Alaskan Nights (A Law and Order: SVU fanfic)

Ch.19

A.N [Aoife— EE-FA]

When he awakes he finds that the room is calm and that the previously charged air is docile with only the constant buzz of the refrigerator filling it. It takes him a minute to come to his senses and fully wake up. And as he sits up, he remembers Olivia and wonders if she's still cooped up in the bathroom. He isn't sure how long he's been out but he does remember waiting 20 minutes for her before drifting off.

As he stands he catches a glance at the neon numbers on the stove. 3:30 am. Shit. He's been out for quite some time. He walks down the narrow hallway where Olivia disappeared but is met with three doors. He picks the one at the very end and knocks softly."Olivia?"

He calls again but doesn't get an answer. When he enters the room it's cluttered. Boxes and boxes of miscellaneous items strewn about. The curtains in the small room whip with a slight breeze. He enters the room further and realises that the curtains cover an open French door.

"Olivia?" He calls once more.

He bunches up the fabric and tucks it in the door handle as he walks onto a deck overlooking the backyard. At the end of the deck, he sees her figure in the pale moonlight. The light from the neighbour's yard illuminates her profile and her aura glows.

"Surprised it took you this long." She offers without turning away from the moonlight.

She could make out his heavy footfall anywhere. She knew all of the paces and what they meant. This one was apprehensive, careful. She could tell that he stopped a bit away from her, probably trying not to stifle her. But little did he know that just the sound of him was suffocating beyond reproach.

"I fell asleep waiting for you to come back."

He sounds so far away and she almost laughs at the disconnect.

When she turns he's closer than she thought he was—close enough to reach out and grab.
"Why are you here, Elliot." If she's feeling any emotion right now he doesn't see it anywhere on her face.

"I needed to see you."

It's simple but it's loaded. The bare minimum but it covers it all.

"I was in New York, five months ago." She confesses.

He looks as though someone had slapped him across the face with his police-issued Glock.

"Did anyone else know?" He tries not to sound too hurt.
"Anyone other than Cragen?" She checks.

He sighs and nods, yeah anyone other than him.

"No." She hugged herself before turning back to the moonlight. "No one else knew."

He could live with that, "Why are you telling me this, Liv."

She falls silent for some time before she spins around again, bracing herself on the deck railing. Behind her, the moon hangs lower in the sky and comes to rest just above her head. Her face is hidden slightly so he moves closer.

"I went by your place."

She'd been in New York because Rebecca had set up an appointment for her with as she put it, 'A guy she used to date in college who just happened to become New York's leading cardiothoracic surgeon'. She went begrudgingly along to appease her. She was on her way back to the airport when the street the cabbie took was all too familiar.

He didn't say anything so she continued.

"It just so happened that I saw your neighbour in the elevator and she told me that you had moved, she remembered me and she gave me the address you gave so her kid could play with Eli."