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~o~
The night was surprisingly warm for November, but Detective Dani Beck was chilled to the bone. She had just shot someone. Killed someone. Never mind that it was justified. Never mind that if she hadn’t killed him, he would surely have killed her. None of that mattered. She’d killed someone. For the first time.
Life had been so much simpler back in Warrants. Grab the perp, bring him in, book him and then move on. SVU was proving to be a challenge she just wasn’t sure she was up for. She couldn’t remain detached from the victims, no matter how much she tried. She cared. Probably more than any cop had a right to, but she cared, and she simply couldn’t turn that off.
And then there was tonight. John Victor Bodine was the worst kind of scum. He preyed on those too weak to defend themselves. Dani knew in her head that she’d done the right thing, the only thing she could. But that didn’t change the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. It didn’t change the fact that, for the first time in her life, she’d killed another human being. Nothing could change that.
She wandered back to the railing as these thoughts spiraled through her head, not really seeing where she was going, but somehow finding herself right back where she’d started: standing at the railing beside her partner, looking out into the inky blackness of the New York City night.
Detective Elliot Stabler hadn’t moved, just watched as his partner fought with her demons and tried to come out on top. He knew without having to ask that it was the first time she’d ever killed anyone. He’d seen the same reaction many times, had even felt the same way himself once. And he knew there really wasn’t anything he could say or do to make it right. That didn’t stop him from wanting to try.
“Hang in there, Dani,” he spoke quietly, wanting to reassure her that he understood and that he would be there to help her if she wanted him to.
Dani flinched slightly. “I’ll bet Olivia never reacted this way,” she muttered, pushing him away with her words.
Elliot sighed and dropped his chin to his chest. That was the second time today she had compared herself to his old partner and felt inadequate. He didn’t keep Detective Olivia Benson on a pedestal, but he knew that others talked about her, and it was inevitable that Dani would find herself being compared to the other woman.
“You’re right, Olivia didn’t react this way. But she was no less devastated.”
“She came by, you know,” she offered as though Elliot hadn’t just spoken.
Elliot’s head shot up and his eyes drilled into Dani’s profile. “When?”
Dani dropped her head slightly, hearing the eagerness in her partner’s tone, wishing it wasn’t there. “Yesterday, while you were in interrogation.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked for you, and when I told her you were with a suspect, she went to see the Captain instead.”
Elliot’s brow knit together in confusion. His gaze wandered from Dani’s face to the parking area now filling rapidly with police and emergency vehicles. Olivia had stopped by and hadn’t waited around to see him. Or left him a note. Or called him to tell him she was back. What was going on with her? Were things still that bad between them?
Spotting Captain Don Cragen across the parking area, just stepping out of his car, Elliot set off across the pavement, sparing one last glance at his partner, still lost in her own pain.
“What happened here?” Cragen called out when he spotted Elliot approaching.
“Bodine ran when we tried to arrest him. He had Belinda with him. Tried to push her off a railing in that warehouse. He managed to make it to his car. Dani went after him while I helped the girl. She shot him when he tried to drive away.”
Cragen nodded. “She in any condition to talk?”
Elliot glanced behind him to find Dani still standing by the railing, staring out into the darkness.
“She’s in shock,” he stated. “First time.”
Again, Cragen nodded, this time in understanding, his gaze following Elliot’s to the railing.
“Cap, why didn’t you tell me Liv stopped by?” Elliot blurted out.
The Captain’s eyes returned to Elliot’s, finding hurt and confusion hovering there.
“She asked me not to. Said she’d talk to you later.”
Elliot dropped his head and then raised his eyes back to lock with Cragen’s. He didn’t need to ask the question, Don Cragen could see it fairly shouting from the younger man’s gaze.
