Healing Old Wounds – Chapter 3
Olivia climbed onto the couch later that night. She'd gotten home just before 10pm, changed into some comfortable clothes and settled down next to Danny, accepting the glass of wine he handed her. She smiled at him and settled back as he told her about his day, where he had gone with the kids, the fit Aidan had thrown at the park, how the baby had started smiling when her brother said her name. He asked her how her day was. She replied in generic terms, telling him it had been fine, a little bit about the new personalities she had to work with. She didn't mention the call from Elliot. She hadn't quite sorted out her own feelings on that; she wanted to be sure what she thought before she got Danny's opinion on it.
He grabbed a notepad from the table and handed it to her. "You ready for a day of apartment hunting New York Style?"
She looked at the list of addresses. Grabbing a pen, she crossed a couple of them off this list, knowing that she wouldn't want to live on that block. Being a cop in NYC gave you neighborhood knowledge that few apartment hunters had. She didn't want to end up next to a methadone clinic or a fire station with their late night sirens.
She grinned at him and handed it back. He glanced at it. "Still plenty to look at. We'll find one. We can't stay in a 500sq ft studio forever," he said, referring to the short term place they'd found and gesturing towards the two portable cribs in the living room.
"They'll be okay for a little while longer. I HATE apartment hunting," she said with a little pout. She was not looking forward to the next day.
He poured her a little more wine. "Aww…it'll be fine. We'll get you a nice giant latte on the way to meet the broker."
"UGH…A broker…Don't remind me," she said, grimacing at the thought of the thousands of dollars they'd have to shell out to someone to find them an apartment.
She turned to lean against him, settling down comfortably. They really should just pull out the sofa bed and turn it in for the night but she was just too comfortable on the sofa and Danny. She closed her eyes for a minute then said out of the blue "Elliot called me today."
She couldn't see it since they were both facing the same direction, but she knew his eyes had flown open and his mouth hung open just a little. She chuckled softly, loving that she knew exactly what he was doing.
"Elliot? Elliot Stabler? The same Elliot Stabler that you haven't spoken to in 4 years, the same guy who left you a terrific mess and made you move halfway across the country? " She was a little surprised at his reaction. She didn't think he was jealous, but couldn't quite figure out what he was thinking. "Phewww. That guy's got some balls on him, huh? What did he have to say?"
'Definitely not jealousy,' Olivia thought. 'Protective, maybe. Ironic how the only other person who had ever gotten protective of her was Elliot.'
"Not much. He wanted to know if I would meet him for breakfast."
"What did you tell him?"
"I'm meeting him on Friday." She could feel Danny nodding his head. "What are you going to say to him?"
"I haven't decided yet. I'm still pretty angry with him and I want him to know how bad he hurt me, but he was my friend for a long time and I kind of would like to salvage that if possible."
"Do you think it is?" he asked softly. He remembered when he'd first met Olivia. He'd met her after she'd only been in San Francisco about 3 weeks. He was a writer who spent his morning in the front booth of the coffee shop on her street corner. After see her coming in every morning for coffee he'd finally gotten the nerve to talk to her. He'd asked her out a few weeks after that and he'd spent a long few weeks trying to break down her walls. She'd been so afraid to let her guard down for anyone. She'd told him what had happened after they'd had a few too many drinks one night. Then in the morning she'd tried to throw him out of her apartment, convinced that it'd be better to take that step before he could. Lucky for him, for both of them, he could be stubborn as well.
"I dunno. But I think I need to try." She felt him nod again.
"If he's a jerk to you, can I punch him?" Olivia sat up, almost choking on her wine.
"What?" she squawked, still coughing.
"I mean, he was a pretty big asshole and I know there were extenuating circumstances and all, but you are my girl and he hurt you. I'm willing to let it go if you are, but if he's a jerk again, I would like to hit him. That okay with you?"
"Sure," she finally said with a smile. "If he is a jerk, you can punch him." And she settled back into his chest.
They spent all of Wednesday scouring the west side for the perfect apartment. It was Olivia's version of hell. They finally found a terrific three bedroom in the 60s, no doorman, but a part-time security guard, with an elevator and tons of windows. There was even a small nook area for a workplace for Danny. Grimacing as they wrote the checks for the security deposit, first months rent and for the broker, Danny and Olivia grinned at each other as they looked around their new apartment as Aidan ran in circles in the empty living room.
Later that night they'd managed to get some semblance of a meal together before it got too late. Trying to navigate the crowded room with dishes in her hands, a half-full glass of water dropped from Olivia's hand and shattered on the floor. Aidan looked up from the scribbles he was making with his new crayons and said "Oh Shit!"
