AN: Kind of filler chapter. Please excuse errors. You all make me happy when you review. Tell me what you think, what needs to be changed.
Memorial chapter 6
"Nick!" She smiles as she exits the house and steps on the front porch. He is leaning on his car, sunglasses perched on his head and a smirk on his face. Zara takes off down he beach as soon as she gets out of the car. "What took you so long?" She jokes with him as she makes her way to where he stands. The true is she didn't expect him but she is glad for the surprise.
He scoffs, "Yeah, Cause I have nothing to do but be at your beck and call." He smile at her and pulls her to into a sideways hug as they walk to the trunk of the car. "The least you can do is carry my bags after I trekked all the way here and invited myself to stay the night."
She bounces him with hip and laughs out loud. "Not happening sweetheart. I am too pretty to carry bags."
"Touche. Maybe one of your many boyfriends in this whore house of yours can come carry my bags." He looks over her shoulder and sees Owen step on the porch. "Speaking of the devil, here comes one now."
"Behave."
He grabs a small overnight bag from the trunks, pulls her back to his side and smile a devious grin. "Don't I always."
"Ha, is that what they call real reason you are here is to make trouble for me isn't it?"
"Trouble for you? Never! But theres a certain someone in that house with whom I may have a few choice words." He squeezes her once more before releasing her and beginning the walk to the house.
She catches up to him as he is about to climb the steps to the porch. "Nick, please don't do anything stupid." She whispers.
"Of course, I will. Thats what partners do."
Before Olivia can scold him, Zara throws her arms around her waist. "Hey Liv. Did you know there are turtle eggs on this beach."
"Hey baby." She squeezing the child. "No I didn't know that." She half listens as Zara rambles on about turtles and eggs while watching as Nick greets Owens. The two have never taken to each other. They tolerate each other and are always civil but Olivia can tell they would rather not be near each other. Olivia's attention is drawn back to Zara when she pulls on her shirt. "Well, what do you think?" It then she realizes she missed a question.
"Sweetie, I am sorry, what did you ask?" She scoops her up and carries her on her hip up the steps.
"Can we go swimming, please, please, please."
"Of course we can, thats why we are at the beach. But first are you hungry, I made pancakes." Zara nods and the men step aside so she can enter the house with the child perched on her hip.
As she walks by however, Nick can't help one more zing. "You made pancakes? That should be interesting. It also explains why you look like you were in a flour factory that exploded."
—
Elliot was up and at the window the minute she and Owen left the kitchen. He was shock when he looks out the window and sees her in the arms of her partner. Just how close are they? He watches how they seem comfortable with each other, their interactions seem light and carefree. He can't recall a time when his relationship with her was ever that way. He suppose its because deep down he always knew that what he felt for her was more than platonic and he tried to keep his distance. He wonders if he didn't hurt their relationship more by doing that. He watches as they walk to the house with his arms around her and his fist clench involuntarily at his side in jealously. He had never thought of himself as a jealous person but when it comes to Olivia he can't help it. He doubts there ever was or will be anything romantic between her and Amaro but their closeness still bothers him. As he hears them enter the house, he makes his way back to the barstool next to Eli.
Her laughter enters the kitchen before she does. She places Zara on the barstool on the other side of Eli. "You are gonna love them." She smiles at Amaro, who leans on the doorframe. "And if you don't, you are gonna eat them anyway."
He smile back. "Yes, mother."
Owen embraces her from behind and kisses her on the cheeks. "Don't worry she didn't actually make them, I did."
Nick raises his eyebrows, "Is that better?"
"Better than Olivia cooking? What do you think?"
She elbows Owen in the stomach at his comment. "Hey watch it now or you two can spoon on the couch tonight." She watches as Nick sits down on the barstool vacated by Zara as she and Eli run off after introducing themselves. He sits one stool over from Elliot and though she would rather pretend he doesn't exist, she suppose she should do the right thing and introduce them. "Nick, this is Elliot Stabler, my part— my old partner and Elliot, this is Nick Amaro, my partner."
Nick smiles. "I heard that slip. Plus we have already met." He realizes his mistake the minute the words leave his mouth. Elliot shoots him a worried glance. God, I hope she doesn't realize.
"Oh ok. Sorry." She grabs a plate, places two pancakes on it and places it before Nick. Both Nick and Elliot release a breath at her inattention to his statement. She continues to move around the kitchen, when she reaches for Eli's dish, she suddenly pauses. "Wait… You came to SVU months after he was gone so when exactly did you meet?" When Nick suddenly finds the floor the most interesting thing in the room, she asks again this time looking back and forth between him and Elliot, who interestingly enough has the same interest in the floor. "Nick, start talking! When?" Nick points to his mouth full of pancakes and shrugs his shoulders. "Elliot?"
"Umm…Umm"
"Spit it out!" She yells.
At this Owen steps in front of her and attempts to get her to look in his eyes. Her eyes remained focused on Elliot's face. "Ok, as interesting as watching you murder them will be, I promised aunt Bernie I would clean the gutters so I am gonna do that." He kisses her on the cheek as she continues to steam at the two men before her.
"I will come with you." Elliot stands quickly.
She whips her head quickly in his direction. "Sit down!" He quickly sits back down,
"O…kay" Owen continues. "Try not to kill them. At least not Elliot, killing the cousin might put a damper on our relationship." He smiles at the nervous men before him. "Good luck guys." He calls out to them as he exits the kitchen.
"Nick, you had better start talking or I swear to God I will kill you."
"Umm Can I tell you about it later?" He glances at Elliot. He would rather not be chastised in front of the old- perfect- partner.
