Work Text:
Tuesday
“I have an idea but I want you to hear me out first.”
Olivia knows exactly how her sentence sounds- via FaceTime, she watches Elliot raise an eyebrow that shifts into an amused smirk. He can still read her in record time- her instincts, her worries, and by his playful smirk, her nerves.
She's sitting on the couch in her office, during a lull in her schedule, trying her hardest to not twist a lock of hair during the call.
Like a middle school girl talking to a boyfriend, crush- whatever.
“Hit me with it,” Elliot replies. He's leaning back in his office chair at OCCB, bouncing every minute or so. He's also donning another three piece navy blue suit that fits him better than it should and his face is finally clean shaven.
I'm being ridiculous , Olivia thinks before she straightens up in her chair. “I had a session with my therapist and I mentioned, “ she pauses as the next words still cause her heart to flutter, “our relationship.”
Elliot nods slowly and playfully asks, “Relationship?”
God , she could hit him if she could. Olivia chuckles and rolls her eyes. “That we're together.”
“Yes, we are,” Elliot says. He rises from his chair and walks across the bullpen to a conference door that he opens. He walks over to the conference table and rests against it. “And what did she say?”
“Well, nothing much other than I seem lighter since I saw her a month ago.” Olivia glances over to the bullpen through the window and notices Fin sliding off his jacket at his desk. I'm running low on time.
“I told her that I worry about… things, such as time for each other-”
“We've both been slammed with cases,” Elliot finishes. “It's been nearly a month and I haven't been able to take you out on that date. “
‘That date’ - a dinner at Tagiano's Dinner in Bronx- had been rescheduled twice, once on her behalf due to a rape at Hudson and the other on his, due to cartel of interest taking in a shipment.
Olivia rubs her chest, right where her compass once lay. Her therapist had clocked her the moment she had admitted the date cancellations.
“I don't want our jobs to be a detriment,” Olivia admits. “She gave me some ideas and one of them is to practice communicating every day, in any way shape or form. Even if it's as simple as a text.”
He furrows his brow. “No hashtags or LOLs though, right?”
Fin raps his knuckles against the window, jolting her out of her train of thought. “No, Grandpa,” she teases as she rises to her feet. “Nothing like that. Just something simple that-”
“Wait-” Elliot holds up a finger and looks at something behind him. He's quiet for a few seconds before he turns back and grins ear- to- ear.
“What's that look for?”
“What look?” Elliot replies with a shrug. “I'll talk to you tomorrow, Liv.”
As he ends the call, Olivia shakes her head in disbelief. What does that mean?
—--
Wednesday
Olivia sends a quick text message the next afternoon in between back -to-back interrogations.
She’s halfway down the hallway with Velesco trailing her when the phone conversation pops into her mind. Most of her morning had been spent coming up with the perfect yet casual message.
I need to stop obsessing over this and send the damn thing, Olivia thinks with a huff. She waves him off and walks towards Interrogation room, walks in and shuts it behind her.
Hi. Hope everything is ok - Olivia types and clicks send.
Forty minutes later, Olivia’s sitting in the bullpen, watching ideas volley between Curry and Fin when her phone vibrates, announcing a message from Elliot. Without a second thought, she swipes the message open.
What she doesn’t expect is an image of a graffiti mural on the wall of an underpass of a brown haired woman smiling at the sky. The woman's hair is decorated with nearly a dozen flowers, ranging from lilies to daisies to roses. She's amazed at the detail and colors.
Saw this while on the way to work. Reminded me of you- comes a few seconds later as a followup text.
It's stunning, Elliot. Thank you.
Never got into any kind of arts while overseas. But the art piece is stunning, Liv. Like you.
His last text leaves her needing to leave the bullpen and step into her office. As soon as she's in her office, Olivia rests her head back against the door and lets out a soft laugh.
I wonder if Fin saw me blush.
Thursday
After an extensive Yelp search, Olivia drives to Zibretto Coffee Bar to buy as authentic as possible Italian coffee.
She sits at a bench and watches morning patrons order a variety of coffees before a young dark haired woman brings a piccolo latte to her seat.
With a well done leaf designed in the foam.
Olivia takes a quick photo before sending it to Elliot with a caption- Spent an hour looking up some of the best Italian coffees in New York.
His response comes three hours later. There's a little shop in Trastevere that I'd love to take you to. I walked in once and couldn't go again as it was so perfectly you.
After a long beat, Olivia texts a followup message- Italy is you and Kathy's place. We'd need our own place. Somewhere warm and with wine.
He responds immediately- Greece or Spain?
Elliot texts her around dinnertime.
He sends another selfie, this one of himself in his office chair in a black tuxedo vest and dress pants over a blue button down. He's giving a goofy grin and it takes Olivia an extra few minutes to recognize Jet rolling her eyes in the background of the picture.
