Four Weeks later
"Olivia is drunk."
"What? How drunk? Had a cocktail-at-lunch drunk or teenage-house-party drunk?"
"College frat boy drunk. She's wasted Captain."
"Is it noticeable?"
"It's not obvious if you are blind, deaf and lack a sense of smell. I'm assuming Judge Donnelly has become none of those things."
"Christ, she's due on the stand in half an hour."
"Don't I know it."
"Do you think we can sober her up in that time?"
"Only if her body is capable of consuming eighty-seven loaves of bread, twenty-two vats of coffee and a couple pounds of McDonalds."
"A simple no would suffice John."
"No Captain. Plus, she doesn't think she's that drunk. She tried to convince me she was fine right before losing her balance and walking into the door of the washroom."
"We can't send her in there. She's a liability."
"We need the other case detective."
"Captain, if you know where Elliot is, now is the time to call in a favor."
"Elliot wont be happy. He said he didn't want to come back again. He doesn't want to see Olivia again."
"He doesn't have to see Olivia, though it might do them both some good, but we can easily hide her somewhere."
"Elliot doesn't have to come back to the squad room. We can have him wait out at the courthouse."
"He still wont be happy."
"But the sick bastard who gets off will be extremely pleased to resume his serial rapes and murders."
Cragen sighed, "Alright, I'll call in a favor."
~*~
Fin stared at Munch who sat on the bench outside the courtroom. Elliot was inside, giving his testimony to the packed room. He had come only under the promise that Olivia would not be there. When he asked why Olivia was unable to do her job his former colleagues spun a story of the flu taking over her body.
Fin frowned. He didn't like bullshitting Elliot. It made him feel like a sneak. But he did it to protect Olivia. She would be mortified if Elliot knew the real reason to why she could not testify. Fin turned to Munch and asked, "Do you know what made Elliot leave Manhattan?"
Munch frowned and shrugged, "I assumed that he was asked to because he's been here so long. But I'm thinking differently now."
"Because of how Olivia is responding?"
"Yeah. I mean, I always knew it was going to be tough when those two were split up. But I never thought Olivia would completely lose it. She's always been professional. So this makes me think it's something personal."
"Maybe she's just upset because Elliot didn't tell her, like he didn't tell us."
"Which is something he would never do if he had the choice… Elliot and Olivia are thick as thieves. Elliot may be a selfish bastard sometimes, but he always makes sure to respect his partnership with Liv. He knows he owes it to her. He's always good, unless they're fighting. Then he gets stupid."
"You think something happened between them…"
Munch sighed and nodded, "I don't know what- probably some huge blow-out that he thought they couldn't recover from… My guess is Olivia felt differently."
Suddenly the doors to the court room burst open and the commotion reached John and Fin's ears. People poured from the room and Kim came out, shooting daggers at the partners standing in front of her.
"You told me Olivia had the flu!" She was clearly outraged.
"She does-" Fin started.
Kim held up her hand to cut him off, "Do not even think of lying to me again. The defense just hung Elliot in there! They found out that Olivia is tanked as a sailor and they called him on it!"
Fin and Munch quickly looked to each other before turning and seeing Elliot standing angrily behind Kim. Elliot glared and crossed his arms over his chest.
"She's drunk?"
"Elliot-" Fin began but Elliot shook his head, signifying that he was not going to listen to Fin's rationalizations.
"She was too drunk to testify." Elliot's voice shook with rage.
"Calm down Elliot." Munch started.
"You lied to me! The defense just derailed the trial because he saw you two dealing with her! He got a uniform to take a breathalyzer test! He blind-sided me! Claimed that I had to know my partner was intoxicated and I must have lied under oath."
"Langen ate this up. He's moving to throw out Elliot's testimony." Kim was clearly livid.
"Why didn't you just tell me?" Elliot frowned. When Fin and Munch lowered their eyes to the floor and Elliot's eyes widened in realization. "Because it's my fault she drank too much." He whispered.
"Not so much your fault as it is the reason…" Munch started to explain but he stopped when he realized there was no way for him to make things better.
"Where is she?" Elliot asked.
"What?"
"She's at home, sobering up. She should be hitting the hangover stage now… Why?" Munch asked.
"We're going to finish this now. I'm not going to let what happened between us make the squad lose a great detective."
"Then why'd you leave?" Fin shot in response, earning him a vicious glare from Elliot before he stormed the courthouse.
~*~
Olivia rubbed her bleary eyes and raised her head from the large pillow cushioning it. The banging on her door was clearly coming from someone who was furious. Olivia moaned when she realized the effects of the alcohol was in the unfortunate stage of still being drunk and making her head pound like a hammer. Her stomach turned angrily as she rolled over in bed. The desire to vomit nearly took over her body but she closed her eyes and breathed slowly to suppress the need to throw up her stomach contents onto the floor. She groaned when the banging on the door continued. She had hoped that the loud noise was a figment of her intoxicated imagination.
