7.06 Raw
„Damn it, Elliot," Olivia cursed as she found her coffee container as empty as it was the day before and Elliot had promised to refill it.
„Yeah?" he asked from the bathroom – he had just finished his shower.
„You were supposed to buy coffee," she whined.
Elliot wrapped the towel around himself and came to the kitchen, his short hair dripping and his skin red from the hotness of the water.
"I forgot. We'll get some on our way in," he said.
Olivia shook her head and violently put the coffee container back to the shelf.
"Get dressed, we're already late," she ordered, looking at the time – they were already 15 minutes late and they weren't out of her apartment yet.
Wordlessly Elliot went to the bedroom and got out one of his suits and quickly got dressed. He let his tie hang loosely over his shoulders, while he was buttoning his shirt.
Olivia grabbed her phone, badge and gun, fixing her look to be ready to leave. Her phone vibrated and looking at the caller-ID – Cragen, she sighed.
"Benson," she answered.
"You still working here or are you too busy playing house?" Cragen asked teasingly.
"I'm sorry Captain, we're on the way," Olivia said quickly.
"Relax. I called because we have a case, a school shooting. I'll text you the address," Cragen said his voice totally calm.
"We'll get to the scene," Olivia said.
"Good," Cragen replied.
"Bye," Olivia said her goodbye and hang up, "Princess, are you ready?" she shouted to Elliot.
Olivia swirled around and was surprised to find herself face to face with the so called Princess himself. She steadied herself by grabbing his forearms.
"What's our punishment?" Elliot asked, knowing she talked to Cragen.
"School shooting," she replied.
Her phone lighted up, indicating a new text message with address, which she read out to Elliot. She glanced over at Elliot critically, then placed her phone in the pocket and tied his tie and fixed the collar of his shirt.
He grabbed his jacket along with other belongings and they both rushed out of the apartment, which Olivia quickly locked.
They first drove to the precinct, took their SUV and drove to the school, stopping briefly for coffee which they emptied before they arrived at the scene, but quickly departed, when Olivia took a ride to the hospital and Cragen wanted Elliot to interview the kids, getting a different version from every kid.
***SVU***
Olivia got home, when Elliot was already asleep. She stayed in the hospital until she knew that both injured kids were going to make it. Absentmindedly she brushed her teeth, undressed and climbed to the bed. The shifting must have woken Elliot – he still is a marine and they are taught to sleep with one eye open.
"What time is it?" he asked.
"Late," she replied, having not bothered with the time.
"Go to sleep," he ordered.
Olivia nod and turned her back to him, but despite of her exhausting she couldn't just fall asleep with a picture of that dead boy still in her mind.
"I can hear you thinking," he said after awhile.
Olivia acknowledged his curiosity, but decided to stay silent, hoping he'd drop it, but knowing Elliot he won't.
He scooted closer and placed his head on her shoulder and his arm around her – his way of breaking into her personal space and silently begging her to talk.
"It's just hard seeing someone so young being killed. The parents were devastated. They were having problems with conceiving and so they adopted to have a family and now their boy has been taken from them. No parent should bury their kid," Olivia said.
"And the best thing you can do is catch the son of a bitch and make him pay for what he did," Elliot said, placed a kiss on her cheek and caught her hand in his, enveloping her.
She let him invade her senses and drop it for a moment, because the one thing they haven't talked about was lurking everywhere around them – she wanted kids, but Elliot already has 4. The subject has never been touched, and frankly she was scared to do it.
"If Kathy got pregnant again I'd shoot myself."
He has said, that he doesn't want more kids, or something like that, but that is a deal breaker for her, because Olivia wants to be a mother more than anything and it is known that her clock is ticking pretty fast these days and it keeps on speeding up until it eventually stops and then it is too late.
So Olivia has been avoiding the subject and she'll keep on ignoring it, because she's not ready to give Elliot up just yet. Only time will tell if they'll survive that one unspoken issue or not, but until that time comes she plans on enjoying the feeling of not coming home to empty apartment and she has to admit, it's nice to wake up to the sound of loved one's calm breathing. It's something she has gotten used to.
"Good night," she whispered.
"Night," he replied with a yawn.
