Everyone was going home they had finally cracked a case on a rape that had happened in an alley. An 18 year old teenager had been forced at gunpoint. She had enough DNA under her fingernails to identify the suspect. Elliot and Olivia had found the suspect in an abandoned warehouse where they arrested him.
George had come in to profile the suspect. A shouting math had erupted not between the rapist and the detectives but between the detective and the psychologist. George believed that suspect had a close relationship with the victim. Elliot thought otherwise.
They were both in each other's face when Don had stepped to physically drag George away from the hot headed man. It took Munch and Fin to prevent Elliot from continuing their disagreement.
While the Asian man walked away, Elliot just had to have the last say.
"Yea so much for caring about the victim the only thing that matters is what the great infallible George Huang has to say, who cares about what the victim has to say. He can make no mistake!"
That caused George to immediately tense up, everyone in the precinct turned to look at the small man. They were stunned when the psychologist suddenly ripped his arm from the captain's firm grip and strode right up to Elliot. He paused as he stared into steel blue eyes before delivering a swift punch across Elliot's face.
The whole precinct was quiet; Fin and Munch were nearby to save George from Elliot who was nursing his bloody nose. The tall detective let go of his nose which continued to drip on his work shirt.
George was panting as he growled, "Never say I don't care about the victims believe me I know how it feels to suddenly not have that control. Are you happy now, you finally proved I'm human by losing control and retaliating like a barbarian."
With that being said, George left to his office, shutting the door with a slam.
Elliot had remained silent throughout the confrontation. He was about to go after the doctor when Olivia took hold of his arm and steered him to the closest restroom.
As they closed the door, they heard the captain order, "Alright people go back to your jobs."
Elliot sat on the counter while Olivia got a towel for him to clean his face. She inwardly smiled when she saw the bruise around Elliot's nose. She thought, 'It's about time George exploded.'
"Really Elliot you had to get a rise from Doc?"
He moved away from the wet towel she was using, to examine his nose. There was no sign of an open wound but a bruise was starting to appear. He wasn't thinking about the dull throb in his nose but the pain he had seen in George's eyes, the smaller man didn't seem to be angry about the yelling match but because of the comment he had said.
"I screwed up Liv."
His partner nodded, "Big time, now if you said that to the Doc, he just might forgive you."
Elliot chuckled, "I know. Damn, just because he's small and quiet doesn't mean he can't throw a punch."
Olivia grinned before throwing him a new towel to clean the remainder of the blood on his face.
"Hey El, after you clean up, get a new shirt, we don't need the suspect to get squeamish."
The tall detective rolled his eyes before replying, "Yes wifey."
"Shut up".
After more investigating and separate interviews between George and Elliot, a solid confession was finally obtained from the suspect.
Elliot smiled when he saw the relief on the heart-shaped face of the teenager. She actually had run up to Elliot to give him a hug to show her gratitude. She would move on with her life.
Everyone except the captain had gone to their favorite bar to celebrate the success of their cases in the last few weeks. Elliot had remained behind to finish some case files that he had tried to avoid the whole week. Now they had come back to bite his tired ass.
He thought everyone had left for the night, that was until he noticed someone, a delivery man, leave a large bouquet of roses in the front of the Doc's office door.
The delivery man knocked on the door something he apparently had done before because after several failed attempts, he left exasperated.
With his residing footsteps, George opened the door and sighed at the sight of the roses. He crouched down to read the card; Elliot noticed that whatever it said must have angered the doctor. The doctor so angry had crumbled the note in a tight fist and had thrown it to the left corner.
The wall was cracking. George sat on the floor with his legs underneath him and with his hands running through his inky black hair.
Elliot slowly stood up, and approached the FBI agent. George must have been caught up in his own thoughts since he didn't show any sign of hearing Elliot move.
Elliot actually jumped back when a bouquet of roses hit the wall with a surprising force. A cry of pain was heard.
"Whoa Doc I get it, you hate me but I think it would be best if we draw the line at throwing things at each….what's wrong?"
He saw George clutch his left hand to his chest. Elliot noticed a white bandage wrapped around the knuckles had ripped and blood was seeping through.
"The thorns ripped my skin. Stupid flowers, he knows I am allergic to roses."
He seemed to have forgotten his earlier argument with the detective. Elliot crouched down to the Doc's level before gently pulling the injured hand into his own.
Elliot was very close to the Doc's Space as he scrutinized the wound. He grimaced at the nasty bruise surrounding the soft hand; it must have come from throwing that punch earlier.
There were thorns embedded in his hand. "'Kay Doc you got any tweezers, some iodine, and bandages."
George wasn't even looking at him as he continued to examine his hand. There was that tension in his shoulders again.
"Come on Doc what's eating you?"
George clenched Elliot's hand as he said, "The person who ordered those flowers was my ex-boyfriends who I have told many times especially around Valentine's Day that I am allergic to roses."
Elliot knew that there was more to this story but he didn't want to push the distraught doctor to the limit.
George was pulled up slowly to his feet by Elliot, who nudged him into his own office.
Elliot had expected the office to be clean and a very organized place but it was the complete opposite. The doc's desk was covered in papers and files. He saw many half emptied cups of tea and books stacked on top of one another.
He took the liberty in looking for a first aid kit in the doctor's medical bag.
Elliot with his basic knowledge of first aid began to gently clean the wound and carefully pulled out the thorns.
He was disturbed that the he hardly got any reaction from the stoic doctor.
When Elliot was done with that, he wiped the remaining blood and began to wrap a clumsy bandage around the small hand.
"Look Doc I'm sorry about earlier it was immature of me and in the end you were right."
George muttered, "Its fine after years of working together I have gotten used to it."
Elliot saw the signature smirk but it didn't reach his brown eyes. He finished wrapping the small hand.
Elliot sighed, "So what did this person do to you because whatever it was I think it's what's eating you Doc."
George got up from his chair and walked toward the window behind his desk. It seemed as the dark night was swallowing the doctor, he was so small and at that moment, Elliot realized how the smaller man had tension which was coming from all the effort he was exerting to hold himself together.
"His name is Eric and we were dating until a few weeks ago. Eric wasn't the same as he was in the beginning; he was possessive, yelled at me for stupid reasons, never let me talk to my friends. I was done, I had, had enough. So I decided to leave him."
George took a deep breath in before he continued, "Eric didn't like that at all. He caught me packing my bags and he…was furious, he slapped me across the face so hard. I didn't see him charge at me. He threw me against the bed and he …he"
He couldn't continue because at that moment the wall he had built to block those terrifying moments, had finally crumbled.