A little later than I had planned, but here is the next chapter.

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24. Headache

"I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you, Elliot, but yes. You were a very angry person at the time."

Elliot heaved a sigh at Munch's words.

"I've been frustrated a lot over the past four years and I felt this ... something bubbling beneath the surface. I've learned to accept that life is what it is, but I think I've always known that I wasn't that way before."

Elliot looked up at Olivia again.

"And you put up with me for over twelve years?"

Olivia gave him a half smile and shrugged. She would have put up with him for another twelve years.

"I was your partner."

"For better or worse?"

The words struck her and she remembered when Elliot had said them to her years ago, about a year after becoming her partner. I'm your partner, for better or worse. And he had been, just like she had stood by him at all times. Munch must have noticed that Olivia was at a loss for words for the moment, and chimed in again.

"You'd take a bullet for each other, Elliot. It doesn't surprise me that Olivia is the one to open the door to your lost memories. In fact, she deserves to be the one."

Olivia looked at Much, blinking to keep a few tears at bay and he gave her an encouraging nod.

"But why was I so angry with you then? In my dream?" Elliot asked.

Olivia took a deep breath. She knew they'd talked about it afterwards, but in that moment, when Elliot had blown up at her in the hallway of the station, he hadn't been rational. He had basically blamed her for not doing her job, and for making him run to her in stead of the boy they were trying to save. He had later admitted that she hadn't made him do anything, and it had been his choice to choose her over the job, like she had chosen him later on at the warehouse. They had both known in that instant, that they loved each other too much. And they had ran from it. She had ran physically, while Elliot had distanced himself from her emotionally, eventually ending up getting his estranged wife pregnant again and moving back home.

"It's difficult to explain El. We ... we just lashed out at each other when something was bothering us. We talked about it later so it's alright."

"No," Elliot said firmly, shaking his head. He seemed almost annoyed at how she tried to dismiss the argument. "It's not alright. And I don't think there was something trivial bothering me. The intensity of my rage was ... it was more than just anger and it wasn't just directed at you."

Elliot put a hand to his forehead and Munch glanced at Olivia before asking him,

"Are you feeling alright Elliot? Do you need something to drink?"

Elliot's face scrunched up for a second as if he was in pain.

"Headache," he choked out and Olivia rounded the bed quickly to feel his forehead.

His fever had gone down overnight but it wasn't gone completely yet. But he wasn't burning up. In fact, his forehead felt cold and clammy and his face was turning white as a sheet. Olivia looked at Munch, who nodded and stood up to get someone to check on Elliot. Elliot groaned and his eyes were squeezed shut. Olivia wondered if he was having an acute migraine attack. She knew that would be completely debilitating. She rubbed his back while Elliot held his head with both hands, rocking back and forth slightly.

"Breathe El," she encouraged him, "Munch is getting the doctor."

Her hand touched the bare skin of his back and she tried to cover up his back with the gown. But exposing his back was the least of Elliot's worries right now. Olivia finally decided to sit down on the egde of the bed on Elliot's right side, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Elliot leaned heavily on her, his left hand still clutching his forehead and his right hand holding on to her shoulder. His breaths were hitting her shoulder in short puffs and she worried that he might start hyperventilating from the pain.

When Munch returned with the doctor, Olivia tried to disentangle herself from Elliot. It took some effort to pry him off her and his eyes rolled back in their sockets when Elliot finally slumped back against the pillows. The doctor asked him what he was feeling exactly and all Elliot could choke out was 'headache'. Munch had walked over to Olivia and put an arm around her shoulders. She was trembling and couldn't bear to see Elliot in so much pain. She looked up at her old friend, who squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.

"What happened right before he got the headache?" the doctor asked them.

"He was telling us about a vivid memory," Munch explained quickly. "Maybe his brain is trying to shut the memory out because it was too intense."

The doctor checked Elliot's pupils and pulse again.

"Possibly," he answered. "Or the opposite could be happening and his brain can't process the memories all at once."

Olivia blew out a breath slowly. Could this really be? He was remembering bits and pieces of one of the most intense periods of their partnership. Could they really be forcing the door open to more memories? Or even all of them?

"Mr. Stabler," the doctor said, speaking clearly to try and get Elliot's attention. "I'm going to have the nurse switch the bag of your IV. You will receive a different kind of painkiller to combat your headache. It will take a while before you'll feel the effects but it's the best I can do right now."

Elliot grunted something and the doctor took off to get the nurse and give her instructions. Olivia took Elliot's hand in hers and rubbed the back of his hand gently.

"You'll be okay," she said softly. "You'll be fine El. You'll be fine."

Munch patted her back and then moved closer to the bed to lean over Elliot.

"Hang in there, my friend," he said gently. "We'll help you every step of the way."

Elliot's eyes were closed and he was frowning, no doubt because of the pain, but he squeezed Olivia's hand and opened his eyes briefly to look up at Munch.

"Thank you," he said softly.

His eyes closed again, and when the nurse came in, the Sergeant and the Lieutenant moved away from the bed to let her work. Olivia took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. They were still being flung from one intense emotion to the other. From their very first kiss to this extreme pain within half an hour. But she could do this. She had to, for Elliot. She was grateful John Munch was there and she knew she could count on Fin and Cragen as well.

Elliot needed their old team now more than ever. And so did she.

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