Work Text:
“Shit.”
The nib of his pencil had snapped off. He’d been writing somewhat furiously, pressing down too hard on the legal pad he was scribbling notes across. The work was piling up, and not in the heady, exciting way it used to when he was working at the DA’s office. Providing teaching material, grading papers and checking in with students was more mentally draining than he had anticipated- and it was only exacerbated by the fact that he was doing all of that in a home that didn’t belong to him.
Rafael hadn’t planned on staying with Olivia this long. His mother’s apartment was supposed to have had all its work finished weeks ago- but the super wasn’t exactly the most pro-active and the water-logged basement had been a bigger job than anyone anticipated. The Wi-Fi was fixed, but there still wasn’t any hot water. Ergo; he was still sleeping on Olivia’s couch bed.
Rafael threw the broken pencil down onto the table and leant back in his seat, taking a moment to breathe before he could let himself lose his temper.
Olivia’s dining table wasn’t as big as the desk in his old office. The view outside her window was different. She also didn’t have his bookshelves, or coffee station, or Carmen sat outside working quietly away. Oh, he missed Carmen; he really should check in with her, he hadn’t in too long. Rafael suddenly was hit with a wave of nostalgia and melancholy for the life he used to have, before things went askew.
Leaving had been his decision, but the pandemic had taken away the freedom of choice in so many other aspects and Rafael knew it was beginning to take its toll on all of them. Olivia was getting more drawn into work- as it was from her bedroom- in a way he was wary of. And Noah was finding it more and more difficult to stay focused on school, the longer he was outside of a physical classroom.
If his mother was here, she would call it cabin fever- and he’d be inclined to agree with her. They all needed something else; something to expel a bit of that nervous energy that seemed to be brewing the longer they stayed cooped up together.
~~~~
“What time do you start work tomorrow?”
“Same time as usual, about 9am.” Olivia replied, pulling a bed sheet from the dryer and shaking it out. “Why?”
“I think we should all try and get out of the house,” Rafael explained. “Get some fresh air.”
Olivia looked at him quizzically, wondering where he was going with this.
“Are you saying we’re starting to smell?”
“I’m saying I think we need to see something other than the inside of the apartment,” Rafael argued, stepping forward to grab the opposite corners of the bed sheet when he noticed her struggling to fold it. “Tell me if I’m over-stepping here, but I feel like Noah needs to run around for a while.”
Olivia sighed, furrowed her eyebrows- but he could tell she wasn’t annoyed with what he’d said. If she was he would have been informed almost immediately.
“It’s not like I can take him to the playground or the pool.” she said after a moment. “Everything’s closed.”
“Central Park is open,” Rafael replied, as they both took a step forward to join their respective corners and then pick up the other side. “Even just going for a walk would be enough right now.”
“You’re getting frustrated being here, aren’t you?”
He could sense her insecurity, the way it made her voice waver ever so slightly.
“No. That’s not what I’m saying.” he replied firmly, stepping closer to fold the sheet once more. From here he could see the freckles on her cheeks, and share the warmth of the clean sheet with her. “Liv, I’m concerned about what being cooped up inside is doing to us. I know you’re going into the office every now and then, and I’ll have an in-person meeting once in a blue moon; but it’s not enough.”
“We were a lot more active before all of this started,” she agreed. “Noah’s dance teacher is still trying to figure out how to do lessons online. Maybe a walk wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”
They were still stood fairly close, though the bed sheet had been folded enough. Rafael and Olivia leant their hips against the kitchen counter, sharing the silence of the late afternoon. He briefly touched his hand to her elbow, where she held the laundry close to her chest.
“I know you’re worried about Noah being out and about. Maybe we could figure out some sort of a plan where we go when there’s going to be less people around?” he suggested.
“We’re both busy most of the day.”
“None of my classes start until after 10am.” he pointed out. “I can take Noah out for a little while in the morning, or whenever you want to have the place to yourself.”
“Rafael, you don’t have to do that.” she argued, standing up straight again.
“Liv, you’ve literally brought your entire work home with you- something I distinctly remember you saying you didn’t want to do once Noah got older.” Olivia lifted a hand to push the stray hairs out of her face. “You deserve to have at least a little bit of time just to do things you want to.”
“What about you?” she asked him, eyes wide with concern.
He didn’t like it when she looked at him like that. It made his heart do strange things in his chest.
“What about me?”
“Rafa, you’re sleeping in my living room. Of all of us, you have the least amount of privacy right now.”
