Elliot walked out of the squad room on a mission. If he had been angry when he'd seen Eckerson walk in alone, he was absolutely furious after what the Marshal had said during their exchange. He had leaned close to reply to an accusation, "My 'fucking' job? So, you think she shouldn't be sleeping by herself until we catch Paige?" Even after interrogating hundreds of perverts and child molesters, Elliot had never had to work so hard to stop himself from hitting someone.

Thinking back on it, he couldn't be sure if Eckerson had been serious or just baiting him. Either way he was completely sure of one thing – Olivia deserved better. There was no way in hell he planned to let her settle for Eckerson, previous relationship or not. The guy had been rubbing him the wrong way since the day they met, and that was before Eckerson had done anything to put Olivia in danger.

He stopped short in the empty hallway, wondering for what felt like the hundredth time why she had never mentioned that Eckerson was her ex when she'd introduced him. Or any of the other occasions they'd been in the same room together. Or any of the times Elliot had ragged her about dating the cop with a reputation for being a hot-headed daredevil.

The thought of all the swipes Elliot had taken at Eckerson four years ago got him walking again. For all the things he'd said about the then-detective, Olivia had never responded. He'd asked her repeatedly why she was dating such a jackass, why she didn't dump him and find someone better. Thinking back on it, he realized her total lack of response should have tipped him off that something wasn't right. He should have been laughing at jokes about how even jackasses are hung like horses rather than silently watching her go back to her paperwork. At the time, he'd assumed she hadn't reacted because she knew he was right, but now...

He was hit by a sudden burst of guilt, wondering if he'd gone too far with some of the things he'd said about Eckerson. He would have toned down his attitude if he'd known. Poking fun at his partner's temporary bed-buddy was a whole different animal than mocking someone she'd actually been in love with. That was almost like making fun of her emotions. Even the thought of hurting Olivia like that made him feel ashamed. He shook his head as he arrived at the ladies' room door; in the short walk down the hall he'd swung from hating Eckerson to hating himself.

Elliot pushed open the door and called out, "Olivia?" He heard his voice echo against the tile, joining with the sound of running water. He stepped through the door into unfamiliar territory. He'd gone to check on his partner in many places, but the women's bathroom was a first. He felt as if he had stepped into a parallel universe; the colors and tile patterns were the same as the men's room, but the lack of urinals let him know he wasn't in Kansas anymore.

He had prepared himself to begin knocking on stall doors when he saw her. She was sitting on the floor next to a sink whose tap had been left running. He turned off the water before addressing her. "Um, Liv, you're on the floor."

Her voice was distant. "I know."

"In the bathroom."

"Yeah." She paused, looking up at him, raising her eyebrow as if realizing who was speaking to her for the first time. "I am in the women's bathroom, right?"

"Uh-huh."

She kept looking up at him, as if trying to decide whether she should ask him to leave. Her eyebrow arched slightly higher when he sat down next to her. He realized that whenever he pictured her, it was with that one eyebrow up. It was integrated into all of her best expressions. He sat silently contemplating the expression she was wearing now – introspective and...sad. She was staring straight ahead, perhaps still thinking about whatever she'd been brooding over when he'd come in. He gave her time to come out of her reflections.

She eventually spoke under the pressure of his stare. "So did you find out anything at Missing Persons?"

"Liv, we can talk shop back in the squad room, but right now I'm sitting on the floor of the ladies' room, so I think we can skip the small-talk."

"You want to know why I didn't tell you about Andy four years ago." She didn't make it a question.

"Well, I would have started out with asking how you're doing, but since you brought it up..."

She spoke as if a dam had broken. "Our relationship, our real relationship...it, uh, didn't end well. I thought if I didn't tell you, I wouldn't have to think about it. I could just enjoy having someone to curl up with at night. In fact, I didn't want to think about it. I still don't. You know, I've been sitting here remembering the day Andy proposed to me, and I realized that it's been years since I've even thought about it. I loved him so much that I almost married him. How does that just go away like it never happened?"

Elliot hadn't been prepared for this. He tried to ignore the tears in her voice as his made his own statement out of a question. "You were engaged to him."

