I'm getting my hair done. Covering these pesky greys once a month is annoying and expensive but I am not ready to be full salt and pepper yet. My eyes are staring across the street at the park, one of the reasons I go to this salon is because of the view and when my eyes fall across a familiar figure, I squint to make sure I am actually seeing that figure correctly.

Angela Wheatley. For sure Angela Wheatley. However, an Angela Wheatley that is walking 100 percent normal. No cane, no slump, a bright smile on her face and what the hell is going on. My hands are quick to grab my phone, my fingers hitting the speed dial for Elliot's number.

"Hey, you."

"When's the last time you saw Angela Wheatley?"

I can hear his sigh on the other end of the phone, "Liv, I told you there's nothing going on between..." Jesus, I would fucking hope not at this point.

"Answer the question."

"When Richard Wheatley told me their daughter, Dana, had control of his crypto. Bell and I went to ask her if she knew where she was. Why?" That was about a month ago already. Could she have fully recovered within a month?

"And was she still using her cane?"

"Well, yeah. She's been poisoned. It's going to affect her neurologically for the rest of her life."

Um, I have some news for you Stabler. "You sure about that?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I'm currently staring right at her and she's walking like not a goddamn thing happened her."

"What?! Where are you?"

"A salon on 21st Avenue."

"And you see her?"

"I do."

"Does she see you?" Oh, that's where the panic is coming from. He's scared for me.

"No, no I don't think so."

"I'll come to you."

"No. With your bald head, she's going to spot you from a mile away. I'll just take a video and a couple pictures. You and Bell can stop by her place tomorrow. See if she's still playing the 'I'm injured' card."

"You and I will stop by."

Okay, that's not what I was expecting. "Me? Why me?"

"Because I'm pretty sure she knows about our relationship. Wheatley mentioned something in interrogation and I'm sure she put the pieces together already."

"What did he say in interrogation?" Because this is the first time I'm hearing about this.

I hear him sigh again, "Can I tell you tomorrow?"

"I guess..."

"It'll make her nervous, seeing us together. And we're a powerhouse, you know that."

I do. We always have been. "Okay, just make sure you tell Bell."

"Will do, Captain."

I'm about to hang up when he says, "Don't let her see you, Liv."

"My hair is currently wrapped in foil, I'm pretty sure she's not going to see me."

"Okay, good. Although I really wish I could see that picture you just placed in my head in real life."

I laugh, "You're an idiot. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I got you coffee," he says as I take a seat in his passenger seat.

"Thank you." I take the coffee without a thought, bring it to my lips to take a sip and sigh in contentment at the warmth going down my throat. The change of weather in New York City sucks. "It just keeps getting colder out there." I had sent the photos and videos to both him and Bell and we're all three completely convinced that the woman is playing us. Especially since when Bell called her to check on her, she was still stumbling on her words.

"Yeah, it does."

"Did it get as cold in Rome?" It's the first time I've asked him about Rome, about what it was like living there and I can see the initial shock on his face at the question. A two way street, Elliot.

"Uh, no. It gets pretty cold but nothing like New York weather."

I nod, take another sip of my coffee, "Do you miss it?" I'm not really sure if I want to know the answer to this question. If he says yes, that means he may want to go back someday and where does that me? Where does that leave Noah? Where does that leave us?

"Sometimes. I miss the views. It was, was so pretty there. Especially at night. But New York has always been my home, you know?" He glances at me then and fuck he needs to stop looking at me like that. I know exactly what he's trying to tell me but I am not going that deep right now. "Kathy thrived though. She loved it there. So did, Eli."

"I'm glad she got to see some of the world." I am. I really am. A woman who became a mother at 18, who never had a chance to really see anything but the walls of the house her husband provided for her. She deserved to see something else.

He nods, "Me too."

There's a moment of silence. I sip my coffee, he drives and the memory of Kathy weighs heavily on both of our shoulders. Yes, the woman wrote that letter but the woman was only trying to deal with a deep relationship that her husband had with another woman. We never crossed any line but that doesn't mean feelings that shouldn't have been weren't there. Because they were. And we all knew they were.

"What about you though, Liv? Have you been able to see some of the world?"

I always wanted to go places. He knows that. I used to dream over travel broachers scattered around my apartment. But I never went anywhere. What was the point of going places all alone, anyways. "Um, well Ed took Noah and I to Paris. But that's it." I'm not sure if he's put together that I'm talking about Ed Tucker and I'm not sure I want to elaborate that any further.

"Paris is amazing."

"Mm, it really is."

"I'm glad Tucker was good to you."

