Never Her

Eight

Olivia finished her shower and was re-bandaging her thigh when she stopped to stare at the wound. She couldn't believe that she had been shot. Out of all her years as a cop, she never once had been shot. She had been stabbed, cut, shot at, etc., but never shot. She thought back to Elliot and she couldn't understand why he was being the way he was. He had always been possessive over her. He didn't like it when other men talked to her but it had never gotten this extreme. 

She leaned her head back against the wall after she finished getting dressed. Her exhaustion from the day was really wearing on her. She exited the bathroom at the same time as Elliot came through the door. He was nursing a tumbler of his favorite bourbon and she couldn't help but let out an irritated sigh. 

He set the glass down and wrapped his arms around her waist while dropping soft kisses along the expanse of her neck and shoulders. He was holding on so tightly it felt like she was being suffocated. Usually, she welcomed this type of intimacy but tonight she couldn't handle it. 

"Elliot," She says as she tries to wiggle out of his arms. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest and she could hear it in her ears. Her skin started to burn and her face was on fire. She just wanted to sit down and catch her breath for a second. 

He lets go of her and pulls back aggressively. "Is this because I don't want you working anymore?" He asks incredulously. "I'm trying to protect you, Liv!" He yells and throws his hands up as if that was obvious. 

She ignores him as she limps towards the bed but he once again gets her way. She was officially fed up. "Drop it, Elliot. You can sleep on the couch." She tries to step around him but he stops her by stepping closer to her so they were chest to chest. 

"Oh, I get it. This is about your new partner, isn't it? Is he better than me? Does he take care of you better than I did?" He snarls in her face. She looks to the side because he is so close to her. She refuses to answer. He was being ridiculous. She couldn't even believe this was the conversation they were having. 

"Huh? Is that it, Olivia? That's why you got me fired. So you could get a new partner. Was I that bad to you?" Her legs started shaking as he yelled because of the weakness from the gunshot. 

"Stop it," She cried quietly. She was feeling dizzy and weak and just needed to sit down. Blinking her eyes, she stepped right around him. He was too fast for her because he turned and made her face him once again. He held her biceps tightly. She blinked rapidly as she tried to catch her bearings. 

"Answer me, damn it!" He roared as he shook her upperbody. Her eyes grew wide as he yelled and his spit hit her face. She felt frozen and unsure what to do. He had never acted this erratic before and she didn't know how to handle it. He was truly scaring her.

"El, stop! It's not like that!" She squeaked trying harder to get out of his grasp. His eyes had glazed over and he just looked like a shell of who he was before. His whole demeanor had turned crazed. 

"Then what is it like, Olivia? Huh? You finding a new partner to fuck? Will he give you something I won't? Is that is? He'll give you that baby you've always wanted? A new life?" At this point he was screaming and he was inches from her face. Her legs started to give out but he had such a hard grip on her that he was practically holding her up. 

Olivia pulled her arms up and tried to push him away from her. "Get the fuck off of me!" She screams as she started to slip from his grasp. She pushed harder against him. 

Before she knew it, he reached his hand up and backhanded her. As he let her go, she fell into the edge of the bed. She caught herself and lifted her hand up to her cheek. Her entire face stung from the impact of his hand. Her jaw dropped as she stared back at him. She was in shock that he had just hit her. Tears started to burn her eyes as she tried to hold them back. 

"Get out! Get the fuck out of my room!" She screamed. As she yelled, she could see the Elliot she knew starting to come back. He opened his mouth to speak but she yelled once more, "Go!". He put his head down and walked out of the room. 

Olivia scooted back on the bed and quick elevated her leg. Her breath started to pick up and the tears began to fall rapidly. She felt as if her entire body had gone into shock after what had just taken place in their bedroom. 

Sobs racked her body and she held her hands over her mouth to quiet the sounds that were escaping from her mouth. Elliot was the last person she thought would ever raise a hand to her. She loves and trusts him more than anybody she had ever met in her whole life. Before him, her job was her whole life. Now, it was Elliot. She would do anything for him because she was so head over heels in love with him and always has been. 

In the living room, Elliot stood at the counter staring at the granite thinking about what he had just done. He was still so angry at all the events that had happened that day. He wanted to keep Olivia safe and he didn't trust anyone else to do so. The thought of her going back to work enraged him. 

As he took a seat at a stool, he caught a glimpse of her phone sitting on the counter. He knew she was required to take a few days off because of the shooting and then was going to be put on desk duty until she was healed. However, that did not work for him. He didn't want her going back at all. He knew when she was able to come back, Cragen would let her know. He knew he needed to stop that from happening. 

Without another thought, he reached for her phone. He easily typed in her password and opened a blank text message. 

"Olivia: Captain, I am going to take an extended amount of time off. I don't know how long. I will use my vacation days. Talk later."

He hit send and deleted the text so she didn't see it in the morning. Curiosity got the best of him and he opened her contacts. Quickly, he found the new contact, "Nick Amaro". He felt the anger in him begin to rear its' head. He deleted the mans contact information and then put the phone back where he found it. 

"There," he smiled to himself. Hopefully, that would keep her out of work for awhile until he could come up with a better plan. He was not letting her go back to work if he wasn't the one there to watch her back. 

Back in the bedroom, Olivia had hobbled to the door to close it and clicked the lock on the door. She climbed back under the covers and wrapped herself tightly. She then let the tears just fall. She had no idea what she was going to do now. 

She had always told countless women that they should leave their abusers. She just kept telling herself that Elliot was not that person. He was not the type person they worked with. He wasn't them. She was wondered about if he had ever acted this way before. She knew this was all stemming from the trauma of the shooting of Jenna. They have worked exceptionally hard cases in the past. He never acted this way around her before and wondered if he treated Kathy the same way after hard cases. For a fleeting second, she debated calling the woman. She immediately nixed the idea because she didn't want anyone to know what had happened. She just had to hope that it wouldn't happen again. He just needed to get help.