CONTENT WARNING: There is no sex in this chapter. Like, at all. Really. We promise, and we're sorry.
Chapter 2
Her knuckles have barely rapped once against the door before he's violently swinging it open to reveal her distressed expression, and he watches the anxiety overflow as she contemplates his urgently stern face and is caught underneath his urgently reaching hands. He pulls her into the room, letting the heavy door slam behind them.
"What the fuck, Olivia?!" he shouts in a whisper, his face much too close to hers and both hands gripping her upper arms like vises, shaking her whole body with each word, unable to contain all that courses through him. Who was that woman? Is she your precious Olivia? — Dani had already asked her questions, having observed something in the way they had gawked at each other, in the way he had needed to move his body toward his former partner's, to take a closer look at her. Dani's questions were his questions too — Who was that woman? Is she still his Olivia? He asks himself again as he stares down at her unfamiliar eyes, guarded and angry.
She's violently yanking her arm free from his grasp, outrage and determination playing across her face, yet she keeps her voice steady. "I should be asking you that," she seethes as his incredulous eyes widen under knitted brows.
"You should be asking me what exactly?! Why I'm fucking a stranger in front of people?" His voice is no longer restrained as he yells back, furious at the insinuation that his actions are equal to hers. "Did you even—"
"He's not a stranger!" she cuts him off, raising her own volume with another of her expert deflections. Elliot smirks caustically, then wipes the smile off his own face with a tense palm over his mouth as he turns his head, breaking their eye contact and leaving her to stare defensively at the empty space around him while he makes her wait for his retort.
"What is he then?" he finally bites, turning back to her, "Your handler?" He chuckles arrogantly, meanly, but inside himself, he searches her face for evidence that she is still there — his precious Olivia, who silently gapes back at him with narrowing and glistening eyes, and with clothes that do nothing to keep the image of her naked body from unceremoniously flashing through his mind. He bites down on his lips to keep himself from pressing them to her skin as his body tries to insist on reacting to her proximity, blood rushing south despite the fact that he needs it in his brain, to process it all. "This is what you've been doing with the FBI?" He is all smiles and smugness now, but there is no amusement in his voice, no pride in his words. "That guy sure got a lucky assignment."
"'That guy' is my boyfriend," she scoffs, one corner of her mouth turning upwards triumphantly, like that fact absolves everything he'd had to watch in that room, as though it cancels the burn in his stomach. It doesn't. It makes it all worse. Her boyfriend. "And yes, he's FBI, and you've just jeopardized our operation. I'd like to know why."
"How long has this been going on?!" He closes in again, looking down on her with disappointment as the angry questions tumble out unfiltered. "Having sex in front of strangers- and with- with—" he struggles for words that adequately describe and disguise his personal hatred for the man.
Olivia raises her chin and her own voice in return. "It's none of your business who I have sex with, or wher—!"
"It is my business!" he shouts as his palm slams on the wall beside her, "You're my—" The word nearly comes out as naturally as it had for the past eight years before he remembers that she is not. She stares back boldly, unaffected by his rage, and lets uncomfortable seconds pass before she speaks.
"Who's the blond that was attached to your hip?" she asks with an accusing brow, leaving him two options with which to wound her.
He chooses the word he knows will burn the most. "She's my partner." Not girlfriend. He knows why that hurts more. He understands.
Olivia smiles and nods, taking an instinctive step back. "Of course she is," she whispers.
"Just like he's yours..." he thinks out loud, immediately regretting it. As he registers the way her eyes spark at the momentary crack in his resolve, it's suddenly of the utmost importance that she doesn't know how much he hates having been replaced "Well. Obviously not just like..." he smirks, unconvincingly.
Olivia sighs and swallows, tucking her hair behind her ear in a clearly uncomfortable move of her hand, ignoring both his admission and his provocation. "Look, we don't have a lot of time. I came to tell you about my case and hear about yours so we stay out of each other's way."
Elliot hates the ease with which those words roll off her tongue. Stay out of each other's way. Is that what she really wants? Her full, trembling lower lip hints at a contradiction.
"We're here for information," Elliot clarifies, swallowing his anger, hurt, and worry for a moment. "We've had two separate women report being drugged at these events. They have no memory of most of the evening, but both believe they were raped. The only lead they could give us was a guy called 'the watcher.'"
"Yes, Rufus Vollebekk," Olivia nods. "He's the one we want, too. Your two vics got away, but mine are all dead. We're pretty sure he's delivering them to someone in the hotel, since he's been alibied during T.O.D.s."
"So you think he's choosing victims for another perp?" The tension in his body subsides a little, and he realizes he and Dani may have been unknowingly over their heads coming into this undercover gig blindly. "We were just hoping to gather some information from him."
