Time to Face the Strain
Category: hurt/comfort, angst, romance
Summary: Olivia is injured on the job forcing Elliot to realise his feelings and face the impact of them. (EO)
Disclaimer: Own nada!
Author's Notes: Wow, it's been a long time since I've written an SVU fic! It's set somewhere within the realms of Eliot's divorce. First chapter is short but they get longer :)
The cold air feels like a freezer slamming Elliot's lungs and an explicit curse bites his tongue as Olivia closes in on their perp, shimmying her way through the chained gate ahead of him. Usually he's faster but she's lighter on the ice and he quickly changes direction knowing there's no way in hell he's going to squeeze through after them. The guy they're chasing might look like a WWE wrestler but he's at least half the build of one and he swings himself round the next corner-
Ploughing directly into a young courier struggling with a stack of boxes.
Fuck.
It's all he needs, and regrettably doesn't stop to help just shoves the kid out the way throwing a half-sincere apology over his shoulder. He can't afford niceties. His partner is in pursuit without backup and he pushes his legs to go faster trying to get traction as he slides around the last bend hoping to cut them off.
Bingo.
The man is in a dead bolt towards him, Liv on his six, and he tenses ready to block when the guy suddenly drops like a bag of potatoes curling himself up into a tight ball. There isn't time to shout a warning and he can only watch helplessly as his partner trips over the body landing with a painful scrape across the icy cement. Their perp is quick to his feet but doesn't run. Instead he focuses on Olivia, hoisting her up by the jacket and slamming her violently against the brick wall.
Elliot collides with him a second later, rugby tackling him to the ground.
He barely notices the impact on his knees or the slandering protests that are thrown back at him. He could care less about the piece of shit dirtbag and cuffs him a little too tightly, darting his head up to check on Olivia. "You okay?"
She's still winded and her chest feels like a vacuum but despite the discomfort waves off his concern. She went down hard and will probably be seeing stars for a couple of days but she'll live.
"I'm good-" she confirms, hand tugging automatically at her radio to put in a call to Fin. He and Munch joined the search over an hour ago, with two other squad cars, and when she's hears him agree to meet them back at the precinct she drops her arm with a tired sigh, "let's go... get this creep off the streets."
Elliot's thighs burn as he hauls the jerk roughly to his feet stealing a quick glance at his partner. There's a slight wobble to her step but she's holding it together and he knows she won't even consider getting checked out until after they get their guy into custody. Honestly, he doesn't blame her. Two homicides, three counts of rape, multiple charges of assault and attacking a cop just made the list.
She's not the only one who wants first crack at breaking the son of a bitch.