Who: Liv and Dan What: It's Liv's Birthday! When: Last Monday Where: Dan's car Rating/Warnings: Low Status: Complete!
Considering the first time Dan and Liv had met he’d been on a job and he’d straight up lied to her about who he was and what he was doing and the second time they’d crossed paths, Liv had caught him in said lie, it was nothing short of amazing that since Liv’s return to California, the two of them had become so incredibly close. Dan cared a lot for and about Liv. He understood that they could never be more than good friends. It was frustrating and it hurt, but it didn’t stop him from making the best of the situation as he could.
It was Liv’s birthday, and Dan was bound and determined to make it the best damn birthday she’d ever had. He was taking her to dinner first, and then they were going to a show. Liv may not have been on her Musical Theater Brain anymore, but there was more than just musicals to enjoy in Orange County. Then, after the show they could go to a place and drink or find a club to go dancing or to a pool hall, walk on the beach. Whatever Liv wanted to do. It was her night and Dan was going to make it special.
He arrived at her house just a little past 7:00 that evening. He’d dressed up a little bit, straightened his tie, wore a jacket over his clean white button down shirt, opted for his black dress pants instead of the usual blue slacks.
He gave Liv a grin when she answered the door. “Evenin’, Birthday Girl,” he greeted her.
Liv’s last birthday had been a disaster. She had just started dating her ex. He hadn’t become a zombie yet, didn’t know what she was and well Liv hadn’t been on the best brain. She had hallucinated seeing Major and Lowell couldn’t handle her talking to herself. Not that she could blame him, but still that was how Liv ended up getting dumped on her birthday.
This year, well she didn’t have high hopes. Yes, Dan had told her he was taking her out. It was sweet of him and Liv wished she could be more excited. But she was still dealing with the fact that she was falling hard for a man she could never be with. She was going to do her best not to let that fact, and her previous birthday get her down though. She was going to do her best to enjoy her evening with Dan. Even getting dressed up a bit in a blue dress. Of course her hair was just down and straight as usual, and minimal make up. It was a lot different than the previous brain she was on.
Liv grinned back at Dan when she opened the door, taking the sight of him in. Her already slow-beating heart stopped for a moment. She had never seen him this dressed up before. And for her? Really?
“Evening,” she replied and even though she was currently a bit shy she reached out to greet him with a hug. Part of her wished she could greet him properly with a kiss, but that would just make things harder. “You look nice,” she added as she released him. Usually she would say handsome, but she was too timid to go that far at the moment.
There was a part of Dan – ok more than just a part -- that had wanted Liv to greet him with more than just a hug, but he reigned that in. They had talked about this. Sort of. They were friends. They could only ever be friends. Dan was still in the process of accepting that. He was thankful that Liv still wanted him in her life, amazed, even, after everything that had happened to them so far.
“Yer on a new brain? No more pink nail polish?” He teased her lightly. Not that he would say that Teenage Brain hadn’t been fun, but it had been a little much for the both of them. Liv especially. All those intense feelings and emotions without filter. This brain seemed more reserved. Dan hoped that it was at least one that would let her enjoy herself. He wanted this night to be special for her. One she would remember for a while.
“Thank you,” he said, “Ye look nice too.” Truthfully, Dan thought Liv looked nice in just about everything she wore, even her lab coat. “Are ye ready t’ go? We gotta whole night to ourselves, darlin’.” He turned and made a sweeping gesture with his hand, “the whole county is ours fer the takin’.”
“No, thank God,” Liv replied with a small smile. Yes, the brain she was on was making her a bit more timid than usual. But still this was Dan. He made her feel comfortable and also nervous all at the same time. But he didn’t make her shy. “Pink so isn’t my color.” Even though Dan had commented on how it was her color, Liv still preferred the cooler side of the color spectrum.
“I’m ready,” Liv said quickly grabbing her purse and heading out the door with Dan. “Thank you,” she added as they made their way to his car. “For doing this.” Making her birthday special that was. He had no reason to. He wasn’t her boyfriend. And still he was taking her out spending what some might consider to be a romantic evening with her, even though all they could ever be was friends. It meant a lot, that he wanted to do something nice for her.
“It’s my pleasure, darlin’,” he said as the two of them made their way from her front door towards his car. “Ye deserve it, puttin’ up with me an’ all.” He winked at her teasingly. He was smiling. He couldn’t help it. They were going to go out and have a great time, he would be sure of it.
“Besides, it’s yer birthday. Birthdays are supposed t’ be special,” he said as they walked. “Like, fer example, me da always made sure he didnnea hafta work on my birthday, even if it meant tradin’ shifts with someone else or workin’ over time the followin’ week. That was the one night out of the year that I knew ‘e’d be ‘ome. ‘E’d take me out fer dinner. Anywhere I wanted t’ go. When I was a kid I used t’ look forward t’ that. Kinda stopped when I was a teenager.” Dan wished he’d spent more time with his father when he’d been older. Not out tearing up the town with the little group of delinquents he’d fallen into. If he had known then what was going to happen, he wouldn’t have given his father all that heartache.
