Easy tangles the easiest so far...
...I saw your hands melt into one another
I saw you grieve and grow
Care a lot about one another
I stood at your sink
And I felt your warm water
I washed your dishes
And I looked out your kitchen window where I
Saw a soulful gymnast
Melt in the air and shudder
Just above the snow
Making moves that just weren't there
Velvet callow with wet hands
I turned out the lights and
Breathing shallow hesitated
Then went upstairs where
I picked up your housecoat
Dried my hands and
Touched your hair
And just then you awoke
You could never really barely care
Greasy jungle metropolis noir."
-From "Day for Night" by The Tragically Hip
**********
"Hello?" Elliot picked up the phone next to his bed, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.
"Happy birthday!" It took him a moment to recognize the caller.
"Hey, Lizzie! Thanks. How are you? How's Canada?"
"We're okay..." Suddenly, the phone got snatched away by Kathy.
"God, Elliot, I'm sorry. I forgot about the time difference out here in New Brunswick. Happy birthday." Elliot clenched his jaw. He pulled himself up and sat on the edge of the bed. Somehow, lying in bed while he talked with Kathy felt like he was lying in bed with Kathy again, a thing that was not likely to happen or even hoped for.
"Thanks. Is everyone up?"
"Yes. Here's Kathleen."
"Hi, Dad," said Elliot's sullen middle daughter.
"Good morning, sweetie. How's the holiday going?"
"It is so boring. All we've done is go on stupid hikes and seen stupid whales," she grumbled.
"Whales? That's not cool?" Elliot grinned at the sound of his daughter's voice.
"Not really. But Stewart's going to take us to Quebec to see Cirque du Soleil next week, so that'll be good."
"Next week? I thought you guys were coming back tomorrow." His face fell at the mention of Stewart, Kathy's boyfriend, but he was still struggling to process everything .
"Hmm. We'll here's Dickie," she said quickly, passing off the phone to her little brother.
"Happy Birthday, Daddy."
"Hey there. Did you like the whales?"
"Yeah, they were awesome," Dickie exclaimed. Elliot smiled until Kathy suddently interrupted again.
"Sorry. It's me again. I guess Kathleen told you about Quebec. It's just - I need to spend time with my parents here, but the kids are so antsy," she said apologetically.
Elliot felt like he had been slapped.
"Wait a minute. You're letting Stewart take our children away for a week without you?!" Elliot demanded angrily. "You wouldn't let me leave them alone for an hour with Olivia."
"Elliot, it's hardly the same thing. You don't even live with Olivia," she spat out the name as if it tasted bad. Elliot passed it over, although he could feel rage rising.
"How much do you even know about Stewart? What if he's a pedophile?" He could hear Kathy weeping softly on the other end.
"I can't believe you'd say something like that," she managed before hanging up on him. Elliot stared at the receiver in disbelief, wondering momentarily if he should call her back and tell her about the pedophile ring they had collared not too long ago. Then he set the receiver down defeatedly, pulling himself out of bed to face the day.
"Happy birthday," he muttered.
**********
"Happy birthday, sweetie," Olivia greeted Elliot, handing him a smallish gift and kissing him lightly on the lips. He didn't respond, didn't even take the gift from her outstretched hand. "What's wrong?" She asked. He took the present and put it in his locker without opening it and Olivia followed him around to his side of the desk. He exhaled his frustration loudly.
"The kids aren't coming back for another week," he said quietly, not looking at her as he sat down. She didn't answer at first, going to get two cups of coffee. She pulled her chair around and sat next to him, placing a mug in front of him.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Elliot glanced around the squadroom, there weren't very many people there, and they weren't paying any attention to the two detectives anyway.
"Maybe later," he said, trying not to sound harsh. He turned to look at her finally and saw the concern in her eyes.
"Are we still on for dinner tonight?" She asked.
"Dinner?"
"I'm taking you out, remember?"
"Yeah," he said, "I'm sorry, Liv. It just hasn't really felt like a birthday so far."
"No kidding," she said. She stood up and rubbed his shoulder affectionately before taking her chair back around to her side of the desk. His phone rang and he answered it. While he was talking, Munch came in.
