All This Time

Chapter 2

I get up and begin walking towards the door. I open it up and my heart drops. Elliot was standing there. He looked at me.

"El..." I say. I was so nervous and confused. "Wh-what are you doing here?" I ask him. I'm in shock. I don't know what to do.

"Liv...it's been way too long. Can we talk?" he asks me.

"Uh...yeah, sure," I say as I look behind me as I close the door to make sure I don't wake Brian. I stand there and cross my arms. "What's to talk about?" I ask with an attitude. I kind of stiffen up a bit.

"Liv, I'm so sorry that I had to leave like that. That I had to leave you like that. I know wha-" he was saying, but I cut him off. Anger just took over.

"No, Elliot! You don't know what it feels like! 3 years without you! You left me! You just up and left with no explanation! Then, you show up at my apartment door at 4:15 in the morning after all this time! You just decided that you were just going to waltz back into my life like everything was perfectly okay! That we could just continue where we left off! Well, guess what? You're not in a freaking fantasy Elliot! This is real! The heartbreak is real! You leaving me was real! I can't even look at you right now!" I yelled, louder than I meant to. I was furious and tears were rolling down my cheeks.

"Liv, I'm sorry. I mean that. I honestly do. Just let me explain. Please?" he said as he reached out to put his arms around me.

"Don't touch me!" I snap at him again.

He took his arms back. I was crying more and my face was turning red. I couldn't even be mad anymore. I just felt heartbroken and I just couldn't stop crying.

"Liv, it's okay. I'm here now. I'm not leaving. Not again. Let me explain," he said softly. After me yelling at him like that, he didn't care.

Elliot's POV
I had prepared myself for the yelling. I knew I was going to get screamed at and get a lecture. After all that, the only thing I knew to do was put my arms around her. So, that's what I did. I took her in my arms and she let me this time. She was crying and it broke my heart.

"Liv, I'm here now. You're okay. I'm staying here now," I told her as softly as I could. Then, her apartment door opens. She turns to look. We let out of the hug.

"Brian...I'm sorry did we wake you?" she asks him very quietly. He had this angered look on his face.

"Uh...no. No you didn't. Why are you crying? What did you do to her?" he said, accusing me. I looked down and he was clinching his fists.

"Brian, he didn't do anything to me. I'm fine. We were just having a conversation. You were just leaving right, Elliot?" she looked at me and smiled a little.

"Uh...yeah, right," I said, smiling back. Her and Brian? Wow. I never seen that coming. "Goodnight, Liv," I said as I began to walk off.

"Elliot! Watch out!" she yells at me.

I turn around to see Brian swinging. He hits me in the face. I turn to face him and deck him in the face. Liv runs over to me.

"El, are you okay?" she asks me, looking at my bleeding nose.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I tell her. Brian got up off the ground.

"Oh, so you check on him? I see how it is," Brian said to her. I got defensive.

"Hey! You do not talk to her like that," I say as I put her behind me out of harms way. He looked at the both of us.

"I can't believe you right now, Liv," he says to her.

"I don't care. I never loved you. Not the way I loved Elliot," she told him. Did she really mean what she just said?

"You little b-" he started to say but I stepped closer and put him up against a wall by the neck of his shirt.

"Don't you even go there or you will regret it," I say as I got in his face. "You do not talk to a woman like that, especially not your girlfriend," I say to him.

As much as it hurt me to say that...girlfriend. I let him go. He walked over to Liv.

"Don't even. No need to call me
your girlfriend anymore because we are done," Liv says to Brian.

I'm relieved. He's a jerk. Then, she slaps him. Liv hits hard, too. He grabs his face.

"I'm glad I never moved in with you!" he yells at her.

He went back into the apartment, got his car keys and his clothes he has brought over for the night and left. Liv and I walked into her apartment.

She got me a wet rag to clean my nose off and hold it on until it stopped bleeding. We were standing in the kitchen.

"So, how did you and Cassidy end up together?" I ask her.

"Well, it all started with a date. Then, from then on, it was all just to keep you off my mind. I missed you...everyday. I need an explanation, Elliot. I've called...I've sent texts. I got nothing. What happened?" she asks me. I could tell her heart was broken.

"Well, two days before I put my papers in, I got a letter. I was needed to go undercover. Those two days I was trying to get out of it. Kathy said if I left she would divorce me and take Eli away. I couldn't help it. I was forced to go. She didn't know it was undercover and she couldn't know. The only person that knew was Cragen. I couldn't even say goodbye to you. That broke me. I didn't want to go. Cragen said when the mission was over, I could get my job back. So, I had to leave without anyone knowing why and where I left off to. I didn't answer your calls or texts because I knew I couldn't answer your questions until I got back. So, here I am. I'm back. I also have a confession. Liv, I'm in love with you. You are all I have and I'm glad for that. When I saw Brian, my heart broke. Liv, you have to believe me," I say to her.

I practically begged that last sentence. I washed the rag off in the sink, my nose was still bleeding so I put the rag back on my nose. She was still in silence. I think she was processing all of this. I mean I just kind of walked back into her life and possibly ruined her relationship.

"Liv...what are you thinking?" I ask her.