Why Doesn't he Love me?

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Sadly, Dick Wolf owns the SVU characters, not me.

Olivia picked herself out of bed at five o'clock the next morning. She took a hot shower, brushed her hair and fixed her make-up. As she looked into the mirror, trying to decide which eye shadow to use, she saw that her eyes were still swollen and red. She hated crying herself to sleep, but sometimes she couldn't stop herself.

Why did he break up with me? she asked herself. I thought he loved me. He told me that he did so many times.

Olivia picked her keys up off of the kitchen counter, strapped her gun to her waist, tucked her badge into her jacket pocket and ran out the door, already late. Even if Cragen had hurt her so badly, she would still go to work. After all, there were perps that needed catching.

The drive to the station house seemed to take longer than usual. She dreaded having to talk to him, or even be in his presence. Olivia sat in her car for a few minutes before going inside, debating whether or not she should call in sick. Olivia paused outside of the bullpen, watching Fin and Elliot throwing a bouncy ball back and forth, while Munch tried to steal it from them.

Munch gave up trying to steal the ball, and went, instead, to lecture a terrified-looking female rookie on the evils of the government. Cragen was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Liv," Elliot said. She nodded in response.

Olivia took off her coat and slung it over the back of her chair. She sat down with a heavy sigh and rummaged through her desk drawers, looking for the file for the case that they were working on. She bent her head over the file, he hair hanging in her face, so the guys wouldn't see the tears starting to form in her eyes.

Elliot, Fin and Munch looked at each other, then to Olivia, the back to each other. Elliot nodded. He walked over to Olivia's desk and knelt down next to her. "Liv?" he asked softly.

Elliot, Fin and Munch had all known about her relationship with Cragen. They were all so happy that the two made each other happy. The three of them were taking on bets about when he would pop the question to her.

Now, Liv looked up at Elliot with a look of such sadness in her eyes that it tore at his heart. Elliot took Liv's hand and led her into an interrogation room. She slumped into one of the chairs, and covered her face with her hands. Elliot dragged a chair next to her and wrapped his arms around her, for comfort.

"Liv, honey, come on, tell me what's wrong," he gently urged her.

"Don, he-he, I," Olivia couldn't even say it.

"Did he hurt you?" Elliot asked, anger flashing in his blue eyes.

"N-no," Olivia said. "He broke up with me."

"Oh, baby," Elliot said. "I'm so sorry."

Olivia cried into his shoulder. He stroked her hair and whispered words of comfort to her to try to make her feel better.

When the two of them finally emerged from the interrogation room, Olivia felt much better.

"Liv?" Elliot said. "You wanna get dinner with me tonight?"

"Why, Elliot," sje said. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Why, yes, I think I am," he rep lied, smirking at her.

"Sure, I'd love to," she said, wrapping her arms around him. Elliot was so surprised, he momentarily forgot to huhg her back. But he hugged her with just as much warmth as she was hugging him with. He knew that he loved her, and he hoped that she loved him back.

Munch and Fin were waiting for them at Olivia's desk.

"What's wrong, girl?" Fin asked.

"Don broke up with me last night," she replied, looking down at the floor.

Fin hugged her. "It'll be fine," Munch said.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'm already over him." With that she took Elliot's hand and waved it in hte air for everyone to see that they were going out now.

Munch and Fin broke into identical smirks.

"I knew they were in that interrogation room too long," Munch said, laughing, dodging Olivia's platful smack.

"Give her a kiss for us," Fin said.

Elliot pulled Olivia closer to him and put his arms around her waist, kissing her gently. Her arms wrrred around his neck, and she kissed him back, with more force. People all around the squadroom whistled and cheered.

Just then, the door to Cragen's office opened, and Cragen stepped out into the bullpen.

TBC