A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry this is so late, but these last two weeks have been kind of crazy. You know how things happen in threes? Well our basement flooded, my sister got sick, and then she gave it to the rest of us. I'm finally getting over it and since I already had half of this chapter written before I got sick it thankfully didn't take that long for me to finish it. Sorry for the delay and thanks for reading!

Chapter Six

"Jeff, I seriously cannot have this fight with you right now." Olivia huffs, leaning back against the wall, letting her head thud softly against it.

After they had finished dinner Olivia had stepped out of the room to call Jeff and update him on the change in plans concerning the duration of their stay in New York. He'd been understanding at first, but after a few minutes their pleasant conversation had turned into an interrogation about Elliot and the extent of her relationship with him. Jealousy and anger began to infiltrate his voice and before she knew what was happening Jeff had started to call their engagement and impending marriage into question.

"When would you like to have it then, Olivia? Because if he's going to be part of your life again we're not going to be able to avoid it anymore." He spits back.

"Anymore?" she asks, confused.

"I'm not stupid Olivia. You never 'fell out of love' with him." He pauses and lets out a dry chuckle. "I knew from the moment you walked into the precinct all those years ago that you were out of my reach. But I ignored my gut feelings about you. I fell in love with you, I got accustomed to the idea of filling the role that had been absent in Ellie and Ryan's lives for so long. But always, in the back of my mind, I knew that he would always come back. Somehow, he would come back into your life and take you away from me."

She opened her mouth to respond but she couldn't, because in the back of her mind, she knew he was right. She'd been living a lie with Jeff, even if she hadn't known that she had been at the time. But he was right, in the back of her mind she too had always known that Elliot would eventually come back into her life, their lives were too intertwined for it not to happen.

But she had-did, genuinely love Jeff. Maybe it wasn't a 'spend the rest of her life with him' kind of love like she had thought, but it was love. When she found out she was pregnant, he had become not just her new partner, but a best friend that immediately volunteered to change diapers and cover for her at work when the twins had kept her up until three in the morning the night before.

After a decade and a half of partnership and friendship they had basically just fallen into taking the next step. But until now she hadn't realized that's what had happened and she doesn't want to let her comfortable, safe relationship fall apart, but she also doesn't want to keep living this lie.

"Jeff, he isn't-he won't take me away from you. He knows…" She stops mid-sentence because she doesn't know if he knows. She hasn't spoken a word about Jeff to Elliot, maybe she had just assumed that Ryan or Ellie would have told him.

"You haven't told him about me."

It's not a question, it's a statement and she stammers trying to backpedal and fix this mess she's created, but she knows it's no use. She's run yet another meaningful relationship into the ground and she sinks down the wall to join it.

"I'll take care of canceling everything." He offers, referring to the wedding plans they'd made thus far. "I'm sorry, Olivia."

"Jeff, you don't…" she pauses, and tries to swallow past the growing lump in her throat, "I'm sorry too."

"Goodbye, Liv."

She's too focused on how different that nick name sounds coming off his lips instead of Elliot's that before she can say goodbye he's already hung up. She just stares at the blank screen on her phone in the palm of her hand. For a few seconds she's in that blissful limbo between understanding what just happened and waiting for her emotions to catch up with it. But then just as fleetingly as the moment came, it's gone and the tears come running down her face, hot and with haste.

Her head falls into her hands and she tries to suppress the sobs that are making her chest heave up and down rapidly. She is relieved that she and Jeff are no longer living a lie, but the fact that she had only just figured out that their relationship was a lie and then suddenly it was over picked up the weight that had been lifted from her shoulders and slammed it back down on her head.

She hears a door open down the hall and tries to wipe the tears off her face as Elliot steps out of the hotel room and walks down to where she sits. With her knees pulled up to her chest she is able to hide her shaking body for a few seconds, but her cover doesn't last long; it really never had a chance with him standing there looking right through her like he's always been able to do.

He slides down the wall beside her and brings he's knees up to rest his arms on. "Wanna talk about it?"

"No." She breathes out on a sob. "Not-not yet."

"Okay."

She looks at him like he's just grown an arm out of the top of his head. Seventeen years ago he would have badgered her until she had told him what was bothering her. She knows that everyone changes, she's definitely changed in the time they've been apart, but this new Elliot she is seeing more of is putting her out of her element.

"What?" He asks, clearing confused by the way she's looking at him. "Is there something wrong with my hair?"

She snorts as he brushes a hand over his receding hairline, "What hair?"

He rolls his eyes. "Haha, very funny."

She reaches out and runs a hand over his head, "You're keeping it pretty…uh…short these days."

"Whatever." He grumbles, swatting her hand away.

They sit in comfortable silence for a while and as the time passes she finds her shoulder drifting closer and closer to his until she's leaning against him. When she realizes this she considers moving away but he brushes back up against her softly, confirming that he is more than okay with their closeness.

She wipes away the few tears that still linger on her cheeks and lets out a soft sigh, "Y'know, you don't have to make my problems your problems."

He shrugs his shoulders, "Guess I never really grew out of that habit."

She looks over at him and his intense and inquisitive blue eyes are already trained on her. She quickly darts her eyes back down to her lap and wonders how he's still able to make her feel like this. She's nervous, and god dammit she's blushing. They're both approaching fifty and somehow he is able to make her feel like a teenager.

