AN: This chapter is kind of long...but you guys don't mind, right? :) Oh, and also I had to say-there's a point in the beginning of the chapter where it talks about how Olivia's favorite band is U2...that's really Mariska's favorite band! Cool, right? And it's mine too! And I swear, as weird as it sounds, I loved 'em before I found out they were Mariska's favorite...you should all give them a listen! :)
Elliot once again looked around her living room, shocked at how much it had changed. She'd gotten a new bookshelf and it held tons of books, she'd gotten a new television. She'd gotten a new coat rack which actually only held three of her one zillion coats but held about five of her stylish hats that she hardly wore anyway. He also noticed a new shelf with tons of CDs on it.
"Did you always have that many CDs?" he asked casually as Olivia kicked her feet up on the coffee table.
"Yeah, I had all the CDs, just no where to put them. They were in boxes in my closet," she answered.
He got up, putting his hand on her thigh for support. He walked over to the shelf and looked at all the CDs. His eyes scanned across albums of different genres and eras. He saw Foreigner, Styx, Lynrd Skynrd, Kiss, Van Halen, Pat Benetar, The Bangles-from the 80s mainly. But he also saw some newer CDs on the shelf. Ciara, The Black Eyed Peas, Leona Lewis, Chris Daughtry, Sara Evans, and the most surprising yet-he even saw a CD by Lady GaGa. But there was only one. The majority was 80s rock. But there was also a few Beatles albums. And there was the Bee Gees, all sorts of music. But there were about six or seven different CDs by U2. He liked them quite a bit.
"You listen to U2?"
"Yeah. I love 'em. But their old music is better than their new," she replied.
"I know...you ever seen them in concert?"
"Yeah."
"What'd you think of them?" he asked, picking up their 1983 album, War.
"Horrible."
"Horrible?" he repeated, wincing slightly.
"Well, they sang okay, but not too great. The thing that really messed it up, though, was that all they did was talk about the Irish Revolution. They're a little too political for me. Did you see them?"
"Nope," he replied.
Elliot became suddenly determined to fix their friendship. To become comfortable around her again, like he used to be. All they talked about these days was work. They never really got off the subject anymore, they didn't go to bars after work anymore, they didn't eat dinner together all the time, they hardly even ever talked about anything other than their cases. Elliot was going to make that happen again. He needed it to. He wasn't going to pull a move on her; he wasn't even sure if he wanted to be more than friends with her. But he wanted to be the way they used to be.
"El, your food's getting cold," she said.
"Oh, yeah," he said, taking the to-go box to the kitchen and pulling out a fork from her drawer.
"I'm gonna go take a shower while you eat. I'll be out in a minute," she said, getting up and walking towards the hall.
Elliot grinned at her expectantly.
"Don't give me that look. I'll leave you hot water," she said with a chuckle, walking back to her master bedroom.
Ah, step one covered. She had laughed. Now he just needed that to happen a lot more.
Olivia walked into her bathroom, pulling off her clothes on the way and dropping them on the floor. She got in the shower and instantly felt relaxed as the hot water powerfully spit at her skin and drizzled down her body. She didn't want her make up to all come off, so she guarded her face with her hands. She shaved her olive legs to a smooth, silky perfection and washed her body with a good-smelling, foamy soap. Eventually she finished and pushed open the glass shower door, a ton of mist escaping into the fresh air of the bathroom. She quickly closed the door so the mirror wouldn't fog up and pulled on her tan robe. As she put on some lotion that smelled slightly of alcohol but mainly of delicious strawberries, she thought of Elliot. She was more than relieved to have time alone with him. She hadn't ever wished that he split from Kathy. That wasn't what she'd wanted. She'd just wanted some time to actually talk to him again for a while about something other than work. She could sense he wanted that too, but if he did, why didn't he ever invite her to dinner or something after work? She was just glad she'd get some time to have a good, long conversation with him without interruptions.
Olivia walked to her mirror, saw that her make up had hardly smudged at all despite the fog of the shower, and pulled out a tube of mascara. She quickly applied some, put on some chapstick, and went to her drawers to find some clothes. She decided on an NYPD tee and some black gauchos that extended to the tip of her knee. She noticed she'd forgotten to completely shut her window. No wonder it had been so cold in there. She went up to the window to shut it, and saw that it was snowing. Hard. She saw that the sidewalk was covered in snow that had been trampled on by tons of people. It must have been snowing really hard, because a sheet of snow was sitting over everything below her, and it had only been about three hours since she'd been outside. She closed the window and shivered. Then she sprayed on some perfume that was the same scent of the lotion she'd earlier put on, then walked into her livingroom and saw Elliot sitting on the couch. She walked in and sat down beside him.