“So I wanna do the same fer you,” he went on. He opened the passenger side door for her. “This is yer night. Anythin’ ye want, it’s yours.”
Liv couldn’t help but laugh at Dan’s comment. Like putting up with him was difficult. Liv wanted to spend as much time with Dan as possible. But it was difficult sometimes. Torturous even. To spend so much time with a man she had strong feelings for and just remain friends. But Liv would take what she could get at this point. “I don’t know how I manage,” she teased back somewhat shyly, eyes glued to her shoes instead of looking straight at Dan. But at least she was managing to get words out.
Dan’s birthday was just a matter of weeks away. Liv was certainly taking notes. She wanted to make his day just as special as he was making hers. Unfortunately she couldn’t bring his father back. But she could take him to dinner anywhere he wanted. Hell, she could even arrange to have the whole day off work. “That’s sweet,” Liv commented. “Your dad must have really loved you.” Hopefully it wasn’t too much of a sore spot for him. It had to be tough, losing a parent. Even though she was no longer close with her family, she still couldn’t imagine losing anyone like that.
Anything Liv wanted? Well that wasn’t possible. But she wasn’t going to bring the mood down. Instead she just climbed into the car giving Dan a smile as she did. “You know all I want is,” you “to spend time with you. You really don’t have to go to all this trouble.”
“Aye, he did,” Dan said of his father with a nod. “He wasn’ the type a parent t’ hug or anythin’ like that. It was jus’ him and he did the best he could. We weren’t especially close, but I respected’im. He always worked hard, put other folks first. He never wanted t’ be anythin’ more than a beat cop. He wanted t’ help people an’ protect’em. Lord knows I didnnea make things easy fer him. I was always getting’ inta fights at school. When I was eh, thirteen maybe, I started runnin’ around with this ‘gang’. We weren’t really anythin’ more’en a group o’ kids doing petty stuff. Stayin’ out late. Drinking. Sometimes we’d tag a wall or a bench or steal a coupla beers from the corner store. Stupid kid stuff like that. When I finished high school I realized I ‘ad t’ do somethin’ with me life. I couldnnea just keep doin’ what I was. I realized then that I wanted t’ do what my da did. I wanted t’ ‘elp. I wanted t’ be a cop…”
Dan trailed off there. They’d reached his car by now and Liv had climbed into the passenger seat. She was looking up at him and smiling. That smile. No matter what brain she was on, there was something about that smile that managed to dig down past the exterior walls of ego and bravado Dan put up and stirred something he thought had died years ago with his father. Something that made him ask what the hell kind of man had he become?
He smiled back at her. “It’s no trouble, Liv,” he said. “Ye deserve it.”
He stood there a moment with the passenger door open and just looking at her, lost in that smile that made him want to be better. Then, when he realized he was just standing there like an idiot he laughed and quickly made his way around the car to the driver’s side. “Whaddya think?” He asked as he got in and fastened his seatbelt. “Dinner first?”
Dan’s life was so different than her own. Liv had always been very strait-laced. Even when she was in her sorority in college, she would rather stay at the house and study than go out and party with her sisters. It made her wonder, would Dan even be interested in the real her. Without the influence of any brain. But even if she could totally be herself, being a zombie had changed her. She wasn’t the girl she used to be anymore. Besides it wasn’t like it mattered. They couldn’t be together anyway.
When he stood there staring at her Liv became self conscious, feeling shy once again. Why was he looking at her like that? She adverted her eyes, focussing on the floor of the car. While he made his way around to the drive side Liv took a deep breath, attempting to calm her nerves.
“Yeah,” Liv replied. “Dinner sounds good.” She didn’t care where they went as long as the food was spicy, and of course Liv had a bottle of hot sauce in her purse as always.
“I bet that made your dad proud,” Liv commented steering the conversation back to the previous topic. Liv loved learning new things about Dan. Loved when he opened up to her. “That you wanted to be a cop like him.” She chose not to comment on the stuff from his past. Everyone made mistakes as a teenager, rebelled even. Liv hadn’t but she wasn’t about to hold Dan’s past against him. Besides she knew he had a somewhat checkered past. Or well present even. That had been clear the night they were attacked. “My mom worked in a hospital too,” too as in like she had, obviously. Not like Dan’s father. “Not as a surgeon, she was an administrator, but still, it’s interesting how we tend to gravitate towards our parents careers.”
