The rest of the lunch passed in silence. Neither was in the mood to talk. Elliot knew his partner was missing the blonde ADA more than she had cared to admit. He had suspected something intimate was going on between the two women, but had refrained from asking.
When they got back to the squad room, Casey Novak was already waiting for them. Before either detective could ask, Casey began first.
"Olivia, I need to go over your testimony in that Stevens case. Got a minute?"
Without saying a word, the female detective headed toward the interview room with the ADA following behind. Elliot watched as both women disappeared into the room before he settled down into his chair. The big brother in him wanted so much to hug his partner and tell her that everything would be all right; that Alex would come back one day. But he couldn't. He knew the chances of the blonde ADA coming back to her old life were slim.
"What do you need, Casey?"
"Walk me through the arrest, Detective," the ADA said, pulling out a legal pad at the same time. Half and hour later, both women emerged from the room.
"Don't forget the hearing's at 9 tomorrow," Casey reminded Olivia as they stepped out of the interview room.
"See you tomorrow morning."
Elliot watched as both women went their separate ways. He was watching Olivia's every move. He wasn't sure if his partner was all right, and he didn't know if it was the right time to ask. A voice snapped him back to the real world.
"Hey, El," Fin snapped his fingers to get Elliot's attention. "I've been calling your name for the last five minutes. Where've you been?"
"Sorry, must've drifted off to Kathyland again," Elliot tried to smile, his eyes never leaving his partner.
"Cap says we've got a fresh lead on that Jackson case. He wants both of you to check something out," Fin spoke as he handed Elliot a piece of paper.
Olivia looked up and nodded her head toward the door. "Let's go."
"You wanna drive, Liv?"
"Nah, you do it," Olivia answered nonchalantly, her mind already drifting far away.
Somewhere in the Midwest, Katherine also just returned from lunch. The hour-long meal was a luxury that eluded her when she was an ADA. When I was still Alex Cabot. She sighed at that thought.
"You made your bed, now you've got to lie in it," Agent Hammond's words came to mind. Her heart took a plunge when she thought back of her meetings with the agent. It was never a pleasant experience with Hammond, since he still blamed Alex for his partner's demise. The blast had given her an indication of just how serious the Velez clan were about protecting their business.
Fighting back the tears welled up in her eyes, Katherine picked up the phone. "Katherine Smith."
"Uh, hi professor Smith. This is Joshua Brown. Is it ok if I came down to your office later? I've got a few questions about the brief I want to ask you about," the voice on the other line waited for a response.
"Sure, come on down anytime before 5. See you then," Katherine put down the receiver and headed out of her office. She had no desire on being late for the faculty meeting.
As Katherine got out of the conference room, she realized that it was almost 5 p.m. She hurried to her office, hoping that her student would still be there. True to form, he was sitting outside of her office, waiting.
"How long have you been waiting?" she asked the student as she opened the door to her office.
"Not too long. The secretary told me you were in a meeting, but I didn't want to make another trip here so I waited instead."
"So what can I do for you today, Mr. Brown?" the blonde asked as they both sat down.
Half an hour later, both student and professor walked out of the building together. She bade farewell to Joshua and headed toward the parking lot. A light October wind breezed through, prompting Katherine to wrap a scarf around her neck. Wearing that scarf brought memories back to her. Olivia had bought it for the blonde to cheer her up after losing a particularly draining case. Olivia. She whispered the brunette's name as her fingers played with the edge of the scarf. The memories were threatening to overtake her, and she hurried to push the thoughts away as she drove home.
Night had fallen by the time Katherine settled down on her couch. The whole week was a blur to her. Sitting down in front of the fireplace, she placed a glass of wine beside her and started reading the latest Supreme Court case that she had printed off LexisNexis earlier while still at work.
However, she could not seem to concentrate. Her mind kept drifting back to Olivia. She remembered how comfortable it felt to go out with the squad. She remembered how close she sat to Olivia, how nice the detective's hair smelled. And that's when it happened. Flashes of blurry images appeared. She couldn't stop the pain. All she could remember was seeing Olivia's face, seeing her lips move but not being able to hear a word. Then darkness had fallen.
Everything was a blur to her after that. She was in shock. Wanting nothing more than to hold Olivia once again, she made sure Agent Hammond complied with her request before she went into hiding.
"Olivia..." tears flowed down her cheek freely as the blonde continued to whisper her lost lover's name to the dark.
"You coming, Liv?" Elliot asked as he stood up.
"Nah, I'm gonna stay here a little longer," Olivia didn't want to tell her partner that she didn't want to go home. Because my apartment reminds me of Alex.
"Liv," Elliot started when he saw the expression on Olivia's face. There was something new, something that he hadn't seen in her eyes before. It looked very much like defeat. He rubbed his forehead gently, trying to come up with words of comfort for his partner. But there weren't any. "Just don't stay too late."
"'Kay. Night, El."
Elliot headed out of the squad room, only to stop at the entrance. His eyes searched for his partner, absorbing the sight of her as much as possible. He knew Olivia was holding something back from him, something that had caused her the sleepless nights and sporadic outbursts of her anger. Silently, his heart bled for his broken partner. As much as he enjoyed working with Casey, it just wasn't the same without Alex. Standing there and looking at Olivia, he had the urge to hug her and kiss her forehead, telling her that everything would be all right. The big brother in him was in high gear, but the partner in him overrode the urge. He knew his partner too well. She never liked it whenever people saw her as a lesser person.
"Detective Stabler," a voice called out to Elliot as he stepped out of the station house. He turned around, only to find one of the uniformed officers calling out to him.
"Someone called for you just now. Thought it was urgent," the officer handed him the post-it note. "Detective Benson wasn't at her desk so I took the message instead."
"Thanks." Elliot said as he took the piece of paper from the officer. He was puzzled. What does Hammond want to do with us this time? With a practiced motion he flipped open his cell phone and dialed Olivia's number. When she didn't answer the phone, he left a message instead. He had wanted to double back to the squad room to check on Olivia when his phone rang.
"Stabler."
"Hey El, it's me. What's this about a meeting with DEA?"
"I don't know but I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Pick you up at 7:30?"
"Yeah. See you tomorrow morning then. Remember the coffee."
"Ok."