She was tired and got to the half-asleep state in no time, and just like always she grew extremely restless, but calmed down the moment he released his grip on her and rolled to his side.
Yeah, he was going to have to work on that eventually, because unlike Olivia, Elliot slept the best on those rare occasions, when she was wrapped in his arms, but he has time to fix that.
A grin creaked on his face, when the familiar mumble started coming from the other side yet again, as unintelligible it was, Elliot found it comfortable, soothing even and on those seldom moments he could make out the words, he got a glimpse into her mind – his way of learning what she told him, and probably never will, but it's okay.
***SVU***
They had arrested Star Morrison along and brought Kyle Ackerman in, both waiting to be interrogated. Munch and Fin were stuck with a teenager, who had as much hatred towards non-whites as Third Reich's leaders themselves. Olivia and Elliot got Star Morrison, who shared the hate and refused to give nothing away, but nothing could compare with the main man himself – Brian Ackerman, the leader of a hate group called RAW – Revolution Aryan Warriors. They also found that Kyle Ackerman has his own site and to their great dismay, Hitlerjugend is still here and growing, even thought the leader has been dead since May 1945.
While the team is racial various and some members had to take insults, their unpleasant confrontations were repaid, when they got a lead, that lead to Brannon Le Redding – their shooter. Brannon was also a true neo-Nazi with swastikas all over his apartment and "Mein Kampf" as nightstand book and RaHoWa tattooed on his back.
This case just keeps on getting better…
And even as Brannon looked rather dumb, he got himself a lawyer before Olivia and Elliot could talk to him, so Casey was up. The irony was that his lawyer was a Jew.
***SVU***
Elliot and Casey got enough from Star and Brannon to get Brian Ackerman to trial and everybody silently let out a breath they had been keeping since this started. The case hit everybody in their own way – Elliot kept on thinking if one of his kids was shot, Olivia was in disbelief to find that such people still exist and act right under her nose, Cragen had been debating the whole time how to take Munch and Fin off the case for their own sake, but doing that he'd be considered racist and of course Munch, Fin and Huang were put in the line of fire with their race. Nothing about it was pretty, but they could survive this.
Elliot closed the file in front of him and slammed it against his desk.
"A tree had to die so you can write things down and even now you're not satisfied, what's wrong with you?" Munch asked.
"This case," Elliot said with anger.
"El, this is almost over, relax," Olivia said calmly.
Elliot turned to Olivia, studied her face for a moment, but except the bags under her eyes and the sleepiness written all over it, he couldn't find even a trace of hatred for the crime in there.
"How can you be so calm while there are neo-Nazis killing innocent children for some idiotic racial war? Don't you have any feelings left or are you one of them?" he asked angrily, instantly regretting saying anything.
"How dare you, you son of a bitch?" Olivia said, obviously in disbelief that Elliot could accuse her of something like that.
Their loud voices and general silence covering the room guaranteed that all eyes were on them, including Fin and Munch, who were already disturbed enough, but even though they knew about their co-workers' views, both were anticipating to find out how this will end.
"I'm sorry," Elliot said, yeah he made a mistake.
"I can't believe you," Olivia said, her voice calm again, she turned her head to the side and took a deep breath, then turned back to Elliot with fire in her eyes, "I'm not indifferent. I have to put my personal feelings to side and recuse myself from this case on personal level, because I'm wearing a gun and I do want to use it to kill them, starting with the one sitting in our cage. So yeah, I don't let my anger get the best of me, because otherwise I'd be sitting in jail right next to them."
Elliot was suddenly taken back by her comment and he felt stupid for even taking her coldness in the wrong way, just because he couldn't control his anger, doesn't mean that others can't.
"And I refuse to be the one you're taking your anger out on," she added, grabbed her coat and left the squad room.
"Liv…" he said weakly, but she was already out of hearing radius.
"Well, I'm up for a drink," Fin said, changing the topic.
"I could use one," Munch agreed.
Both detectives turned to Elliot, who focused on the doors, where Olivia walked through a moment ago.
"Elliot, are you coming?" Fin asked.
The detective in question turned towards Fin, his face confused for a moment as if he was trying to pull himself from the trance, and then nod.
"Yeah, I could use a drink," he said distractedly.
The three of them packed up their desks and left for a bar just across the street. Everybody ordered themselves a beer and sat down on their usual spot at the back of the bar.
