"Olivia, you look like shit." Olivia glanced up from her desk to see Fin standing over her.
"Well, good morning to you too dear." She bit sarcastically, not looking up. She hadn't slept well these past few nights, and it was definitely showing now. She had bags under her eyes, and her once tan complexion…gone. Her eyes didn't shine so bright either.
"Any one know where your partners at?" Munch asked as he walked through the bullpen. Olivia simply just shook her head. Elliot and her weren't on very good speaking terms anymore. Not that he ever bothered to explain why he was upset with her…
"Olivia," Cragen's voice boomed, "rape and murder down by Grand Central. Your partners meeting you there." Olivia stood up and silently walked out, leaving a couple of her coworkers in confusion.
***
"Rough night?" Elliot asked when he spotted his partner. Contrary to belief, Elliot cared a lot about her. More than he showed, but hey, how would you tell your best friend of ten years your madly in love with her. So what does he do, he avoids it. That's his way of coping. He ignores problems, where as Olivia just likes to run away. What a pair they'd make.
"Rough life," Olivia mumbled quietly. Three months ago Elliot would have made a concerned comment about what she had just said, but now he just sort of laughed and shook his head in agreement. They walked silently down to where the crime scene was. Melinda already getting prepared to bag and transport the body to morgue.
"Cause of death?" Elliot asked, "Looks like asphyxiation. Not sure, I'll know more with the autopsy." Melinda went on, "Raped, but no semen. Fluids present though that might give us something."
Melinda opened her mouth to give more of an impute when she noticed pain etched into Olivia's features. She hesitated but regained her composure and started talking, "Looks like strangulation, that's my bet. Victim has ligature marks around the neck."
"I.D?" Olivia spoke, almost quietly.
"Not yet, they're working on it. Looks like Jane Doe had one helluva night." And with that Melinda walked away. Elliot turned and started to head back to the car when he noticed Olivia walking slowly behind him. He turned, "You planning on getting back to the house sometime today?" He said it meaning to be funny, but got no response. That's when he noticed she looked a little off. Just because they were fighting didn't mean he didn't know his partner.
"You okay there Liv?"
"Yeah, just..uh, yanoo. My time of the month," She hesitated, "Cramps." She said sheepishly, she knew he wouldn't press her with that.
***
Elliot looked up at his partner who was sitting at her desk. He should be helping her try to identify the victim, but he was to caught up in Olivia. She sat there combing through missing persons files while rubbing the back of her neck. A look of pain on her face. Elliot noticed that she rarely smiled these days. He silently pulled out a bottle of Asprin that he kept in his desk and slid it across to her. She looked up and gave him a thankful smile and popped three pills.
Olivia knew that this stupid disease was supposed to cause some pain, but holy shit. How much can a person take. She had stomach pain at the scene today, and now it felt as though someone was stabbing her in the back. She was thankful that Elliot had noticed and given her some medicine. She'd been out of Advil for a while, but knew Elliot had a bottle of Asprin somewhere.
Elliot kept examining her, only flipping pages occasionally to make himself look busy. He noticed she'd look a little on the skinny side. Her once delicate curves he'd admired, fading. He took a plunge.
"Hey Olivia, its almost noon. How about we go get something to eat?"
Olivia looked up, and it pained Elliot to see that she shocked and surprised by the offer. Thankfully though, she nodded and stood up. They walked across the street to their normal diner, where over the years so much had been shared.
***
"So, how have you been lately? Seems like we don't get to talk much out of work anymore." She said not really expecting him to talk to her like everything was okay again.
"Good, everythings good." Lies, he didn't know why he couldn't tell her the truth. God knows he wants to. "How about you, anything new?"
"Nope, nothing really. Haven't had a lot of free time lately." She spoke.
Their meals arrived and not much else was said, a little small talk here and there. They may have not been on the best terms with each other, but when they were together the silence never made them feel awkward. It was almost welcomed most of the time. It saved them from having to say anything meaningful, or important. They were just getting up to leave, when Olivia suddenly felt sick to her stomach.
Shit. Shit. Shit. She thought, she wasn't ready to tell him, if she was even going to tell him she was sick. She figured maybe she could just deal with it and move on. But it was already beginning to affect her working, so she knew she couldn't lie about it. "I'll be right back" And she set off to the bathroom.
Once inside, she threw herself in a stall and her lunch made came right back up. By the time she was finished being sick she was tired, exhausted actually, and was pretty sure she was a little bit sweaty. She cleaned herself up the best she could and walked out.
Elliot was getting anxious, Olivia went in there almost seven minutes ago. He knew girls took longer, but really? What did she do fall in? She reappeared, but didn't look right. She looked off color and she was walking sort of slow.
"Hey, you don't look so hot. In fact you haven't looked good at all today. Why dontcha head home and I'll cover for you." He said it as a statement, and that pissed her off. She could decide whether or not she wanted to go home. She wasn't going to sit there and let him make choices for her.
Why am I fighting this? He's trying to help, hell…it's the first nice thing he's done in months.
But fighting symbolized normalcy, and that's what she wanted. So she began, "I'm fine, I've been fine all day. Since when do you decide whether or not I feel alright. Last time I checked we weren't even talking to one another, so I don't think you have the right to tell me anything." She said in a low tone, careful not to distract other people in the diner.
"Hey, whoa. Relax Olivia. I was just trying to help. You didn't need to go all bipolar on me" He turned and started to walk back to the prescient, leaving Olivia standing there, moody and in pain. She knew he wanted to say something back, she could feel the rage radiating off of him. But he knew this wasn't the place. She regretted being bitchy with him, knowing that later she would never hear the end of it.
Stupid Olivia, stupid. You have enough to deal with, now this. Good job lady, lets go pick around picking fights before you go home to your empty apartment and dry heave once again.
*
Authors Note- Okay, I double posted, hopefully this will encourage some reviews. I had a lot of people put me on alert, and favorite lists, but only two reviews. Hah, I feel loved you guys! I know ya'll can do better! REVIEW.