Work Text:
She was fine until she walked away.
I agree with Bernie, Elliot. I want you to come home.
I intend to.
Before it’s too late.
Liv, I’m being careful.
I mean... before Eddie Wagner takes over and Elliot Stabler is nowhere to be found.
She wants him to come home.
Half a block away, sitting in her SUV, the heartache catches up to her.
Olivia slams her palms against the steering wheel; again, again, again until they ache. Rests her forehead on the back of her hands as her knuckles turn white with the effort of her grip, shoulders shaking as she weeps.
She wants him to come home.
Needs him to.
He’d looked into her eyes as she laid her truth bare and said nothing.
She was fine until she walked away.
He was fine until she walked away.
I agree with Bernie, Elliot. I want you to come home.
I intend to.
Before it’s too late.
Liv, I’m being careful.
I mean... before Eddie Wagner takes over and Elliot Stabler is nowhere to be found.
She wants him to come home.
Olivia is a giver, the most selfless woman he’s ever known. But she’d touched her hand to his face, and asked him to come home, and it had rendered him speechless.
He jogs half a block down the street to her SUV; sees her hunched over the steering wheel, shoulders shaking as she weeps.
She needs him to come home.
He was fine until she walked away.
“Olivia,” he calls, before tapping gently on the window. When their eyes meet through the glass, he opens the door, tugging her out onto the pavement.
“Elliot, what’s going on?”
Married, separated, vanished, grieving, undercover – he’s always been the one to leave, but it’s never spared her any heartache; only made a mess of things.
“I promise, Liv.” Elliot settles his palm against her neck, brushing his thumb across her jaw. “I’ll come home. To you. For you.”
He’ll never walk away again.