Chapter 8: We Meet Again

Elliot and Olivia were sitting at their desks working on paperwork. The sound of buzzing coming from Olivia's desk drew Elliot's attention. He looked over and saw that her phone was vibrating but she was ignoring it. "How is that not bothering her",he thought to himself. It really didn't bother her. Every time she would hear the phone buzz she'd think of Rae. Even though she'd decided that she could never pursue anything with her she didn't want to stop thinking about a her. "A girl can dream" she thought.

"Are you ever gonna answer that?" Elliot said annoyed by the nonstop buzzing.

"Uh, no. It's not my phone." Olivia said not looking up from the paper's on her desk.

"Whose phone is it then?"

"Rae's" said she nonchalantly.

"You have her phone? Have you had it this whole time?" Olivia's head snapped up at his questions. "What do you mean this whole time?" she asked.

"She was looking for it yesterday."

"You talked to her?" Olivia sounded a little more jealous than she intended.

"No. Maureen called me yesterday and said that Rae thought she'd lost her phone here and if I could look around for it. Which I did for about fifteen minutes when I got in. I wish I would've known you had it this whole time."

"Yeah sorry." Olivia said returning her attention to her paperwork.

"Would it be a problem if I had?" Elliot asked not letting that earlier tone of voice slide. Noticing the confused look on his partner's face he added, "If I had talked to her?"

"No of course not. Why would it be a problem?"

"I don't know. You tell me. You sounded a little jealous at the idea that she'd talked to me and not you."

"I'm not jealous Elliot. What would I have to be jealous of?" she said with a light chuckle.

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking." he replied. She really wished he'd just let this drop. Olivia was about to say something more when she noticed Maureen walk into the squad alone. She was a little disappointed but she made sure not to let it show on her face. "Hey Maureen." Olivia said prompting Elliot to turn around. "Twice I'm seeing you in as many days. We sure are making up for lost time" she said with a smile.

"Yeah, just can't get enough of this place." she said with a laugh. "Hey dad."

"Hey honey." He said as he stood and gave her a hug.

"So did you find Rae's phone? She was freaking out yesterday."

"No, actually Liv found it."

"You did?" Maureen asked furrowing her brow. "Of course she did" she thought. The look she was giving was a mixture of confusion, anger, and jealousy and it didn't go unnoticed by Olivia.

"Yeah, I found it on my way out last night. I thought I'd hold on to it for her. It's been buzzing nonstop. She's really popular" Liv said trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Yep. That's Rae. She's a hot commodity."

"Where is she anyway?" Elliot asked.

"Oh you know, she's around here somewhere entertaining someone I'm sure. I mean, she's the center of attention without asking to be. She might be still downstairs talking to that motorcycle dude that was hitting on her when we were coming in." Maureen watched Olivia intently as she made that last comment and she could swear she saw a hint of pain flash in her eyes. "Wow" Maureen thought. "She likes her too". "Anyway, she should be up in a minute."

"Oh...well, here's her phone" Olivia said sadly picking the phone up off of her desk and holding it out to Maureen. If Rae was downstairs flirting with some biker then she'd obviously misread her signals.

"Oh no, you hold on to it and give it back to her" she said waving Olivia off. "She'll want to thank you and I think she wants to talk to you about something else too."

Olivia instantly got butterflies in her stomach and her palms started to sweat. She was nervous. "What could she possibly want to talk to me about?" she thought to herself as she sat back in her seat. Just then Araeyah walked through the squad room doors and all eyes were immediately on her. She strode in confidently with a pep in her step and a sway in hips. A few of the male officers that were staring got a glare from Elliot telling them to keep it moving. When Olivia saw Rae, her heart skipped a beat. She looked absolutely breathtaking. Her hair was slightly curled, with a little frizz, and bounced when she walked. The shorts she was wearing showed off her amazingly toned legs. Her shirt showed her midriff and was hanging low off her shoulders showing off her blue bra straps. Olivia's mouth began to water thinking about what she looked like without any clothes on. "Stop it, stop it, stop it" she said mentally kicking herself. She straightened up in her seat before anyone could notice her slouched and drooling over the teenager.

