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The afternoon had been unusually quiet.
Olivia leaned back in her chair, experiencing, for once, some relief that nothing majorly upsetting had happened (so far anyway, you could never know at SVU). And, she had just finished a phone call with McGrath, that had gone bizarrely well. He had been uncharacteristically accommodating at the prospect of getting her a new squad member and promoting Churlish to detective. Things were going well. She was relaxed, could even venture to say she was fairly content, happy even… when Fin appeared at her office door, looking contrite.
‘Ayanna from OCCB is trying to reach you’.
Olivia’s heart skipped a beat. Elliot had only been away on his work assignment for a couple of months, and so far, everything was going as planned, at least according to the few and far between news she’d regularly received from either Ayanna or Elliot himself, texting from a burner.
So, the idea that Ayanna suddenly needed to get hold of her sent shivers down Olivia’s spine.
‘I’m calling her back right away’, she whispered.
Fin stared at her for a minute, commiserating and smiling faintly: ‘I’m sure everything’s fine’.
It turned out that not everything was fine, but as far as Elliot was concerned, he was in the clear. Ayanna had called Olivia about a trafficking case they were investigating, and as often these days, the two departments could help each other.
Deciding her mood wasn’t going to be affected by the last-minute change of plans, Olivia ended up wrapping up her day driving to the OCCB precinct, being late again for picking up Noah, and having to rely on her very understanding nanny. Or her well-paid nanny. Olivia’s frame of mind was gradually morphing into sarcasm.
Ayanna greeted her with a smile: ‘Thanks for coming, Captain’.
And, as Olivia rounded the corner of the dark industrial hallway leading to the squad room, she spotted him.
Elliot.
Standing tall by his desk, shuffling paper and looking focused.
When he heard the footsteps, he looked up. And his demeanor changed immediately. His face brightened, and his lips turned into a soft smile. Olivia could feel Ayanna smirking by her side. ‘He just came back an hour ago’ she said, as if to justify his presence without hurting Olivia’s feelings. ‘Our man has successfully achieved his mission!’.
Olivia’s pace slowed down. She smiled. But she couldn’t let herself get too emotional. She was the captain in the room, the highest-ranking officer, and she had to maintain some sort of control. So, she cleared her throat. ‘Congratulations detective, glad to have you back’, with a slight hint of irony in her tone.
After that, it was all business. Ayanna was obviously keen to get going with the case they were working on, and not waste any time in pleasantries. Reyes explained the basics, Jet added some information. Elliot kept quiet. He was only occasionally glancing at Olivia who became very uncomfortably self-aware when he noticed she was wearing the compass.
After an hour of debating on who should do what and Olivia asserting her position as the ultimate boss, the meeting ended on a proactive note. They were to congregate again the next day, at the SVU precinct this time.
Olivia was gathering her belongings, when Elliot approached her. ‘Let me walk you out’ he whispered. No one seemed to pay attention to them. Reyes was busy in the break room washing coffee mugs, Ayanna was back in her office making phone calls, and Jet looked engrossed in her computer screen.
Elliot knew Olivia was being slightly awkward. As a captain she constantly felt the pressure to command a room and be a role model for the people below her. Her emotions were kept at bay, even during terribly harrowing events. Her personal life had to be just that, personal. However, when the personal and the professional collided, she lacked the skills to deal with her feelings. Awkwardness then took over.
They walked side by side to her car, in silence, until:
‘So how come your job was over so quickly?’ Olivia asked.
‘Doubting my abilities as a detective, aren’t you captain?’
She giggled, and as she reached her car, she quietly blurted:
‘It’s really good to have you back, Elliot’.
His face moved into a grin, his eyes narrowing.
‘It’s really good to be back’.
He allowed himself a look at the compass she was wearing.
‘Glad you’re wearing it’ pointing at it with his chin.
Olivia closed her eyes and smiled but said nothing.
Elliot had been gone for two months. Two months of pining for her after the way they’d left things between them, following the Ohio case.
Hopeful.
He was so hopeful for the future.
‘I missed you Olivia’, he whispered.
She looked at him with damp and concerned eyes. She had missed him too, enormously, but was she finally ready to move forward? She so wanted to, especially after finding it so easy to be in the same room as him. Sure, they had been working, but sharing a meal, and the time in Urgent Care had been more than professional. They had properly bonded again. And they’d had fun. And he made her laugh. And ultimately, she had told him that ‘she wanted to’, hadn’t she?
Perhaps it was the accumulation of loss, his young CI back in the summer, Whelan… his mother getting increasingly more feeble, Eli away across the country. Time was precious. He had fucked up so much already.
‘Olivia… can… can I kiss you?’. It came out as a whisper, so quiet that even Elliot wasn’t sure he heard it himself. But he had said it, because Olivia’s eyes widened, not in panic this time, but in shock that he could be so open, daring and, to be honest, so damn cute. She leaned back against her car and looked in his eyes.
‘I guess… yeah…’
Elliot let a chuckle escape him. ‘You guess?’ but he was smiling broadly.
Olivia blushed, she looked adorably uncomfortable.
‘El, I… this is… a bit weird, and new, you know, and…’
She didn’t finish her sentence and gently pressed her lips on his.
He was surprised that she initiated their first kiss, albeit a very chaste first kiss, so he stood still. When she pulled back, she was looking at the floor, as if she were ashamed. He felt it, and immediately pulled her towards him, crashing her body into his.
‘Come here, Liv’.
This time, their kiss went beyond their control, almost as if it had a life of its own. This is what twenty-five years of longing will do to you. They both parted their mouths and their tongues began a dueling each other. Elliot pushed her gently against the car, his hands on her face and in her hair. He realized after a short while that she was trembling a little. He pulled back and held her arms, noticing her watery eyes.
‘Liv, are you ok?’ he asked, concerned.
She smiled, and a few tears escaped and rolled down her cheeks.
‘Yes, it’s just a bit overwhelming, I… I never thought this would actually happen.’
‘I don’t want to put any pressure on you, Liv, if you want to wait, or…’
‘No, El, I promised I would allow myself to find happiness, I don’t want to give up on what we can have.’
She wiped her face and scoffed.
‘Gosh I sound so corny’.
Elliot pulled her back in his arms.
‘Yes, you do, but it’s very cute’.
‘Don’t call me cute’. But she was laughing.
She let go off him.
‘I should go, Noah is waiting.’
‘Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow? For the joint meeting?’
‘Yes, you will’, suddenly all glowing.
Elliot gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
‘Drive safe!’ he said with a wink.
‘See you tomorrow Elliot’, she replied as she got into her car and fastened her seatbelt.
As she drove away, he could not stop grinning.
Meanwhile inside the OCCB building, Jet looked up from her computer as Ayanna was walking past her desk.
‘Sarg, does Stabler know there are surveillance cameras in the parking lot?’