Broken: Chapter 4
Title: Broken
Chapter: 3
Fandom: Law & Order: SVU
Pairing: Alex/Olivia
Rating: I'd say...R.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Law and Order: SVU.
Spoilers: None.
Author's Note: Well, thanks for the five reviews. I hope you keep with this, and I'll try and post more often. I need some more time to write, and then I will try and post more often. Thanks for reading. I hope you'll continue to like it.
Chapter 4
Olivia woke up with pains shooting through her stomach. She knew she needed to throw up, but she was tired of being sick. She threw up in the toilet and then dragged herself in to the kitchen. It was not even five in the morning. Her head was swimming. Maybe she needed to stop drinking all together for a week so she could sort out her stomach.
She opened her refrigerator door and then realized, once again, that she had no food. “Fuck.” She cursed, slamming the fridge closed. Her only option would be to venture out on to the street and go around the corner to the local grocery store and get some eggs. Or she could go back to sleep and hope that she could grab something before work.
She decided on the second option and crawled back in to bed.
Though eight o’clock didn’t feel any better.
~*~
That Wednesday was slow at the office. She was glad for the time to sit with the latest Elle magazine. She hadn’t felt like delving in to business as usual. Though a late afternoon phone call set Olivia’s nerves humming.
“Hey, is this Olivia?” The smooth, familiar voice registered in Olivia’s mind.
“Yes, this is she.” She sat down her pen and turned from Elliot.
“It’s me. It’s Eric. I was just…I was calling to see how you were.”
“Oh, hey Eric.” She smiled. “I’m good. I’m just fine.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m really…uh…I’m sorry about what happened, the other night.”
“Look, don’t worry about.” Olivia put her hand to her head.
“Well, I was hoping that maybe…” His voice sounded nervous, he seemed suddenly bashful.
“I don’t know if we should…um, I’m kind of busy.” She lied, knowing that he had gotten the hint. She clearly did not want much more than a night with him.
“That’s all right. I understand.” He sweetly replied and Olivia felt a bit bad about blowing him off. He seemed like a fairly decent guy. “Well, if you change your mind, you have my number.” He added.
“I will.” Olivia smiled.
They said their goodbyes, but his words lingered in her mind. He liked her. She could tell by his timid approach, his insistence that even though she had rejected him, he still wanted her to call him if she changed her mind. It made her feel good to be liked, but the feelings she had on the inside didn’t seem to match up to his expectations. She could never be more to him than a night of sex because she wasn’t interested in investing more. He just didn’t seem right…it would never be fair for him and she knew it.
She shook away the thought of calling him back and asking him out, for that would be leading him on, and instead she leafed through the remainder of her magazine.
~*~
Before she knew it, it was six and Elliot was asking her home with him.
“How would you like a home cooked meal, Benson?” Elliot plucked his jacket off the back of his chair and glanced over at his partner, who looked consumed by her magazine.
Olivia glanced at her watch, weighed the pros and cons of eating at the Stabler’s, and then shrugged indifferently. “Sounds good.”
After grabbing her coat, she began to follow Elliot out the door, but noticed familiar blonde walking towards her down the hall. “Hey,” Alex smiled. “Are you two leaving?”
“Yeah, we’re going to my place for dinner.” Elliot nodded, pulling his jacket closed as Olivia eyed Alex.
Alex met her eyes and smiled, though a spark of disappointment alighted in her eyes. “I was coming to see if you were going to eat, Benson. You’ve got to watch her.” Alex pointed at Olivia, her eyes moving to Elliot. “She only seems to eat when food magically appears before her.”
Olivia pushed her hand out of the way. “Please, I eat.” She laughed.
“Well, enjoy your dinner with Elliot and family.” Alex smiled and walked past Olivia and Elliot. Olivia could smell her perfume trailing after her.
Thirty minutes later, Olivia was squeezed in between Elizabeth and Richard, the twins. She passed the bowl of salad to Elizabeth, who smiled up at Olivia. “I’m glad you’re eating with us.” She grinned, having always enjoyed when daddy’s partner came for dinner.
“I’m glad to have a home cooked meal.” Olivia smiled, glancing up appreciatively at Kathy.
“We’re glad you’re here. You haven’t been over for awhile.” Kathy smiled back, making sure that her youngest child’s food was cut up.
“It’s been a long month.” Olivia sighed, glancing over at Elliot Jr., the cutest three year-old she had seen. Little Elliot looked up at her through his adorable long eye-lashes and grinned, grabbing handfuls of cut up chicken. Olivia watched as he put his hands to his mouth and without processing what he was doing, fed himself. “He is adorable.”
“Like his father.” Elliot laughed.
“Like his father wishes he was.” Olivia tossed back, forking her salad.
“Would you like some more wine?” Kathy asked, getting up to grab the bottle and more bread.
“Yes, please.” Olivia glanced at her empty glass, wondering how she’d downed that in such a short period of time.
Kathy filled her glass and then sat down beside Elliot, who was eyeing Olivia with a hint of concern. She looked tired, worn down, and that bruise from Brock Houser didn’t do much to make her look any better.
And after dinner, Elliot was glad to have a moment alone with Olivia. She stepped out on to his back porch, taking in the last of the day’s sunlight. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a glass of wine in her hand.
