Work Text:
As Olivia watched Amanda and Carisi cling to each other, both relieved in the aftermath of a tragedy that could have killed him, she struggled to contain her tears.
In the middle of the mayhem – ambulances and police vehicles surrounding them – she saw the love being squeezed between them, the desperate respite emanating from their bodies. In an instant, it could have been all over. Carisi may have ended up sprawled out on the bodega floor, a bullet in his heart. They’d spent years tiptoeing around each other – his grins under his mustache, her side glances from her desk. Olivia wasn’t blind. She had known long before they did. Obviously, she had experience in that department.
They slowly disentangled and turned to Olivia.
“Thanks, Liv,” Amanda stuttered. “Thank you so much.”
Olivia winced. She could have said she was just doing her job, but it felt like more than that. It felt like rescuing hope, like preserving something inevitable – that it wasn’t their time yet, that they deserved many more years of happiness.
Eventually, she managed a soft smile, grazed their arms, and whispered, “I have to go.”
She stepped away from the crowd and the deafening sirens. Pulling her phone from her coat pocket with trembling hands, she found his name in her contacts.
When he picked up, her voice was flat, neutral. He knew immediately.
“Liv, what’s wrong?”
Tears streamed down her face as she sighed.
“Elliot, I need to see you.”