Son of a bitch. I stare at him dumbfounded and he laughs. "So, you're not upset about the fact that I thought I was going to marry Ed Tucker?" Because, really at one point I thought it was going to happen. And I for real was expecting a different reaction from the man besides me.

"Key word, Liv. Thought. You didn't. So, there's not a lot to be upset about."

Okay then. That's a logical answer. He would have been upset if I had married him but I hadn't.

"The thought of him touching you pisses me off, but that goes for any man who's ever touched you so that's not really Tucker specific."

Jesus Christ. Did he just openly admit to being jealous of every man I've slept with? Because I'm pretty sure he did. And I'm pretty sure he's trying to kill me with that confession.

"What he die from?"

Okay, back to safer territory. Thank you, Elliot. For knowing exactly when I'm about to freak out. Although this safer territory is sad, it's better than talking about how attracted we are to one another. "He had brain cancer. Guess he had it while we were together also."

"God, Olivia..."

"But he didn't wait for it to take him out. Ate his gun, didn't want to be a burden on his wife."

His hand reaches for mine then and I let him take it. "I'm so sorry, Liv."

I nod, rub my thumb across his knuckles and Jesus, I love the feeling of this man's hand in mind. "Thank you. Now, can we talk about something else?"

"Of course."

"So, what did Wheatley say about me in interrogation that makes Angela know the dynamics of our relationship?"

I see him take a deep breath with that question and shit, do I even want to know? "He told her that there was someone else."

"Someone else?"

"The one true love of my life."

I swear to God, I think my vision has just gone blurry and my ears have stopped working because what the fuck did he just say? I'm in such shock, that I can't even respond. And this is what Wheatley said about me. Not even what Elliot is saying but for him to even repeat the words to me, Jesus.

"This is it," he says lowly, knowing that I'm still processing through the words he just said in my head and fuck, I have to snap out of this now. This conversation can be had at a later time, a much later time. I'm sorry I even asked.

"Park the car somewhere she can't see it."

He raises his eyebrows slightly at me, but does it anyways.

"So, what exactly is our game plan?" He asks as I'm unbuckling my seat belt. And I'm thankful, thankful that he's letting me process this.

"Just try to trick her into acting normal somehow. Be ourselves, make it aware that whatever we are, whatever is going on between us is growing. Hoping that'll be enough for stumble her a bit."

"It is growing though, right?"

I smile, reach out to touch his cheek softly, "Yeah, El. It is."

His grin makes that warmth come back and he needs to stop making me blush. He follows me out of the car and I gesture him to go before me. There's really no point of it but I really want to see the look of disappointment on this woman's face when she realizes Elliot Stabler didn't come to see her alone. I hang back a little bit; hide my body behind the building, enough to allow me to still see him at the door. I know he knows that I've stopped walking but he doesn't question me, doesn't even look back at me and always so in sync. We don't even need a game plan; we're just good at this. We always have been.

When he knocks, it takes a long minute for her to answer. Which isn't surprising because the woman obviously needed to grab that fake ass cane of hers. She's slouched over, her hand firmly on her cane and God, what a fucking joke. The look on her face makes me roll her eyes. She thinks her Elliot came to see her.

"Elliot. You came back to see me."

"I told you I would try."

Only when she gestures him in, do I finally come from around the building. The clicking of my boots makes her eyes lift to mine. Her face falls and yes, sorry to ruin your moment, Mrs. Wheatley.

"Captain Benson."

"Mrs. Wheatley."

"You good?" Elliot asks me.

"Yup, phone fell under the seat. Go figure."

I can tell the last person she expected to see was me but she steps back anyways to allow us both to enter and Elliot steps back enough to let me enter before him. We step in, watch her wobble her way to her chair, watch her sit slowly and it takes all my might not to snatch that cane from her hand. She played all of us. Even me. I even had sympathy for this woman. And now I'm really questioning how much input she really had in Kathy's death.

"How are you feeling Mrs. Wheatley?" I ask, although I know the fucking answer to that already. Trick first, nail later.

"Please, call me Angela."

I nod, "Angela."

"I'm doing as well as I can be, given the circumstances."

Yeah, whatever. "Do you want to sit, Liv?" Elliot asks me.

"No, thanks."

He nods, sits across from her, "I'm sure you heard that Richard was released."

"I have."

"We just wanted to make sure you were safe. We all know what that man is capable of."

"I do. But I, um, nothing out of the ordinary."

"Do you have any type of security here, Angela," I ask, stepping a little closer to Elliot.

"No, not really. But I know how to handle Richard. I'm not um, worried about him."

