A/N: the poem is called "Let's Give our Love a Try" by Laura C. Humphries. I thought it was perfect for this moment.
Pretty Poems
Chapter 2
"Welcome back Detective, feeling better?" Cragen asks when my partner slides into her desk chair.
She nods and smiles, "Much thank you! Did I miss anything really important?"
I chuckle softly and shake my head when she sends me her best glare. What is it with Olivia and work? She's like a workaholic, actually let me re-phrase that; she is a workaholic.
We haven't talked about the night I went to bring her her file on the Malcolm Case. That was almost a week ago. She's been out since then, hacking up a lung and making sure that half of the blood in her body was made up of that gross pink pepto stuff. I'm afraid that if I try to broach the subject I'll send her running, I'm scared that she'll blame everything she said on the delusions brought on by her high fever.
Munch catches me staring at her and sends me his signature, penetrating, over the tops of his glasses stare. I smirk at him and flick a paper football in his direction only to get a sharp kick aimed at my shin from the other side of my desk.
"Oww, hey!" I protest, shooting my partner a look of innocence, "What did I do?"
"Don't throw those things unless you want Dad to take away our only way to relieve boredom." She lets her eyes meet mine for a moment before looking back at the file on her desk.
"Liv," I chuckle at her struggle to ignore me, "Olivia," she stares at the same word in her file still, "Benson," her annoyed eyes meet mine, I laugh again, "Doesn't not throwing them defeat their purpose?"
She growls and chucks a pencil in my direction and I duck, watching it fly behind me and bounce off of Fin's shoe as he makes his way to the coffee pot. He sticks his tongue out at Liv and pours himself a mug, ignoring his partner's snide comment about juvenile behavior. We all watch him take a long gulp of the putrid liquid before spitting it back out again. Munch has conveniently slipped out the squad room to avoid the objects Fin is obviously going to send his way, seeing as he was the one who tried (unsuccessfully) to brew the pot of caffeine.
"I need a real drink!" Fin mutters to himself before turning to stomp into Don's office. "Can I go to Starbucks?" Liv and I hear through the open door before Fin stomps back out and grabs his coat. "Want anything?" he asks Liv and me. I shake my head. I've never really liked Starbucks, but my partner worships the café.
Just as I suspected, her face breaks into a gorgeous grin, "Fin?" she asks sweetly, he grunts in response. "I'd love you forever if you could bring me a White Chocolate Mocha!" I can see the glazed look cross her features at the thought.
Fin nods and bangs out of the room and we hear the ping of the elevator before Munch pokes his head out of the Crib.
"Is he mad?" he asks cautiously,
Olivia laughs ruthlessly and Munch grumbles something about appreciating the fine art of coffee brewing which just makes Liv laugh louder.
There's something intriguing about my partner and I find that by the time lunch rolls around, I've only gotten through two files. Liv is on her twelfth.
Cragen pokes his head out of the office and points at me and my partner and motions for us to join him in his office. I see Munch smirk as Don closes the door and we take the seats in front of his desk. The leather is cold against my forearms and I notice Liv rub her upper arms with her hands. Cragen keeps his room really cold, just a random fact.
"I've got an open and shut case downtown; think you guys are up to it?" We both nod at the same time and Cragen smiles softly. "Thought so, Victim's name is Vanessa Crawford. She says her boyfriend Todd Michaels raped her. She's got bruises on her inner thighs and a handprint on her cheek. He wasn't smart enough to use a condom." Cragen pauses to let the information sink in, "All we need to do is pick up Todd and get a confession."
Olivia catches my car keys when I toss them to her and we give Cragen a small nod and I take the paper from him with our guy's address. We take the stairs like normal and I open the driver door for Liv. She smiles at me and starts the engine.
Todd seems nervous when we put him in the interrogation. He waved his right to an attorney, he says he wants to get this over with. Liv and I are gonna tag team him. Good cop, bad cop. Guess which one I am. That's right. Bad cop.
We walk in together and Liv perches on the table in front of him. I roll up my sleeves and step around to lean against the wall with Todd's back to me. I crack my knuckles loudly and I see him flinch. Vanessa said that she tried to take charge for a moment and Todd snapped. Liv and I have a plan to get this bastard.