"Good morning. How's the birthday boy?" He said, not noticing at first that Elliot was on the phone. Elliot held up a hand for him to wait. Munch shrugged and went to hang up his coat in the corner.
"Where's your partner?" Olivia asked him.
"He's going to be late. He slept in," Munch excused, "But if the Captain asks, he had an appointment."
"Guys," Elliot interrupted, hanging up, "We've got an update on the Collin's case."
"Let me guess, Jack's mother won't let him testify."
"No, we've got another victim."
**********
They sat around the rectangular kitchen table. The little boy, the victim, sat at one end opposite his aunt, a matronly woman with white hair pulled into a stiff bun. Olivia and Elliot sat between them. The boy, Tommy Walton, sat up very straight with his hands in his lap and began his story.
"My friend, Jack, went to Mr. Collins for piano lessons. One day I was supposed to go to Jack's house, so I had to wait for him while he went to piano." Elliot couldn't get the thought out of his mind that Tommy Walton was the exact age of his son, Dickie.
"What happened at Mr. Collins' house?" Olivia asked gently.
"Mr. Collins told Jack to start his excercizes and then asked me if I wanted a snack. I was pretty hungry, so I went into the kitchen with him." At this point, Tommy's lower lip began to shake. He blinked back tears. Olivia leaned closer to him.
"It's okay, Tommy. Take your time. What happened next?" Tommy swallowed hard before continuing, cracking his knuckles anxiously.
"Then Mr. Collins said he'd give me five dollars and a chocolate bar if he could touch me."
"Where did Mr. Collins want to touch you?" Olivia asked.
"Down my pants....you know," Tommy said softly. Olivia nodded in acknowledgement at Tommy's aunt, who was sitting very stiffly.
"Thank you very much, Tommy. You've been very brave," she said, standing up slowly. Tommy's aunt walked the detectives to the door.
"Will you need him to testify?" She asked. Olivia exchanged a glance with Elliot.
"Maybe. We'll get back to you soon," Olivia replied. They walked back to the street.
"Is something bothering you?" She asked Elliot, "You were pretty quiet in there."
"You seemed to have it under control," Elliot said, conciously trying to appear relaxed. Olivia shook her head as she opened the car door.
"I'll call Cabot. Two complaining victims. We should be able to pick him up," she said.
**********
"Greg Collins?" Olivia said at the door of the apartment.
"Yes?"
"Detective Stabler. This is my partner, Detective Benson," Elliot said, holding up his shield.
"What can I do for you?"
"This is a warrant to search your apartment," Olivia began.
"Of course," Mr. Collins said, opening the door for the CSU team. "What's this about?"
"This is a warrant for your arrest," Elliot said, taking out his cuffs.
"What did I do?" Collins asked frantically. Elliot froze. At that moment, he was entirely sure that Kathy's boyfriend, Stewart, must look exactly like Greg Collins - seedy with flat, grey eyes and greasy orange hair.
Olivia looked at Elliot when he didn't move. He looked startled, so she instinctively cuffed Collins herself and began heading to the car, hoping Elliot would regain his senses and follow.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney..."
**********
"What is going on?" Olivia demanded when they were in the elevator back at the precinct. Elliot pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I don't know," he said, shaking his head, "I just froze."
"You know you can talk to me, right?" She implored. The distress in her eyes was so apparent that Elliot nearly flinched.
"Yeah," he said and hugged her so he didn't have to look at her face.
When they got back to the squadroom, Munch and Fin were just heading out.
"Where are you going?" Elliot asked.
"CSU found Collins' day planner. We're going to go interview the rest of his students," Munch said. Elliot turned to follow them.
"The Captain says you two can take the rest of the day off," Fin informed them. "Happy Birthday." And Olivia and Elliot were left standing in the squadroom.
"So what do you want to do?" Olivia asked.
"It's five o'clock now," Elliot observed.
"Are you sure you still want to go out? If you aren't up to it, we can postpone it.."
"No. I'm fine. I'll go home and take a shower. I promise I'll try to have fun."
"Don't go out of your way," she replied sarcastically. Elliot smiled.
"I'll pick you up at seven. I've got some finishing up to do here."
"Okay. See you then." Elliot went into one of the incident rooms to use the computer. He shut the venetian blinds, not wanting anyone to see what he was looking up.
