Olivia stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body before wiping away the hot condensation from the mirror with the palm of her hand. She brushed through her brown locks with her fingers and let out a deep sigh after noticing the dark circles that had slowly appeared under her eyes over the past few stressful weeks. Cases had been flying through the precinct doors at a more rapid pace than normal and with the squad being short staffed anyway it put an extra strain on the Lieutenant. Leaning closer to the mirror, she used the pads of her fingers to tug gently at the skin around her eyes, making a mental note to find a new moisturizer.
She walked out of the en suite and into her bedroom, leaving little patches of water along the carpet with each step. She stopped and observed the mess that her bedroom had accumulated into over the previous weeks. There weren't enough hours in the day for Olivia. Between being a Mom to Noah, the heavy duties of being Lieutenant with an understaffed squad and maintaining the apartment by herself; she barely had time to stop for some self-care. Her hand reached up to her forehead and brushed away the last few droplets of water, sighing deeply at the thought of sorting through each load of laundry that had piled up. These thoughts were short lived as she jumped slightly at the sound of knocking on her door. She clicked the home button on her iPhone to check the time.
9:47pm. Who would turn up uninvited at this time?
Another knock, a little louder, rattled the door slightly and caused Olivia to grab her oversized pyjama shirt from the end of the bed and hold it over her chest. It barely made much difference considering she was sporting only a small bath towel, but she felt somewhat more covered this way. She rushed over to the door as fast as she could without slipping on the water that was still trickling down her legs and pressed one eye up near the peep hole in the door.
"Amanda?". She whispered to herself before taking the chain off the hook and unlocking the door. She opened it a little and poked her head round as her damp, brunette hair fell over her shoulder. The younger woman looked relieved when the door finally opened. Jesse was cradled in her arm, balancing on her right hip with her face hidden. Liv noticed the tiredness in her detectives deep blue eyes immediately and felt her stomach sink, suddenly wondering what could have happened that resulted in her and Jesse turning up at the apartment at almost 10pm.
"Liv I'm so sorry. I would have called you first but my phone has no battery and there's a damn power cut in my whole apartment building" Amanda blurted out. Olivia opened her mouth to reply but the blonde gave her no chance as she carried on speaking at a fast pace, not realizing how her words were jumbling together.
"It's been out for a few hours now and the company said it wouldn't be fixed until early morning" she carried on.
"I tried to light candles but God, Liv, you don't realize how fast tea lights burn out until you're relying on them for enough light to get your kid ready for bed. They're so tiny. Who the hell invented tea lights anyway?". Amanda stopped her monologue and looked Liv up and down, realizing her lack of clothes. She blushed a little and felt bad, readjusting Jesse on her hip.
Olivia noticed Amanda's blue eyes wandering down to her bare legs. She cleared her throat, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"Come in.. Jesse must be exhausted. Noah has been asleep for a little while" Liv said sympathetically with a small nod while pulling the door open. She was still half hidden behind it as Amanda walked through.
"You can lay Jesse down, there's a blanket hanging over the back there". She gestured towards the beige throw draping over the arm chair before closing and locking the door. Still holding the shirt over her chest and feeling self conscious about being caught half naked by one of her detectives, she started walking down the hallway.
