Once again, Dick Wolf wants to kill me by twisting my guts around and stabbing my heart with the rusty butcher cleaver he calls 'Elliot will never settle his issues, will he?' and it is JUST KILLING ME. WTF ELLIOT. WTF.

So in case you haven't guessed, Elliot going back to Kathy left me in a pissy mood. And I could go on and on about plot cohesion and the epic mistake this is, but instead I'll just write some sexy porn. Well, it becomes such a bit later. I have a snow day and now I'm just sitting around, writing like the crazy kid I am. Yay.

…

Her finger makes unwanted contact with the scalding coffee cup, and she winces immiediately, bringing the sore to her mouth and sucking in irritation. As if she isn't in a bad enough mood already, pain is the last thing she needs. Cragen is sticking his head out his door again, peering suspiciously at the empty seat across from her, but she can only shrug a heavy shoulder and nurse her wounded hand. Honestly, where the fuck is he?

She's already pissed that he has said absolutely nothing to her since the close of the trial. Not one word. It had taken her three hours to track down all the paperwork, two hours to get all of the interrogations to lean in her direction. She'd barely caught her breath before time itself had halted her before the courtroom doors, forcing her to take an unwilling seat and rock impatiently on the bench, cold coffee between her knees and fingers drumming the edge of the wood. And then all of the pressure of the past five hours had come crashing on top of her innards when the door knob had finally twisted open, and she'd sprung to her feet and stared expectantly at the figures now emerging.

And then the unbelievable letdown as he'd stepped past her. A quick thank you to M.E., who had smiled appropriately and patted him on the shoulder. A small grin to Casey, a bigger one when she responded with a relieved laugh. And there she'd stood, Benson the eternal partner of note, waiting for her turn before his eyes, and yet she'd received nothing. He passed her and he walked out the door, flanked by his attorney, and that was the last she'd seen him.

So he had the balls to completely ignore her and then show up late? Well, Liv has always been good at busting balls…

"Did you call him?" Cragen's voice shoots across the room, typical impatience accelerated to a note of subdued anger.

"Yes." She says through gritted teeth, glancing quickly at the door and hoping he walks in, just so she can prove at this moment how very right she is.

And by miracle, coincidence, or poor choices on fate's part, here he is.

He takes his seat and seems unaware that Cragen is lecturing him, and she has to be silent when he pulls off his jacket and pulls out his badge, when their eyes don't meet and nothing has come out of his mouth. He smells like gasoline and winter, and she has to fight that scent, fight the immediate emotions that come with it.

"Where have you been?" She finally manages, her voice a bit more biting than she'd imagined.

"Car stalled." He says, and he still isn't looking at her, still hasn't lifted his head from the papers on his desk he is now stooping to sort. And she needs to see that expression right now, read his story from his eyes, not the easy responses he likes to feed to everyone else. Once she's seen him, she can tell what's wrong, and he knows it, which is probably why he refuses to face her. And it's driving her insane. Oh for god's sake, just look up and let me see your fucking face, El. Stop being a two year old.

"You could have answered your pager."

"Didn't have it with me."

She chokes back her disbelief. "You're kidding."

"Actually, I'm completely serious."

"We called your house, too."

"I wasn't home."

Still won't look at her. He still won't look at her.

She's going to kill him.

Damn him. He knows what he's doing. He's driving her mad and she's giving in and she's letting him work under her skin, just like she knows he knows she would. Ugh.

"I'm guessing your pager was at home then…"

"You guessed right." He turns to face Cragen, still standing at the door. "Sorry about that, Cap. Car problems in this weather; you know how it is."

"Answer your pager." Is all the captain has to say before returning to his office, and Elliot is turning back in his seat, the hint of a smile on his lips. She notices (well of course she notices) and raises an eyebrow.

"You seem happy." She manages, wondering if she should even veer into this territory. After all, she is completely and entirely pissed at him, and anything he's happy about is probably going to make her even angrier…

"Yeah," He bites his lip as he flips a folder over, writing something on the side. "Actually, uh," And then their eyes meet and she sees the light in them, and she has to hold back a response. "I, uh…" He grins widely, rubbing his temples as his voice wavers boyishly. "I moved back in with Kathy."

