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After taking a drink from the soda liter, she passed it to Elliot, hearing him take his own drink as she grabbed another slice of pizza. "I don't remember the last time I ate pizza with more than just pepperoni on it. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had pizza with someone who wasn't Noah."

"I can't remember the last time I had a decent burger." Elliot muttered. He grabbed one of the napkins off the table, cleaning his fingers of grease. "We should make this a regular thing." He saw her eyes widen. "Not locking ourselves in the interrogation room. Although, I wouldn't be opposed to this under other circumstances." He chuckled when her jaw dropped, a blush flooding her cheeks. "I mean just pig out, hang out. Eat food that we don't have to cook. Put on sweats, pop in a movie or just catch up. It's nice." He gazed up at her, handing her a napkin when her eyes glanced towards the pile. "Or, go out to eat. Dress up fancy."

"Like a date?" Olivia asked, smiling at his almost shyness about it. She knew he hadn't had to ask a girl out since he was too young to drink, and she thought it was adorable that he was nervous even broaching the subject with her. "I wouldn't mind that. It'd be nice to finally go out with you as us instead of undercover for something."

Elliot chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. "What? You didn't like pretending to be my wife every now and then."

Olivia shook her head, a little shy herself about her confession. "I didn't mind that at all, but I'm pretty sure the last place you took 'wife Olivia' was to a brothel." She laughed when he rolled his eyes. "I heard you over the wire. Looking to broaden my horizons? I nearly choked on my drink when you said that. I'm surprised you didn't threaten the couple that were trying to groom me for a threesome."

"I wanted to haul you out of there the way everyone was looking at you." Elliot admitted himself, resting his chin on his hand and propping his elbow on the table. "Not that I could blame them. You were beautiful that night." He felt another heat swell in his chest, proud to get her to blush. "As dangerous as some of our ops were, I liked playing pretend with you more than I probably should've."

Olivia bit her lip with a small nod. "Me too." As much as she loved this banter, they were still tiptoeing around their invisible lines, defeating the purpose of why they had locked themselves in the interrogation room. The lines were redrawn, much closer to the truth, but they were still holding back. Running a hand through her hair, she decided to jump back in. "I know we were joking around earlier, but you tensed up when you said someone was interested in you. Who were you talking about?"

The light in Elliot's eyes immediately blacked out. He wasn't shutting down on her, his position still calm and open with her, but the thought of whoever it was must've shook him, because it seemed as if something inside of him had flipped a switch. He leaned back in the chair, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked down in his lap. "If I had known, I wouldn't have let it go as far as it did. If things had been different-"

"El, it's me." Olivia breathed. "You aren't scaring me away." She closed her eyes, realizing the irony of the fact that she had fled his apartment that morning because of her fear. Fear of losing him. Fear of the future. Fear of the unknown. A fear of him breaking her. The next words that came out of her mouth eased her, because she knew that they were as true for her as they were for him. "Whoever it is, it doesn't matter to me. It doesn't change us."

Us. Such a small word but the implications were anything but. They'd been an us as friends, as partners. This us was so much more than that.

Elliot sucked in a breath through his nose, sighing before his eyes dragged up to hers. "After Kathy died, I didn't know who I could talk to who would understand what I was going through. I wanted to talk to you, but I guess I didn't think you knew how I felt. And, I didn't want to unload all of it on you after abandoning you for ten years. Even Ayana told me if I needed to get something out of my system, I shouldn't take it out on you."

Olivia nodded, crossing one leg over the other. "I know the feeling. It's lonely."

"Yeah," Elliot agreed, almost struggling to get the single word out. "During the investigation into Wheatley, we met his ex-wife, Angela, who you helped in the hospital that night. After talking with her, we found out her oldest son had been killed. She thought it was during a police raid like I explained to you when we arrested Richard." She nodded, remembering the conversation where Elliot had unloaded the bombshell that Kathy was used as a pawn to hurt Elliot. It broke her heart knowing Elliot would feel the guilt more so and that Kathy was caught up in something that had nothing to do with her. She didn't deserve it. "She never got over the death of her son."

"You bonded over it." Olivia stated.

Elliot nodded. "Felt like she understood what I was going through. With the case being so personal, with it being Kathy, keeping professional and personal separate was nearly impossible." He ran his hand down his face, staring down at the table as he replayed the moments in his head. "There were a couple times I showed up at her place just to talk and then I would leave. She had information about Richard too, which made it easier to feel like it was just about the case. After a rough day, I found myself at her place. I wasn't really looking to talk or even really knew where I was going. I just found myself there."

"I didn't mean for it to happen. Same with that detective. It was just a kiss. As soon as it was over, I got out of there as fast as I could." Elliot shook his head. "Before I knew what she had done, we even talked about possibly becoming a thing. I wasn't ready for anything, and she understood that, but I liked that connection. Feeling understood."

Olivia could almost feel his agony from her chair, and all she wanted was to hold him. "It sucks knowing the truth now, but she helped you heal a little bit. Just by letting you talk it through, helping you feel like you weren't the only one in the world who felt the way you did. I'm glad that you had that."

"Did you have someone you could talk to?" Elliot asked.

Olivia shook her head, a small but sad smile gracing her lips. "Not really. I was dating Cassidy at the time, and he did his best to help, but I never felt like I could talk to him. I did a lot of self-destruction before going to a therapist, and I only went when I understood why my mom spent her life addicted to the bottle." She sucked in her own breath, shaking her head slightly. "I became very cynical for a while after that."

"I wish I could've been there for you." Elliot whispered.

