Those Three Words
{ I own
NONE of the characters or story canon }
By: The Pensacola Hippie
The buzzing of a cell phone woke Olivia Benson from a fitful
slumber.
Rolling over, she glanced at the phone’s face. Stabler .
“ Shit! “
She silenced the
phone and groaned. It has been a hell of a night. Kathleen and Maureen, Eliot’s
two oldest children , has asked her to be present at a scheduled
intervention after their father had been
in a car accident with their youngest brother. Both Stabler and Eli sustained
only minor injuries, but the two oldest children were worried.
Liv told Maureen earlier that she doubts her presence at the
intervention would make Eliot listen.
After all, he had told her to back off. When she told his
daughter as much, she replied. “ But you are the only one who can talk sense
into Dad. He needs you. We need you. “
The phone buzzed again.
Stabler’s name popped up and again Liv did not take the call.
Olivia sat up and rubbed her hands through her messy brown
hair.
“ Eliot, tell us what you need.”
“ I love you…”
He’s said the words she had longed to hear throughout their
long partnership. She loved him, but she knew his loyalty was to Kathy and the
children.
She flipped on the nightstand lamp and saw that a voicemail
was waiting .
“ Damn you Stabler. “ she said
Carefully she held the phone in her right hand as she felt her eyes moisten.
“ You mean the world to me, Liv. Now back off. “
He did not want her help with whatever demons lurked in his
head.
There was a time when she could read him—that he could
not keep secrets from her. But that
was ten years ago.
She traced her phone with a finger.
“ Damnit, El, I barely know you now.
Yet she DID know him.
She understood the pain in his eyes that
showed how much he missed Kathy.
“ I love you… I love ALL of you. “ he amended after
an awkward silence.
She shook her head. Did he really expect her to expose her
heart to him in front of all his children? As much as her heart wanted to rush into his
arms, she refused to add more trauma for his grieving children. Also, she felt
wary about totally opening her personal
life to him—she and Noah existed together as a happy little family unit. She
didn’t want Eliot Stabler to mess up her life by leaving both her and her son.
She did not want Eliot Stabler--- not after his sudden
departure and radio silence ten years ago.
“ Eliot’s not coming back, Liv. Let him go. “ Cragan had
said.
Carefully , she picked up a framed photo that sat on her
nightstand. It was an old photo of Stabler & her, taken when they worked
undercover at the swingers’ club. This one photo was her reminder of what she
lost when Stabler left. She’d rescued it from the garbage pile after Cragan
insisted that she clean out Stabler’s squad room desk.
Did she want Eliot Stabler? Hell no. She—of all people—knows
how toxic he can become. She needed Eliot Stabler. Kathy’s deathbed
observation was correct: the two of them are connected in a powerful,
metaphysical way that in inexplicable. He’s the other half of her soul.
She needed him, and she loved him.
Yet she felt a lot of anger towards him—anger mixed with a
deep love. On an intellectual “ head” level, she understood why Eliot felt he
had to make a sudden departure from the unit.
What hurts the most was that he left without even a goodbye hug.
She loved him, but needs time to trust him again. She needed
him to work through his grief over Kathy and agree to some therapy. She
deserves Eliot Stabler at his best—not the shell of a person that he’s been
since Kathy’s murder.
She unlocked her phone and texted her former partner.
El. I love you too. But right now… I can’t. You
understand. Get some help, please. What about your children? What about ME?
###
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