AN: Slow update, yes, I know. Sorry, guys. School sucks.
"Elliot!" Olivia screamed his name, hoping he could maybe, somehow, hear her through the thrashing waves and the obvious distance. She didn't see anybody near her...What would she do if Elliot didn't hear her? She could swim back, but would she make it back without collapsing or becoming too tired? The dolphins had taken them so far out, Olivia just wasn't sure if she would be able to make it back.
"Elliot! Elliot, can you hear me?" she yelled as loud as her voice could reach. She received the unpleasant answer of absolutely nothing other than the waves getting seemingly louder.
After yelling Elliot's name for several minutes, Olivia realized that he wasn't going to hear her. She was going to have to stop wasting her time and energy screaming and use it to get as close to land as possible.
Olivia had been lost for so long that she could no longer tell what direction she was swimming in or where she came from. The deck she'd been on could be behind her or it could be in front of her...She hadn't any idea. She wasn't sure where she should go, but she might as well start swimming somewhere. Almost anywhere was better than the middle of the ocean.
Olivia swam underwater because it was the most fast way she knew how to swim and she wasted less energy when than when swimming above water. She called Elliot's name several times when she came up for air, but she depressingly received no response.
After swimming for about forty-five minutes straight, Olivia lost hope. She tried to continue swimming, but she was just so tired and she didn't think she was getting anywhere. Her legs had started hurting very badly after about twenty minutes and she had started to use just her arms to move herself along, but now her arms were exhausted as well. her whole body felt like jello. It seemed heavy and unstable; she had trouble moving. Somehow, though, when she was planning on giving up after about five more minutes of swimming, Olivia spotted an island. It was small, she could tell just by looking at it. Well, an island couldn't be really small or anything, but for an island, it looked fairly small compared to the ones she'd visited so far.
The island, which was cluttered with trees galore, wasn't really very far away from Olivia. The problem was that right now, anything seemed extremely far away from her. She was so exhausted, she just didn't think she'd make it very far. The island looked so far away. Olivia's eyes were blinded from exhaustion and dying effort. All she could see now was water everywhere, and she just wanted to stop.
Stop thinking like this, Olivia! Go! You can do this! Don't you ever want to see Elliot again? Don't you want to have a real relationship with him like you've kept telling yourself you will? You can do this! Swim, Olivia, swim, she told herself.
She used her last dripping ounce of energy to push her arms out in front of her and make a quick dive underwater, pushing herself forward against the waves' fighting opposition towards her. She thrusted her arms back and forth, forcing herself to keep going even though she felt like someone had dismembered her limbs from her body. After what seemed like an incredibly long, painful time, Olivia felt the relievingly familiar convergence of her feet and the wet sand of the land. She looked ahead of her and saw the island, which was no longer as far as she'd thought it was. She allowed her feet to sink into the sand, stepping on several shells as the molded-together grains of sand burst through the cracks of her toes. This feeling was satisfaction. She was on land. She was going to live.
When she had walked far enough that the water was now only up to her ankles, she sat down. She couldn't take this anymore. She had to rest now. She had overdone herself. She really hadn't been able to swim all the way to this island or walk up to the beach, but some kind of miracle had happened that made it possible for her. But now she had to rest. She couldn't stand it. She laid down, her legs feeling so weak that she could barely feel them anymore. Seemingly the second her head plunged into the soft white sand, her consciousness drifted away into a distasteful but incredibly relieving sleep.
When Olivia woke up, it was dark outside. She rolled over and started to stand up, but quickly realized that she was too exhausted to do so. She grunted in physical exhaustion and tried once again, slower this time, to stand up. She was successful, but her legs were aching to the extreme. She couldn't believe that this had happened. First of all, why had that idiot dolphin lady just let them leave? They had went out into the ocean without a phone (obviously), and without any protection of any sort. Yeah, the dolphins were trained to take them back to the deck, but what happened if they let go?
Olivia tried to blame this mess on the dolphin trainer, but she quickly realized that it was still her fault. Normal people didn't let go of the dolphins, and when they did, they usually found a way to catch up to them. Not Olivia, though. She had screwed up to the extreme, and now she was paying for it.
She slowly turned away from the water and stared forward at the trees of the island. She wondered if anybody was here. The island was tiny, so there was a good chance it was deserted. But what would happen if it was deserted? Would she just be here alone on this island.
Olivia now started to panic more. Her heart raced with anxiety about whether or not she would get off of this island, whether or not she'd see Elliot again. She suddenly heard a noise, far in the distance. She turned around and looked out over the water. She didn't see anything, but the noise got louder and louder. It was coming towards her. She squinted and spotted a light. It was a small light, but it was getting closer and closer. Eventually, she realized that the loud noise was a motor; it was the motor to a boat! A motorboat! She was getting off of this stupid island after all!
She ran forward, as much as it hurt her legs, splashing into the thrashing waves. As the boat got closer, Olivia began to see Elliot's familiar face. She was so happy that she simply couldn't hold it in, and she didn't bother to. Subtle tears streamed down her face, small in quantity and not affecting her facial expression much. The motorboat stopped when it reached the island she was on, and she watched as Elliot hopped off and ran towards her in the dark, wrapping his arms around her immediately.