"Me too, but it's probably better that you weren't." Olivia said before seeing the guilt in his eyes. "I would've pushed you away. Knowing what I endured, you wouldn't have left my side which would've put strain on Kathy. If he had found out how close you and I were, he would've used you too. It probably would've saved a couple people if he just had us, but I don't even want to think about what he would've done if he knew. I got so angry that I ended up telling him about you, because I wanted you there so badly."

Elliot had to blink when his vision blurred. "And, I never came." He watched her nod her head slowly, her eyes downcast towards her lap. He could still see the tears gathering much like his own though. "That's when you gave up on me coming back, isn't it?"

She nodded again. "I never stopped hoping. I just stopped thinking it would happen after I was kidnapped."

That word made Elliot's heart stop. "Kidnapped?"

"For a few days," Olivia whispered, "in complete utter terror. The kind of terror that keeps you awake even past the point of exhaustion because you're afraid of what he'll do if you close your eyes." She hated the tremble even her breath took. "We were investigating him for a couple different crimes. He was a rapist, the worst I've ever seen. Because of a mishap in the lab, his case was dismissed. He was free to go after he'd tortured an elderly woman for hours, raped her repeatedly. She died of heart attack we all knew was because she was scared out of her mind."

"After he was let go, he ended up breaking into my apartment and waited for me until I got home. He ambushed me with my gun before I could react." Olivia remembered the moment vividly. "Tied me to a chair and burned me with cigarettes, hot keys and hangers. I don't remember how long he did that for, just taunting me and trying to get me to break, but he put me in the trunk of his car when it was still dark outside."

Elliot swallowed hard, knowing this was only the beginning. "What happened next?"

Amanda wiped at her eyes, hearing Olivia start to recount the events that happened at the beach out. Unlike when they had originally found her, she was telling Elliot everything, even details she didn't even think she'd heard about until now. She'd talked about the constant drinking of alcohol he'd forced on her, raping a woman in front of her, killing an office, slaughtering people. "She's not holding back on him."

"She knows it's better if he knows everything, because his imagination will run wild if she doesn't." Fin breathed before glancing back to see Kat silently crying and in shock. "Hey, she's okay. It took a while, but she's alright. It's a lot to take in. I know."

"I just can't believe someone could be this evil." Kat murmured. In front of her, Elliot and Olivia sat across from each other, eyes closed, tears falling, and completely raw. It was an intense sight. Hearing the conversation they were having only made her soul ache. "They're in agony."

Fin sighed. "I know. As much as they need this, it's going to haunt him for a while."

"Can't we stop it?" Kat asked, walking around to face Fin and Amanda.

"No," Fin stood up, heading for the door, "but I might know how to help."

"For those few days, I found myself wanting only one person. You. I wanted you to storm in and be the hothead that I'd held back in interrogation so many times before. I wanted you, because there was no question about what you would do. And after everything, I needed to feel safe. . .I freed myself though. When he shoved my gun in my mouth, I told him I didn't want to die. And, I didn't. I broke free because I knew I wanted more than what my life was. I fought for everything I've done since then. I fought for Noah." She opened her eyes to find his staring back at her. She didn't know if he'd been watching her the entire time or if he'd just opened his eyes as well, but he looked just as shitty as she probably did. "I guess I was fighting for you too." She pushed away from the table, walking towards the window, needing some movement in her body to try and expel the anxiety rushing through her system. "When I was found and taken back to New York, you weren't there. No where to be found. So, I swallowed the pill everyone had been telling me to for two years. I told myself you weren't coming back, even when I was reminded of you and that sliver of hope resurfaced." Olivia swallowed hard. "He told me that I would call out your name when he raped me. He never did, but I couldn't stop from talking about you."

"I would've made my name the last he heard, Liv." Elliot choked out. He took her in for a moment standing by the window. To know what all she'd endured in her life on top of what she'd had to survive while he was gone, he was more in awe of her than he'd ever been of anybody in his life. To see the strong woman she still was. She was different, yes, but he knew she was still the same Olivia. If anything, he loved her more, and he didn't believe that had been possible after twenty-two years of loving her. "How did he die?"

Olivia huffed out a breath. "Well after we went to trial where he represented himself and got to cross examine me, he was found guilty. Son of a bitch even offered to take a deal only if we would add the charge of rape. He went to prison though and started a relationship with one of the guards. She helped him escape prison." She wiped at her cheeks despite more tears gathering in her eyes. "He kidnapped a little girl and blackmailed me into showing up alone to keep him from hurting her. I met him at this abandoned warehouse where he handcuffed me to table and made the little girl watch. He wanted to finally get to me, but he couldn't do it when I wouldn't react to him. He couldn't even finish undoing my pants. So, he decided we would play Russian Roulette." She felt the tears fall off the edge of her jaw as her eyes met Elliot's again. "He lost and shot himself."

Even Elliot's hand shook as he wiped his face of tears. "Jesus Christ." He stood up, walking over to her but letting her have her space. "You're right. If I had been here, I would've destroyed my marriage if only to camp outside your apartment building every night." He felt more tears flow down his cheeks. "I would give anything to protect you, Liv. If I had known-"

"I know." Olivia breathed.

Neither knew who made the first move, but they seemed to throw themselves at each other. Within a blink of an eye, they were wrapped up in each other. His face in her hair and hers in his chest. Her fists clung to the blue of his button up and his hand tangled in her hair as he kissed her head. Not even the three colleagues on the other side of the wall could hold back their emotions as the two inside whispered only loud enough for each other to hear.

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