Chapter 5
Alex
You already have the headache from hell, when you look up from your desk to find Elliot Stabler at your door.
"Got a minute?" He asks.
"If you could make an appointment, I'm extremely busy." You try to fob him off. There is this sudden awkwardness around him. Because he knows about you and Liv.
"It's important." He says it gently, but his underlying tone tells you that he wont take no for an answer. He looks as uncomfortable as you feel, you realise as you lift your eyes to observe him. His expression so severe that you take a deep breath, sitting back in your chair, waiting for him to speak.
"Something wrong? " You prompt him.
"You could say that." He tells you cryptically. You're intrigued, but quickly growing frustrated.
"I'm listening." You tell him.
"It's important that you do listen. Carefully." Elliot warns you, waiting for you to nod in agreement before he continues.
He stands uncomfortably, opens his mouth to speak, then shuts it again.
"For the love of God, spit it out, I don't have all day." You snap at him. He looks wounded, and for a moment you feel guilty.
"Your fiancé." Elliot manages to stutter, "There is something you should see." He proceeds to hand you information, charges of murder and rape, prison time served, the recent appeal.
Wearily you throw the papers back down on your desk. It's nothing that you didn't already know.
"And?" You ask him, impatiently.
"You knew?" Elliot says disbelievingly.
"How blind do you think I am?" You want to know.
Elliot doesn't answer, but he doesn't need to. He obviously thinks you're pretty damn stupid if you didn't know about your finance's past. It's not like it was a state secret. It was a matter of public record. But you hadn't expected it so soon. Elliot must have gone digging to find that information. Either Elliot, or someone else.
"You knew that he is a child rapist, a murderer?" Elliot demands to know.
"I know that he was exonerated."
"On a legal technicality."
"He is innocent." You proclaim.
You wait for Elliot to come back at you with some smart comment. But he only sighs wearily, shaking his head. He looks down on you as if he were talking to his teenage daughter "What is he holding over you? I know you're so much smarter than that."
You find it insulting and infuriating that he thinks he knows so much about you. That he thinks he can tell you what's best for you. But beyond all of that, a spark of fear ignites in your heart. Because Elliot is getting too close to the truth. And you have to stop him.
"It's really none of your concern Elliot.' You manage to say calmly before you raise you voice and add "Now get the hell out of my office, and don;t you ever interfere in my personal life again!" You punctuate this by picking up the files and throwing them across the desk at him.
Elliot is shocked by your angry outburst, clearly the last thing he expected. But he doesn't move."We care about you." He answers, not satisfied with your reasons.
You hear the catch in his voice as he says "we" and no doubt he sees the stab of bitter pain in your own eyes. You already know the answer, but you have to ask. "We?"
"Liv and me." He tells you.
You flinch at her name. Force yourself to stare Elliot down, not to let him see how much Olivia still gets to you. You need to convince them that you're fine. To convince them both to drop this whole thing. You need to get the hell out of that office, because your feelings are too close to the surface, and any minute now tears are going to start falling. So you take a deep breath, and harden your gaze.
"Well, that's very sweet. Misguided, but sweet. In future you can both stay out of my personal life. I am more than capable of managing my own affairs." You tell him icily as you brush past leaving him standing in your office, bewildered.