Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. If I did, I would not have cried myself to sleep last night.
Note: Was anyone disturbed by the parallel to Fault in last night's episode? Guy named Victor holding defenseless victim at gunpoint and urging the detectives to shoot. I was praying the whole time for Dani to take the shot so that we could see some major contrast between her and Liv. I wonder how that will play in to the Olivia/Elliot relationship.
Summary: This is post-Underbelly but with a twist. Read on…
Melinda Warner walked into the precinct in her coat and gloves thankful for the good company she was going to have tonight. Casey, Munch, Finn, Elliott, the Captain and Detective Beck were wrapping up after a long day. She had heard the gruesome results of their day, Dani had shot Victor dead and they had saved the little girl, Belinda. Melinda needed alcohol tonight. Belinda, or Passion as was her street name, was the same age as her own daughter.
As she walked in, people acknowledged her. She greeted them and wished them a good night. She approached Casey, "Hey, are you heading over there now?"
"Yeah," the blond answers, "I was just about to leave. Can we take your car, my bike can fit in your trunk."
"Sure," Melinda answers.
Casey gets up and says her goodbyes to the group. Elliot realizes that they are leaving together and he stops them. Casey has half hoped for this.
"Are you guys having some girls only party that the rest of us aren't invited to? I'm really hurt," he mocks with his hand against his heart in jest.
Casey answers, knowing full well the effect the answer is going to have on him. "Actually, yeah we are. Olivia's having an alcohol-laden slumber party at her apartment since we haven't seen her in so long. Sorry girls only."
Elliot takes a moment before answering her. He can't believe that Liv would be back and not tell him, that he wouldn't be the first call she'd make when she came back to New York. "Liv's back?" He asks incredulously, "How long has she been back?"
"She's been back for a couple of days," answers the captain. "1 PP still hasn't alerted me to the fact however."
"She was here this morning, Elliot, you must have missed her," Finn says to attempt to comfort him.
"We're heading over to her apartment now," Casey adds. "Have a good night everyone." She and Melinda begin the walk out.
Goodnight echoes through the precinct but Elliot is still silent. He grabs his keys from his desk and follows the retreating backs of the two women. Without a word to anyone else, he leaves.
Dani swallows hard and sits down at Olivia's desk. Even after a couple of months, it is still Olivia's desk, Olivia's precinct. Munch makes the coffee the way Liv likes it. Finn tells Elliot to put paperwork on Liv's desk. And Elliot, Elliot tells the captain that he will answer Liv's phone.
"What does this mean for my job?" She asks timidly of the captain while staring down at Liv's desk.
"Nothing, Detective Beck. You will remain in this unit as Detective Stabler's partner. Is that okay with you?"
"Yes, captain." Her answer is washed in relief. She gets her stuff to leave. She had hoped that Elliot would be coming home with her tonight but it does not seem like it. Then again maybe she was jumping the gun, maybe he was so distraught over Olivia's non-acknowledgement of him that he was waiting for her by her apartment, ready and willing to make love to her.
There was no one waiting for her by her apartment when she got home.
Back at the precinct, Finn asks the captain hesitantly: "Is Liv not coming back? SVU is in her blood."
"She was the one who said that she wasn't ready to come back. She will come back when she is ready," the captain answers him philosophically.
"She better. I don't know how much longer I can deal with foreign, aggressive girl. She's not a cop she's a dominatrix." Finn smiles at his partner's snide remark while the captain mumbled "I never heard that" as he made a whip motion with his arm and walked back to his office.
Olivia yells "I'm coming" at the knock on her door. She is so ready for a night of talking with the girls. Casey told her what she had seen as she walked out of the bar last night in the most apologetic tone that she usually reserved for children and victims. Then she had suggested that Melinda come over and they all drink and engage in some men bashing. Olivia wasn't sure about the getting drunk part, but she could definitely use the company before crying herself to sleep for the second night in a row.
She opens the door without checking the peephole and is momentarily stunned to find Elliot and not a giggly Casey and Melinda outside her door.
"Elliot, what are you doing here?" Her voice sounds panicked and her heart rate has sped up. She is not ready for this confrontation.
"I could ask you the same question. How could you come back and not tell me. Although I'm not exactly sure I shouldn't have suspected it. You left without saying anything either."
"I was going to tell you Elliot, I came to the precinct today specifically to find you but I didn't want to interrupt anything with you and your new partner. You guys looked so cozy."
