Chapter 52

Sense cont'd

Melinda was a little apprehensive about coming to Fin's tonight. She knew that things definitely had the potential to be awkward, but as she looked around it seemed that things weren't too bad. Alex and Olivia were keeping their distance from each other, both physically and verbally it seemed, but Melinda knew things could be worse. She took it upon herself to fill the void left by Munch and Cragen.

"So how are you feeling? Having any pain?" Melinda was a great doctor, but an even better friend, and Olivia couldn't help but feel the sincerity in her voice.

"Actually, I'm feeling alright." Olivia took the glass in front of her to her lips and took the last sip, setting it down on the table when she was done. "I'm not in much pain, and my hand seems to feel ok." Melinda didn't look back at her for the second sentence, but rather stared at the glass and then back at Olivia with that inquisitive-Melinda-Warner-look she had seen so many times in the morgue. "Common Mel, before you get on me about it, I haven't taken any pain medication since we left and I'm not going to. It's fine."

Melinda relaxed back into her chair for a second and shook her head. "God, you're a horrible patient." Everyone around laughed and nodded at this, especially Alex, who raised her eyebrows a bit in a 'you-have-no-idea' expression. After a few moments, Melinda got up and walked toward the couch, eventually squatting down in front of Olivia. "Let me see it—let's unwrap you." Instinctively, Olivia pulled her hand back and looked at Alex, but then corrected herself to look at Fin—after all, he was the one that was with her the whole morning.

Fin hesitated but then began speaking meekly. "Listen, Melinda, I don't think Dr. Foster would-."

"Foster can suck it. She'll never know. I just want to look and make sure everything is doing well." Everyone laughed because no one really knew if Warner actually liked Dr. Foster and was just giving her shit, or if Melinda really meant everything she said about Olivia's doctor. Nevertheless, Dr. Warner sat down in front of Olivia and motioned for her hand.

She began to unwrap the detective's hand, unrolling the ace bandage around and around until Olivia's compressed hand was left with only gauze. Everyone in the room instinctively moved forward in their seats a little to get a glimpse of it, as Warner continued to unwrap the dressings. When she got down to the last piece of gauze directly covering the incision, she noticed it was stuck with a little dried blood. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an antibacterial wipe packet, opened it, and used it to remove the gauze and clean the dried blood around the incision.

"What, you just carry those around?" Casey laughed as she watched Warner do this, and to her surprise, Melinda turned around and answered quite matter-of-factly that she had just given her son his allergy shot so she had it in her pocket by chance.

Fin piped up at this and said, "Neighbors! Remember?" He moved his hand between Melinda and himself, laughing at the fact that she probably had just left her apartment five minutes earlier. Melinda just shook her head and laughed along with everyone else as she inspected Olivia's hand.

The incision took up the middle inch of her pinky, and rested on the outside of her knuckle. It was pretty wicked looking and it wasn't necessarily the sight of the cut that made a few of the people in the room queasy, but the excessive bruising that ran from the middle of her palm all the way around her hand and up to her pinky fingernail. Olivia scrunched her face a little at the coloring of the bruise, and then just shrugged her shoulders. It could always be worse, she thought.

"Looks good," Melinda started, but before she could say anymore, she was interrupted.

"Good?!" No one expected Alex to say anything, as she had been quiet most of the night, much like Olivia. But, when she piped up, everyone turned her way.

"Well, it's healing, I mean," Dr. Warner explained. "The bone seems to be alright and I think the plate and hardware will help the blood flow around the bone much better. It's already helping—you see how the bruise is presenting more as a yellow now instead of purple or black? That's good. It means it's healing: probably from the initial break." Alex sat back, seemingly satisfied with Warner's explanation. It was just hard for the attorney to understand how someone could look at something like that and say it looked good. But, Melinda was the professional after all, and Alex listened as she continued.

"These stitches look good—really good," she lowered her voice almost to a whisper, speaking only to herself, "I could use some work like this in the morgue." Melinda seemed to be off in her own world for a few moments before she continued. "Well, they'll dissolve in probably a week, and judging from that handiwork, the scar might not be too bad actually. I've gotta find out who's doing her stitching."

"The things medical examiners notice," Fin rolled his eyes and huffed, but the sad part was that everyone in the room knew exactly what she was talking about. In their line of work, you tend to learn a lot about dead bodies. Melinda began to rewrap Olivia's hand when the detective's phone chimed on the table. Instinctively, Elliot reached for it and focused on the alert.

Seconds later, just as Warner finished rewrapping Olivia's hand, the detective felt Elliot and Kathy stand up, moments before she heard Elliot's voice. "We're gonna get out of here, Fin. Thanks for having us." Olivia turned around but Elliot didn't make any contact with her, ushering Kathy towards the door with Olivia's phone still in his hand. The detective got up and followed them out, speaking as she walked behind them.

"I'll walk you out." It was a pretense, and everyone knew it. She would have liked to have just let him go, as Olivia felt like he obviously had a stick up his ass all of the sudden. She would have just sooner waved and let him go.

Alex had been talking to Casey about a current open case when all of this transpired. She looked from Casey to Olivia and Elliot, wondering if anyone knew what was going on. She felt a certain gratitude towards Elliot lately, and wanted to make sure he heard her say goodbye. She raised her voice and said bye, waving to him and Kathy, and receiving warm smiles and waves back before they disappeared out the door.

Kathy walked out of the apartment first, turning toward Elliot when she heard the door shut behind them. She displayed her hand, nonverbally asking for the keys: she sensed this was not a conversation that she needed to be a part of. Elliot handed his wife the keys and she gave Olivia a hug, telling her to call her if she needed anything as she waved goodbye and walked down the hall. After they both watched her turn the corner, Olivia started the conversation.

"What the hell, Elliot?"

Her partner ducked his head and then began, in a calm, but rushed and somewhat annoyed tone. "Liv, I know you're hurting. I get it, trust me." She scoffed a bit, and he cut her off, knowing it would happen. "Yeah, you seem to forget that I have actually had divorce papers filed and gone through those proceedings," he paused to emphasize his point, and Olivia said nothing. "Exactly. So yeah, I know how this feels." Olivia shifted her eyes back towards him, understanding that he was trying to get his point across. "I know you're hurt. You feel betrayed—I get it! But, don't sit there next to me and eye fuck Alex one minute and then turn around and do this the next!" He displayed Olivia's phone in his hand, and Olivia understood that Hope must have texted her back.

"I've known you for 15 years, Olivia, and I've been your partner for a good part of that time. I know you. Do you honestly think that Alex meant to hurt you? That she meant to get up on that stage and purposefully answered that question the way she did to cause you pain?" Olivia could tell Elliot was waiting for an answer, but she didn't offer one, even as a thunderous 'no' charged across her brain. When he realized she wasn't going to answer, Elliot continued.

"That woman in there," he pointed at the closed door to Fin's apartment, "loves you more than she could ever explain. We've talked, believe it or not, and she has nothing but the utmost respect and love for you, Olivia. If you think this is something that you need some time to think about, fine." He paused, offering Olivia's phone back to her. "But, don't do this."

Olivia reached meekly for the phone and tucked it into her pocket. Before she could say anything Elliot pulled her into a hug. "I love you Olivia." He pulled away and began to speak as he walked toward the elevator, "take care of that hand, huh? Call me if you need anything."