A Terrible Memory

Olivia sat down at her desk, after getting her third cup of coffee for the day. She turned toward her computer and began to search for information on her current case. Elliot sat across from her and watched her as she rubbed her neck, and arms. He noticed that she wasn't getting sleep lately, her eyes were tired, her stance was more slumped, and her entire attitude had changed, making her bitter and snippy. Elliot was pretty worried about her. In the past three weeks, she had wrecked her car, twice, beat up two suspects in two different cases, and received a one week suspension.

"Hey, are you alright, Liv?" he asked, across their desks, concern leaking from his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Her words assured him, but her voice and face told him different.

"Liv, you do know you can talk to me right? I'm always here for you."

"Yeah, thanks" she tried a fake smile to get him to back off, and he did nodding and picking his pen back up.

Olivia and Elliot worked the rest of the day not bringing up the fact that she was getting worse with her attitude and her body was just getting more tired. When they left for an interview, at a house in the city, she bit his head off the whole way there. She apologized profusely after receiving some sort of text on her phone. He forgave her but he still felt some sort of beat on his heart.

"Want to grab something to drink?" He asked looking at her, after she made her way to her locker to grab her stuff.

"No, not really, I think I want to be alone." She smiled toward him and he knew for a fact that she was lying. There was no way that she wanted to be alone during whatever she was going through.

"Can I come by your place later? I would like to talk." She looked at him as if he hit her in the gut, hard.

"Yeah, I guess, my apartment is a mess" she said in an attempt to get him to stop.

"That's fine, 8?" Olivia nodded and walked out the door. Once outside the door, to the squad room she leaned against the wall, and silently sobbed. Something you would rarely see her do.

Knock. Elliot knocked on Olivia's door, and stood back waiting. She opened the door wide enough to reveal her in flannel pants and a tank top. On the coffee table, there was a half a bottle of tequila and a shot glass. The apartment was strewn with clothes, old dishes, and take-out from every store imaginable. He looked up to Olivia and she stood to the side and let him in. Elliot walked in and tried to find a seat but just stood while she sat down and poured another shot.

"Elliot what is it that you wanted?" She asked downing the shot and attempting to pour another. He went to her side and knealed beside her. He took the shot glass from her grasp and she collapsed into his embrace, sobbing lightly.

"Olivia, what is it?" he waited for her answer.

"Elliot…I can't…I don't want….to relive it." He rubbed her back gently, while she sobbed.

"Ok, you don't have to tell me. Come on, let's get you to bed." He picked her up under the arms and legs, as she put her arms around his neck and snuggled into his neck before he walked her to her bed.

He laid her down gently and she reluctantly let go of his neck, and laid there in her drunken state. He sat beside her and rubbed her cheek. He really did love her, and sometimes he just wished he could tell her. Elliot watched her doze, before he finally covered her with the blanket and set to work on her apartment.

Elliot grabbed a trash bag, and began picking up the numerous Chinese take out and pizza boxes. As he was cleaning her apartment he was getting a feel for how she had been living for the past three weeks. He continued cleaning, picking bottles upon bottles of Alcohol, candy wrappers, dishes, and clothes. He did the dishes, put the clothes in the hamper and put the bags of trash, downstairs to the dumpsters.

He came back up the stairs and walked into the door, feeling good about how her apartment looked. He went to the couch and sat down putting his feet on the coffee table and falling into a peaceful but deep sleep.

Elliot woke up near six hours later, and felt something hard lying on his chest. He looked down and saw Olivia curled up into his side, with a blanket covering them both. He smiled to himself thinking that this was one of the best moments of his life.

Olivia stirred and woke up, looking up at Elliot big blue eyes. "Hi" she said, wiping her eyes

"Hello, did you sleep better?" She nodded and looked back at him.

"I couldn't sleep in my room, so I came out here and my apartment was clean and you were sleeping. I grabbed a blanket and sat here waiting on you to wake up, and when you didn't I just fell asleep." He nodded and smiled. "I haven't slept nearly as well in three weeks, so this was the best I've had in a long time." She smiled that smile he missed for so long.

Elliot just sat there looking back at her, and all he wanted to do was taste those lips that smiled back at him. So he did it. Leaned up and put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her toward him. She settled into the kiss and kissed him back.They broke lightly, taking their time separating themselves from each other.

"El?"

"Liv?"

"Did you mean to do that?" she asked still holding his face.

"Yeah, I think I did"

"I think I meant to do that too." She said looking up at his eyes. She chuckled and kissed him again.

Being that it was Saturday and their day off, they snuggled back into each other and fell asleep. Before Elliot fell asleep he suddenly realized why Olivia was in such a terrible mood for three weeks. Agent Cooper.