…um.

No.

No, Elliot Stabler, you didn't move back in with your ex. Since she became your ex two weeks ago. Since she came up to your partner and asked her to speed the process of divorce along. Since you two haven't been on a normal level for the past two years. Since everything about that has been slipping downhill, and lately it's been all your partner can do to not scream at your for letting it go on this long.

No, you definitely did not just do that, Elliot Stabler. There is no way you are that fucking moronic.

Of course, she doesn't realize that her jaw has been hanging open for this entire thought process, but his perplexed stare has to immediately remind her of the present situation. She closes her mouth with a snap and resumes the indifferent look of a few minutes before, managing a well-put "Oh." before turning back to her paperwork.

But now it's her partner's turn to look shocked. "'Oh'? That's all you have to say?"

"Well, if you insist…" She fights the strong urge to roll her eyes. "Congratulations?"

"You don't have to be this way about-"

"I'm not. Really." Her smile is forced, but it's a smile all the same. "I'm just tired from everything yesterday. You know, you being on suspension and all that, and then showing up late to your first day back after everything that was done in order to secure you showing up to a job at all…"

His expression is complete confusion now, and she knows he is borderline shocked and a few steps from anger, but he's not there yet. So she can't be bothered to care. She can just be the PMS riddled ball of pissed off she has been for the past few hours.

"You know…" She starts, but then lets her voice trail off, realizing that another sarcastic retort would probably not be the best response right now. Instead, she leaves him to the silence, ignoring the steady growth of stress from his half of the table and pretending not to notice how angry he is slowly becoming.

And they remain silent until break, but the rush to the coffee machine is more cutthroat than usual, she even managing a glare when he knocks into her coffee cup, spilling some of it on her wrist. Is he asking to be throttled?

But as she steps back to her desk, he grabs her arm, and she is being dragged outside, fighting the urge to kick him where it hurts.

"Look," He says harshly, swinging her dangerously into the hall and ignoring her wince of pain when she slams against the wall. "Is there a problem here?"

"No," She replies quickly, avoiding his eyes and keeping her mouth firm.

"I don't think I deserve the lies, Liv…"

No, you deserve to have your testicles twisted off, but unfortunately we're in public…

"I'm sorry. I'm just…a little stressed." She takes a seat on the bench, surprised when he follows suit and rests his body gently against hers.

"Well, yesterday was no picnic for me either."

She raises any eyebrow. "I'm very aware of that."

"Are you? Because the only person that really seemed to be doing anything for me was Melinda, and this isn't even her thing."

"You're kidding." Big mistake, buddy. "Do you have any idea what I went through to get those testimonies? I spent hours, literally hours, doing nothing but running around the city defending your name 100. I put my job on the line, and you want to say I wasn't "aware" of the situation?" She bites her lip in order to hold back the cussing that longs to follow suit, and she sees the expression in his eyes change.

"I didn't know." He says quietly, but it is a voice better suited for a sulking ten year old than a grown man. "No one told me."

"What did you expect me to? Sit around and knit?"

"No, I just…" He holds up a hand to her harshness, but it is blasted back by her onslaught of retorts.

"Just what? Thought I'd wait around for the big boy to take care of his own problems? Maybe that's what I should have done!"

"It's always worked before!" He's on his feet, towering over her until she's stood up as well, staring back defiantly.

"So that's what you think? I'm just the follower here?"

He rolls his eyes. "You know that's not what I mean…"

"Then just what do you mean, Stabler? Because honestly, I can only see negative connotations coming from that last statement."

"I mean…" He stops, and there is a pregnant pause in which she has no choice but to turn on her heel and head back inside, sick of verbally abusing the bastard when he isn't even fighting back properly.

"Liv, what do you think?"

She freezes, glaring over her shoulder. "About what?"

"You know what."

She has to let out a sigh, because she knows it has been coming for a while, and it's not going to be pretty.

"I think you're wrong." Olivia says, and leaves him standing silently in the hall.

to be continued! tell me what you think; comments are my candy!