Ungodly Hour
Disclaimer- I own nothing :)
What the hell happened now? I think to myself as I walk briskly towards the front door of my apartment building, Reaching the door, I begin to open it only to find the rain pouring down outside. "Shit" I mutter, pulling my jacket on before stepping out. Within minutes, I'm already soaked from head to toe as I hail a cab. "JFK International" I tell the driver as he glances back at me.
Luckily, there is little traffic and we seem to speed through most of the streets. The lights of the city pass by my window as I look out, seeing the airport coming up quicker than I had anticipated. Letting out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, I sigh softly as the driver pulls over to the curb where another line of cabs are parked, loading people in and out of them. "Here" I say, tossing him a twenty dollar bill. "Thanks" Opening the door, I step outside into the pouring rain and quickly run to the automatic doors leading the the baggage claim. Once inside, I pull my cell phone from my pocket and begin dialing his number while brushing a few strands of wet hair behind my ear.
"Liv?" I hear his voice shortly after.
"I'm here. Where are you?"
"Right here, turn around" Turning around, I see dozens of other faces. None of them are his. "Other way"
"El, can we please not play this game right now? If you see me, just wave me over or come get me?" I plead, still looking around for him. Soon enough, I see him and gasp lightly at the sight. Hanging up the phone, I quickly walk over to meet him half way. "What the hell happened to you?!" I ask, concern and confusion clouding my voice as I take in his appearence. There is a small gash on his left cheek, he has a black eye, and his lip is busted. He looks exhausted, but there is a hint of something else in his features as well. Pride? Relief? Once we meet in the middle, he simply shakes his head.
"Longest week of my life" He mumbles. Unsure of what to say for a moment, I reply with the only thing that pops into my mind.
"Welcome home" He smiles a bit at the word.
"You have no idea how good it is to be back. Another day in that house would have driven me completely insane." Its easy to detect the frustration in his voice as he speaks and shakes his head, leading me over to the baggage claim area with him.
"El, what happened?" I ask, almost afraid of the answer I'm about to get. He sighs before speaking, and I know I'm not going to get a straight answer.
"I dont want to talk about it."
"Elliot, you have a black eye, a busted lip, and theres a-" Before I can go on any farther, he interrupts me.
"Olivia, please. I really don't want to talk about it right now. Lets just get my stuff and head back to the precinct so I can sleep in the cribs."
"Fine" I give up, shrugging my shoulders in defeat. Minutes later, he finally grabs his small suitcase from the luggage crousel and we are waiting outside for a cab in the rain. The silence is comfortable, but is soon almost too much to bare. "Chester Lake is dead" I tell him softly, looking for any available caps.
"What? How?" He asks, finally looking back up at me in surprise.
"Apparently a fight broke out down at the prison, and some inmates were killed. He was one of them. Fin went to the morgue when Cragen told us and hasn't come back yet." I explain sadly. After another small pause, I speak again. "Caseys back though. Shes staying at my place tonight and is probably already asleep in the guest room. She still hasnt told me what shes doing back, and I'm starting to wonder what she hasn't told me" I explain as a small shiver from the cold and the rain runs down my back.
"Wow" He whispers softly, mostly to himself. "Thats...a lot to take in. When did the fight break out? And how come Caseys staying with you?"
"Either really late last night or early this morning. And I offered to let her spend the night so we could catch up." As I finish my sentence, an empty taxi pulls up a few feet away and we both get in quickly. After giving the driver the address, he begins speeding off and leaves me and my partner to sit in silence.
"Theres a chance Eli might not be mine." His voice is soft as he speaks, barely above a whisper as he looks down at his hands in his lap.
"What?! Elliot, of course he is! What makes you say that?"
"Liv, he looks nothing like me! He's got light brown eyes, blonde hair, and freckles." He begins, looking back up at me. "Me and Kathy had been seperated for months when she got pregnant. I mean, yeah we had that one night, but..." He takes a deep breath before continuing and I can tell this is hard for him. "I found out while me and Kathy were staying with her brother that she was seeing someone while we were apart. It was casual, but they were definately...intimate" I see him squirm a bit as he mentions that last part before continuing. "I made the mistake of asking her straight up if Eli was mine while her brother was in the room. Before I knew it, the guy had me pinned down and was beating the shit out of me, and Kathy just stood there with tears in her eyes not doing anything. The last thing she said to me was 'How dare you accuse me of doing something like that? I want you out'....So I left. I packed my bags, got on a plane, and came back" His voice is pained, and I feel the overwhelming urge to comfort him.
Reaching over, I place my hand over his and give it a gentle squeeze. The smile he returns is small and sad, causing a piece of my heart to break from seeing him like this."You want to stay the night? Caseys in the guest room, so that leaves the couch wide open" I offer with a small smile once my apartment building is within view. He politely declines, explaining how he wants to be alone tonight and thanks me for picking him up. "Alright, well the offer is good all night, so just come over if your sick of being alone. And call me when you get to your house just so I know you got home, it looks like this storm is only getting worse" I say once the driver pulls over to my building. I quickly give his hand another gentle squeeze and a soft, appologetic smile before getting out and running quickly to the front doors of the apartment complex as I hear the taxi drive away behind me.
AN- More to come, obviously.. Sorry this chapter was particularly sucky, still really sick and trying desperately to get better :) Drop a review and tell me what you think so far :) Also, if your a fan of one-shots, go check out "In Dreams Awake" and leave your request for a particular type of one-shot as a review. It can be any pairing, a song-fic, a post-ep, a pre-ep, anything. Tell me if you want it to be fluffy, dramatic, sad, funny, whatever. All ideas are welcome :) Oh, and dont forget to continue to R&R this one as well :)