"Cozy? What are you implying? Come on Liv that's a bull shit excuse and you know it."
"What I'm implying is what Casey saw outside of the bar last night."
At the surprised look on his face she adds, "Yeah Elliot, I would call that cozy."
"Liv you don't understand. I wasn't thinking. I've just been so lonely since you left and I'm not sure why I did it. But it's not what I wanted. I kissed her to try to feel something but it wasn't there. I still mean what I said to you the night Gitano died, you are the only thing that I have in this world and I don't want to lose you."
Olivia hears laughter in the hall and she realizes that Casey and Melinda have arrived at last. They turn the corner and stop, realizing they have walked into a very sensitive situation.
"Liv, I'm not leaving until we talk about this," Elliot threatens.
Olivia looks apologetically at Casey and Melinda. "Is it alright if you guys wait in my apartment while we take a short walk? Help yourself to anything. We won't be long.
Casey glares at Elliot while she steps into the apartment with a "Sure. Take your time."
Liv grabs her coat and follows Elliot out of her building.
"I kissed my assignment officer in Oregon," Olivia admits as they walk down the block. "We were together for so long working on this case, we finally solved it and he kisses me. Then I was kissing him back out of loneliness but it didn't feel right. I understand what you mean about the kiss not meaning anything." She swallows and continues. "Elliot, are you sure that she means nothing to you? I understand if you want to be with her. It's fine. I won't hold you to what you said that night after the whole Gitano fiasco."
"I don't want to be with her, Liv. I told you that I loved you that night. I made love to you that night and I'm sorry I kissed her but you have no idea how hurt I was to hold you in my arms, to finally kiss you after 8 years for one night and then to have you disappear, first to computer crimes and then to god-forsaken Oregon. God, Liv I thought you were running from me from our partnership, from what was happening between us. After that first night, nothing else happened. I figured you thought that we had done something wrong, and then you left."
"Elliot, I wanted that night as much as you did. I think I just needed to be away from you to think things over a bit and then it would have compromised the operation's safety if I had told you about Oregon. I am so sorry. I meant everything we said that night. I love you, I want to be with you. I think that's the only thing that I don't regret from these past couple of months. I can finally say that without fear. I love you Elliot Stabler."
"Okay, so when are you coming back to the precinct? Beck is an accident waiting to happen." He stops them both and looks into her eyes. "So you kissed your assignment officer, huh? Was he at least good looking?" He wiggles his eyebrows to let her know that he is kidding. He has forgiven her for kissing another man as she has forgiven him for kissing another woman, her replacement.
She smiles at him. "Not as good-looking as you. But better looking than your new partner is pretty. Why do you always go for blonds?"
"Not always blonds. The woman I'm in love with is a hot brunette. I like your hair this length," he adds contemplatively, combing his fingers through her hair.
"Me too," she adds as she kisses him and wraps her arms around his chest."
"Should we head back and appease Casey and Melinda? They might be drunk as hell by now," he makes to walk back to her apartment. Then he adds again because she did not answer him the first time, "When are you coming back to the precinct? I guess we're going to have to hide our relationship despite the fact that Casey and probably by now Melinda know what's going on."
"El, I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to the precinct just yet. There are other things I have to look after first."
"Okay, but I mean after a month or two, you'll be ready. You can't stay away from Sex Crimes forever, I know you. It's what you do."
"I love working sex crimes but I think its time for a change. I did a lot of thinking while I was away and I have reorganized my priorities. Plus, I don't think that we can hide our relationship anymore."
"What's the alternative? Once the captain knows about us we can't be partners anymore, Liv. We can't let that happen. We can hide it from him, it won't be that big of a deal, we'll just keep the physical things outside of the office."
Olivia stops walking and faces him, "We can't hide it anymore, El. I'm pregnant." She pauses and gages his reaction then continues. "I think he'll notice in a couple of months when I'm as big as a house and then when our kid is calling you daddy."
"You're pregnant?" "How?"
Olivia smiles "When two people love each other and they make hot passionate love on my kitchen floor after facing a big emotional revelation in their relationship, sometimes the woman gets pregnant."
He wraps his arms around her middle and kisses her hair. It's all the response she needs. She feels wet tears against her scalp.
"I found out two weeks after I left for Oregon. I would never have left if I had known, El. Never. It's a boy. So how do you feel about another little Stabler?"