"No! I want to know now when you guys became best buds." Her eyes go back and forth between the two as if she can't decide who she wants died first.
Nick scoffs, "We're hardly friends." He sighs. She won't let it go. "Ok, but keep in mind that I didn't do anything wrong. He was the bad guy. He is the bad guy." Elliot and Olivia both roll their eyes at Nick's attempt to deflect blame. "Remember that time about six months after we started working together that I was in that bar fight." When she nods he continues. "Will what I didn't tell you was who it was with." He glances at Elliot as he finishes his sentence.
"You two? You two were in a fight?" Her answer is received in the guilty looks on both their faces. "But you told me you got in drunken fight over a place in the bar. Why would you two have a territory fight?"
"Who better than us to have a fight over territory? I was having a drink at Murphy's, wallowing in self pity after my first shooting since joining SVU and being in a general bad mood, when he came up to me and struck up a conversation. He didn't know that I knew who he was and he didn't introduce himself but I knew the minute he walked up. I had seen that picture of you guys at the precinct. Anyway, he engaged in small talk trying to get me to talk about working with probing questions. He gave him nothing, I knew you won't want me to. He realized he wasn't going to get anything out of me so started to walk away. He was very surprised when I called him by a name he never told me and asked him why he suddenly gave a damn. I told him I knew exactly who he was and then I hit him." He looks up to her face to see her open her mouth to chastise him but he cuts her off. "I know it was stupid but I was drunk and angry. I was angry at him for you. Before I came to SVU, I heard stories of the great Benson and Stabler and I was mad that he made you lose your way for a while so I hit him and he hit me and we continued doing that until they broke us up."
Olivia is quiet, too quiet after he completes his story. Both men stare at her and each other in confusion at her silence. Both had expected yelling.
Her voice is angry when she speaks next. "So you disappear without so much as a bye and try to beat info out of partner instead of just calling me directly." She is not looking at either of them but they both know who the anger is directed at. "Unbelievable!"
"Olivia…I..It had been six month..I" He pauses, he has no idea what to say that will make anything better between them. "It had been six month and I heard you had had a tough case and I just wanted to know you were ok but it had been six month. I didn't know what else to do."
"What else to do besides beat my partner up, that is?" She turns to Nick. "And you kept this from me, lied to me?" When both men attempt to speak, she puts her hand up stopping them. "I don't want to hear it. Heres how this is going to play out." She turns to face Elliot across the counter. "You are going to continue to pretend that I don't exist to you since you have done such a fine job so far-"
"Liv, I-"
She cuts him off, "Did I give you the impression I was done talking?" Elliot quickly closes his mouth while Nick snickers beside him. "That mean for the rest of the weekend, we don't talk unless we have to. You had your time to talk and you blew it, thats not my fault. I am here to have fun, if I wanted to feel stuck in the past, I would have stayed in manhattan. " She turns to Nick without giving Elliot a chance to answer. "And you, you are here for me, remember that. You are not here to make trouble. Stay away from him!"
"Hey, he was the one who started it, I was simply defending myself." Nick argues.
"Defending yourself? Then you don't quite know your strength cause you broke my nose. You gave as good as you got. Don't pretend you are so innocent."
Nick scoffs, "Compare to you buddy, I will always be innocent. I never up and left her without a word. I stuck by her. "
"Well she never got Kidnapped and tortured on my watch!"
Olivia sees it coming before they do, she knows both men so well. However, before she can make it around the counter to intervene, Nick is in Elliot's space. Never one to back down from a fight, Elliot also stands. The two are face to face, with fist clenched.
"You got something to say to me?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do. Where the fuck were you when a monster with his sights on you partner took her from her apartment?" Elliot steps closer. Any closer and they would be kissing.
"I don't know, Where were you? " Nick's comment causes the large veins on Elliot's neck to bulge as her clenches his jaw. Olivia recognizes the signs that he is about to attack. She pushes her way in the minuscule space between the two and places her palms on Nick's chest. She dare not touch Elliot's. Her presence doesn't deter the men however and soon she finds herself sandwiched between the two. She can feel the hard muscles of Elliot's chest against her back and the ridges and valleys of Nick's between her fingers. Its Hot as help. She has to remind herself she is not suppose to be turned on by the animalistic way they are staring at each other or the way their forearms are defined with their fist clenched, she is suppose to be stopping them from killing each other.
"Thats enough!" She tries again with more force and pushes Nick away, causing him to stumble back onto the bar stool while simultaneously using her body to push Elliot away. "Both of you sit the fuck down and shut up! Nick, he is twice your size and if I remember correctly twice as strong but that was three years ago, he may have worked out a time or two in that time." She tries to lighten the mood with sarcasm.
"He's not that strong." Nick grumbles.
Her head snaps in his direction. "Didn't I say to shut up!" She turns to Elliot. " And you may be stronger but he has better reflexes and he is the only one of the two of you that still has a gun! So the both of you are gonna stay the fuck away from each other, got it?" When neither answers, she speaks louder. "I said, got it?
Both men reluctantly grumble got it. "Its like I am dealing with fucking children! Now I am going to change out of my pajamas, can I trust you two to behave while I am gone." Again both men reluctantly nod. She shakes her head and sighs as she starts to leave the kitchen. She pauses at the doorway and looks over her shoulder at the men frozen in their spots at the counter. "And for the record, I got kidnapped while working with both of you but at least I never got myself shot like both you idiots."
As angry as they are at each other, Nick and Elliot share a smile as the stare at the now empty doorway.
