Note: Was originally going to do one long chapter for this, but decided to split into two shorter ones. Hope you enjoy this half, next part will be up soon. I have a lot of ideas for this fic that I'm still fleshing out, so if you're reading this, I'm glad you're along for the ride! please excuse any typos/mistakes.
Chapter 3
They were on their fourth round of drinks now and Olivia couldn't tell if it was the alcohol or being there with Elliot that was making her feel so warm inside. At some point during the second or third glass of wine, she'd felt relieved. There had been a part of her that worried they wouldn't know what to talk about, or worse, that they would have trouble falling back into their sync.
Luckily, she'd been wrong and they sat there with one another like no time had passed.
They'd been at the bar for about an hour and covered a range of topics. She'd asked Elliot about the kids, and in turn she told him the story about how Noah came into her life. There was an expression on his face for a brief moment before she told him that he was adopted and that she was raising him on her own, but she couldn't make out if it was confusion or something else.
She watched as he sipped from his glass, his hands were so big in comparison and she knew they held the strength to shatter it with ease. The thought of his calloused hands connecting with her skin began to creep into her mind once again and she drank from her own glass to avoid allowing herself to enter another daydream.
"So, I have to ask, do you let your squad get away with half the shit Cragen let us pull?" he joked, a grin began to spread over her face as she set her wine back down on the table
"Absolutely not. Sometimes I think about how many times he should've taken our badges and wonder how the hell he put up with us," she quipped back.
He shook his head and was grinning now too
"Yeah, the man was a saint. Don't know how he dealt with us over the years, sober nonetheless."
They looked at one another for a few seconds and she could tell they were both reminiscing on all those times they'd gotten called into their former captain's office
She grabbed her glass once again before interrupting the silence
"A saint indeed. God knows drinking was the only thing that allowed me put up with you for so long," she was smirking now as she brought the wine back to her lips
He let out a belly laugh, causing another wave of warmth to rush through her. She'd always loved the sound, even more so when she was the reason behind it.
"Yeah, yeah, Benson. If I had a dollar for every time you made me wanna drive my first through a wall we'd be having this conversation in a much nicer bar," now she was the one throwing her head back to let out a laugh
He was still grinning at her, and she wondered if he felt the same high she did when they had moments like this.
"You're laughin' because you know it's true. Now finish that drink while I get us another round," he slipped out of the booth while she obliged and gulped down what was left in the glass.
She watched as he leaned up against the bar and spoke to the bartender. She was a petite blonde no older than 25 and Olivia could tell she was flirting with him.
"Typical," she thought to herself. For as long as they'd been partners Elliot had quite literally been a chick-magnet. Waitresses, doctors, attorneys, hell, even other cops would bat their lashes and playfully swat his arm in hopes that their flirting would be reciprocated.
Olivia knew he loved it; partially because he was flattered, but also because he knew it visibly annoyed her. She denied it even to herself at first and eventually she settled for trying to hide it, but he always knew.
Like clockwork, he turned around with a smirk on his face to see if she'd noticed and she rolled her eyes.
It was just like old times.
As he made his way back to their booth he couldn't help but let his eyes wander. Olivia was glancing at her phone and he took her in. He still couldn't get over how great the dress sat on her curves, and he started to wonder what it would look like off of her.
The dress reminded him of one he'd seen her in before. They'd both gotten called in one night and she had been on a date. He remembered the way he'd stopped breathing when she walked into the squad room, it was the same way he felt tonight.
He gazed over her legs and stopped at her chest for a few seconds. He looked up at her face and their eyes met. He realized she was watching him now and his body got hot.
He was back at the table now and cleared his throat, knowing she was still looking at him.
"If I didn't know any better I'd think you were checking me out Stabler," she grabbed the glass and placed it on her lips, still not breaking her stare as she peered at him from the rim.
The comment took him by surprise, usually he would've expected her to ask what the hell he was looking at.
