When it rains on this side of town it touches
Everything
God damn you, Liv. Elliot Stabler's hands were shaking with a mixture of anger and exhaustion. It'd been two days since he'd last seen her. Two weeks since the Gitano debacle and the fight that followed it. Elliot rubbed his hands over his face. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Olivia's agonized features and heard her pained fury.
"You son-of-a-bitch, you know that's not true!"
But Elliot hadn't listened, hadn't heeded. So he'd driven her away to computer crimes, where at least he saw her at the 1-6. Now Olivia had vanished again, to only God knows where. She'd left him snarling and angry, snapping everyone in range.
Say it again and mean it
We don't miss a thing
You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole
Convinced yourself that it's not the reason
You don't see the sun anymore
"It's just too complicated." Bullshit. Liv was his and he was hers and that was all there was to it. And she would so kick his ass if he ever told her that. Damn it, was a note too much to ask? It'd be so much easier to pretend indifference if he knew where she was.
Oh oh how could you do it?
Oh I – I never saw it coming
Oh oh I need an ending
So why can't you stay
long enough to explain
The first day he couldn't reach her, Elliot chalked it up to PMS. That night, he had horrendous nightmares. In the Bramble, Richard White was laughing as he slit her throat with a thorny rose. On a subway car, Liv was slammed up against a door with that asshole reporter behind her and …oh Jesus, the reporter isn't playing anymore and he's on the other side of the glass all he can do is watch… Now she was lying in a crumpled heap at the body farm, feebly stirring even as she started to decompose…Eric Plummer watching with mute satisfaction. Her body bouncing as it hit the station floor, blood gushing from her throat as Gitano raised the knife for another blow…nonononoNO!
He bolted upright with Olivia's name on his lips and her screams in his ears. Seconds later he was hunched over his toilet, gasping, the taste of bile strong in his mouth. Never, he vowed as he brushed his teeth. Plummer and Gitano were dead. The reporter incident had been minor rumor mill fodder. Richard White was the only real threat, and he was still in jail. With those comforting thoughts, Elliot tried to sleep. His troubled mind dredged up the details of his worst cases, substituting Olivia's features for the vic's. Elliot had never been so happy to see the dawn.
And when it rains
You always find an escape
Just running away
From all of the ones
Who love you
From everything
You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole
You'll sleep till May and you'll
Say that you don't wanna see
The sun anymore
When Elliot arrived at work, he sought out Cragen. The Captain evaded like hell, then bluntly told him that Olivia was away. He didn't know where. Elliot made the rounds, questioning Casey, Melinda, Fin, and Munch. Nobody had answers. Liv wouldn't just leave, right? Desperate now, Elliot turned to Huang. The fibbies? What the hell is she doing running around with the feds?
Oh oh how could you do it?
Oh I – I never saw it coming
Oh oh I need an ending
So why can't you stay
long enough to explain
After work, Elliot went to the bar. Nursing a beer, he brooded over the situation. "You and this job are about the only things I've got anymore. I don't want to wreck that." He snorted. In trying to protect both his job and his relationship with Liv, he'd fucked both over six ways from Sunday. Not only was Elliot miserable at work, but also he didn't have a clue where his partner was or how she was doing. Damn it.
Take these chances to turn it around
Yeah take these chances and make it somehow
Take these chances to turn it around
Just turn it around
Elliot was well on his way to drunk. Maybe this separation was a good thing. Maybe Liv would come to her senses. And maybe pigs will fly. She'd be back soon, bitching about how she'd left the lights on and come home to a huge electric bill. Maybe I should check for her. Elliot slapped some bills onto the counter and hailed a taxi. Sir Elliot to the rescue…again. He smirked as the taxi pulled up at Liv's building. See that? She's not even here and I'm still takin' care of her. One of Olivia's neighbors held the door for him. Apparently even they didn't know about her absence.
Elliot fumbled with his key ring, found the right key, and put it to the lock. It wouldn't fit. Strange. He double-checked the key and tried again. And again, just to be sure. She fucking changed the locks. I can't get in anymore. The realization sobered him, sent a chill down his spine. Morose, he wandered out of the building and waited for a taxi. It took him several minutes to feel the tears in his eyes.
Oh oh how could you do it?
Oh I – I never saw it coming
Oh oh I need an ending
So why can't you stay
long enough to explain