She did have a point. He’d gotten good at getting into the bathroom first, just so he was done and out of the way when Olivia and Noah needed to use it in the morning. But getting dressed in the steam of his own shower, or having to push Noah’s things out of the way when he set the bed at night had got old quite quickly.
“If I need some time to myself I have my mother’s apartment to run away to for a few hours.” he told her. “Or if you need alone time with Noah, whatever comes first. I don’t want to kick either of you out of your home just because I’m feeling a little… crowded.”
She looked at him again; concern and something else currently unidentifiable laced in her expression. She took a breath and gave him a small smile.
“Did you know you’re a very good person, Rafael Barba?”
He smiled at her in return.
“And the same to you, Olivia Benson.”
~~~~
“You’ve got a mask in your pocket, just in case. And you’re not to run off, ok? Always stay where Uncle Rafa can see you.”
“Yes Momma,” Noah replied, letting her zip his jacket up for him, whilst the older man in question stocked his own pockets with a mask, hand sanitizer and the spare key that, without meaning to, had become his.
“You ready to go?” Rafael asked the boy.
It was just after 8am. Noah and Rafael had already eaten breakfast and got dressed, ready for a little adventure into Central Park, where the hope was that the fresh air and exercise would clear away some of the cobwebs. (And in Noah’s case, get rid of some of his excess energy that currently had nowhere else to go.)
“Uh huh,” Noah replied, going to join Rafael at the front door. “Will you come next time, Momma?”
“I will, I promise sweetheart.” she kissed her fingertips and waved at her son. “Have fun. Be good.”
“See you in a bit,” Rafael said, opening the door and ushering Noah out.
“Be safe!” she called after them, before being left alone in her own apartment for the first time in longer than she cared to think about.
~~~~
Faced with at least an hour of flying solo, Olivia’s first port of call was to make herself a cup of coffee; using the creamer Rafael claimed ruined it, and maybe even having a slice of his latest batch of banana bread for breakfast.
Though she was due to have a call with a medical examiner at around 9:30am, Olivia’s work schedule was actually pretty clear until then. There was a load of laundry from Noah’s room that could do with being put on, and she knew for definite that there was some paperwork she should read through to get a head start on. But Olivia, against all her usual instincts, instead decided to do neither of those things.
She took her coffee and cake back to her room, allowing herself the luxury of getting back into bed to eat her breakfast. She was still in her pyjamas (which currently were a pair of long bottoms and a light sweatshirt), the coffee was hot and the cake was sweet and for the first time in many weeks Olivia felt less on-edge. She tried to drag out the experience, but she was hungry so both food and drink were finished after only about ten minutes.
She considered picking up the book she had been trying to read for the past six months, but reading usually made her sleepy, so she decided against that. She could switch on the TV, but at this time of day it would be morning talk shows or the news and she had little patience for either.
She stretched her arms and legs out, twisted her back and curled her toes and then sighed in satisfaction when her stiff muscles loosened ever so slightly.
Olivia’s gaze slid to the bottom drawer of her bedside cabinet- locked to prevent young, prying eyes from seeing its contents. Usually the only time she had to… relax, was the middle of night, when she could be sure Noah was asleep, or having a sleepover at his Aunt Amanda’s.
Her hand reached for the top drawer, where the key for the bottom one was kept.
She couldn’t… could she?
Olivia was not a prude, nor was she ashamed of owning a vibrator. Hell, ‘Sex and the City’ and a lifetime working in her choice of career had demystified self-pleasure a long time ago. And as a single mother, 30 minutes of battery-operated gratification was more or less the best she could hope for currently.
But there was something about the idea of using it in the daytime that made her feel odd. Not to mention the fact that, even though he said they’d be gone for at least an hour, Rafael could come back with her son at any moment.
She swallowed, throat suddenly dry at the realization that the words ‘vibrator’ and ‘Rafael’ had entered her mind within seconds of each other. Her face went hot. When she did pleasure herself, she made a point of thinking just about fictional crushes; trying her best to focus only on the sensations she was feeling at the time and not letting her mind wander to any snappily-dressed lawyers who frequented her real life interactions.
She was not always entirely successful.
Olivia’s hand hovered over the key in the top drawer, seriously questioning if she had the mental capability to do it. A part of her reasoned that she was being gifted the perfect opportunity, that she should take advantage of the alone time. She might not get any again for a little while. And she was feeling more and more tense as the days went by.
