I own no one but my own people.
A/N Hello, sports fans! So flipping through my I-Pod and came across my 'romantic country' playlist and started listening to it and I just got inspiration for a very romantic, drama, awesome EO and FO story from every song from Rascal Flatts to Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson to Faith Hill. So I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Martina McBride owns Wrong Again.
"I knew this time I had finally found someone to build my life around, be a lover and a friend! After all my heart had put me through, I knew that it was safe with you. What we had would never end! Wrong again!"
Olivia's apartment, 6:49 PM
The chicken was sizzling in the oven, the potatoes were mashed, the vegetables were simmering, the wine had been put in the ice bucket with two glasses already full of the sweet red nectar, the candles were lit, a romantic jazz CD was playing softly in the background, her chestnut colored hair was curled, her makeup was smoky making the chocolate brown in her eyes pop out against her olive complexion, she was wearing a sexy fire red dress that showed off the right curves and hid the wrong ones… The only thing left to do was to wait eagerly until he arrived.
Olivia wanted everything to be absolutely perfect tonight. She had spent the good part of an hour making herself beautiful beyond comparison and almost two hours making the dinner they would be dining on tonight.
Elliot had called her up at her home on her one day off and told her that he was coming over later to discuss 'something important' with her. She told him to drop by around seven and at once thoughts of a marriage proposal filled her thoughts.
They had been dating for the last six months. Six months of pure uninterrupted paradise with the man she loved more than life itself.
When he told her that Kathy was leaving him last year she had been there for him in every way a best friend could be there. She had let him stay with her until he found his own place, she had helped and stood by him while he fought the battle for custody with Kathy and managed to see his five children every weekend and Wednesdays, she had even supported him going out with a woman had asked him out. But that relationship lasted all of ten minutes when the woman told him she was polyamorous before they had even ordered appetizers.
Olivia wasn't even aware of the feelings that seemed to be growing for her partner until one night about a week after he had moved into his own place, about three months after he had given her the initial news that Kathy had left him. Olivia had come home one day and saw Elliot outside her door with bloodshot eyes and a tear streaked face. She had never seen him cry over ANYTHING before. Not Elliot Stabler, the man she looked to be her rock.
She invited him in, sensing the worst, and before they had sat down on the overstuffed white couch, he was telling her how he hated being alone, how he hated not going home to anyone, how he couldn't stand the constant silence in the apartment, how he couldn't stand not having anyone come up to him and ask how his day went.
He told her how he couldn't stand not having someone to be with and hold at night. He told her how he after twenty years of marriage he didn't think he could do it alone.
Olivia had been stunned to say the least by his words. After a few moments she turned his eyes towards hers and told him that he was most amazing man she had ever met. She told him how any woman alive would be lucky to have him, how Kathy was the biggest idiot in the world for leaving him, how she would love to have a man like him to come home too, to tell her he loved her, to tell him she loved him, to be with her at night, to know one another in the most intimate ways a man and woman COULD know one another.
By the end of her speech Elliot and she were almost breathless. Their hearts pounded painfully hard against their chest, their eyes never tore away from one another, the apartment grew silent and everything around them seemed to fade to black, the only thing that existed was one another. Without warning he closed his eyes and leaned forward. Their lips met.
After that say things went from bad to perfect for Olivia as well as Elliot. They were happy, they were in love, they had something to look forward to at the end of the night… They were cautious in the beginning; taking things slow in case things were to go south. They knew all too well from their cases how much being physically intimate could affect relationships, much less if you worked with the person as well.
But after about two months of dating when Elliot walked Olivia up to her apartment, they were caught up in the whirlwind of the good bye kiss and they had taken the next, very much wanted, step in their relationship, breaking every barrier between them.
It was nothing short of the most amazing night of either of their lives. It was like they were physically made just to be with one another, fitting together perfectly in a physical sense as well as their emotional one.
They kept their relationship under wraps for about a month after that before they informed Cragen of their situation. He said as long as they didn't let it interfere with their superior work and they weren't, as he called it, making 'goo goo' eyes at one another every three seconds in the squad room, he was fine with it. They promised him they would follow his rules and they almost seemed to excel in their already great work, as if they were proving to him they weren't letting their romantic relationship get in the way of their partnership.
