"Oh. My. Gosh. When I said it was about time you guys got together, I didn't mean like this. This must have been mind-numbing, tornado-inducing, casita-destroying sex! Look at this place, Liv! It's like a... a couple of Energizer bunnies got loose around here!"

It took Olivia a moment to realize what was going on but it was hard not to miss Julie's ongoing monologue so early in the morning. As she opened her eyes, she saw her friend picking up the cushions off the floor, trying to make a clear path from the living room to the bedroom.

Olivia sat up, realizing she'd been lying on Josh's arm the whole night. Next to her, Josh groaned, flexing his shoulder and probably checking if he still had some blood circulation going.

Olivia glanced down at herself, relieved to see that despite what Julie had assumed, she and Josh were dressed. Julie would definitely be disappointed.

"Oh, hi, Jules," Josh said, covering his eyes from the sun's rays reflected from one of of the overturned mixing bowls lying on the floor. "Can you do me a favor–"

"Done," Julie said, picking up the bowl, and placing it on the kitchen counter. She stood by the bedroom door, her hands on her hips. "So what the hell happened in here, you sex maniacs, you! You didn't even have time to lock the front door."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Jules. But someone broke in here last night and knocked Josh out," Olivia said.

"I almost had him but he got me with a crowbar," Josh added.

As he said this, Olivia turned toward him, checking to see if the dressing was still intact. "We'll need to change the dressing on that, just to make sure," she said.

"Not until after I go to the bathroom. Excuse me, ladies," Josh said, sliding off the bed and disappearing into the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind him.

Julie's eyes widened as she stared at Olivia. "What the hell happened?"

"Like he said, someone broke in, trashed the place and Josh arrived home. Knocked him out with a crowbar and I saw him run outside to the parking lot and drive off," Olivia said. "But I didn't see his face or anything, or the make of his car."

Julie brought her hand to her mouth in horror. "Liv, what if you had been here when it happened? You could have been hurt!"

"I'm okay and he's okay," Olivia said as she slid off the bed and started cleaning up the living room. There really wasn't much they could do about the couch. It had to be replaced.

"Liv, this is serious," Julie said. "This is breaking and entering. Assault with a deadly weapon. He could have been seriously hurt. What if the intruder was looking for the missing drugs?"

Olivia frowned. "Then he's looking at the wrong place. Josh would never do that."

"We need to call the police, at least," Julie said. "This is serious."

"I'll call the police myself. They'll know to come in here without alarming the guests... or my parents," Josh said, emerging from the bathroom with a towel in his hands. "And after I close everything up in here, I'm heading back to the South Bay."

"Are you serious?" Olivia stared at him.

"I'm tired of hiding from the world all because of a bum leg when I should know better," he said.

"Look, guys, another minute of looking at the mess and my OCD will act up," Julie said, turning toward the front door. "Let's go get some breakfast. I'm starving."

As Julie went ahead of them, telling them not to take too long, Josh pulled Olivia to him. "Thank you for staying with me last night."

Olivia shrugged, her cheeks burning. "It was the least I could do–"

"Stop it with that sort of talk," Josh said, placing a finger against her lips. "I'd like to think you stayed because you wanted to, not because you had to."

"I did want to, with or without the possibility of a concussion. But it looks like you're okay."

"I meant what I said last night, Liv. Every word."

"I know you did," Olivia whispered, then she frowned. "Wait a minute. If you're going back to the South Bay, where are you staying? You had your house rented before you left, remember?"

She was right. Josh had shared the house with two of his friends but a month before the shooting, one got married, and the other one got reassigned to Colorado. It left him with a three bedroom house in the hill section of Manhattan Beach all to himself. After he came up to Ojai to get away from the craziness around the case, he rented it to a family of four. Their lease wouldn't run out for another eight months.

"I was going to stay with Erik–"

"You're doing no such thing," Olivia said. "My brother's got a full house as it is. Sam's mom is still living with them while her house is being renovated and of course, there's Sam and Michael. And here I am with two spare bedrooms and you can have your pick of whatever room you want."

"What about Erik?"

"What about Erik?" Olivia asked, annoyed. "I'm not a child, Josh. I'm a grown woman. Besides, I'd like to think that you meant every word you said to me last night–about not wanting me to feel lonely anymore."

"I did mean every word," Josh said. "But I'm also afraid that whoever did this, breaking into the casita and attacking me last night, won't stop with me. There's you and Bella. I'd never be able to forgive myself if anything happened to you."

"So you'd rather have them go after you in Erik's house?"

He chuckled. "You're right. You've got a point. But there's still Bella."

"I'm tougher than I look, you know. And so is my daughter," Olivia said. "And I know that even if whoever attacked you last night must have been looking for those missing drugs... or something, you've got nothing to do with that."

Josh stared at her for a few moments before nodding. "You're right. I don't have anything to do with the missing drugs. I could never do that to my friends, my family... to you."

Olivia caught her breath, his words sinking in. Love, she thought. "Then let's do this together. Stop pushing me away."

"Together then," he said, pulling her to him and kissing her. As she wrapped her arms around his neck, it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders... their shoulders.

But Olivia had sensed the change in him even before then. She saw it the moment he awoke, from the way he moved about the house, talked, and even acted around them. There was no anger in his words anymore, no resentment. He was back to being the same Josh that she knew–Josh without the distance he had built between them since the shooting. Josh without the resentment over what had happened to him.

Most of all, Josh without his cane.

"I should take you back inside and finish what we started last night," Josh murmured as Julie made her way back down the slope.

"C'mon, you horny bunnies, you!" Julie yelled. "I meant breakfast at the inn, not that kind of breakfast."