Rayden
I walk to the table with Olivia's hand in mine and pull up a chair for her to sit next to me. The guys start whistling and hollering again, and I roll my eyes at them.
"Hey, you two, if you're going to stay here, keep the noise down. Some of us actually want to get some sleep," Captain Winters says.
I look at Olivia and she turns red. "At least someone's getting some action!" Conner yells across the table.
"Aww boo hoo, does little Conner need a piece of ass," Jason teases.
Everyone at the table starts laughing, and Conner throws some rice at him. "Shut up Jay," he says before looking our way, and pointing his fork at Olivia. "I might just try to steal Ray's piece of ass over there."
"Oooooo!" they all yell. Liv looks at me as I smirk at her and wink. Her face reddens even more.
"Nah, you're good dude. She's spoken for, but you can try if you want."
"Oohhh shittt... it's a competition!" the guy's yell. We all start laughing, but we all know Conner would never. He's my boy, and there's a guy code. Plus, we joke like this all the time.
"Wow!" We all hear the voice coming from the door and turn to see Chelsea. "You're defending her now? You slap the shit out of her. Made a scene on the 4th and now she's spoken for? By you?" She starts laughing. "Unbelievable," she says, turning on her heel and walking out.
The team gets quiet, and I stand looking at Liv. She nods her head, and I walk out after Chelsea.
I catch up to her and grab her arm to stop her. "Chels wait," she yanks her arm from my grasp.
"No Rayden. What the hell?"
"It's not what you think." She starts laughing again.
"You're just full of classics, aren't you? I'm not blind Rayden, I see the markings on your neck. I see the way you look at her."
"I didn't say you were blind Chels."
"No, but you think I'm naive... right? To stay with you while you're in love with someone else?"
"I didn't expect you to, I just didn't know how to tell you Chels. I didn't want to hurt you."
"So fucking someone else behind my back was you trying to not hurt me?" I sigh, knowing there's no excuse for cheating. "Don't even bother trying to explain Rayden. I just came here because I called you a bunch of times trying to let you know I was grabbing all my shit from the apartment. But clearly you were too busy shacking up with her to answer your damn phone," she says, pointing behind me.
I look back to see Olivia and Jason standing in the doorway with their arms crossed. My eyes meet Liv's, and I turn back to Chelsea. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm sorry for ever falling in love with your sorry ass knowing you could never return that love. I was so fucking stupid." She says more to herself than to me.
"You weren't stupid." I try to reason. She walks up to me, and her eyes meet mine as her hands grasp my face.
"I desperately want to fight for you. I want to shout at you and tell you how much I hate you for cheating on me. For never breaking up with me despite knowing you didn't feel the same way. But no matter how upset I am with you right now; I am even more angry with myself. I'm angry with myself for not believing you two years ago when you said you'd never love me the same way. I'm angry because I thought I could change that about you. I was naive, and I wanted to believe I could change you, regardless of all the evidence to the contrary... I'm sorry I couldn't be good enough for you," she whispers.
I was expecting a lot of rage from her. I was hoping she'd smack me or hurt me to make herself feel better, but her words did more damage than anything physical ever could. I hurt her, and there's nothing I can do about it now. I was undeserving of her, and I know that now.
"Chels?"
She cuts me off and kisses my lips softly. I wasn't expecting it but cherished the kiss, nonetheless. "It's fine Rayden. She's back now and I know she's what you've been waiting for. It doesn't take a genius to know that this is what you've been waiting for. I don't have the energy to fight with you so I'm letting you go, no fuss," she smiles up at me, rubbing both of my cheeks.
I lean my face further into her hand and grab them, kissing her palms. "Thank you." I pull her to me and kiss her one last time.
She chuckles against my lips. "Best lover I ever had." I laugh at her as she lets her tears fall and backs away from me. "Treat her right, you hear me?" she yells to Olivia, pointing her way.
