Friday 2/4
Over the course of the week Liv had gotten a variety of random texts from Elliot at the oddest times. Once at 6 am while she was in the shower he asked if she still liked chicken. Another came in while they were arresting Mr. Fish, and she didn't even see it until 6 hours later. The most recent came in late last night as she was lying in bed almost asleep after a very trying week.
'You asleep?'
'Almost. Why are you still awake? What's wrong?'
'Nothing's wrong. Is that really the only time I reach out to you?'
'Feels that way. But, you've been getting better.'
'I'm trying. I want to do the right thing. I just need to understand what that is.'
'You already know.'
'Heal, take the time, no big decisions or changes. How do you do that Liv?'
'It's the same thing I had to do.'
'When I left you?'
'yeah' Liv started to type more but stopped she wasn't doing this over text. This was not how they were going to have this conversation. Quickly she deleted everything after yeah and his send.
Elliot watched those three dots for a full minute wondering what all she was about to say and then all he got was yeah. There was something she wasn't telling him. He'd known that for a while, but what it was was a mystery and he didn't like mysteries, those needed to be solved. But this was Liv, and she'd tell him in her own time, when she was ready. She told him everything. She always had.
'You'll tell me sometime right?' He typed
Liv looked down at the screen and was surprised to see that it was wet. She carefully wiped the teardrop away and then wiped any remaining tears from her cheeks. Even a decade later and over text they were still connected in that way that they couldn't explain, and like always picking up his train of thought where he had left it off she typed back.
'I always have. I always will.'
'Thanks Liv.' Olivia Benson didn't see the last message from her former partner because she had drifted off to sleep comforted by the knowledge that they were still connected and he wanted to know all the details he missed.