"Elliot!" Casey called, standing next to Olivia's desk, as the newly tan detective walked into the precinct for his first day back after his vacation. "Welcome back!"
"Look at that great tan! How was your trip?" Olivia questioned as she sat at her desk, though she already knew, by the unwavering smile on his face, that it was a success.
"Indescribable," he answered as he approached his two female colleagues. "It was exactly what I needed."
"I'm glad," his partner smiled. "You deserved it."
"You did," Casey agreed.
"Thanks, you two," he responded, sitting down at his own desk across from them. "But I'm back now, so please, tell me you've got some good news on Bardwell."
Though Elliot was relaxed and joyful every second of his vacation, he was eager to hear updates about the case he had to abandon for a couple weeks. It was difficult to explain how certain cases made Elliot feel. He wanted all of his cases to end successfully, of course, but there were some that he would never be able to let go of until they were solved. This was one of them.
Olivia and Casey exchanged a knowing glance. Elliot's heart sank.
"Well," Casey sighed. "We've got news."
"But not good news?" He sighed, defeated.
"I was able to convince a judge to grant us a warrant to search their house, though we really didn't have enough proper evidence – he just owed me a favor," Casey began.
"During our search, we found blood on the Bardwell's bathroom floor," Olivia continued. "It was the daughter's."
"So you arrested him?" Elliot asked.
"We tried. I brought him in for questioning again," Olivia answered. "I pissed him off, so he lawyered up. And he's got a damn good lawyer, El."
"Crap," he groaned. "What'd you do to piss him off?"
"Nothing," Olivia shrugged. "I told him he was the main suspect in his daughter's rape and murder, and he went ballistic. Screaming that he was going to make me pay. He threw his chair at me, just barely missed. I almost wish he would've taken me out with it – at least then we could have him in custody for assault on a police officer."
"I'm doing everything I can, but his lawyer bailed him out and is already trying to throw out the blood found during the search since we technically didn't have enough evidence for the warrant," Casey told him.
"So what do we do now?" Elliot wondered.
"Keep digging," Casey said. "You'll find something eventually."
"Did I miss anything else while I was gone?" He asked.
"You missed Munch and Fin chasing a pigeon around the squad room for about an hour," Olivia informed him.
Casey laughed as the memory came back to her. "They were yelling at each other like an old married couple. 'It's over there! Get it! No you get it!' No one helped them because it was just too good to interrupt."
Elliot laughed at the thought, realizing he missed his coworkers more than he anticipated. He was lucky, he knew, to be surrounded by good people who loved their jobs and did them well. And he was glad to be back with them.
Elliot's internal alarm clock woke him up just as the sun was rising, slowly sending light through the window beside him. His eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the sudden brightness. He rolled over to see Johanna's naked body just barely covered by his white comforter and her tousled dark red hair covering her face. He smiled and gently pushed the hair away from her eyes, tucking it behind her ear and revealing her peacefully sleeping face.
He watched her for a minute, adoring the fact that he was able to wake up next to the gorgeous naked woman that morning after a fun night out.
Goddamn I love her, Elliot thought to himself. After realizing it a few weeks ago during their trip to Florida, there was no turning back. He loved her, he knew it, and he couldn't ignore it.
There was only one problem. He couldn't tell her. He couldn't say it to her face.
The words 'I love you' nearly escaped his lips every time he was around her. He had to profusely fight back the innocuous word vomit. He wanted to tell her, badly. He wanted to scream it every time she walked into the room, and he wanted to tell everyone he met that he was madly in love with her. But he was terrified of how she would react.
He figured she probably wouldn't say it back. He knew she probably wasn't in love with him. Not yet, at least. And it didn't really bother him. He understood. But he felt like she would run for the hills if he said it before she was ready, before she felt the same way.
They had been making such great progress in their relationship lately. He felt like she was finally truly coming around to the idea of opening up to him entirely. She was spending more nights at his house, wanting him to spend more nights at hers, being very loving and sweet, especially in public, and he was absolutely terrified that he would ruin their progress and scare her away if he said that he loved her too soon.
He surely didn't feel like it was too soon, but he didn't know how she felt for sure, so he just held back.
