blues and greens (barson)

vii.

There he stood, outside her now opened front door. Red in the face, likely from drinking though perhaps from the tear stains.
"I'm sorry-" Elliot started.
Liv held up a hand and shook her head, "you should know better than to slam on this door at this house at this hour."
"You weren't sleeping, you're still wearing jeans," he counters.
"I'm not the only one who lives here, Elliot."
He grimaced as she used his whole name, "I needed to see you."
"I don't want to see you. Not only because of what you said earlier but you also chose to make an unwanted advance on a superior officer, specifically captain of the Special Victims Unit. You do remember that, right? I'm a Captain," she shook her head, "I told you to call when you cooled off."
"I have been calling."
She remembered then that she'd muted her phone before dinner because she didn't want to be interrupted by work.
"Can I come in?" He asked.
She shook her head.
"Let me come in and explain."
"No, Elliot. No. We are friends and we will always be friends but that's all we'll ever be. And if that upsets you I am sorry, I am. And if you hate me, that's okay. I'll still be your friend even if you're not mine."
"He's here, isn't he?"
"I'm closing the door now because you smell like booze, you're clearly not listening to me, and I really don't need this tonight," she started pushing the door closed.
One of his large hands came up and pushed against the door, "he's here, isn't he?"
The moment he made that move, Rafael was behind her, "she asked you to leave."
"And what are you going to do about it?" Elliot countered, his volume increasing slightly, "you think you can just set my wife's killer free and then screw my partner?"
"What am I going to do about it?" Rafael's voice was calm and soft, "aside from being appalled that you would come to your former partner's home in the middle of the night and raise your voice when there are sleeping children?"
Elliot's face reddened further, "yeah what the hell are you gonna do about it?"
Liv turned to Rafa, it was a clear warning not to try to physically go toe to toe with Elliot.
But that wasn't his intention, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone and turned his back to mumble into the phone.
"Did you just call the police on a police officer? What kind of idiot are you?" Elliot pushed harder on the door.
The pushing knocked Liv off balance and she stumbled against Rafa, who righted her again.
"Momma?" Noah's voice was soft behind them.
"You need to go," her voice was low and dangerous as she nearly growled the words. 
"Go, Liv. I got it," Rafa slipped past her so she could go back into the apartment, putting himself between the drunken and angry detective and his family.
"You got it?" Elliot laughed.
Olivia squeezed Rafa's shoulder and mumbled an "I'm sorry" as she moved to take care of Noah and Aspen who she could see peeking from the bedroom door further in.
"You really think you can make me leave?" Elliot looked down at the shorter man.
"I don't, in fact, I almost hope you don't go," Rafael smiled at him, his own drunken-ness just glossing the edges of the ever cocky smirk on his face.
"Whatever reverse psych lawyer crap you think this is, won't work on me. You are keeping me from the woman that I love."
"Stabler, the woman you love asked you to leave. If you truly loved her, you would respect her wishes. But I hear you have a history of disrespecting her."
"You hear that? Is that so? So you've heard that you betrayed her?"
"I have, yeah. And I'll never forgive myself for hurting her as much as I did but I did what I did to protect her because no one else was."
"I protect her."
"You put her in the situations that she needs the protection from. How many times did she put her own ass, her own job and life, in the line for you? And how many times did you protect her? And where were you to protect her from all of the crap over the last decade? Where were you when she was taken from us? Where were you when her son was kidnapped? Where were you when she needed you, Stabler? Were you with your family or were you avoiding them by pretending to be a hero somewhere else?"
Elliot smiled, it was a wicked smile similar to one he had years and years ago when Sonya Paxton had slapped him across the face and he laughed in response.
"All of that is funny to you?"
"I think it's funny that a man who doesn't know me and wasn't there is standing in front of me trying to tell me how things are."
Rafael's cocky demeanor didn't crack or shift, it was impenetrable the same way it was in the court room. Unless Elliot threw a punch, Rafael would win every time. He always fought with words. This was his turf. If Elliot got physical, then he'd be in trouble.
"You're not denying anything or answering any questions. Have you always deflected things like this? Do you get physical because you can't articulate what you want to get across? Or is physical the only response you know because it was used on you?"
"Don't act like you know me, Barba."
"I only know what I've read in your rap sheet. Everything else is merely speculation but your lack of denial speaks far louder than any threats or threatening tones. Thus far I've learned that you didn't care to protect Liv in any way during that decade you were away and someone got physical with you. Shall I continue or are you leaving?"
"I came here to see Olivia."
"And you saw her. She said she didn't want to see you. I do think I've seen that you have a history of hearing only what you want, though. Interesting."
"Do you ever get tired of the sound of your own voice? Just let me in and go home. I'll take care of Liv."
"I don't think I'm going to do that and no. I don't get tired of the sound of my own voice. Unlike you, I kind of like myself. You reek of someone who deals with a lot of self-loathing. It carries, like the scent of wet dog or booze. The fact that you're still standing here speaks volumes to your lack of self preservation."
"What the hell does that mean? What are you gonna do? Make some little phone call and not have anything come of it?"
"We live in New York City, big man."
"What does that matter?"
"Means we got caught in traffic."
Elliot turned and came face to face with Odafin Tutuola, flanked by Dominick Carisi Jr. and Amanda Rollins.
"What are you doing here?" Elliot spat.
"We're here to ask you to leave on behalf of our captain," Fin gave a dry smile.
Rafael's cocky smirk grew as he felt Olivia return behind him.
Elliot was surely outnumbered and far outranked, he turned and looked at Olivia, "don't let them poison you against me, Liv. You know in your heart, in your heart you know the truth."
Fin and Carisi each took one of Elliot's arms.
He wrenched himself free, "I'm going," he looked at Rafael, "someday you'll fight your own battles and you won't win. Until then have fun fighting other people's."
They all watched as Elliot stormed toward the elevator and as he slammed the button hard enough that Liv was worried he'd break it.
Once he was gone, Rafael turned to the new arrivals, "thank you."
"I almost didn't answer you," Fin said, "figured if you were callin' this late, though, probably had something to do with Liv."
"I didn't anticipate the whole battalion but I do appreciate your assistance, all of you," he gave an incredibly sincere and grateful smile to them all.
"Thank you," Liv's voice was soft.
The three of them nodded.
"If he shows up again, don't hesitate to call, alright, Liv? If you don't want him around, we'll make sure he isn't," Amanda said.
"And if it really gets bad, I can get some legal help," Carisi added.
"I'll just show up and look at him that disappointed way I always have. Never forget when I hated him, still do sometimes," Fin tossed in.
"Thank you all, really. He's proving to not be worth the time or effort right now," Liv shrugged, "but I appreciate how quickly you all got here."
"We appreciate it," Rafael corrected softly, "I owe you all."
"You do. More than just for this," Fin raised an eyebrow, "I'm gonna head out, though. Y'all be good."
He waved at them and made eye contact with Liv to check in.
She gave a nod and smile.
And with that Fin headed for the elevator, "I'll make sure he's gone before I leave the lot."
Amanda looked at Rafael, "remember what I said earlier about forgiveness and the three of us?"
The lawyer nodded.
"We gotta go, too," she said, "I left the girls with a neighbor."
She headed toward the elevator.
Carisi hesitated a moment longer to give Liv a smile and he reached out and gave Rafael's shoulder a firm squeeze, "call if you need," and then he followed Amanda.