A/N: I expected the roof scene to span two chapters, so this is just a smidge of filler, but a setup for the next chapter! Make sure you check out Chapter 33 if you haven't already. If you post on different days by it's not a full 24 hours apart it doesn't seem like the story moves up in the list or sends out the alerts. Last chapter makes this one make sense somewhat, so read it first!
Olivia couldn't believe she just kissed Elliot on the roof of the precinct in the rain. She told him, not in so many words, that she was interested in him. And not only did he not pull back, he reciprocated. She knew it was soon. She knew the day had been emotional, but this wasn't some rebound thing.
Even from the night in the motel, she knew Elliot was it for her. If she had met him instead of Burton at 16, or him in college instead of Mark, before Kathy, before SVU, he would have been her first choice. They got each other in a way nobody else did. Maybe it came from growing up with parents who didn't know how to be parents. Maybe they were just connected by something they couldn't really explain. But what Kathy said stuck with her: they all deserved to find someone who made them happy, and Elliot made her happy.
"We're completely soaked," Elliot said. "You wanna head back inside, get out of here for the day."
"I was supposed to go home and pack," Olivia said as they walked toward the door back to the precinct.
"Pack?" Elliot said.
"Mark's name is the only one on our lease," Olivia said. "He told me he wanted us out of there by 6 p.m. or he'd report us for trespassing. But seeing as he's going to be spending at least the next 24 hours in holding and once Cragen tells Alex what he did to all of us today she'll push for remand, I don't think I have to worry about where we're going, at least for tonight."
"Guess so," Elliot said. "Since we're both off you want a ride home?"
"I'd like that," she said.
Cragen was waiting for them when they came back into the squad room.
"I think it goes without saying you're both going home for the rest of the day," Cragen said. "Maybe a few, depending on where this goes. I don't want either one of you anywhere near it because I don't want them being able to claim you tampered with the case."
"Understood," Olivia said.
"Munch and Fin have this," Cragen said. "I'll call and update you when I can."
"Thanks Captain," Elliot said.
"And you might want to start getting your game plan together for IAB," Cragen said. "You know Tucker will be on this like a bloodhound once he gets a whiff."
"Swear he's got a thing for Liv," Elliot said. "He's always looking for ways to bust up our partnership."
"Yeah, well don't give him one," Cragen said. "Unless you're really serious about it."
Olivia couldn't help but smile at her Captain. She should have known he could feel the connection between them all along, but it was just like him not to pry until they were ready to tell him themselves.
Elliot and Olivia collected their belongings and drove to her apartment, dripping as they rode the elevator up to her floor.
"I'd like to change before I go over and pick up Chelsea," Olivia said.
"You have anything that isn't Mark's that I can change into?" Elliot said as she opened the door.
"I kinda still have the sweats and t-shirt from the night of the stomach flu incident," she said.
She hung her bag by the door and kicked off her shoes, then went to the bedroom to retrieve his clothes that she still kept in her PJ drawer. She also grabbed him a towel from the linen closet and tossed one on the bed for herself. When she returned he was standing awkwardly in the entryway trying not to drip everywhere.
"Little bit like deja vu, isn't it?" she said, passing him the towel and the clothes.
"If it ends the same way, I'm not going to complain," Elliot said, giving her a cheeky smile which caused her to roll her eyes.
"Nice try," she said. "You can take the bathroom, second door on the right."
She turned around and went into her room and shut and locked the door just in case. She wasn't sure if she didn't trust Elliot or herself not to reenact their decade-old motel performance. She changed into yoga pants and an NYPD t-shirt. When she emerged from her room the bathroom door was open, so she grabbed some gauze and peroxide before walking to the living room and finding that Elliot was already on the couch with his bare feet up on her coffee table.
"We put food there," Olivia said, kicking at his ankle with her own bare foot. "Down."
"Sheesh," Elliot said. "Some hostess you are."
"Hands out," she said, sitting on the part of the coffee table his feet just occupied.
"Your butt can go there but my feet can't?" he teased.
"My butt is clothed and your hands need bandaged," Olivia said. "Put 'em out or I take them by force."
"That could be a pretty good time," Elliot said with a cheeky grin.