"It's snowing," she announced.
He turned to look at her. "How bad?"
"It's only snowed for around two or three hours and the streets are already covered," she replied.
"I hope it gets worse. Maybe Cragen will let us come in late," he said.
"I doubt it," she scoffed.
"I wish," he responded.
They were quiet for a minute as Olivia brushed her hair. "We should get to bed, I guess," she said.
"Yeah."
"Although I'm not tired," she chuckled.
"Me neither," he agreed.
She finished brushing her hair and set the brush down on the coffee table. "Well," she said, trying to think of something they could do. "Wanna watch a movie?"
"Sounds good," he replied, getting up and walking towards her movie cabinet.
Olivia stayed seated. "Hey, El?"
"Hm?" he grunted, looking at the movies.
"Do you have clothes here?"
He thought about that for a minute as he pulled out The Ring. "Yeah, I think I have some in your guest bedroom," he answered finally.
She stood up and walked over to where he was standing. She put her hand on the back of his shoulder and looked at the movie.
"We are not watching this," she said, flattening her hand open in the air as a hand gesture.
"Why not?"
She stared at him.
"We're watching this," he said, laughing lightly and opening the DVD.
"You're really gonna do this to me...?" Olivia grumbled.
"Have you seen it before?"
"Only a few parts. Have you?" she asked hesitantly.
"Same. I've seen the part where the horse-" he paused. "Nevermind. But I've only seen a few parts because Maureen was watching it."
"Ah. So you feel my pain. Let's put it up."
"No way," he said, putting it in the DVD player.
Olivia stared at him. "Whatever," she said, giving in after she realized he wasn't going to put the movie up. She sat down on the couch and pulled her big blanket down from where it was resting over the back of her couch. Elliot clicked the pause button.
"I'm going to see if I have clothes here or not," he said, exiting into the hall.
He left Olivia sitting there, with a wondering mind. She wondered how she got so lucky that tonight she got the chance to repair their friendship. She wondered whether or not things would be weird when they sat there and watched the terrifying movie and she most likely freaked out. She found it kind of odd that they were really going to sit on her couch and watch a scary movie. This wasn't them. They didn't do this. Ever. Not even five years ago. Although it was strange, she still was happy to spend time with Elliot.
Elliot entered the livingroom again in an NYPD shirt like hers and some gray sweat pants.
"So you did have clothes," Olivia said as Elliot flipped off the light and sat down beside her.
"The sweat pants are yours," he said.
"You fit in my clothes?" she asked, instinctively looking at the pants but not seeing anything because of the darkness.
"Not exactly. Kinda small," he chuckled.
She pressed the play button. "I'm not going to like this movie."
"Who cares?"
"ME!" she yelled playfully, slapping his chest.
He laughed for a minute and then pulled some covers over his legs. Luckily for him, their legs weren't touching yet. He didn't want her to know that she gave him goosebumps. He wasn't quite sure why she made him shiver, but she did, and if she knew that she'd surely think she turned him on. And she kind of did. But not really. He had to ignore that.
The movie started out kind of slow. It wasn't scary for about the first three minutes. Those whole three minutes Olivia got to watch the movie happily. Then it wasn't so great. Just the first time the television became static and a ring was showed, Olivia pulled her feet up to the couch. Then, a little later in the movie, when she actually saw the face of the girl killed by the tape, she did what she dreaded doing-she gasped and leaned closer to Elliot. A lot closer. They were now sitting right next to each other, Elliot's feet propped up on the coffee table and Olivia's legs up on the couch. Then they saw the video everybody watched to die in the movie, and Olivia shuddered. Eventually, she freaked out. She didn't scream, but she freaked out. And it pissed her off that she was doing this in front of Elliot, but her mind was on the movie. Elliot was creeped out, but he didn't show it.
After an amount of time, their eyes got adjusted to the dark, and at some point, rather than watching the movie, Elliot began to watch Olivia's facial expressions. They changed from one of shock, to one of horror, to one of curiosity, to one of nervousness. He couldn't believe he was really sitting there beside her, watching a movie. It was more than weird. Although he liked it quite a bit. She smelled seductive, she looked beautiful, her legs beside his body were soft and smooth. He really didn't mind having this beautiful woman beside him, watching a horror movie. Not that it mattered because they'd never go there. But he took some pleasure in it.