Liv nods her head, and Chelsea wipes her cheek and turns on her heels to leave. I turned to the firetruck, pissed off, knowing that I hurt her. I lean my head against the truck and punch the metal. Rage rises in me as I kick the truck's tire and storm back to my room. Leaving Olivia and the rest of the team downstairs.
***
Olivia
I watch as Chelsea walks away, crying from whatever was said in their conversation. Rayden falls apart as she walks away, and her rage gets the best of her. I try to follow her as she storms off, but Jason grabs my arm, stopping me.
"Leave her. Let her blow off the steam first."
I yank my arm back before muttering, "Who are you to tell me how to take care of her?"
"Take care of her? Olivia, you broke her. That woman that just walked away crying put the pieces back together after you left her. When I first met Rayden, she was a complete mess, absolutely reckless. She would run into burning buildings not caring about her safety, much less her life. Don't get me wrong, she's still a little reckless... but Chels? She chased after Ray for years before Rayden even gave in and decided to give her a chance."
My head falls at his words. "She made her feel something again, something she couldn't do for years. If you're serious about her, then be serious. Because if you EVER leave her hanging again...'' My head snaps up to look at him and he starts laughing and shaking his head in realization. "Wow! You're leaving again, aren't you? What a basket case! You worm your way back into her life just to wreck it again. If you ever hurt her the way you did 5 years ago, I will..."
"What? You will what?" I cut him off. "I'm not trying to wreck her life, Jason. I love her. You have no idea what I've been through these past 5 years. You do not know my reason for leaving. I get that you're trying to protect her, but so was I. And watch who you try to threaten because you have no idea what I'm capable of," I say, pushing past him, ending the conversation, and making my way to Rayden.
I get to her door and sigh before knocking. I hear a faint come in from the other side, and I turn the knob, slowly entering the dark room. The light from the hallway shines into the room, and I see her back to the door as she lays on the bed. I close the door behind me and lock it. Kicking my heels and suit pants off, I make my way to the bed in just my blouse and panties.
She turns to me and lifts the covers inviting me under. I crawl into her arms as she scoots me further into her, resting her chin on my head and sighing into my hair. I noticed she took her uniform off. "Done working?" she shakes her head no.
"Cap. released me from station duties, but if the alarm rings," she nods up to the light above the door, "I still have to head out for calls." I nod into her chest. My arm is wrapped around her side, and the scent of citrus and spice fills my nose. I lean further into her, not wanting her to let me go. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
"Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who's a homewrecker." She chuckles and pulls my face to hers.
"You aren't a homewrecker Olivia," she sighs. "We haven't been on good terms since long before you even came back. I just didn't know how to end it. I might not have been in love with her, but I did care about her. I didn't want to hurt her. She was there for me when..." she stops mid-sentence.
"When I was not. I know," I whisper, laying my head back into her chest. "I'm sorry for hurting you Rayden. I'm sorry that I'm still causing you pain."
She sits up and rests her back against the headboard and pulls me onto her lap to face her. She leans forward and wraps her arms around my back, smothering her face into my neck. This has always been our comfort position, being in one another's arms. My arms wrap tightly around her body, and I sigh into her shoulder, letting my tears wet her skin. "Please don't cry Liv," she whispers, running her hand down my back.
"I can't help it," I whisper. She pulls back and takes my face into her palms, wiping my wet cheeks then planting a kiss on both.
"I don't like seeing you sad."
I laugh through the tears. "I hurt you for years." She kisses my lips to stop me from talking.
"I understand why you left. I didn't before, but I do now. I'm not hurting because of it anymore Olivia. I would wait another 5 years if it meant I could still be with you."
I laugh at her. "I would never ask you to do that."
"You wouldn't need to ask. I love you enough to want to wait." My breathing hitches. This was the first time she actually said she loves me since I've been back. I've said it over and over to her, but she never said it back until now. "If it means all I get is Morse code texts every other Sunday and silent phone calls for 60 seconds, then so be it."
"God, I hate that you aren't considered immediate family," I sigh
"So, make me immediate!" I look at her with my head tilted, curious as to what she means. A smirk rises on her lips.
"Marry me, Olivia."