"So, Tiger, how's it going?" Fin asked Elliot.
"Seriously, you want to talk about Liv?" Elliot was curious.
Munch sent a quick glance at Fin, then to Elliot and sipped his beer for a moment before replying.
"Well it's either that or we talk about the case and I for once am so sick of this case already that I'd rather be stuck in a closed room with one of them, than discuss this with you," Munch replied, letting them know, that no-one is to bring up the current case.
"Besides we all know how marines love to share their experiences," Fin added.
Elliot took a moment, he knew Olivia wouldn't appreciate him sharing details about their relationship with the other detectives, but he also knew she'd probably talk about him to Casey and Melinda, plus he was positive that everything he says won't leave this table.
"So what do you want to know?" Elliot asked, agreeing to share details about his relationship.
Fin had a clever smile on his face.
"How are you two?" Fin asked.
"We're good. I probably won't be allowed in her apartment tonight, but other than that we're good," Elliot said.
"I gotta say, if I was Liv, I would have dumped you long ago," Munch said, voicing his opinion, but also trying to put some sense into Elliot's head.
"I'm not that bad," Elliot was quick to protest.
"No, you just keep on accusing her of everything, even though most of the time she has nothing to do with it. You gotta get your anger under control, man," Fin explained.
"I know, I know. Maybe I should quit, because work seems to trigger my anger," Elliot said.
"What you'll be then? Mall security? Private detective?" Munch asked.
Elliot shrugged his shoulders, not giving an answer, because he didn't have one.
"Actually I've been curious, what is Liv like. You know, the real Olivia, because we only get to see the badass detective Benson," Munch asked.
Elliot laughed, sipped his beer and glared at Munch.
"You know, she's not that different, besides our work gives us limited time to spend it together outside the work. To think of it, I do want to spend more time with her, but then again it's nice learning new things about her even now. But what I know is that she's pretty amazing," Elliot said.
"The sex must be really hot if she has him wrapped around her fingers," Fin said to Munch, but loud enough for Elliot to hear.
"Yeah, Stabler, how is our detective in bed?" Munch asked with a smirk.
"Is she as good as you imagined?" Fin asked.
"Does she do things you never dreamt of?"
"How much of a wildcat is she?"
Elliot shook his head and laughed as the questions just kept on coming.
"She's even better," Elliot said, shutting them up.
As Elliot refused to take the topic any further, the male detectives settled for exchanging stories of their women from previous relationships and in general, but every now and then they came back to their mutual friend, and to the guy, who knew the named woman the best.
"Man, I'd kill to have a woman in my life right now," Fin said after his n+1'th beer.
"Women are from devil, they will take everything you give and then they leave you out to dry. That's what I've learned from all of my marriages," Munch said.
"I'm pretty sure my ex still hates me," Fin agreed.
"I guess my soon-to-be-ex-wife doesn't hate me that much, I still have custody," Elliot said.
Both Munch and Fin looked at Elliot for a good measure, then at each other and said in unison "She will."
"Specially when she finds out you've been dating Olivia with whom, I'm sure, she suspected you were sleeping long before," Munch said.
"Hell, half of the precinct thought that," Fin added.
Elliot drowned her beer and waved with his hands.
"I never, not once, cheated on Kathy. First time I allowed myself to think about her was during the separation," Elliot defended himself.
"But you can't prove it," Munch said and tilted his head to the side, trying to look compassionate, because even though he could believe Elliot, not that he had confirmation of Elliot's statement, but women usually see what they want to see.
"Kathy knows I was faithful to her," Elliot said confidently.
"I wouldn't be that sure. The way she eyed Olivia a few days ago, I'd say she was trying to make Olivia confess, it's like she knew, but for some weird reason they want us or the other woman to admit it," Fin said, breaking some of Elliot's confidence.
"Liv's not the other woman," Elliot said through his gritted teeth.
"Easy man, my point is, Kathy was trying to get the truth out of Olivia. There was something about the way she kept on looking at your new lover, though there is no doubt that Olivia could handle your ex – she does spend her days chasing and interrogating perps," Fin explained.
"Why do we always come back to my love life?" Elliot asked.