"Of course. Just if you see anything, let us know please."

"I will. You guys are staying safe also?"

I smile. A fake fucking smile and see Elliot lean a little further back in the chair. I don't know where the hell his eyes just landed but I can see the anger in her eyes. I swear to God if he just looked at my ass, I'm going to kill him, "We're keeping one another safe, the kids too."

"That's good."

I can still see the anger in her eyes and maybe it's a good thing he looked at my ass. If we can't trick her, we can snap her. And if snapping her is going to take Elliot openly checking me out, why the hell not. I glance back at Elliot and he glances at me at the same time. And I can see the moment he's thinking the same thing I am. God, I've not only missed him, I've missed us.

"Like I said before, to you and Sergeant Bell, Elliot, I really do wish I could have been a better witness. Feel like it's partially my fault he wasn't found guilty."

"It's not anyone's fault. The prosecution did the best they could," he says. Like clockwork my phone starts ringing and I excuse myself quietly to answer it. I can feel Elliot's eyes follow me and damn, the man is good.

As Fin fills me in on new evidence they found on a case, Elliot makes small talk with her. Really small talk. Every time Angela tries deepen the conversation to his personal life, he draws it right back to a professional topic and when my phone call is over, I decide that I really don't want to fucking be here all day. So, I walk close to Elliot once more, let my phone slip from my hand and oops, guess I'm going to have to bend over and pick that up now. Right in front of him. I don't even acknowledge them as I bend over to retrieve my phone and almost laugh when my eyes once more fall on a pissed off Angela's face. Guess his eyes were still oogling.

"Do you mind if I use your restroom?" I ask.

She nods, points down the small hallway to my right, first door in the left."

"Thanks," I'm tempted to keep walking but mostly for my own benefit, I glance back in Elliot's direction and almost forget how to breathe at the heated look on his face. His eyes travel from my backside to my eyes and when he realizes I'm looking at him, he cracks that grin. Jesus, the man is going to kill me. I only smile back and walk in the bathroom.

I don't really need to go; I think that much is clear. I just want to give them a moment alone so Angela can call him out and God, the woman is too easy because almost instantly I hear her hushed voice.

"Seriously. Elliot?'

"What?"

"I mean you're pretty much eye fucking her in my living room."

Fuck. Is he really looking at me like that?

"Well do you see her? Can you blame me?"

I can't even see him and just him talking about me like this is making my body tingle. He's doing it to piss her off but something tells me that he's completely telling her the truth.

"Wheatley was telling the truth," she says.

I hold my breath as I wait for Elliot to respond to that. "Whatever was between us Angela, meant nothing. What's between Olivia and I, means everything." Everything

And then I hear it, the sound of the cane dropping and my hands are opening the door, heading down the hallway towards them. Once I hit the spot where I can see them, she says, "I should have put a better hit on her. That stupid ass driver was supposed to kill her, not just snap her ankle."

Holy shit. Richard Wheatley didn't order the hit on me, she did. She tried to kill me and I see the moment Elliot's eyes turn cold. That maybe was not the best thing for her to admit right now. I'm fast to place my body in front of his standing off the couch, my face towards his and that's definitely not my smartest moment in our career. One of the first things we're taught is to never turn our backs on a suspect and Jesus, how many times have we broken that rule throughout the year? I realize my mistake as soon as Elliot yells my name and is reaching for me.

I try to duck my head into his arms that are coming up to protect my head and for the most part we both do pretty well at saving me from the blow to the head but she still manages to connect her cane to it anyways. My body is being thrown backwards on the chair behind him, my hands coming up to grab my head because fuck, even though it wasn't as hard as she intended, that shit hurt. And made me dizzy. There's a scuffle around me but I'm to dizzy to try to get up and help and then I'm hearing the clicking of handcuffs and Elliot's voice over his radio calling for backup.

And then he's right there. His hands on top of mine, his body sinking onto the chair with me. "Liv? Liv. Can you hear me?"

I nod, "Mhmm. I'm just dizzy."

"Okay, don't move. They're gonna send a bus. You may have a concussion."

"Am I bleeding?" Because if there's a fucking gash on my head that requires stitches and my head needs to be partially shaved because of it, I'm going to be even more pissed than I am now. You know how long it took me to get my hair this long?

"Let me see." I remove my hands, let him lightly dig through the strands of my hair. "No. I don't see a cut, just a bump."

"You guys are disgusting," Angela says from the floor and God. If I wasn't so dizzy right now.

We both tell her to shut up at the same time and it causes us both to laugh lightly. Okay, it's a little disgusting but it's us. And I wouldn't change us at all.