Authors Note: Elliot has been going a bit soft on us lately – or at least I think so! After tonight's episode.. I wasn't sure HOW to have Elliot react in my story. I originally thought angry, but then with tonight's episode I thought maybe he would be a bit calmer.. I still am not sure since I haven't written past this yet! So we are all in for a surprise... It is mostly dialogue, but I hope to change that in the next chapters. Enjoy!

--------------------------------------------------

Blonde hair or red. Contacts or glasses. Elliot knew those eyes. He knew that chin, those cheekbones. He recognized everything about her. But knowing it all didn't help the shock of actually recognizing her in person once again. There he stood with his jaw wide open, looking into the eyes of the one he had loved and lost, or so he thought.

"I'm sorry Sarah, I have to go."

Olivia turned quickly on her heels and ran out the front door as if a perp was on their front lawn. Without turning around, she knew Elliot was running behind her. She mentally cursed herself for wearing heels as he reached her, placing a hand on her shoulder and spinning him around to face him. She could read the confusion and hurt in his face but she had nothing to say at that moment.

"Don't you dare run away from me again," his voice was shaky. She knew he was trying to be strong and powerful, but she could see right through it.

"Elliot, I can explain…"

Elliot chuckled a little, taking his hand off her shoulder and instead running it through his hair.

"Explain what? How you're not dead? Can you really justify why I have been in hell for the past year? Explain why I was fucking pitied around the precinct for months? They made me see a shrink because of you. I was on desk duty for TWO MONTHS. No, Olivia, I don't think you have an explanation."

"I didn't have a choice!"

Elliot shook his head, "Bullshit! Nobody forced you to go undercov-" He stopped, glancing at the area around them cautiously. He leaned in, whispering, "Are you WPP?"

"No… I was cleared out of WPP about a month ago."

Elliot opened his mouth but Olivia stopped him, putting her finger to his lips, "No, you have to let me explain! I couldn't come back, not yet. I wasn't ready to face you, Elliot. Damn it, I'm still not ready! You don't think it hurt ME to walk away from my job? I left everyone I've ever known, everyone that I trusted in my life I walked away from. I thought I was doing the right thing at the time, El, I really did. But I got in too deep. The Feds were worried that my cover would be blown. Do you know what those crazy people would have done to be if they learned I was an informant?!" Olivia sighed loudly and slowly sat down on the cool grass. Elliot didn't say a word as he sat down across from her.

"They would have burned me at the stake. So I was pulled out, they faked my death. I guess everyone in the organization believed it, but still I was put into Witness Protection. I was in Minnesota for a few months… I landed a job at Best Buy Corporate as a Call Center Associate. It really was a terrible job. All I did was handle calls from people who weren't happy with their experiences. Sometimes it was the stores' fault and I'd handle that … other times the customers were just nuts. Anyway, it was feared that someone knew where I was, so I was transferred to Chicago and I've been here ever since then. Last month, I received a call that I needed protection no longer and I was free to return to New York. I begged them to let me stay here longer. I needed time to prepare to come home. I knew everything that you knew. I knew you thought I was dead. No pun intended, but it killed me to know the pain that it had caused you. I could feel it every night before I went to sleep, if I could sleep at all. How was I supposed to come back after all that?"

"You should have come back sooner," Elliot twirled blades of grass between his fingertips as he spoke, not looking up at her anymore.

"How, Elliot? What would you have done if I just walked into the precinct? Greet me and go to a case? I don't think so. You would have been shocked."

"And I'm not shocked now? I keep expecting to wake up and be in my apartment. This is like some lucid dream. I don't want to wake up."

Olivia smiled for the first time since seeing Elliot in the room and brought her hand up to his face, cupping his cheek, "I'm real. I'm really in front of you and I'm sorry for all the pain I put you through."

"I can't forgive you yet. It's too soon. I'm still having a heart attack from seeing you."

"That is a common thing to happen when you get to be your age…"

"Oh shut up, Liv."

Once he called her Liv, she knew everything was going to be okay. It might not be okay right now, tomorrow or next week… but it would be okay.

"So, do you want to go inside and explain to my sister and niece what's going on? I guarantee you they are looking through the window right now."

Olivia turned her head and sure enough, Sarah and Susan were in the window watching them. They quickly jumped out of sight when Olivia spotted them but they knew they were caught. Elliot stood from the ground first, extending a hand to Olivia to help her up. Once she was on her feet, he didn't let go of her hand. Instead, he pulled her into a tight hug and nuzzled his face into her neck, breathing her scent in. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, holding onto the one thing in her life that truly mattered.