But another part of her brain knew that the moment she took the toy out of the drawer, she would only be able to think about one thing, and there was the very real fear of that thing taking one look at her face when he got back and somehow knowing exactly what she had been doing.
Her phone ringing out through the silence of the apartment, with the ME department’s caller ID flashing on the screen, made the decision for her. Blowing out a puff of air, and shutting the top drawer of her cabinet, she plucked the phone up and answered it;
“Benson…”
~~~~
Olivia eyed him warily, watching the way he tapped on the keys of his laptop so much harder than was necessary.
Rafael was sat at the breakfast bar, computer in front of him and possibly his fourth cup of coffee resting on top of some legal textbooks. She’d ventured out from her bedroom to get herself a piece of fruit and maybe a cereal bar, to tide her over until dinner- but quickly got distracted by the tense posture of her friend as he worked.
“What did that laptop ever do to you?” she asked him as she reached for an apple from the fruit bowl.
“Hmm?”
Rafael didn’t look up from his work, just carried on typing so hard the laptop itself was shaking.
“Rafa if you keep on frowning like that you’re going to give yourself a migraine,” she said, pausing to lean against the breakfast bar and briefly place a hand on his forearm.
He’d pushed his shirtsleeves up at some point, loosened his tie. Her hand met his bare arm. Olivia tried to ignore the way his hot skin made her palm feel like it was on fire.
“Sorry Liv, I am listening,” he replied, looking up at her with a furrowed expression, proving that he wasn’t. “What did you say?”
“What’s wrong? You look so tense.”
Rafael groaned a little, pulled his hands away from the laptop and as a result her touch. He looked a little washed out, now that she could see his face properly, and tired.
“Just work.” he replied simply, then slumping when he realized she was waiting for him to expand. “The politics of academia- I thought the DA’s office was bad, but trying to teach a class, during all of this…”
“It’s hard,” Olivia agreed. “No one is saying you have to knock this out of the park every day.”
“Yeah well, I’ve built a reputation for myself as someone who makes a point of knocking it out of the park every day,” Rafael argued. “My first Little League game notwithstanding.”
Olivia gave him a sympathetic smile. Teaching wasn’t previously in his life plan, but she knew he would damned if he didn’t do the best possible job he could now that it was. He was nothing if not an over-achiever.
“You work very hard,” she told him. “You always have. But maybe you could take some personal time today. Finish a little early?”
“I have to finish this email; I promised a student I’d help them sort mental health consideration for their exams.” Rafael told her, already going to reach back for the laptop. “And there’s some notes I need to go through for a seminar next week.”
He reached for his coffee cup, took a sip and immediately grimaced.
“Cold.” he muttered angrily, before standing up from the bar stool to refill it.
This turned out to be a mistake. Almost as soon as he stretched his back upwards, he swore- doubling over to put the cup back down and rub his lower spine gingerly.
“Rafael?” Olivia exclaimed, rushing from her side of the breakfast bar to come to him. “Are you ok?”
“Sat down for too long.” he grouched, attempting to straighten his back up again. “Ugh, shit.”
“It’s all those work meetings at the bar in Forlini’s,” she teased, wanting to put a hand on his back as well, but unsure if he would appreciate the contact. “They’ve ruined your good posture.”
Despite clearly being in some degree of pain, he laughed.
“My dancer’s frame? Such a waste.”
“Yeah, you were a regular Rudolf Nureyev,” Olivia quipped, no longer able to just stand by as she watched him wince in pain again. “Where does it hurt?”
He gestured to the very base of his spine, just above where his belt sat. Olivia placed a palm down on that spot, watched his breath hitch.
“I’ll be fine,” he tried to claim. “I’m just old.”
“You’re not old. And you’re not going to be fine if you just stand there like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Go and soak in the tub, see if that helps.”
He rolled his eyes at her.
“Liv, I’m not hogging your bathroom just to have a bubble bath like some kind of-,” he cut himself off with another hiss of pain, unable to finish whatever argument he was trying to make.
“I’m running you a bath, and I’m taking Noah out of the apartment so you can have some privacy,” she told him sternly, pulling her hand away from his back reluctantly. “Go and sit on the couch.”
Whilst Rafael grumbled in the living room, Liv put her out-of-office response on her emails and told Noah to get his toys out of the bath before she began running the water as hot as she thought he could stand it. She had some Epsom salts in the cabinet, so she poured a decent amount of them in and gathered a clean towel.
