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Olivia didn’t try to hide the fact that she was hurt by Elliot leaving her all those years ago.
But she also didn’t come right out and express it.
She knew it wasn’t her place and it wasn’t the time and she knew that the best thing for her was to just keep on trekking along.
Eventually, she figured, she would move on and forget and it would all be a distant memory.
At least, that’s what she had told herself.
But then he had shown up in a halo of smoke and rain and fire and everything had changed.
All the thoughts that she had just started to bury under the surface had come back.
Everything that she had worked so hard to hide from was suddenly slapping her in the face.
And it had taken everything in her not to just fall to pieces right then and there.
Because the truth was, she was terrified.
She was terrified at what had just happened to his wife.
She was terrified of seeing him again for the first time.
She was terrified that speaking to him again would just open up every wound she had worked so hard to heal.
Because his loss had hit her hard, and whether she wanted to admit it or not, she still wasn’t over it.
And she still wasn’t over it when he buried Kathy, or when he arrested Wheatley, or when she sat beside him at the trial and watched the man go down like a sinking ship.
And she still hadn’t been over it when he had shown up at her apartment door, all soft and angsty and just the right amount of broken.
“Hi.” Her whispered greeting shocked her, but she watched as he smiled in return, his arm above his head and against the door frame as he leaned toward her a little.
“Hi.” It was almost as if nothing had changed.
As if it was suddenly 2011 again and he was showing up at her door after a shift.
Except, everything had changed.
They had changed, their jobs had changed, their situations.
Everything was different now.
But maybe that was for the best.
“Wanna come in?” She gestured behind her, taking in just exactly how quiet the apartment was without Noah.
“I’d love to.” And then his arm was dropping down and he was offering her a look that she couldn’t remember ever seeing from him before.
Maybe it was contentment.
Maybe it was peace.
She wasn’t sure, but whatever it was, it looked good on him.
“You look good.” The words came out of her mouth before she could stop herself and she turned away from him quickly, embarrassment setting in as she realized how it must have sounded to him.
“So do you.” There was a flirtatious hint to his words and she swallowed.
“Why are you here?” Turning back toward him she let her eyes wander over his face, watching as he carefully moved toward her.
“I wanna try something.” And then his hands were on her face and his lips were against hers and her whole body went haywire.
Sure she had imagined kissing Elliot, but it never felt this damn good.
But just as quickly as the kiss had started, it stopped, and she let out a sigh at the loss.
Words escaped her as she tried to figure out how to respond, so she simply smiled up at him before leaning in and kissing him again.
Things had been hard for her with him being gone, sure.
But there was something to be said about finding things that had once been lost.
And truth was, sometimes things were better after time spent apart.