She lets out a snort as she rests the phone on her kitchen island and presses his icon to dial. Elliot answers with a soft curse under his breath and a, “Sorry. Damm near dropped my phone. What's up?”
“Got your picture,” Olivia replies. She crosses her kitchen and pulls down a bottle of red wine from the top of her fridge. “I love the bonus eyeroll from Jet.”
“Then you missed her calling me ‘cringe' and ‘Grandpa’. I asked her if she'd say the same to you,” she hears a door shut on his end, “That shut her up.”
“Ha, ha.” Olivia takes a sip of her wine. “Noah calls me cringe at least four times a day so I'm used to it.”
“That won't go away. Maureen caught me planning the next picture for you-”
She snorts, imagining Elliot trying to explain their new relationship. “So you've been planning every picture? It isn't on a whim?”
“Most are but I also want,” Elliot replies,” to make sure that I also don't send anything too corny or inappropriate. I don't want to mess this up, Liv.”
“Neither do I.”
“So,” Elliot grabs his keys and calls out Ayanna's name in the background, “expect an equally not corny nor cringe message in the morning. I’ve got to go.”
Olivia takes another sip of her wine just as those three little words she's been afraid to say appear and sit at the tip of her tongue.
I love you.
Friday
Olivia sends a selfie with Noah at the breakfast table, the photo requiring Noah to argue over the best way to take a picture. Underneath she adds, Good morning. Noah says hello .
Elliot sends a picture of a protein shake in the cup holder of his car a few minutes later, his message being- Not as delicious as what I'm assuming to be Saturday pancakes?
In the middle of a second stack of chocolate chip pancakes, she replies- It is. My pancakes currently have the approval of a teenager.
Olivia Benson cooking. I need to see this in person- comes as she's in the middle of cleaning up. Olivia smiles softly at the message before placing her phone on the kitchen island. The temptation to give him an invite spikes briefly before her nerves take over.
I'm nervous for a simple date and yet I trust him with my son, Olivia thinks . We've never done things in the right order, did we El?
She's called into a gruesome murder-rape near Central Park, cutting into her rare Friday off.
The victim is a near spinning image from an old case, a banking executive who’d never made it home from a work mixer. The original case had been one of her first after becoming Sergeant.
Near midnight, Olivia eyes a picture taken at her ceremony promotion to Sergeant. She's hit with the familiar pang of sadness of her ex- partner's absence during the event.
Wait. Olivia takes a picture of the framed photo and sends it without any context.
Elliot responds quicker than expected with a - I will never forgive myself for missing the important parts of your life. I will spend the rest of my life trying to makeup for what I missed and listen to whatever you want to share with me.
So ask me a question instead of apologizing- Olivia texts back.
Instead of a text, Elliot calls her. His voice is pained as he asks, “Tell me everything about the day you became a Sergeant.”
Saturday
At dawn, Elliot sends a text as she's failing at getting much needed sleep. Meet me in front of the New York Public Library? I want to talk to you about something.
She chooses a sundress and her hait in a bun before driving into the city. With the city hotter than normal for mid- June, the steps of the New York Library are sparsely filled with a woman eating breakfast, two children racing up and down the stairs and Elliot.
He's standing in light blue Henley and jeans , pacing slowly between the Patience and Fortitude Lion statues. She waits until she's a few feet away before calling out, “Detective?”
“Captain,” Elliot answers, "How are you?”
“No picture today?” she calls out, stopping inches from him. She’s tempted to kiss him right then and there, a new line she hasn’t crossed.
“I realized that there's a photo that I want to go with all of our pictures. “ He points to the statues and states, “One with you and me.“
“Aha, Olivia walks over next to him and leans back against the statue. “What spurred this sudden urge for photography?”
Elliot crosses his arms and laughs. “Maureen. She went a little nuts working on a scrapbook project for her boys. She had asked me….last week if I had any photos of you. And outside of the few I had overseas, I don't have anything.”
“You took pictures of me to Italy? I honestly thought you'd wiped me from memory while you were gone,” Olivia admits. Elliot frowns before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a folded picture from his wallet.
The photo is decades old from the day a young girl waiting in the precinct had a poloroid camera. Olivia sniffles at the picture of a younger her and Elliot sitting next to each other on a couch, smiling happily at the camera.
“I took a couple overseas that I kept to myself,” Elliot explains, “I ran, Liv. I own that but I never let you go.”
Olivia closes her eyes, fighting against the tears forming in her eyes. She flinches when Elliot cups her cheek in his hand. “I care for you,” he whispers, choosing the closest words he can to I love you.
“I.. care for you too,” she whispers back. Reopening her eyes, she sighs happily before whispering, “Kiss me.”
“I can do definitely do that,” Elliot laughs before he pulls her In for a kiss.The kiss last for until they're both breathless.
They leave the steps after a few minutes, Olivia's arm linked in his as they walk towards a nearby diner for breakfast and a beautiful selfie of them both smiling over pancakes.
One of many to come.