Before telling Noah to get his shoes on, she also handed Rafael a large glass of water and two strong ibuprofen tablets and waited next to him in the living room until he’d swallowed them both.
“Are you sure Uncle Rafa doesn’t need us to stay and look after him?” Noah asked his mother as she ushered him towards the door to put his coat on.
“You’re very sweet Noah, but we’re going to leave him in peace for a little bit, ok?”
“I didn’t ask you to!” Rafael bellowed from the bathroom, where she could hear him turning the water off.
“Tough!” she shouted back, grabbing her own jacket and a couple of clean masks. “I don’t want you to get out until the water gets cold and those pain meds kick in!”
“Yes,” he replied, his tone not unlike that of her son when she was trying to get him to listen to her.
“C’mon Noah,” Olivia said, escorting him out the front door. “Let’s go and see what the outside world is looking like today.”
~~~~
At first, Rafael just stood awkwardly in the bathroom, still fully-clothed and staring at the bath.
He really did want to get in. The pinching sensation at the base of his spine was incredibly uncomfortable, and the hot water looked stupidly inviting. He was holding himself like a coiled spring, had been for a little while, as the world seemed to spiral further into disrepair and his workload continued on.
But getting in the bath would involve getting undressed, and yes, obviously he now had the apartment to himself, but in a way that made things weirder. Despite being a guest in Olivia’s apartment for weeks now, Rafael didn’t think he had been completely naked for any longer than it took for him to shower or get dressed in the morning.
Sitting completely bare in her bath was not something he could quite get his head round, but the pain in his back was overruling any sense of embarrassment or fear he currently had. So, biting the bullet, Rafael began unbuttoning his shirt and loosening his belt.
Deliberately looking away from her things piled next to the sink (as though that would magically make it as though he wasn’t in her bathroom at all) Rafael carefully stepped into the bath. He slowly lowered himself down into a sitting position, reclining under the water until his back was completely resting against the bath and his legs were stretched out in front of him. The searing hot water felt good on his aches and pains, creating a steam cloud that also worked to relax the muscles not currently submerged under the surface.
Though he’d protested, Rafael was grateful for this respite. He did not like being mothered, having people fuss over him like he was a child. He’d been looking after himself for a long time damn it; he didn’t need people trying to coddle him unnecessarily.
But for some reason he wasn’t as strong-willed anymore, especially when it came to Olivia.
Rafael closed his eyes, tried to relax. His mind was still running through the work things he’d wanted to get finished, but that was counter-productive to the point of the bath he’d promised to enjoy. Careful not to splash water onto the bathroom floor, he lifted his right hand to wipe across his face, then down his neck to pinch the flesh of his left shoulder. The muscles underneath felt tight, so he did the same with the opposite hand, rolling his head until he heard his neck click. Then he moved his hands down underneath himself, to gently rub the sore spot of his back.
If he wanted to, he could have then shifted them round to his front- begun to massage another neglected area of his body whilst he had the chance, allowing himself the selfish luxury of conjuring up images of deep brown eyes and gentle touches. When he was at home Rafael’s venue of choice for self-gratification was usually the shower; both for the quiet atmosphere and the easy clean-up afterwards.
But he wasn’t at home, and he would never be able to reconcile himself to the knowledge that he had done that in a space that was her’s. He didn’t think he would even be able to look her in the eye.
Shaking his head and scolding himself, Rafael swiped water over his face again and tried to switch off, feeling the effects of the painkillers ever so slowly kicking in.
~~~~
When they got back, Olivia told Noah to go straight to the sink in the kitchen to wash his hands and then tidy up the mess of paper and crayons she had spotted on his bedroom floor just before they’d left.
After she’d washed her hands thoroughly, Olivia made her way to the bathroom door, which was still shut. It was strangely quiet, so she knocked gently and spoke;
“Rafael? Are you ok?”
There was the muffled sound of a person moving and then before she knew it the door was pulled open and a very bleary-eyed Rafael appeared on the other side.
“Sorry, did you need to come in?”
He was wearing a t-shirt and soft pyjama bottoms. His hair was a little damp and his skin flushed from the heat of the bath. Olivia noticed he was holding himself a little better than before, so the combination of a hot soak and medication must have done something.
She didn’t quite know why, but she suddenly really wanted to hug him.
“No,” she realized she needed to answer. “No, I was just checking up on you. Are you feeling any better?”
“Uh, yeah,” he replied, opening the door wider and then bending down to pick up his clothes. “I guess I must be… I think I fell asleep.”