"Do you know why you're here?" Liv asks Todd nicely, he shrugs.
"'cause of Vanessa I guess." He frowns slightly, "I heard she got hurt."
If I didn't know any better I'd say this boy was clean. The lab is currently processing the DNA sample we took to "rule him out as a suspect".
"We were wondering if you could tell us anything you might know about her rape!" Liv coaxes quietly.
"Bull!" I interrupt, "Cut to the chase Detective." I spit the title out with a sneer and I see her inwardly flinch at the harshness in my voice. "Why'd you force the girl?" I sneer at Todd.
The boy just looks confused now, trying to figure out what we are doing.
"Elliot," Olivia plays her part well, Stepping next to me and placing a firm hand on my chest. "I think you need to calm down, take a walk or something, blow off some steam."
I take a deep breath before turning on her. I've seen the rage flash through our guy's eyes when she tells me what to do. I've got him in the bag.
"What the fuck gives you the right to tell me what to do?" I round on her menacingly, "You don't belong here, go home woman! Don't you ever give me commands, do you understand?"
She nods meekly and I see the tear welling up in her eyes, I know that she's just playing out her part. We agreed on the exact wording before we entered the room. We even established that she should break down. It would work best to our advantage. I watch her mutter a quick apology before rushing out of the room to undoubtedly take up her post behind the one way mirror.
"I hate women with superior attitudes." Todd pipes up from his seat. "It pisses me off but that was the worst man! That bitch thought she could tell you what to do!" The boy is livid.
"I know," I reply, "Sometimes I just want to show her that I'm in control and she can't say anything against what I do!"
Todd nods, "Vanessa was the same way. I had to show her who was boss."
We've got him.
I can't find Liv after I slap the kid's cuffs on and book him. She's not in the crib, at her desk, or the bathroom. Her coat is still hung up so I know she can't have gone far. I take out a letter I had written to her over the weekend and separate the poem from the note and write a new one.
Dear Livvy, I write in my best handwriting, I know that I can be a real ass to work with at times and I'm sorry. I didn't know how to approach you about this before because I was afraid you would push me away but I want you to know something. I'm not as good a poet as you are but I can express my feelings. This was a poem my dad told me to follow as I got older. He said that if I can find someone who this poem refers to I should snap her up and swallow her whole. I guess I realized all of this when you slept with Brian Cassidy. I'm sorry if this complicates things but I needed to let you know everything.
'I write to you today
Not to tear you apart,
But I write to you today
To say what's on my heart.
I know that we've been friends
For a very long long time,
You've told me your secrets
And I have told you mine.
We've shared many special times
Like true good friends would,
You're one of those people
Who really knows me good.
You hold a special place
In the center of my heart,
And my undying prayer
Is that we never grow apart.
But there's something more that's there
Something more than friends,
Something I believe is real,
And I know it will never end!
What all started as just a dream
Has now actually become real,
I really don't mean to hurt anyone
I just can't help the way I feel.
I began to question
If my feelings for you were true,
But really there's no question about it
Everything I want is you!
Everything I needed
Was right before my eyes,
But I was just so stupid
I never did realize.
It was when you decided
To find someone to share your heart with,
That my feelings started to come together
And you I started to miss.
I hope that you're not angry
At the way I feel for you,
But my heart just can't be stopped
These feelings are just so true.
I
know we'd both be happy
To be with one another,
To go on for a lifetime
Only loving each other.
You are such a special friend
And if I lost you I would never cease to cry,
So promise me you'll always be my friend
And let's give our love a try!'
I'm in love with you Liv!
Love, Elliot
I fold it into a small manila envelope and write her name across the front and place it on her desk.
I grab my coat and start out the door of the squad room. When I read my car I sit on the curb and stare out at the small parking lot for a couple minutes, just thinking to myself about everything.
I hear footsteps come up behind me and I stand to face my partner. She smiles softly and pulls me into a long hug. A piece of paper is clutched in her hand and I recognize the letter I wrote to her on the back of the poem.
"I'm in love with you too El," she whispers against my neck, "I was afraid that you didn't mean it romantically that time you came to see me when I was sick and then I made myself sicker worrying about your intentions."
I shush her and kiss her softly before opening the passenger door to my car and ushering her inside. My poem clutched to her heart.
The End……..