Chapter 2
"You're supposed to be watching with me," Elliot said, throwing a chocolate-covered coffee bean at Olivia, who had her elbow propped on the car door armrest and her head resting in her hand, eyes closed.
"Wake me up when something interesting happens," she muttered, her words slurred by exhaustion.
They were on a stakeout of the man they were now positive had Kelsi. They were waiting for him to lead them to her, because they had no other leads. Everyone was still working hard at the station, but no one had much hope of them actually finding anything useful. So Elliot and Olivia were waiting for him outside his building, while Fin and Munch were parked a few blocks away, ready in case their perp bolted.
It was almost 24 hours since they had first been called in on the case and Olivia had had only two restless hours of sleep in the crib. She hadn't really slept so much as drifted, and now she was too far beyond exhaustion to even open her eyes. "I might as well leave you here, you'd probably trip over your own feet running after him." Olivia smiled faintly. "You wanna curl up in the back, maybe use my jacket as a pillow?"
"Don't joke. That actually sounds pretty appealing," she said in her sleep-slurred voice, no longer capable of opening her eyes.
Elliot shook his head, smiling, and dropped a few more coffee beans into his mouth. He had offered them to Olivia, but she insisted they made her feel jittery and weak, like she had to move but didn't have the strength to do it. So Elliot let her sleep and ate the beans himself, trying to restrain himself from eating too many. He watched for signs of movement around the apartment, but saw nothing.
Olivia was mostly asleep, but her head kept sliding off her hand, jerking her awake. Elliot, taking pity on her, leaned over and pulled the lever on the side of the seat, pushing it as far back as it would go. She leaned back, rolled so her back was to Elliot and stretched her legs as much as she could. He heard a muttered 'thanks' from her before she fell asleep again. While she slept, Elliot caught his eyes flicking more than once towards her, and his thoughts drifted away from the stakeout and Kelsi.
He really couldn't blame Kathy for thinking he had slept with Olivia. Well, he could if he wanted to, but she did have good reason to suspect it. It hurt him to know she didn't trust him, wouldn't believe him no matter how much he denied it, but he would be lying to himself if he said there was no reason for her suspicions. He spent more time with Olivia than with Kathy, and they had spent countless nights together, even if it was only at the squadroom. And technically he had slept next to her on several occasions, but of course it was on separate cots in the crib. And if he really thought about it, Olivia knew him better than Kathy did in a lot of ways – important ways. He supposed he knew more about Olivia than he did Kathy, too.
But was there more to it? Was he really as attracted to Olivia as Kathy thought? He looked at her while she slept, the moonlight coming through the windshield hitting the curve of her jaw perfectly, lighting up her profile beautifully. It slid down over every curve of her body, making the normally tanned skin of her bare legs look pale. The outfit she was wearing revealed a lot more skin than usual, but he preferred her usual clothing, which made her seem more powerful and sophisticated. The outfit had a purpose, of course, she would never dress like that normally and he was glad. She was beautiful, that much Elliot had always known. Any man would be an idiot not to think so. But did that mean he was attracted to her, that he might even love her? He didn't know. He loved Kathy, loved his family, and he had never even considered the possibility of being with Olivia until Kathy started accusing him.
His confused thoughts just left Elliot feeling tired, and he tried to turn his mind to other things. Just as he looked away from Olivia, he saw someone leaving the apartment. He grabbed his binoculars and used them to get a closer look. It was their perp, Madden, and he was leaving on foot. Elliot gave Olivia a hard jab in the ribs and radioed Munch and Fin while she woke up after her brief two hour nap.
"He on the move?" She asked, her words turning into a yawn as she stretched her tired arms as much as the little care would allow. Elliot couldn't help watching her shirt tighten over her chest and tried to shake the thought-and the image-away.
"Yeah. You tail him, I'll take the next block over. Munch and Fin'll keep ahead of you in case anything goes wrong." They both got out of the car and Elliot watched her head off towards Madden, staying a safe distance behind him. Then he walked away, towards the next street over so he could stay with them without making Madden suspicious.
Olivia made sure to keep a safe distance between her and Madden, hoping he wouldn't realize he was being followed. Most men didn't expect to be followed by women at night, and most let their cocky egos blind them to any possible threat said woman may pose. It helped that Olivia was wearing a tank top and a skirt so short she had an insane urge to cover herself up with something, anything, so she wouldn't feel like such a tramp. Add in some trashy jewellery and she was just a hooker heading to her favourite spot. And what did Madden have to fear from a hooker? He certainly wouldn't want anything from her; he only liked little girls.
Madden's footsteps slowed unexpectedly and Olivia wondered why. She was sure he couldn't be keeping Kelsi so close, he was too careful for that. He had avoided three murder charges already, and there were probably more they didn't even know about. Olivia wasn't sure whether or not to slow her own footsteps; if he really was as careful as they thought, he might be checking to see if anyone was following. And he might not be stupid enough to think only a male cop would follow him. So she kept up her pace, thankful that it hadn't been very fast to begin with, and allowed the gap to shorted between them. Just when she thought she would have to slow down – she couldn't risk passing infront of him – he sped up his pace to match hers again. The gap was considerably smaller than she would have liked, but it at least seemed he didn't suspect anything. Olivia kept her head down, allowing only her eyes to shift towards him. A good thing, too, because he glanced back at her once. She was getting nervous. Did he suspect her?
Before she could answer the question, Madden turned and flew straight towards her. She barely had time to react before he tackled her. She fell hard to the ground, the wind knocked out of her and her head and back striking the sidewalk painfully. Her vision blurred and she could feel herself swaying on the edge of consciousness, urging herself not to black out. She had no gun – a risky move, but there was nowhere to hide it – which was why the other detectives were so close. But they might as well have been on the other side of the city at that moment because Olivia could barely breathe, never mind scream.
