Attempts

After interviewing the girl, Elliot and Olivia headed back to the station, Elliot trying to make conversation with a non-responsive companion. Throughout their time back to the station, Elliot continually asked personal questions about what she thought, if she was okay, and other questions relating to her well being. Olivia, on the other hand, continually responded professionally with 'yes' or 'no' answers and did not volunteer any further information. Frustrated by the time they arrived, Elliot slammed the door closed and stormed into the squad room.

"What's wrong with you?" Munch asked, noting the fury that aligned Elliot's features.

"Olivia," he stated, stressing the 'O' to indicate he was no longer allowed to use her nickname.

"What?" Munch asked sympathetic though understanding Olivia's attitude.

"She won't answer my personal questions. She only says 'yes' or 'no'. She doesn't talk to me and she won't give me anything. It's like I don't even know my best friend anymore," Elliot expressed angrily.

"What did you expect? She's recovering from a broken heart, and she has to work daily with the person who broke it. Did you really expect her to be just as she was before?"

"No! Well, yes," he admitted, "I just want things to be how they were before she told me. I want everything to be back the way it was."

"Elliot, that's never going to happen, now. You know that right?"

"I do now. I hoped that she would just get over it."

By this time, Olivia had made her way up to the squad room where Munch and Elliot where having this discussion. Unfortunately, she caught the end of Elliot's statement.

"You expect me to get over a broken heart in two weeks, when I have to continually see, work and talk to the person who broke it. How do you expect me to forget that I've loved you for eight years, in two weeks? How, Elliot, how?" she asked, as a pair of tears trailed down her cheeks. Yet she stood firm, waiting for his response.

"I, um, I'm sorry, Liv. I didn't realize. I, um," he paused, unsure how to continue.

"Forget it," she responded, turning and heading back to the car.

Elliot looked at Munch for advice and guidance, but Munch looked shocked.

"Wow!" he whispered before continuing at normal volume, "She must really love you."

"How? I don't, I don't understand. She won't talk to me, she doesn't want to know me. How can you possibly say that she loves me?"

"Do you really think that if I said that to her, I'd get away with it? She does want to talk to you, but she doesn't want to hurt herself more. Imagine that you are in love with someone and that person just threw that back in your face but you still have to work daily with that person. Would you really want to be open and honest with them? You wouldn't. It's just getting the hurt thrown back in your face every time you talk to them. Can you really say that you'd want to go through that? She's brave to come back here and try to face a broken heart alone."

"But she doesn't have to. She has to know that we're here for her. Even me, though she might not want that."

"Elliot, there are only two things she wants right now, that are in direct contradiction of each other. Either she wants you to love her the way she loves you, or she wants to forget that she ever loved you and move on. Right now, both are painful for her."

"I don't know what to do, John. I just feel so helpless. My best friend's hurting and I can't help her because I'm the one that hurt her." The lost expression on Elliot's face would have been comical had the situation not been as serious.

"I can't tell you much except that you just have to accept that nothing will ever be the same between the two of you. You're going to have to learn that Olivia won't ever be the same as she was before. She'll do her job, maybe go out, but she won't be the same loving, kind and sympathetic person she was before."

"I just want her to know that I'm still the person I was before and that she can still talk to me."

Shaking his head in disbelief, John stated, "Look at it from her point of view. You still love Kathy, right?" Elliot nodded before John continued, "You love her or you're in love with her?"

"In love with her," he replied, shakily.

"Imagine that you told her that you are still in love with her and that you want a romantic relationship with her and that she told you cold that she never wanted anything other than friendship with you. How would you feel?"

"Heartbroken," he replied, understanding where John was going with this.

"Then imagine that you had to work with her everyday and she kept wanting to maintain a perfectly friendly level with you after she broke your heart. Could you do it?"

Shaking his head, Elliot gasped, "I would have run. I wouldn't come back to be continually hurt, if I didn't have kids."

"Do you understand how hard it is for her? How brave she is to actually come back? How you can never have that level of friendship ever again?"

Elliot nodded, thanked Munch absentmindedly, and walked off, looking dazed. Munch caught the expression on his face. Knowing that now Elliot fully understood the damage that he had inflicted on the poor girl, he would leave her alone to mourn and recover from her broken heart.

Elliot, now realizing the damage that he had imposed on Olivia, couldn't be sorrier. He sincerely wished that he could take it back, all of it. But Munch's explanation had also made him realize something. He could lose Kathy. Resolving to fix that problem first, he drove to his house in Queens, once again about to attempt to make their failed marriage work.

As he knocked on the door, he was overcome by a deep sense of nervousness.

"Elliot," his surprise ex-wife said, "What are you doing here?"

"Kath, I have a confession to make," he paused, gathering courage before plowing on, "Something's happened in the past few days to make me realize that life is short. Too short to spend it apart from the people you love. I love you, Kath, I really do. I know the saying 'too little, too late', could be applied right now. But please, Kath, you have to know that I really mean that."

"I know you do Elliot. I still love you but this marriage can't work. You spend so much time at work, that I'm just like a bed warmer. I want to be more than that."

"I never meant for that to happen. And I really do understand what I lost. Please, just give us a try and if it doesn't work, I'll stop asking. I just really have to know that I've done everything possible to work things out with the woman who has stolen my heart."

Kathy, obviously touched by Elliot's heart filled speech, simply nodded before bringing her lips down to his and caressing them gently.

"I'm glad your home."