My take on the iconic scene in burned. We all know what I'm talking about.
Season 8 ofc.
'Meet me downstairs...Liv.'
He looked at the phone for a few seconds before typing a response.
'Come up.'
She looked around, she knew that he would be up. They had already been on thin ice since her return from Oregon and she didn't blame him for being upset, and as unfortunate as it was she wasn't surprised that it had been hard for them to fall back into a groove with each other. This case had hurt them, they didn't agree on what was going on, they fought, they both admitted they were wrong but she still felt like she needed to be here.
She sat in her bed all night, trying her best to sleep, to forget, but he was the only one she wanted to see. She climbed the stairs to his apartment and he was opening the door before she even got a chance to knock, he moved to the side and she stepped in. She had been to this apartment a few times, Kathy had left him and he spent most nights staying at the station, letting her stay in Queens with the kids.
Eventually both Kathy and the kids migrated to her mothers while Elliot looked for a place to live, there was no gradualness about it, she called it off and it was over.
Just like that.
He told her to keep the house in Queens for the kids and he got an apartment in the city, he would joke around a few times, before she left, about how maybe it was better so he didn't have to make the drive at 1 AM anymore, she would laugh, just to make him feel better but she felt for him.
The man loved his family but she watched his marriage fall apart over time, she knew things were downhill but she was shocked when he told her that Kathy had left him. She stepped into his kitchen, there was a dim light shining over the island and the rest of the apartment was dark with the exception of the hallway light, the hallway that led to the bedroom and bathroom.
She sat down the two cups she had brought on the counter and he walked to stand beside her thanking her for the cup she pushed towards him. "Is that a flower in your cup?"
A smile fell on her lips as she responded, "It's tea." She looked forward as she raised the cup to her lips and spoke, "Couldn't sleep."
"Me either."
"Valerie Senet wasn't raped, she was sleeping with the law firm investigator. She really put her husband through the ringer."
"She died twenty minutes ago."
The images of Valerie laying in that hospital bed covered in burns flooded her head. She stuck by her the entire time, every single time she told her she was raped, how scared she was of Miles, she believed her, she stood up for her every second. Knowing that the entire time, Valerie lied to her and what happened to her because of it, was leaving her in disbelief. "She knew she was gonna die and she still lied to my face."
"When love warps into hate there's nothing you won't do." He spoke and they both continued to stare forward, they were standing at his kitchen island just staring at their cups, their fingers or at the wall but neither of them looked at each other. "That's why I signed the divorce papers, didn't want Kathy to ever regret me."
Her eyes moved from her fingers to his, he was mimicking her motions, his fingers playing with the cover of the cheap cup of coffee, "That's a step in the right direction Elliot." Her mind flashes back to her conversation with Kathy, how she had wanted her to talk to him about signing the papers, but she never did it.
"So are we okay?"
She still isn't looking at him and she knows he isn't either, she can always feel when his eyes are on her.
"I just..." He starts but he doesn't finish and that's when her eyes move over to look at him, he's standing still, his eyes are fixed on the wall and she looks back down at her cup, "I just need space to disagree with you and not feel like it's gonna cost me my partnership."
"Well you've never been gun shy before," She speaks before she can fully process his words because he's said the one thing that's been on her mind, he's scared of her leaving, scared of her running.
Again.
"Yeah well, things change." She can see him nudge her cup of tea with his hand and she can't help the smile that falls on her lips, she picks up her tea and raises it to her lips, "Well like you said you're the longest relationship I've ever had with a man, who else would put up with me?"
They're silent after that, the small hum of his refrigerator and heat circulating his apartment, her tea is getting cold and so is she. She knows she won't sleep if she goes back to her apartment but she already feels better just being in his presence.
"I spoke with Kathy the other day," She speaks up and then he looks at her for the first time since they started this conversation, but she doesn't look back. "She wanted me to tell you to sign the divorce papers." She finishes and takes another gulp of her tea that had turned cold at this point.
"You never did."
"I know that," She looks over at him and this time he looks back, their eyes meet but she's the one that pulls away before speaking again, "I couldn't. I don't know how she expected me to," There were more words on the tip of her tongue but she just didn't know how to form them. "I didn't like Oregon."
"So why did you go?"