Olivia's reaction was to almost drop the rest of the dishes. She made eye contact with Danny, trying not to laugh. He came and met her in the "kitchen" of their rental. "I wonder which of us he heard THAT from?" he whispered as he knelt next to her as they swept up the broken glass.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "I dunno, could be either of us, I've heard you try and drive in this city. "
They both turned to look at their son, scribbling furiously, the incident already forgotten, then turned back to grin at each other.
Olivia had to work on Thursday; she'd worked out a forgiving work schedule. She'd work three days a week and every other weekend, leaving the other days to spend with her family. Danny had the kids when she was at work and wrote when she was home. His parents, the reason they moved back to New York in the first place, agreed to be on call for emergencies. They agreed he would leave Friday to go back to San Francisco to arrange the shipment of all of their things and try to sell their condo. She'd stay here with the kids, avoiding another cross-country flight with two children in diapers. Neither of them wanted to relive THAT experience. He'd managed to get a reasonable flight leaving Friday afternoon. Olivia was a little relieved that he would still be in New York for her breakfast with Elliot, just in case. Just in case what, she didn't know.
Thursday morning she'd been called out to the scene of a rape/homicide out in the outskirts of Tribeca. She was on her own for the morning, the others being occupied in court or with witnesses. She'd gotten to the scene after the CSU and as she investigated she'd realized that the whole place had been contaminated, the EMTs had stomped through blood, CSU hadn't collected the evidence properly and had even moved the body before the M.E. had gotten there. She'd laid into the uniforms, the EMTs, the CSUs, pretty much anyone on scene, explaining to them with some R rated language what she thought of their skills, their attitudes, their persons in general. She didn't need these kinds of ticky-tacky mistakes complicating her job.
Elliot and Regan pulled up and casually parked their sedan at an angle towards the curb. They'd been delayed by a construction site making a disaster of 14th St. As they climbed the stairs to the second floor scene, they could hear someone yelling at the techs. A timid looking CSU tech and a chagrined EMT slunk out of the apartment.
"I wouldn't go in there quite yet, Detectives. Someone's beaten you to the scene and She Is PISSED. " The EMT drew out the last few words for emphasis. "I didn't even know women knew language like that." He said, shaking his head.
Elliot's ears focused on the noise he still heard coming from the bedroom. He knew that voice, he knew the person behind those swear words. He gave his partner a little smile as he stepped into the bedroom. He saw Olivia Benson squatting, bent over the victim, her same brown leather coat. Her hair was shorter than the last time he had seen her. This wasn't how he wanted their meeting to go, but at least he'd talked to her before. He leaned against the door of the apartment as he said "I hope you don't kiss your children with that mouth, Detective Benson."
Every single person in the room froze, including his partner. Regan's mouth fell open as he stared at the younger detective, who had a little smirk on his face. The CSU techs still puttering around the scene looked with deer-in-the-headlight eyes at Elliot and then at Olivia, still crouched over the body. The new techs knew enough to be nervous after getting their hides tanned, the few techs who knew Stabler and Benson from years before were stunned and nervously anticipated her response.
Olivia froze when she heard that voice. She knew that voice before she'd heard the first 4 words. She could hear the familiar intonation in the Queen's accent, heard the smile in his voice. Could hear HIM.
Without moving, without breathing, she replied "Someone tell Detective Stabler to get that cocky grin off his face."
Hearing her response, Elliot's face truly did break into a grin. The CSUs shifted uneasily, still eyeing the Detective who had been yelling at them. She stood and pulled off her latex gloves. Giving some orders to the CSU in charge she turned finally to the other two Detectives. Elliot was still leaning against the door and his partner stood still in the doorway, creases on his face hiding whether he was amused or nervous at the upcoming interaction.
She tossed her gloves aside as she walked towards the door. She looked at Regan and nodded and then looked at Elliot.
"I do in fact kiss my children with that mouth. And, I will have you know, my son used the word 'shit' last night, in the proper context AND with proper conjugation. I've never been so proud in my life. See you tomorrow, Detective?" Elliot nodded at her and she left the apartment and chuckled to herself as she jogged down the stairs.
Elliot was chuckling to himself as well. 'God,' he had missed that woman,' he thought to himself. He was thrilled to know she hadn't changed significantly in the years they had been apart, and he was thrilled that she was speaking to him. His partner turned to him and looked him in the eyes over his glasses. Elliot looked back at him.
"She always was a sarcastic smart ass. It is one of the things I liked best about her," Elliot said to his partner, entering into the apartment to check out things for himself.
