Five Years Later: Chapter Four
A/N: Thanks again for the reviews and those who "favorite" and follow this story! (: So… I see you guys no like-y Trevor D: He's… sweet… but not Elliot. I get it. :] By the way, I should be doing my Chemistry and English homework… Guess I'd much rather do this.
Also, since I stayed home from school today, I decided to finish this chapter but instead of helping my mom around the house, like I'm supposed to… Enjoy.
Elliot nods and looks down at his watch, "There's still a few more things that I need to tell you but here isn't the best place, Liv – Olivia." He corrects himself. "Whenever you can, let's grab a cup of coffee or something and catch up." He doesn't meet her eyes when he says that. "Please? I can see there is so much I missed." He turns slightly to his left to look back at the very small figures at a very far distance.
"I… We'll see, Elliot." She crosses her arms over her chest.
"Wanna head back?"
She nods, "Yeah."
The two begin to walk back to the others in a comfortable silence. Though she is angry with him still, she is happy that he spoke to her about this. She knows that there is a lot left to be said, but this was better than nothing. She just wonders what work will hold for them. What will Trevor say to her when they're alone? How will the others, other than Munch, react?
Elliot knows that his return wasn't going to be easy for anyone, but so far he is happy with what had turned out. Hopefully, the others will react about the same, too. Though, he highly doubts it.
"It's rude to cancel, Trevor," Olivia tells him once they walk through the front door to their house. Trevor had told her to call Kathy and tell her they can't make it tonight. "Especially at the very last minute." She takes Leah out from her stroller and to her nursery to change her diaper.
Trevor walks in with Nickolas balanced on his hip. "I'm sure she'll understand if we tell her something came up." He insists.
Olivia shakes her head as she fixes the fourteen month old baby's pants, "But nothing came up! They're going to know we made up some excuse not to go because Elliot's back and going to be there." She argues and balances the infant on her hip then runs her fingers through her little boy's brown hair and kisses his cheek. "I love you, Nicky." she smiles at him.
Nicky smiles at his mother and rests his head on his father's shoulder before squirming in Trevor's arms to let him down. Once he is let go, he runs out the room and into his bedroom to play with his building blocks.
Trevor shoves his hands into his pockets and continues, "It's going to be extremely awkward, don't you think? I mean, isn't it already awkward enough for him? He's sitting at a table with his ex-wife and her current boyfriend. And on top of that, we're going to be sitting there! You and I were both single when he left, and now we're married with children – a big change! Oh, and he's never been my biggest fan." He tried harder. Everything he says is true but those are not exactly the reasons why he didn't want to go.
They head to their bedroom with Leah, who Olivia then sets down on the bed. The infant crawls to the center of the bed and plays with a toy she had left earlier there. Olivia sits down on the edge of her bed and looks up at her six foot, five inch tall husband. "Well, Trev, remember I didn't like you either, but you ended up growing on me." She half shrugs, "But I guess I get what you mean… I'm just not so sure." She stands up and walks over to Trevor and wraps her arms around his waist and gets on her tippy toes to give him a kiss upon the lips.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Oh, no, no. No, no, I completely understand. Maybe some other night… Oh, yeah. Don't worr… Don't apologize. I said: I understand, Liv. All right, good bye, Liv. Take care." Kathy sighs and hangs up the phone. She turns around and sees Elliot hanging by the door.
"Sorry about that, Kath." He apologizes. "It's me, I know." He forces a small smile that doesn't quite reach his blue eyes. "I, uh, I'll see you later." he turns the door knob when Kathy stops him from opening it.
"Elliot, I'm pretty sure it isn't you." But she knows otherwise.
Elliot shakes his head, "She – They need time. All of you do, and I completely understand. I never really expected you all to take me in with open arms… I'm kind of surprised you kind of did… But I know this is hard for you. I mean, I did walk out on you, leaving five kids. Three which were minors." He looks down at his hand that is on the door knob before looking back up at Kathy, "I'm just going for a walk, and then I'm taking a cab to the 1-6 to get my job back." He smiles at her pulls the door open. "I might head out to the bar, too."
