Hi everyone, I know its been a while. I've been really busy at work and then that crossover really fucked me up in a fantastic way. I have been in a state of pure bliss for the past few days. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, I promise the next few will have some good EO convos. As always, I'm too tired to proofread so I apologise for any mistakes. Also, I love comments and reviews (Seriously, I wrote chapter four at like 3 am because I felt so encouraged by a comment) so feel free to express your thoughts (be kind).

Hope everyone is well

*Albanian arraignment*

Well, that went well, he thought as he walked away from Ayanna. He hadn't been expecting mama Bagdani to pull a gun in open court but at least nobody was injured.

Thank fuck that case was over. No more "jobs", no more filthy roadside trailer, no more Eddie and no more fucking beard. At first, he liked it but soon realised that it really was more Eddie than Elliot. There a few things Elliot needed to do as soon as possible. First, go home and check on Eli and Bernie, second, shave and third, talk to Liv. He had fucked so many things up with her whilst he was undercover, and he needed to start to earn his way back into her life.

He walks out of the courthouse intent on doing just that but seeing the woman at the bottom of the steps did prompt him to re-order his to-do list.

*Meanwhile*
Fuck, its cold¸ she thinks while sipping her coffer outside of the courthouse. Her anxiety has subsided and now she is just a woman standing in the cold.

The arraignment shouldn't take too long, she hopes. Fin will be back soon, and they can walk back to the precinct to finish off the day before she heads home to Noah who will most likely me dancing in the middle of the living room. A sight that never ceases to evoke pure joy in her.

She sits in this memory for a while with a contented smile on her face. The happiness begins to fade, when she reaches the bottom of her coffee cup. She is brought out of her memory and suddenly remembers why she is standing outside the courthouse, freezing her ass off.

Burton.

She thinks he might just plead guilty, avoid any further media scrutiny. She hopes. But, knowing burton, he might not. This might be the platform that he has always wanted to fight, what he deems and "unjust cancel culture".

Fuck, I wish he would just leave me the fuck alone.

If this goes to trial, life is not going to be fun for a while. Burton will make sure, that if he is going down, he will take her with her. He will drudge up her past, her childhood with a drunk for a mother, their forty-year-old love affair (Which was illegal), their recent night in that hotel. Fuck, that could be what ruins her. He already said in interrogation that he is hell bent on humiliating her with every sorted detail of that night.

She feels sick just thinking about it. Not just, people knowing about it, but the fact that she did actually enjoy it. It was her first fucking orgasm in like four years and holy fuck, did she need it. Granted, she had been thinking of someone else at the time…

As she returns to pacing after placing her coffee cup in the bin, she tries to force the thoughts out of her head. She feels the bruise on her face begin the throb again and she doubles her efforts to distract herself. She focuses on her steps. The sound of her suede black heels hitting the concrete. The pattern of her breathing. The simple act of walking became her main focus as she silently prayed that Burton would plead guilty.

~
She hasn't seen him yet; he tosses up walking towards her. Telling her that he is home. That he is home for good. That he is home for her. He starts to walk toward her, feeling a pull of sorts; he isn't completely in control of his actions at this point. As each step brings him closer to her, he tries to think of what to say, of what to do.

Should he hug her? Should he touch her at all? Should he talk to her? She he let her say the first word? Should he…?

He is a few strides away from her when she turns, looking straight into his eyes. Immediately, he stops in his tracks. He was not prepared for this. His eyes travel along her body, noting her beautiful leather heled boots (which she should not be wearing after her ankle injury), how her slacks, perfectly fit her gorgeous waist and her blouse tugs in just the right places. Her hair in longer now, longer than it had even been when they were partners. It rests on chest, the blonde highlight almost sparkling in the sun. Finally, he reaches her eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes, that can tell a thousand words in a single glance. Of course, all of his ogling takes place in the space of about a second, before his eyes finally land of the one mark that smacks the air out of his lungs.

He stares at her cheek, noticing a slight cut and a rather large bruise right below her eye.

She can see that he is staring at her face, but not her eyes. He has noticed the bruise and she holds her breath waiting to see what he will do. When it seems clear that he is not going to say anything at all in his seemingly stunned state, she tries to re-direct any potential conversation to the professional arena. She can't have this conversation with him right now and to be quite frank, the angry part of her believes that he doesn't deserve to know right now.

"How's the UC gig going?" she asks, hoping to avoid any questions about her bruised face.

"Liv", he tries to persist, but she looks him in the eye, letting him know that she does not want to talk about it right now, that he doesn't deserve to hear it right now.
Understanding, he answers her question.

"Good, over now. UC op is done, and we just arraigned them".

"Good" she says, "I'm glad you're home".

She turns to walk away, and he is left dumbfounded. he stands there for a few seconds, feeling the cold seep into him.

Their interaction was so casual. So short. Something had clearly happened to her, and she didn't trust him enough to tell him. It was at this moment he realised how deeply he had fucked up.
He knew he had hurt her, but he thought that she was okay. She was angry at him, as she had every right to be, but they were working on it. After that night in his patio, he thought that they were finally finding some semblance of normal again. That they were finally getting back to the way they used to be. So, in sync.

But, seeing her now, walk away from him. It was like they had taken a dozen steps backward.
Something had happened and she didn't need him. She didn't want him.

~
She turned to walk away, needing to get out of there. She is angry at him, he left her without a word, for ten years, and now he just waltzes back in expecting things to be the way they were. Fuck him.

Well, she tries to be angry at him. Despite all he has done to her, all she wants is for him to be there for her. Everyone is telling her to push him away and a part of her agrees with them, but she is tired. She is tired of fighting with herself. Fighting with the world. She is exhausted and she just wants to cling to the things that make her happy. Her squad. Her work. Her beautiful boy. And Elliot. Despite everything, seeing him walking towards her on the courthouse steps calmed her. she felt safe, like she could breathe again.

She turned away from him, because she still needed to protect herself. She is vulnerable after this past week with Burton and needs her walls to be up but, she'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't want him to follow her. Wrap her up in his arms and just hold her. She wants him. He is the only many she has ever wanted. Cassidy, David, Ed. They were all just warm bodies that treated her well, mostly. She had cared for them but there was only one person she ever truly wanted.

Elliot had fucked up and she was not about to let him off the hook, but she wasn't going to destroy something that could potentially bring her so much happiness just because other people didn't like him. She was going to make him work for it. She needed to protect herself and her son. They needed to get to know each other again. He needed to earn her trust again.

In saying all this, right now, walking away from him on those courthouse steps, she did honestly want him to follow her. If her was going to earn her trust back, why not start right now.

He quickly recovered from his state of confusion as he watched her walk away from him. It was happening again. He was letting her leave when there was so much left to say. After that night on the patio where she had touched him in a way that had never existed between them before. Her hand resting on his neck was so simply and yet so intimate. She had told him she wanted him to come home. He knew it meant more than that though. They both did. But his stupid ass let her walk away. He watched her get in her car and leave. There was so much more to say but they hadn't spoken again since that night.

He wasn't going to let that happen again.