Disclaimer: Still don't own any of them, maybe I should add them to my Christmas Wish List!
20 minutes later, after enough traffic to give anyone a migraine, and more than enough chances to change her mind, she found herself in front of the 1-6, and with a couple of deep breaths to relax herself, she pulled herself out of the car, mindful to lock the doors, and headed up the stairs into the bullpen. Nervously, she scanned the room, looking for any familiar faces, when her eyes rested on someone sitting at her old desk. Curious as to who the woman was, she approached the woman, who glanced up as she walked over.
"Can I help you?" she said in a curt, rude tone.
"I'm looking for Detective Stabler" Olivia bit back. No one was going to be a bitch to her, especially when that person was sitting at her desk.
"He's in an interrogation right now, maybe I can help you, I'm his partner, Dani Beck."
His partner, Elliot's partner, Olivia started to feel sick to her stomach. That woman wasn't Elliot's partner, she was. The two of them had shared the same desks, split paperwork, took turns going for coffee, and had more than enough gruesome cases to last a lifetime. She had been his partner for the past 8 years, that doesn't just up and change, does it? Olivia was unsure of what to think, but quickly realized that she was still standing in front of Dani, and had yet to answer her.
"Um, no, I don't think so, is the captain in?"
"Yeah, he should be in his office."
"Thanks."
Olivia headed over to the office and with a soft knock on the door, entered the room.
She was greeted by her captain's surprised, but loving face.
"Olivia, I didn't know you were home. When did you get back?"
"I've been back for a couple of days now, Casey is the only one who knew I was back."
After a brief pause, she asked, "So how's that going anyway", referring to Dani and Elliot's partnership.
"It was rough at first, but they're doing pretty good now." She glanced out the window in the office, spying Elliot walk into the room. Her stomach lurched with excitement as she took in his same blue eyes, and tan skin, the same features that she had longed for while she was gone. Her moment of happiness, crumbled to the floor in a matter of seconds as she watched in disgust as Elliot walked up and rubbed Dani's shoulder while he leaned over her, discussing a case.
"I didn't know you were coming back, so I don't really have any room right now for you, the other precinct sent someone over to fill in for you," Don replied, breaking the uneasy silence.
"Yeah, I understand" she said with a twinge of hurt in her voice. She didn't understand. She couldn't understand. Had she been replaced? Was there something that her captain wasn't telling her? Why the hell was Elliot touching that bitch?
"Oh…I…uh…actually came to tell you that I needed some more time before I come back," she lied, directly to her captain, trying to hide the tears that threatened to spill out of her round brown eyes, "I'll see you soon." With that she turned on her heel and headed for the door, longing for the safety of her car, the safety she desperately needed to reach before her emotions bled all over the floor.
"Are you going to leave without saying hello to Elliot?"
"Yeah, he's busy, I'll catch up with him later," she paused, "and don't tell him I was here, ok?"
With that she left, heartbroken, defeated, more miserable than she had been in Oregon. She was able to make it to her car before the dam that was holding her tears back broke. She put her head on the steering wheel and sobbed. Her eyes stung as the warm tears rolled down both sides of her face. "Why, why, why" she mumbled to herself in between sobs. He wasn't supposed to like his new partner. He certainly wasn't supposed to rub her shoulder. He was supposed to be heartbroken and lonely, unable to fully function without her. After about 5 minutes of letting out all the heartbreak she could experience at one time, she was drained, emotionally and physically. She sniffled, and wiped her tears off her face in an attempt to pull herself together. Feeling a little more in control of her emotions, she put her car in drive and made her way back to her apartment.
She slammed and locked the door to her apartment a little harder than usual, and headed for the security of her bed. She toed off her shoes and allowed herself to sink into the warm, fluffy bedding, hoping that sleep would fix her problems, fix her partner, fix her heartbreak. After spending all afternoon tossing and turning, unable to ever actually take a nap, she got up and began running the hot water for a relaxing soak in a hot bubble bath. She eased into the water, allowing her skin to acclimate to the temperature, and scooped up a handful of bubbles, gently blowing them off her skin and watching them pop. 'Pop', Olivia thought, 'exactly what Elliot did to my feelings. Wait, why am I being so damn emotional? Because I love him, damn it.' With that, the tears flowed freely again. Olivia curled her legs up to her chest and allowed her tears to fall into the warm bubbly water below. After a while, the tears became trickles, then sniffles, then stopped altogether. Olivia decided that she badly needed a drink. If sleeping and a bubble bath hadn't worked, maybe she could drown the sorrow in something intoxicating. She got out of the bathtub, reapplied her makeup, hoping to cover up the puffiness under her eyes from crying earlier, ensured that her service weapon was secured in her holster, and headed toward her favorite bar. It was only a couple of blocks from her house, so she decided that a walk would be nice in hopes to clear her head. The air outside was crisp, and the sky was cloudless, reminiscent of a picturesque November evening.