**********
Olivia was standing in the bathroom, putting the finishing touches on her makeup when Elliot buzzed her on the intercomm. She let him up and met him at the door wearing a short black dress.
"Hey," she said, stepping out into the hallway and locking her door.
"Hey," he said, "I opened your present. Thanks." He definitely appeared calmer, and he put an arm around her easily as they headed down.
"You're welcome," she smirked, "Are you wearing them?" He grinned mischeviously.
"You'll have to wait and see."
*********
After dinner, Elliot didn't bother to formally invite Olivia back to his apartment. It was an unspoken consensus. So they just held hands in the elevator, trying to ignore the fire in their fingertips.
Once inside Elliot's place, their mouths were on each other, hot and demanding. Olivia undid Elliot's shirt hastily as she kicked off her shoes. She backed Elliot into his bedroom. Once in there, he bent his head down and kissed her neck slowly as he eased the straps of her little black dress off her shoulders. Olivia reached down and undid Elliot's pants. He stepped out of them, revealing the boxers she had given him. He could see her smiling in the dim light from the window.
She turned around and Elliot unzipped her dress. It fell off her and she stood before him in a black bra and panties. Elliot sucked in his breath before bending his head to kiss her, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her up onto the bed.
He filled his hands with her - curves, slender lines, felt a primitive thrill when she shuddered against him. His blood surged as her breath caught, then released on a moan when he snapped open the clasp of her bra and his mouth replaced his hands. She somehow managed to slip off his boxers and her panties ended up somewhere on the floor.
He slid his hands up her legs, groaning at the length of them. Finally, he gripped her hips and her arms locked around him posessively. For an instant, it seemed the world went still.
"Yes," Olivia breathed.
Then he drove himself into her. Their pace became more frenzied and she came first, calling his name as climax shook her. He plunged after her and it felt like he had been raked by claws, one long swipe that cut through his system.
After a minute, he rolled off her and they lay there, catching their breaths and enjoying the hazy afterglow.
Elliot couldn't sleep, even though he was thoroughly exhausted. He was sure Olivia was, too, but she seemed to sense his emotional baggage and she lay awake, watching him silently, giving him time. After a minute that felt like forever, he sighed.
"The kids are going to Quebec for another week. With Kathy's boyfriend." Olivia nodded, spreading an open hand on his chest in comfort. "Kathy's not going with them."
"What?" Olivia said suddenly. "They've only been living together for a couple of months." Her complete understanding of his viewpoint made him feel better.
"She wants to stay with her parents and the kids don't want to stay there."
"Did you offer to take them back here?" Elliot shook his head.
"They were excited. They'd be angry at me."
"Elliot," she said softly, unable to come up with words to fit the moment. She brought her hand up to his tight jaw and held it there, moving his head so he looked into her deep brown eyes. He felt so incredibly thankful for her presence at that moment that his heart felt clouded over with his love for her. He moved over and kissed her slowly, worshipfully before wrapping her in his arms, tension subsided, and succumbing to sleep.
**********
He never meant for it to happen, but he just had to phone Kathy, to try again to get his kids away from Stewart Reagh. He had been driving to work with Olivia early in the morning when he realized that he didn't care if the kids were angry with him - angry was better than violated.
"Could you go in there and grab some coffee?" Elliot suggested, pulling over at a gas station.
"Why? They have coffee at work," she said, mildly irritated.
"I need to call Kathy," he said, apology in his tone. She nodded understandingly.
"Okay. How much time do you need?"
"Just a few minutes. Thanks, Liv."
She got out of the car and headed into the gas station. But when she opened the door, it became apparent that something was not quite right. Everything was eerily quiet except for some radio talk show filtering in from a back room.
"Hello?" Olivia called. She thought she heard a rustling behind her, so she whipped around, but no one was in the aisle. She leaned over the counter, heart thudding and nearly screamed in shock. The cashier was lying on the floor with a bullet in her head. Olivia hadn't expected a crime scene this early in the morning. She took a quick glance around to make sure the perp was gone before going around to the body and kneeling beside it. She pulled out her phone and was in the middle of dialing in, holding the body's feathery wrist, when she felt a sharp blow to the back of her head which sliced through her vision before everything went black.
**********
More to come in a few days....please take a second and review!