EO oneshots//1998//2022

Puglia

"I'm sorry," he said earnestly.

"Just promise you wont disappear this time," she breathed.

"I promise."

Those were the last words Elliot and Olivia said to each other in person before he left for Puglia for a few weeks.

He was called back for court for some guy he’d arrested just before he started the Wheatley case, and to say going back was triggering would be an understatement, for the both of them.

Elliot had been gone 2 weeks now, but he kept his promise. He'd called her almost every night, texted here and there, emailed a millon pictures. They hadn’t been dating, not really. They had, however, finally sat down and talked about the basics. Nothing romantic, really. Olivia only told him about the big stuff, and only half of what happened in 2013, excluding the parts where she mentioned him, thought about him and wanted him to save her. She figured it wasn’t the time, and he took the rest of story pretty hard so she thought it was best to break it up a little.

They’d gone to dinner several times but always with Noah. At the end of the night, they stood outside her apartment door, wanting to take the next step—the official step—but both too nervous to break what they worked so hard to build back up: their friendship.

———

"Where are you?” Elliot asked over Olivia's Car speakers as she drove through the city. “Sounds loud.”

"I'm heading home from work, it's raining. Don't change the subject, I asked you how you were," she said, keeping her eyes on the road.

Elliot sighed. "I’m..I'm fine..I just—it's difficult being here. I’m glad Eli decided not come with me, though. I think he would have struggled just the same."

Olivia could hear the exhaustion in his voice. "I checked in on him this morning, by the way," she said.

"Oh yeah? He destroy the house?"

"Not all,” she assured him. “He and your mom were making pancakes. They wouldn't let me leave untill I ate some," she smiled at the memory.

"How much longer do you think you'll be?" she asked as she pulled into her spot in the parking garage.

"Why? You miss me?"

Olivia smiled at hit bluntness.

"I miss having coffee brought to me every afternoon," she joked, glancing down at her phone when he didn’t respond, or even chuckle.

"El? Did I lose you?"

"I'm here. I’m—," Elliot said quietly, sighing again—this time slower, heavier.

Olivia took Elliot off speaker and put the phone up to her ear.

“Hey, talk to me," she said.

"I miss you," he replied, quickly but calmly.

Olivia leaned her head back against the headrest. "El-"

"I bought you a ticket. Flight leaves tomorrow afternoon. You—you can come for the day or stay longer if you want. I'll show you around and we'll get dinner, coffee..and-and this is probably not the thing two friends do and you have Noah," Elliot trailed off.

Olivia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Elliot,” she said, smiling to herself as she opened her eyes. "I miss you too.”

"Is-is that a yes?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "I have to pack and I have to let Fin know. I have to talk to Noah, first of all. But it’s a maybe."