“I don’t know why she didn’t want to see you,” he confessed. He looked down himself, collecting his thoughts, deciding how much he wanted to tell Elliot. Opting for the whole truth, he forged on, meeting Elliot’s eyes once more. “She seemed lost. Like she wasn’t sure of her place anymore. Said she wasn’t ready to come back yet. I know she saw Detective Beck—and you—in the bullpen.”
Elliot shuffled his feet a little, glanced away, lost in the pain of those simple words. She’d seen him with his new partner and thought he’d replaced her. Not the unit. Him.
“Go talk to her, Elliot,” Cragen continued, breaking into Elliot’s thoughts. “Go bring her home.”
Elliot glanced back at Dani to find her still keeping her silent vigil at the railing. He wasn’t sure he should leave her. She needed someone right now, and it might not be him she needed, but he could still be there for her just the same.
“I’ll finish up here,” Cragen spoke gently into the silence, sensing Elliot’s uncertainty. “Go.”
Elliot looked back at his Captain, finding only compassion reflected in his eyes. Nodding once, he looked back at the woman he couldn’t help anymore and then turned and strode away, towards the one woman he wanted to help more than anything.
~o~
Olivia Benson sat on her couch with her legs curled under her, a book in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. Soft jazz floated through the room, filling the silence, and warming the cold, dark corners of her soul. In truth, she wasn’t really paying attention to what she was reading. It wasn’t that the book wasn’t interesting, it was that her mind was still in a whirl.
She’d thought coming back would be easy, but there was nothing easy about reclaiming a life most people thought she’d willingly walked away from. She hadn’t counted on being replaced, and that stung more than she would admit. Seeing Elliot and his new partner, sitting at her desk, sharing a moment together, it had all seemed wrong. That was supposed to be her place, helping her partner sort out the details of an interrogation, decide on the next move. Instead she’d found herself on the outside looking in. It was a feeling she didn’t like one bit.
The knock at the door startled her from her thoughts. Only one person knocked instead of rang the doorbell, and she steeled herself as she set her book down to cross the floor. Depositing her nearly empty wine glass on the kitchen counter, she turned the knob and swung the door open.
Elliot Stabler looked up and drank in the sight of his partner. She hadn’t changed, and yet everything was different. Her face had filled out some, and her hair was longer, but her eyes were still the same penetrating shade of chocolate he remembered. The tattered jeans she wore fit her every curve, and he recognized the burgundy sweater she wore as one of her favorites. Comfort clothes, he realized.
“Elliot,” Olivia gasped. Even knowing who was on the other side of the door didn’t stop her heart from leaping a little at the sight of him. He was just as she remembered him, still dark and brooding, with a boyishness about him that belied his age. Standing in his rumpled jacket and worn jeans, his air of casual indifference practiced, he was like a coiled spring inside just waiting for a trigger. He hadn’t changed, not that she thought he would. But it surprised her that she could still sense his mood, despite their distance.
“Liv,” Elliot spoke, breaking her from her thoughts.
“Come in,” she shook herself, remembering her manners.
Elliot brushed past her and into her home, the brief contact warming him, reminding him of how much he’d missed her. Her apartment hadn’t changed while she was gone, as if he thought it might. His eyes traveled the room, taking in every detail: the couch against the window, the comfortable chairs; the dark wood and soft fabrics a reflection of the contrasts in his partner. Tough yet tender. That was Olivia.
“Would you like something?” she asked, determined to act as normal as possible.
“I’ll take a beer if you’ve got one,” Elliot said, his eyes coming to rest on her.
Olivia nodded and retreated to the kitchen to retrieve the beer. Handing it to him, she watched him move further into the room, shedding his jacket onto a chair as he went.
She shook her head as she reached across the counter to fill her own glass from the bottle of red wine she’d chosen tonight, wondering why she felt so uncomfortable right now. It’s just Elliot, she chastised herself. It didn’t help, and before she was ready, she wandered back into the living room and seated herself on a chair across from her previous perch on the couch.
