A/N: Still don't own them.

Elliot was the last to arrive Friday morning at the precinct. He took a seat at his desk and immediately busied himself with a file. He hadn't slept much the night before. He kept replaying the argument over and over in his mind, desperately wishing he could take back the hurtful things he had said. That, combined with the throbbing of his right hand, made for a restless night's sleep. When he finally climbed out of bed in the morning, he fully examined the damage he had done to his bathroom mirror with his now swollen and bruised hand.

"Rough night?" Fin asked, startling Elliot out of his trance. He instinctively looked across his desk at Olivia. She sat there, her head buried in a file, avoiding Elliot's gaze. She looked as bad he felt.

Turning his gaze back to Fin, Elliot forced a weak smile.

"Uh, no, just tired, I guess," he said, rubbing his forehead.

"Well, you guys make quite the pair," Fin smiled, nodding toward Olivia. She looked up at Elliot and he could see effects their fight had on her. Bloodshot eyes and a tired frown.

Elliot and Olivia both turned back to their folders, pretending to be engrossed with the information on the pages. But Elliot knew Olivia wasn't focused either. It was going to be a long day if things continued on like this. After lunch, Cragen called Elliot and Olivia into his office. They had sat across from each other all morning and had still not spoken. They simply stood up and followed their captain into his office. Once inside, they stood as far apart from each other as is possible in the cramped office.

"Munch and Fin are onto something with the Williams case. I need you two to pull – " Cragen stopped mid-sentence when he realized neither one of his detectives was paying attention to him. He grew frustrated quickly.

"What the hell is going on with you two? You haven't said a word to each other all day," he said, his tone bordering on harsh.

Elliot looked over at Olivia, who was looking at her feet. He put his head in his hands and rubbed his temples.

"Elliot, what happened?" Cragen asked, motioning to his bruised hand.

"Nothing, it's nothing," he mumbled, unable to look his captain in the eye.

"Someone better start explaining. And soon," he demanded, anger evident in his voice. Olivia finally brought her eyes up to meet Cragen's but she still said nothing.

Elliot spoke up, his voice quiet.

"I had a fight with Kathy and took it out on Olivia. She was just trying to talk to me, and I blew up," he felt heat creeping up his neck. He was a terrible liar, and his captain knew it. But for some reason, he seemed to be buying this.

"And this," Elliot said, raising his right hand, "I was letting off a little steam in the garage. Guess I got carried away with the punching bag, hit the tool bench on accident."

Olivia still hadn't looked in Elliot's direction. As he stood here, feeding Cragen these lies, he couldn't believe he was still covering for Olivia. He had sworn to himself he was done fixing her mess-ups. But the guilt of last night was eating away at him and he had to do something to redeem himself. He didn't care if Olivia didn't forgive him right away, he just wanted her to look at him. Or say something. Anything.

Cragen stood up from behind his desk and walked around to stand directly in front of Elliot. He examined Elliot's face intently, then moved his gaze to his hand. Finally, he turned to face Olivia.

"Look," he said sternly, "first you're going to get your hand looked at. Don't even think about arguing because I'm not in the mood." He glared at Elliot without flinching. "Second, you need to figure out this nonsense."

"Yes, sir," Elliot replied meekly.

"Olivia, you're going with him. Then you're both coming straight back here. It's the end of first quarter and you're both going to help with the paperwork. You'll have a nice long weekend together to fix this. Now get out of here," he said, opening the door for them.

Olivia groaned as she walked out. All the detectives hated filling out quarter-end paperwork. Captain usually chose whoever was on his shit-list at the time. Luckily, both detectives had managed to avoid it last quarter.

Elliot hung back for a moment. He cleared his throat, waiting for Cragen to acknowledge him.

"I thought I said you could talk to me," Cragen looked up his detective with sympathetic eyes. He had a soft spot for Elliot and what he was going through.

"Look, I fixed things with Kathy, that's not what I need to talk to you about," he said. "I have the kids this weekend, and they have so much planned, I can't… I have to be with them this weekend," he pleaded with Cragen.