Quietly, Elliot climbed out of bed as to not wake the sleeping beauty, and made his way into the bathroom, where he stepped into the shower and ran hot water over his naked body as he washed himself.
He incessantly thought of ideas of how to determine when it would be the right time to say he loved her.
He thought that maybe he would bring his kids around her, since she admitted on their vacation that she wanted to meet them, and if all went well, he would tell her the next day.
Or maybe he would simply write her a note and hide it for her to find later so he wouldn't be around to see her reaction to his feelings.
Either way, he knew it wouldn't be long before it slipped out. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep it a secret for much longer. The feeling overwhelmed him daily.
The shower door opened behind him. He whipped his head around to see Johanna climbing in the shower behind him.
"Morning," she muttered sleepily.
"Morning, gorgeous," he replied with a smile, still looking over his shoulder.
She smiled back then hugged him from behind, letting water cascade down her body. She put her lips to his back, giving him soft butterfly kisses on his spine, which made his stomach flutter. He turned around and she stood on her tiptoes to press her lips to his. Water slid down their bodies concurrently as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. His hands rested on her waist as he pushed his tongue in her mouth, where she willing greeted him with her own tongue.
Due to the pureness of morning, a sense of innocent passion filtered the air, mixing in with the steam from the heat of their shower, slowly fogging the glass around them.
He walked forward gradually, pushing her back up against the wall, as a familiar sensation began pulsating between her legs and a certain stiffness arose between his.
Johanna removed her arms from his shoulders and wrapped a hand around his dick; the feeling made Elliot break away from the kiss abruptly. He pressed his forehead against hers with his eyes shut, beginning to breathe heavily as she stroked his growing length.
When he was fully hard, he grabbed her face and kissed her with urgency, almost to let her know that they had to be quick, otherwise they'd both be late to work.
He cupped her butt and hoisted her up, pressing his body against hers to keep her from sliding. She wrapped her legs around his waist for more leverage and brought her arms back to his shoulders to balance herself.
He placed one hand firmly on her back to steady her and used his other hand to manually guide himself to her entrance. He pushed inside her slowly and brought his free hand to her hip to maintain control. Funnily enough, they were no longer bothered by the task of making him wear protection.
Johanna shut her eyes and softly moaned as Elliot began thrusting in and out of her tenderly. He kissed her on the neck, loving the way she tasted and smelled in the morning. The warm water droplets on her skin and the steam surrounding them from the shower made him crazy.
A wave of pleasure flooded Elliot's body when Johanna ran her hands through the back of Elliot's hair, something he adored. He quickened his pace, earning a whimper from Johanna, a signal that she was nearing her climax.
"That feel good?" He asked.
"Oh yeah," she purred, biting her bottom lip.
Her muscles tightened around him as he continued to pump into her, which only pushed him closer to his own orgasm.
Euphoria surged her body, rocking her hips as she moaned loudly. Explosions of bliss rocketed from her groin and extended to the extremities of her tense body when she came.
Merely seconds later, Elliot grunted when he felt the same ecstasy rush through him when he began to spill inside of her. He pulsated inside her, shooting deep within her, nearly shaking from the incredible feeling.
He slid out of her when he was done, and she loosened her legs to place her feet steadily on the ground. As they came down from their sexual highs, he kissed her lips softly, overwhelmed by emotion, as he often was when he made love to Johanna.
Once again, Elliot had the urge to confess his love for her.
Oh no, he groaned silently. Don't. Don't say it. Not yet.
He winced and wrinkled his eyebrows, painfully trying to prevent the words from expelling from his mouth.
"What's wrong?" Johanna wondered, seeing the agonizing look on his face.
"I...I just..." He fought, but the words lingered. "I just...want to skip work and stay here with you all day."
He sighed and his face relaxed at the successful dodging.
"Aw," she cooed. "I know, babe. Me too."
As they emerged from the shower and began to dry off, Elliot thanked the voice gods for saving him from embarrassment, as he was extremely unprepared to admit his love at that moment.
But he knew, after that close call, that it wouldn't be long before the words slipped out of his mouth. And that he would have no choice but to deal with the consequences.