"Better This Way" EO one shot
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.
Author's Note: It is super short, sorry. I wrote this in ten minutes over dinner and had to write it down, thought it was worth sharing. Hope you all enjoy it even though it is simple.
He would take a bullet for her.
He would do a lot of things for her.
Almost anything.
Almost.
It seemed Elliot was willing to do everything for his partner except one thing.
Elliot was not willing to leave his wife for her.
It wasn't that he didn't want to at times or hasn't thought of it before, he has.
He just could never make that final move. Take the final step. He could never bring himself to cross the unspoken lines that formed between them, break through the boundaries and enter the undiscovered world that lay beyond those lines.
Even when he and Kathy were separated, he had many opportunities to make the next move and change their partnership into something more, to give into temptation, but he never did. He let every opportunity pass him by, as painful as that was.
He wasn't sure why he could never break those lines, even if it took everything he had to fight against the urges not to cross them.
Maybe it was fear.
Fear of rejection, fear of changing their lives as they knew them, fear of what his children would think, fear of losing the best thing that ever happened to him… maybe a combination of all four of those things.
Whatever it was, Elliot wasn't sure why he could never act on his feelings. He wasn't even sure that Olivia felt the same way. He could have been reading her wrong all these years. Getting mixed signals, misinterpreting the glances she gave him, and thinking she felt the same way he did when all she thought of him was as a partner.
Either way, he didn't want to find out.
Too much was at stake. Too many people would get their hearts broken.
She would take a bullet for him.
She would gladly give up her life to save him.
She would do anything for him.
Anything.
But she wasn't as willing to do anything for herself.
She put his happiness in front of her own.
There were so many times when she wished she could pull him into her arms and never let go, kiss him until he was blue in the face, and even comfort him in his moments of weakness, but she fought those urges because she was being selfish.
He has a wife and kids. She wasn't anything more to him than a partner.
Sure, she gave him flirtatious glances here and there, and she held on a little longer than she should have when they hugged because in those moments, he was hers.
In those moments, she wished for more.
She fought every thought running through her brain telling her that 'This is Wrong' and 'You are making a mistake' because she didn't care anymore, she longed for him to be hers, and if she couldn't have him, she was going to revel in the moments she could.
But she would never cross the lines between them. Even if she did give into all temptation and cross those lines, it would probably end in her getting her heart broken and needing a new partner in the process.
There was too much at stake.
She had too much to lose.
It was better this way, at least she was the only one whose heart was aching, longing for more.
If only they were willing to cross those invisible lines.
Lines that separated them from happiness.
Lines that kept them apart.
They knew they had to fight their feelings and shove everything deep inside, even when their hearts were pulling them closer. Drawing them in, closer to the border and to the edge of those lines- testing, tempting.
Their desire for each other was strong, but the logic their brains screamed was stronger.
It was better this way. No one's heart would end up broken, just empty. Lost and Longing.