A little early as promised. More on Tuesday.

...

7. Honest

While Elliot had been telling her about his dreams and his urge to find someone, Olivia had felt like someone was squeezing her throat shut. She had to make an effort to keep breathing. He was right. She knew where he used to go when he got into a fight with his wife or one of his kids, or when a case was bothering him, or when he just didn't want to go home.

He'd go to her ...

But at the time, they hadn't spoken in five months. He'd retired and hadn't answered any of her calls. She'd gone to his home several times, but each time Kathy would tell her that Elliot wasn't there, or he was sleeping, or he didn't want to talk to anyone from work. She was trying to wrap her brain around all the new information she would have to add to those phone calls and encounters with Kathy to interpret them correctly now.

At first, the woman would have wanted her to stay away because he was done with the job and needed to deal with all that had happened. She would have wanted to protect him. She could even imagine Elliot telling her he didn't want to talk to his partner. But Olivia knew there was more to it, and the fact that Kathy had kept all of them out of the loop after Elliot lost his memory, only confirmed that belief. She had wanted to keep her away from her husband because she felt threatened by her. Even Elliot's mother had once told her, she scared the pants off of Kathy. Olivia had tried to brush it off like she always did, but she knew there was some truth to it. And she'd even believed at times that Kathy had reason to worry, even though she had been afraid to believe it.

Elliot was watching her and she realized that he was still waiting for an answer. She would have to make a decision. Was she going to be completely honest with him, or keep dancing around the truth like they had always done? If there was any chance that his memory might come back, it would have to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth, she decided.

"To me."

She'd spoken softly, almost whispering and didn't meet his eyes.

"What?" Elliot asked, and she could feel his eyes on her.

"You would have come to me."

Her chin was trembling and she scrubbed her hands down her face to regain some sense of control over herself. If he'd really planned to go to her that night, it meant so much that she could hardly process it. After five long months, he would have stood on her doorstep. Shivers ran up her spine and she wrapped her arms around herself.

"That's what I thought," Elliot said pensively and her eyes flicked back up to his.

"Really?"

She hated how insecure she sounded. Elliot nodded slowly and then rested his head against the mattress behind him, still looking at her.

"I can see how much I affect you, Olivia. Even if we weren't lovers, and I guess I'll have to take your word for it, we were more than just partners. Why else would you be so shaken up? And why else would you be the only one I seem to remember on some level? When I think about it, that fight with Kathy was probably about you. Which would explain why she wouldn't tell me about it."

His words pierced her like stabs of a knife. He was being brutally honest with no filter at all, and it was almost too much to handle. And at the same time, it was liberating. They were bringing things out in the open that they had tried to hide for years. Maybe now was the time. He didn't remember the strained boundaries that they had maintained between them and wasn't limited by them anymore. So why should she still be limited by them?

"Olivia?"

She looked at him and saw concern in his eyes. Could he be wondering if he'd gone too far? Been too honest? Was he still that attuned to her?

"I ... what do you want me to say?" she stammered, still trying to grasp what was happening.

"So you think you were the one I've been looking for all these years?"

She wasn't going to answer that question. It wasn't for her to answer. She took a deep breath, trying to keep herself from shaking and asked him,

"Do you think I'm the one you were looking for?"

Before Elliot could answer her, there was a soft knock on the door just before it opened.

"Look who's here," she heard Lucy's voice say softly, and then she heard the one voice that could light up the deepest darkness in her life.

"Mommy!"

She stood up quickly and turned around, bending slightly with her arms wide open when Lucy let go of Noah, who ran towards her immediately. Olivia scooped him up in her arms and held him close to her, pressing her cheek against his.

"Mommy missed you so much Noah. I'm so happy to see you," she sighed in her baby's neck, and it warmed her from the inside out to feel him hug her tightly too.

Lucy approached her cautiously and put a hand on her shoulder.

"How are you doing?" the nanny asked.

"I'm okay Lucy, just a few bruises, really."

She'd forgotten about her sprained wrist and ignored the pain while she held her son close.

"Unlike my victim," Olivia added, turning around to face Elliot again. "Lucy, I'd like you to meet Elliot. I ran him off the road last night."

Lucy looked at him a little shocked and Elliot waved at her, smiling reassuringly.

"I'll live. Hi Lucy."

"Hi."

"Hi there," Elliot said, looking at the boy in Olivia's arms, and she stepped closer to him so Noah could see Elliot and vice versa.

"Hey Noah, can you say hi to mommy's friend?" she asked her son gently.

Noah looked at the man in the hospital bed and surprised all of them when he pointed at Elliot and said triumphantly,

"Picture!"

...

A/N That's enough for today ... What could Noah mean? You have one guess.