Sweet Relief

Don't Be Ridiculous

Olivia scrubs away at invisible germs on the counter top, preoccupied and unable to focus on anything other than the incredible length of time since she's heard from Elliot. It's been over a month since she joined the KO case and over two since she'd heard from him.

She knows in incredible detail about the places he's been, the people that constantly surround him, and the jobs he's been doing and it's eating at her in a way that she can't even put words to, manifesting itself as a permanent knot in her stomach. Every time he's injured a report complete with pictures gets dropped on her desk and she stares at the crime scene photos of his bruised and bloody face and his bleeding knuckles until she's sick to her stomach. Knowing that he checks in with Ayanna every twelve hours is little consolation. ]

She was holding out hope that Moenigg meant it when he said they'd pull him if they didn't get anything after two months, and at eight weeks on the dot she marched in his office and demanded that he be pulled, but she was met with condescension and an irritatingly rational no. The investigation is promising, and they've gathered enough intel to know that it's a worthwhile op, but not enough to prosecute.

Olivia had considered for half a second that she had the power to pull their entire investigation and Elliot would be home in time for dinner, but it would ruin both of their cases, and her working relationship with OCCB and a good chunk of the higher ups at 1PP. So she didn't... And now she lives with a level of uncertainty and anxiety that would make a lesser person keel over.

Her thoughts a broken by a knock on the door and she glances at the kitchen clock, surprised to see it's already three o'clock.

she catches a look at herself in the hall mirror on the way to the door and cringes. She looks awful, every bit of how exhausted and worn down she is.

"Just a second!" She calls out, quickly stripping off the bleach stained t-shirt of Elliot's she's been wearing to clean the apartment and pulling on a plain back long sleeve. She brushes her hair with her fingers back into a clip and sighs. It'll have to do.

She opens the door and to find a smiling Kathleen on the other side of it.

"Thank you for coming, Honey." She says, pulling Elliot's daughter into a tight hug. She realizes she's held on for a moment too long and let's go, quickly making herself busy in the kitchen. "Can I make you a cup of coffee?"

"Sure, that sounds good." Kathleen says, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Watching Olivia as she moves about the kitchen, surprised to see her like this. In the entire time she's known her father's partner she's never seen her look so... human.

Olivia sets a cup of coffee in front of her and Kathleen smiles in thanks.

"So how long has he been under?" She asks, pointedly.

Olivia raises an eyebrow at Kathleen's question, sure that she never mentioned Elliot being undercover. She had told Kathleen he'd been working a lot, but she supposes Kathleen knows better than anyone what that means. "A couple months." She sighs, "He was supposed to be done no matter what after two, but he's in deep... Deeper than I'd like."

Kathleen nods her head, wholly unsurprised.  "That sounds about right. Seems like Emma's not the only one having a hard time with it..."

"That bad, huh?" Olivia asks with a soft laugh.

She smiles kindly. "I didn't mean it to hurt your feelings.. You just.. You look tired, like Mom used to."

"I am tired." Olivia says honestly, "Not having him here is hard, don't get me wrong, but Emma, she's taking it so hard, and I'm her Mom, she can't hear things from me."