Olivia rolled her eyes at him. Not even an hour after she gave him the green light that she wanted more and he was already making comments. She wasn't going to lie to herself and say it didn't feel good to be admired, but they had quite a few more hoops to jump through before she was really going to let herself enjoy it.
Luckily, he let her clean and wrap him up with minimal complaint. After she put the supplies back in the bathroom, she sat at the opposite end of the couch and curled her feet up under her.
"Anything else we should talk about before I go next door and get Chelsea?" Olivia asked. "Or do you want to get home before I go get her."
"Actually, Kathy told me to call her before I come home tonight, so I'm not really sure what's up with that. She might not want me home."
"Well, why don't you call her and figure all that out before we make our next move," Olivia said. "I'll go into the bedroom and give you some privacy."
"No, stay," Elliot said, picking his phone up off the table. "You know I'm going to tell you whatever she says when I get off the phone anyway. You might as well hear my side of it."
Mark never liked her being in the same room with him when he took business calls. Of course, now, Olivia realized, maybe they weren't business calls at all.
She listened to Elliot talk pretty amicably to Kathy. She always liked the sound of his voice, but something about hearing him talk on the phone was lulling her to sleep. She leaned her head back against the couch cushion and closed her eyes. She'd almost drifted off when she heard him hang up.
"So she doesn't want me to come home tonight," Elliot said. "She told my mother what happened, but she wants to just tell the kids I'm working late tonight, then when I come home tomorrow she wants to tell them what's happening."
"How do you feel about that?" Olivia asked.
"Terrified," Elliot said. "Lizzie and Dickie probably won't think much of it because they're too young to really understand what it means. But Kathleen and Maureen, they might get it. Maureen definitely will, and she's going to hate me for cheating on her mother."
"You don't know that for sure," Olivia said.
"No," Elliot said. "But she and Kathy are close. And Maureen loves you and Chelsea already. I'm afraid of what it'll do to those relationships in her eyes."
It hurt Olivia to think that this was going to crush Maureen. She and Chelsea had bonded pretty instantly, and Olivia had a soft spot for Maureen herself. The girl was only 11, so maybe in time she'd come around, but it was still going to be hard for her.
"Just let them all feel what they need to feel," Olivia said. "If they have to hate us, if we have to be the bad guys and take the blame off of you, we can do that."
"I wish we were on the other side already," Elliot said. "Where everything is good again."
"We'll get there," Olivia said. "Sometimes the things you really want are worth waiting for."
Elliot looked at her and something about it made her heart flutter like she was a girl again with her first crush.
"Yeah, I think they might be," Elliot said, smiling at her.
"I got something we can do that might ease the blow of tomorrow a little bit," Olivia said.
"What's that?" Elliot asked.
"We could tell Chelsea tonight when we bring her home," Olivia said. "I have to tell her that Mark isn't coming home, that we're getting a divorce, and that we may have to move soon. That's all going to be hard on her, but finding out you're her dad might make it better; she's going to flip."
"What if she isn't happy about it?" Elliot asked. "What if she wants to know why I wasn't around, or why we didn't tell her sooner."
"She's going to be happy, El," Olivia said. "Do you know what she told me after her spring concert? That she likes you a lot and you make her feel happy and important. It's going to make her day."
"Then yeah," Elliot said. "We should tell her. And thank you for including me in the conversation."
Olivia was touched that he thought she was letting him be a part of it, when in reality, he should have been a part of it all along. Not Mark.
"She's just as much yours as she is mine," Olivia said. "And I believe we agreed on the roof this afternoon, from now on we're a team everywhere. Not just at work. Partners, parenting, it's team El and Liv."
"I think we should get jerseys made," he joked.
"Don't push it," she said with a laugh. "What do you say we order in dinner and just spend some time together, then tell her?"
"I like that," he said.
Olivia stood from the couch and cracked her neck, then walked to the entryway and slid on her flip flops.
"Take out menu drawer is the third one under the microwave," she said. "Pick some options while I go get her. She's going to be really excited to see you."
Olivia put the stopper on the front door and went next door to Mrs. Cooper's to pick up Chelsea. She knew this evening was going to change their lives forever, but sometimes change could be good. She was hoping this was one of those times.
A/N: Remember to keep adding your plot holes to the comments if you've noticed any (exact timeline not withstanding because math, lol). Love to keep reading your reviews as we inch closer to the end!
