It was supposed to be a one-week job.
Accompany some wannabe pop star to Rome for a concert for a week. Apparently Brad or Beau or whatever the hell the kid's name was went viral in Italy thanks to his YouTube videos and as the newest guy in the private security firm, Elliot drew the short straw and had to take the overseas trip.
Eli cried on the phone about not being able to stay over with him Friday night into Saturday. It was the first sleepover he'd had to cancel with Eli since the divorce a year ago and he felt his heart break as he told his son the news. But Kathy, thankfully, helped pick up the pieces the same way she used to when they were married when he'd have to miss Dickie's baseball games or Kathleen's piano recitals.
"We can FaceTime Daddy every night," he'd heard Kathy say on speakerphone. "And maybe you can do a long weekend at his house over Memorial Day since you won't have school that Monday?"
After his incident with Jenna, getting divorced after he left SVU really had been the best thing for the family. He and Kathy got along even better now. She'd forced him into rehab after he wound up at the bottom of a bottle. Pushed the divorce papers on him, then insisted he call Olivia and get her back in his life. He hated her for it at the time, but she'd been right.
Olivia, like Eli, had been disappointed to hear he'd be out of town for the week.
"Who's going to order too much Chinese food with me and then mock crime shows with me on Thursday night?" Olivia asked with a pout when they met for coffee Sunday afternoon so he could tell her in person.
"You do have other friends, Liv," Elliot said. "Nick, Amanda, Fin. Remember them?"
"Yeah, but Thursday nights are our nights," she said. "Wouldn't be the same without you."
"Well, DVR the shows and we'll watch them when I get back," he said.
She was about to make a comment when her phone rang.
As she talked, Elliot studied her profile. Things were a little rocky after he finally called her. He'd been out of contact for nearly a year and she'd been cold with him at first, but they were finally starting to warm back into a routine. They were navigating how to be not work partners, but friends.
She was still stubborn as hell, ignoring his advice not to go out with Cassidy again after they reconnected, but he was the first person she called after they got off a UC sting where she heard Cassidy get a blow job from a hooker over the wire. He had her over for warm beer and cold pizza that night and they'd fallen asleep on the couch together. And he would have been kidding himself if he hadn't hoped they could continue to grow closer that way once she and Brian broke up. It'd been a few months now, but they were still friends "for now," a qualifier he'd put on their relationship in his head.
Olivia was muttering by the time she got off the phone.
"Only day off I've had in weeks because we're so short-staffed and we all have to come in," Olivia said. "Rollins claims it's important, Cragen wants us all on deck."
"I'll text you when I can," he said. "You do the same. See you in a week?"
"See ya, El," she said, tossing her empty cup into the garbage can near their bench. "Be safe over there, okay. Come back in one piece?"
"You worried about me, Benson?" he asked.
"Not worried," she said. "I just know you and your tendency to explode like a volcano over everything."
"I'm hurt, Olivia," he said with mock pain. "Offended. Wounded, actually."
"Just come back safe you asshole," she said, rolling her eyes and walking off.
It was only supposed to be a week. And those were never supposed to be the last words he spoke to her. But if his Hail Mary pass worked, they wouldn't be.
Unfortunately, Ed Tucker was the receiver of his Hail Mary pass. And who knew if rats could catch?