Dealing
"How do you deal with him?"
"Who?" Olivia looked up from her paperwork, a little thrown off by her partners question.
"Munch. Who else?" He then reiterated, as if it was the most common question in the world, "How do you deal with him?"
" Elliot, what the hell kind of a question is that? How does everybody else deal with him?" When Elliot just shrugged, Olivia scowled.
" I hope we all treat him like a human being."
"But why?"
Olivia smirked, trying to hide her annoyance at her partners antics.
"Uh...because he is one." She stated with a tone that quite simply said, "you're an idiot."
He laughed, "that is not what I meant," he shakes his head and laughs softly, "I meant, why do you care how everyone treats him?"
"Because, I'm his friend, his colleague, and I don't get why you guys get so annoyed with him all the time. I mean his theories are a little far-fetched at times but...- Elliot interrupted her with a wave of his hand.
"No. Its more than that. I see you guys, at squad holiday parties, or just at his desk when all the paperwork is done and we have a little time off. You two are always talking...almost intimately. How did you get on such a level of trust with one another? Am I missing something or..."
Olivia sighed, " No El, you aren't missing anything, It's just - she paused carefully, " I understand him."
Elliot didn't seem to except this answer, but let his curiosity subside for the moment. With a somewhat comfortable silence, the two of them resumed their paperwork.
Twenty minutes later, the subject of their conversation came walking back into the squad room.
"Hey," Munch greeted Elliot lightly, before walking over towards Olivia's desk and saying something softly enough to her,( "come on, let's go to dinner"), so that Elliot didn't hear. She smiled up at him, and nodded her ascent as he walked away to gather his things. She got up also, and followed him to the door as he held it open for her. Just before they left, they both turned around only to see Elliot raising his eyebrows and smirking at them.
"What?" Olivia asked.
He just shrugged at them. In return, he got a "what the hell?" look from Munch. Chuckling, he gave up on teasing them, much to their relief, and turned back to his paperwork, seemingly oblivious to the sound of the door closing, of them leaving.
Once outside, and safely away from any prying eyes, Munch draped his arm around Olivia casually, and waited for her to face him. Once she did, he gave her a soft, loving kiss and then asked with a slight shake of his head,
"How do you deal with him?"
In response to this question (and much to Munch's confusion), Olivia just threw her head back and laughed.
It was on this day that she realized that the two most important men in her life, one a secret lover, and the other very much like a brother, may never come to a true and full understanding of each other.
But hey, you never know, maybe that was best.
THE END
A/N: Wow, that was very different from any of the other JO pieces I wrote. I hope it came out okay. :) Please review!