"Because you're the only one getting some and still trying to make it work," Munch explained.
Fin protested at the statement, but even he had to admit Munch was telling the truth.
"It's bad enough being a detective's wife, but detective who works sex-crimes – that's a deal breaker," Munch continued.
"Try narcotics. I spent most of the time undercover and even if I was home, I was always so tired, so I guess I really can't blame Terry for wanting a divorce," Fin said.
"It's not easy for Casey or Olivia either, men don't seem to find catching rapists very attractive," Elliot interrupted.
"Maybe that's the reason we only have one female detective. I mean we had Monica too, but that was so long time ago. Maybe they can't handle the pressure and the nature of the crime that well," Munch offered.
"Cassidy couldn't either. I think it depends more on a person than gender," Elliot said.
"True," Munch admitted, "But then again Casey has to play nice in court, it's not exactly the same and SVU is too deep in Olivia's blood, so she can't quit," he added.
"I guess there's something wrong with us, because otherwise we would have quit a long time ago," Elliot came to conclusion.
"Here's to the sick bastards aka us," Fin said and lifted his glass.
"Fighting against even sicker bastards," Munch added.
Fin, Elliot and Munch clicked their glasses and each took a generous sip of the liquid.
"Maybe you can hook up with Casey, then you can have a woman, who gets the job and is attractive also," Munch said to Fin.
Elliot laughed, but quieted it down after getting glares from the other men.
"I don't know. I mean maybe Casey's not my type," Fin turned the suggestion down politely.
"What about Liv?" Munch continued.
"Leave Liv out of it, she's mine," Elliot said possessively.
"Easy Tiger, she's not my type anyway," Fin said calmly.
Still Elliot glared Fin, for what seemed an eternity, and then focused on his beer, seemingly satisfied with Fin's response.
"So, Stabler, now that you're divorced… When are getting married again?" Munch asked.
Elliot looked intensely at the older detective, folded his hands on the table and turned his eyes down.
"You know with Liv, I'll always come second to the job. I'm merely a lover, while she's married to the job, maybe one day, correction: hopefully one day, I'll be able to come first," Elliot answered, not even thinking about another marriage at this point – Olivia didn't seem eager to get married either.
"No offence man, but I don't think Liv's ready to give up SVU for you, but lucky for you, you are also a part of her job," Fin expressed his opinion.
Elliot nod – yeah, she is married to the job, but even though he comes second, he plays a big part in her job as his duty is to protect her and he is her partner on and off duty. He is the man in her life and lucky for him, he's the only one.
When Elliot felt his head getting dizzy, he decided to leave, followed by Fin and Munch. Munch hailed a cab, Fin made some calls and went the other way, leaving Elliot alone. His first choice was to go to Olivia's, but he decided against it, since she seemed to need some time to cool off, his apartment was also out of question since it was too far to walk and he didn't like cabs anyway, so he decided to head back to precinct and catch his sleep in crib.
***SVU***
The court was in session with Munch and Elliot there, while Olivia and Fin stayed in to finish up the paperwork, Olivia had barely exchanged few sentences with Elliot since he accused her of being insensitive. She didn't discuss the matter with Fin either, so the squad room was oddly quiet for once, with just some detectives and officers occasionally passing by, Cragen giving directions and quiet small talk going on between officers.
"Olivia, Fin," Cragen shouted from the door of his office, his breathing labored and something obviously wrong, when the called detectives focused on their boss, "There was a shooting at the court, Elliot and Munch are on their way to the Bellevue."
Olivia and Fin were up from their seats, already grabbing their belongings.
"What happened?" Olivia asked.
"Kyle Ackerman started the shooting, Brannon is dead, so is one court officer, the other one is critical, so is Judge Skyler, but Kyle and another member of RAW, who used a fake badge and smuggled in the gun, are dead," Cragen said, "Munch and Elliot are not critical."
Both Fin and Olivia nod.
"And Star Morrison is an FBI agent, she killed Kyle before he could kill Elliot," Cragen added.
Olivia gasped for air, fear written all over her face.
"Liv, you need to talk to Brian Ackerman, go see, what exactly went down there, Fin get to the hospital," Cragen ordered, causing Olivia to open her mouth in protest, but the Captain beat her, "Liv, it's not negotiable, go see him and then to the hospital."
