The Phone Call

Elliot

Ring! Ring!

Argh! Why is it every time I get to sleep, the phone rings? It had better not be anyone but a bill collector I can hang up on. Especially not work; I just got home. Maybe if I roll over, the phone will stop ringing.

Hmm, the phone did stop. But now my cell's going off. Now I know it is work. I sit up and grab the phone out of my discarded slacks. Sure enough Cragen's number flashes across the display. I get up and start dressing as I answer the phone.

"Stabler."

"Elliot, where are you?"

"Home..."

"Kelly said she just tried your house phone. She said you didn't answer."

"..."

"Elliot?"

"Yeah, sorry Cap, I didn't get to the phone in time..."

"Okay. We've got another body. West 126th street..."

"That's all the way in Harlem..."

"...and Munch and Fin are already in Jersey checking on another lead..."

"...okay. I'll be there in 45 minutes."

I don't mind getting up and driving out to Harlem at two in the morning. I really don't. But what I do mind is my new partner. Kelly McKenzie. She's a rookie; she's 35, and a bit simple. And she's forever trying to get me to take her to bed. If Huang were here, he'd ask me why I thought I really hated Kelly. If he were here. But a couple of months ago, he moved out of the states back to his hometown. His smirk got on a perp's nerves and the guy attacked him. Left the whole right side of Huang's body paralyzed. I know, it's terrible, isn't it? I was starting to like him too. Well, the perp was sent to Rikers with additional charges of assault on a FBI agent. The Chinese mafia there beat the crap out of him. Fin says it serves him right.

Kelly is likeable enough. I guess. Something about her just turns me off, though. She's good at her job. She good at thinking outside the box and can take an objective view at a situation. She's not to compassionate about kids, but she doesn't hate them, so I guess that's okay. She just not...well, she's just not what I'm used to.

Elliot

"Elliot, you're awfully quiet..." It's seven o'clock later that morning and I pay no attention to Kelly as she comes and sits on my side of the booth. That's another thing. The crime scene we'd just gone over was one of the more gruesome ones I had seen, but it didn't seem to shake Kelly. She is still plotting on how the best way to seduce me is.

"...You're tense, too..." she says, pulling on my tie. Don't ask why I was sleeping in my work shirt, tie, and boxers.

"Eli!" Kelly pouts. She sticks her bottom lip out and scoots closer to me. She starts whispering 'sweet' nothings into my ear. It all sounds nonsensical to me. I am no way excited. Hell, if anything, she's starting to annoy me. She must be going for some kind of record. It usually takes her three hours to get on my nerves. It's only been one and a half. I try to scoot away from her, but climbs onto my lap. I too busy trying not to slap her to notice the other patrons in the diner giving us curious-and encouraging-looks. I ball my fists, hoping she'll take the hint. Instead, she exclaims, "Oh, Eli! You wanna play dirty?!" That's when I turn red-part from anger, the rest from sheer embarrassment. Some of the drunks at the bar start cheering.

Frustrated, I push her off of me. I threatened more than once to report her unwarranted affection. She always giggles and tells me she's got our captain wrapped around her finger. Saddest part is it's true. I think she's his niece or something. I don't know. John wanted to be partnered with her when she first transferred, but Fin said he couldn't handle my temper. She didn't want John's paranoid ass, anyway, and Fin wouldn't let anyone else have John. "Just broke him in," he said. I laughed, but now I wish I had protested. Fin hates her as much as I do and says there's no way in hell he's coughing over his partner now.

I get up and walk toward the bathroom. Don't you know she is right on my heels? I tell her I can handle going to the bathroom by myself. She says "riiiight..." and winks at me. I wait until she goes back to the booth before making a detour through the kitchen and out the back exit. Sometimes I just wanna...

Ring! Ring!

Hell, no. This had better not be her calling from the men's room. It's not, it's some unknown number. A collect call. Normally, I'd let the phone ring and have the person listen to me growling into the phone about my profession. Most find it's the wrong number. But for some reason, I answer this time.

"Stabler."

"Will you accept a collect call from the 718 area code?" 718? That's in Brooklyn.

"Sure."

"..." All I hear is breathing.

"Hello?" There is some kind of mumbling. "This is Detective Stabler. Can you speak up?"

"...El...Elliot?" Oh my God. I am frozen in place. Stunned. Floored. It can't possibly be.

"Yes...?" I pray to God that this isn't some sick prank. I pray that, after six long months, this is the real deal.

"El..." the voice starts to crack. I can feel tears rolling down my own face. "...it's me, Elliot."

"Olivia."

TBC

next: the reunion