"Well, if you're not ready to talk, I can tell you about the plan I just came up with."

She looks back up at him, confused. "What plan?"

"Glad you asked." He smirks and she nudges him with her shoulder.

"Smartass."

"Well that first part is definitely true." He laughs. "Anyway, I was thinking that it would be boring for you and for them to just sit in this hotel for the next week and a half."

She nods her head hesitantly. "Yes, that would be pretty boring."

"So, instead of doing that I thought we could take them to Long Beach, more specifically my mom's house." He explains.

"Well, doesn't your mom need her house?" Olivia asks with a raised eyebrow. "And who would cover for you at work? Plus, I wasn't really sure how long Ellie and I would be here so we didn't pack that much. I mean, I know I just said we would stay for the rest of the time Ryan was supposed to be here but-"

"Liv." He interrupts, stopping her rambling. "I've got solutions for all of those things, I just haven't gotten to them yet."

She looks at him, slightly bewildered. "What?"

He laughs at her expression. "You called me a smartass, not a dumbass, obviously there was a reason for that."

"I…" She trails off and simply shakes her head. "Fine, go ahead. Tell me all of these solutions that you have."

So they sit there on the floor for the next fifteen minutes as Elliot explains to her the specifics of his plan. Fin is still working on the squad, much to Olivia's surprise, and he is now a sergeant which allows him to fill in whenever Elliot needs to take off; which isn't often, he mentions.

He also informs her that Bernie is no longer living in the beach house, but has downsized to a condo. It's still on the beach, but it's less work for her which puts Elliot's mind at ease now that she's getting older. She did keep the house though and lets him and his siblings use it whenever they want.

"And if you hadn't noticed, we're currently in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the country so I'm sure there is some place that you and Ellie could find suitable beach clothing. And Ryan, since I'm assuming he didn't pack any beach stuff either."

Olivia rolls her eyes at him. "You think you've got everything figured out, don't you?"

He shakes his head, "No, I still don't know what had you so upset when I came out here."

"Yeah…" She breathes out, her head thudding back against the wall as all the thoughts and feelings she'd been pushing away came rushing back all at once.

Once again he doesn't push her for information and they sit in silence, though this time it isn't as comfortable. She wants him to ask her questions though, because she's not really sure where to start. She needs this new Elliot to take a break for a minute and let the old one come back and ask her questions until she finally tells him everything.

"I'm not really sure where to start." She whispers, hoping he'll take the hint.

"Okay." He answers and she's slightly annoyed that he won't just be nosey and ask, but then he picks up her left hand and taps the ring on her finger. "Does it have to do with this?"

She nods, "Yeah. He-we…its over."

"I'm sorry."

She wonders if he really is, but when she looks over he does seem genuinely sorry. "Yeah, I am too."

"Did he make you happy?" He asks quietly.

Olivia looks back down at her hands as she nods her head. "Yeah, really happy. I loved him."

He wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her against his side just her tears begin to fall again. She's only really been in love twice in her life. First it was Elliot who was her head over heels, couldn't imagine a life without him love. He was that love that she still hasn't fallen out of love with. Then there was Jeff, who was there when she needed someone to keep her standing. He kept her from falling apart when she was faced with the unexpected challenge of being a single parent. He was her love of necessity, something she just fell into, but that didn't make the pain of losing him hurt any less.

She shakily moves her right hand over to her left and manages to get the ring off her finger. She holds it out in front of her and lets out a sigh. "I guess this was bound to happen eventually."

"What do you mean?"

Olivia tucks the diamond ring into her pocket and lets her head fall back against Elliot's shoulder. "He said that he always knew you'd come back into my life and apparently he never planned on sharing me or the twins if that happened."

"God, Liv I'm-"

"Elliot, don't it's not your fault." She interrupts.

"But-"

"No." She shakes her head and pushes off him, patting his shoulder. "The only person at fault here is me."

It's always been me, she thinks.

She stands up and Elliot follows suit and they walk back down to the room side by side, stopping in front of the door. "It's getting late and when I tell Ellie we're going shopping she'll have Ryan and I up at the crack of dawn."

Elliot laughs, "Okay. I thought we could head out there on Friday, is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, sure." She agrees, sliding the room key into the lock. "We'll see you then?"

He nods his head, "I'll call you if anything changes."

"Goodnight, El." She says with a small smile as she steps ino the room.

"Night, Liv."

She watches him walk down the hall to the elevator before she closes the door. As she walks further into the room she hopes her face isn't too red and splotchy, knowing that if it is Ellie will be badgering her with questions trying to figure out what's wrong. She smiles, realizing that even though he doesn't do that anymore, Ellie definitely inherited that trait from Elliot.

Olivia walks over to the desk where her small duffel bag sits and removes the ring from her pocket and deposits it in one of the inside zipper pockets. When she turns around Ellie is staring at her intently, but she doesn't ask any questions until Olivia has gone into the bathroom, changed, and is sitting on the bed beside her.

"Is everything okay, Mom?" She asks as Olivia as she gets under the covers and pulls Ellie to her side.

"I'm not really sure." She answers truthfully and kisses her daughter's head. "But I think it will be soon. "