Defeated, Olivia walked out of the squad room, hoping to get it done fast, so she could go see Elliot sooner.
"Give me status report, when you get there," Cragen said to Fin and got back into his office, not caring that his detective will probably violate every traffic law to get to the hospital.
Fin rushed out of the precinct and just as Cragen thought, he drove as someone was chasing him, causing some panic on the streets, but he gave no second thought. He made a quick stop to get Munch his favorite shake, but after a short drive he finally arrived at the Bellevue. Flashing hid badge, he got in along with the information that the Judge had died.
***SVU***
Processing the scene and facing Brian Ackerman along with some other witnesses, including Casey, took Olivia much longer than she had hoped, so it was already getting late, when she got to the hospital. The nurses informed her about the condition of the Judge and also that Munch was shot in the ass and will be okay, same goes for Elliot. She was also told, that Elliot was okay and already asking to be released.
Elliot was awake, when Olivia got to his room. She politely knocked on the door before entering, even though it was wide open.
"Hey," she said weakly.
"Liv," he replied.
Olivia came to his bedside and before she gave him a chance to say anything, she lowered herself to him and pressed her lips to his firmly, sitting on the bedside in the process.
"Don't you ever try dying again," she almost threatened him, after pulling apart.
"I'll do my best," he said, a smile appearing on his face.
"You'd better," she said, kissing him again.
Elliot wrapped his good hand around her, careful with the I.V., but glad to be alive and of course happy to finally see Olivia. After breaking the kiss, their heads stayed close before Olivia pulled away.
"Has anyone called your kids?" Olivia asked.
"No, I also changed my emergency contact person to you," Elliot informed Olivia.
"El…" she started.
"Liv, it's just a flesh wound, I'm getting discharged soon and I don't wanna worry them," Elliot reasoned.
Olivia decided not to push the subject further, so she stayed silent. Elliot shifted in the bed and moved towards the edge, making room for Olivia.
"Just lie down here, you're exhausted," he instructed.
Olivia obeyed, getting comfortable by his side, her head over his chest and his arm around her shoulders.
Elliot asked the details about the shooting along with the aftermath, learning from Fin that Olivia was in charge of getting the clear picture about the events and deceased, he had already learned about Munch's condition.
They also vaguely discussed his accusations and the fight both wanted to forget, glad that the case is finally over.
The exhaustion from the day did it job and they fell asleep, even though it was only 7 pm, so when the night nurse did her rounds, she found them sleeping peacefully and she didn't have the heart to kick Olivia out – visiting hours were long over. Instead he checked his I.V., changed the fluids and covered them with extra blanket they keep in the drawers, and let the exhausted detectives sleep, shutting off the lamp and closing the door after herself.
***SVU***
The clock was almost 9 pm, when Maureen Stabler rushed to the hospital. She had gone to the precinct to see Elliot after she heard about the shooting through a friend working in the courthouse, but Cragen had told him that Elliot was in the hospital. Maureen had run out before Cragen could tell her, that Elliot's injury was not dangerous.
So she walked to the nurse's station, where the same night nurse, who had checked on Elliot before, was sitting.
"Can I help you?" the nurse asked obviously distraught girl.
"I'm looking for my father, Elliot Stabler," Maureen said.
"He's already asleep," the nurse answered.
"Oh… What's his condition?" Maureen demanded.
"GSW to the left hand, but we took the bullet out and he is healing nicely, we expect him to make the full recovery," the nurse said.
Maureen calmed visibly after getting a good news about his father.
"Can I see him?" she asked shyly.
The nurse smiled and nod telling the room number – he didn't see any harm letting a daughter see her father, when – who she assumed was her mother – was already there.
"Your mother is also there," the nurse added.
Maureen looked at the nurse quizzically, knowing about the divorce and not quite believing that her mother was notified, especially if the injury wasn't serious and Kathy hadn't called her. Deep in her thoughts she wondered to the room and entered quietly.
She didn't turn on the lights, but she knew instantly, that it was not her mother, sleeping peacefully with her father. Curious and on the edge of being furious about her father moving on so quickly, she approached the bed and recognized his father's partner.
