Back to You

Ch.8

A couple of days later, Elliot was at work when he decided today was the day: He was going to talk to Olivia. Elliot taught a 6 week training camp for all students interested in entering the field of criminal justice. He got 30 students at a time and together they would go over everything from crime scenes to firing a weapon. While it wasn't action packed like his old job it was enough. He never got called out in the middle of the night and he was still able to

feel like he was contributing to society. 

After his class that evening he got in his car and made his way to where he thought Olivia lived. 10 minutes later he parks his car and gets out. Breaking out his old skills he canvasses the area, looking for anything that would tip him off to where she might live. On the right side he sees some office buildings and store fronts, automatically eliminating those. On the left there is a parking garage next to what looked like an apartment building.

He makes his way towards the parking garage, deciding he would look for her car first. Elliot made his way through a few aisles before he found it, her older model red mustang convertible. "She definitely lives here," he says to himself as he walks over to her car and rested his hands on the hood. Elliot sent out a silent prayer hoping that tonight goes as well as possible because he needs her back.

Elliot walks back out to the street and takes a seat on the stoop across the street from the apartment building. He's not sure which apartment is hers, let alone if she was even there. Elliot sits there for an hour just watching people go by, looking up at the windows for any sign of her, and getting his head together. His nerves are all over the place as he wrings his hands in front of him.  He's anxious, excited, and lucky. He's lucky because he accidentally ran into her, that he could possibly get a second chance with her, to finally be everything she's always needed. Lucky because he is going to see her again, going to be able to look at her and take her all in. After three years he is ready and this night was long overdue.

He looks back at one of the only opened windows and sees her. He shakes

his head just to make sure it was her he actually saw. He watched as she walked

passed the window again, carrying the baby she was with at the park. This is it. This is his chance. He musters up all the courage he had and walks across the street. As he approaches the door, a young man came out carrying a pizza bag. Taking the opportunity Elliot runs towards the door just in time to catch it before it closed. Taking the elevator he makes his way up to the

fourth floor. He walks down the hallway and stops outside the third door on the left.

Elliot takes a deep breath and knocks on the door.

Inside Olivia has just put Noah down for the night and was making her way towards her own room when she hears the knock on the door. "Who could that be?" She wonders making her way to the door. Stopping to look through her peep hole, a new habit she's picked up since Lewis and also now since Noah, she needed to be more careful. Who she sees is not one of the people she expected "Elliot," she exhales as she jumps back from the door, hoping he couldn't hear her.

One second, one glance, and it all comes back. Everything she felt for him comes flooding back ...  overwhelming her senses. She can still remember his smell, the aftershave and musk. The smell that always lingered on her clothes after a long day, the one that made her feel safe. She can still feel the love that she's had for him all of these years and she realizes that she's never really let him go. She's carried him with her for the last three years in her memories and, in her heart. The way she loved him, how she still loves him, is a once in a life time kind of love. She's loves him unconditionally, through the good and the bad, the ups and the downs. He was a part of her, a part that she'll never get back, but a part she won't ever let go.