Semper Fi

It's Always the Job

Olivia barreled from the airport and hurried to call Elliot. It was the evening before he left the next morning for this assignment and she knew she wouldn't have much time with him. She was determined to get in as much time as she could. She texted him from the car.

Hey just landed. Meet me at my place?

Already here. Hurry up beautiful.

She arrived to her apartment exhausted from the flight but was excited to see her two favorite guys. She turned the key to her door and was unprepared for the scene in front of her.

"Hey Olivia!" Eli said running up to her. She noticed the little boy had his pajamas on and despite how excited he was to see her she could tell he was tired. He gave her a hug before heading back to play on the floor.

"Hey there. Welcome home," Elliot said coming to greet her with Noah in his arms. He gave her a hug and had to hold back from kissing her unsure if she felt comfortable with that type of affection in front of the kids. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to spring this on you with Eli being here. He wanted to stay with me as long as he could befo—," Olivia kissed him cutting him off mid sentence.

"Oh gross daddy you kissed a girl," Eli said.

They both laughed.

"It's ok. I'm just glad I got to see you before you left and I definitely don't mind the company," she said before placing another peck on his lips. "Hey Noah. Come here sweetie."

"I relieved Lucy a few hours ago. Apparently she has a date tonight so she was happy for the relief."

"So you are bonding with the nanny now too? I'm impressed," she said walking towards the kitchen. "Wait is that food I smell?"

"It is. Nothing fancy, just spaghetti. The boys have already been fed, bathed and on their way to bed they just wanted to stay up to say good night to you."

Olivia stood in the kitchen dumbfounded. It was times like this that she was really reminded at how much Elliot changed in the time they were apart. She couldn't imagine that he would've done anything like this before.

"Are you ok?" he asked concerned. "If I overstepped I'm sorry."

"No you didn't. I just can't believe you did all this," she said getting a little emotional. "Thank you."

"You are welcome."

"Can I put them to bed? Since I missed out on all the fun."

"How about we do it together?"

"Deal."

Olivia carried Noah into the nursery while Elliot carried Eli over his shoulder after he put up some protest to going to bed so soon. Olivia put Noah in his crib and kissed him while Elliot put Eli in the day bed and gave him a hug. They switched up and said good night to the other child.

"Olivia I'm not tired. I want to stay up with you and daddy," Eli whined while stifling a yawn.

"You seem pretty tired to me. How about this? You go to sleep now and then we will wake up early and make daddy breakfast in the morning before he has to leave."

"Promise?" Eli asked holding out his pinky finger.

"I promise." Olivia said wrapping her pinky in his. "Now good night. Sweet dreams."

"Daddy?"

"Yes Eli," Elliot said exasperated. His son was relentless when it came to bedtime.

"I've got a secret to tell you."