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Chapter 4
Bell was heading to Fin's place when her cellphone rang, connecting the Bluetooth, she answered.
"Hey Denise!" He ex-wife was barely amicable with her now, but Jack was a sore topic between them because of Ayanna's job and Denise resentment. "Is everything alright?"
"Ayanna, I don't know if I can take Jack to your place tomorrow. Alice wants to see her parents, so…"
"This is getting ridiculous, Denise. Jack is my son too, I need to see him." She hadn't seen her son for almost a month and Denise wanted to take him to see her new girlfriend's parents?
"I know, but I promise you that next weekend will be only yours!" Denise tried to placate her rage, but she was really tired of this shit.
"I don't believe you, I'm gonna see my lawyer to know what to do."
"Ayanna…"
"No, I can't keep talking with you. Give him a kiss, bye." She really needed a drink now. Since their divorce, Denise did that as if she was punishing Ayanna for destroying her work with Kilbride, like their marriage was nothing, like she had never loved her.
Arriving in Fin's place minutes before 7pm, she talked to the doorman and went upstairs.
"Harlem Yard, rich man." She laughed when he opened the door.
"Yeah, the best for my lady." Fin hugged Ayanna then pointed to Phoebe, who smiled and hugged her too.
"So good to see you, Ayanna! Have a seat, the Gossip Night is only beginning." Phoebe said going to fix some drinks. "Bourbon? Wine? Vodka?"
"The strongest, please. My ex is messing my time with my son and I really need something to ease the pain." Ayanna answered while sitting on the couch.
"I can give you the number of a miracle maker with these custody stuff, his name is Trevor Langan. And if you need to get out of jail, he's the man too."
"Wow, I'm gonna need him then." She tried to smile.
Serving the drinks - bourbon on the rocks - Phoebe sat with Fin and Ayanna looked at them really smiling now, they're lovely, looking like an old married couple.
"You two look happy." She said.
"We are" Phoebe kissed his cheek. "He's good to me, calm and understands my bullshit and I understand his."
"She let me call her wife inside de house, even if we didn't get married officially." Fin laughed.
"You're lucky." Phoebe pecked his lips. "But let's talk about you, Ayanna."
"Me?"
"Yeah, I heard about you and that detective…" Phoebe said suggestively.
"It was just a fling, nothing serious. But I'm good, seeing someone else, I mean…" She can't tell them now, Shar wants more, but she's not so sure about this enemies to lovers stuff. "It's recent and I think we'll keep it private for a while if it lasts and…"
"That's ok. No worries." Fin said and ran to the kitchen to check the oven.
"He's the top chef tonight." Phoebe whispered making Ayanna laugh.
"Ladies, the dinner is ready!" Fin announced proudly.
On the table, Fin started while serving the dinner: pasta, salad and a good-looking oven roasted chicken.
"Wow Fin, you're really a chef. This smells amazing." Ayanna said.
"The best for great friends." He smiled. "So, you told me I'm gonna be a rich man."
"Yeah, let me tell you that your captain and my detective can't stop texting and calling one another, even sending pictures like smitten teenagers."
"Damn, that's why she can't stop smiling while spanking her cellphone." Fin laughed hard, Phoebe pressed Ayanna for more.
"How did you find out?" Curiosity in each syllable.
"Well, I received the bill and let me tell you, a whole tree was down to make all the paper it took for me to print it all. They really couldn't stop talking."
"Holy shit, they're finally talking. But wait, he was undercover, right?" Fin asked while eating, felling really good knowing that Elliot and Olivia weren't ignoring each other.
"Yeah, but his burner was a special one, he could call anyone, and his number would never be traceable but to us. New tech, we have a guy for this AI shit now, very useful." She was really glad that nothing happened with Elliot this time. "And the man used it a lot."
"Did he tell you more about their convos?" Fin was curious, he needed more ammunition.
"He admitted that he's trying to date her!" Fin and Phoebe looked at each other and then at Ayanna again with big smiles. "First that he was trying to regain her trust and friendship, and she needed it after Ohio and when I asked if he wanted to date her, let me tell you the exact words he confessed, and I quote "There's nothing that I want more in my life."