Elliot had adapted the ability to hear every sound, even in his sleep, during his time with the Marines and so he was already alert, when he heard the door opening. He opened his eyes and saw his eldest daughter standing by his bedside.
Maureen didn't notice Elliot opening his eyes, because she was processing the idea of Elliot and Olivia together, at least she assumed they were together now. Truthfully she could have seen it coming and for awhile she thought Elliot was having an affair with his partner, but growing older, she realized that her father wouldn't do that to her mother, but now after separation and divorce…
"Maureen," Elliot whispered, causing Maureen to focus on him.
"Dad," she said in surprise – she had thought that he was asleep.
"What are you doing here?" Elliot asked bluntly.
Maureen quietly took a chair and sat down in it.
"I heard about the shooting, wanted to make sure that you're okay," Maureen said as if it was obvious – her father had been shot after all.
"Just a flesh wound, I'll be okay," Elliot whispered and offered a smile to Maureen.
She nod and swallowed, "I was really scared for a moment," she confessed and grabbed a hold of Elliot's wounded hand.
Elliot smiled again, but didn't say anything.
"How's school?" he asked after a moment of silence.
Maureen shrugged and simply said that everything was okay. "The nurse said, that my mother was here," she said, changing the topic.
Elliot looked pained for a moment – it's not how he wanted his kids to find out.
"I'm sorry, Mo-mo," he said sincerely, glancing at Olivia.
"So, you're now dating your partner?" She asked warily.
Elliot nod, but the slightest movement caused Olivia to react and she stirred, mumbled something and tried to roll away, but Elliot kept his hand firm around her, and she settled back against his chest.
"I guess if she makes you happy, I should be happy for you," Maureen said after considering the situation.
"She does. But you gotta understand nothing changes, I'm still your father and I love you very much," Elliot said firmly.
"I know, dad," Maureen said, she was old enough to understand the situation.
The silence was disrupted once again by Olivia mumbling against Elliot's chest, though he could make out some words, it seemed to be some regular non-sense she quite often voiced.
"She's a talker," Maureen commented.
Elliot chuckled and agreed, but he had grown to love those unintelligible mumbles of hers, it actually felt odd, when she slept without mumbling something.
"We could get together tomorrow, so we can talk about things," Elliot suggested.
"Sounds great, dad, I'll be free after 4 pm," Maureen said.
"Remember the pizza place we used to go every Tuesday, we could go there," Elliot said.
"Yeah, I'll see you there," Maureen agreed with a smile.
Elliot nod, mirroring his daughter's smile.
She got up from the chair and released his hand, ready to leave.
"And Maureen, one more thing – I haven't told your mom or anyone else about Liv yet," he said awkwardly, telling your daughter to keep a secret is not always that pleasant.
Maureen nod, understanding Elliot's request and left the room as quietly as she entered it, leaving Elliot and Olivia alone once again.
For some reason Elliot felt satisfied seeing his daughter and telling her about Olivia, though it wasn't that much of telling as confirming, but somehow it seemed like a good start to tell his kids and Kathy about his new relationship.
Olivia weakly said Elliot's name along with some of her regular mumble and shifted again, accidentally hitting Elliot's GSW, forcing him to curse.
"El?" she asked, stirring.
"It's okay, go back to sleep," he hushed and kissed the top of her head.
"I love you," she said.
"Love you too," he replied naturally.
Half-conscious Olivia moved again, positioning herself more on him, which Elliot gladly welcomed, he loved the feeling of Olivia being so close to him, in a way it gave him security about the relationship, but also satisfied his need to possess her.
A grin appeared on his face, when he realized, that the small hospital bed is just what he needs to get Olivia snuggled to close to him, and he was going to enjoy every minute of it, even if they were in the hospital and he had just gotten shot.
***SVU***
Elliot was going to be discharged the next day, but Olivia slipped out before he was. She went home, changed and got back to the precinct, trying to solve this mystery, because some things didn't add up. That's when Dana Lewis came to play and gave her the answers she'd been looking for – the Whitlocks ordered a hit on their adoptive son for the insurance money.
Case closed, a mountain of paperwork to do and then they can put this case behind them, she decided to start, to get it out of her hair faster, plus she wanted to get home early with Elliot partly disabled.
"Liv, you got a minute?" Casey said walking in the precinct.
