Disclaimer: Law & Order SVU/OC and its characters don't belong to me. This story has been written for fun only, not for money.
Spoilers: Promo for OC 2x01, because it's burned in our heads since last week!
Summary: I had a lot of ideas for scenes after THAT promo…unfortunately only one made it to paper before the episode aired...
Context: Okay so I'm really struggling about that promo (like many of you, I'm sure!). There is SO much stuff to address! The come back from UC after 3 months of radio silence. The OC meeting where they bicker. The angst where Elliot tells her he has her back. The LETTER! The 2-second moment that blew up the fandom. AND we know that Bernie Stabler will be in this episode…I just couldn't process everything this week, so I'm writing a couple of scenes that ran into my head from that promo. Not sure I'll cover EVERYTHING but I'll try! Don't know if the show is going to go that way either but hey, I needed to get this out of my system.
Enjoy and please review!
The Come Back
by musical-Aven
Olivia turned to see him enter the wide space. He looked casual, as if there was nothing anormal about this moment. That frustrated her even more.
"Elliot." She called. Her voice was grave, angry. He noticed it immediately, but wasn't surprised. He braced himself for what was to come, fully prepared to take her anger. He had earned it, after all.
"Hey." He approached her. The rest of the squad gave them space, felling the tension about to explode.
He looked at her, waiting for the blow out. Which he kinda knew wouldn't come in front of other people. But he let her know that he was ready to take it when she was ready.
"3 months of radio silence?" she asked directly. She was barely controlling her anger and almost didn't care who was listening. Almost.
"I know, I'm sorry." He spoke softly. He didn't have any excuse for it, he just never contacted her.
"I thought we had an understanding." She said. Joining the anger, disappointed was fully present in her voice.
"I told you I was going undercover." He lamely tried to excuse himself.
"You found time for your kids." She accused.
It took him aback to learn that she knew that, but at the same time he wasn't all that surprised. He shrugged uncomfortably and answered defensively.
"They're my kids…" he regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.
She looked crushed, but it didn't last long, remembering where they were. She let a dry laugh leave her throat.
"Yeah..."
Olivia put her Captain mask back on, shoving her feelings to the side. She couldn't believe him. After Fin's wedding, they had agreed to start and try rebuilding their friendship. She thought she made it clear that him disappearing again without a word was out of the question. Still, he did exactly that a week after. Granted, he had taken the time to tell her first. But after that? No contact, no news, no touchbase. She had spent the last three months reminiscing how she could have trusted him again and how his silent absence still affected her. She couldn't let him do that to her. She promised herself she wouldn't, not anymore. She was done with him.
She turned to Ayanna who was standing near them.
"Let's do this meeting so we can go back to SVU."
"Yes Captain."
Elliot stayed behind as everyone gathered for Ayanna's brief. He sighed and cursed himself for being defensive and for putting his foot in his mouth. He had missed Liv so much, seeing her again in this context was messing up with his brain. He knew going silent, and staying that way for months wasn't the right decision. But at the same time, he was trying to focus on his job. Seeing or speaking with her would only mess with him more, and he was afraid he would lose his grip on reality. He knew he would regret not reaching out, in the end. And now, he felt as though nothing was ever going to be enough to make this up to Olivia.
The meeting began and he took a spot near her (but far enough), leaning on the concrete column in the middle of the room. He didn't want to let her leave like this, he needed to explain or at least try to explain why he didn't reach out. Noticing that she wasn't really listening to the meeting, he whispered tentatively.
"Liv, I'm sorry…"
"This isn't the time, Elliot." She whispered back while still looking ahead.
"Can we talk later?"
"Let's just do this case and then that's it." she replied harshly.
"What do you mean that's it?"
Her silence scared him the most. Her gaze was fixed ahead but he could see her turmoil. Surely she wouldn't just cut him out of her life…would she?
"What, you're not gonna speak to me again, is that it?" he thought humour would help diffuse the tension.
Boy was he wrong. She finally turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were hard, her response sharp as a dagger.
"Well, you did that for ten years, maybe I should try it."
She looked serious. And it scared him even more. Before he had a chance to say anything, Sergeant Bell cleared her throat at the front of the group. Their little exchange wasn't going unnoticed. They both refrained from speaking and the meeting continued.
But Elliot couldn't get her answer out of his head. He couldn't live with himself if she went through with it and not spoke to him again. Oh he knew it was selfish, having done exactly that to her before. He felt the guilt reappear in the back of his throat. That was the feeling he struggled with the most during his peaks of PTSD: the guilt for hurting people around him. He also started feeling the panic reinstall itself in his chest. He couldn't lose her.
"Please don't." he begged softly, his voice cracking just enough for her to notice.
Olivia felt a pang in her stomach. The desperation in his voice almost broke her. Almost. But she didn't let it show, not here, not now. He knew she heard him, even though she didn't say anything or look at him. She looked sad now, and he cursed himself for doing this to her, again.
The meeting finally ended and the group breaks up. Olivia approached Bell and Elliot stayed close.
"Thanks for the brief, Sergeant. We'll wait for your intel but if you can send it before 5 pm, we can be ready-"
"We?" Bell interrupted.
"My team will handle this. We caught the guy, we just need your team's info and we can come up with an operation-"
"You'll need back up on that." Elliot suddenly intervened.
The hint of over-protectiveness in his voice infuriated Olivia.
"We'll be fine, Detective." Benson shut him down, barely glancing towards him.
"Captain, I know you've got the manpower, but we've got the intel…I strongly think that we need to join our forces on this." Bell kept her voice as professional as she could, in the midst of the ex-partners exchanges.
Olivia seemed to consider her options, or put her emotions in check, it wasn't clear.
"Let me think about it. We'll regroup at the station, and I'll call you later."
Bell couldn't ask for more in this situation. Anyway, Benson was already picking up her coat to leave. Carisi following her.
"Yes Captain."
Olivia didn't look at Elliot and it confirmed to him that he had a lot to do to repair this. He sighed deeply.
"SVU can't lead this, Ayanna." He stated the obvious.
"I know. But this is on you Stabler." She was mad at him. He was mad at himself too.
Chapter 2 in the works...Please review!
musical-Aven, September 2021