Under Her Skin 37
Under Her Skin 37
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: I think I call it "spoilers" for the sake of uniformity, but Lowdown 5.20
Disclaimer: Obviously, they don't belong to me, or anybody else who really appreciates their chemistry, but I'll return them promptly.
Author's Note: If you want to understand it, chapters 1-36 will help :)
And a great big shout out to checkers175, whose constant urging to write and tireless beta'ing made this happen
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Ring!
Detective John Munch was surprised to see a genuine smile on his partner's face as she looked at her caller ID.
"Hey Jenny, sorry it's - "
Wide-eyed shock replaced the smile.
Munch began to slowly back away, seeking the safety of the building.........
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"How did you - " Olivia tried, before she was completely silenced by the bartender's fiery rant.
"I can't believe she even bothers with you!" Jenny spewed, in complete disregard to Olivia's attempt at a retort, "Do you understand how much you hurt her? Do you even appreciate the fact that she would willingly throw her career away to support you?"
"You really need to mind your own b - "
"Casey is my business!!!" Jenny shouted.
"Listen, I - "
Click.
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In clear irritation at having been hung up on, a stunned Olivia dialed.
Waited as the phone rang once, twice, temper rising with each ring.
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With a smile that didn't quite match the venom she'd just unleashed on Olivia, Jenny silenced her fiance' with a hand in the air.
At his questioning look, she slowly counted down on her fingers: five, four, three, two -
Ring!
Giggle.
Ring!
As he shook his head she picked up the receiver, put it back down.
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Fuming, Olivia shoved her phone into her pocket.
Annoyed, stopped in her tracks when it started ringing.
Wisely, chose to ignore it.
Chirp!
Hmm, that was a Direct Connect, couldn't be Jenny.
Chirp!
"Yeah El?"
Chirp!
"What'd Warner say?"
Chirp!
"On my way in now, got delayed by a phone call."
Chirp!
"Liv?"
Chirp!
"What?"
Chirp!
"Call Jenny, she's been calling here non-stop and the Cap's tired of being your secretary."
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Irritated, Olivia just stared at the phone in her hand.
As she stared, the screen lit up.
Foolishly, she answered it.
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As John looked on from from the entrance, Olivia answered her phone.
He then counted to ten, shook his head, watched the telecommunnications projectile slam against the side of the morgue.
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In a burst of uncontrollable laughter, Jenny smiled at her fiance' as she hung up the phone.
Shaking his head, Steven asked, "Why?"
"Why what?" she innocently replied.
"Why do you meddle?"
She seemed to seriously ponder the question, then asked, "In this case or just in general?"
He rolled his eyes.
"Because Casey's my best friend."
"And?" he prodded.
"I've grown quite fond of Olivia too."
"And?"
"And Olivia needs someone to point out that Casey doesn't deserve to be constantly on the receiving end of her foul temper."
"Don't you think you just made things worse for Casey?"
"No," the young blonde replied, "because Olivia will realize in the next thirty seconds that she's only mad at me because she knows I'm right."
"Would that be before or after she breaks her phone?"
She dialed Olivia's number.
Listened.
Responded, "After. Definitely, after."
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Trying to reign in her temper, cursing as she gathered the shattered remnants of her phone from the sidewalk, Olivia said, "Hey John, if you don't mind I'm just gonna wait - "
Stood.
Turned.
Realized that she was talking to herself.
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"She was talking to Jenny," Munch informed Fin and Casey, "it got ugly."
"How ugly?" Casey nervously asked.
"On a scale of one to ten?"
The ADA glared.
"She's outside sweeping up her phone."
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"Do you want us to wait?" Fin asked, his obvious affection for the counselor evident in his voice.
"No, but thanks," she replied, "I have a feeling she's about to get really good news."
"Warner didn't tell you her results, did she?" Papa Munch questioned, obviously ready to launch into a "rights of the individual" rant.
"NO!" Casey quickly responded, then softly added, "she's in a good mood, I didn't need to ask."