Elliot stood at the windows surveying the city beyond, absently sipping at his beer. He was finding it difficult to talk to Olivia, now that he was actually here. He hadn’t planned what he was going to say. His only thought had been to get here and see her.
Bring her home. He could hear the Captain’s words in his ears as he struggled with how to do that. There was so much that needed saying, he didn’t know where to begin. Taking a deep breath, he turned to find Olivia seated in a chair, her wine glass dangling from her fingertips, studying him intently.
“You look good,” he began, feeling that was an understatement.
“I’ve only been back a few days,” she supplied, as if that meant something to him. He didn’t know where she’d been, how hard it had been to pretend to be someone or something you weren’t.
A pained expression passed over Elliot’s features. “Where were you?” he asked. His voice held no accusation, but the intensity of the question let her know he needed an answer.
“Oregon,” Olivia supplied, distaste dripping from the word.
“With Dana Lewis?”
She smiled slightly. He wasn’t stupid. He must have figured out at least some of it while she’d been gone. “Dana recruited me, but my case agent was a guy named Porter.”
“Nice guy?” Elliot wanted to know, suddenly jealous of the guy that got to see her almost every day for six weeks.
Olivia smiled again, recognizing the tone in Elliot’s voice. “He was a pain in the ass,” she informed him. “Only slightly less annoying than you,” she added with a smirk. Elliot’s ghost of a smile warmed her slightly.
The silence stretched on as neither of them knew what to say next. Olivia, figuring she needed to at least explain why she’d gone, spoke first.
“After Dana shot Haley Kerns, she asked me to stay under as Persephone James. She said it was the first time anyone in law enforcement had been able to get in with EDG,” she began. “I didn’t want to. I’m sex crimes, not eco-terror, and certainly not deep cover. I didn’t want to go.”
“So why did you?” He couldn’t keep the hurt from his voice, and at that moment, he didn’t want to. It had hurt to find out she’d taken a temporary assignment with the feds so soon after she’d returned to the SVU. It had also left him more than a little confused. Had she been trying to run again? They hadn’t really settled what went wrong between them, but he supposed that was because they had assumed they had time.
Olivia just shrugged. “Star—Dana—practically begged. It was important—not just to her, but to a lot of other people, too. I felt I owed it to Haley to finish what she’d started. And I thought I might be able to do some good, you know? Get a terrorist off the streets.”
“I thought that was the FBI’s job,” he quipped, hating himself for twisting the knife just a little bit more than was necessary.
“So did I,” she returned, fighting back. “Apparently, New York’s finest showed up the feds, and I paid the price.”
They lapsed into silence again, the only sound in the room the soft music floating out of the stereo. Elliot dropped down onto the sofa, resting his arms on his knees, rolling the bottle of beer between his hands.
“Did Cragen tell you I was back?” Olivia wanted to know.
Elliot shook his head, glanced up at Olivia. “Dani told me.”
Olivia’s mouth formed a soundless “o” before her head dropped onto the back of the chair. Dani. She knew it wasn’t rational, but she disliked the woman. She hadn’t even met her, and didn’t know what kind of cop she was, but that didn’t matter. She’d replaced Olivia, become Elliot’s partner, and that hurt in ways she wasn’t sure she understood.
“Cragen filled in the details,” he continued, seeing the hurt pass over her face.
They lapsed into silence again, neither of them sure where the conversation should go next. So much needed to be said, yet neither of them was sure where to even begin.
“It’s a little strange,” she offered into the silence, “to answer to Olivia again. To not be on pins and needles, worried I’ll say or do something that would blow my cover.”
Elliot chuckled a little at the thought of Olivia feeling off balance. That was someplace no one would ever believe she could be. She heard his mirth, and lifted her head to frown at him.
“So how’s Dani working out?” she asked, wanting to divert the conversation away from herself.
Now it was Elliot’s turn to frown. He looked up and held Olivia’s gaze. “She’s good, but she’s not you,” he stated simply, trying to soothe away the hurt he knew she felt.
