xxx
Indianapolis, IN
For the next hour, Olivia's tied up talking to the police and then the bureau.
She stays with Lanie until her family can come to get her. Lanie's injuries are minor. A few cuts and bruises as she was trying to get away from James. Although still visibly shaken up after James was pronounced dead, she relaxes when her father shows up.
Because of the damaged power pole, they're in another power outage. No word from anyone on when power would be restored.
She also found a second to update Cragen.
Aside from a briefing at the bureau office and a trip to the nearest medical clinic in the morning so a doctor can look at Elliot's knee, they are cleared to return to New York.
It's now 3:00 am.
Olivia and Elliot lie in bed in their suite, watching flashes of lightning in an anvil-shaped cloud that appears to be moving east.
It's relaxing for her. But she's also indoors, snuggled under the covers with Elliot, and after several days of chaos, there's finally time to catch her breath. It's the first moment of genuine calm that she's felt in a while.
She rests her head on his chest.
With the power off and no fan noises, the only sounds are his heartbeat, the occasional shift of the sheets when one of them moves, and some low rumbles of thunder outside.
Meanwhile, he rubs her arm or plays with the strands of her hair.
Neither of them is falling asleep, but they're exhausted.
Fortunately, the night manager found an ice pack for Elliot to use. While shifting his legs, Elliot stretches and then groans. He temporarily separates from her to reach for his knee and adjust the ice pack.
"El, you didn't have to come all the way downstairs, did you?" she fusses.
"I didn't know where the hell you were! You left to get ice and suddenly an hour went by. "
"But eight flights of stairs in a power outage…?"
"Stop complaining. You would have done the same."
He's right, of course.
Elliot lies back down and tries to get comfortable. Her thoughts drift to the topic of 'them' and what happens next. "So… How's this going to work?"
"What do you mean?"
"The job? Us?"
"Why do we have to worry about it?" he turns his head slightly and kisses her on the head.
"Cragen's going to figure it out. Although Munch and Fin will probably catch on first."
"Liv, they've been speculating about us for years. The whole damn department has."
"But there's never been anything to worry about until you divorced Kathy a year ago."
"We've been fighting for weeks. Cragen threatened to split us up."
"In my last phone call to Cragen, I said we were doing fine. But that's in the hope we could patch things up and continue the partnership. I still like working with you."
"Same here."
"So?"
"We say nothing."
"That's your solution?"
"We keep it out of work. We leave separately most of the time. No one has to know." He pauses to adjust the ice bag once more, then lies back down.
"And what if we're put in a sticky situation on the job?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. But I think we can handle it."
"They'll find out eventually."
"Maybe, maybe not." He turns onto his side and the ice pack falls between them. Elliot ignores it, deciding to prop his arm up for support while facing her. "You plan to send me dirty texts while at work?"
She laughs. "When have I ever?"
"Well, okay then. We're not going to do anything to jeopardize this."
"They're always going to be watching us."
"They aren't…right now." She hears the smirk in his tone while he leans in and gives her a light peck on the lips. He draws back a little, then goes in again, covering her lips and deepening the kiss a moment later.
She still wants some sort of solution. She wants them to figure out something that won't jeopardize their partnership, or their jobs, or force them to break up. Preferably before they get back to New York and have to face it all.
But Elliot rolls over onto her, things heat up again and any need to bring it up is forgotten.
xxx
Manhattan, NY
2 months later
"Give it up, Marcus. There's nowhere to hide," says Fin.
Fin and Olivia had tracked the perp to an apartment building in East Harlem.
Olivia had the perp blocked in the hallway and Fin had come up the staircase. Both stand with their guns drawn.
Marcus still wishes for a solution. A sudden fire alarm, diversion, anything.
He looks at the lady cop, who interrogated him a couple days ago and would have tied a knot in him if there were no witnesses, then holds his hands up to surrender.
"Marcus Beemer, you're under arrest…" Olivia grabs her cuffs and secures their perp while reading Miranda rights.
Moments later, they exit the apartment building in the middle of a heavy downpour. Thunderstorms currently blanket the tri-state area. There were tornado watches in north Jersey counties and eastern Pennsylvania earlier that afternoon.
Olivia's escorting Marcus. She puts him into the backseat of an officer's sedan, who drives him to central booking. She and Fin finish speaking to the building superintendent, and get back into their sedan, both breathing a sigh of relief.
Marcus Beemer, who had physically abused his stepkids for years and stayed under the radar from the police, was finally going to prison.
Olivia's hair is dripping wet. Both Olivia and Fin use the inside of their jackets or a sleeve to wipe the rainwater from their eyes.
"Man, I hate this weather," Fin huffs. From the driver's side, he peers through the windshield and then tries to wipe off the condensation inside the window with his sleeve because the defog isn't doing a fast enough job. "Can't see to drive out here."
