When Elliot stepped out of the courthouse, he quickly spotted Olivia leaning against the concrete wall, alone, far from the crowd. Her back was to the wall, her hands in the pocket of her coat and her gaze was overlooking the public space at the end of the stairs of the imposing building. She looked sad.

He wasn't sure if he should approach her or not, but she must have sensed him because her eyes found his after a moment. She closed them just a second more than usual. He immediately knew that meant she was bracing herself for this conversation, but that she gave him permission to approach her.

"Hey." He simply said when he got to her.

"Hey." She didn't offer a smile.

He leaned on the building as well, but with his right shoulder so that he blocked them from the view of the people coming out on the pavement.

"That was rough. I'm sorry you had to go through that." He offered.

Olivia took a deep breath. They were quiet for a moment. They both knew they had to address her testimony, but neither really wanted to. Might as well rip the bandaid off, Olivia thought.

"El…what I said in court-"

"Please, you don't have to apologize, really. God knows I deserve that." Elliot smiled sadly.

Even though her words had stung a lot, he wasn't surprised nor angry if that's how she felt towards him.

"You don't think I was lying?" she seemed surprised.

Elliot shrugged.

"In some aspect, I hope you were, but I've accepted the fact that you might have felt this way all along, rightfully so. I've accepted the possibility that what I did…that by leaving the way I did…our partnership would never recover." His voice was on the verge of cracking.

Olivia nodded tearily and returned her gaze forward.

"The truth is…I'm not sure how I feel about it…about everything." She spoke softly.

She looked exhausted.

"Liv, you've been there for me since the second I got back, since Kathy's accident. You've put up with my PTSD, my issues, my mistakes. You've pushed whatever anger and resentment you had towards me aside to be here for me and my family. I can't thank you enough." He paused, but allowed himself to say what he had wanted to say to her for a long time. "You've been my rock, when you had absolutely no reason to. I think now is the time for you to process everything, without any of my crisis to interfere."

He spoke with so much love and gratitude, his words made her tear up even more.

She nodded again, mainly because she couldn't speak. She felt all of her emotions of the last months come to the surface. He was right. She always put everybody first, especially the Stablers, and forgot herself.

She pushed off the concrete wall slowly.

"I think I'll go home…" she wouldn't look at him.

"Need a ride?" he tried.

"No I'm good. Stay with your kids." Always putting him first, again.

"Need anything else?" he asked softly. Olivia, tell me what you need, she heard in his request.

She looked at him then. A hug, she desperately wanted to say, but couldn't bring herself to. She answered by slightly shaking her head and walked towards her car.