Munch and Fin had found out on their own one night. Alex had just managed to win them a big case and they had gone out to Meloni's to celebrate. They all had a small buzz but nothing major. Never the less Elliot wrapped his arm around Olivia's waist and held her taut against him the entire night. No one had really noticed until it was time to leave. Elliot helped Olivia into her coat and she gave him a semi passionate kiss on the lips as thanks. They all kind stared in shock until they informed them they had been dating for the past two months.
The two of them were more upset over the fact they weren't told the first night it had happened and that Cragen had learned first over then they were shocked they were together.
But everyone had been happy, accepting, and while Munch made a few sex jokes at the couple's expense the first few weeks of finding out everyone treated them as if there were still only best friends and partners.
Things were going perfect for the couple. They were growing more and more in love with one another every day and today when Elliot called her at home today, sounding serious and said he wanted to talk she knew he was going to take the next step. He was going to ask her to marry him, she could feel it. She was going to feel this heavenly for the rest of her life. She was going to have a family, something she never had before but what she wanted more than anything. She was going to become his children's true step mother, he was going to give her a child of their own, she was going to have someone who loves her and who she loves by her side the rest of her life…
She knew it was going to be perfect…
Olivia got off from the couch and began to pace, her heels clicking on the linoleum floor. She was eager for him to get here. She wondered how he was going to ask. Would he get down on one knee or just offer her the ring while they were both sitting down? Would he ask before they ate dinner or after dessert? What would his exact words be? Oh go she hoped she wouldn't start crying after she said yes.
A beaming smile broke out on Olivia's face as thoughts of her wedding rushed through her mind. She would become Mrs. Olivia Stabler. It was perfect; it rolled off the tongue so smoothly as if those two names were destined to be joined together. She would still introduce herself to victims, witnesses, and perps as 'Benson' only because it might get too confusing if they both introduced themselves as 'Detective Stabler'.
Olivia had to hold back a girlish scream of joy when she heard him knock on her door. She took several deep breaths, smoothed out the dress, and forced her beaming grin that took up half of her face into a flirty, sexy smile as she walked over to the door.
She looked out the peep hole and her smile faded when she saw him in his regular work clothes. Sure it was a suit but she had expected a tux or at least something a little nicer than what he had gone to work in.
Olivia didn't linger on his wardrobe long though. "He probably had to work late," she thought to herself as her smile that was on her face moments ago reappeared. "He didn't want to be late so he came over as soon as he could without changing."
She took another deep breath and opened the door.
"Hey, you," she said as she flipped her hair behind her shoulder offering him a sexy smile.
But he didn't return the smile. He didn't even look like he was happy to be there much less happy to see her.
Olivia's face fell slightly as she looked over his face. He didn't look at all like a man who was about to ask his girlfriend to spend the rest of her life with him.
Elliot looked her over but instead of looking turned on or pleased she had gone to such great efforts to make herself beautiful for him he looked back up at her face, still frowning. "Go get changed," he muttered, shocking Olivia with the hopelessness in his tone.
Olivia swallowed hard and glanced down at her dress. He had always told her first thing how beautiful or nice or amazing she looked. Why was he not only ignoring complimenting her but also telling her to change out of it? "Do you not like it?" she asked as she looked back up at him.
"I do like it. But I can't do this with you looking like that."
Olivia swallowed any word of fear she had nodded. She stepped out of his way and motioned inside. "Do you wanna come in?"
Wordlessly Elliot nodded and walked into the apartment. She saw his face contort into despair as he looked around the apartment.
She eyed him wearily for a moment before she cleared her throat, turning his attention back to her. "So I'm gonna go change and I'll be right back. Make yourself at home."
She watched as he nodded and went over to the table behind the couch and picked up a framed picture of the two of them. Her gaze lingered on him a moment longer before she headed off into her bedroom.
Olivia shut the door behind her and to ka shuddering breath. What the hell was going on? Why was he acting like this?
She reached behind her and unzipped the dress and slowly stepped out of it. She let it fall to the floor and want over to her dresser and opened up her drawer.
