Well shit. She wasn't entirely sure what to do. Meredith glanced around before slipping into the bathroom. She quietly slid the door mostly closed, leaving it slightly ajar so she could hear the muffled conversation taking place in the hallway.
"You scared the hell out of me." The woman's voice was easily discernible from where Meredith stood next to the bathroom door.
For a moment, she wondered if one of his daughters had caught wind of the investigation and its fallout, but she remembered that all of Elliot's daughters had blonde hair. While she didn't get a good look at the woman wrapped up in Stabler's embrace, she obviously wasn't blonde.
"I'm sorry. I just… It's a mess." Even in his brief moments of vulnerability with her, Meredith had never heard the man's voice so raw.
"Elliot." Her voice was so warm. Affectionate. "You should have called," she scolded, "or at the very least call me back." She didn't exactly sound angry. She sounded hurt.
"I know. I'm sorry," he repeated. "This is all just. God, I don't know. It's been such a mess."
"For this to work, Elliot, For us to work, you have to talk to me. I can't hear second-hand from some asshole at 1PP that you were crucified." Her emotion began to take over, and Meredith could hear the trembling of her voice as she spoke. "Look at this." Meredith couldn't see what was happening, but she assumed she was talking about the marks her brother left all over Stabler's body. "I don't," she groaned in frustration, and she must have tucked her head against his shoulder because her words were once again muffled. "You're my partner. I hate seeing you hurt like this, and it hurts that you didn't even think to call me."
Partner. Work partner? Life partner? Something else? The term was ambiguous and really didn't help Meredith ascertain the identity of the woman still standing just inside the door.
"Come in, Liv. Sit down. I'll explain everything, but...
As if reading his mind, she finished, "You need to sit down. Sorry, I should have thought of that."
"No, it's fine. It's mostly okay. I'm more sore than anything."
Meredith remembered the exaggerated groan he let out on the couch only minutes before. Sore was probably an understatement.
"I can imagine."
Meredith heard the footsteps move deeper into Stabler's apartment. She felt really awkward standing behind the mostly closed bathroom door. She wasn't exactly sure what she should do. She could just shower and let Stabler explain things himself, or she could come out and make her presence known. She vacillated between her two options, but clipped words from the couple's conversation caught her attention.
"It's different, and you know that." There was a sort of bitterness in her voice that betrayed the soft affection of the earlier conversation.
"I don't see how. You were hurt on the job. You could have been killed, but you didn't inform me until after the fact. Don't you think I felt helpless? Useless? Gang bangers practically gut you in the street, and you didn't even call!"
Jesus. Who are these people? She had never even fired her weapon, and these two... She shook her head and silently thanked God that she never had to work in the inner city.
"Why would I?!" Again, she didn't sound angry. She sounded incredibly hurt, and it left Meredith wondering why. As far as she could tell, Stabler was a good man—brash and impulsive, but good all the same. She couldn't imagine what he did to cause such a deep wound in this woman's heart.
Meredith chanced a quick glance out the door and found that they were no longer sitting on his couch, but standing and right up in each other's faces. The intensity sent her retreating deeper into the bathroom, but their raised voices carried, and she could still hear every word.
"You left!" Her voice cracked as her emotions got the better of her. "You left without a word. You ignored me for ten f-ing years! What makes you think I trust you to show up for me?! I'm STILL not sure you will pick up the damn phone when I call."
Well then. She must have sufficiently put him in his place because the woman was only met with silence.
The woman let out a frustrated sigh. "This was a mistake. I… I should just go." The woman's shoes clicked against the floor as she frantically fled toward the door.
Stabler snapped out of his stupor at the sound of her fleeing because he jumped into action. "No, Liv, wait. Please." Stabler didn't strike her as the sort of man who would lower his pride enough to beg, but here he was, begging this woman to stay.
Her footsteps slowed, and she heard Elliot let out another breathy plea. "Please."
Meredith heard a soft, exhausted, "Okay," in return. Her voice sounded reluctant, but the woman complied and followed Stabler back into the heart of his apartment.
The shuffling footsteps indicated they had returned to the couch, and just as he had earlier, Elliot let out an inadvertent yelp when he sat. Meredith internally winced and once again tried to suppress her rising guilt over the evidence of Elliot's injuries. She reminded herself that Eric was responsible for this man's pain. Not her. Even as she had that thought, another thought took over. You should have known.
