AN: I agree, the first chapter was short... Here you go!
Are We Good?
Chapter 2 – 1999
After that first meeting, Olivia tried to stay away from Elliot. She managed to make it a full six months before even having a one-on-one conversation with the man. However, naturally, the first time the man approached her had to come when she had fucked up. And here she was, just starting to get used to the office and the people…
Working with Munch was always an adventure. They only had caught a couple major cases in that time span, but Munch always seemed unfazed in a way. He always seemed to have other things on his mind than what was in front of him.
The latest case got to her, in a way. A young mother trying to finish her GED, raped by one of her night-school teachers. The recounting of the story and the interrogation of the teacher dragged Olivia into her own head. No one at work knew about the situation with her own mother but she couldn't help but see the similarities with this case.
She thought back to victim and how she had cried and cried on her shoulder wondering if she was going to end up pregnant or with an STD… Wondering how she could keep the whole thing from her daughter when she asked why her mom was always crying… How she was going to be able to convince herself to keep going.
Olivia, ever the empath, put everything she had into consoling the woman, telling her that there are so many reasons to continue, that she is an amazing mom who is trying so hard to give her and her daughter a better life. Munch on the other hand tried explaining how GEDs aren't worth the time or money. That adult education programs are a way of feeding additional millions of dollars into a crap education system that failed the students in the first place.
By the time the night teacher was finally arrested, Olivia was mentally exhausted. She knew it would have been best to go home, take a hot shower, and sleep for her singular day off. What she shouldn't have done is agree when Munch asked (persistently) if she would go out for drinks with him and the rest of the squad.
All five of them ended up around a high-top that should have held one less body than what they had, but they made it work. Olivia ended up seated beside Jeffries while Brian, who was musical chaired out of seat, stood on her other side. He was always a little slower than the rest of the group.
It took a couple of beers for anyone to speak directly to her. "Cheers to us making it this far." Brian lifted his glass toward her. "How's it been for you?"
Olivia took a sip of her beer after clinking it to Brian's. The beer tasted good, which is always a dangerous sign. "It hasn't been too bad so far; I think the case we just finished was probably the heaviest for me so far."
"The mom? That one seemed pretty open and close, no?"
"Uh, yeah." Olivia paused, unsure of how to explain it without giving anything personal away. "She was just really distraught. It's always hard to see someone trying to better themself and something so shitty happens that they want to give everything up."
"Gotcha." Brian gave her a questioning look but didn't ask any further. "The one's with the kids always get me. I can't stand pedos." Even the thought seemed to rattle him, so much so he chugged the remainder of his beer.
"Anyone need another one…" Brian stated after almost slamming his empty glass down: a slight sway already evident in his voice. "Elliot?"
Elliot gave a slight grunt in response to the question before Brian disappeared to get the table another round.
"Lost puppy, I tell you." Elliot looks over to Jeffries, who starts to chuckle. "That boy can't do anything without my approval." Elliot takes another long drink of his beer before laughing with the table.
Olivia's annoyed, though she isn't sure why. Brian has done nothing wrong and it's not like these people were going to turn down another free drink. She turns in her seat to look at Elliot, who is still making petty jokes about Brian. "He's the youngest of all us, cut him some slack, Stabler." Olivia really hates when people talk behind other's backs, thinking it's such a cowardly act.
"Ahhh, yeah. Heard you're one of those bleeding hearts." His smile fades slightly, he's zoned in on her now.
"You mean a decent human being?" she retorts, tilting her head to one side and dawning a sarcastic smile. His smile, however, is gone completely at her statement, and the table erupts in snickers. They stare at each other for a few moments before a hand comes from around her and a full beer is being placed in front of her. She lifts an eyebrow at Elliot before turning slowly to Brian and smiling. "Thank you, Brian." She thinks she hears Elliot scoff in the opposite direction.
Olivia's head is pounding when she wakes up the next morning. Her first thought is how the hell she got home. She is home, right? Olivia tentatively opens one eye to test out the light situation before she feels the bed shift from behind her.
Fuuuck, she thinks. Who did she end up bringing back with her? There's a moment before she turns over that she thinks of Elliot because he's the last one she really remembers interacting with. However, the thought is shaken when she turns around and notices the unmistakable face of Brian Cassidy. Good one, Olivia.
He's already looking at her by the time her eyes meet his. "Hey, sleepy head." His smile is broad, as are his bare shoulders.
"Umm, hi." Olivia has never been great the morning after, but she usually doesn't regret it. The instant she sees his brown eyes gleaming at her in the morning sun, her stomach churns. She's old enough now, and knows her body well enough, to know that whatever happened last night was hardly satisfying for her. The thought only seeping the regret into her more.
She tried to hurry whatever this is along. "We should probably get ready for work." She tries, holding the covers over her breasts and moving to get up.
"Olivia. You don't have to work today." He states matter-of-factly. He was right, of course. She didn't have to go in but, right now, she wanted to be anywhere else but in this bed.
"Oh, right." She stalls, trying to think of a way to get him out of her apartment. "I should…"
"I thought maybe we could grab some breakfast, hell, I could even cook for you." He interrupts, still smiling at her. His eyes look so hopeful it almost hurts her.
