Olivia quietly sat in Dr. Busiek's office as he sat across from her quietly. It was a small room with a desk in it. There was also a coffee table in the middle and two chairs on either side. Busiek sat on one side and she sat on the other side. All she could hear was the ticking of his clock.
Busiek finally broke the silence, "So are we going to talk at all today Olivia?"
"I'm tired of talking," she answered numbly. The past week had been too emotional and now she was just numb.
"We don't have to talk about the case."
"The case has become my life right now. What else is there to talk about?"
"We could talk about you and your partner," he said looking into her eyes.
"What about my partner," she said being difficult.
"Why are you shutting up your thoughts Olivia?" Busiek said.
"I'm sorry. I'm just tired of people always asking how I am. I know I should be glad that many people care, but I just get tired of explaining myself."
"Who asks you the most?"
"Elliot, of course, but its cause he's always with me when something happens."
"Are you comfortable telling Elliot your feelings?"
"Yes."
"So what did you tell him after you were attacked?"
Olivia looked around the room. She knew what he was doing. He was trying to get her to relive that day.
"I told him that I was terrified," she said finally looking at him. He gave a faint smile. She was a taken aback by it but she figured he was happy that he made progress in the session.
Olivia walked back into precinct 1-6 after her therapy appointment. Everyone looked up from their desk when she walked in. This had been happening for days, but she just never realized it till now. She wasn't mad at them for being concerned, but mad that they had to be concerned. It was just another way the perp was changing her life. Olivia managed to make it to her desk and pretended that no one was looking at her.
She sat down and at that moment Elliot looked up from his work and looked at her. She had it that was the last straw.
"What!" She yelled at him in frustration. She felt bad for exploding at him but it just came out.
Elliot put his hands up in defense and said, "Nothing."
"Well then would you stop staring at me!"
"Whatever you want Liv," he said a little pissed off.
Olivia rolled her eyes and went to work on the files.
A few hours rolled by and it was now getting close to midnight. Elliot and Olivia were the last ones there, except for Cragen.
"We should get home, get a shower, and a few hours of sleep," Elliot said throwing a file down on his desk. He leaned back in his chair and stared at Olivia.
"I don't know how much sleep I am going to be able to get," Olivia said in a frustrated tone still looking at the paper in front of her.
"You can at least shower and relax a little bit Liv," Elliot's tone stayed calm.
"I don't know how much I'm going to relax either," she said in a snappy tone this time as she continued to look at the paper in front of her.
"Ok then you will at least get a shower," Elliot shouted.
She finally looked up and seethed back, "Fine then lets go!"
"What? Did you want to stay here all night Liv? You need to get some rest," Elliot shouted back. She got up silently and grabbed her coat. She jerkily put it on. She was still pissed off about the day and the way the case was going. Elliot got up and did the same thing she did without noticing it. Olivia stormed out in front of him.
It was silent the whole time they were driving back to her apartment. When they finally got inside Olivia just walked to her room and slammed her door. Elliot had enough. He was in a bad mood and she was in a bad mood. He jerked open her door walked into her room before she had time to do anything.
"Have you been waiting to slam your damn door all day Liv!" he said angrily at her from across the room. She became just as furious.
"I thought we were supposed to get some rest El," she said in a mockingly. He shook his head. She was acting like a child, but he didn't realize that he was too.
"You know sometimes you can act like a stubborn brat!"
"And you can be a stubborn son of a bitch!"
Elliot just sighed heavily at the comment. He pushed up his already rolled up sleeves and started to say something, but he stopped himself. He just turned around and left her room, slamming the door behind him. Olivia closed her eyes in frustration and sat on her bed. She turned on her TV and heard headlines like "Anti-terrorist activist are hiding in Iran. U.S. military promises to end the vigilante group. The President said today that event though these activists have good intentions; it is not helping the spread of democracy." Olivia couldn't listen to the news and she really wasn't. The news didn't really matter to her right now. She had only turned on the TV so that Elliot couldn't hear her quietly sob herself to sleep.
In the morning the tension was still there. Just as Olivia went for the door so they could leave, Elliot stopped her by touching her arm. "I'm sorry I yelled at you last night," Elliot said as he stepped in front of her so that he could face her.
She didn't say anything so he continued, "Liv, we're going to get through this." She smiled at this. The fact that he said 'we' made her feel better. She wasn't the only one suffering from this case, he was too. Even though he was concerned about her constantly, maybe he was concerned for himself at the same time.
"I'm sorry too El. Your mother isn't a bitch," she smiled again.
"Why Detective Benson, is that a smile," he asked smiling back. It was the first time he's seen a genuine smile on her face since this whole mess began.
"I guess it is a smile."
"Well I guess we're both just stubborn because you're not a brat," he said smiling still.
Olivia was still smiling as she stared into her partner's eyes. Elliot felt strange for a moment. He forgot how warm that smile was to him. How it always made him smile no matter what. I was amazing to him how her being happy was one of the most beautiful things in the world. He edged forward a little and so did she. Both of their smiles faded as they looked deeper into each other's eyes. Elliot then noticed something that moment. He noticed that just by looking in her eyes that she was going to be ok. This was a big relief to him. Olivia then snapped out of the trance she was in and broke the silence, "Come on Elliot. It's going to be another tough day at the office." He also snapped back to reality and only could give her a nod.