She continued as if he hadn't spoken. "I was with him for three years. Three years of my life with the same person and I just blocked it out so I wouldn't have to think about how much it hurt when it was over. Who does that? I mean, moving on is one thing, but just trying to forget...it doesn't work. And now everything I felt and never gave myself a chance to feel is coming at me and..." She turned to him. "Elliot, what do I do?"

He floundered, "This is kind of a lot to take in at once." She looked away, staring at the wall again. Not wanting to feel as if he were failing her, he tried desperately to earn the faith she was placing in him. "I don't really know if there's anything you can do. Just take it one step at a time. Try to sort things out, figure out why this is all coming back to you. Put reasons on your feelings..." He trailed off, unsure if his analytical approach was helping her.

When she looked at him, the sparkle in her eyes told him he'd said something right. "So I should start thinking like you?"

He returned her banter, "Whatever works in a pinch." She half-laughed half-sighed. Seeing that he'd made her feel at least a little bit better, he took the opportunity to relieve himself of what had been bothering him before he'd found her. "Olivia, I owe you an apology."

"For invading the women's room?"

"No, it's...uh, I've said some things about Eckerson that have been kinda rude and uncalled for, and I'm sure some of them were, well, hurtful to you too. If I'd known about your, uh...history...with him, I wouldn't have said them."

"How does knowing I was with Andy for three years back then change your opinion of him now?"

Despite everything Olivia had just said, Elliot found it impossible to go soft on Eckerson. "I haven't changed my opinion of him. I still think he's an arrogant prick who's only interested in one thing." He spoke quickly as he saw an opening for all his observations about the Marshal to come out. "Like in the squad room just now, when I accused him of not watching out for you closely enough, he asks me if I think you should be sleeping alone while Paige is out there. And the way he keeps looking at you. And doesn't it bug you that he stands so close to you?"

"So you're basically saying that you're sorry if you hurt my feelings while still insisting that you're right?" He looked over at her, ready to defend himself, but was relieved to see her smiling.

He grinned back at her. "I love the way you cut through the bullshit, Liv."

"Hey, they didn't promote me to detective for nothing." She paused. "Why are you so worried about me and Andy?"

"I just don't want to see you get hurt. From what you just told me, you're still having trouble dealing with whatever happened ten years ago, so I'm even more worried about you now."

Her smile faded as she grew serious again. "El, it's just kinda tough sometimes with you as the only man in my life. When Andy and I were together, it was..." She sighed, trying to put her memories into words. "We were happy. We had a future. I got to say we instead of just me. I miss that."

"You'll have that again." He couldn't stop his personal prejudice from getting in the way. "Preferably not with Eckerson, but you'll have it."

"Y'know, you didn't have a problem with him three months ago."

"He hadn't gotten you taken hostage three months ago."

She let the argument go. They'd had it several times already. "He isn't all bad."

Elliot reluctantly admitted, "I know that. You wouldn't have wasted your time with a guy that didn't have some redeeming qualities. But I still don't have to like him."

"Deal." He was glad to have his partner back to normal. She wasn't in the habit of getting so intensely emotional around him, and he was suddenly very thankful for that.

Still on the floor, he tried to steer the conversation back around to the reason she hadn't married Eckerson. "So why did you really break up with him?"

She answered too quickly, "Oh, the usual. We had a huge fight. We both said things we didn't mean but couldn't take back later."

"Fine, you don't have to tell me."

Looking at him sideways, she stated simply, "You know me way too well." When she didn't continue, he realized she wasn't going to tell him. Standing, he offered his hand and pulled her up off the floor.

Brushing herself off, she said, "It's true about the fight. I think that's how most relationships end. We just had more baggage than most. And I don't know if I'm ready to tell you."

"Hey, I can take anything you dish out."

"I didn't say you weren't ready."

He decided the best thing he could do would be to stay ready. "I'm here when you do want to talk."

"I know." She led the way out of the bathroom. As Elliot followed her back to the squad room, he wondered what could possibly be too painful to share with him.