His expression was so uncharacteristically befuddled, Olivia couldn’t help but giggle.
“You must have needed it,” she said, leaning against the door frame. “You hungry? It’s spaghetti night.”
“I could eat.”
Olivia nodded once and smiled at him, before calling out to Noah to make sure he’d tidied up like she asked.
~~~~
“Momma my legs hurt,” Noah whined as they trekked up the stairs back towards the apartment.
“I know Noah, you’ve said.” Olivia replied wearily, rooting around in her pocket for the front door keys.
“Yes I understand that, but what you don’t seem to understand is that my mother cannot move back into that apartment until I know she’s going to be living in a safe environment.”
Bringing up the rear, Rafael spoke firmly into his mobile, having a strained conversation with the super of his mother’s building that had begun just as they were coming to the end of their walk.
It was a Sunday, which meant none of them had any work or school commitments. Olivia wanted all three of them to go out and enjoy the bright and breezy weather of late Spring in New York, so they had waited until dusk, when the sun was gently setting into the horizon, and marched out with all the best intentions of making themselves tired and content enough for bed when they got back.
It hard started out well. Noah was happy to let his mother hold his hand as they walked, chatting away happily as they did so. If she looked over to Rafael at just the right time, he looked almost care-free, and the way the sunlight dappled against his skin wasn’t unwelcome either. Olivia felt light, despite all that was going on in the world.
The first of the mishaps occurred just as they got to the entrance to the park.
It had rained earlier on in the day, so there were quite a few puddles dotted along the edge of the sidewalks. As they had been escorting Noah through the gates, a truck had taken the corner way too fast, causing a large spray of dirty street water to splatter Olivia from about the waist down. She could feel the grit from the tarmac stick to the fabric of her clothes, the cold of the sodden material chilling her skin. Rafael asked if she wanted to go home to change, but she didn’t want one little thing to ruin their evening.
Though they’d expected the park to be fairly quiet, there were actually quite a few people hanging around. Olivia tried not to be nervous when they walked past (not all of them were wearing masks) but on more than once occasion someone would approach with little to no idea of social distancing and she felt her pulse quicken. As a result, she tried to keep Noah walking tight alongside her and Rafael, but that only made him want to run ahead more.
After a while the path cleared, and Rafael silently encouraged her to loosen the reigns and allow Noah to let off a little steam. Reluctantly, she did, telling her son not to go out of sight. The second-hand happiness of seeing Noah enjoy skipping about was short-lived however, as it only took around five minutes before he slipped on some wet leaves and skinned both his knees on the rough path underfoot.
There were those classic few silent seconds, where a child who’s fallen isn’t quite sure how to react, before Noah started crying. Both adults rushed over to check he wasn’t too badly hurt; the skin was broken, so there was a little blood, but he hadn’t seemed to injure himself seriously. Olivia cursed herself for not having any Band-Aids on her and Rafael could only conjure up a slightly crinkled (though unused) tissue from his jacket pocket. Against her protests about his back, Rafael offered to carry Noah in a piggy-back on the way home, as the boy complained of his knees being too sore to walk.
As they came back towards the street, Rafael’s phone rang. He answered it with enthusiasm- Olivia spotted his mother’s caller ID on the screen. That quickly turned to concerned anger however, his words slipping into rapid Spanish as he spoke with her. Olivia gestured for Noah to get down so Rafael could concentrate on his conversation; they paused for a moment at the edge of the park so he could finish talking to his mother. From what Olivia could make out, it seemed like there were yet more problems with her apartment, and the super wasn’t being helpful.
Simultaneously, from across the street, a red-nosed and stout man gestured angrily.
“Speak English!” he spat angrily. “We’re in America, not Mexico!”
If Noah hadn’t been with them, Olivia could well have shoved the bigot up against the wall and given him a piece of her mind. For his part, Rafael simply rolled his eyes, and turned his back on the man, still talking into his phone.
Sensing he probably wasn’t going to get the fight he was hoping for, the stranger turned away from them and carried on down the street, muttering under his breath (something equally as nasty, if his red face was anything to go by.)
“Why was that man shouting at Uncle Rafa?” Noah asked her, his voice quiet.
“Because he’s not very nice,” Olivia answered, rubbing Noah’s hand between her’s and clocking Rafael ending the call with his mother. “C’mon, let’s go home.”