He decided to entertain her banter
"You gonna arrest me if I was, Captain?" he asked, finally bringing his eyes back to hers, wondering what to expect next.
A sly smirk broke out over her face
"I would, but I know that'd probably turn you on" she responded in a husky tone that he'd only heard her use a few times, usually when she was trying to bait a suspect, but this was the first time it was directed towards him.
They were playing a game of cat-and-mouse and he knew that it would only go so far, but he wasn't willing to let the opportunity slip away and decided to keep it going, the whiskey was giving him courage to keep pushing to see how far she'd let this go.
"You're probably right, but if I didn't know any better I'd think you've spent some time thinking about what turns me on," he responded.
Now he was the one smirking and she was the one blushing, trying to hide her reaction behind a sip from her glass.
"Don't flatter yourself Stabler, men are just predictable." The comment made him chuckle and she was back to smirking with one of her brows raised.
This was the first time he realized how closely they were sitting and how easy it would be to reach his hand out and pull her in.
"God, I missed you Liv."
That was it, that was the comment that pushed things too far. She'd been fine with the light flirting, but the moment the words hit his lips something else took over her. He'd meant to say it in his head but he'd actually said it outloud. The smirk disappeared from her face and she was looking down at the table.
He noticed her grip around the glass tighten as she looked back up at him. Her head was nodding ever so slightly and the expression on her face caused him to hold his breath and gulp. He was bracing himself for whatever would come out of her mouth next.
"You know, I find that hard to believe seeing that you never bothered to return a call or even say goodbye."
He knew it was only a matter of time but he'd been hoping they'd be able to steer clear of this conversation tonight. They'd been having such a good time and he instantly regretted his statement. They could've kept up their flirting for a bit longer and carried on with the evening.
"Liv, I-" he started, but she wasn't done
"As a matter of fact, if I remember correctly, I had to hear the news from Cragen because my partner didn't have the decency to tell me himself"
He could hear her anger building up. He knew she'd been holding this in for as long as he'd been gone.
"I called, I texted, I tried everything, Elliot. I refused to believe that out of all the people in my life you would be the one to do something like that," her words were slurring just a bit, and he realized that the same liquid courage that enticed him to return her flirty remarks was the same thing allowing her to release what she'd been feeling all these years.
"Olivia, I never meant to hurt you. You have to believe that. I was dealing so much and I was just trying to do the right thing, whatever I thought that meant at the time," he let out a deep breath before continuing
"I knew that if I heard your voice I wouldn't have been able to leave. It would've been too hard."
She shook her head
"Twelve years, Elliot. We were partners for twelve years and your excuse is that you suck at goodbyes? Did you ever think about how I would feel? Or how hard it would be for me to try and piece together the fact that you didn't think I was worth a phone call?"
"Of course I did, Liv. You know I did"
She scoffed and looked out the window briefly before returning to his eyes. He was having a hard time figuring out if she wanted to hit him or cry. Either way, he hated it. He hated himself.
"I don't know anything, Stabler. I thought I knew you, until you made me wonder if I'd been wrong all along. The person I thought you were didn't match with the person who left,"
She wasn't even trying to filter her thoughts now, another scoff escaping her before she continued
"You know, when Lewis kidnapped me he mentioned you. He realized it was a trigger and used it to his advantage," she hadn't broken her gaze at him
"And if the whole situation wasn't fucked up enough already, all I could think about was you being the one to find me. How you'd bust through the door and then beat the living shit out of him. I think that was the only thing that helped me get through it," her eyes were welling up
"But you never came."
Her voice cracked as she finished and now she was gulping down the rest of her wine.
He had no idea what to think, because he had no idea what she was talking about. Kidnapped? He tried to wrap his head around what she'd just told him but was struggling to piece it all together. Regardless, he felt his own rage building up now. Some fuck had kidnapped her and God knows what else he did to her.
"Olivia, what the hell are you talking about?"