Olivia gave a small smile and looked away, embarrassed by the thought that Elliot knew she needed that reassurance.
“I’m glad she’s working out.” She sipped at her wine, looking for something to do to keep the disappointment from her face.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t want you to come back,” he told her quietly, still looking intently at her.
When she wouldn’t look up at him, he rose and crossed to sit on the coffee table in front of her, causing her to look up as if startled.
“You’re my partner,” he stated matter-of-factly. “You belong at the SVU, but if you need someone to talk to, to help you reclaim your life, then do it. I can’t say it won’t be hard, but trust me, it helps.”
Olivia’s eyes narrowed as she regarded her partner. “You talked to a shrink? What happened to ‘I’d rather be tarred and feathered’?”
Elliot shrugged. “I had some—“ he paused, searching for the right words. “I had some issues I needed to work out. I talked to Rebecca Hendricks. It helped.”
The shock on Olivia’s face caused Elliot to chuckle once more. “I’m not saying you should go see a shrink. Go talk to Alex Cabot. She knows a thing or two about reclaiming a life.”
Olivia nodded her head numbly. If she’d thought life would freeze in place while she was gone, this was about as rude an awakening as she was going to get. Elliot didn’t like psychiatrists, as a general rule. He tolerated George Huang because more often than not, the doctor was right on the money and they cleared more cases with his help than without it. And he liked Rebecca because she used to carry a badge.
But his suggestion about Alex was true. After being released from the Witness Protection Program, she’d returned to New York. Not just the city, but the DA’s office and her old life. She hadn’t let anything get in the way of getting back what she’d once had. And she’d been gone for two years. Maybe Olivia needed to talk to her just to find out how not to feel like a stranger in her own home.
Elliot had certainly changed while she’d been gone, she reflected. She could see that plainly now. He was being more direct and upfront with her than he’d been in a good long time. It was refreshing, if a bit confusing.
“Need a refill?” he nodded in the direction of her now empty wine glass. “Or would you rather switch to coffee?”
His words seemed to snap her out of the fog she’d found herself in. Shaking her head, she rose, taking Elliot’s bottle from his hand. “Coffee,” she stated emphatically. “These tree-huggers don’t like to pollute their bodies. I’ll start a pot.”
Elliot laughed out loud at the idea of Olivia throwing in with people who don’t drink coffee. Somehow he couldn’t imagine her going cold-turkey.
As if reading his thoughts, Olivia called out to him from the kitchen. He rose to follow her voice, eager now for what he hoped to be a normal conversation.
“So, is Munch’s coffee still like used motor oil?”
“He says the coffee machine is old, and that if we had a new machine, we’d all be begging for more.” Elliot finished on a smile, remembering Munch trying to convince the squad that they were all coffee snobs and that his coffee really was good.
“You know, I actually missed it when I was gone,” she informed him, a sly smile hinting at her mouth.
Elliot’s face froze in a look of bewilderment, causing Olivia to laugh out loud, almost spilling the water she was pouring into her machine.
“You almost had me,” he grinned, finally catching the joke.
“You didn’t used to be so gullible,” she informed her partner.
They lapsed into silence once again, though this time it wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable.
“So,” Elliot began again. “What was it like, being under cover with these ‘tree-huggers’?”
Olivia tilted her head and considered the question. It had been an interesting experience, and she still wasn’t sure she had a handle on it.
“They’re interesting people,” she began, wanting to explain without seeming sympathetic to their cause. “They’re passionate about what they believe, which I can relate to. And they truly care. About the environment, about people. But sometimes they cross lines that normal people wouldn’t dream of approaching.”
The coffee finished percolating, and Olivia filled two mugs for them. She made her way back to her seat on the couch, curling her feet under herself as if trying to stay warm. Elliot settled at the other end of the couch and begged with his eyes for her to continue.
