Thursday, November 11

As soon as Olivia left the airport, she hailed a cab, put her suitcase in the trunk, and gave the conductor the address of the precinct. She was tired as hell but she couldn't wait any longer to see him. Them. Her coworkers and friends. She spent the entire ride looking through the window. She couldn't help but smile every time she recognized a street sign, a restaurant she liked, a familiar subway station… She was finally at home. Two blocks away from the precinct, she chuckled when she caught a glimpse of the restaurant where she used to eat with Elliot when they had a long enough lunch break.

"What's so funny?" the old driver asked, curious.

"Oh, uh nothing." Olivia answered shaking her head. "Just feels good to be home".

"Good for you" the driver said, winking at her through the rearview mirror. When he stopped the car at the address Olivia gave him, he raised an eyebrow and asked "that your home?" heading to the precinct.

"Exactly!" Olivia exclaimed, a genuine smile on her face. She walked out of the cab, picked up her suitcase, and stopped in front of the front door. She let out a huge sigh and muttered to herself "let's go". She walked through the front door, took the elevator, and as she pressed the button to her floor, she started to feel more and more anxious. She closed her eyes. "What if he… they're mad at me for the way I left?" she kept wondering. She shook her head to chase the thought away and opened her eyes when she heard the ding signaling the door's opening. She walked in the squad room, left her suitcase next to the door, and slowly made her way to the coffee pot where Elliot was standing. She stopped twenty feet behind his back, swallowed her apprehension and uttered « Hey stranger. Long time no see ». She tried to sound cheerful and smiled, waiting for him to turn around and look at her, which he didn't. As she stood there, waiting for Elliot to do something, anything, she could feel her heart pounding so hard she could swear it was trying to drop out of her rib cage to fly back to Oregon. After the longest five seconds of her life, she saw Elliot slowly dropping his cup, lifting his head, and slowly, awfully slowly turning around. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and smiled weakly at him, dreading for his answer.

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Hey stranger. Long time no see. When Elliot heard her voice, he thought he was dreaming and his whole body froze. He would recognize this voice anywhere even if he had been deaf. But it couldn't be possible. Olivia was dead. Why would his mind trick him like this? But he heard her. He was positively sure he heard her. He closed his eyes for a second, trying to chase away any hope. Olivia is dead he kept telling himself. But he had to check. He had to be sure. As he opened his eyes, he dropped his coffee down the table and turned around, slowly, fearing that if he made any abrupt movement, she would disappear. When he assimilated the vision in front of him, he felt his heart breaking into thousands of pieces. Olivia was standing there, twenty feet away. She had her left arm in a cast, a black eye, a split lip, and a few cuts on her face. God knows what other injuries she was hiding under her sweat suit, but he could tell just by the way she was standing unsteady on her feet, that she was injured and in pain. Despite that, he couldn't help but feel relieved. Olivia was alive! As the shock of the discovery overwhelmed him, he opened his mouth to say something but couldn't utter a word.

"It's good to see you" Olivia tried again, given that Elliot still had said nothing.

Elliot blinked a few times and managed to mumble "the news…" but then he was cut off by Dani.

She put her hands on his chest and said "Hey Elliot. Captain wants to see you." Elliot's eyes wandered from Dani to Olivia, then back to Dani, and back again to Olivia. His mouth open, he didn't have the words. "I'll take care of it" Dani added, motioning Olivia. When Elliot didn't move, she gently pushed him out of the way, towards Cragen's office. Dani glanced at Olivia's injuries, smiled at her and led her to the nearest seat. Olivia had no idea who the hell this woman was, but she hated her for ruining her reunion with Elliot. "Sorry about that" Dani said motioning towards Cragen's office. "I'm detective Beck, detective Stabler's partner. I think my partner is having an emotional breakdown so, I'll take it from here… Anyways, how can I help you?"

Olivia couldn't believe her ears. Elliot's partner? Emotional breakdown? She frowned as she felt her anger rise up. "Excuse me?" she spat. "Why would you tell me that? You don't even know me!"

Dani shifted uncomfortably on her seat. "Uhm, I just wanted you to excuse my partner for his strange behavior. He's not usually like this" she tried to explain.

"Well it's not your place to tell me about your partner's state of mind" Olivia exclaimed, louder than she intended to. She quickly got up on her feet, grabbed her suitcase, and left the bullpen, leaving a totally confused Dani at her desk. Her own desk. Except it wasn't her desk anymore…