As she came into the parking lot of the bar, she could have sworn that she heard Elliot talking to someone, but who did the other voice belong to? She crouched down behind a bush, hidden by the darkness, and watched Elliot walk to his car. 'Great,' she thought, 'first I'm an emotional wreck over him, now I'm hiding in bushes, spying on him; maybe the water I drank in Oregon was bad or something' Just then, she saw who the other voice belonged to, Dani, that partner stealing bitch from earlier. The sudden pang of hurt and jealousy instantly washed over her as she continued to watch in horror from her hiding place as Elliot leaned in and kissed her, not once, not twice, but three times. Olivia's eyes filled with tears as she watched the man she loved kiss another woman. Why did he bring her there anyway? That was their bar, where they always got a drink after work. She balled up her fists in an attempt to keep from jumping out of the bush and ambushing (no pun intended) them. A string of silently thought expletives and a few deep breaths later, she was as composed as could be expected in that situation, and stayed where she was, observing every fantasy and dream she had conjured up during her absence crash and burn. After the third time they kissed, Elliot's phone rang, and the two pulled back from each other so Elliot could answer the call. It was Cragen telling them to get back to the precinct. Elliot and Dani reluctantly climbed into Elliot's SUV and drove out of the parking lot. After the SUV's taillights had disappeared around the corner, Olivia let out a gasp that she had been holding for who knew how long. A few stray tears stung her eyes, and escaped rolling down her cheeks. 'No,' she thought, quickly pulling herself together, 'this is no time to be emotional, this is a time to be pissed off. I actually thought I loved that fucking ass-hole, obviously, he fucking doesn't give a shit about me!' With that, Olivia got up from behind the bush, brushed off her jeans, and headed into the bar to wash away any and every emotion she was feeling.
Inside the bar, it was warm and fairly crowded, as various groups of people sat talking at the bar, or in booths around the perimeter of the room. She grabbed a table in the corner and slumped down into the cushion covered booth, relaxing into its comfort. She summoned the waiter over to her table, but before he was able to make it over there, a man slid into the booth across from her.
"Hey, can I buy you a drink?"
"Uhh, well, actually...," Olivia stuttered, attempting to come up with any excuse why the sexy man, with the gorgeous smile sitting across from her couldn't buy her a drink. She felt like she was cheating on the man she loved, when scenes from earlier in the parking lot, resurfaced in her mind, "hell, why not." He ordered them two drinks and the waiter left to go fill the order. She took a minute to take him in. He was about 6'2", brown hair, and green eyes. He was tan, buff, and could have been on the cover of any magazine. 'Not bad, Not bad at all,'she thought.
"By the way, I'm Olivia, and you are..."
"The hottest guy you've ever seen," the guy said, flashing that million dollar smile again, "no, I'm Ryan. So Olivia, what's a beautiful woman like yourself doing out in a bar by herself?"
"You know, just been one of those days."
"Yeah, I know," he said, raising the drink the waiter just brought into the air, "so, here's to shitty days, but much better evenings."
Olivia let out a smile, "here, here!"
The twosome continued talking for almost two hours, consuming more and more alcohol as the night went on. After the tab was paid, Olivia stumbled outside onto the sidewalk, laughing at absolutely nothing, followed closely by an only slightly tipsy Ryan.
"So, you wanna come back to my place?"
Olivia hesitated, unsure of what to do. She had definitely had her share of going back to guy's places that she had just met, but again, that twinge of loyalty to Elliot tugged at her. Shrugging it off, she decided it was better to be with someone that wanted her, than sit at home thinking about someone that didn't.
"Yeah, lets go."
Ryan unlocked and opened the passenger side door to his Honda, and helped Olivia in before going around to the drivers side, climbing in, and pulling away into the darkness.