Disclaimer: Law & Order SVU/OC and its characters don't belong to me. This story has been written for fun only, not for money.
Spoilers: SVU season 22 x OC season 1. More specifically SVU 22x14.
Summary: Olivia cancelled her session with Dr Lindstrom (referred to in S22x14). Peter visits her to ask why she is avoiding him. *May be read as a prequel of my other story "Afraid".
Context: since I saw the scene in Post-Graduate Psychopath, I imagined what that session would be life. I really hope they show that in the new season! Here is my take.
Enjoy and please review!
Unscheduled Session
by musical-Aven
As he knocked on the side door, Peter noticed that the blinds of the Captain's office were almost closed. He wasn't sure if it was a custom for her, as he very rarely visited her at the precinct, but he doubted it. That meant she needed her space, to deal with whatever was bothering her that was not work-related, he gathered. Her voice came from inside and he let himself in.
"Dr Lindstrom." She acknowledged standing up behind her desk, with a bit of surprise in her voice. "What brings you by?"
He smiled at her greetings and gently closed the door behind him.
"I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by to let you know that Michael Leftner has been placed in a mental facility after my interview yesterday."
It was a long-standing case he had been brought on. Nothing too complicated, but it took months to finally close. Olivia sighed and nodded.
"Thanks for letting me know."
She looked at him for a moment and stated the obvious.
"You could have called, you didn't have to come all the way over here to tell me." She seemed nervous about his presence.
Peter smiled a little and took a few steps towards the couch.
"Yes. I…wanted to make sure you were okay." He tried, taking advantage of the privacy of the closed blinds. Maybe he had a chance she would open up.
Olivia looked down at her desk, not surprised by his comment, and yet uncomfortable about it. He sat down and continued.
"When we last saw each other you told me you wanted to see me and talk about things that have happened in the last few weeks."
Since he knew her, Olivia rarely canceled their sessions, unless there was something very important at work. When he had seen her at the prison after he assessed Henry Mesner, she seemed like she needed to talk about things. About the pandemic. About her old partner coming back. And on the day of their session she had cancelled through his secretary, without an explanation. He was surprised by her sudden change of heart, and sensed that there was a reason she wasn't willing to admit. And the fact that when he tried contacting her to reschedule she never picked up, was another flag for him. She was running away from him. That had never happened before.
"I know, I…I'm sorry I cancelled last minute." She didn't offer much more.
"That's okay." He waited a moment. "Do you want to reschedule?"
She looked at him, something (fear?) passed though her eyes.
"Now?" she joked, but he knew it was a way to avoid the question.
"If you'd like." He sat back and crossed his legs, prepared if he needed to switch in therapist mode.
She let a nervous laugh out and signaled her window.
"I'm not sure this is the time or place for a therapy session."
"You're probably right. My schedule is open, pick a date." he pushed.
She sighed, resigned in addressing the fact that she was clearly avoiding him. She walked around her desk and rested, almost sitting on it, facing him.
"Look, I…I know I said I wanted to talk but…"she seemed to struggle to find her words. "I don't know…I'm not sure…"
"Olivia, you never backed down from a session before, even in your toughest times."
"I know…I just don't…I'm not sure if I need to talk anymore." She frowned at herself.
Peter tried to understand why she was running away from this. Or what she was running from.
"You said that Detective Stabler's return was a lot to process." He opened the door for her.
"And it was..is." She looked at no particular point in space.
"We could talk about that if you'd like."
She looked up at him. Peter was unsure of the emotion on her face. Grief, hurt, uncertainty, fondness…
"The truth is I'm not sure what to say." She admitted.
"Whatever's on your mind."
She sighed in frustration.
"No it's just…I'm not sure how I feel anymore…about all of this."
"You said it was out of nowhere..."
She scoffed.
"Yeah…" she sobered after a moment. "A lot happened since then…I've been through a lot of emotions and I need to sort them out in my head before talking about it, does that make sense?"
Peter accepted that.
"It does. But that's why I'm here as well, to help you sort things out."
"I know. And I appreciate it, really."
Peter sensed her hesitation, still. As if she was ashamed of her emotions and didn't want to share them with him. That, too, was new.
"What are you afraid of?"
She stared at him but didn't have time to answer.
Suddenly, there was a quick knock at the main door of the office and it opened without a beat. A man stepped in casually, addressing her as if the Captain's stature didn't apply to him. Peter was initially insulted for Olivia, but refrain from commenting.
"Hey Liv, we're waiting for you-"
The man's eyes fell on Peter and he stopped dead in his track. Olivia seemed taken aback, but not from his entrance, but from the spell of their intimate conversation being broken.
"Oh I apologize, I didn't realize you had someone in here." He seemed genuine in his apology.
"No, it's okay."
Peter frowned slightly. Olivia was either glad to be disturbed to end their conversation, or she was accepting the fact that this man had no regard for her rank or her privacy. She casted a nervous look between both of them.
"Was there something you wanted?" she asked the intruder.
The man seemed to notice her awkwardness as it transferred to him as well.
"I…Fin told me he was waiting for a file from you and I offered to get it for him."
