Elliot pulled his coat tighter around himself in the cool night air. The autumn leaves swirled around them and Kathy felt his hand close around hers, warm and heavy.
"We're late," said Kathy, her words blowing the soft tufts of blonde hair away from her face as she hurried her pace alongside his.
"It's a party," he replied,as they finally saw the bar in the distance, "no one will care."
Kathy studied him for a moment, trying to read his expression, "Does she know you'll be there?" When he didn't respond she just gave his hand a light squeeze and said, "You should have called her."
She didn't know if she meant tonight or three months ago or three years ago. He shook his head and walked on silently.
His steps slowed and Kathy dropped his hand when they came into the warm light of the bar hitting the sidewalk. She could hear laughter coming in bursts and a raucous cheer as someone on a mic spoke to the crowd. Kathy moved to open the door but he grabbed her arm quickly to halt her.
"Come on, Elliot." But she did not move to open the door again.
He peered through the glass window, looking very much like a child staring through shop windows at Christmastime.
Kathy's gaze followed his and saw the table Elliot was staring at. Each face turned to the stage letting her study them unobserved.
Her eyes immediately found Liv, she'd cut her hair short again; she could see her profile, see as she leaned into the man with his arm draped over the back of her seat. Liv smiled at the man sitting opposite, listening to something he'd said and laughing.
She'd expected a marked difference in Liv. They'd heard about what had happened, weeks after. As an unspoken rule they rarely read the paper and never turned on the news, but one day Kathleen had come running into their home and dropped a copy of the latest edition so that Olivia's face was staring up at them side by side with the face of a man named William Lewis. Kathy wasn't certain what she thought she'd expected. Maybe Liv huddled in a corner- worn, tired with haunted eyes. But no, there she was her eyes dancing with laughter as she sat in a circle of her friends.
She was surprised at the number of people she did not recognize. Elliot had always shielded her from his work but she'd at least known the names and faces of those who worked the elite Special Victims Unit.
She could see Fin and Munch, the Captain and a blonde she'd never seen before. And Liv, flanked by two men. She assumed one was her new partner- the one whose arm was not draped protectively around her.
She glanced at Elliot, his eyebrows knitted together, but from concentration or anger she did not know.
"Elliot," she said softly, her hand curling over his arm, "Let's go inside."
"Let's go," he said, suddenly looking down at her, "This was a mistake," he shook his head as though clearing it, "I'm not part of that world anymore."
Kathy held onto his arm as he attempted to turn from the window, "You will always be part of that world." She glanced back just as Liv stood and began to make her way to the stage.
He shook his head again and turned, his hand finding hers in the night air. "Come on, let's go."
And she followed him back to the car in the cool autumn air.