"We know he is. The FBI's been tailing him for a long time, and we're close to catching him now, and hopefully getting to his boss. Dean and I aren't the only ones undercover here." Dean and I. The use of the man's first name doesn't go unnoticed. "But I did notice Vollebekk watching your partner. He might be taking an interest in her."
There's resentment in the way she says that word, as if Olivia blames him for the fact that he'd been given a new partner. He wonders if she's forgotten she's the one who left in the first place. If she hadn't left, he wouldn't have had to walk into Dean fucking her. He squints and shakes his head, and he wants to hurt her. Shame her.
"I still don't get how you got pulled into this whole operation," he says with a caustic smile. "Maybe the FBI misunderstood when they found out you were a sex cop."
He watches her face intently and finds relief in the pain that comes to the surface, triggered by his comment, but she quickly brushes it off with a forced smile. "I don't have time for this," she exhales, starting to turn away from him, but his reflexes are sharp, and before he makes the decision to stop her, his fingers are grabbing both of her wrists to keep her in place.
"You forget that you and your partner are here, too," she rasps through clenched teeth as her glance glistens again, only to go completely dry with the next blink of her eyes — or maybe he imagined it. "As if you two didn't know what working undercover at an event like this would involve?"
Her words sting against his better judgment, and so does the fact that she seems angry when she's the one who abandoned him, who left without a warning, to do this of all things. Without him there to watch her back. For a moment, he wonders if he'd have been the man sinking his cock into her if they'd still been partners in this operation, and his mind goes blank. Olivia takes that chance to free herself from his grip, and it jostles him from the image of her writhing beneath him.
"You could've stayed on the sidelines," he mumbles, still bargaining. "You didn't have—" She lifts a hand to shut him up, her lips pursed, her teeth clenched in the frustration of explaining herself.
"Yes. I did." she says sternly, defensively. "If you'd taken a second to look into the case before jumping at the chance to play husband to your new blond, you'd know that it's part of the job."
Elliot's eyes are shut tight for a moment, trying to rid his brain of the memory of Olivia's naked body and the man that possessed her right in front of him. He shakes his head one more time and starts toward the bedroom area, avoiding the danger in holding her gaze for too long. "It's clear you don't give a shit what I think, so why don't you just get back to your boyfriend or whatever the hell he is."
It is unexpected when, instead of walking in the opposite direction, she follows him, anger building in her tone as she fights back. "You're right, Elliot! I don't give a shit!" she's saying, but she stops talking and moving when she sees Dani sitting stone-faced on the bed, mere feet from them this whole time.
"Oh, don't stop on my account," the blond in question smiles and stands up. "I was actually quite entertained listening to you two…catching up."
Olivia laughs, quickly shielding herself with a smug expression before turning to Elliot. "You gonna introduce me to your new partner, Elliot?"
Before he can speak, Dani herself approaches Olivia, holding out her hand and giving her a narrow-eyed smile. "Dani Beck. You must be Olivia… Johnson?"
"Benson," Olivia corrects, squeezing the other woman's hand with barely-contained hatred for the clearly-intentional mistake.
"Of course, I'm sorry," Dani presses her lips together, feigning regret. "I've heard a lot about you."
"You have?" Olivia throws an inquisitive look at Elliot, doing her best to look and sound indifferent.
"Yeah, apparently, you could do no wrong," Dani tilts her head slightly to the side. "Until now, anyway."
Olivia realizes she's still gripping hard at Dani's hand, and just as her smile disappears, her fingers snap open to break the contact. The other woman then approaches Elliot, the smile in her voice never faltering as she continues with her back to Olivia. "Frankly, it's a relief to find out that Saint Olivia isn't such a saint after all." Olivia watches as Elliot gives Dani a meaningful glare, as though asking her for something, and although Olivia can't see the other woman's expression, she can see her complete lack of hesitation when she leans into Elliot and gives him a quick kiss on the lips before turning to leave, throwing another smile at Olivia as she speaks. "I'll be right over here when you're done with your lovers' quarrel."
Dani walks out into the living area where Olivia and Elliot had just been arguing, and Olivia's head spins. Dani had kissed him like it was the most normal thing in the world, and he had responded the same way. So they are involved? In the few months that she's been gone, he's gotten this close to his new partner? Maybe his problem had never been that he was married, or that they were partners. He'd just never wanted to get that close to Olivia. Tears threaten to sting her eyes, but her resolve keeps them at bay.
"So you're together?" she asks, chastising herself immediately for not being able to contain the question.
"According to you, that's supposed to make this job easier," is his prepared response, void of any real clarification.
She shakes her head, letting a sad smile come through. "I never said that. I never said any part of this was easy."
She can see his stoicism falter in the way that he blinks, the movement of his eyelids lingering for just a little bit longer than necessary. His voice comes out gravely. "Could've fooled me."
