Ten

Throughout the month of July and the first half of August, Elliot and Olivia kept talking over the phone. After his chance meeting with her son and their subsequent conversation, there was a subtle shift. From that night on, every night that Olivia and Elliot weren't at work, they spoke on the phone. They would take turns initiating the call, falling into a comfortable pattern. Each conversation lasted at least a half an hour, and they would end only when they felt their exhaustion become stronger than their will to talk.

As the day of Lizzie's opening night got closer and closer, Elliot and Olivia were getting farther along the path of reconciliation…and towards something unknown, terrifying, and beautiful.

"Hey, Liv."

"Hey…"

"…Talk to me."

"El…"

"Liv, come on. I can tell you had a rough day."

"El, you don't work SVU anymore. I don't want to burden you with things that you don't need to worry about."

"Liv, I worry about you. I know how strong you are and that you can look after yourself. But I'm here if you want to talk about whatever case has gotten under your skin today. Let me do this for you, Liv. I can handle it."

His voice was so calm and certain, and it was exactly what Olivia needed to hear. "If you're sure…" she said, biting her lip.

"I'm sure, Liv."

Olivia couldn't help but sigh in relief. "Ok, well…it started as a standard he-said-she-said…"

The next day at the precinct, while Olivia was reviewing some paperwork about the terrible case that they had closed yesterday, there was a knock on her office door. "Come in," Olivia called.

Fin came in with a large bouquet of pink peonies in his hands, already in a vase. "These were just delivered to the front desk for you, Liv," he said, placing them on her desk.

"Oh, my God," said Olivia, taking off her reading glasses and staring at the flowers. "Where did these come from?"

Fin shrugged. "There's a card, that should tell you."

A little wary, Olivia reached for it, hoping that it wasn't from some suspect or felon wanting to taunt her. Unfortunately, it had happened before.

But when she opened the card, her heart skipped a few beats.

Liv, thank you for trusting me enough to confide in me. I hope these can remind you that beauty still exists in this world despite all of the horrors. Semper fi, El

Olivia had to wipe away the tears from her eyes before they could fall.

"Are those from who they'd better be from?"

Olivia looked up at Fin, and all she could do was nod since she didn't trust her voice.

Fin's face burst into a grin. "That's what's up!" he said. "Stabler finally gets to be the lover-boy he always wanted to be with you!"

"Fin!" exclaimed Olivia, immediately covering her mouth when she realized how loudly she'd almost yelled his name.

Fin just laughed as she tried to hide how red her cheeks were getting. "Just enjoy it, Lieutenant. This has been a long time coming."

With that, Fin left, leaving Olivia to let his words sink in. She was still absolutely terrified to believe in any of this, but she couldn't help but let herself stare at the pink peonies and grin like an idiot behind her hands.

"Dad, if you don't stop staring, you're not going to see any of the play," Lizzie scolded with an eye roll and amused smile.

Elliot raised his hands in defeat and turned his face to the empty stage below. Lizzie had asked him to come and see her theatre company's production of Romeo and Juliet, the show being done right before Measure for Measure. She wanted him to see the theater and the way this company put on shows. Also, since her father wasn't nearly as familiar with Shakespeare as she and Olivia were, she saw it as a good opportunity to get him more familiar with the language.

"Sorry, honey," said Elliot, looking over the mezzanine railing at the minimal stage set-up. "It's just going to take some getting used to. You've worn your hair long your whole life."

Lizzie nodded, running her hand through her new short bob. "Well, I don't regret it. It will help with the role and wearing that wimple under the hot stage lights all that time."

Elliot chuckled. "Makes me think of all the nuns that taught me growing up. Wouldn't be surprised if they all had their hair cut short."

"It would certainly make things easier," said Lizzie. "So, are you excited to see the show?"

"Actually, yeah," said Elliot, and he meant it. He probably wasn't excited for the reasons that Lizzie hoped, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

Nevertheless, Lizzie guessed it accurately with a smirk: "Because Olivia played this part and you can imagine her while watching it?"

Elliot couldn't stop his cheeks from going pink as he mumbled, "Lizzie…"

"It's ok, Dad," said Lizzie. "Since you two started talking again, you've become so much happier. I know how much she means to you, and I hope it all goes well."

The corner of Elliot's mouth turned upwards and he squeezed his daughter's hand.

"Besides, I don't think it will be too hard for you," said Lizzie. "Thinking about it, there are some things that Olivia has in common with Juliet." She smirked again. "And I can think of a few things you have in common with Romeo."

Thankfully, the dimming lights of the theater hid Elliot's cheeks going from pink to red.

"So, what's your verdict?"

Elliot smiled at her first question after saying hello. He could hear the eagerness masked by the teasing in Olivia's tone. "I liked it," he replied. "Honesty, I did. I've always known the basic story – everyone in the English-speaking world does – but there was a lot more to it than I thought."

"I'm glad. It's still one of my favorites. There's a reason it's endured so long. I think Shakespeare wrote some of his most beautiful language for this play."

"Mmm…honestly, I'm surprised at how much of it didn't just go over my head."

Olivia laughed. "Well, then, the actors were doing a good job. Also, El, remember that they're speaking in English. The thing with this time period – Elizabethans loved language. They loved using words in elaborate ways, in new ways, it was the height of entertainment. Today is so visual and language is so lazy…Ugh, these plays are from a time when people really had fun with the English language."

Now it was Elliot's turn to laugh as he listened to her impromptu but impassioned speech. "Where was this side of you when we were partners, Liv?"