"Morning Detective Stabler." Rae said as she approached. When she reached them she stood next to Maureen and draped an arm around her shoulders. Maureen instantly relaxed into her friend.

"It's nothing", Olivia thought as she watched the interaction between the two girls. "They're best friends. That's what best friends do".

"Morning Rae. How are you?" Elliot said with a polite smile.

"I'm good thanks but please tell me you found my phone" she said pulling her arm from around Maureen and putting her hands together in a pleading fashion.

"Actually, Olivia did." Maureen interjected.

"You did?" Rae said surprised. "That's what I said." Maureen said slightly under her breath but still loud enough for everyone to hear. Rae looked at her friend making a mental note to ask her what exactly was her problem and not letting up until she got an answer.

"Yeah, I did. Here ya go" Olivia stood up and handed the phone to Rae. Their eyes met and Rae smiled. "Thank you". She took in all of Olivia as she was standing there. She noted how her jeans fit just right and the color of her shirt looked great against her skin. "Damn, she looks good" Araeyah thought to herself.

"Uh...you're welcome" Olivia said in a slight whisper. She noticed how Rae subtly took in her appearance and she inwardly praised herself for her wardrobe choice.

"Ummm...actually if you have a minute there's something I wanted to ask you." She was met with a blank stare and wondered if she'd been overly presumptions about Olivia's feelings for her. If she felt anything for her she'd jump at the chance to help her with her little problem, right? She started to back pedal, "uh, unless you're busy. I mean, you're probably really busy. It's not that important. I can just ask someone else" Rae started to ramble.

"Oh no no. I'm not too busy. You can ask me anything you'd like" That came out slightly more seductive than Olivia had wanted but she couldn't take it back now.

"Oh, ok." Rae looked back and forth between Olivia and Elliot before speaking again, "Is there somewhere we could go that's...ummm...private?" Rae asked.

Suddenly Olivia got extremely nervous. Whatever it was that Rae wanted to talk to her about she was obviously uncomfortable discussing in front of Elliot. "Of course" Olivia said before turning and heading in the direction of the interview rooms.

"You know what that was about?" Elliot said looking at Maureen like a concerned father.

"No. She just said she wanted to ask Liv something." she lied. She couldn't risk telling him the truth.

Olivia picked one of the rooms they used to interview kids, not because she thought Rae was a kid but because it more comfortable. Olivia opened the door and allowed Rae to enter. She followed her in and shut the door behind her, motioning for Rae to take a seat on the couch.

"Make yourself comfortable" she said.

"This room is cute" Rae said sitting on the couch.

"Yeah. It's for the victims we interview that are kids. Or sometimes when victims have children, they can come in here and play while we talk to their parents." Olivia explained.

"Oh" Rae's face fell as she realized what the room was for. "That's awful."

Olivia saw the sad look on Rae's face and wanted nothing more than to caress her cheek and tell her it was all ok. She fought it though and instead brought the conversation back to whatever Rae wanted to talk to her about. "So, you said you wanted to ask me something? Is everything ok?"

"Oh yeah. Everything is fine." Rae looked at Olivia and saw the concern in her eyes. She knew what Olivia's job was and she had just acted like it made her really uncomfortable to talk in front of Maureen's dad. It did but not for the reason's she thought. Suddenly it clicked and Olivia's concern made sense. "Oh, god no, I'm fine. It's nothing like that." She saw the relief wash over Olivia as her entire body relaxed. She smiled as she thought about how sweet it was for her to be so concerned. At the same time she tried not to read too much into because after all that is Olivia's job.

"Ok." Olivia said as she released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "So, what's up?"