With his hands in his pockets, he walks down the sidewalk, taking in the changes of the neighborhood he used to live in. After five years, he did expect new people. He smiles at some of the neighbors and had a small chat with a man that had a son around Dickie's age. The two men would take Dickie and the man's son, Ray, out to baseball games, fish, or bowl a few time but sometimes those plans had to be cancelled because Elliot's job.
The fresh air is clearing his head, ad he thinks a little harder. He wonders if having him stay in the guest room is awkward for Kathy. Not in the I-Want-Him-To-Sleep-In-My-Bed-But-Can't-Because-He-Is-My-Ex Husband-And-I'm-Dating-Someone awkward, but the I'm-Letting-My-Ex Husband-Who-I-Hadn't-Seen-In-Five-Years-Stay-In-My-Guest-Room awkward.
Elliot doesn't want to be a burden there, and since he just decided that he is going to stay in the city, he will need to find an apartment. He has enough untouched money in the bank. Back in Utah, he would have part-time jobs, but he was only paid in cash as he requested. The jobs he would do were horrible but how much did he have to choose from in the really small city he stayed in? Hell, it was so small almost everyone knew each other! The population of Altamont, Utah, isn't very high...
Elliot hails for a cab after walking around for about a good twenty minutes. He gives the cab driver the address of the precinct. He leans back against the seat and closes his eyes just for a second….
"Sir," the cab driver says, looking at Elliot through the rear-view mirror. He notices that Elliot doesn't stir. "Sir," his Indian accent sounds much clearer as he raises his voice. He hears a groan. "Sir, we are here at your destination." He sounds a little irritated as he says that.
Elliot's eyes snap open, and he quickly reaches into his pocket to retrieve his wallet and pays the fare and giving the driver a tip.
Elliot gets out the yellow vehicle and looks up at the building. He was there the day before, but he just can't prevent the strange feeling in his stomach from happening. He doesn't know why he is nervous. Maybe it is because he is worried as to who may be inside. He knows that Olivia isn't in there.
His hand finds its way to the handle and pulls the door open. He sees the old faces he'd seen every day for majority of the years he's been in SVU that he didn't see the day before.
"Detective Stabler," a voice he recognizes calls after him after Elliot presses the button with the arrow pointing up for the elevator.
Elliot turns around slowly and faces his former boss, and the man he saw as a father.
"I'm no longer a detective, Don." Elliot states the obvious.
"No, not yet, but you soon will after the exam that I am sure you will pass." Sergeant Don Cragen smiles at the younger man. "Munch told me you dropped by yesterday." Cragen tells Elliot as they step onto the elevator. "I'm glad your back and I hope you feel much better – Five years is a long time."
Elliot smiles back at the older man. "Yeah, but I regret staying away that long, you know? I don't know why I was away for so long," he chuckles sadly, "I think I was fine by the second year… I just couldn't come back and face everyone… I guess I just feared of what people may think of me knowing that I killed a teenage girl. I guess I thought that if I stayed away, then I'd learn to move on and forget the past." The elevator dings, indicating that they have reached the fourth floor and both men step out.
Elliot sighs and stares at the closed doors of the bullpen before looking back at Cragen. "I want to take that exam soon. I'm coming back… I'm apparently useless as an assistant in some Kindergarten class." He shrugs with a smile. "What can I say? Children fear me."
"Is tomorrow good enough?" Cragen asks Elliot as they begin to walk towards the doors. Elliot pulls the door open and lets Cragen go in first before following him.
"Perfect, Cap – Don." He corrects himself and looks around the squad room. He still hasn't grown used to the fact at how much different this place looked. Yesterday, he was surprised but he liked the changes.
A Hispanic detective walks over to them and greets Cragen. "Hey, Don. It's good to see you again." He tells Cragen.
"It's good to see you, too, Detective Amaro. Where's Rollins?"
"She and Fin left about an hour ago to pick up a suspect."
Cragen nods and glances over at Elliot, "Amaro, this is Elliot Stabler – Liv's former partner."