"When would I have brought it up, Elliot? The only time Romeo and Juliet got mentioned was when pedophiles would use it as a defense to rape teenage girls. I hated it every time they did that. Besides, it wasn't as though anybody else at the precinct had an interest. And if you, Munch and Fin knew I'd acted in those plays, you would never have let me live it down."

"Ok, ok, you're right," said Elliot. "It's just…you once told me that I knew everything about you."

He heard her sigh. "And I meant it when I said it. I guess I was only thinking about the negative aspects when I did. My time in college was the best time of my life for a long time until Noah became my son. I never liked to talk too much about it because I wanted to leave it alone, like a work of art you can look at but can't touch. Plus, you once told me how you always wanted to go to a four-year school, live in the dorms, have the normal college experience, and I didn't want to rub it in your face that I had the best one a person could have."

Elliot had to shut his eyes as his heart filled with emotion. She always had his back, always looked out for him, even in such small and simple ways as that. He would never know how many ways she took care of him…and what had he done? He certainly hadn't taken care of her…not when it had mattered the most…

"Stop it, El," Olivia's voice gently commanded him. She didn't need to see him to know what was going through his mind. "Don't go there. We can't change the past."

Elliot sighed, running a hand over his face. "I know, Liv. It's going to be a tough habit to break, so you'll have to keep reminding me of that."

"So long as you continue to remind me that this is real, El," said Olivia softly.

"I promise, Liv," vowed Elliot.

"How's Lizzie doing? She must be starting tech rehearsals soon."

"Yep, that's what she told me," said Elliot. "She explained what those are to me, and she's equal parts excited and nervous."

"Sounds about right. Did she enjoy the show?"

"Oh, yeah. She told me that Juliet's one of her dream roles. Actually, she said most of Shakespeare's female characters are dream roles."

"Relatable. Shakespeare was way ahead of his time in writing great roles for women."

"I have a question, Miss Benson!" said Elliot in a child-like voice. Olivia's laughter was the best music to his ears. He used his normal tone of voice to ask the question. "When Maureen was pregnant, she and Karl told us that they chose the name Rose for a girl. Lizzie convinced them to name her Rosalind instead. We all call her Rosie, but her full name is Rosalind. She only told us that it came from Shakespeare."

"Indeed it does! Rosalind is the heroine of As You Like It, one of Shakespeare's comedies. She's smart, quick on her feet, charming, and even though she makes a mess, she cleans it up. Plus, Rosalind is a play on the Latin phrase 'rosa linda.' So now your granddaughter isn't just named after a rose – her name means 'beautiful rose'."

Elliot grinned like a schoolboy. "That's wonderful." He remembered something else that Lizzie had said. "Oh, by the way, Lizzie said that your name comes from a Shakespeare play, too. Which is it?"

Olivia didn't respond. The longer her silence stretched, the more worried Elliot got.

"Liv? You ok?"

A long sigh was heard on the other end of the line before Olivia spoke in a low, almost dead voice. "Yes, she's right. My mother got my name from the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night. She was an English professor, so she knew all of her options. I think she chose Olivia because she could relate to that character at the time.

"Olivia in the play is a noblewoman, highly respected and powerful, but she's closed off. She's imposed this state of severe mourning for her late brother on her entire household and basically lives as a shut-in. Then, she falls in love with who she thinks is this young pageboy who comes to her delivering messages from a Duke who wants to marry her. Turns out, the pageboy is a young woman named Viola, disguised as her twin brother, Sebastian.

"Viola keeps rejecting Olivia's advances and professions of love. Then, by chance, Olivia meets the Sebastian, thinking it's the same person she's fallen for, and again begs him to love and marry her. The real Sebastian, who only knows she is the most beautiful and rich woman in the land, isn't about to say no. So they get married.

"Of course, in a classic Shakespearean ending, all is revealed and Olivia realizes whom she has really been interacting with and that she married a stranger. It's all played for comedy in the end and Olivia doesn't complain, but…I think my mother could relate to the situation of being deceived like that…it wasn't the same as what she went through, but still…"

Elliot listened to this silently. Learning about her relationship to her mother over the years of their partnership had been heart-breaking to learn. So many times, he had wanted to comfort her by relating his own relationship with his mother (which was just as complicated if for different reasons). But he had shut the lid on that topic long before he'd met Liv, and he wasn't prepared for what would come out if he opened that lid. It took Kathleen's diagnosis to break open that lid for good.

Before he could think of the right words to say to comfort her, Olivia spoke in that casual tone of voice that meant she was changing the topic. "Speaking of, how's your own mother doing?"

Knowing better than to argue, Elliot obliged with an answer. "She's doing ok. We had to put her in a home last year. Just got to the point where she couldn't be on her own anymore, you know. But the home is really nice, right on a beach on Long Island, so as long as she can go outside every day, she's happy."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"You know, Liv…just after I gave you your letter, Kathleen confided in me about how she decided she needed help after she was diagnosed. That you reached out to my mother and brought her to see Kathleen when she was in prison. Liv…you've done so much for us…is there anything you wouldn't have done back then?"

A small pause before she answered. "I don't think so. But drop the past tense, Elliot; that statement still applies."

"And it works both ways, Liv. I would do anything for you and for Noah. I know you probably can't completely believe that now, but it's true."

Now there was a long pause, and Elliot felt in his bones that Olivia was taking a moment to wipe away tears. Her response, when it came, was choked with emotion:

"Thanks, El."