Their next call was much lighter. Olivia decided to keep the conversation away from the weight of their last discussion, avoiding any mention of the strained emotions from their previous call. Instead, she focused on his voice, listening intently to his anecdotes about his partner on the job. He wouldn't give much details about the man, but the few stories she heard so far painted a pretty clear picture of him.

"All the witnesses could talk about was how much they wanted to touch his long blond hair," Elliot recounted, sharing an amusing story from this past week.

"He has long blond hair?" she inquired playfully.

"...yes," he answered after a thought.

"How long?" she teased, knowing it made him uncomfortable but enjoying the playful banter.

"Olivia…"

"What?" she asked, not-so innocently.

"I don't know, long…" he answered quickly, trying to evade the topic.

"I'm not trying to date him, Stabler. I just want to know how much of a hair advantage he has on you exactly," she teased.

Elliot's laughter joined hers and, for a moment, they felt the ease of these moments of lightness between them that felt like old times.

"Well…I wouldn't let you date him anyway."

"You don't decide who I date or not, Stabler." She bickered back.

He used to, indirectly, but she didn't mention it. A moment passed between them, a hopeful thought for the future.

"He doesn't like children, he wouldn't mesh well with Noah." Elliot argued.

"Hey, everyone loves Noah. Tucker wasn't great with children, but he was sweet to Noah."

"Tucker, from IAB? He knew Noah?"

"Yeah, when he was a toddler. I don't think Noah remembers him much though…" Olivia is surprised by his questions, but when she told him about Ed last Christmas she didn't specify any timeline, so she didn't think much about it.

"I didn't know he stayed around all those years." Elliot pondered. "I thought he'd climb up the ladder pretty quickly and leave field work…Did he make trouble for you because of me? Of how I left?"

"No, nothing like that." She answered quickly.

"But he was…around?"

"He was…" Olivia started to gather that maybe Elliot didn't know the full story. "I told you about him…" she reminded him.

"Tucker?"

"Yeah. Ed Tucker." She confirmed.

Silence hung between them. It took a moment for Elliot to catch up.

"Ed…Ed?!" he exclaimed.

"What?"

"The Ed you fell in love with was Tucker?" he squeaked, his surprise and slight disgust evident in his voice.

"I thought you figured it out!" she answered, a mix of discomfort and embarrassment washing over her.

"How could I?!" he said, still taken aback by the revelation.

"Well, there aren't a lot of Eds we know," she explained, feeling uneasy about how Elliot had discovered the truth.

"I didn't know, Liv! Wow... I can't believe this," he uttered, at a loss for words, trying to process the information.

Silence settled between them as Elliot needed a moment to gather his thoughts and emotions.

"El?" Olivia tried.

"I need a minute," he requested, his voice not angry but rather in shock.

Olivia chuckled nervously.

"This isn't funny, Liv. I have so many images running through my mind right now," he groaned.

"You'll live, Stabler," she teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm having doubts about that at the moment," he responded, still trying to wrap his head around the revelation.

Olivia laughed softly, but then the seriousness of the situation resurfaced.

"He changed over time and we grew close…" she explained. "He was there for me when I needed him." She paused, and Elliot listened attentively, a bit of guilt creeping up his neck. "He was sweet to Noah. He even brought us to Paris."

"Sounds romantic." Elliot commented, trying his best to be supportive despite the turmoil inside.

"It was," she replied dreamily, memories flooding her mind.

"I'm glad you had that," he said sincerely, although it killed him to think about it.

Olivia appreciated his genuine happiness for her. Elliot couldn't help but ask the burning question in his mind.

"Can I ask…I know you said you weren't ready then, but…can I ask why did it end, if you considered…" he trailed off, using her words from their Christmas conversation.

"If I considered marrying him?" she filled in the blank.

Elliot gulped loudly in response. She sighed.

"He asked me to retire with him." She shared.

Elliot's hum sounded like a disapproving grunt. Olivia smiled at his understanding of her character.

"Exactly…I couldn't leave the job and I felt he wanted me to…he would never have pressured me, I'm sure, but…" she sighed. "I pushed him away and it was over not long after that."

Silence lingered in the air, allowing her words to sink in.

"He married someone else a year later, but was diagnosed with brain cancer from the 9/11 site…" she continued.

She heard Elliot shift in his seat.

"I didn't have a great report with the guy but dying from cancer is horrible…" Elliot empathized.

"He didn't. Die from cancer I mean. He…" her voice wavered a bit. "He ate his gun before it got too bad."

She heard Elliot take a sharp inhale.

"Liv, I'm so sorry…" he said gently, offering his condolences.

Olivia wiped away a tear that had escaped her right eye.

"I just wish…I just wish he was happy before then."

"I'm sure he was..." Elliot replied, offering lame encouragement.

Olivia looked at the clock under her TV, realizing that their call would soon end.

"I'm sorry you didn't know about him, and I... I really thought you did when I answered your question at the hospital last Christmas," she admitted, feeling remorseful.

"It's okay. I know now. I'm sorry it put you in this situation tonight. Talking about this must be difficult, and I don't want to leave you sad..." Elliot said, his voice full of concern.

She managed a smile through her emotions.

"It's okay, grief comes in ups and downs," she said, and then realized the double meaning of her words.

"That's true..." he acknowledged, sensing the time constraints of their call.

A moment passed, as they both yearned for more time. They were both struggling to find the right words to end the call. Elliot resisted the urge to tell her he missed her, sensing that it wasn't the right night to do so. But he couldn't find anything else to say to end the call.

"Liv…" he started but stopped, not knowing how to convey everything he wanted to say.

Time was ticking away, and Olivia sensed that he wanted to say more but refrained from it. So she decided to take the lead and finish the call in her usual way.

"Be safe, partner," she said softly, her voice filled with warmth and concern.

And with that, the call disconnected, leaving them both in a moment of bittersweet longing. Olivia still felt like they were progressing towards something, with more open and intimate conversations. She put her phone away. Until next time, she thought.