IT'S TIME FOR THE FINAL CHAPTER!
If you haven't listened to any of the former musics, it's fine. But now… Just do me a favor and listen to this:
• Thank You For Loving Me – Bon Jovi
It just sums up this whole story. And if you don't want to do it for me, do it in honor of the last chapter! :D
Well… This has been quite a journey! I've written this for so many hours and spent so many nights with this, that it feels really weird that this has come to end. Like I said, English is not my native language, and because of it I've got hands full even more. Because of the fluency of the story, I have had to write the chapters in my native language first, and then translate them into English. So much work but very useful for my skills at the same time!
Thank you so much for all your views, followings, favorites and reviews! They have given me motivation to continue even though I have sometimes struggled to start the chapters.
Maybe I'll write something someday, if a good story comes to my mind. However, now I'm going to just read your stories and also fix my sleeping schedule, which hasn't particularly appreciated these long writing nights :D
So… Thanks again! I really hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I have.
xoxo
"And you'll stay?"
Olivia turned her gaze to Elliot, and when she saw his expression, the warmth filled her heart. Elliot looked almost scared, like she was going to leave him forever. A little did he know, she thought and smiled.
"I'll stay, I promise."
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The morning sun warmed their faces as they finally stepped out the airport door. After the Canadian wilderness, the air in New York felt stifling, but at the same time cozy, and Olivia closed her eyes pleased. The noise of the city was so familiar that it somehow calmed her mind a little. The others seemed to think the same, because everyone had stopped, and Fin sighed beside her:
"Home sweet home. I have to admit, I wouldn't have believed we'd still come back here in one piece. Or well, almost in one piece," he glanced at Elliot and Cassidy. Cassidy walked with his crutches, and Elliot's hand was in the arm sling. Olivia opened her eyes and also turned her gaze to her partner, who had been quiet all the way home.
"Everything alright?" She asked quietly as she moved closer to him. Elliot seemed tense, and he pursed his lips.
"Yeah… It's just so weird to be home, and I don't really look forward the future conversations," he replied, referring to his children and Laura, and suddenly an uncomfortable feeling took over Olivia's heart. Elliot would go to meet people who had been worried sick about him, people who loved him. But she instead… She had been missing for almost a week, but not a single person was waiting for her to call or to show up at their door. All the people who cared about her had been with her and were now leaving to meet their own loved ones.
"Who are you going to meet first?" She asked, forcing her thoughts elsewhere.
"I'm going to go to Kathy, kids are coming there. I will spend the day with them and go home in the evening. I haven't contacted Laura, but she should be home."
Elliot's words squeezed Olivia's heart, but she nodded. Then a taxi turned in front of them, and Fin opened its door for her. She hesitated and looked at her partner who seemed to be out of touch with reality.
"Well.. I'll see you?" She asked and his smile was a little forced.
"Yeah."
Then Olivia sat in the taxi, and it set off to head towards her home. She watched the landscape passing by, and the closer they approached her home, the more she felt lost.
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Olivia was sitting in front of the TV in her apartment, even though she didn't really even watch it. It was already late, but she didn't want to go to sleep, because the empty feeling inside her didn't leave her alone. She had opened the door of her apartment in the morning and looked around. Everything had seemed so familiar, but yet something felt to have changed, because she felt that she had left her heart in the cottage with Elliot.
She sighed and curled deeper into the corner of her couch. Elliot… The last few days felt like a dream. The circumstances had been far from ideal, and they had been in danger of life all the time, but still she felt as if the storm constantly raging inside her had calmed down when Elliot had held her in his arms. When she reminisced the night before the rescue, her heart felt like it was bursting. Everything had felt so doubtless, so right, but now… Now she was no longer sure what was even true. It was as if some magic had disappeared the moment they stepped out the airport doors. Elliot had left to meet his children, his girlfriend, and his ex-wife, and Olivia had been greeted at home by the quiet walls and not so ventilated air.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she wrapped her arms around her. She should have known that everything had been too good to be true between them.
There was a knock on the door, and she woke up startled and for a moment she had to think where she was. She had apparently fallen asleep at some point, as it was already past midnight. Then there was a new knock on the door, and she stood up groaning. Thinking no further, she opened the door without glancing through the peephole, and her heart skipped a beat as her gaze met the familiar blue eyes.
"Elliot?"
"Hi, sorry if I woke you up," he rubbed his neck embarrassed. "But can I spend the night here?"
Olivia looked at him surprised before she answered: "Of course, what happened?"
Elliot swallowed. "Well… Another man in your girlfriend's bed is a pretty bad "welcome home, I was really worried"- gift," he clenched his fists and Olivia's eyes widened.
"What?! I'm so sorry El…"
Her partner shrugged and dropped his bag next to the couch. "The truth is, I'm not really surprised. It was the same man I had seen Laura kiss with. And on the other hand… Thanks to him, I finally managed to break up with her."
"Really?" Olivia felt like her heart has started to sing, but she covered it and asked cautiously: "I… How are you feeling?"
