Sins of the Father

16

Well, this is it! the final installment! It was a pleasure! Thank you my beautiful fans, you are truly what makes the world go around!

Enjoy!

Three days later.

New York.

Olivia plunked her overnight bag on the couch and sank down into the soft cushions with relief. She kicked her shoes off. Should she have tea? Or a hot bath? Maybe I'll just close my eyes for a moment... Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door and a familiar voice calling her name from the other side. Olivia wasn't surprised at her partner's arrival but the thought of a warm bath dissapated as she struggled to sit up, "Come in," she said.

"Hey," Elliot pushed the door open and slid through. He was wearing the sweater and jean combo that typically meant he had a day off.

"What are you doing here?" Her bluntness was surprising, but only because she was tired. She welcomed his presence but hoped it would be short so she could pass out on the couch.

Elliot shrugged and looked around, "Came by to see if you needed anything,"

"I don't know El... I just got here, how did you know I was back?"

"Cragen called me." Elliot walked over and sat across from her, steepling his hands. His face had that look- pursed lips, small squint, eyebrows knit in concentration. Something was up.

"El... spit it out."

He rubbed his hand over the light stubble on his chin and shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing, I'll tell you later." He stood up to leave.

Olivia wanted to believe that it was nothing, but it couldn't possibly be nothing. He wouldn't come all the way down here for nothing. "Wait, what is it?"

He stopped, rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath, "Well, I... did some searching while you were in the hospital."

"Searching," Olivia repeated. "For what?"

"Not what... whom. There was a New York address in Joe's address book, a close friend, Bruce Clark."

"Okay..." Where did this lead? The name Bruce was from the letter, but Olivia hadn't thought to connect the dots at the time. Why did Elliot have to go and put his big nose into everything? She didn't want to deal with this right now. A hot bath and some tea is all she wanted to trouble herself with tonight. "You were in my apartment. You could have said something." She was tired of Elliot going behind her back trying to fix her life.

Elliot put his palms out in defense, "I am now. Just listen to me okay? You woulda done the same thing for me, you know it." He cleared his throat, "Bruce died a week ago, but since he had no family, I got a look around. " he reached into his pocket and pulled out a faded rumpled piece of paper and handed it to Olivia. It was a photocopied newspaper cut out of Olivia as a high school Valedvictorian. The words, 'I found her' were scrawled in dark blue ink. "It was sent to Bruce twenty years ago."

Olivia stared at the page, wide-eyed. "He knew me? He knew who I was?"

"He followed your career," Elliot said, but his words were lost in the flurry of her own thoughts. All this time he knew her... knew who she was, what she did... but didn't bother to meet her. The hole she thought she buried when she spoke to Bill was tearing open again and she didn't know how much she could take. She snatched the picture out of Elliot's hand and lurched out of the couch to the balcony.

xxx

Mac nervously knocked on the door of Olivia's apartment and glanced at Harm.

"Think she'll like the flowers?" Harm held up the bundle they'd brought.