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It’s an innocent enough comment but it’s been a long day and Olivia just doesn’t think. It’s always a little nerve-wracking to work with Elliot. It reminds her too much of when they were partners and it’s never clear right away whether it’ll be a good thing or not.
The case itself had gone well enough and it ended up feeling good — satisfying — to work with Elliot once more. They’d gotten their suspect dead to rights and she doubts there’ll be an issue when it comes to court. The only thing that had gone mildly wrong was during the arrest.
Ever since she got run off the road, Olivia hasn’t been as good at chasing perps so when their suspect had taken off upon seeing them, she’d let Elliot take the lead and chase the guy while she took the other, quicker route in order to cut them off. She’d made it just in time and while she and Elliot had managed to put the suspect in handcuffs easily enough, it hadn’t been without her knocking her shoulder against the broken edge of a dumpster and requiring a couple of stitches to patch her up.
There hadn’t been much time to think about it with the case barrelling on. So she doesn’t really think when Elliot says, “that’s gonna scar” as he joins her in her office. He’d offered to bring her back once Ayanna thanked SVU for their help. He’s motioning towards her shoulder and she shrugs her good one before settling onto the couch. A gentle, “another one for the collection” slips from her lips without any real recognition of what she’s said but more importantly who she said it to.
It’s only the following silence and Elliot’s furrowed brow that makes her realise. She lets out a sigh and pats the space beside her. He’s slow to do so but once he’s pushed her office door shut, he joins her, perching on the edge of the couch and looking back at her.
Concern and confusion are written all over his face and it’s clear he has questions but she tells him, softly but certainly, “not right now” and “I’m okay”. He murmurs a gentle, “while I was gone?” And all she can do is nod and when pain rips across his features, she simply takes his hand and smiles. She squeezes and reminds him that she’s okay and that her shoulder will be fine. Only, despite not knowing exactly what she means by collection — that he doesn’t know how many scars exactly or why or how she got them — he still looks like he’s in agony, even when he swallows and nods his head and offers her up a smile of his own.