He didn't say anything; he was just glad to have her with him. He ran his fingers through her sandy, dirty hair and felt her tears stream into the peak of his neck. He gently stroked her face and led her to the boat, not bothering to talk until they were sitting safely on the boat with the dolphin trainer, who was staring sympathetically at the two of them.
"Are you okay?" Elliot asked, releasing a shaky breath of air.
Olivia wiped her eyes quickly. She wanted to kiss him but decided not to in front of the trainer. "I'm, uh...I'm fine. Let's just go, El. I'll talk about it when we get back," she said, giving him a small smile to let him know she wasn't mad and she would be all right.
Elliot nodded and put his arm around her, pulling her cold, bare body into his warmth as the loud boat roared away from the island.
When they got back to the deck, Olivia noticed the two dolphins they'd been with swimming around in a large pin of water used for the park. Why couldn't they just have swam in that pin? That would have been just as fun for Olivia, and a hell of a lot more safe. As much as the idea seemed better, though, Olivia realized while staring at the pin that it really wouldn't have been quite as much fun as going out into the ocean with the dolphins. The pin was big, but it wasn't quite big enough. Still, though, she'd much rather have hung out in the pin with the dolphins than go out into the ocean and get stuck on an island until two in the morning.
The walk back to their hut was fairly quiet. Elliot wanted to ask Olivia a million different questions, but he knew she'd talk when she was ready. She was staying completely silent, so obviously she wasn't in the mood to talk. As much as Elliot wanted to hear her story, he kept his mouth selflessly shut because he certainly didn't want to upset her. She definitely didn't deserve it after the shit she'd been through lately.
When they finally arrived at the hut, the first thing Olivia did was take a shower. She took a while, but Elliot knew she would because she was really messed up and she needed the comfort of a shower. Afterwards, she walked into the room and silently looked at Elliot.
She walked up to him and kissed him, holding the kiss for a long time. She pulled back for breath and then kissed him one more soft, sweet time.
"Thanks for coming. I know it was really late, I'm sorry you had to stay out for so long looking for my dumb ass," Olivia said, chuckling.
Elliot couldn't laugh at her joke. He kind of tried, but the situation just wasn't funny in the least.
"You're not a dumb ass. You made a mistake. It was an accident. It wasn't even really your fault, Liv. And thanks for coming? What, did you expect me to leave you wherever you were? I looked all around the waters and didn't see you, and then we saw that island. Do you really think I would have just left, not knowing where you were-"
Olivia interrupted him."Well, I mean, it was really late and-"
"But it wasn't like I'd be able to sleep anyway!" Elliot exclaimed.
She snapped her mouth shut and stared blankly at him, her face contorted in an expression of sadness but respect for him. She wasn't sure what to say, so she just didn't reply.
After a few minutes of silence, Elliot started in with his worrying.
"Are you feeling okay?" he asked first.
"Yeah, my body's just tired," Olivia replied.
"Are you hungry?"
Olivia stared at him for a minute. She hadn't even thought about food, but now that it came to mind, she realized that she was starving. She had noticed her stomach growling at one part in the night, but with everything going on, she definitely hadn't noticed it at all.
"Actually, yeah," she said. "I'm starving." She walked into the kitchen and Elliot quickly got her something to eat, avoiding using the stove. She ate a lot but was full before she actually ate everything he'd offered her. When she was full, she left the kitchen, Elliot following her.
She went to the bedroom and immediately climbed into bed. She wasn't really tired because she'd slept so much on the island, but she knew that Elliot would definitely be tired by now. Plus, even though she wasn't mentally tired, she was definitely physically tired. She may not actually lose her consciousness tonight, but what mattered was that she needed to be laying down and resting her aching, numb muscles.
Elliot climbed into bed with her, not getting close to her at first.
After a few minutes of silence, Olivia decided she needed to talk. She just wanted to get a couple words out of Elliot before he fell asleep.
"So, um...Did you know that there were any islands out there? Did you know I was on one of them when you were looking for me?"
Elliot stayed completely silent. Olivia wondered if he was asleep, but her mental question was answered when he rolled over to face her. It turned out that he had just taken a long time to answer her because he had begun to tear up.
"I...I didn't. I thought you were probably...dead," he said, his voice dropping to a painful whisper on the last harsh word.
Olivia tried not to let tears gather in her eyes too. "I almost was, but...I kept going because I had to make sure I got to see you again," she said, setting her hands gently on his chest.
Elliot felt the tears coming on fast now. He wasn't really going to cry, was he? Don't cry, don't cry, please to cry, Stabler, he told himself. Too bad. As a few tears started splashing onto his cheeks, Elliot pulled Olivia close to him and let his tears drop into her already-wet hair.
Olivia didn't even know what to do. She was overwhelmed by the sight of Elliot crying over her.
"Don't cry, El," she said, pulling back enough that she could look at him. She gently set her hand on his cheek, wiping away his tears. But they kept flowing out of his eyes, more and more until she found herself using both hands to wipe away the salty drops of pain.
"Elliot, it's okay. I'm right here. You saved me," Olivia comforted him.
Elliot had finally stopped crying but still had an extremely upset expression on his face.
"I never want to lose you, Liv. Just the thought that I might have was the worst nightmare," he said.
She kissed him gently. "I'm right here, El. I always will be."
AN: Thanks for reading! Review for me please! Thank y'all! (: