Munch and Fin came out around ten minutes later. Fin sat down silently and just let Munch do the talking. He was obviously far too angry to speak to us about anything the guy had said.
Munch stood in-front of us, and I looked at him. Sometimes, it felt slightly like he was being protective over me, maybe as if he felt that I was, in a way, like the daughter he never had. The way he behaved sometimes was very fatherly. Like the time when we had to fill in those evaluation forms and Munch was going on about another of his conspiracy theories and he commented on me leaving the father's field blank, saying that I had the right idea to confuse the evaluation people. That one hurt. Normally when people said things out of turn about my father, I didn't really care, but it was the way Munch had said it, and it had been a tough couple of weeks, and I really felt that one.
Then later on, Munch apologised, and he got some information for me. No, it wasn't my father that I found, but he had tried. It didn't come as a surprise that Munch found out though. Elliot was always looking out for me, so I knew that he would tell him or get onto him about it. Elliot was good like that. He knew when to say something and when not to.
"So the teacher says that things started 4 months ago, and that he loves her, and that he didn't want to hurt her by having sex with her but that she begged him," Munch shook his head.
Elliot and I looked at each other, really surprised. Either they already had a cover story worked out, or they were actually both telling the truth. Surely that couldn't be right. There was no way that it actually was…. Could it really be love?
About an hour later, Emma Collins' parents had been and gone. They'd come in a hurry, wanting to know what had happened to their only daughter, but then they'd left as soon as the Captain had told them why she was here. So much for kind loving parents. I knew now exactly why Emma hadn't wanted them to be called in the first place - she knew how it would all turn out and how they would react.
George Huang had been called in, and he had asked to see the two, Scott and his pupil…or girlfriend I suppose they would rather she be called… together, so we got Emma and led her into the room where Scott was being detained.
All 6 of us stood outside the room, watching through the two way mirror. Emma ran right to him, right into his arms. They hugged each other tightly, and the teacher kissed the top of her head.
Elliot turned the sound up, and we continued to watch.
"Are you okay?" Fraser Scott asked.
"Uhu," she nodded. "They asked me how things had started and I just told them the truth. I don't think they believed that we're in love."
"That doesn't matter," he said softly. "The only ones who matter are us. We know that we love each other."
"Are you gonna go to prison?" Emma's eyes teared up.
"I don't know sweetheart," he sighed. "I don't know."
"I don't want you to Fraser, because I'll miss you," she buried her face into him.
"I know, I'll miss you too," he whispered as she sobbed into him. "It's going to be okay, Emma, sshh."
I couldn't believe my eyes. Either the two of them were really great actors, or this was for real. But I just didn't get it. I didn't understand why you would want to even think about actually pursuing a relationship with a teacher. Yeah, it was fair enough crushing on one - that happened all the time, I knew that. I just didn't understand how you could be bothered. You would have to hide it all the time, there would always be the chance of being caught and getting into severe trouble, and you could never be certain if it was all for real or just one big huge lie.
Although, part of my views might have been based on my past relationships, and I may have been cynical about love and relationships, but I was sure that I wasn't the only one standing there that thought it was all too much of a hassle.
That night, Elliot and I went out for a drink, and we were sitting in the corner booth of the bar, away from everyone else, all the noise and all the drunks. We were just sitting in silence, me just staring into my beer, when I suddenly became aware of eyes on me. I instantly knew whose eyes were upon me, because I got that funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. I looked up to be met with an incredibly intense, deep blue gaze.
We just looked at each other for a while, before I got a bit uncomfortable and looked away. I could still feel his eyes on me. It was times like this that I started to think, what if the rumours going round actually did have a slight truth to them. What if he did have feelings for me, above and beyond the normal partner relationship? I guessed there were rumours going round that I had feelings for him too. It was just part of the parcel of having a partner of the opposite sex.
"Hey, Liv," he started softly, and I looked up at him, dreading what he was going to ask, because he had that tone in his voice. That tone he used when he had something important or personal to ask. "I've heard some rumours at work, going round the precinct."
"Oh?" I knew now exactly what he was going to bring up.
"I, uh…" he paused. "I don't know if you've heard, but apparently we're seeing each other."
"Are we really?" I asked.
"Yeah," he smiled slightly. "I just…wondered…if there was some truth to the rumours that you had feelings for me."
"Elliot, I…" I looked away. God, this was awkward. What the hell was I meant to say? I couldn't just laugh it off, that would be far too out of character, but I could hardly admit it either, could I? Elliot was my best friend… one of my only friends, actually. I didn't want to ruin everything we had, just for a quickie in my bedroom. Although, I knew that Elliot wasn't the type to do that. "No… Not the kind of feelings you're talking about."
"You sure?" he asked, and I nodded. "Oh. Okay."
I paused before again looking up at him, but now he was the one looking away. The way he had spoken had sounded…disappointed almost. Surely not. No, I mean, come on. This was Elliot Stabler. He was a family man. He still hurt over his break up and he missed his kids. There was no way that he had feelings for me, Olivia Benson, his partner at work. No…. but then, there was still this nagging feeling somewhere deep down that told me, of course it was possible. It was obvious in the way he looked at me, in the way he spoke to me, in the way he was around me, in the way he protected me, even if it meant endangering himself.
Even if it was possible, it would just have to wait. We had a really confusing case on our hands, and we needed all our energy to try and figure out if this was for real or not. If it could really be love.
I kind of tried to get in a little bit more E/O and not just focus on the case, but I don't know if I got it right or not. I'll just have to wait and see what you think. Thank you for reading!