Olivia nod and followed Casey up to the lounge.
"What's up?" she asked the ADA.
"How do you deal with it every day?" Casey asked.
"With rapists?" Olivia asked clarification.
Casey shook her head and looked the floor in front of her, then turned back to Olivia and spoke.
"With being held at gunpoint? A possibility that you might get killed the next moment?" she asked.
Olivia took a moment to collect her thoughts, trying to find a way to give her friend some answer, that might be helpful, but coming up with empty.
"You don't. After awhile you don't think about it, but when something happens you feel scared, maybe even overpowered, but it will pass. You think about the oath you took a long time ago and find salvation in knowing that every day you make this city a safer place, but everything comes with a sacrifice. But nothing prepares one for when you're held at gunpoint," Olivia offered.
"I keep seeing it my dreams, but then Kyle doesn't let me go, he pulls the trigger and I realized that I'm not ready to die," Casey confessed.
Olivia put his hand on Casey's shoulder, trying to offer comfort.
"Come to my place after work. We'll have a girl's night, loosen the stress, God knows we need it," Olivia said.
"Yeah," Casey agreed.
Olivia nod, and changed the topic, talking about random things with Casey, because even if she's not a special victim, she's a friend in need and apparently Olivia has come across a lot of victims and every time she has tried to help them.
***SVU***
"I can't believe he actually did that," Casey said laughing.
"I know," Olivia said, also laughing.
"I never would have picked Elliot to be scared of a woman," Casey continued.
"Guess, I'm that scary," Olivia said.
They clicked their glasses of wine and laughed over Elliot on Olivia's couch. The TV was playing, giving them background noise and also avoids awkward silences from happening.
"How was your date with… whatever-his-name-is?" Olivia asked, trying to remember the name of a guy, but failed miserably.
"Way too interested in sex-crimes and that's a deal breaker," Casey said.
"Can't believe we both have managed to stumble across these guys," Olivia said.
Casey nod and emptied her glass of wine. Olivia was already opening another bottle, since they had finished the first one, though mainly Casey was doing the heavy drinking.
"But you managed to find your Prince Charming and that means I still have hope," Casey said hopefully.
"There are good guys out there, for example Fin and Munch and Cragen and then that tall lawyer guy Langan," Olivia listed.
Casey gave Olivia the best stare she could make and rolled her eyes, looking away.
"Seriously? Munch? Cragen?" Casey questioned.
Olivia laughed for a good measure.
"They're experienced," Olivia explained.
Both women laughed again.
"You realize that all of the guys working in SVU are divorced?" Casey pointed out.
"Funny, isn't it?" Olivia replied, having never thought about it, even though Cragen was a widow, but all of them had been married, but aren't anymore, except Elliot, whose divorce was still pending.
As the topic shifted from men to work and free time, the bottle emptied faster than the last one. Somehow Olivia and Casey managed to get back to talking about Elliot, in which case Olivia had the upper hand in talking about her partner.
"I think Elliot could use a woman like you. Maybe you can treat his stubbornness and the way he tends to lose his temper. You could save me and Cragen a lot of unnecessary work," Casey said.
"You got that wrong, I don't think he's treatable," Olivia laughed.
Before Casey to respond, a key was placed on a lock and door opened with a click – Elliot came in. He was surprised to be welcomed by laughter coming from the living room couch, where Casey and Olivia were situated.
"Think I missed the memo about the party," Elliot said closing and locking the door.
"I think I missed the memo of you dropping by," Olivia deadpanned, causing Elliot to stay silent.
"I can go, if you want to," Elliot said, hoping she'd say no and let him stay.
Olivia shook her head, smile appearing on her face once again.
"Yeah, Stabler, stay so we can discuss you while you're here," Casey announced smartly.
Elliot looked confused for a moment, then fear appeared on his face, only to be replaced with a cocky grin.
"You can talk, you can watch, but you can't touch," he grinned.
Casey pouted, while Elliot strolled by the couch and came to stand behind Olivia. He bended over, placed his hands on her shoulders, showing possession, and kissed her hair.
"You made your point, now get out of here," Casey demanded.
Elliot grinned and then announced that he was going to take a shower, leaving his co-workers alone once again. Soon the bathroom door closing and locking was heard along with the running water.