"Oh snap!" Fin said out loud. "To be a fly on the wall to see him saying this." Looking at Phoebe that smiled, he kept talking. "These two are madly in love since ever and I thought I would die before seeing them like this."
"I need the whole story and the details, Fin. You promised you would tell me, then spill!" Ayanna said and then Fin took a sip of his wine and started.
"When I first arrived at SVU, they were already partners, I was partnered with Jonh Munch, the best crazy man who ever existed on this Earth. Elliot and Olivia looked like they were having an affair. Always glued to one another, talking with their eyes, finishing each other sentences, bending some rules to get the job done. Covering for one another and I thought they were lovers for almost a year."
"That bad?" Ayanna asked, shaking her head amused.
"You have no idea. When they were ok, we all felt the peace, but when they fought, it was like the world was ending. Captain Cragen often grounded them and me and my partner suffered. But I preferred to be partnered with Liv because Elliot was a nightmare when he was fighting with her. It was like she really guided him to be a better man, I guess." He laughed. "Don't get me wrong, he's a good guy, but she really meant so much to him that if she was angry with him he turned into this bastard with a death wish ready to explode."
"They didn't change much then." Ayanna commented in awe.
"Oh they did, because I think one of them realized they were in love for the other, or both did while working a terrible case."
"Wow!"
"But it happened after he separated from his wife and tried to keep it from Liv, as if it was easier if she thought he was still married. I think he was afraid of Liv's reaction."
"Why?" Ayanna was without words. Their story was one from the romances she never read at school.
"He wanted to keep his family, that's for sure, because the kids and he's catholic, but I think if Liv gave him some kind of real sign that she felt the same, he wouldn't be able to resist."
"So he admitted he was in love with Olivia?"
"No, but it was palpable. His marriage was obligation, I could feel it every time I saw him with Kathy. Married since they were teenagers and just because he knocked her up."
"You know, after she was murdered, I thought his raw reaction and obsession with the Wheatleys was because he was absolutely faithful and loved his wife above all things, but then I saw him with Olivia."
"But he was faithful, physically I mean. He loved Kathy, but… I think this love was different." Fin mused. Ayanna looked at him expectantly and Phoebe smiled softly, she was proud of how eloquent he was talking about love and their friends feelings. She was rooting for this romance since she asked him if the rumors about Benson and Stabler were true.
"He even tried to date other women while separated and failed miserably, tell her, Fin!" Phoebe loved this part of their romance.
"Holy shit!" Ayanna exclaimed.
"Ayanna, Elliot was afraid Olivia would reject him and this could be the end of their friendship and partnership. It was and is very important for him. So I think he tried to prove himself that he could be with other women that weren't familiar." Phoebe interjected.
"You have a point, Phoebe. But nothing worked with these other women, and nothing happened between him and Liv? That's so frustrating!" Ayanna couldn't believe this, how two people could keep this push and pull for so long?
"He was afraid he was going to lose Liv too. He has some issues, let me tell you." Fin filled his glass again.
"Oh, now I know. Mommy's and daddy's." She nodded and he filled hers too.
"Well, long story short, Liv was so jealous of him if she saw him with other women while he was separated that I think the only woman she ever tolerated near him was his wife." Fin said while refilling his wife's glass. "He was worse."
"How could you all live with them like this at SVU?"
Phoebe laughed and Fin took a long sip before answering.
"It was so fucking funny seeing them jealous of each other, him trying to shoo every man who tried to be with her and she fighting for his marriage more than himself cuz he knocked up Kathy again. I never saw people more in denial than them."
"Wait!" Ayanna's mouth went slack. "He only went back to Kathy because of his youngest?"
Fin's smile was wide.
"We're going there in a moment. But first things first. Ayanna, before he went back home we all could swear he and Liv would finally be together. Remember that case I told you about earlier?"
"Yeah."
"We all were trying to save two kids kidnapped by a monster who killed their entire family but then the perp, Gitano, using the little girl as a shield attacked Liv with a knife in a bus station full of civilians and cut her throat."