"Ah, right! That file, let me get it." She started sorting through the multiple papers on her desk.
"He didn't tell me you had someone in here, I'm sorry." He finished by addressing his apology to Peter, this time.
The Doctor smiled to accept it. He was more curious now about that man than frustrated he interrupted his conversation with Olivia.
A silence descended on the small space of the office. Olivia was fumbling through her papers, and her nervous energy only raised the tension in the room. The man decided to fill in the silence by extending his hand to him.
"Hi, I'm Elliot Stabler."
Now that explained a lot. Peter rose from the couch, accepting his handshake.
"Dr Peter Lindstrom."
In the angle of his vision, Peter saw Olivia stop fumbling to look up at them. It was only for a moment, but he knew she was uncomfortable to her core with all of this. He thought that maybe he was right before, she was scared to share with him whatever was going on with this Elliot Stabler.
The detective frowned, disengaging the handshake.
"Doctor?" he didn't need to ask the full question.
Lindstrom had heard that Stabler was a good detective. The closed blinds, the atmosphere, his title, Peter could understand why he would ask about his presence in Olivia's office. Before he answered, both men heard Benson in the back still fumbling through her desk.
"Where did I put that file again…" she spoke to herself.
Elliot, still engaged in his question and waiting for the Doctor's response, stepped back as if on reflex. He extended his arm on the side so that Olivia could put a few files there and get to the bottom of the pile on her desk.
"Trauma therapist." Peter answered, while observing their behavior with each other.
Stabler nodded, taking in his answer. Peter noticed something dark in the detective's eyes. Olivia was half concentrated on her files and half on the men in her office.
"You're here about a case?" Stabler pursued his questioning while extending his free hand to grab an empty coffee mug from another pile of files, before Benson started diving into that specific pile. They were moving together, without words. Peter tried to stay focused on Stabler, but it was hard not to notice the two of them being so…connected.
"I'm here for a patient." He stayed evasive.
Stabler stared at him, trying to read him, but in the end let it go. Peter felt that all of his questions were coming from a protective place.
"Ah! Got it." Olivia cut through.
In a flowy motion, she switch the pile of files from Stabler's arm to give him the one he was looking for. She didn't seem to register that the detective was also holding her mug. Stabler just held it as if he was leaving with it to either dispose of it or fill it up, a gesture that seemed benign and yet so telling.
"I'll be there in a minute."
Olivia looked relieved to be sending Stabler away. The detective took a second to look at the Captain, he seemed to check if she was okay. Olivia held his gaze reassuringly. He nodded before turning away. Another moment without words, but where so much was said anyway.
"It was nice to meet you, Doc. Sorry again for the interruption."
"Nice meeting you, Detective."
Stabler closed the door behind him. Peter couldn't help a small smile when he turned to Olivia. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if to calm herself. When she looked at him, Peter saw her walls come up even higher.
"Don't overanalyze this." She warned him.
He almost laughed at loud at the tone of her request. Even if she was a woman in her fifties, she sounded like a teenage girl who was just seen with her high school crush.
"Analyze what?" he played along.
"Nothing. Exactly." She said convincingly.
"Is it the way he just barged in here barely knocking on the Captain's door?"
Peter couldn't help but tease her a bit. After all they had been through together, he considered her a friend as well.
"He thought I was alone." She gave the poor excuse.
"Or the way he left with your day-old empty coffee mug?"
She looked around surprised.
"Or definitely the fact that you didn't even notice that." He was having fun with this.
She tried to recover.
"Peter, just stop." She gathered a few things from her desk and prepared to leave her office. She definitely wanted this conversation to be over.
"Maybe you didn't want me to see how you two just moved so together, so in sync."
He knew he pushed too far when he saw her face. She had stopped in the middle of her office at his last comment. Her expression was dark, sad even.
"Don't say that." She said seriously.
He certainly hit a nerve with that. Peter felt guilty to have crossed a line.
"I'm sorry."
She moved to the door but stopped with her hand on the doorknob. She was looking straight ahead, through the smallest cracks of the blinds, towards the bullpen where her team (and Stabler) were. She hesitated before speaking softly.
"It's just so much more complicated than you think…"
Lindstrom took the opportunity.
"And I'll be there to listen, when you want to explain it to me. I'm sorry I joked about this."
She didn't move or say anything. He hoped she was silently accepting his apology.
"I'll call tomorrow to reschedule our session." She finally said, before heading out.
Peter stayed in her office, following her with his eyes. She greeted her team as if nothing had happened. Stabler was still there, chatting with another detective. When she reached them, he moved to her side and handed her a fresh coffee, in the same mug he took from her office. She looked at the mug for a moment and smiled her thanks at him. They all turned to the whiteboard filled with photos and evidence from their current case. As the younger detectives started talking and pointing to the board, Peter noticed that Benson and Stabler moved to rest half seated on the same desk, listening to the team.
He let himself out through the side door of her office and went to the elevators. He really hoped he would see Olivia soon for their next session.
Hope you enjoyed! Please review!
musical-Aven, July 2021