"This is just a trick," she thought to herself. "When I go out there, he's gonna drop the act and propose to me. He's trying to make me think something's wrong and when I least expect it he's going to propose."
Deep down she knew it sounded insane, but she forced herself to believe the unspoken words. She smiled once more and pulled out the tightest, sexiest pair of jeans she owned as well as a low cut tight dark purple top. She grabbed a black band from her dresser and pulled her hair back into a pony tail leaving a tiny bit of it hanging down.
She looked at herself in the mirror and grinned happily. While she would have looked better in the dress she still looked sexy and beautiful in the jeans and the top. She discarded the heels and slipped on a pair of black flats.
After double checking herself in the mirror she left her room and saw Elliot sitting on the couch looking down at the ground, the glass of wine she had poured for him untouched, still looking as downtrodden as before.
Her smile faltered again but only for a moment. She forced a smile on her face and walked over to him.
He didn't even look at her as she sat down beside him, getting as close to him as he could.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Olivia cleared her throat. "The chicken should be done in about twenty minutes," she informed him. "And I made you chocolate cake for dessert, well… one of your desserts," she said with a smirk as she dropped her arms around his neck and leaned into kiss him but the remained motionless.
Elliot gave no notice that he even heard her and instead continued to stare at the floor. Olivia's heart filled with dread. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
"Elliot, what's going on," she pleaded, all hints of happiness disappearing as she took her arms out from around his neck. "Is it one of the kids?"
"The kids are fine," Elliot muttered almost to the point of unintelligence.
"Are you sick?"
Elliot shook his head. "I'm perfectly healthy."
"Than what is it? Please tell me what's going on, you're scaring me."
Elliot closed his eyes as her anxious words reached his ears. "Olivia… I love you." His words were nothing but a mutter once more. "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in my life."
The words that were supposed to bring her comfort instead brought her dread. He sounded desperate, as If he was trying to convince her of something she had known for a while.
"Than what is going on? Talk to me, Elliot."
Elliot closed his eyes and for the second time since she had met him; she saw tears gather in Elliot Stabler's eyes. "Olivia, we can't… I'm sorry but we can't be together anymore."
No. That wasn't how this night was supposed to go. Those words were never supposed to be spoken to her again.
She misheard him. That was it. She was waiting to hear the worst and she assumed he had said the worst. Elliot didn't say… that, he said something else and she had misheard him.
"What did you say?" she asked, surprised that her voice cracked with the last syllable.
"I can't be with you anymore. We have to break up."
Why was he lying to her? Why was he saying those awful things to her?
Olivia felt tears gather in her eyes. A million thoughts raced through her mind. She wanted to beg him to take the words back, she wanted to scream and sob and demand he take the hurtful words back. But instead she only could manage a single word; laced with every ounce of pain she was feeling right now. "Why?"
"Kathy called me today. Her boyfriend broke up with her about a month ago. She said… she said she wanted our family back together; she wants to take me back."
A hot blind fury erupted inside her. "She left you."
"She said she still loves me."
"Do you love her?"
"She wants the family back together," said Elliot ignoring her question.
"She made your life a living hell for months!" she spat angrily.
"She's the mother of my children."
"She wanted to make sure you only saw your children every other Sunday for five hours!"
Elliot remained silent for several seconds before he spoke once more. "I love you, Olivia. But I want my family back. I want to see my children again; I want it to be like it was between me and Kathy. I'm sorry. I really want to be friends and partners still. It can go back to how it was for us as well."
Olivia let out a sob and covered up her mouth with her hand. Elliot reached in and tried to hug her but she pushed him away from her. "Get out."
"Olivia, please-."
"Get out!" she screamed.
Without another look at her he got up from the couch and left the apartment, leaving Olivia alone.
She waited until she heard the door shut before she collapsed on the couch, the tears coming faster than before. Her body shook with her sobs as she curled up on the couch. She cried for her hatred of Kathy, for her want for Elliot, for her fear of never finding someone as wonderful as Elliot again, for the night that was supposed to be the best of her life that turned into her absolute worst…
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