Dirty Little Secret

A/n: Know what's funny? I just realized that 6 of my 10 stories have titles that come from The All-American Rejects. Another is the title of a Brad Paisley song, one is an episode name in Spanish, and the last two just sort of came to me, though I think one is an episode name and I just can't remember.

Olivia slowly sat up and looked around the room. She glanced at the clock and sighed knowing that she'd really screwed it up this time. She'd let Elliot see her at her most vulnerable, and she doubted that he'd ever be able to trust her instincts or skills again.

She forced herself to get out of the bed and dressed for work, knowing that Elliot would be there to pick her up soon. She tried to force on a strong face, but at the moment she felt anything but. Exposing her weak spots made her feel vulnerable. She knew Elliot wasn't the type to use it against her, or to even tell anyone else, but she also knew that if he thought something was wrong, he wouldn't hesitate to mention it.

She slipped her gun and handcuffs into their spots on her belt and put on her jacket before picking up her keys and walking out her door. She double checked that her badge was in her coat pocket before locking her door and walking down the hall, towards the stairs. She went down the three flights to the ground floor, where Elliot was waiting for her.

"Morning," he said, sliding back into the driver's side of the car.

"Morning." She buckled her seatbelt and waited for him to get the car back out into traffic before she said anything. "Listen, about yesterday…" she started.

"Don't worry about it," he replied.

"Just keep it to yourself, okay?" she asked.

"Like I said, don't worry about it. I'm your partner, you told me something in confidence. End of story," he replied. Olivia turned and looked out the window. "You know I'm here for you, if you want to talk. Always have been."

"I know," she whispered. She continued to stare out the window as they drove to the precinct.

1234567890

Olivia looked up as Cragen dropped a folder onto her desk. "What's this?" she asked, looking up as he passed folders to everyone else. She opened it and groaned. "Why does IAB love to screw with us?"

"We're easy targets," Elliot replied. "Psych eval? Come on."

"I'm not any happier about it than you are. Some genius in IAB has decided that we must be insane to take this job," Cragen told them. "The doc will be here first thing in the morning."

As Cragen walked back to his office, Elliot glanced up at Olivia. He knew that if she didn't pull herself together, and fast, she would fail. Before he could think of some way to bring it up, Cragen reappeared with a slip of paper in his hand. "Who's catching?"

"That would be us," Olivia replied, pushing back her chair. Cragen handed the address to Elliot, and the two quickly made their way out to the sedan.

"You okay?" Elliot asked, sliding into the driver's side. Olivia nodded.

"But ask me again after tomorrow," she said. She quietly folded her arms over the seatbelt and stared out the front window of the car.

1234567890

Olivia wearily forced herself up the stairs to her apartment. She was exhausted, but she never took the elevator. She sure as hell wasn't about to let a little thing like sleep deprivation keep her from staying in shape. She rounded the corner to her apartment and stopped in her tracks. Trevor was leaning against her door, flowers in hand, obviously practicing some big speech about how he was wrong and he wanted another chance. Before she could decide what to do, he caught sight of her.

"Olivia." She brushed past him to her door.

"Leave me alone, Trevor," she said. She unlocked her door and went in, attempting to shut the door behind her. He forced it open again before it closed.

"Listen to me, Liv," he begged. She turned around, eyes blazing in fury.

"Get the hell out of my apartment." She moved towards the door and attempted to push him back through the doorway.

"Just listen to me, damnit!" he yelled, pushing back. She wasn't expecting his sudden burst of anger, and fell back onto the hard wooden floor. She forced herself backwards and then into a standing position as he came towards her, ignoring the pain in her wrist. "Olivia…" he began, shocked at himself.

"Leave," she said, staring daggers at him.

"Liv, please, just let me take you…"

"LEAVE!" Trevor quietly complied, shutting the door behind himself, leaving the flowers on the counter next to the door. As the door clicked shut, Olivia moved to the couch. She quietly inspected the damage to her rapidly swelling wrist, knowing it was broken. Sighing, she pulled herself off of the couch and fumbled through the phone book to call for a cab.

1234567890

Olivia slid on an old sweater, one she knew had sleeves that were too long. Long enough to hide the cast covering her wrist. She'd spent three hours in the emergency room, and she was still exhausted from the experience.

She quickly grabbed her stuff and hurried down the stairs to the car, where Elliot was once again waiting for her. "You okay?" he asked.

"Fine," she said, climbing into the car. She buckled her seatbelt, forgetting to hide her cast. Before she realized it, Elliot gently took her hand.

"What happened?" he asked, turning the car on. Olivia looked away.

"It was nothing," she said. He looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"Nothing? You call a broken arm nothing?"

"Just drop it, okay? I fell, that's all," she said. Instead of just accepting her answer, he stared at her harder.

"Why didn't you call me? I would have come…"

"Elliot, the last thing you need right now is to worry about me. Just forget about it, okay?" she said. He knew it was a question he wasn't meant to answer, but he couldn't help it.

"Fine. But we're not finished with this conversation."

"I think we are."