Semper Fi

Throwback Stabler

Olivia paced in her office thinking about her conversation with Tucker. Elliot did it. Of course he did it. That's what he does. That's what he always does. He gets mad about something and attacks before thinking. Now not only will it land him in legal trouble, jeopardize his job but it has the possibility of jeopardizing hers. This is the part of him that has always been hard for her. She admires his passion for those he cares about. It's one of the things that she loves most about him, that he has been her knight and shining armor and always made her feel so safe. But she hates the way he goes about it. That passion quickly turns into violence or an outburst that she finds herself having to clean up. She worked hard for her promotions and position in SVU and he's only been back in her life for two months and it's already causing problems for her professionally.

He calls her throughout the day but she dodges the phone calls unable to speak to him yet. She is afraid of what she might say and she doesn't want to get into a screaming match with him while she's at work. The other side of her is a bit confused about how to handle this now. They used to hurl some pretty hurtful words at each other when they were partners and she doesn't want to do that now that they are in a relationship.

"Hey Liv, I came as soon as I got your call," Barba says shutting the door.

"Thanks for coming," she said fidgeting.

"It's about Elliot?"

"You heard already?"

"Yeah it came to my office pretty quick. Have you talked to Elliot? Has he admitted doing it?"

"He's been calling but I haven't picked up. I just need to know how bad it is first before I call him."

"I don't know yet. It really all depends on Brian," he leveled with her.

Olivia headed back to her desk and put her head in her hands. She took a deep breath trying to steady herself. "I shouldn't have said anything. I know how he gets and I shouldn't have said anything."

"Wanna tell me what happened?" Barba asked sitting on the edge of her desk.

"Brian and I had words because he is pissed that Elliot and I are together," she explained as Barba nodded his head in acknowledgment. "We all worked together at one point back when I first started. Apparently Brian has been harboring some feelings about what Lewis said at trial about me having romantic fantasies about Elliot. I guess he felt like it was a slap in the face since he had been there for me when everything happened and Elliot wasn't."

"Hmm," he said simply.

"So I told Elliot what he said this morning in passing and here we are."

"How did the Elliot situation come up? You still talk to Brian regularly?" he asked trying to put everything together.

"No Brian and I don't talk at all actually since we broke up. He came here to ask me about an issue that came across IAB's desk regarding Hank Voight and saw Elliot's daughters here and put two and two together."

Barba remained quiet and she could see his wheels spinning. Her and Barba had always worked together well because they had both become masters at turning situations around to work out in their favor in the courtroom. She was hoping they could work the same magic with her personal life.

"So he came here about a professional police matter and ended up talking to you about who you are sleeping with?" he asked giving her a look she knew all too well.

"You're going to use it," she said knowingly.

"Damn right. You know just as well as I do that Brian's jacket isn't the cleanest. You have more credibility than he does and it's he said, she said about what he said to you in here. It's assault on Elliot's part no doubt but if I can talk to Brian and let him know that it probably wouldn't look good that he took advantage of an official police investigation to attack your personal life, I think he will back down."