Disclaimer: Characters belong to Mr Wolf, song belongs to Mr Sinatra, nothing belongs to me.
Thank you Sam – your help, as always, was invaluable.
This story was inspired by Under My Skin
I've got you under my skin
I've got you deep in the heart of me
So
deep in my heart, that you're really a part of me
I've got you
under my skin.
I tried so not to give in I said to myself this
affair never will go so well
But why should I try to resist, when
baby I know so well
I've got you under my skin.
I'd
sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of having you
near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night
And
repeats, repeats in my ear
Don't you know you little fool, you
never can win
Use your mentality, wake up to reality,
But each
time that I do, just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I
begin,
'Cause I've got you under my skin
---------------------------------------------------------Under---My---Skin-------------------------------------------------------
Used to being watched, stalked and followed, Elliot Stabler wasn't unnerved by much. Natural instinct and brute force protected him from much of the dark side he was confronted with on a daily basis. Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker helped too.
So it was more than unusual to see him jumpy…not edgy like waiting for a perp to appear when on surveillance or waiting for the break in a big case but jumpy. Unexpected noises or movement would see him flinch, definitely something which was un-Elliot like.
Glancing at her calendar, Olivia realised these behaviours had been going on for a month…five weeks of him being inexplicably distracted, thirty odd days of a continual stream of blonde moments, grubby shirts, and of him not talking to her.
Olivia studied him from her desk. His pale blue shirt, with sleeves rolled up indicated he was working, though she knew he wasn't. His stripy tie was askew, hiding his misbuttoned shirt front. Once again he seemed very preoccupied by something and it certainly wasn't the unopened file he'd been staring at for the last ten minutes. She watched as Fin came over to borrow a pen. Elliot nearly jumped out of his skin at the unexpected movement of Fin's arm across his desk.
"You okay?" Olivia asked in hushed tones, desperate for him to give her some indication as to his problem.
"Yeah," he mumbled, not looking at her.
"You sure? Doesn't seem like it," she pushed.
"I am fine, Olivia," he replied, each word clearly and slowly enunciated as he forced himself to look at her.
She didn't believe him. "Want some coffee?" she offered, standing up.
He shook his head; he was jumpy enough without the addition of caffeine to his system. He knew he'd be okay as soon as the clock struck five and he could flee the place for the weekend.
When Olivia had gone out at lunchtime, Fin dragged his chair across the floor, Elliot cringed, he knew where that chair and Fin were going to end up.
"Spill," he said forcefully.
Elliot looked up from the paperwork he was pretending to do and looked at his friend. "What?"
"I said spill. What's got into you and not just today? You've barely said two words to anyone, including your partner and you're as jumpy as hell…" Fin declared.
"Am not!" Elliot retorted quickly.
Fin chuckled. "God man, you sound like you're in the third grade!"
Elliot shook his head, unable to think of a comeback worthy of anybody beyond elementary school.
"What's gotten under your skin? Fin asked, not letting up.
"Nothing?" Elliot replied, dragging his eyes back to the file in front of him.
"You sleeping at all?" he asked, looking at the heavy bags beneath Elliot's cloudy blue eyes.
"Yeah…sort of," Elliot shrugged.
"I'll take that as a no, shall I?" Fin smirked.
"Get stuffed! I'm fine…I slept… just had a d…" He caught sight of Olivia returning and the words stopped.
Fin looked from Elliot to Olivia and back to Elliot, it took him all of ten seconds to put the pieces together.
"Bet that was some dream, El. She was that good, hey?" Fin whispered before he left to return to his own desk. Elliot could only glare at him.
Olivia walked over to Elliot's desk and placed a coffee and bag in front of him, he couldn't help but think that black slacks and a plain white shirt had never looked better.
"Ham and cheese on rye with mustard," she said before heading to her own desk.
"Um, yeah, thanks," he managed, trying his hardest to ignore the looks Fin was giving him.
Olivia looked at the two men, she knew there was something going on she was not privy to. Noting the grin on Fin's face and the dread on Elliot's when they looked at her, she knew it involved her.
"Anyone want to fill me in?" she asked, looking from one to the other. Both shook there heads. "Fine then!"
The afternoon dragged on without incident in a somewhat uncomfortable silence. Every now and then Olivia caught Fin smirking and Elliot giving him the death glare but no words were spoken.
The minute hand had barely touched twelve to indicate five o'clock before Elliot all but bolted to the door with barely a word of goodbye.
"What the hell's wrong with him?" Olivia turned on Fin.
"Nothing, Liv…he's just a bit out of sorts," Fin replied, not wanting to make things worse for Elliot and not wanting to get into her bad books. Elliot's he could cope with, Olivia was a different case altogether.
"Why?" she demanded.
"Not 100 sure," he answered, though he had a pretty good idea.
"Well, can you talk to him or knock some sense into him? I swear to god if this goes on any longer I'll ask for a reassignment," she ranted.
Fin watched a range of emotions play on Olivia's face; anger, concern, frustration, love. He had thought the situation was quite humorous but could easily see Olivia didn't share the joke. He took pity on her.
"Something's on his mind," he said, a smirk appearing on his face.
"What's on his mind?" she demanded but Fin remained silent. "Fin…tell me, is he sick? Is it one of the kids? Is it Kathy? Is it… Is it…" Olivia questioned in frustration.
"You," he grinned.
"What?" Olivia was stunned
"You!" Fin stated. "Seems you've gotten under his skin!"
"Me?" she muttered.
"You!" Fin declared. "Seems you interrupted Detective Stabler's sleep last night."
"No I didn't, I…" her voice trailed as she realised what he meant. "He was dreaming about me?" Her eyes widened.
"Seems like it…must have been pretty good too to do that to him, don't you think?" Fin darted out of her way as she went to slap him.
"Doesn't explain the last month does it?" Olivia said quietly, knowing something more was amiss with her partner. "Talk to him, Fin…please?"
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If you get a chance, and haven't already done so, please check out Throwing in the Towel - my latest oneshot.
