A/N: I thought about this when I saw a picture of two Pompeii skeletons holding each other as they died, and I thought, "I could make that into E/O." Enjoy!
Olivia sat in the precinct on a chilly, Friday night. She was working on paperwork with her partner, Elliot, and filling out files from the case they had just cracked.
Olivia hated paperwork. She moaned silently to herself at the sight of it, her hand always cramped in the middle of doing it, and most of the time, it made her brain numb. She only liked it when she was able to work on it with Elliot. While they worked on it, they remained mostly quiet so they could work faster, but their communication was with their mumbling under their breath when one was reading something, the profanity that would slip out from under their breath quietly and accidentally when the other misspelled something, or the simple sound of their partner's breathing patterns filling the space around them. Otherwise, you couldn't pay Olivia enough to do it.
She finished before him, but she didn't want to leave until Elliot did. "How much do you have left?" Olivia asked her partner, whose face was an inch away from colliding with the paper he was working on.
Bringing his face back up to a normal height, he said, "What's left in my box. I think two papers."
Nodding, Olivia said, "I'll do one." She smiled at him, her eyelids dangerously drooping.
Elliot's were, too. "Thanks, Liv." He yawned, and took a paper out of his inbox.
Olivia took the one underneath it, and finished it in a matter of two minutes. Elliot was taking a longer time, but Olivia didn't mind; she liked the distraction. Once finishing his paperwork, Elliot put it in his outbox, and said to her, "Ready to go?" He always gave her a lift home.
Olivia smiled. "Yup."
Once outside, Olivia clambered into Elliot's car. She instantly turned on the seat-warmer, and moved the seat back a fraction of an inch. Olivia's house wasn't far from the precinct—it was walking distance, actually—but she liked Elliot driving her. When they weren't saying anything, Elliot asked her cautiously, "Are you still sleeping on your couch, Liv?"
Olivia, who was gazing outside his window and in her own little world, entered back into reality, and looked at Elliot for about a minute. It took her a second to process his question: Are you still sleeping on your couch, Liv? To be honest, she wasn't sure if she would ever use her bed again. "No. I haven't gone near the thing since the few days before I went undercover." She responded, slowly and coolly, afraid she would burst into tears at any moment.
Elliot nodded, understandingly, and parked his car in front of Olivia's building. Olivia was hesitant for a moment, her stomach filling with guilt, and possibly fear. Seeing her emotions play out on her face, Elliot said to her, "Are you okay, Liv?"
She turned to Elliot, wanting to spill out all of her emotions and break down in front of him. She decided to be truthful, but like a rock on the exterior. "In all honesty, no. I don't want to even go into my own home." She took a look outside Elliot's window to look at her building, and then back to Elliot. "I'm afraid of being alone. Hell, I can't even sleep in my own bed." She didn't mean to place all of this on Elliot's shoulders, but she had no one else to turn to. He was the only one who had a spare key to her apartment, because she had no other family of her own. He was her next of kin, because she knew of no one in her blood line that would care.
Elliot scrunched his brow softly, and looked into her dark, hazel eyes. She was reaching out to him in a way where she stayed strong. But in her eyes, was the most sadness and defeat Elliot had ever seen in them. And he knew he had to step in. "Liv, you've been through a lot. You have every right not to sleep in your bed, or be afraid of where you are. It's okay." He smiled weakly at her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"El…" she said, timidly. "Will… will you come up? Just to get me up there, you don't have to stay."
Elliot nodded. "I'll stay for a bit."
Olivia softly said, "Thank you," to him, and let a small, faint, outline of a smile trace her lips. Elliot noticed that relief filled the place of the fear in her eyes; the sadness was still there, but it was fading.
Once in her apartment, Elliot took mental note of things: the familiar smell of lavender remained the same when he had entered, her floors and kitchen were spotless, and there was no trash in her barrel. 'Pretty….normal…for someone who was almost raped.' He thought to himself. When she went to the bathroom, Elliot took a quick peek inside her bedroom: her sheets were made, and her room's alarm clock was moved to the stand next to the couch. But it looked like her bed hadn't been touched in months.
Stepping out of the bathroom, Olivia said to Elliot while running a hand through her hair, "Can I get you anything? Coffee, tea… whatever?"
Elliot shook his head, and sat down on her couch. "Nah, I'm all set."
Olivia maneuvered next to Elliot, and plopped down on the couch. "Thanks for coming up, El. I know it was a weird request." She said, her voice almost a whisper.
Elliot shrugged. "No big deal. I wanted to come up, anyway. You were a little off." He smiled kindly at her, hoping she wouldn't flip out at him by pointing out her flaws.
She didn't. Instead, she asked in the same timid tone as in his car, "Elliot? Could you help me with something?"
Elliot nodded. "Sure. What's up?"
Olivia bit her lip. "I want to try and sleep in my bed, because this is getting to the point where it's ridiculous. Could you just lay next to me when I get in?"
Elliot smiled. 'Good for her. There's the Liv I love.' He thought to himself. "Sure. Good for you, Liv."
Olivia led him to her bedroom, but stopped when she got to the doorpost. "It's okay, Liv, I'm right here." Elliot said softly, and nudged her lightly. She walked over to the right side of her bed, and pulled her covers over. Elliot quickly walked over to the other side of her bed, and laid on top of the covers.
Slowly, Olivia climbed into her bed and underneath her covers. Once fully in, she quickly turned her head and said worriedly, "Elliot,"
"I'm right here, don't worry, Liv." Elliot said, and he wrapped his arms around Olivia's body, his hands meeting together in the middle of her stomach. He did this out of impulse for comforting her, but when he realized what he was doing, he prayed that it didn't freak her out.
Olivia put her hand on Elliot's that met at her stomach, and said, "Thank you, Elliot. You always know what's best for me." She quickly turned her head to be face-to-face with Elliot, and she locked her lips with his, lightly. Once pulling back, she quickly turned her head in its original position, and muttered, "I love you, Elliot Stabler." Right after that, she drifted off into a deep sleep.
Elliot held her as she slept, thinking about the woman in his arms. His last words before he drifted off as well, were:
"I love you, Liv."