Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I don't own them, wish I did but Law & Order SVU don't belong to me.
A/N: This is kind of a filler chapter. The next chapter will be better! Please R & R!
Olivia slowly started to wake up. The first thing that she was aware of was that her head was pounding. She tried to fall back to sleep, to escape her headache but soon realized that the effort was fruitless. Her mouth was all dry and fuzzy and she was trying to remember how she got home last night. That is when she realized that she wasn't in her bed, she was on her couch and someone was holding her. 'No!!!!!' Her mind cried out. Please tell me that I didn't let Andy in my house! This was definitely not the way to show him that she wasn't interested in him any longer. She was working up the courage to pull away from him when a cell phone ring broke thru the silence. The man behind her loosened one arm and reached over and flipped open his phone, all before Olivia could even process what the sound was.
"Stabler." Olivia stiffened in surprise. As she did so her mind was racing. 'When did Elliot show up last night? How much did she have to drink?' She went to pull herself up and look at Elliot but he prevented her from getting up by tightening the one arm he still had around her. She realized that he wasn't going to let her up so she just relaxed back in his arms and was going to wait for the end of his conversation.
"Yeah, sorry. I meant to call you back last night but it was so late and I didn't want to wake you." She understood immediately that he was speaking to Kathy by the defensive tone he had in his voice. He always seemed to sound like that now when he spoke to her. "I ended up catching a few z's in the crib last night and since I never took my dry-cleaning out of the car, I'll just change here and see you when my shift is over for the day. Okay? …. Kathy! …. Yes…. Yes…. I will definitely be home for dinner. … I promise okay? …Tell the kids to have a good day for me and that I love them. … Talk to you later. Bye." Elliot flipped his phone closed and sighed wearily. He placed the phone on the table and ran his hand over his face. After a moment he replaced his arm around her.
"Good morning, sunshine. How are ya feeling?"
Olivia groaned. "Are you trying to be funny?" She winced as she heard her voice creak out. "I feel like I have been hit by a truck!" She finally extracted herself from Elliot, and sat up to face him. "How long have you been here?"
Elliot pushed a stray piece of hair out of her eyes and looked down at her for a moment before answering. "I was here waiting for you when Andy (he spit out his name like it was a dirty word) was walking you home. Actually it was more like he was carrying you home." He stopped and intently stared at her for a moment, the stare was so intense and the look one that she wasn't sure she had ever had directed at her by him before. It reminded her of the stare he used on perps when he was trying to figure out whether or not they were telling the truth. "You had quite a lot to drink by the looks of things last night. You don't remember me being here when you got home?"
She thought back to what she remembered of last night. "I remember going to O'Malley's with Andy. I remember your phone call. And I remember leaving the bar with Andy and everything is kind of jumbled after that. Did I do something that I shouldn't have?"
"Other than going out for drinks with him?"
"El, he is really not that bad of a guy." She thought for a moment and then added. "But I did make it clear to him when I accepted the offer to go out that I wasn't looking to start things back up with him. I told him that I was looking for more than what he could give me." She stood up, stretched and let out another loud groan. "Uh! My head hurts!"
Elliot looked at her with a bemused look. "It serves you right." She shot him a dirty look and went into the bathroom to get her Excedrin. He stood up and headed for the kitchen. She heard the water turn on and knew he was fixing her a glass of water. She stumbled out and quickly took 2 pills.
"What time is it anyway?" She inquired as she finished up the remaining water in the glass. He looked down at his watch. "Its 6:30 am. We still have an hour and ½ until we have to report in." That's when she realized that he had been there all night and recalled the phone conversation he had just had.
"Oh no! Elliot! Why did you stay here all night? Kathy must be so pissed!" She gave him a pained look. "You could have left once I passed out. Why did you stay?"
"Come here you." He gave her a reassuring hug and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I didn't tell Kathy where I was going and to be honest, she didn't ask. She really isn't angry and you don't need to worry about it, okay?" She looked up and nodded her head. Elliot gave a small laugh. "What?" she inquired.
"You don't remember, but we had this same conversation last night. I am having a case of de ja vu."
She looked up at him, "Really?" At his nod, she shook her head. "I hate not remembering. Tell me I didn't do anything stupid." She requested hopefully.
He paused before answering, the memory of the kiss running thru his head. That first light kiss that Olivia pressed to his lips that was over before he realized she was kissing him. And then the kiss, he remembered bringing his hand up to cup her face, their foreheads were touching and their lips were so close and he just had to have more. He pulled her to him and their lips met together in a kiss that was so perfect. He wanted the kiss to go on forever but Olivia had pulled back, smiled at him and then settled down into his arms, and before he could process everything that had just happened and talk to her about it, she was out cold. And now she couldn't remember any of it, just his luck. "Nah, you didn't do anything stupid."
"El, are you sure? You took an awful long time answering me."
"I'm sure. Now why don't you go hop in the shower and I will go out to my car and get my stuff. Okay?" She agreed. As she headed back to her bedroom to grab her clothes she heard him head out the front door.
When she came out fresh from the shower, dressed in clean clothes, she felt one hundred times better. "Ahhh." She sighed as the scent of coffee wafted down the hallway to her. "Kathy sure has trained you well." She teased as she grabbed her mug and took a swig. "Just what the doctor ordered." Olivia leaned against the counter and took a long look at Elliot. "Hey El, are you okay?" She inquired as she took in the tired look in his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Yesterday was just a hard day in court and then I was up babysitting you." He emphasized that statement with the 'dad' look. "Just think if I hadn't, you could have woken up here this morning with Andy."
