Sweet Relief

No Caller ID

"Agent Burton, my office please." Olivia calls from her office door.

Agent Burton looks up at her, her expression one of intense anxiety like she's been called to the principals office. She gets up quickly and Olivia gestures to one of her empty office chairs.

"I got a message from Sergeant Bell that there have been some important developments in the case against the K.O.." She says "I want you to go to the precinct for the briefing and report back to me."

"You want me to go by myself?" She asks timidly.

"Yes, I do." Olivia says, trying not to appear irritated with her hesitancy, but altogether fed up with the entirety of her team, "Can you handle that?"

"Yes, yes, of course, Agent Benson." She says quickly.

"Good, the briefing is in a half an hour, don't be late."

Agent Burton leaves her office quickly and Olivia forces herself to to take a deep breath. She's done her level best to step back from the K.O. case since she saw Elliot. She knows she shouldn't have threatened to take the case away from OCCB. She's embarrassed for the way she behaved and she knows she's much to close to it, she can't be the one keeping tabs anymore, she just doesn't have it in her. 

In the last couple of weeks, Olivia's made the C-SEC prostitution ring bust her biggest priority, but despite the amount of time she's been spending on it, all she thinks about is the K.O. case and Elliot, whether he's okay, whether or not he's coming home soon. And most of all, how in the world she's going to tell him about their baby.

She hasn't made any headway on the latter. Since she's known him, Elliot's been the most predictable person in her life. The things that'll make him angry, the things that will make laugh despite himself, have always been wildly predictable, at least for Olivia. In the last couple years he's become a little bit softer, a little less angry, and he takes more things in stride than he used to. And this is what Olivia tells herself to quiet her worries. But in all reality, she has absolutely no idea what to expect from him and it terrifies her.

Olivia's phone rings on her desk and she ignores it, not in the mood to deal with whatever is on the other end of the line. She's found that if it's urgent, a missed phone call usually results in a knock on her office door. It rings again and she picks it up to see No Caller ID. She hesitates for a second but answers.

"Deputy Chief Benson..."

"Olivia." A warm voice says, "It's me."

"El?" She breathes in disbelief.

"Was hoping I would've seen you by now..." He says quietly, the guilt in his voice evident, "You know every time I show up for a check in and it's not you I get a little disappointed."

Olivia smiles to herself. She's wanted to, she really has... "I had to take a step back from the case, El. I crossed a line to get Ayanna to let me come meet you.. It wasn't my finest moment."

He chuckles, "Yeah, she may have mentioned that."

"I'm not proud of myself." She says honestly, biting her lip, "I just.. I needed to see you."

"I needed it too, Liv." He says quietly.

"Speaking of lines crossed.." She says, doing her best to change the tone of the conversation so she doesn't cry, "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be in deep cover, meaning no outside phone calls..."

Elliot laughs, "You really gonna bust my balls for this? I just wanted to hear your voice, Liv."

She smiles but doesn't say anything. On the other end of the phone Elliot pictures her with a soft smile on her face just as the one he's had since she picked up the phone. "Look, Liv, I don't know how much longer I've got here, but I do know I can't not talk to you anymore. I did my best to follow their rules, but when they didn't pull me something had to change, if their not gonna play by their own rules anymore neither am I." He says.