"Um… I… Brian, I don't think that's a good idea." She avoids his eyes, not wanting to see the fall. "This probably wasn't a good idea in the first place. I'm sorry, I was drunk and I.."
"Olivia, wait. It's okay, we could take it all slow, I'm not asking for your hand or anything, just breakfast before I go in." He's quick to talk over her, probably already noticing the regret in her voice.
"No. Brian, I can't… I… uhh, I don't sleep with coworkers, it's always been a rule of mine, I'm sorry this happened, I just… I wasn't myself last night."
"Are you serious, right now?" His tone is heightened now. "Olivia, we're adults, who the fuck cares if we work together. I had a…"
She needs him to stop talking. She needs him to leave. "Stop. Look, this was a one-time thing. Please, just go." She finishes getting out of bed, still holding the duvet over her body, and heads for the bathroom. She cringes inwardly at the knowledge that Brian Cassidy now knows what she looks like naked.
By the time Olivia had to go back to work, she had almost erased the thought of Brian from her memory. However, as she walked up the steps of the precinct, a feeling of dread overcame her. What if Brian had told everyone? What if they we obvious about it by the time they left the bar that night? She couldn't even remember getting home or who was still there when they left. Shit, she could have made out with him in front of all of them for all she really knew.
She walked into the squad room cautiously, looking around to see if anyone was staring at her or giving her any weird glances as she made her way to her desk. The only person who even seemed to notice her arrival was Brian – of course. She gave him a small smile before taking her seat across from Munch.
The first few hours went by pretty quietly as she finished some paperwork from a previous case. It wasn't until she got up to go get some coffee that anyone even spoke to her.
"Hey, I just wanted to apologize." Brian's hushed voice came from beside her as he fiddles with a coffee stirrer. "I don't want you to think I was mad at you or anything, I was just disappointed when you asked me to.."
Olivia didn't let him finish. "Not a great time for this."
"I was just hoping you would give me another chance; I'd really like to see you again..." He continued on anyway.
Olivia looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to them, not wanting to meet his eyes anyway. "Brian, no. And I promise you, my answer isn't going to change. I told you, I don't sleep with coworkers and that night was a misjudgment on my part, I'm sorry." She was irritated now, almost dumbfounded that he would bring this up now, in front of everyone, where anyone could be listening.
She walked away hurriedly with her coffee. Before she sat down, she caught eyes with Elliot - naturally. Of all the people in this office who could have noticed the awkward conversation with Brian, it had to be the person she liked the least in this office.
The rest of the day went by pretty fast, and she tried to get out of there quickly before anyone, Brian in particular, had the chance to catch up with her. She made it all the way out of the squad room and into the locker room without anyone stopping her. At this point, she thought she had made it out there scot-free… all she had to do was grab her coat and then she could leave.
"So, you and Brian, huh?" Elliot fucking Stabler's gruff voice came from behind her, startling her slightly.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She kept at her working on her locker lock, not wanting to meet his eyes again. She knew as soon as Brian came up to her earlier that someone was going to know what happened. Why the fuck did it have to be this smug son of a bitch?
A few moments of silence passed before Elliot responded. "Your stomach just dropped six floors, Olivia… and here I thought you would be smarter than that. Throwing yourself at someone not even a year into this …"
"Excuse me?" Olivia turned quickly to face him. She couldn't believe the audacity of this guy. "You have no right to come in here and accuse me of anything."
"Oh please, Benson. I've been a detective a lot longer than you have, in this unit of all things, and I know the look of regret."
"From all the girls kicking you out of their apartments?" She stuck her shoulders back, ready for a fight.
Elliot gave a small laugh before continuing. "I would say it was almost amusing to watch him approach you earlier. Like I've said before, lost puppy that one. So, what was it, bad in bed, small package?" A shit eating grin had appeared on his face by now and all she wanted to do was punch him square in the jaw.
"You're a real piece of work." was her only retort before rolling her eyes and turning back to her locker.
"Listen, I'm going to give you a piece of advice…"
"Unsolicited." She tossed back.
"Don't sleep with coworkers."
"Wow, that was truly life changing." Olivia couldn't hold back the deadpanned statement.
"Listen, everybody knows too much about the people in this office already. You don't want people getting the wrong idea about you."
"And what idea is that?" She's turned back around at this point, staring up at this man incredulously.
Elliot steps closer, closer than what Olivia would normally allow a coworker to get. "You want people to respect you in this job, don't give them a reason not to."
"My personal life has nothing to do with how well I can do this job. I'm a good cop." She stepped up even further. If he wanted to do this, then she wanted to know she wasn't going to back down.
"I've heard… seems you just have terrible taste in men." Elliot stepped back from her personal space and moved toward the door. "I've been here a while; I'm just trying to look out for you."
"Yeah, well I don't need you to..." She tried to shoot back but Elliot was already gone.
How dare he? She thought as she stared at the closed door of the locker room. Olivia knows she shouldn't have slept with Cassidy, sure, but who the hell was this guy to tell her what to do? If she wanted to sleep with someone, she damn well could.
Her own brain chastised - Just not someone you work with, Olivia.