"Oh God. Please don't remind me!" She whined. "Why don't you go and hop in the shower, it'll do you a world of good." She walked to the linen closet and took out a set of towels and all but pushed him to the bathroom.
"Okay! Okay. I am going." He headed into the bathroom and Olivia heard the water start. As she was heading back to the kitchen she heard Elliot call out. "Hey, Liv?"
"What do you need El?" She decided to play with him a little. "Did you drop the soap? Or better yet, did you need someone to come in and wash your back?" She ended that question with a nervous laugh, trying to ignore the erotic picture that just popped into her mind.
"Huh? Sorry I couldn't hear you." Olivia breathed a sigh of relief at his statement. She walked over to the door and yelled. "What do you need?"
"Do you have any other soaps? I really don't want to walk into the office smelling like wildflowers." He complained.
"Awww…. Come on Elliot. Don't you want to feel pretty?" She teased and started laughing at his terse, "No." She thought for a moment, "Check under the sink. I think that I have some shampoo and soaps that may work for you. They would be hotel-sized. I snagged them on my last vacation. I hope that they will be manly enough for you."
"Ha ha, real funny there Liv." He rummaged thru the cabinet and finally found them.
When Elliot came out from his shower he saw that Olivia was popping some bagels into the toaster. "Are you hungry? I don't have much, but then again I wasn't planning on company." She grabbed some plates and handed him one. "Check in the fridge for a topping for your bagel. I eat mine plain."
While he was foraging in the fridge for some cream cheese he commented on how happy she looks now.
"Well, I called the hospital and Baxter is doing fine. It looks like he is going to make a full recovery." She told him with a smile. "I also talked to Karen this morning and she is going to meet me with Danny at the hospital to tell Baxter that he has been cleared in Lee's rape."
Elliot looked a little confused. "Who are all these people?" So over breakfast she explained the whole situation out to Elliot. Every now and again he would interrupt her with a question. "So you didn't find out he was innocent until after the hostage negotiation?" She nodded and continued the story. "Great job, Olivia!" She grinned up at him and suddenly had a flash of something, but before she could figure out what it was, it was gone. She tried to make herself latch on and get the memory back but it was fruitless.
"What's wrong?" Elliot inquired as the smile fell from her face.
"I don't know. I just remembered something but then it was gone." She paused. "Oh well, if it's important, I'll remember it later." She turned to get her shoes and missed the look that passed over Elliot's face.
Elliot just watched her for a moment wondering if she would remember the kiss and what that would mean for them. "Come on Elliot, you don't want to be late. Can I hitch a ride to work with you?"
"Sure thing Liv. Lets go." They headed to the office.
As they walked into the squad room Munch and Finn were already sitting at their desks. Munch looked up and raised an eyebrow when he saw the two of them walk in together but he had too much on his mind to comment on it.
Capt Cragen took that moment to walk out of his office. "Benson, Stabler. I need you to see the two of you in my office." He turned and headed back into his office expecting them to follow. They looked at each other wondering if they had done something wrong, and neither could think of what it was. They followed him in.
"What's up Capt?" Elliot asked as the Capt sat on the edge of his desk and looked at his two favorite detectives. "You two have too much overtime on the books right now and with this coming up on the end of the year, the guys upstairs want me to cut back your hours." They both looked up in surprise at this. "And since you have both finished up your major cases and no new ones have come in yet, I am giving you guys the rest of the week off." They just sat there speechless. "Since you aren't disagreeing with me, I will see you both on Monday, enjoy your 4 day weekend." With that he got up from the edge of his desk and walked around and sat behind it and started going thru his papers as if they weren't there. They took the hit and headed out. "Thanks Capt!" They replied in unison. Cragen looked up and smiled as they went out the door and thought to himself that they also deserved the time off.
"Wow!" Olivia exclaimed as they got to their desks. "I guess that after the hospital, I will go and get some of my Christmas shopping done. What are you planning to do El?"
"Not sure. I will probably go home and just spend sometime with Kathy and the kids." Elliot replied as he straightened up his desk.
Munch looked up at this. "What are you guys talking about?"
"Capt is giving us the rest of the week off." Olivia answered cheerfully.
He looked disgruntled. "How did you manage that?" Finn was on the phone but he had a skeptical look on his face while he observed their conversation.
"Apparently he just likes us more." Elliot teased.
Munch shook his head scornfully. "It's a conspiracy I tell you. If I had a woman partner then I would probably get more breaks too." He sighed dramatically. "Unfortunately I have Finn." Finn threw a pencil that Munch barely dodged. Everyone laughed.
"Later guys!" Olivia called over her shoulder as she headed out. "I am heading out to give good news." They all called out their goodbyes.
Elliot looked at the phone and thought of calling Kathy to let her know he was coming home but decided to surprise her instead to make up for last night. Plus he felt that he had to do something nice for her, he felt guilty about what went on with Olivia the night before. Elliot called out his goodbyes as he went out the door and headed home.
He let his mind wander on his drive home. He tried not to think about last night but about his wife and their family. He did love Kathy but sometimes he wondered if she even liked him anymore. All they seemed to do these days is fight and he hates what it is doing to the kids, and to them. He could remember when they couldn't keep their hands off each other and how she used to actually be interested in his day. Now he could tell that she really didn't listen when he would talk about his daily activities and he really couldn't remember the last time they were intimate. He couldn't believe that it had been months. 'Now how could that have happened?' he thought. Maybe this time off will be good for them. As he pulled into the drive he noticed a blue pick up parked on the curb. He didn't think too much about it at the time, he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts.
He should have paid more attention, as he soon found out.