Watching

Part 9

9.

Two days had passed and Elliot was beginning to wonder if Olivia wanted to talk to him at all. He was at work. He was happy to have somewhere to go to each day and it wasn't a difficult job. He was stationed in a large office building where he had to check everyone who came in and went out. Fortunately, that wasn't the only thing the guards had to do all day. They rotated regularly and he would go upstairs to check the floors where various businesses were housed. His co-workers had made him feel welcome and he was beginning to recognize more and more faces of the office personnel as well. It wasn't a flashy job but it took his mind off his worries. But on slow days like these, his mind wandered off. What if she had decided not to call him? What should he do? Call her? That would be going against his own message, saying they would talk whenever she was ready.

It was a long day but a little after 6 PM it was finally over. He punched out and strolled across the street to the parking lot. He noticed a flower shop and got an idea. He would need to make a new note though.

...

Olivia was nervous. She was afraid to call Elliot but it was difficult not to think about it. It seemed Nick was volunteering to go out with Fin or Rollins on purpose, simply because he didn't want to work with such a distracted partner. She decided that it couldn't hurt to tell the Captain about Elliot's attempts to contact her. When most of her co-workers had left she knocked on Captain Cragen's door softly before entering his office.

"Yes Olivia?" the Captain said, looking up from his paperwork.

She wasn't sure how to start but she wanted to know if Elliot had been in touch with the Captain as well.

"Um ... can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked timidly.

"Of course. Please sit down," the Captain said. He looked at her with a questioning look on his face.

Olivia sat down and placed her hands on her knees.

"Well, I was just wondering," she finally said. "Has Elliot been in touch with you recently?"

The Captain was genuinely surprised and Olivia fixed her gaze on her hands. Of course he hadn't.

"How did you know that?" she heard the Captain ask and her head shot up.

"He has?"

The Captain nodded. "He asked me not to tell you just yet but since you asked ... But why do you ask? Has he contacted you as well?"

She nodded slowly, not looking at her Captain directly.

"And?"

She let out a small sigh. "I'm not sure what to do."

Then she explained everything to the Captain, about the run in at the restaurant and the roses that seemed to keep coming. The Captain thought about all of this new information for a minute, and then told her she should just call him. Let him do the talking.

"Things haven't been easy for him but it's best you hear it from him. You should hear him out."

The Captain obviously knew more but she knew he wouldn't tell her.

"He did ask about you a few weeks ago," Captain Cragen added.

"What did you tell him?"

The older man hesitated and she thought she saw a little guilt in his eyes.

"Captain?" she urged, trying not to sound too worried.

Captain Cragen sighed and then admitted: "I told him you had been seeing someone and that I wasn't sure where you were in that relationship now."

He meant David Haden. She frowned. She had never talked about David with her Captain. As if reading her mind, he added:

"Nick gave me a heads up that I should let you know asap about Haden's new assignment as head of the integrity unit. It kinda confirmed to me what I already thought ..."

She was surprised at how many people had noticed her and David's relationship, while they had both thought nobody knew. But they had split up a while ago, yet this had gone unnoticed? She shook her head slightly and the Captain wondered what was on her mind.

"Liv?"

"I'm not in any relationship, Captain. No wonder Elliot is keeping his distance ..."

She looked up suddenly, realizing how that must sound but the Captain just smiled knowingly.

"So ..." she hesitated, "you think I should call him?"

"Yes, by all means. It will do you both some good."

...

When Olivia went home later that evening, her Captain's words still lingered in her mind. She had wanted to know whatever Cragen knew about Elliot and where he had been for so long but she hadn't asked. She should ask Elliot, that is all he would tell her. And now there was yet another rose. It was a white one this time. And a note. 'I will not leave again.'

She swallowed hard. He knew her so well. She went into her apartment with the rose in one hand and her phone in the other. Now was as good a time as any. Right? She was a little nervous though.

...

He watched her as she walked in her living room and he was wondering if she was really holding her phone in her hand. She was. And she was calling someone. He nearly jumped out of his skin when his own phone rang. His heart beat violently in his chest when he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hi El, is that you?"

He let out a deep sigh and sat down on his couch to steady himself.

"Yeah ... yes, it is Liv. I'm so glad you called."

"Cragen says I should let you talk, so talk," she said simply. "I'm listening."

...