Finally, towards the end, she shuddered, turned away, and huffed into Elliot's shoulder, which was tight in her grip.
"Okay, turn it off, Elliot. I don't like this. Seriously."
Elliot thought of jokingly mocking her but decided against it. "Oh, come on, Liv, it's not that bad."
"Yeah it is."
"Okay, so it is. Rated number 3 on the scariest movies of all time."
"Exactly. And you know this how?"
"Internet."
She stared at him, forgetting about the movie.
"If you hate it so much, why do you own it?"
"I got it as a present a long time ago," she replied. She looked back at the screen and turned back around and grabbed Elliot's shoulder. Olivia didn't really scream like a little girl in these scary movies like most people did. No, she just turned away, put her hand in the air, and began to look sick. She was too serious and tough to get way too worked up about it. She just looked uncomfortable and disconcerted. Elliot kind of wanted to meet her needs and turn it off, but at the same time, he knew that would probably mean she'd take her hand off of his shoulder and scoot away from him so their bodies were no longer touching. He didn't want that.
Elliot didn't really get to think any longer about his decision because Olivia ripped the remote from his hand and switched the television off. For a minute everything was silent and pitch black, other than the sound of their breathing, which was a little louder than normal because of the panic of the movie. Not to mention the nervous beating of their hearts.
Things stayed silent. Neither one of them wanted to be the one to break it. After about two minutes of nervous silence, Olivia couldn't take it anymore. She scooted over to Elliot and placed her hands on his chest. And then he turned his body around and put his hands on Olivia's back and pulled her close to him gently all in one swift move. Elliot was laying down on his back now, and Olivia was beside him on her stomach, her leg draped over him, her arms hugging him. In fact, she was almost on top of him, only none of her weight was really on him. Her face rested in his neck. Was this wrong? She'd always wanted it but thought it would never happen. But Elliot had pulled her into him. He'd wanted it too.
Her arms around his chest, she began kissing his neck. Then she worked her way up to his jaw. He was allowing it. In fact, he seemed to really be enjoying it. He moved his hands around on her back, he kissed the top of her head. Olivia suddenly realized just how wrong it was. Wanting more but knowing she shouldn't have it, she pulled back and climbed off the couch.
"I, ah, I better go to bed, El," she said, breathing roughly.
He sat up and took a minute to answer. "Yeah, yeah, of course."
She stood there and looked at what she could see of him in the darkness for a minute. Then she leaned down, kissed the corner of his mouth, and walked away in the darkness towards her bedroom.
But then she turned back around. She knew she wanted it. She also knew it was wrong, but she wanted more. Badly. She walked back down the hall and into the livingroom. She walked over to the couch. Elliot sensed her presence. She awkwardly stood there for a moment, and he propped himself up on his elbows.
"Do you want this?" she said, partially sighing it but not actually releasing all of her breath.
He didn't answer for a long second and she was getting scared he'd say no. But then he pulled through and asked, "Do you?"
Now it was her turn not to answer for a minute. Did she want it? Yes, of course. Would she say that? Not quite so easy of a question. But she sensed that he wanted it too. He had to. She wouldn't have felt this way for him if he hadn't earned it with all his flirting at work. Well, semi-flirting. A much more sophisticated flirting. But it was flirting.
"Yeah..." she said, her husky voice barely above a whisper. "But...it's your decision...maybe this is wrong. Do you think it is?" she asked.
He stood up and touched her cheek. How he knew where her cheek was in the blackness was beyond Olivia's comprehension. "Yeah," he said. Olivia's heart sunk but instantly rose again when he surprisingly leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips.
He pulled back just a little bit to make sure her reaction wasn't bad, then kissed her again. And she allowed this. She liked it. A lot. At least he thought so, until she pulled back. Although he couldn't see her, he could tell she was upset. It was like some kind of...7th sense. He just knew her.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
She pulled his head close to her chest and kissed it. Her actions shocked him more by the minute. "I've always loved you."
Elliot kissed her back. He was so busy kissing her that all he could get out was, "Same here."
AN: Okay, so I'm pretty happy with how I left the characters, I think this was a good ending. I'm pretty sure this story is over because I'm just really satisfied with the way it ended. I don't think it needs anymore to be added. But if you think I should write more of it, just say so... :)