“Aye, he was proud,” Dan nodded, a smile played on his face as he thought back to the day he’d graduated from the academy. “He was tellin’ everyone he could that his boy was going to be a police officer just like him. ‘Jus’ wait an’ see,’ he’d say, ‘my boy’s gonna make detective in no time! Jus’ wait.’ An’ he was right. I did make detective.” Dan’s smile turned a little wistful, maybe even sad as he thought back. Dan had only been a detective with the vice unit a handful of years before his father had passed away. Everything had changed that night.
He was thankful when Liv brought up how her mother worked in a hospital as well. He chuckled. “Aye, funny how it is they influence us, isn’t it?” He said, glancing in Liv’s direction. Liv didn’t talk about her family very often. Dan knew she had a mother and a brother, but that she had drifted apart from them. He had wondered if the drift had been the result of the Dreams, but he didn’t feel as though it was a good idea to ask. It wasn’t an easy subject to talk about and the last thing Dan wanted to do was make Liv feel bad. It was his opinion that she shouldn’t feel bad she was a zombie. Sure, she couldn’t tell every Tom Dick or Harry she met that she was one, but there were plenty of supernatural people on the network. Many of whom were perfectly open about who and what they were. So far that Dan knew anyway. He didn’t like the idea of Liv hiding.
“I bet she’s proud o’ ye too, darlin’,” He said. “Yer ma I mean.”
Of course Liv noticed the smile on Dan’s face as he talked about when he became detective and how proud his dad was of him. She knew why he had changed career paths. Dan told her about his father being killed and the corrupt police department. But just watching him talk about it? Liv couldn’t help but wonder if he missed it. And now that he had gotten revenge for his father’s death… revenge that caused people to come after him (and her for that matter). Maybe it was time for a change? “Have you ever thought about going back to the PD?” Not in Detroit though. Obviously, considering he was forced out. And Liv didn’t want him to leave the county. “You know I may have an in,” she teased. Although it was perfectly true. Liv did work for the PD. And well, she’d be lying if she said whatever Dan’s other job was didn’t bother her. Even though she didn’t know the exact details, she knew there was something else, knew that it was shady. Of course it worried her.
She shrugged at the comment about her mom. “She was.” Most parents did want their children to be doctors or lawyers after all. It was that stereotypical dream. Of course Liv had wanted it too. Her whole life all she wanted to do was help people. Save lives. “Things change.” Granted she had no reason to believe her mother was no longer proud. But after Liv lost that patient, accidental or not things had change. Liv had changed. It wasn’t her mother’s fault. Then she moved to Orange County, became a medical examiner and the rest was history. The life she had back in Seattle seemed so far away. Even before she became a zombie, she had changed from that girl she once was. The aspiring surgeon. The perfectionist.
Liv’s question took Dan by surprise and his answer was practically knee-jerk. “No,” he stated, “I haven’t.” Which was true. From the moment he had left the Detroit Police Department until literally this exact moment, the thought of rejoining a police force had never occurred to him. He forced a smile for Liv. Bless her for trying to give him something she thought would make him happy. He’d been a good cop in Detroit. It had really been his calling. But he could never go back. Not after everything he’d done. “Sadly that ships sailed, darlin’,” he said and there was a twinge of regret in his voice. “What’s done is done. There’s no turnin’ back.”
It was like Liv said: things change. Not all changes were for the better, but they did help shape people to be who they were. Hearing the past tense made Dan frown slightly. “Was?” He asked. “‘Ow kin she not be proud o’ you now? You do good things.”
The quickness of his response was startling, and if Liv was being honest, a bit disappointing. But her feelings on the subject didn’t matter. What mattered was Dan’s happiness. Part of her still though going back to that life, being on the right side of the law might make him happy. But she wasn’t going to push the matter. Besides, Liv had come to learn there was a lot of grey in life. “Well, if you change your mind…” her voice trailed off, leaving the offer there.
“She might be,” Liv really had no idea. After everything that happened back in Seattle, the depression that came with it. Liv had left that life behind. Including her mother and brother. She missed them, but it was easier to just move on with her life. Besides, now she was a zombie now. There was no way she would burden her family with that.
“So,” Liv said ready for a subject change. “Where are you taking me?”
“Thank ye, darlin’,” Dan gave an appreciative smile. Maybe someday he would be on the right side of the law again. Someone had once asked him if he ever thought about retiring. His answer at the time had been no. He’d been doing this gig for too long and he had been convinced it was all he knew. Well, he hadn’t been completely honest there. In reality he’d thought contract work was all that was left he was suited for. Now? He glanced at Liv again. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
The subjects of jobs and parents were dropped. “I was thinking Indian, tonight,” he said. “There’s a new restaurant that opened up that I think you’ll like.” One of the great things about living where they did was that there were always new things to try, new places to go. “Ye kin have all the spice ye want! An’ if ye donnea like it, we’ll jus’ go somewhere else.” Which was the other beauty if living where they did. “It’s yer night, Liv. I’m atcher beck an’ call.”