Madden was on top of her. She fought with him, but he grabbed her wrists. They struggled like that for a minute, and Olivia managed to jerk her head forward and sink her teeth into his arm. He cried in pain and rage, releasing her wrist momentarily. Olivia took advantage of the slip and hit him as hard as she could in the nose. It wasn't nearly as powerful as her usual punch, the ground not allowing her to get her arm back far enough, but it was effective nonetheless. She took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she could. Madden clapped his hand over her mouth, blood from her own teeth marks flowing onto her cheek, hot and sticky, but it was too late.
Elliot bolted towards Olivia's scream as soon as he hear it, radioing Munch and Fin as he ran and then pulling his gun. He saw them on the ground, saw Madden punch Olivia hard in the cheek, and felt a surge of rage. "Police! Get off her now!" Elliot shouted and he ran towards them.
Madden was on his feet and heading in the other direction before Elliot could get close, but he was heading straight towards where Munch and Fin were, so Elliot went to Olivia's side instead. "You alright?" He asked, hoping she wasn't seriously hurt.
"Screw it. Next time I'm calling in sick," she said, putting a hand on her injured cheek with a low groan. Elliot smiled and helped her up. She felt dizzy and swayed slightly on her feet, but Elliot put an arm around her waist before she could fall. "My hero," she said in a thick southern accent, pushing him away gently. She knew when she needed help, didn't feel any shame in screaming for it when Madden was on top of her, but she was still stubborn and proud and didn't want Elliot supporting her back to the car. He kept close enough to her to catch her again if he needed to, though, and she didn't argue.
They headed towards Munch and Fin, who were reading Madden his rights and putting him into their car. "You alright, Liv?" Fin asked, noticing the mark on her cheek that would soon be a large and very dark bruise.
"Yeah, no serious damage done." She was actually worried she might have really hurt her head; it as pounding and she still felt dizzy and light-headed.
Elliot took her to the ER rather than back to the squadroom. It turned out that she had a concussion, and Olivia nearly cried when the doctor gave her the news; it would give her an excuse to just go home and sleep, and Olivia had never wanted to sleep so badly in her life. Elliot drove her home, calling Cragen on the way to let him know they wouldn't be back in until morning. He would have to stay with Olivia to make sure her symptoms didn't get worse; he had taken care of people with concussions before and knew what he had to do. It probably wasn't a good idea to spend the night at Olivia's after all of Kathy's accusations, but what did it matter? She already thought he was cheating, and she didn't believe him when he denied it. He wasn't even going to do anything at Olivia's apartment other than wake her up every couple hours to check on her. All he really had to decide was whether or not to tell Kathy.
In the end, he decided not to. He called Kathy while Olivia was changing into her pyjamas and told her most of the truth; Olivia had sustained a concussion and needed to be waken up every two hours to make sure her symptoms didn't worsen. He told her they would be staying in the crib rather than her apartment, but that was only to ease their inevitable argument. Elliot hated lying to Kathy, but he also hated being accused of something he hadn't done, had never even considered doing. She was unhappy nonetheless, and he knew there would still be an argument later, but he didn't care.
"Is Kathy okay with this? I told you I can go back to the ER, a night at the hospital won't kill me," Olivia asked, coming out of the bathroom with her toothbrush in one hand and her brush in the other. She tossed the brush onto the couch, then started brushing her teeth.
"Yeah, she's fine with it. Not exactly thrilled that I won't be home, but she understands. You saved her life, after all, she can't exactly argue with me taking care of you." He smiled and she nodded, going back into the bathroom to finish brushing her teeth.
Great, now I'm lying to both of them, he thought.
Elliot set the alarm clock Olivia had lent to him and set it on the table next to the couch. Olivia had gone into her bedroom and fallen asleep almost instantly. He set the alarm for two hours later and then stretched out on the couch. It took him a while to fall asleep, his thoughts still swirling around, making him wish more than anything for them to just be quiet. Eventually he did fall asleep, but when the alarm went off he felt even more exhausted than before he had slept.
He got up, stretched his arms above him with a groan, and then headed for Olivia's room. She was wearing blue silk pyjama bottoms and a darker blue tanktop. She was lying on her stomach with her arms under her pillow, which looked thick but contained feathers, so was actually very thin under her head. Her blanket had probably been covering her when she fell asleep but she had kicked it almost completely off the bed. Elliot couldn't help smiling, then shook his head and walked over to the head of her bed, shaking her awake.
Olivia groaned and turned her head away from Elliot. He shook her again and with another groan she rolled onto her back and sat up. Hit with a wave of dizziness, she fell back onto her pillow with yet another groan. "How're you feeling?" Elliot asked.
"Like shit," she said.
"Can you sit up?" Olivia did it, again feeling dizzy but at least prepared for it. "Dizzy?" She nodded. "Headache?" Another nod. "Ringing in your ears?" Another nod. "Nausea?" She shook her head. "Well, that's good. I have to turn the light on."
He got up and flicked on the light, Olivia shielding her eyes until they adjusted. Elliot sat back down on the bed next to Olivia and looked into her eyes, making sure they looked normal. Then he took her hands in his, telling himself it was just a medical exam, nothing more. "Squeeze my hands." She obeyed, both hands gripping his firmly. He made her do a few more neurological tests, asking her basic questions while he did to check her memory as well as her speech. When that was finished – it only took a few minutes – he said goodnight and let her go back to bed. She was asleep in minutes. Elliot set the alarm again and spent another half hour trying to get to sleep.
They did the tests three more times, Elliot waking her up for the last time in the late morning. When he was sure she was okay and her symptoms weren't getting worse, he headed home, still feeling exhausted and not at all looking forward to his fight with Kathy.