"Ok .First you have to promise not to tell Maureen's dad." Before she could say anything else Olivia cut her off. "I promise." Rae opened and closed her mouth several times. "Oh, ok." she said surprised that Olivia had agreed so quickly. "You don't want to know why?"

"Well, I figured your reasons would become clear once you started talking."

"Yes, they will" Rae said with a smile. "Ummm, ok so it's kinda stupid and I feel really bad for pulling you away from your work for this..." Rae was once again cut off by Olivia. This time it was Olivia hand covering hers that stunned her silence. "Don't feel bad. I want to help you however I can." Rae mouth went dry and she was lost for words. "You better find them quick" she said to herself. "Ummm...yeah, ok." Olivia hadn't pulled her hand away and it was making it really hard for Rae to think. "So I'm having this problem with my landlord. He thinks I'm a stupid kid and he doesn't really take me seriously. I live in a loft apartment and the lock on my front door is really shitty." Rae said drawing a chuckle from Olivia. "I've asked him twice now to come and fix it but he hasn't. I mean, it sticks sometimes which makes it hard for me to get into my place and sometimes its hard for me to lock the door once I'm inside and..." Olivia took her hand away from Rae's and held it up to stop her from going on. "Say no more" she said. "I will talk to him. I'll make sure it gets fixed even if I have to come over and fix it myself." The thought of Olivia coming over to her place for any reason was a real turn on. She quickly let that thought pass. "Really?" Olivia nodded. "Oh that's great. Thank you so much. I'm sorry for being so dramatic about it, its just...well I didn't exactly tell detective Stabler that I live on my own. I was worried he wouldn't let Maureen stay over if he knew."

"I understand. Your secret is safe with me" Olivia said.

"Oh you're so great, Liv. Thanks." Without thinking Rae moved closer to Olivia and pulled her into a hug. Their bodies melded into each other, each one relaxing in the other's embrace. Rae turned her head just slightly and inhaled Olivia's scent. Little did she know Olivia was doing the same. Both of them thought, "God, she smells amazing". After what felt like eternity, Rae finally pulled away allowing her hand to travel down Olivia's side, bringing it to rest on her thigh, while Oliva had allowed her hand to move from the back of Rae's head around to her face to cup her cheek. She absent-mindedly brushed across her bottom lip. The entire time each was looking into the other's eyes. "This is my chance" Rae thought as she began to lean in bringing her face closer to Olivia's. Just then Olivia thought, "What am I doing?" She broke eye contact, let her hand fall into her lap, and moved away.

"I...I...I'm sorry...I thought" Rae stuttered not able to find the right words to apologize before settling on, "I'm sorry Olivia."

"It's ok. You don't have anything to be sorry for." The tension in the air was thick and Olivia wasn't sure what she could say to lessen it.

"Ummm...well...thanks again for agreeing to talk to my landlord for me." Rae said standing up from the couch. Olivia quickly followed suit.

"Of course. Why don't you take my number and you can text me the name of your apartment building and your landlord and I'll look him up" Olivia suggested.

"Ok, yeah. Sure." Rae unlocked her phone and her eyes got really big at how many missed calls and texts she had. "Oh my god! Who knew I was so popular?" she said with a laugh. She handed her phone to Olivia so she could put her number in and save it. Once that was done they headed back into the squad room to find Munch in the middle of one of his conspiracy theories.

"Hey, you ready?" Rae asked Maureen.

"Yes" she replied quickly hopping down from her dad's desk. She gave him a quick hug and kiss goodbye and said goodbye to everyone else before heading for the squad room doors.

"Thanks again Liv." Rae said with a small smile.

"Anytime" Olivia said returning the smile. With that Rae followed her friend to the elevators. Olivia sat with a smile on her face as she went back to her paperwork.

"So, what was that about?" Elliot asked leaning forward on his elbows.

"Oh, you know, girl stuff." Olivia said still smiling.