Ayanna was shocked and just looked at Fin, holding her breath.
"Elliot was almost saving the boy but he saw Liv hitting the ground and panicked. The boy was so scared that didn't move near him. Then Elliot pushed all people aside to run to Olivia, thinking she was hurt real bad and the perp took the boy." Fin said with sadness.
"And?" Ayanna asked after a beat.
"Liv was hurt but wasn't going to die. It was a close call, but she urged Elliot to let her there bleeding to go after Gitano. I reached the place before them and the motherfucker cut the boy's throat and let him to die on the ground. I'll never forget the scene. Elliot was crushed."
"I could never work SVU." Ayanna admitted, almost crying.
"Me neither." Phoebe sniffed.
"He chose Olivia that day and when she tried to comfort him, he pushed her away. It wasn't anyone's fault but the perp's, but you know Elliot." Fin sighed. "When the EMT told her that if Gitano cut her just a little inch to the side, she would have died, Elliot started to tremble. For real, that was one of the worst days ever."
"I can see how this changed them." Ayanna told them. Now she understood Elliot and Olivia a lot better.
"But it's not the end. They started to fight at the station because Elliot said some nasty shit to her, almost blaming her for what happened at the bus station and Cragen had to stop them and threatened to suspend both. After this, she went to the field while he tried to work with me and Munch. They found the place where Gitano was hiding with the girl and the shit hit the fan. Gitano took Elliot as hostage in front of Olivia and she held her gun trying to negotiate both Elliot and the girl's life. I don't know the details of the conversation they had, but I just know the perp taunted them so badly that when an officer killed Gitano, Elliot and Olivia were in tears. They found the girl, took her to the hospital and then, next day Olivia was gone and Elliot was partnered with a guy who pushed all the wrong buttons. She asked for a transfer to computer crimes and Elliot was insufferable."
"I don't even know what to say."
"She came back after a while and then went undercover with the feds. This time, Elliot was just sad, he run to her place, even slept there for a while. We all could see he was mourning her as if she would never come back. Cragen partnered him with some chick I can't remember the name and he tried once again to prove himself capable of living without his Liv love. Failed miserably again."
"I want to give both a hug. Wow!" Ayanna would never look at him the same after this night.
"When Liv came back, the chick was gone, and they fought like hell. He was angry at her because of the abandonment he felt while she was uc." He looked at Ayanna and smiled. "Yeah, the irony! And she was angry at him thinking he had moved on without her as partner. Two idiots!"
"I was waiting for the juicy shit and you give me a Greek tragedy." She said still shocked.
"That's why I'm so invested in them being together. I didn't give a shit about his marriage after their 10 years without seeing each other, I need them to have a chance, I never saw a love like theirs. Never, Ayanna! Me and Phoebe here?" He pointed to his wife, holding her hand and kissing her knuckles. "We didn't have to suffer 1% of what they had. We found each other again after years and I decided that I wouldn't let her go a second time and here we are."
"Here we are". Phoebe looked at him with eyes full of love and compassion. She felt the same and was glad he made her take the leap of faith.
"I want them to have this chance, I want to see Olivia happy, and I only saw her really happy with him by her side. She sabotaged all her relationships, and I knew that his marriage was just obligation."
"So you plotted for them to reunite hoping his marriage would end and so they could be together finally?"
"Well, when you put this way… Yes." He smiled. "I'm just a romantic old man that knows things."
"You really do!" Ayanna started to laugh. "Oh Fin, this was the best story I've ever heard. You could be the next Brontë or Austen."
"I'm ok with Tutuola." He laughed too.
"Well, Mister Tutuola" Phoebe started to get up to put away the dishes. Ayanna got up to help but she stopped her with a look and then said. "Don't forget to tell Ayanna about that old rumor that Elliot's youngster isn't his biological son."
"WHAT?" Ayanna fell to her seat, in shock.
"Calm down, it was Munch's theory, but then I saw the boy after all these years, I think it can be true."
"Fin, for God's sake, spill!"