Never Her

Eleven

Elliot stood for a second to compose himself. He could feel the blood pumping in his ears and rushing through his veins. He slowly opened the door and saw Dickie standing there. The kid was tightly holding his hands in front of him and had a worried look on his face. 

"Are you guys okay?" He asks quietly. He tried to look around his father to see if he could see Olivia but Elliot stepped his way. 

He pulled the door slightly more closed blocking the boys view from the room. "Olivia is acting a little crazy. Everything is fine." He says trying to get the boy to go back to his own room. 

"Lizzie and Eli woke up and Eli is scared from all the yelling. He is laying with Lizzie." He says pointing back to where the kids resided in the apartment. 

"Everything is fine, Dickie. Go to bed." Elliot stated as he went to go back into the room. From behind him, they both heard the bathroom door open and Olivia came out. From Dickie's vantage point, all he could see was Olivia's face. He could see the beginning forms of small bruises on Olivia's cheek and jaw. 

He looked back and forth between his dad and Olivia who was cowering in behind him. Her arms were wrapped around herself and she was staring at the ground. He had never seen Olivia look so frightened. She was always the epitome of strength and the young boy knew that something bad was going on. 

"Liv, Eli wants you to put him back to sleep, He, uh, he is a little scared." Dickie explains looking over his fathers shoulder. 

Olivia looked up from the ground and glanced at Dickie before looking over at Elliot. She waited for him to say something. She didn't know if he wanted her to talk to his kids. 

He turned to her with a hard glare before pointing down the hall, "Go.", he demanded. She quickly looked back down and limped down the hall to the kids room. 

Once she entered the room, she saw Eli laying on Lizzie's bed. Lizzie and Dickie shared a bunk bed while Eli had a twin bed across the rooms. 

"Hey, buddy," She says walking towards the bed. The little boy jumped down and darted towards her. She hugged him tightly and walked him over to his bed. She helped him back under the covers and grabbed a book. 

"Liv-" Lizzie started and walked towards her as she sat in the chair closest to Eli's bed. She looked at the young girl and she gazed at her step-mom with concern. Elliot appeared in the doorway and leaned against the frame. Olivia stared at him as he stared back at her. 

"Go on, read." He says motioning towards the book she had grabbed off the shelf. 

She laid her hand on Eli's head and played with his hair as she read the book quietly to get him back to sleep. It was only about 20 minutes before he was back asleep. 

She put the book down and walked out of the room. The twins quickly followed Olivia out of the room to Elliot standing in the hallway. The twins stood behind Olivia as they stared back at Elliot. 

"Are you okay, Livia?" Lizzie asks reaching out to touch her step-moms arm. 

"She's fine. Right, Liv? You're fine." He says staring her down with his arms crossed. She nodded her head and gave the kids a weak smile before moving back to their bedroom. 

Dickie stared at his father and stepped in between Lizzie and his father. "What the hell happened, Dad?" He spit out crossing his arms. He had always been intimidated by his father but he was concerned about what went down in the bedroom. 

He had heard his parents fight before but he knew Olivia made a point to never fight when the kids were around. She always waited until they were gone before they ever hashed anything out. So for them to wake up to their father screaming, it was concerning. 

"Nothing, Richard. Olivia is having some kind of psychotic break and I needed to calm her down." He waves off his son as he points towards the bedroom motioning for the kids to go back to bed. 

The twins exchange looks before going back into their room. 

Olivia had climbed into bed and pulled the blanket up to her neck and curled into a ball. Her eyes were wide as the thoughts swarmed through her mind. Memories of Lowell Harris would not leave her mind. Elliot was getting out of hand but she didn't know what to do. How believeable would this be? The lead detective of Special Victims Unit was now abused by her husband who also was another lead detective of Special Victims Unit. Nobody would believe that this was happening behind doors. 

Tears sprang to her eyes again and she pushed her face down in the pillow. Her mind couldn't stop racing through all these thoughts. She started hyperventilating. She rolled over and threw hands over her face. 

Elliot entered the room and watched her cry in their bed. He slowly walked over to their bed and climbed in next to her. 

"Did you say something to the kids about what happened?" He asks, completely bypassing the fact she was having a panic attack in their bed. 

Olivia sat up to try and catch her breath before she answered. She reached out and took a sip of water from her water bottle. "No, I didn't." She whispers picking at the fibers on the blanket. She couldn't even look up at him as he sat next to her. 

"Good. I do not want you speaking to them unless I tell you that you can." He says as he leans over to turn off the lamp and lays down. She still sat staring for a few seconds before also laying down and rolled away from him. She couldn't fall asleep for anything because her brain couldn't stop replaying the events that had happened. Her jaw ached from the iron grip he had on her jaw when he had her pinned against the wall. 

While she was laying there, Elliot had already fallen asleep. He rolled towards her and draped it around her waist. Her body tensed and she tried to wiggle her way out of his arms but she was too close to the edge to move any farther.

In the other room, the twins had moved to the living room to talk. "What do you think happened?" Lizzie asked as she sat next to her brother. 

"I don't know, Liz. But did you see those marks on Olivia's face?" Dickie asks looking over at Lizzie. 

She nodded and chewed the corner of her nails as she stared at the floor. "You don't think Dad was hurting her, right? He said she was losing it." She asked. The concern was evident in her voice. 

"I don't know, Liz. But I do think we need to tell Mom," Dickie says flopping back into the couch and stares up at the ceiling. 

The twins had no idea what they had heard but they had some pretty good guesses and they were scared.