, and the boys were standing in the kitchen to her soon-to-be old apartment. She hadn't been in the apartment in so long, that she had almost forgotten what it looked like. The night before, she and Elliot made a check list of all the things she wanted to bring with them and all the things she wanted to dispose. She was glad that Elliot had talked her into renting a small rental truck and storage because she had a feeling she was going to want to take more than she previously thought.

"Okay, so Eli and Noah, you have Noah's bedroom. Remember, we're not asking you to get rid of any of your toys, but some will have to go to storage until we find a bigger place. So, only leave out the ones you know you're going to play with on a day-to-day basis." Olivia instructed.

Both boys nodded, "Got it."

When they headed down the hallway, she turned toward Elliot, who was patiently waiting for her to tell him what to do. "You want to take all the pictures down and I'll start on my mess of a closet?"

"Of course."

They exchanged smiles and didn't waste anytime shuffling off to their designated areas. When she walked into her old bedroom, Olivia had thought that she would feel a sense of sadness. She had spent a long time trying to decorate her apartment in a way that made her feel like home. The mattress, that she had slept on for the last six years, was one that she had bought after she and Brain split. She had wanted something that was only hers again. She had to admit that she had thought it was the comfortable mattress out there, that was until she slept in a bed with Elliot. Now, she was pretty certain that a concrete sidewalk would be comfortable, as long as Elliot's arms were wrapped around her. She dragged her hand along the abandoned mattress lightly and smiled. It would definitely serve a purpose in a guest room, if they got a place with enough rooms.

She busied herself in going through her mountain of clothes, that she didn't even hear Elliot come up behind. When his arms encircled her waist, she jumped slightly. "Jesus, Elliot you scared me."

"I'm sorry." He placed a kiss on her temple, "How's it going?"

She placed her hands on top of his and glanced at the three separate piles she had on the floor of her closet. One pile was designated to clothes she no longer wanted, one was designated to clothes she wanted to take back to the apartment and the last was designated to clothes that could go in storage for the time being. "It's going."

He nodded and glanced around at the clothes still hanging in her closet, "When's the last time you went through your clothes Liv?"

She huffed. Truth be told, she didn't even know the answer to that question. She had gained weight over the years, bought new clothes to fit her expanding features, but she had never really sifted out the clothes that no longer fit her. "Never?"

He nodded once more, "Want me to help you or do you want me to do something else?"

"Umm, well if you do something else, we may be done quicker than you helping me. I think I got it, everything that doesn't fit, which is a lot because my ass is huge now, I'll get rid of."

"Your ass is perfect."

"Elliot, you think my feet are perfect too."

"Because they are."

She laughed, "I'm just having problems with what to bring back to the apartment. I need clothes for work but we don't have a lot of closet space."

He contemplated that fact for a second. Between his clothes and her own, they were bound to run out of space. A bigger closet was definitely on the 'musts' list for a bigger place. "Do you have any more suitcases lying around? Maybe they could serve as drawers for the time being. Your slacks in one and your blouses in another? Or, I could put my clothes in suitcases instead and yours can go in the dresser."