A rumble of thunder sounds and Olivia smiles.
Fin looks at her. "Still can't believe you and Elliot made it through those tornadoes a couple of months ago. You're not still freaked out over that, are you?"
She shrugs. "They were intense, but…also kind of interesting. I've never seen anything like it before. It's nothing like in the movies. In real life, it's not comparable."
"Exactly. It's insane!"
"Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be in the middle of them. But I can see why people find them fascinating. And even why some choose to chase them."
"Not for me," he shakes his head.
"I guess you kind of had to be there. I—" She's thinking about the night she and Elliot were watching the storm from the hotel room window, but none of that seems safe to share.
She shakes her head. "Let's get back and dry off."
"Sounds good to me." Fin starts the sedan and they leave. About a block later, he turns and looks over at her. "It's been fun working with you on this case, Liv. A break from listening to Munch and his conspiracy theories."
Olivia chuckles. "Munch is probably missing you, though."
"I'm just glad he got roped into testifying in that McCarthy case instead of me. Can't believe he sat through that trial and the verdict. It's been four days!"
A taxi cab cuts him off and Fin rolls his eyes. Rather than think about the traffic between here and the 1-6, which is still a mess due to the weather and the start of rush hour, he looks over at her again. "I guess Elliot's enjoying his week off." Fin adds.
Work has been busy since they got back. Fortunately, the partnership is doing great. Cragen doesn't seem concerned, or at least he's not constantly asking her how Elliot's doing and whether or not she wants to switch partners.
"Yeah. Elliot's spending time with his kids. He's worried that he's too boring for them," Olivia smirks.
"Teenagers." Fin chuckles. "So, you're off for a week starting tomorrow. Any plans?"
"Total R&R."
She and Elliot are taking 'use-or-lose' vacation days as mandated by Cragen. Oddly, their vacation schedules happen to overlap by a few days. Elliot's off this week and goes back on Monday. She's off starting Wednesday, which is tomorrow, through Tuesday of next week. It gives them 3 days and the weekend together.
They agreed on a trip upstate where they could enjoy being a couple instead of only getting to spend their 'couple time' in each other's spaces.
xxx
Around 6:00 that night, Olivia arrives at her apartment. The heavy rain had finally moved out of the area. There's still dampness in the air outside.
She changed clothes at work and carried them home to finish drying.
Elliot texted earlier that he was going to her apartment with dinner. They plan to leave in the morning for their trip.
He arrives a couple of minutes before her, sets the pizza on the counter, and pulls two beers out of the refrigerator just before he sees Olivia enter.
He sets the beers down and wanders over to greet her. "Hi."
"Hey."
They immediately hug and a few kisses.
Things still feel very new. They've managed to stay in that giddy, silly, honeymoon stage of the relationship and she couldn't be happier.
They lean back just a little so they can see each other's eyes. It's been a long, exhausting day. Emotionally stressful after the Beemer case. Leaning against Elliot and settling in his arms feels incredibly good right now.
Now they can relax and be together for a few days. No work. No job stress. Just her and Elliot.
She's been looking forward to this.
"Thanks for picking up dinner."
After another couple of kisses, they drop their arms and step back.
"Sure. You and Fin get Beemer in lock-up?" Elliot returns to the kitchen for their beers. He twists the cap off and hands one to her, before opening his own and chugging some of it down.
"Finally. We found out where he was hiding out and surprised him."
"Not a bad way to wrap up your final day before vacation."
"Exactly," she takes a sip of the beer, sets it down, and then heads into the bathroom to hang up her clothes so they'll continue drying.
Stepping into her bedroom next, she decides to change into something soft and comfortable. She retrieves a pair of cotton pants, a tank top, and her hoodie. After pulling her hair up into a loose ponytail, she returns to the kitchen.
Elliot stands at the counter. Arms folded. There's a not-so-subtle grin on his face.
She reaches for her beer again and drinks some of it down. Studying him for a second, she says, "Alright, what's going on?"
"You know how we were going to go upstate for our vacation?"
"Yeah?"
"What if we did something else?"
"Like what?"
"I got a call from Matt… You remember, Matt, the storm chaser?"
She nods.
"Two months ago, I gave him my number and told him to keep me posted if anything interesting comes along. He says they're expecting storms in the Texas panhandle. We can ride along. Chip in for gas. They're talking about an outbreak of tornadoes on Thursday and Friday. We fly out to Lubbock tomorrow. Matt will pick us up at the airport."
Olivia takes another sip of beer and ponders it. "You want us to spend our alone time with some storm chasers?"
"Just two days. I'm kinda interested. If it sucks, I'll make it up to you. Promise. We'll get back on Saturday or Sunday. What do you say?"
xxx