“The people I was with are all law-abiding citizens as far as I could tell, but there are people out there—activists—who don’t mind taking a life to make a point. I couldn’t begin to understand that. If all life is sacred, how do you justify killing someone just to further your own goals?”
“They’re desperate, Liv,” Elliot supplied. “They think no one will take them seriously, so they kill to get everyone’s attention.”
“It gets everyone’s attention, all right,” Olivia snorted. “But those few people just give the rest of the movement a bad name. Everyone assumes that, because there are a few bad apples, the whole basket must be rotten.”
“Sounds like the PD some days,” Elliot observed.
Olivia nodded her head. “And how do you change that? Once the perception has gone bad, how do you change people’s minds?”
“You change the way you do things,” Elliot supplied.
“Exactly,” Olivia responded. “But these people won’t, no matter what happens. So the police keep hounding them, and they keep on going as if nothing’s happened. Meanwhile, the real culprits get away.”
“Sounds like you’re a bit frustrated.”
Olivia blew out a breath. Frustrated might have been too mild a word. She knew the group she was with wasn’t capable of the violence they were accused of, but no one in law enforcement would believe that. They were tree-huggers. Tree-huggers kill people to further their aims. Therefore, tree-huggers are killers.
“So, how are you really?” Elliot asked gently when she didn’t respond.
Olivia smiled ruefully. She dropped her head and closed her eyes. When she looked up, Elliot’s penetrating blue-eyed gaze was leveled right at her. There was no getting away, and suddenly she didn’t want to. She wanted someone to lean on. She didn’t want this to be all her problem anymore. It had felt good to talk to someone about it, someone who didn’t try to brush it off, but who would just listen.
“Better now,” she reassured him. “I guess it helps just having someone to rant to about all this.”
“Anytime,” Elliot returned, conveying his own reassurance to her.
“I guess I understand a bit better how Haley Kerns wound up where she was when she died.” At Elliot’s questioning gaze, she continued. “She was asked by the FBI to infiltrate EDG. Then she became sympathetic to their cause.”
“Stockholm Syndrome,” Elliot observed with a nod. “But you didn’t—“
“No, I didn’t,” Olivia interrupted. “But I can see how easy it is to become sympathetic. You’re under constant pressure to behave in a certain way, say certain things. It’s hard not to internalize all that. To change from the hunter to the hunted.”
“Would you do it again?” Elliot wanted to know.
Olivia pursed her lips and knit her brow. Would she? Would she sacrifice everything just to put away a criminal? She’d done it on a daily basis at the SVU—sacrificed her freedom, her personal time, her sanity—to put away some truly awful people. Could she sacrifice her life if it came to that?
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “Part of me says that I do that every day at the SVU, so this isn’t much different.” Elliot nodded in understanding. “But under cover is so much harder. You sacrifice your life—your identity—to bring down the perp. And depending on the situation, you might just lose your life if things don’t go well.”
“I suppose the bottom line for any of us is ‘How badly do we want the bad guys off the street and how far are we willing to go to make that happen,’” Elliot supplied for her.
“Yeah,” Olivia nodded in agreement. “I know one thing for sure: I’m not going back to Oregon anytime soon.”
Elliot laughed at her emphatic statement. “Didn’t like the beautiful Pacific Northwest, huh?”
She shook her head vigorously. “Too many trees,” she stated with certainty. “I’m a city girl. It felt like I was out in the sticks.”
Her statement caused Elliot to laugh all the harder. Olivia joined him, and the laughter served to end what was left of the awkwardness still left between them.
Elliot rose and reached for Olivia’s coffee cup, still chuckling at his partner. “Need a refill?”
Olivia shook her head. “I’m good.”
Still chuckling, Elliot made for the kitchen and rinsed the two mugs before placing them on the drainboard. As he rinsed, he looked up and over the bar, seeing her rise from the couch and walk to the windows to stand and look out at the city. Her apartment wasn’t terribly high up, only on the fifth floor, but the city lights could be seen winking in the window, and the never-ending Manhattan traffic gave a low hum underneath the jazz still filling the room.