Rafael dialed the super’s number as they came to the entrance of Olivia’s building, wanting to know what was going on. She wished he’d let it lie until the morning at least, knowing that he’d only get worked up by the altercation that was bound to happen. They were all tired, and not in the way she had hoped when they set off only a little while before.
“Noah go and sit in the bathroom, I’ll come and put some Neosporin on your cuts in a second.”
“I don’t like that Momma, it stings.” Noah complained, kicking his shoes out of the way as he took them off.
“I know sweetheart, but it’ll make your cuts better.” she explained, side-stepping Rafael who had begun to pace around the coffee table as he talked. “Please just go and wait for me.”
Noah didn’t reply, but did as he was told.
In the kitchen, Olivia switched on the kettle to make tea, then went into her bedroom and quickly pulled off her top to change into a clean t-shirt. She had just removed her wet, dirty jeans and thrown them into the laundry hamper, when she heard the bedroom door open.
“Noah I told you to wait-,”
“Oh, crap, sorry Liv,” Rafael’s voice cut through her brain fog.
God, why did he have to walk in on her when she was wearing her most granny-est of panties?
But what was the alternative? The lacy underwear she only wore on very special occasions? That might somehow be worse.
Quickly, she yanked on some nearby sweatpants and turned to Rafael.
“Its fine,” she said briskly, coming towards him with the intention of tending to Noah. “Did you fix things with the super?”
“We agreed to talk more tomorrow,” Rafael replied, with thinly veiled contempt. “I swear to god if I was still a prosecutor I would string him up on so many public health violations.”
“Hmm,” she murmured, only half paying attention as she switched off the now boiling kettle and wetting a paper towel in the sink. “I’m just gonna-,”
“Mommy,” the sniffling voice of her once again crying son rang out through the apartment and Olivia watched Rafael cringe.
Was he… annoyed with Noah? Surely he couldn’t be frustrated with a little boy who’d hurt himself- something that had only happened because she’d let Rafael convince her to let him run off.
“Excuse me,” she pushed past him towards the bathroom. “Coming, my love.”
It took around ten minutes for Olivia to wipe Noah’s cuts clean, rub some Neosporin on both knees and kiss it better. She’d just finished brushing his teeth for him when there was a soft knock on the door frame.
“Can I come in?”
Both Olivia and Noah nodded, allowing Rafael to come and rest himself against the sink. Noah was still sat on the side of the bath; Olivia knelt down in front of him.
“So what’s the verdict doctor,” Rafael quipped. “Did we manage to save both the legs?”
Noah giggled softly, sharing a look with his mother.
“I think he’ll live.” she answered, tickling the back of his knee.
“Mommy kissed it better.” Noah informed Rafael earnestly. “That always helps.”
“I bet it does,” Rafael replied, and there was something in the soft gravel of his voice that- despite her brief annoyance with him- sent a flicker of electricity down her spine. “Want to read a book?”
“Yes please,” Noah replied, sliding down from his perch on the bath. “Can we do ‘Ferdinand’?”
“Sure we can amigo.” Rafael answered, ruffling the boy’s curls as he went past him to his bedroom.
Olivia pushed herself back to standing, hearing her knees click as she did so. Silently she returned the medicated cream back to the cabinet, rinsed her hands in the sink.
“Sorry the walk was a disaster,” Rafael spoke quietly. “Not exactly the relaxing sunset stroll you were hoping for.”
Olivia shrugged, held her arms close to her stomach.
“Can’t win them all.” she replied simply.
“I’ll call the super out in the hall tomorrow,” he told her. “You don’t need to hear me argue with a waste of space in your own home more than once, I don’t think.”
Again, she simply shrugged. Rafael sighed and then tapped his hand against her waist once- an attempt at affection coming out somewhat clumsily.
“Go and sit. I’ll let Noah coerce me into reading as many books as he likes to make up for being a grumpy old man tonight.”
Olivia softened, felt almost teary at the gesture. She didn’t know why she’d got frustrated with him- perhaps the cabin fever really was bringing out the worst in all of them.
She needed to keep a hold of her patience if they were ever going to get through this in one piece.
“Grumpy, yes.” she replied. “Old, no.”
“My grey hairs disagree with you.”
“And I told you I like your grey hairs.” she said back, enjoying the way he glowed under her compliment. “Now go, before somebody comes running back in to find you.”
In the dim light of her living room, nursing a cup of chamomile tea, Olivia looked out at the quiet city, listened to the faint sound of her son laughing at Rafael’s funny voices and hoped- for all their sakes- that things would start getting better soon.