Her blood boils, rage ringing in her ears. "Why? Did I look like a real slut, is that what you're—"
"What is it that you want from me?" he interrupts her with exasperated arms. "You want my approval?"
She laughs. "You think I need it? I just don't know where you get off being so upset."
"I'm upset because you disappeared without bothering to even leave me a note." he yells wide-eyed, as if this response were obvious. " I had to find out from Cragen—"
"They didn't let me—" she starts to insist before he lifts his hand to stop her words.
"A note, Olivia." he spits, hurt clouded by accusation. "After almost a decade, I thought I would've at least gotten a fucking note."
"I didn't know-It happened so quickly-I didn't realize it would be this long," she stammers, searching for words that justify her choices.
"I didn't know if you were even okay!" he shouts, making her jump a little before narrowing her own eyes to match the anger on his face.
"I wasn't!" she shouts back, erasing some of the space between their bodies as she leans in with an answer more honest than she had meant to be.
"Then why are you trying to convince me this is all fine?!" He gestures firmly with his open arms as he yells, inching closer to her magnetism. They inhale and exhale in simultaneous fury as she considers his question.
"You know what, I don't think this is leading anywhere," she brushes it off, looking away from his unrelenting stare as she haphazardly manages to return to practical mode. "I just wanted to make you aware of the case." She turns to him with her palms up and a pointed look. "We're trying to nail Vollebekk, so stay away from him. In fact, you can get your girlfriend and get the hell out of here; we've got this."
As Olivia walks away, ready to face Dani Beck's sarcastic mug, she notices the living room is empty, and she halts her path. Elliot is on her heels.
"Don't walk away from me like—"
"Where is she?" Olivia asks, turning to him abruptly. "Did she leave the room?"
Elliot looks around, suddenly agitated. "I don't know."
"I told you Vollebekk was watching her," Olivia insists, indirect worry seeping in as a sour taste in the back of her mouth. "She shouldn't be wandering the halls alone."
Olivia sees Elliot's brow furrow with concern that she wishes he didn't feel for his new partner, but of course he does. "You think he might try something?"
That's the kind of partner he is — and his concern for her had fooled her, made her think he might have felt something more. When the chance of her dying had distracted him from chasing a perp who was hauling two innocent children across a train station, she had failed to realize he was only acting out of obligation toward his partner. She wonders how heightened that feeling is when it's also his girlfriend.
"You need to check on your partner," she whispers with resignation.
He swallows, looking down for a moment before raising his offended eyes again. "You're right. I should be watching her back right now." he says with conviction as he walks past her. Olivia follows him, because she has to know if Vollebekk really did go after Elliot's partner— a phrase that feels so foreign when it's not her own identity.
They don't speak in the elevator as it descends to the lobby, a silent agreement in place. When they arrive in the lounge, they find that the dozens of couples have dispersed to either their private rooms or to the play rooms, where Elliot and Olivia had first laid eyes on each other earlier in the night. The whole building inhales sex and exhales moans of pleasure while Olivia's mind can barely adjust from what was supposed to be the final hours of her undercover operation to what has become the first hours of re-encountering her estranged partner. The man whose name she'd found herself moaning in her shallow sleep. The man whose name she hopes Dean has never heard from her lips, whose name she hopes her new partner and lover doesn't know at all.
"Fuck," she murmurs to herself as she stops walking, and when Elliot mirrors her pause, she knows he sees them too.
"Looks like we're not going anywhere," Elliot mutters back, spitefully — almost pridefully, as though he wants to rub in the fact that Dani has garnered the attentions Olivia has been seeking. She watches him confidently approach the bar, where Dani sits right next to the watcher with a drink in her hand. Territorial, Elliot drapes an arm over her shoulders, smiles arrogantly, borrows her drink for a quick sip before quietly discarding it — it could have been dosed with something, is what Olivia knows he's thinking. He never sits down, hovering the whole time to assert his dominance over his wife. His blond wife who, Olivia can't help but notice, looks a bit like his ex-wife. He has a type, the son of a bitch. A type that makes a point to be everything Olivia is not.
She wishes she had a reason to interfere, to say that Elliot's pissing contest is the wrong move, but she knows Vollebekk only chooses taken women. She knows how he enjoys watching couples together, watching the husband think he owns his woman, only to snatch her when he least expects it. That's what her act with Dean has been all about.
Olivia watches the two men shake hands, for half a second longer than they need to. She sees Vollebekk's eyes follow Dani's every movement as the other woman steps down from her stool and leans into him for an innocent kiss on the cheek, with Elliot's arm still resting around her neck.
She watches as they walk away, hand in hand, not another look wasted in her direction.
Thank you for pausing your EO reunion hysteria to read our crazy fic! We love and appreciate your reviews! -Liv, Manda, Em