Elliot frowned when he heard the tentative knock at his door. It was late on a Saturday night, he was half-watching a movie in sweatpants and a hoodie. Bernie was at Kathleen's for the night and Eli was out with friends and he didn't expect him for at least another hour. He hardly managed to keep the surprise off his face when he opened the door to his partner.

"Hey." He greeted her.

She was dressed up, her hair carefully coiffed and her makeup more intense than ordinarily. She looked like she had been standing there for a long time, the cold of the night making her rub her hands together for warmth. He stepped aside to let her in immediately.

"Everything alright?" he asked when she didn't say anything but came in.

She shivered again when the warmth of his home hit her.

"Yeah." She said, unconvincingly.

They walked to the open space in the middle of the apartment, between the kitchen and the living room. Elliot gave her time as he felt she was here to ask him something important. After a moment, he tried to cut the tension in the air with a joke.

"I feel a bit underdressed."

She looked at him as if it was the first time of the night she really saw him. She then looked down at herself, realizing she hadn't changed.

"Oh yeah…"

"Hot date?" Stabler tried to sound as normal as possible, even though that possibility stung deep.

She didn't really react.

"Charity event." She settled for. And then added. "I went with someone." She looked anywhere but him.

Elliot inhaled and forced the jealousy down in throat. He had no right to feel it. She wasn't his. Olivia shot a quick glance at him to gage his reaction. She knew he was fighting inwardly with it.

"You know him, Trevor Langan, the lawyer that help me back-"

"Yeah, I remember." He stopped her gently. "Didn't know he was still around." He was genuinely interested to know more.

Olivia appreciated the fact that he was talking to her like a friend, and not the jealous partner she thought would resurfaced.

"He's been around, but not on a regular basis…he's the one who helped legally with Noah's adoption. I owe him a lot."

Elliot softened at that. Feelings of gratitude replaced his jealousy towards the man who had help her become a mother.

"He's a good man." He said.

If Olivia decided to be with the man who helped realize her biggest dream, he could live with that.

They stared at each other. They stood close, standing in the quiet space. Elliot still didn't know why she was here, after a night out. He wanted to be patient and wait for her to offer her reason but he saw the wall that needed to be breached for that.

"Liv, why are you here?" his voice was soft.

Her wall shook but didn't fall.

"I…I'm not sure…" she frowned, still looking straight at him.

Elliot stepped closer and he saw the cracks beginning to form. Olivia felt the energy between them. She felt their own unique bubble form where nothing existed but them, right here, right now.

"He asked to see me again." She admitted.

Elliot wasn't surprised.

"Yeah?" he encouraged.

"But…I couldn't…" her eyes became shiny, she couldn't form the words to say what she had felt confronted to Langan's invitation. She looked away in shame and frustration.

Elliot understood what she was saying, and even though it reassured him in a sense, it made his heart ache seeing her struggle about it.

"Am I crazy?" she looked up at him, her voice so small.

Looking back at her, Elliot knew what she was asking. What frightened him most it that he saw she was asking seriously. Was she crazy to think there was something between them? Was she crazy to miss out on a great guy for the possibility of *them*? Was she crazy to think that whatever-this-is between them was worth it all?

Elliot couldn't resist not to reach out to her. His hand went to her upper arm when he answered her.

"No." he replied as seriously as her question was.

They stared in each other eyes for a long time. Both aching because of the complexity of it all, of the hurt they felt from their past, of the fear of what the future offered. Elliot wanted to reassure her, to tell her that his feelings were there and that he wanted nothing more than to explore them with her.

Olivia was scared about believing it was actually possible. She didn't need to voice her feelings, Elliot knew the moment she showed hesitation about Langan's invitation. But still, he felt guilty for making her wait, for asking her to potentially miss out on a relationship to wait for him to get his shit together, to make up for his numerous mistakes.

He squeezed her arm to reinforce what he was about to say.

"I want this. I want this to work, Liv."

She sighed after a moment. Her eyes were still watery, but she offered a small smile.

"Me too."

His hold on her arm changed to a soft stroke, up and down.

"You need to turn the page on Wheatley." She stated her first condition.

"I know." He nodded.

"And you need to mourn your wife." She stated her second.

She held his eyes to make sure he understood what that meant. He knew once Wheatley was behind him, once the revenge would be over, that the grief for his wife would hit him full force. He would have to face it without any distraction.

He nodded again, not sure about the words to respond.

"I may be grieving…but it doesn't mean I don't feel other things too." He finally settled for.

He wanted to let her know that his feelings were real.

"I know." She replied softly.

And just like that, they had an unspoken agreement. They had a path, at least, to where they both wanted to go. Sighing in sync, the tension in the air dissipated a bit. Elliot's hand slid across her arm and grabbed the outside edge of her hand.

"Thank you." He squeezed.

"For what?"

"For putting your life on hold for me to get my head together."

To his surprise, Olivia let out a small laughed.

"I've put my life on hold for a lot of years for that…even though I didn't fully realize it." She admitted, squeezing back.

They smiled at each other, finally able to let their feelings out a little bit. They didn't need to say much more at this point.

Satisfied with their conversation, Olivia moved to make her exit. Elliot accompanied her to the door silently. They didn't say anything else, they didn't need to. He opened the door for her and she gave him a last promising look before stepping out.

She was a few steps onto the pavement when he called for her.

"Hey Liv!"

She turned, hands in the pockets of her opened coat.

"You look amazing tonight." He finished with the first thought he had had when she appeared at his door tonight. Her smiled shined under the moonlight.

Yep, they were definitely on the right path now.

Hope you liked it!

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musical-Aven

March 2022