Later that day at the precinct Cragen called Olivia to his office. When she walked in she saw a man sitting down in front of his desk.
"Olivia, this is Dr. Nathan Busiek. Please sit down," Cragen said. She didn't like where this was going. She just shook Dr. Busiek's hand and sat down.
Everyone just sat in silence until Cragen spoke up, "Olivia, I know I said it would be better if you work on this case and I still think so, but after what happened today I think you should have some secession with Dr. Busiek until this case is over. Huang thought it would be a good idea to find a therapist that's outside the police work."
"Captain, I'm fine. We deal with these kinds of perps all the time."
"But usually these perps don't go after you."
"Olivia, it's ok if we talk. Everything will be confidential," Busiek said. Busiek had a full head of brown hair and blue eyes. She could tell that the hair was a toupee, but it was a good one.
"There really is no way around it, is there captain?"
"No Olivia, there isn't," Cragen said staring at Olivia.
"What time do you want to meet?" Olivia said turning to Busiek. She gave up any more restraint. She knew that it would leave to no where.
"How about now?" He said getting up.
After getting something to drink and telling Elliot she would be gone from her desk for a while Olivia sat down facing Busiek.
"Usually our sessions will be at my place slash office," he said.
"You don't have your own office?"
"No, I live alone and I figured that it would be cheaper to just rent one big place rather than two small ones."
"So what do you want me to talk about?" Olivia said a bit unfriendly.
"How about this morning and your feelings about it."
"Well I'm mad," she said. Busiek just looked at her and waited for her to continue.
"What do want to hear?" She said frustrated.
"I want to know what you are feeling."
"Today just made me angry because this guy is calling all the shots it seems. We haven't really found any evidence except the evidence he said that he let us have," Olivia looked at her drink and continued, "I'm afraid that this creep is going to lead one of us into a trap."
"When you say one of us, you mean you and Stabler. Correct?"
"Yes."
"So how has it been having your partner stay with you?"
"Ok I guess."
"You guess? Have you and Stabler been getting along."
"We've been having some problems, but after this morning they seemed to get better. You see, we have a problem of not letting each know how the other one is feeling and we shut each other out. It's been causing some tension."
"Like what?"
"Elliot's been having a tough time with the divorce and he misses his kids. He doesn't say it but I can just tell. Sometimes I feel that he blames me for his divorce."
"Would he have a valid reason to blame you?"
"I think so. I represent his work. His work is what caused him not to be home with his family and he not being home caused a lot of his problems."
"But that's not your fault."
"But I feel like it is," Olivia said finally looking up at Busiek.
"Have you talked to him about this?"
"No."
"Maybe you should. This could solve the problem between you two."
Olivia and Elliot finally got to her apartment at 1:30 in the morning. They figured they could get some sleep before having to go back to the precinct. All they said was good night to each other and they both went to bed. Olivia just lay on her bed though not able to go to sleep. All she could think of was the case and her therapy session. She finally decided to get up and go to the kitchen to get some tylenol pm.
Olivia walked to the kitchen as quite as she could without waking Elliot on the couch.
Then she heard his voice in the dark, "Couldn't sleep?"
"No. You?" she replied reaching for the light switch. They both squinted as the light flickered on. Elliot sat up on the couch bed. Olivia went and sat on the edge of it.
"Not a wink," he finally replied. He sighed at the thought of it.
"I need to talk to you Elliot," Olivia said as she looked down at the sheets. She turned to him and sat with her legs crossed.
"What is it," Elliot gave her a concerned look. She didn't know if she could back out of it now. She felt a bit silly, feeling the way she did.
"I feel that one of the reasons why we have been distant lately is because," she sighed and looked at him, "that you place some of the blame of your divorce on me because I'm apart of your work."
Elliot's mouth dropped some after what she said. He then spoke up, "Olivia, I-I don't blame you at all for what happened. True that my divorce happened because I was at work a lot and there were some other things, but it was never your fault. And I know that I probably took things out on you and I'm sorry."
"I understand and it was ok."
"No, it wasn't ok for me to snap at you a lot and take out my frustration. You didn't deserve that at all. I don't know why I took it out on the person I-"he stopped himself. He didn't know why he would say love he thought to himself before Olivia interrupted his thoughts.
"You what?" She said staring at him with her brown eyes.
"I don't know why I took it out on one of the people I care about." Nice save he thought to himself.
"Well I'm glad we talked about this I feel better now," she said.
It was silent for a moment.
"I think that divorce is probably one of the worst things ever," Elliot said.
Olivia just continued to let him talk.
"There is nothing worse then knowing that your love for that person isn't strong enough to withstand the fighting and bickering. That maybe you are better off apart."
"Do you still love Kathy?"
"There will always be a part of me that loves Kathy. She is the mother of my children and we were married for a long time, but we were just miserable. Not just us but the kids too. It's going to take time to adjust to this but I think in the long run we are better off."
Olivia just nodded. She didn't know what to say.
"Thanks," he said looking straight into her eyes.
She thought he was being sarcastic. "I'm sorry. You're better than I am at saying the right things," she said with a bit of a chuckle.
"No, I mean it. Thanks for listening. It's what I needed," he was still staring at her. She felt bad for him. She knew this was hard but she was also glad that he was opening up.
"No problem El."