Elliot moved around the kitchen to stand on the other side of the bar, taking in the sight of his partner standing at the windows, both hands tucked in her pockets, lost to the world. She was so beautiful, and she didn’t even know it. Just walking through a room caused men to stop and stare, and Elliot had always been proud that she’d been there with him, no matter what the capacity.
But it wasn’t just her beauty that caught his attention. She had a lot of compassion for the victims. She knew when to push and when to comfort. She was tenacious—like a dog on a bone—when it came to finding a perp, to the point of sacrificing sleep and food to get the job done. Her dedication to her job and her loyalty to her friends and colleagues was unmatched.
And she had sacrificed herself yet again by putting the needs of the case before her own needs. It was no wonder she’d come back from Oregon unsure of her place. He suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to protect her, to soothe the pain the last six weeks had caused her. He crossed the room slowly, coming to stand close behind her, invading her personal space.
Sensing him behind her, she sighed. “You know what I missed most?” When she didn’t hear a response, she continued. “I missed the lights of the city. The sound of traffic. The feeling of not being alone.”
“You grew your hair while you were gone,” he observed in a quiet voice, taking a lock in his fingers to feel the silky strands. “I like it.”
Olivia tilted her head slightly, enjoying the feel of him standing so close, radiating heat into her, warming her just by being near.
“Dance with me,” he whispered, moving to stand next to her, circling her hips with his hands.
She turned in his embrace, bringing her hands up to his chest, beginning to sway to the soft music without really realizing she was doing it. She sighed, relaxing into Elliot’s arms, glad of the feel of someone else surrounding her, holding her up, supporting her. She had never felt so alone as she had in Oregon, and now suddenly she didn’t feel alone anymore.
Elliot brought his right hand up to cover hers where it lay on his chest, his left hand holding her to him, massaging slowly up and down her spine, sending thrills through them both. He leaned in close, taking in her scent, reveling in the feel of her in his arms, how perfect she fit, how right it felt. She smelled familiar, like a spring day after the rain. It was a scent he knew simply as Olivia, knew it well, and it caused his heart to skip a beat. What was happening here?
He had missed her, despite the hurt over her abrupt departure. Every time he had looked up from his desk, he had expected to see her there, and felt the stab of disappointment when the face looking back at him wasn’t hers. He’d missed everything about her—her smile, her laugh, her snarky comebacks.
But this was different. This felt—right somehow. Holding her in his arms, feeling her arms around him, her breath tickling his neck. His heart beat faster at the mere thought of having her this close to him at last.
Olivia felt his heart accelerate under her hand, sensed the subtle shift in the air. All she had thought about during her FBI assignment was getting back to New York, to the SVU, to Elliot. She had missed him more than she thought possible. And being here now, being held in his arms, felt better than she’d imagined it would. She could feel the muscles of his shoulders, his chest, through his shirt, feel the strength radiating off of him.
She lifted her head, searching Elliot’s eyes, looking for a sign that he felt what she was feeling, finding her desire reflected in his eyes.
He dropped his gaze from her eyes to her lips, then back again, wondering not for the first time what her lips might taste like. His eyes dropped once more to her mouth, and slowly, he leaned in to brush his lips over hers. When she didn’t pull away, he pressed his lips more fully to hers, reveling in their softness. Her lips parted under his, an invitation he gladly took. He swept his tongue over her lips, then into her mouth, tasting her for the first time. Her tongue met his, dueling together, giving and taking, sending sparks racing through each other.
When they finally broke apart, Elliot leaned his forehead against hers, breathing heavily, eyes still closed. He tangled his fingers into her hair as Olivia let her hands wander over his chest.
“Is this what’s been between us?” Elliot whispered, almost afraid of voicing it.
