Chris leaned over to clap him on the shoulder, his face almost comically serious except Luke could tell he truly wasn’t trying to be funny this time. “You are a brave, brave man.”

Feeling a little odd, Luke shrugged his shoulders and took a swig of his beer. Sometimes he didn’t quite understand exactly why all the guys seemed... not quite afraid of Olivia, but almost like they could be. Curiosity always made him want to know what they knew that he didn’t; caution reminded him that curiosity killed the cat.

It was one o’clock in the morning. Adam, Angel, Jared, and Leigh had left several hours ago, with Angel still protesting that she was just fine and could totally stay up. Olivia had hugged her and told her she’d be over tomorrow for ladies’ night and ordered her to go home and rest. When Angel acquiesced, Adam looked like he didn’t know whether to be grateful or annoyed that his wife listened to Olivia when all she’d done was argue with him.

Olivia was pretty sure he was keeping a tally in his head though and when Angel was recovered from childbirth and ready to play again, she was going to be in for quite a scene.

Even though they’d brought stuff to stay over in case they wanted to, not all of them did. Patrick had taken Lexie up to one of Luke’s guest bedrooms around midnight because she was completely wasted. He wasn’t at all drunk but Olivia got the feeling he was feeling the need to hover over Lexie right now. Hopefully after a couple days he wouldn’t be feeling so protective. Ellie was up asleep in the other guest bed while Michael and Luke chatted in the dining room. Rick had fallen asleep on the couch’s pull-out bed, drunker than she’d ever seen him before, and Maria had stepped out onto the back porch even though it was freezing out.

Grabbing her coat, she let Luke and Michael know she was going to keep Maria company before following her out there.

Although they hadn’t spent any time together just the two of them before. Other than the ladies who were best friends before they became part of the group, none of them really got together one on one. Olivia always felt a kind of kinship with Maria. She wasn’t a dominant but she was definitely a bit of a mother hen, which possibly came from being the oldest of three sisters. On nights when alcohol was involved, she was definitely a blessing to have around. She was just as much about fun as everyone else was, but, like Olivia, she was also all about making sure everyone survived the fun with as small a hangover as possible.