"Who- who is…" Olivia realized that her throat was too dry to give any volume to her voice. She tried to swallow her spit and make more of a sound but there was not enough moisture in her parched mouth. Olivia finally relented and slowly crawled from her bed and staggered to her front door. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sighed at her disheveled appearance. Her hair was pulled back into an unintentionally loose ponytail and her face had very little makeup on it. Her white t-shirt was thin and exposed the black bra she wore underneath. Her jeans were baggy and only stayed up because of the brown leather belt she wore. Her bare feet revealed red painted toenails and a small silver toe-ring. Olivia caught her foot on the small flower stand beside the door. She tripped and the vase filled with white roses spilled onto the floor and the glass shattered.
"Fuck." She muttered. She would deal with it later. She reached the door and opened it to a furious Elliot. Her eyes widened in surprise and she didn't even bother to argue when Elliot stormed straight into her apartment.
"You were drunk?" Elliot instantly accused, causing Olivia to snap out of her shocked state and frown at her ex-partner.
"What? What the fuck are you doing here Elliot?" She shot back as she closed her door. She backed away from Elliot and stood behind the couch that he stood in front of.
"I was called in to testify on the Holliser case because you were too drunk to do it yourself!" Elliot yelled.
Olivia bit her lip and took a deep breath before answering, "How did you find out?"
"They hung me in court with it. Munch and Fin covered for you. Kim and I were slammed because of it. They accused me of lying under oath!"
Olivia frowned, "Well I'm really sorry that I screwed up Elliot. But you know they'll just polygraph you and know that you're telling the truth. You're not mad about that. So why are you really here?"
It was Elliot's turn to look shocked. He furrowed his brow and glared at Olivia, "You screwed up Liv."
"I know. And don't call me Liv." She hissed, "But that doesn't explain why you're here."
Elliot seemed to take an eternity to think over his response, "You don't screw up."
"Yeah, well, things change." Olivia answered nastily. She crossed her arms over her chest, daring Elliot to respond.
"I was worried… I wanted to make sure you were okay." Elliot dropped his gaze to the floor. His eye caught on the glimmer of the glass from the shattered vase. He then saw the tiny liquid rubies smeared into the carpet. He bent down as if he was examining a crime scene.
Olivia spat back, "You don't get to care if I'm okay anymore. Not since you walked away- I… What the hell are you doing?" Elliot had walked over to Olivia and was looking at her feet.
"You're bleeding."
Olivia looked down and saw that she was indeed bleeding from her foot onto the floor. "Whatever. I'll deal with it."
"There may be glass in it, let me check it out."
Olivia pushed Elliot away from her. "I don't want you anywhere near me. You can leave. I can take care of myself."
"Apparently not."
The outraged look that poured onto Olivia's face caused Elliot to bite his lip with regret. "You son of a bitch. Get the hell out of here."
"Liv, I'm not leaving."
"I told you to stop calling me Liv." She jeered.
"Why? It's your name." he asked.
"It doesn't matter why. Just don't."
"Come on Liv…"
"If you call me Liv one more time I will kick your ass. You know I can."
"Just tell me why it bothers you so much."
Olivia could feel the hot tears filling her whole body. She willed them to stay away but she had little control over what happened next. The salty sadness poured onto her cheeks and her body shook with sobs.
"Because I told you to you asshole!" She tearfully screamed before she moved her body away from him and she rushed into her bedroom. She threw her exhausted body onto her bed and prayed that Elliot wouldn't have the balls to follow her. Sob wracked her body. She covered her face with her hands and rubbed her eyes in the hope that the tears would contain themselves. She re-opened her watery eyes and frowned when Elliot had the daring to enter her room after her, "Elliot, please go away." She desperately begged. Elliot shook his head.
"Olivia… I'm so sorry… about everything…" Elliot bent down and lifted her bloody foot.
"Please don't." She whimpered.
"I didn't want it to turn out this way." He whispered as he examined the wound on her big toe.
"Elliot… you left." She whispered.
Elliot nodded before yanking out the large piece of glass stuck in her foot. He frowned when Olivia flinched. He raised his eyes up to meet Olivia's. "I had to. I'm not ready for any of this."
"You said that it was moving to fast." She whispered. Elliot had risen up onto his knees. He knelt in front of Olivia and held the glass up to her. She reached down and placed her hand onto his, taking the tiny piece of glass and putting it on her bedside table. Elliot placed his empty hands on her thighs and she dropped her gaze to his hands. She gently entwined her fingers with his and brought them up to her face.
"I miss you." She whispered.
Elliot swallowed and nodded, "I miss you too."
"Stay with me." She murmured. Elliot bit his lip but nodded as she pulled him up to her.
His body persuaded hers to lie down on the bed. "Okay." He whispered as he connected his lips with hers. His body blanketed hers and they quickly started a frantic, impassioned connection.
~*~
Olivia smiled when the sunlight filled her room. The memories of the night before caused her to roll over excitedly. She froze when she saw the cold, empty spot next to her. Her heart hammered heavily when she saw the post-it stuck to the pillow. She gently lifted it, praying that it held good news. Tears dropped down onto her comforter when the messy cursive shattered her world again.
"I'm so sorry."
~*~