Olivia gave a small smile. Her heart was still racing, and her body was on fire, and all from a simple kiss. Simple. Nothing with Elliot was ever simple. “I think we’ve been dancing around this for a while now,” she informed him.
Elliot pulled back and met her eyes. He looked deeply, piercing her chocolate orbs clear to her soul, looking for the truth in her statement. He saw the desire in her eyes, clear, unashamed wanting. Almost of their own volition, his eyes dropped to her lips, and he pulled her to him once more. This second kiss was more passionate, if possible. Olivia’s lips parted almost immediately, and their tongues probed the soft, velvety depths of each others’ mouths, stoking the fire burning between them.
They broke apart again, and Elliot pulled Olivia into his embrace, trying to calm his erratic heartbeat. Olivia clung to him like a life preserver, unwilling to let him move away.
Elliot was the first to move, turning to lean against the arm of the sofa, pulling Olivia to stand between his legs. His heart had calmed down, but his mind was still racing. He reached up to caress her cheek, circling his other had around to caress her back, thinking back through the last few months before she left, trying to figure out when things had changed for them.
“How long…” he tried to ask the question, but wasn’t even sure how to put it.
“How long have I felt this way?” she supplied.
His head shot up and he eyed her critically. “Yeah, that.”
“Since before I left,” she confessed. “How long have you felt this way?”
He quirked a smile. “A while now,” he finally responded.
Elliot dropped his eyes, circling his other arm around her waist, absorbing this new bit of information.
When he looked up, his blue eyes were contemplative. “Is this what was wrong with us?” he asked again.
Olivia considered her words. “I think we’ve been fighting this for a long time, but I don’t know when it started,” she observed.
“I think I’ve fallen for you a little every day since we met,” Elliot confessed boldly, looking into her eyes, daring her to do the same.
“Yeah,” Olivia agreed. “I think this has been going on a lot longer than a little while.”
Elliot heaved a sigh of relief. He pulled Olivia into his embrace. He’d put himself out there on a limb, and was glad to know he wasn’t out there alone. But that left them with a problem and no clear solution.
Pulling back, he met her eyes once more. “So, what do we do about this?” he asked.
Olivia reached up and caressed his cheek with her hand. She’d known for a while now that her feelings for him ran deeper than mere friendship. But she’d refused to acknowledge them, even to herself, because doing that might make them real. Now that she had spoken it out loud, they had to deal with it.
“I don’t want to go back,” she confessed, matching his boldness with her own.
Surprise bloomed on Elliot’s face. “You sure?”
Olivia nodded. “I love you,” she stated. “I can’t turn that off, and I don’t want to anymore.”
Elliot smiled and reached up to caress her cheek, mimicking her gesture of moments ago. Pulling her face down to his, he brushed his lips over hers before deepening the kiss, circling his arms around her waist.
When he pulled back, he looked deep into her eyes, finding only love reflected there. “I love you, have loved you for quite some time. But this is going to complicate things at work.”
“I know,” Olivia assured him. “But don’t you think we’ve waited long enough? I don’t want to wait to be happy.”
“Neither do I,” Elliot smiled. He pulled her to him once more and kissed her gently on the lips. It amazed him how good it felt just to hold her.
When he pulled away, Olivia looked into Elliot’s eyes, simply enjoying the moment. She couldn’t believe that it was Elliot kissing her. She’d dreamed of this moment for what seemed like forever, and now that she was finally living it, it hardly seemed real.
“It’s getting late,” Elliot observed, his face falling a little. “I should get going.”
“Stay,” Olivia said quietly.
“Are you sure?” he asked, wanting this to be her choice. “If I stay, I won’t be sleeping on the couch.”
“I’m sure,” Olivia nodded. “I’ve waited for this for a long time, El. I’m not letting you go now.”
Elliot’s face bloomed into a full-blown smile as he pulled Olivia into his embrace, claiming her lips in a searing kiss, knowing she’d finally come home.
~Finis