Casey and Olivia went back to discussing men, Elliot and the past love life of both of them, but when the second bottle of wine was empty, Casey decided to go home – she had to work the next day and having a hangover was not helping putting away sex offenders.
Olivia cleaned up the glasses and threw away the empty pizza box along with empty bottles. Elliot appeared back in the kitchen corner, towel wrapped around his waist and hands crossed, he leaned by the wall watching her.
"So what did you decide about me?" he asked.
Olivia nearly dropped the glasses she was holding because she didn't hear him approaching.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack," she complained, but didn't turn around.
Elliot shrugged and came to stand strictly behind her, his hands moving around her waist. Olivia leaned in the touch, but looking down she noticed his hand in cast and was reminded of the shooting that went down just mere 24 hours ago.
"How's Maureen doing?" Olivia asked, remembering he was out with his daughter.
"She's doing good, but it was good to catch up," Elliot said.
Olivia nod.
"She also knows about us," he said neutrally.
Olivia jumped as if she'd been burned, she left Elliot's embrace and turned around, staring at him with wide eyes.
"I didn't think you were going to tell your kids just yet. They must be thinking I'm a slut for getting in bed with their father the minute he's single again. Are they hating me? No, don't answer that she hates me. I can't do this yet, I need time to prepare myself. You prick, you should have told me about your intentions…" Olivia rambled, but he was cut off, when Elliot kissed her, successfully shutting her up, even though she looked adorable rambling like that.
She shoved his chest, breaking the contact and staring at him intensely.
"Why'd you tell her without consulting me first?" Olivia demanded.
"I didn't," Elliot said simply, "She came by the hospital last night, you were asleep and she's old enough to figure the rest," he elaborated.
Olivia hit him again.
"Hey, take it easy. She's not mad. Maureen is a smart woman, she's not happy about the divorce, but she's mature enough to understand the bigger picture and she's even content with the developments in our relationship," Elliot said, his voice calm in contrast to hers.
"You should have told me," Olivia said, still freaked about the new information.
"Relax, it's okay. My kids adore you," Elliot tried to soothe the storm.
In contrast to work situations, where Elliot got more often riled up and Olivia was tasked to calm him down, outside work it was vice versa.
Olivia crossed her hands and stayed silent, being put in a situation she never wanted to be in the first place. She'd been thinking about Elliot's kids and their reaction to the relationship pretty much since it started.
"Liv, it's gonna be okay," he assured her, his good hand going to her waist, pulling her lightly. He kissed her again, coaxing her out of her foul mood by reminding her why they're together in the first place and silently confessing his feelings once again. And she let him, replying the same things in silent communication they have mastered in time.
Sharing the slow kiss they headed towards the bedroom, breaking apart only when Elliot pushed her against the wall instead of through the door, but he found her lips again, when they were in the bedroom and he kept on directing her to the bed.
He put some distance between them, trying to unbutton her shirt, but found it hard using just one hand, so she helped him undress her.
She got under the sheets, Elliot right behind her after dropping his towel to the chair. She initiated the continuous kiss this time, but when he deepened it and attempted to roll himself over her, but she stopped him.
"You got shot yesterday," she said seriously.
"Just a flesh wound, Liv, I'm fine," he assured her, letting his fingers absentmindedly run over her body. "I'm fine," he repeated for good measure.
Olivia nod, satisfied with his answer, and he kissed her again, determined to make love to the woman by his side.
"Just tell me if you hurt yourself, right?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied, both knowing that that's not going to happen and apparently Elliot didn't care about his injured hand as much as he did for making her lose control and also relieving the dull ache in his lower abdomen.
***SVU***
Yeah, finally managed to finish this between learning about plate tectonics and trying to understand the dynamic movements of groundwater – the last one being special pain in my a** since I'm not a physics expert and probably skipped a little too much of maths too..
And the premiere was good, so to say, but that's not what got me excited, instead Mariska Hargitay implied that baby Noah needs a father and suggester Meloni's Stabler, to which Meloni responded that he was open to returning… Gosh, that would be amazing to bring Stabler back to be Olivia's baby daddy… Yay!
And of course you know your opinion is valuable as well as suggestions etc…
And enjoy the fall, at least I am .
L.