Song For the Asking

He could barely see her sitting in the window, framed by the yellow light of the streetlamp. How long had it been, three weeks, a month, five weeks? Not a day had gone by without his thoughts bending back towards her.

"You're back," he croaked. The slumped figure didn't move. "Cragen called me."

Elliot walked further into the dusty living room. It smelled unused and stuffy. He could also smell Olivia, the way horses smell rain. It was instinctual. So often he'd tried to forget her in those long weeks. There was so much to regret now. God knows.

"I'm...I...Munch told me you got hurt," Elliot stuttered. He was squinting towards her and could make out a bandage wrapped around one of her hands. He missed her so much his soul hurt.

A siren screamed by, then the room was quiet again. Olivia's head was bowed, like she was praying.

"You really went for her, didn't you?"

Elliot's head shot up like a rocket. His body stiffened. He stared at her for a long moment and then sat with a grunt on the couch. Olivia didn't move from the window sill.

"It wasn't anything," he finally said.

"That's not what I heard, Elliot. You two were all over each other."

Elliot frowned. "Who told you that?" he asked, leaning forward.

"Dammit, I wasn't that far underground. Word tends to travel, especially when your partner makes a fool of himself."

It was beginning to rain. The light in the room began to softly fade. Olivia retreated back into the shadows. Almost total silence enveloped them, save for the faint patter of rain on the window. Elliot was aware of how cold the room had become, and how the remaining light made it all look like a runny watercolor painting.

"Liv, you date. Why can't I?"

He heard her swallow hard. "Because I don't date my partner," Olivia breathed.

A crack of thunder made Elliot jolt slightly at the comment. She had a point. And Olivia probably heard all the details second hand and had to defend his actions. He got up and walked towards the window, where Olivia was concentrating on the storm. At first, he thought the ragged shadows of rain were streaking her face. But when she turned to look at him, tears spilled over her cheeks and down her pale neck.

"Why?" she said softly. Olivia's breathing was hard and raspy. "Why could you...after what you said to me in the hospital..."

She was shaking her head slightly, not bothering to wipe away the tears. Elliot put his hands on her shoulders.

"Because what you and I are...what we have...is different. You know that," he said, regretting it almost as soon as it came out of his mouth.

"No! We're not!" Olivia cried, putting her hands over her eyes. Elliot was beginning to shake.

We're different because I didn't love her, he wanted to say.

"What did they tell you?" he demanded, trying to overcome the urge to pry Olivia's hands away from her face. She didn't say anything, so he gently wraped his hands around her wrists and began to pull.

"Oivia, what did they tell you?"

She jerked from his grasp and looked him square in the eye. "You're always so damn mad. I can't deal with that anymore. I knew that telling you how I felt would just be another goddamn hassle, like in the bus station, when I needed you," she spat. "They told me you were all over this woman...and that everyone was saying you blew two investigations because I wasn't there to watch you."

Elliot winced as if he'd been cut. It was true. And all this after telling Olivia sort of how important she was to him.

"Leave, Elliot."

She was still crying. But now so was he.

"Liv, I want you to listen to me."

Their eyes met unsteadily again. He stepped closer.

"I'm sorry," he said very softly. "I didn't know.."

"Well, now you do. Leave," Olivia quietly demanded. Instead, Elliot stepped even closer, until he could feel her breath on his neck.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again.

"I know," she whispered back. The words hung in the air thickly. Elliot knew he should leave. His heart was beating so fast it threatened to rupture through his chest. He put his trembling hands on her arms. Olivia didn't move. It seemed like the room was shrinking like something from "Alice In Wonderland".

"Please," Olivia breathed. Elliot leaned down until their lips touched lightly. She moaned a little, way back in her throat. The sound alone opened every pore on his body. Elliot could hear his heartbeat, amplified a thousand times in his eardrums.

He was only able to stop on sheer willpower, something that hadn't been of much use to him lately.

"You have to understand," Elliot said, his lips hovering inches away from hers. Olivia's eyes were screwed shut. They flew open only when he touched her face softly.

Olivia laid a hand on his heart.

"See you at work?" he asked hopefully, caressing her cheek.

Olivia just nodded and watched him walk out the door. He stood in the hallway for a few minutes, thinking about what had just happened. Things had just grown more complicated, but Elliot didn't care.

His heart was hers for the taking.

XXXXXXX

Author's Note:

Next two are reader's choice. Send me a song, poem or situation and I'll write up some of them!