The Truth Hurts

Each time Elliot walked down the hallway, he felt brave. Right until he got to the doorway of Olivia's room and then all his bravado faded. He turned around, walked back to the elevator and practiced his walk all over again.

This is stupid, he thought. She was his best friend. She was his partner and he trusted her with his life, but he was afraid to talk to her about her relationship. He knew it was none of his business. He knew if Olivia had come to talk to him about Kathy, he would have been pissed, but he was also sure that Kathy wasn't sitting in Olivia's apartment every night crying her heart out. And while he was fully aware of his and Kathy's tentative cease fire, he knew that Alex and Olivia were on incredibly shaky ground, and he wasn't sure that Olivia knew it.

He had finally decided that something had to be done, for the sake of his best friend.

He stood outside her door, taking a deep breath. He took the first step and walked through the door. Olivia was sitting in her bed, playing with a Gameboy that Alex had gotten her. There wasn't anything that Alex hadn't provided Olivia. The table next to her bed was overflowing with gadgets and books. Things Elliot had never seen before that now Olivia claimed she could never live without. When he had brought Dickie and Elizabeth by, at Olivia's okay, they almost fell into kiddy techno comas when the two of them saw some of her gear. It broke down to the three of them fighting each other via some kind of three way Gameboy showdown while Elliot stood in the corner watching with mock disgust.

Her expression was one of intense concentration, and he cleared his throat to make sure she heard him coming.

"Hey Champ," He said, as he walked into the room.

"Elliot." Came her cold reply.

"How's it going?"

"Good." She said, still not looking up at him.

"Good game?" He asked.

"Yep."

"Can I talk to you?"

"Go ahead." She said, without putting the game down. Elliot sighed and sat in the chair.

"I'll wait till you're done."

"Gonna be a long wait." Olivia said.

"Oh for Jesus sake," Elliot said, standing up and grabbing the game out of her hand.

"You can't do that." She cried at him.

"Oh, come over here and stop me." He said, feeling like a child.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted. He looked at her and started to laugh, which only made her angrier. "I'm sorry," he said, gasping for air. "I really wish you could see yourself."

She frowned at him even harder. "It's not funny Elliot."

"Liv, seriously." He said, tossing the game at the foot of her bed, still frustratingly out of her reach. "I came here to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Then leave." He said sitting on the bed.

"I can't."

"Then I guess you're listening, huh? So what'd I do to you today?" Elliot sighed.

"Alex knew about the ring." Olivia said, with a dark stare.

"Uh, no she didn't." Elliot said, trying to decide how it was she could have possibly known. There's no way that Alex would have told her. That kid?

"Really Elliot? You sure you want to do that." Olivia said with a mean look.

"Liv, look," He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I can't believe you lied."

"It was a harmless lie, Liv."

"No, El, it wasn't. That was super important to me. She knew the whole time."

"She didn't know . She wouldn't look at it."

"But she knew it existed."

"Yeah, Liv, okay, fine, she knew about the box. It was something that kept her together. That night, knowing that you wanted to commit to her? That was one thing that made her smile, but she wouldn't even think about looking at the ring until she got asked by you. So yeah, she saw the ring box. You win. But whatever you did to get her to wear it? That's what mattered to her."

"So you lied."

"Look, Olivia, this is exactly why I came here."

"What?"

"Alex."

"Leave her out of this."

"I can't anymore, Liv. You can't."

"Huh?"

"She's breaking. All this macho bullshit you pull? All this I don't need anyone? You're really hurting her."

"She hasn't said anything to me." Olivia said, looking him in the eye.

"Because she's been telling me." Elliot shrugged.

"You and Alex are hanging out?" She asked. So that's where Alex was going when she walked away.

"No, Alex is crying and I'm trying to convince her that you don't hate her."

"Of course I don't…"

"Liv, I can only imagine what you're going through. I know this has to be hard. I know what work means, and your freedom means, and everything, but you've got to cut Alex some slack. She loves you so much and she needs you to," He tried to plead with her.

"Elliot, don't lecture me okay. I know her a little better than you."

"I don't think you do right now." He said, sadly, as he turned around and walked away.

To Be Continued…