Amaro holds out his hand, and Elliot shakes it. "It's a pleasure to meet one of the best detectives to have ever have worked in the unit."
"Stabler, this is Liv's partner of five years, Detective Nick Amaro."
"I hope you have her back like I used to." Elliot lets go of the man's hand before looking over to the captain's door. "Is Munch here?"
Nick nods, "Yeah, he's in there." Nick's phone rings and he rushes over to pick it up. "Amaro."
Elliot and Cragen make their way towards Munch's office and knock before entering.
"Hey, Don… and Elliot." He leans back in his chair as the two other men sit down in the chairs across from him.
"Elliot says he'll be taking the exam tomorrow." Cragen says.
Munch nods, "That's great. Are you coming back into this unit?"
It is Elliot's turn to nod, "Yeah. I need to come back and let's face it, I was meant to be doing this – helping people… taking sick bastards off the streets." Elliot leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, "I'd like to know who'd I'd be partnered up with when I start working here again." He's confident, like the other two, that he is definitely going to pass the exam and get his job back.
"We'll be left uneven but Ken Briscoe is transferring back, so I may pair up Fin or Rollins with him or you could work with him unless you'd much rather work with Fin… I may even consider pairing you up with Olivia, too. It'd be great to have the Dynamic Duo back."
Elliot laughs, "I don't mind… Pair me up with anyone. I just want to come back." That isn't exactly the truth. He would love to have everything back to normal… as if nothing had changed within the last five years but that's a little selfish, right? Yes, he would like that he and Liv were partners once again, but he knows well enough that she needs some time and he returning back into the state was hard for her. How will she react once she sees him sitting across from her? It is best for him to keep somewhat of a distance. All he really cares about at the moment is to get their friendship back. That's what's really important.
"Liv, you okay? Usually you don't leave the kids this late with just Trevor." Alex says as her friend sits down on the bar stool. Alex brings her beer to her lips and takes a swig. "Something's wrong. Did you have a fight with Trevor?"
Olivia shakes her head and calls the bartender over, getting the same thing Alex got. "No, it's just… I just can't talk to Trevor about this nor to Kathy… because it'd be really awkward considering the fact that it's about her ex-husband and…"
"Whoa! Stop right there. Wait till Casey gets here. This is definitely something we need to talk about." She closes her blue eyes chugs the rest of her beer down. Why does she need to talk about Elliot?
Just as that thought went through her mind, Casey enters the bar and notices Alex and Olivia. She goes over to them, "Hey, guys," she smiles at them then sees the expression on their faces, "what's wrong?"
"Someone, here, mentioned Elliot." Alex looks over at Olivia who chugs the rest of her beer before ordering another.
"It's been five years and you haven't mentioned that man's name in a LONG time. Why now?" Casey asks.
The chill of cool air enters the bar when the door is pushed open and Olivia looks up before looking back at Casey, "That's why."
Casey and Alex look at the direction of the door. They gasp at the sight of three men entering the bar but only one catches their blue eyes.
"Oh, my God," they whisper.
Now they understand why Olivia needed a beer so badly. The man that had left five years ago is back. Casey blinks, thinking maybe she is seeing things. Nope, she confirms, she isn't. That man is definitely taking a seat at a table with Munch and Cragen. She knows how Olivia felt about Elliot and she wonders if those feelings were still there… But she's married, she reminds herself. Olivia is married. She is probably over her feelings about Elliot. Maybe she is nervous/freaking out because the man she called her best friend is back out of the blue. Is he coming back to SVU?
You see, Casey has always had a bit of a crush on Elliot but never acted upon her feelings because he was married and she knew how Olivia felt about him. But now Olivia is married and Elliot is single.
Could this be her shot at love with Mister Elliot Stabler?
A/N: So.. Whataya think? A little E/C maybe? Give me your opinions on that thought. Next, Rollins meets Elliot and Fin doesn't handle his return too well… And a little more of Elliot's kids… and Trevor, Nicky, and Leah if you want.:]
Reviews make me smile… almost as much as when I see the picture of Christopher Meloni when I turn on my computer.