It was the truth. If anything in the world could raise Elliot's spirits, it was his kids. They meant the world to him, and Cragen knew that. He could see the pain on Elliot's face.

"Fine, but Elliot, you gotta fix this thing with Olivia. It's not like her to be like this," Cragen said, his voice soft now.

"I know, Cap, I'm trying," he said, backing toward the door. "And thanks."

"Get your hand looked at," Cragen urged.

Elliot smiled and left the office. Olivia stood at his desk, waiting. She handed Elliot his coat without saying a word and they left the office together. Silence followed them down the hall, in the elevator, out the front door of the precinct and to the parking lot.

"I'm taking my car, heading home after this," Elliot said, continuing on to his car.

"Fine, meet you at St. Catherine's," Olivia said curtly.

Before Elliot had a chance to let his mind wander to his current predicament, his phone rang. Kathy. Damn it, he thought to himself, instantly frustrated.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hi, Elliot, have a minute?" she asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, sure."

"I just wanted to tell you, I think Lizzie's coming down with a cold. Don't let her tell you that she's not, she's been sniffling and coughing, maybe try to take it easy this weekend," Kathy said.

Elliot sighed in relief, glad she hadn't tried to reschedule his weekend.

"Yeah, of course, I'll keep an eye on her," he said, navigating a left-hand turn.

"And Maureen is picking them up here after she gets off work. She wants to hang with you guys tonight."

Elliot smiled. He'd take three out of the four of them anytime.

"Sounds good," he said, impatiently waiting for the light to turn green.

"Okay, then," Kathy said, trying to fill the awkward silence between the two.

"Hey, Kath? Can I talk to you about something?" he asked, hoping she could lend some insight into his problem.

"Sure, what is it?"

"It's Olivia," he paused, and when he didn't hear Kathy sigh or groan in disgust, he continued. "There's something going on with her. She's been drinking a lot, calling me in the middle of the night to come pick her up from these dive bars. She won't talk to me, changes the subject every time I bring it up. Last night we fought. Big time. Both said some terrible things. Oh, God, Kathy, I screwed up. Told her she was turning into her mother."

Elliot could hear Kathy stifle a laugh.

"It's not funny, she won't even look at me, much less talk to me. Kath, she said she could see why you left me," Elliot's voice trailed off. He needed help and he had no one to turn to. He couldn't go to Cragen with this personal stuff. He found it ironic that it was so easy to talk to Kathy about the one thorn in their relationship. If she sensed the awkwardness, she didn't let on.

"El, look – " Kathy began, but Elliot cut her off.

"Hey, I'm okay with it. I mean, I'm not okay with it, but that's not what this is about. I just…I need to know how to fix this with her. I screwed up with you and I have to accept that. But it's not too late with her, Kathy, tell me what to do," Elliot begged his ex-wife, throwing any pride he had left out the window.

His voice was wavering ever so slightly, and Kathy could tell he was in deep. He would never ask this of her if things weren't dire. She'd hurt him. Betrayed his trust. She needed to help him get back some semblance of a life, a life she took away from him the day she walked out the door.

"She really means a lot to you, El?" she said it more as a fact, not so much as a question.

"She's all I have left," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

"She trusts you, Elliot. She trusts you enough to know that you'll help her when she's in trouble. Whatever this is, she probably just wants reassurance that you're not going to judge her when she tells you. She's drinking, so ask yourself why. So she can work up the courage to tell you? To forget something? She's testing you, El. Calling you, waiting for you to break your promise that you'll protect her," she paused before continuing. Elliot concentrated hard on the road, but even harder on Kathy's advice.

"Apologize. Tell her you're sorry," she said.

"I've tried," Elliot insisted.

"Make her listen to you. Make her hear you. Then tell her you're there for her. Make sure she knows she can come to you. And Elliot, whatever this is, don't get angry, or frustrated, or any of the things you've been lately. Be her best friend, it sounds like she needs you. And just listen. Whatever this is, you guys will get past it," she sounded confident enough that Elliot believed her.

He let her words sink in before he spoke.

"Thanks," he replied, sincerity in his voice.

Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! Please keep them coming! They make me want to update faster!