"I don't know. I believe quite the same as you did when you described your breakup with Cassidy. Something hasn't felt right in a long time, and the more we've tried to fix it, the farther we've drifted apart. In fact, I… I feel relieved."
Olivia nodded as she knew what Elliot was talking about but couldn't come up with anything rational to say. Instead, she asked:
"Do you want some tea?"
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(Please listen to that song:D Bon Jovi - Thank You For Loving Me)
Olivia and Elliot had enjoyed their tea slowly and during that they had quickly relaxed. She had watched Elliot's brightened face as he had told her amused how Kathleen had thrown him an egg when he reached Kathy's apartment, and Olivia had felt the feeling of emptiness that had plagued her all day had gradually disappeared. It had turned into warmth and coziness. She had turned off the TV and turned on the radio, and then they had moved to the couch to eat the biscuits she had found in her closet.
She leaned against Elliot and for a moment they quietly enjoyed each other's presence. Then Olivia raised her hand and caressed his arm, which he had wrapped around her and she gulped:
"I was afraid you wouldn't want to be with me anymore," she said quietly, feeling Elliot look at her in surprise.
"Why the hell wouldn't I?"
"I… Because things have changed between us and you have your family and Laura and… I'm just me, you know? In Canada, things were different, but here I am just "the same old Olivia," your ex-partner," she fell silent and looked nervously at her hands. Elliot was silent for a moment, which made her anxiety grow even more, but then he replied:
"Liv, look at me," his voice was almost demanding, and Olivia turned to look at him. There was a strange, intense glow in his eyes. "You are "the same old Olivia", but I love you because of that. You're my Liv," he said, and she felt her heartbeat speed up. "Canada was one of the worst things that has ever happened to me, but at the same time it was one of the best, because of you. I felt like I had finally found what I had been looking for all my life, and I feel almost stupid that I have spent so much time looking for it, even though it has been all this time right under my nose," his gaze softened. "I feel like my heart has been trying to tell it to me all this time, but I've been too busy listening to it."
"I… I don't know what to say," Olivia whispered in a hoarse voice, and Elliot pressed a kiss on the top of her head. Then the radio started playing Bon Jovi's "Thank You For Loving Me," and suddenly he grinned, got up from the couch, and held out his hand to her.
"You don't have to say anything, just… Would you dance with me?"
She looked at him in surprise, but then grabbed his hand and got up. He gently raised his arm sling arm around her and lowered his other hand on her back. Olivia wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her head against his head. She felt Elliot's breath next to her ear, closed her eyes, and let the music sink in.
Thank you for loving me
For being my eyes
When I couldn't see
For parting my lips
When I couldn't breathe
Thank you for loving me
Suddenly everything else disappeared around them, and as they swayed slowly and she felt Elliot's strong arms around her, Olivia felt safer than ever before.
I never knew I had a dream
Until that dream was you
When I look into your eyes
The sky's a different blue
Elliot tightened his grip on her and pressed his face to her hair.
You pick me up when I fall down
You ring the bell before they count me out
If I was drowning, you would part the sea
And risk your own life to rescue me, yeah
Olivia felt the tears begin to roll down her cheeks and barely caught a sob that almost escaped her lips. She pressed her face to Elliot's neck, and when her cheek touched his cheek, she felt that his cheeks were also wet with tears.
Thank you for loving me
When I couldn't fly
Oh, you gave me wings
You parted my lips
When I couldn't breathe
Thank you for loving me
Then Elliot raised his head so that he looked deep into Olivia's eyes for a moment with his blue eyes and pressed his lips to hers as the last words of the song filled the apartment.
Thank you for loving me
Oh, for loving me
They stood entwined to each other long after the song ended, and when they finally parted, their cheeks were wet with tears. They wiped their faces on their shirts and then Elliot gave a laugh:
"Well, that hit deep, huh?"
Olivia didn't get words out of her mouth because of all the emotions, just looked at her partner. About a week ago, they had been sitting in the car on their way to interview the girl, blissfully unaware of what the next week would bring. Then she had thought she had lost everything, lost herself for a moment… And then she had got everything. All her life she had been looking for something, something that would calm her constantly restless soul. And now that Elliot was standing in front of her with tears in his eyes, she finally felt she had found that peace for her soul. Realizing this, she felt the scars that the past had left in her slowly begin to heal, and the heat spread to all the parts of her heart she had hardened during her life. Elliot was her everything, and she had finally gotten home.
Elliot seemed to read her mind, because he took a deep breath before he said:
"Whatever happens, I want you to know that I'm always here for you. You mean the world to me, Liv, and… Stay with me, please. It's all I want."
When she heard this, she took a step towards him, grabbed his shirt, and looked deep into his blue eyes before she pressed her lips to his and whispered:
"That's all I've ever wanted."
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DUN DUN
*drops the mic
(Bonus track: Aaaand if this story was a movie, this would definitely be the song of the closing credits)
• World Without You – The Shires