"How bad is it really?" His partner prodded gently.
From the sound of things, the pair had once again settled on the couch.
"It could have been worse." Elliot said, not actually answering her question. "Being tasered multiple times stiffened my muscles pretty bad, so I'm pretty locked up." Elliot stretched his arms, and an inadvertent groan left his lips.
Meredith once again shoved the guilt away. She didn't do that to him, and it wasn't her fault. She wished she believed herself.
"And these?" Her once-bitter voice had completely softened.
Meredith knew Liv must be referring to his bandaged wrists. Unless he had whipped his shirt off in the last ten minutes, those would be the only visible wounds.
"Son-of-a-bitch was obsessed with crucifixion imagery."
Meredith internally winced but continued to listen to the conversation.
"Oh," she quietly exhaled. "So that means?" She must have pressed her fingers over one of the wounds, likely the abdominal stab, causing him to let out a strained grunt.
"Yeah," he coughed out. "But it's really okay. Doc whipped a few stitches in and loaded me up with antibiotics. I'm okay. Really."
Meredith could imagine the woman's look of total disbelief. She had been there when he got his stitches, and it was way worse than he was saying. He was protecting this woman by minimizing the seriousness of the situation, but the truth was that he nearly died. It was an extremely close call.
"Have you been taking antibiotics like you should?"
Meredith sat on the bathroom rug with her back against the cabinet. She was tired. She should have hidden in the bedroom Elliot offered. She wondered if it would be possible to slip in there without being noticed. Probably not. There was a clear view from the couch to the bathroom.
"I haven't today, but some stuff came up, and I... Where are you going?"
Meredith imagined Liv's eye roll. "To find your medicine cabinet." She heard the woman rummaging around his kitchen, opening and shutting random cabinets. "I'm not letting you die of sepsis because you're too much of an idiot to remember to take a simple antibiotic."
She heard him scoff. "Well thanks."
Meredith stiffened when she heard the woman's footsteps grow closer. "Did you stash them in your bathroom or the hall…"
Meredith scrambled to her feet, but before she knew what was happening, the door slid open.
"Bathroom?" The woman's eyes widened. "Seriously?" The word came out in a gut punching exhale. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes while she shook her head. She whipped around, and without saying a word to either of them, she grabbed her purse and retreated to the door.
Meredith stood frozen as Elliot followed after her. "Liv, wait!" There was a sort of desperation in his voice that bordered on heartbreak. His injuries hampered his pursuit, but it sounded like he caught her in the building's hallway.
Meredith knew she should mind her own business, but she had been working closely with this man for a couple weeks, and he never mentioned a wife, girlfriend, or whatever this woman was. She was clearly important to him, and that piqued her interest.
She remained in the apartment hallway, but in his frantic state, Elliot had left the door wide open so she could hear everything happening in the hallway.
"Liv! Wait!" He groaned in pain, and the sound effectively stopped her in her tracks. "It's not what you think."
She sighed. "Elliot, I can't do this. Even if it's not what I'm thinking, you are still choosing to trust another person, another woman, over me, and I'm done."
"It's not like that!"
"But I think it is. She probably knows all about your suspension and whatever the hell case best you to hell, but I couldn't even get you to call me back." Her voice thickened with emotion. "I'm tired of this push and pull, and I think, I think I'm done."
"Please just listen." For the millionth time this evening, he sounded completely desperate. He was a man drowning, and she was the only lifeline. Unfortunately for him, it appeared that Lifeline planned on sailing away.
"No." She said it firmly. There was a sort of finality in her voice. "Don't come after me. Don't call me." Meredith knew the woman was crying based on the ragged quality of her voice. "I, we..." she struggled to grasp the words to express how she felt. "Just… I need a minute to breathe." She tried to reassure him. "I'll call okay."
"Liv," he breathed out, but the only response was the sound of the front door clicking shut.
This isn't fair, she thought. She couldn't continue to adversely affect this man's life. All he was trying to do was help her. He was being kind, but the whole situation looked horrible, and now a woman who was clearly important to him was hurt. Meredith made a split-second decision and rushed out of the apartment. She didn't bother stopping to tell Stabler what she was doing. He would try to stop her and make her feel better about the whole damn situation. No. She was doing this.
She raced out the door and looked both ways while standing on the sidewalk. The woman was walking briskly, and Meredith caught up to her easily. With one more burst of courage, she yelled out the woman's name.
"Liv! Wait!"