Work Text:
Clive sat at his desk constantly checking the clock and feeling restless. He had sent Liv an emergency text over an our ago asking her and Ravi to meet him at the station. Now, he was beginning to wonder if they were going to come at all.
“Clive!”
Liv rushed through the doors to Homicide with Ravi following closely behind. Finally. Clive got up from behind his desk and stretched, not even realizing how tense his muscles had gotten. He was prepared to make a crack about it being gracious of them to come, but then he got one good look at them and the comment died on his lips. It was, if anything, blindingly apparent to him, as well as any other officer who even glanced their way, as to why they were so late. When Liv had suddenly rushed off earlier that day right in the middle of the investigation with a hurried apology about having to help Ravi do some “research,” Clive never would have guessed that a couple of hours later the two of them would come back to the station looking breathless and guilty and wearing different clothes than the ones from that morning. And Liv’s periodic element “O Mg” shirt was way too big to not be Ravi’s.
Clive spun his chair out from under his desk to face them and gave them an appraising look. “Mister Chakrabarti. Miss Moore. So, I checked with the sanitation crew working on the day you described. No one remembers witnessing a conversation between our victim and Don Watts.”
Live swore under her breath. “Dammit.”
Clive grinned. “But fear not. Don Watts should be here with his lawyer any minute now.” He pointed to Liv. “I need you in interrogation.” Then he pointed at Ravi, “and I need you just outside. But first some clothing changes.” He eyed Liv, trying to think of delicate way to put what he was about to say. “Do you have a change of clothes at the morgue?”
Liv looked down at her shirt as if she hadn’t noticed it before. “Uh...” she looked at Ravi.
“I think you still have a dress stowed away somewhere in my office,” Ravi answered nonchalantly.
Clive raised an eyebrow. “Right. Well, good. Ravi, there’s a municipal worker’s uniform and high-vis vest in the breakroom. I just need you to come out when Assistant D.A. Charles gives you the signal. We’ll keep the blinds in the interrogation room pulled up just enough for Don Watts to see the uniform, but not your face.”
Ravi’s eyes lit up. “That’s brilliant!”
Clive gestured towards the break room. Ravi happily walked away and Liv began to step away as well to head to the morgue. Clive had an internal struggle for a few seconds before he decided it best to speak up.
“Liv. Could I have a minute?”
Liv looked surprised. “Sure. What’s up?”
Clive lightly touched her elbow and pulled her in close. In a quiet voice he said, “You know I don’t like to get into anyone’s personal life, right? But whatever this thing you’ve got going with Ravi, you might want to be a little less obvious about it.”
She blinked at him in wide-eyed surprise. “What?”
“Liv, I’m serious. You don’t have to pretend with me, you get that, right? You two are grown, consenting adults. You can do whatever you want. But as my psychic partner who I enjoy working with and as your friend, Ravi is still technically your boss. And you two disappearing from the morgue and then showing up in each other’s clothes, if people start to talk and word gets around -”
Liv’s look went from confused to indignant and she held up her hands. “Clive. I’m going to stop you there. Ravi and I aren’t sleeping together. We’re just friends. And I really was helping him with a research project. I got something spilled on my dress and Ravi had a change of clothes in the back of his car. That’s all.”
Clive eyed her up and down. He didn’t believe her and it didn’t begin to explain why Ravi also needed a change of clothes, but he’d said his piece and whatever the nature of the relationship between Liv and Ravi really was wasn’t his business. He just hoped that, once she had a little time to process what he’d said that she would stop showing up to work looking guilty and disheveled and wearing Ravi’s clothes.
“Okay,” he said reluctantly.
Liv smiled as if she was trying to force some warmness into the interaction. “Honestly, Clive. If Ravi and I were dating, you would be one of the first people I’d tell.”
Clive shook his head. “Don’t. I don’t want the headache of talking to HR or filing the paperwork with the County Council.”
As Liv hurried towards the morgue to change, Clive wondered if, on the very small chance that she was telling the truth and they really weren’t sleeping together, she actually believed what she said about there being nothing romantic between herself and Ravi. If so, the day she stopped being in denial was going to be a tough one for her. But that wasn’t any of his business, either. Right now, he just needed to focus on the interrogation happening in the next fifteen minutes.