“What are you looking at, Benson?” He stepped out on to the porch, closing the kitchen door behind him.
Olivia turned, surprised by his presence. “Nothing.” She smiled and shoved her hand in her pocket.
“You all right?” He asked, sipping his beer and stepping towards her.
“I’m just fine, Stabler.” She sipped her wine and glanced away from him again. “Why does everyone keep asking me that?”She whispered more to herself than to him.
Elliot came up beside her and set his beer down on the railing of his porch. “I suppose everyone is just looking out for you.”
“Well they can stop.” Olivia glanced over at him.
“All right then, I’ll stop being concerned.” Elliot held up his hands in mock defense.
Olivia laughed, pushing against him. Straightening out, she sipped her wine and once again glanced in to the spacious backyard that her apartment lacked.
“You’re just…um,” he swallowed, “you’re drinking a lot.”
Olivia turned on him, daring him with her cold, brown eyes. “What are you talking about? We always drink. Look at you, you’re drinking. This isn’t a lot.” She pointed towards her glass. “I’m not drinking a lot. Come on.”
Elliot shrugged, “I just noticed you had a few more glasses at dinner than normal.”
“It’s been a rough week.”
“I’m just concerned.”
“Yeah, well you can go be concerned somewhere else.”
Their eyes locked.
“I don’t have a problem.” Olivia very nearly laughed, trying to cut through the suddenly palpable tension between them.
“I didn’t say you did, I was just making an observation.” Elliot backed off, taking a swig of his beer.
Olivia was put off her wine. She sat the glass down and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself.
“Who else?”
“What?” Olivia looked questioningly at Elliot.
“Who else is concerned about you?” Elliot watched Olivia’s face as she shrugged.
“Cragen, Cabot…”
“Alex.” Elliot laughed.
“Yeah, what about her?” Olivia frowned.
“Nothing, I just…she came looking for you the other night.”
“I heard.” Olivia suddenly wished she’d gone to dinner with Alex that evening instead of taking Elliot up on his offer.
“She certainly looks out for you.” Elliot shoved his hands in his pockets, feeling the warmth of the day rapidly wearing off.
“She does.” Olivia nodded. “I don’t know why, but she does.” She missed the surprised look on Elliot’s face.
“I’m sorry I said…” Elliot finally began after a few moments of silence.
“It’s all right. I know you’re just concerned.” She placed her hand on his arm, “but I’m fine.” Her brown eyes searched his face, looking for his approval, for him to know that she was okay. “I promise.”
Elliot nodded. “We’d better get back inside. I think Kathy made some dessert.”
Olivia nodded. She grabbed her glass of wine and mentally kicked herself for drinking so heavily in front of Elliot, or rather drinking at all. Hadn’t she promised herself she would stop?
She would run tomorrow. In the morning. She would run and it would take her mind off of everything.
Yes….a run was what she needed.
But at six the following morning, her head was pounding and she once again threw up.
What was wrong with her?
~*~
“Could you get Alex on the line? And see if she has the warrant?” Elliot glanced at Olivia over his computer.
She looked up from her case notes at the mention of Alex’s name. “Sure.” She picked up her phone and hit Alex’s extension, having memorized the number by heart. She felt her heart pounding in her ears as the phone rang.
“Alex Cabot,” Alex picked up the phone on the third ring.
“Alex, it’s me.”
“Liv?”
“Elliot would like to know if you’ve secured that search warrant for the Jacobson’s case.” Olivia caught Elliot’s eyes as she stressed his name in her sentence. He rolled his eyes at her. She tossed a paperclip at him.
There was some paper rustling on the other end of the phone and then Alex sighed, “I’m talking to Judge Donnelly about that case first thing in the morning.”
Olivia sat back in her seat. She could hear the stress in Alex’s voice, knew that she was swamped with work. She had been busy for practically the entire week. She lowered her voice and turned from Elliot, hoping that he would no longer listen to her conversation. “It’s all right, Alex.”
“It’s not, Liv. You need to get in to his apartment.” Alex sounded mad at herself.
“It can wait until tomorrow.” Olivia nearly whispered. “You sound stressed out. I think you need a vacation more than I do.”
Alex laughed on the other end of the line. “I’d be working more on vacation than if I stayed here at work.”
Olivia smiled. She wanted to ask Alex to dinner because Alex sounded like she needed some dinner and mindless conversation. She wanted to see her and repay her for the sushi that they’d shared earlier that week. But she suddenly felt nervous. Why should she feel nervous, though? It was just her friend…Alex.
“Do you have plans tonight?” She asked without thinking it through and, unconsciously, held her breath.
There was a short pause on the other end, “Yes. I have a meeting with the DA.”
“Well I hope that goes well.” Olivia glanced away from her blank computer screen, feeling her stomach sink. She realized then that she’d wanted company that night more than she’d been willing to admit.
“I could stop by afterwards, if you…”
“No, it’s all right.” Olivia had no idea why she had just turned down the opportunity to see Alex… “It’s…it’s fine.”
“Tomorrow night?” Alex suggested.
“If nothing comes up.”
“Good.” She could hear Alex’s smile on the other end.