And the problem is….The problem is Elliot, is that with you, I can't separate the two anymore."
She looked at her glass, still with at least an ounce of scotch in it. She fished out the ice cube with her fingers and tossed in into the tree planter on the sidewalk. She finished the rest of the drink in one swallow and stood, patting her former partner on the shoulder. "See you around, Stabler." She let herself inside, leaving him sitting unmoving on the steps. Up in her apartment, she looked out the window and saw him still sitting on the steps, his position unchanged since she'd left. Taking a deep breath, she stripped off her clothes and put herself to bed without supper.
Slap: Chapter 7
Elliot sat on the stoop until he felt his backside go numb. Looking at his watch, he noted it was only 9:30pm. With the late shift, Fin and Munch, and probably Cragen, were still at the precinct. He couldn't go home now, couldn't face his wife and children in the mood he was in. He fingered the beer bottle he was still holding, it was still half full; he hadn't taken a drink since Olivia had gone up stairs leaving him alone. He tossed the bottle into the trash cans in the alley and looked up at Olivia's familiar apartment windows. They were dark. Sighing heavily, he turned towards his car and headed back to the precinct. He wasn't sure what he was going to do there, but figured there was always paperwork to use as an excuse. He climbed the stairs to the old building slowly, texting Kathy and telling her he would be late and to call if she needed anything.
He slid into his desk with a sigh and pulled a couple of files, beginning the tedious process of completing the forms. He saw Fin and Munch coming from interrogation and Cragen moving around in his office.
As he entered the bullpen, Fin saw the hunched form of Elliot at his desk. As he approached, he said "Stabler! Wasn't expecting you back tonight. Where you been? Liv's?"
"Yeah."
"Hard to believe she's really left. You talk to her?" Fin wasn't going to skip an opportunity to needle this guy, he felt Elliot deserved every prick.
"Yeah."
"Well you're just full of information tonight aren't you?"
Elliot tossed his pen onto the desk. "What do you want from me, Detective?" he snarled.
"I would like to have a word with you. Upstairs." Elliot didn't say a word, but got up and stalked up the stairs, not even checking to see if Fin was following him,
Upstairs in the locker room, Elliot stood against the lockers, arms crossed, waiting for Fin. When he entered, he looked up, but still didn't say a word. Fin walked across the room and took a seat on the bench.
"Look, Stabler," he said, his voice a lot calmer and not at all angry, not at all what Elliot was expecting. "I know we have had our differences in the past, but we are stuck working together. And I think in order for us to continue working together, you need to tell me what went down between you and Benson, cause otherwise I'm not sure I can trust you. And I can't work with you unless I trust you. And I will tell the Captain that, if I have to. Frankly, I hope it doesn't come to that. So spill it, what the f*** happened?"
"Ahhh, I..." he didn't continue. Finally he looked up, Fin was still staring at him intently, not moving, just waiting for his answers.
Elliot came around and sat on the bench, on the far end, as far away as he could be sitting from his coworker. "Look, man, you gotta tell me cause I swear it cannot possibly be as bad as the shit I am making up in my head, so if we are going to have anything remotely looking like a working relationship, you gotta tell me," Fin said. "Start right before Benson showed up at work in a cast."
Seeing that there was no way out of this, and sensing that he really did need to talk to Fin in order to work with him, and with Benson gone, he was going to have to do that a lot more often, he sighed and rubbed his face. Then he started talking.
"I was upset, about a case, and uh, because of Kathy and Olivia came up here to try and talk me down. I said some horrible things to her, -"
Fin interrupted him. "What'd you say?"
Elliot looked at Fin defiantly, showing him for the first time any emotion in the interaction. "Just know that it was bad, it was horrible. And I can never repeat it. It hurt her badly and there is nothing I regret more."
"So what'd she do after that? That's why she quit? Cause you hurt her feelings? I don't buy it. You guys are close, I get it, but come on, Benson doesn't get her feelings hurt."
"No, Benson doesn't let you KNOW she gets her feelings hurt." Elliot shot back.
"So, what'd she say?"
"Nothing. She didn't say anything." Fin was still just looking at his quizzically. "She slapped me. And then...then...I slapped her back. I was out of control, man, I had no idea what was going on, I grabbed her and just stood there and she stood there just staring at me, like I had...like i had..." He couldn't actually bring himself to say it.
"Like what?"
"Like I hurt her feelings. And this is Olivia Benson we're talking about, she doesn't get that look. Not ever. Then she left and told Cragen I had to get my head shrunk. She stopped talking to me and then she quit and here we are." He stood up and ran his hands over his short brown hair. "How could I have let this happen? How could I have done that?" His cries were loud and anguished. He began pacing in the locker room.
Fin stood up and the next time Elliot walked past him, he pulled back his arm and swung his fist right into Elliot's face. Elliot stumbled backwards into the lockers. "What the hell, Fin?"
"What the hell to me? What the hell to you Elliot! You think you can just sit there and tell me you HIT Olivia and I'm just going to sit here and listen to it. I take it back, I-"
"Excuse me? Did I just hear that properly?" Captain Cragen was standing in the doorway to the locker room and had obviously heard the last part of the conversation. The two detectives froze, neither saying another word.
tbc