"I love you." The three words that echoed through her mind all night.
It was too much to take in or comprehend. There was a time in her life when Olivia would have given anything to hear those words from him. Years had passed since then and things were distinctively different.
But here she was. Lying awake in her bed staring at the wall. Reliving the moment over and over. Did he mean it? She thinks he did. They've always had a love in their relationship. A love unlike any other in her life. She always chalked it up to their years of partnership and the trust they developed in knowing they each had the other's back. They had a synchronization from the moment they met. Their relationship was easy, like soulmates or fate. He was her other half for so long.
Disappeared. The word she used to describe his departure from the force and her life. One day he was there, then he just wasn't. He was gone. Ten years of questions and self-blaming had plagued her. She finally made peace with his absence and the possibility that she would never have closure. His silence became her closure. And then just as he vanished, he reappeared. In this, he brought a flood of emotions and untouched feelings boiling back to the surface.
Seeing him, talking to him, worrying about him and his children. This was way deeper than she ever wanted to admit, even to herself. She knew that he needed her. She also knew that she needed him.
She allowed herself to sink back into those feelings from a decade earlier. She let herself feel every ounce of the pain, the hurt, the unbearable. She relived the night her captain told her that her partner wasn't coming back. How unfair it was that he couldn't pick up the phone to provide an explanation. He took the easy way out ignoring the wreckage it would leave behind.
But he loves her. He told her this while standing in front of his children. She doesn't think he meant to say it, not then and there. But he did. She thought about how strong the urge was to say it back. The restraint she had to stop herself from walking over to him and embracing him. To comfort him the way she had wished he would've comforted her.
Elliot was back in her life. In what form? She wasn't sure yet. They both knew they had a lot of things to work out. Trust had to be rebuilt entirely. But it was worth all of the effort it would take. The bond between them was worth the struggles and the pain. She knew she couldn't stay away.
She was snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of her phone. She rolled over, knowing who it would be. "Stabler." He had called nearly ten times since she left his apartment earlier in the night. Each time leaving a voicemail. She knew she needed to listen to them. She knew she needed to answer. But she also knew she needed to take care of herself. She needed space. Temporary, but space. She knew she would call him back when she was ready. She knew they would work on their relationship in time. She knew they would build their trust back. She also knew, no matter how much she tried to deny it, that she loved him, too.