"But you asked her to corner Liv into getting the test, didn't you?" he softly accused.
"Somebody had to," the ADA replied with a shrug.
"You did the right thing," Fin whispered as he gently squeezed her shoulder, "don't let Mister Civil Rights get to you."
Munch just shook his head in response, then silently moved toward the exit.
With a final "Good luck, Case," Tutuola followed his partner out the door.
Watching them go, Casey didn't see the force of nature barreling into her path.
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Annoyed and distracted, Olivia cursed as she smacked right into the source of her frustration.
"What the hell are you doing here?" the detective snapped as the stunned counselor picked herself up off the floor.
"I'm okay, thanks for asking," a pissed off Novak replied.
Shaking her head in annoyance, Olivia walked away.
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Guilt eating at her as they headed down the hall, Casey took a deep breath and just took the plunge.
"Olivia."
The simple utterance of her name stopped the detective in her tracks.
Turning, the older woman faced the redhead who'd been haunting her every thought since that awful moment in Warner's lab, since the terrible truth had been revealed and her whole world had come crashing down.
Eyes locked, they simply stared, transfixed by the nearness and the damned tension that stretched between them every time they were this close to each other; the elephant in the room, as it were, was bleating and stomping and demanding to be heard.
"I'm sorry," the ADA offered, heart breaking at the sight of unshed tears in the detective's troubled brown eyes, "I didn't mean for things to - "
"Not - " Olivia started, her hand raising, pushing away both the ADA and the conversation she's not quite ready to bear; "Now," she finishes, shaking her head and turning her back on the aching young woman.
Utterly stung, completely confused, Casey had no choice but to follow.
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Noticing the tension between the two women walking towards her, Warner stated, "The dead can speak. I ran the DNA from the HIV virus in Jeff York's blood."
With a quick glance Melinda could see that Olivia was annoyed, her classic tell the eyebrow rub on flagrant display; Casey, on the other hand, was all business, *her* classic tell that she was upset.
Oh hell, the M.E. thought, what now?
When it was obvious that they were going to keep their "poker faces" on, Warner concluded that York & Abbott had identical HIV strains, Casey huffed about percentages to convince a jury (before her hasty exit - which *had* been part of the plan) and an obviously unsettled Olivia offered a whispered "Thanks."
Pathetically, the detective totally missed the "wink wink nudge nudge" glance that Casey had blatantly tossed at Melinda as she'd made her timely retreat; sympathetically, the M.E. then turned to her exiting friend.
"Olivia."
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"What the hell did you tell her?!?!"
"The truth," a matter of fact Jenny told her fired up best friend.
"Which is???" Casey demanded.
"That she needs to quit beating up on you when she's pissed off, that she had better damn well appreciate that you care about her even when it's clear she doesn't give a damn about you, and....." a sudden fit of giggles burst across the phone line, to which Casey responded hotly, "AND WHAT????"
Ten seconds later, a second phone exploded against the side of the morgue.
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"Olivia."
The sound of Warner's voice stopped Olivia's forward motion, and she seriously thought she might vomit.
Here we go, my life is over, positively over.
"What's up?" she said instead, hoping that she sounded nonchalant and breezy.
Knowing that her friend was scared to death, Melinda stepped in close, placed a gentle hand on her elbow, and softly whispered, "You're negative."
Blinking back tears, brown eyes shining, Olivia merely shook her head in affirmation.
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Having picked up the scattered phone parts (minus a particularly difficult to find battery cover) a shaky Casey was leaning against Olivia's car, hoping beyond hope that they could sort out this mess and try to find a way past it.
Unfortunately, Jenny and her big mouth had probably ruined any chance they might have had.
With a resigned sigh, she stood as the detective approached.
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Taking a deep breath of fresh air as she emerged into the sunlight, Olivia was so distracted by the voided death sentence that she didn't notice the nervous ADA watching her approach.
"You're negative, you're negative, you're negative...." was on a joyous loop inside her head, and she seriously didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Then, she raised her head.
DOINK DOINK