His words shot out so fast that they almost startled her, she took a minute and walked to the trash dropping her now empty cup in and watching the lid fall close before she walked back over, this time she pushed herself up to sit on top of the countertop with her legs hanging off the end, she felt so comfortable around him, she felt like she could kick off her shoes and go take a shower like this was her own home and he would never mind.
"When Dana offered it, at first I told her no, that I worked here and I loved it but she kept pressing about it, she told me about everything that could happen and the changes I could make. I just thought maybe, a little break would be okay, it was only supposed to be a month but then, months and months went by. It wasn't anything you personally ever did or anyone else, it was me."
Her confession is almost the truth, she doesn't tell him about the way she ran because her feelings for him were growing to strong, she doesn't tell him about the night she fell into bed with her agent Dean Porter to try and get her partner out of her head, she doesn't tell him about how many nights she found him in her thoughts and how she cried herself to sleep because of how much she missed him.
She doesn't tell him that she moaned his name in her sleep in the hospital in front of everyone, including one of the members and close friends of the group who bothered her about it for the rest of her assignment.
"Did you ever think about how that may affect me Liv?"
She doesn't look at him, she can't. Of course she thought about that, of course she thought about him. She thought about how he was feeling every single day, she thought about the conversations with Casey about how Elliot was falling apart and then she came to the station that day, "You didn't look too affected."
That sure as hell caught his attention, he turned to face her and his arms fit themselves into a position crossed over his chest, "And how would you know that?"
"I saw you."
"You saw me?"
"Yeah at the station, a few weeks before I came back." He was looking right at her but she wasn't looking at him, her hands were in her lap and she was playing with her fingers, "You came in, were all touchy and rubbing her shoulder. You looked nice and cozy with Dani." Elliot scoffed, he audibly scoffed and it made her look up at him. "What you trying to tell me you didn't fuck her?"
"No Olivia I did not fuck her."
"I kissed her."
It still felt like a big punch in the gut, she didn't need this, she didn't need to know this. Dani was gone, it was over, she was back. "When you left I really did fall apart, I went past your apartment every single day hoping you would be there, I kept calling your disconnected number to see if for some reason you would pick up. I went through gallons of beer and then Dani showed up. Yeah it felt nice to to not think about you sometimes, to have a distraction but if you think that I forgot about you or that I wasn't affected? Then you're the one with the issue."
She didn't know that he looked so hard for her, that he put that much in. Casey begged her so many times on the phone to call him, but she just couldn't. She needed time. She thought those months would make those feelings go away, but they never did.
"This is the longest I've ever seen your hair before." He speaks and his voice is soft, she can tell that he just wants to ease down their conversation and it earns a smile from her, "I haven't had it this long since college." She spoke as she pulled the hair tie from her hair and let the hair fall to her shoulders, it was straight and a deep brown and it ran past her shoulders.
"When I was in Oregon I had this agent, my FBI agent. He uh he called me annoying," Her eyes moved to look at him and she knew that would make his blood boil, "El it's fine. We were in the car and he asked me if you found me as annoying as he did. I just shook my head and told him 'we're best friends.'"
"When I came back and I saw you touching her, it just made me think of the way you used to touch me and it hurt me." She shrugged as she picked at her fingernails, she had been picking at them so much that they were raw and close to bleeding. "You used to find excuses to touch me, to be close to me. I just saw you doing that with her and it hurt."
"Liv I never meant to hurt you-"
"I know." She looked up at him, "I think what's best if we just move on, no more Dani, no more Oregon, no more Gitano." His words made her smile, a light smirk on her lips as she looked down in her lap. "Yeah. I'd like that."
She hopped down from the counter and looked at the time it was just barley past 5 now and for the first time that entire night she was finally tired. She walked to the other side of the island and picked up his gray jacket and slid it on and zipped it up halfway, ever since her return she had found an excuse to take the jacket.
It smelled like him, that familiar scent of his cologne, a light scent of sweat.
It was just him.
He was watching her every moment closely, "You know Liv I-"
"I do know, trust me I know." Her bottom teeth sunk into her lip as she watched him, she wanted him to, so badly.
But not yet.
"I think it's time for me to go." She walked over to him, they stood facing each other and she looked up towards his lips and leaned in pressing a firm kiss to his cheek. "Goodnight."
Her fingers lightly traced his hand and then she was out the door, and gone.
Ugh, I wanted so much for this but I hope you enjoyed anyway.
