"Police! Freeze!" Elliot called for the third time.
Of course, the suspect they were in pursuit of, didn't. He ran as fast as he could.
Cursing and about to call for back-up, Elliot rounded the corner just in time to see Liv slamming their suspect against a parked car. She snapped the handcuffs around his wrists and began to read him his rights. <She's not even out of breath!> Elliot observed.
He had watched his partner for the last two days - and his conclusions made him feel not only proud but a little frustrated, too: Olivia could outrun him in a foot-race and after four blocks tackle the suspect and cuff him before he could even say "lawyer". She could stare down a perp in the interview room until the hardened criminal began to squirm on his uncomfortable chair. She could disassemble her duty weapon faster than his old Marine Corps drill sergeant. Olivia, he concluded, was one tough cop.
But, he added silently, she could also wipe away a crying child's tears with such tenderness you wanted to sit down beside them and cry, too. She could tell a scared woman to call her anytime, even at three in the morning, and actually mean it. She could calm down hysteric parents while their abused child was patched up in the E.R.
Olivia's toughness, balanced by her natural compassion, was not the characteristic of a lesbian but that of a competent cop.
Watching Olivia at work wouldn't give him any clue about her sexual orientation at all, so he resorted to observing her interactions with other women. He studied her drinking coffee with their female witnesses, he watched her in court with judge Lena Petrovsky and he observed a heated discussion about a warrant with A.D.A. Alex Cabot.
After two days he finally had to realize, that the constant surveillance of his partner only managed to achieve one thing: It made him more paranoid than Munch. <It's really stupid to suddenly question each and every little interaction she has with every female between 18 and 80! I don't even think Alex and Liv are really together. If they were, Liv wouldn't dare speak to her like that... unless she likes sleeping on the couch...>
He gave up on his informal observation and opted for a more direct approach - it was time for an interrogation. Elliot waited for an uniformed officer to lead their suspect from the interview room, before he quickly refilled Olivia's coffee mug, giving her ample incentive to stay in the room a little longer.
"We should be able to go home on time for a change today," he offered conversationally.
"Yeah." Olivia grinned. "Take care not to scare Kathy and the postman too much."
Elliot shot her a glare, but decided to keep up his line of questioning. Nothing could distract him from his mission, not even Liv's provocative theory about what went on in the Stabler household when Elliot was at work. "You've got plans for tonight?"
Olivia shook her head. "Unless you call eating ice-cream and catching up on paperwork proper evening entertainment."
"So, you're not seeing anyone right now?" Elliot asked.
Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"
<Answering questions with questions, Liv?> He studied her.
"I hope you're not trying to fix me up again! Once was more than enough, thank you very much!"
<Would cousin Jenny have been better than her brother Alan?> Elliot silently wondered. "So?" he prompted. "You never answered my question."
A sigh. "Are you asking for any particular reason?"
Elliot shrugged as casually as he could manage. "Oh, just something Kathy said a few days ago..."
"Kathy?!" Olivia's eyes widened.
Elliot furrowed his brow. How came his own partner seemed to fear his wife's interpersonal observation skills - but not his own? "We have this problem with Maureen... well, maybe I shouldn't call it a 'problem', but..."
"What is it? C'mon, Elliot, you can talk to me about everything, you know that," Olivia encouraged.
He drew in a deep breath. "Completely by accident, I saw Maureen kissing another girl."
"Oh, boy!"
"Exactly my thoughts," murmured Elliot.
Olivia cleared her throat. "Did you talk to her?"
"That's what this is all about... Kathy suggested I should talk to you first and ask if you could... maybe...?" He tried a lost-puppy-look on her.
"Me?! Having a sensitive chat with your teen daughter?! Elliot, that's like asking a frog to play Mozart! I don't have any kids, nieces, nephews or whatever. Remember, childless Liv here!"
"We just thought... Kathy thought..."
"What?"
Elliot nestled with his tie knot. "... that you are... could possibly be... not totally uncomfortable ... or even unfamiliar... with the gay... lifestyle."
Olivia's eyebrow arched. "Translation?"
"Your partner thinks you are a lesbian, Detective." Alexandra Cabot leaned in the doorway, her expression inscrutable.
Elliot began coughing as he choked on his own spit. "I don't want to insult any of you," he wheezed.
"Any of us?" Alex shut the door firmly and fixed him with her patented cross-examination-stare. "So in your learned opinion, I'm a lesbian, too, Detective?"
Elliot ducked his head. "I told Kathy it was a crazy idea. The two of you as a couple, that's just ridiculous and I didn't believe it for a second, really!" he tried to reassure them.
"You know what?" Alex crossed the room with two long-legged steps. She lifted her hand.
"What?" Elliot asked reluctantly. He was almost afraid she would throttle him with her manicured fingers.
Instead, she wrapped them gently around the back of Olivia's neck, leaned down and kissed her. "Your wife," she said, straightening after five long seconds, "is absolutely right."
"You're mean," complained Olivia, nonetheless grinning up at Alex. "We should have prepared him more gently for this revelation. Sorry, El."
"If she kissed me like that, I wouldn't call her 'mean'," mumbled Elliot.
Olivia threatened him playfully with her index finger. "If you kissed her like that, I would call you 'dead', partner."
Elliot looked at Olivia, then at Alex and back. "So... you two..."
"Yes," Alex and Olivia spoke together.
<Unbelievable!> His partner and their beautiful A.D.A. with the cool arrogant-lawyer-facade and the fat bank account. He shook his head. "How long has this been going on?"
Olivia looked down at the ground almost guiltily. "A few months. I know, I should have told you... it's just..."
"... we weren't ready to share it with anyone," continued Alex when Olivia fell silent.
<God! They're finishing each others sentences already!>
"I'll leave you two so you can talk." Alex strode to the door. Back over her shoulder she said in Olivia's direction: "Liv, I need your DD-5 on Henley in an hour!"
The door closed behind the A.D.A. and left Elliot and Olivia to stare at each other. "So," Elliot said, breaking the silence, "you really are, huh?"
"In a relationship with Alex?"
"Gay."
Olivia shrugged. "What was it that art dealer we interviewed two years ago said about his wife... 'bisexual but she prefers women'. I think that would be the best description for me at this point in my life. But I'd be happy with just about any label as long as I have Alex."
"Sounds like love," Elliot mused.
A brilliant smile. "Feels like it, too." Olivia studied her partner cautiously. "Are you... okay with it?"
Elliot folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not a homophobe! Do you really think I would begrudge you your first happy relationship in years, just because it's with a woman?!"
Olivia laid a hand on his forearm. "No, of course not. I knew you wouldn't refer me to psych services or hit me over the head with a bible. It's just that this is a part of me that you'd never even suspected and I didn't want it to change anything between us."
Elliot studied her thoughtfully. <Does it change anything between us? Does the fact that she sleeps with women change four long years of partnership and friendship? No,> he decided after a few seconds, <she's still my partner and I'll always have her back no matter what. I'll still try to get her to join the cop's softball team, I'll still fight her for the crib's only halfway comfortable cot and I'll still steal her orange juice when she's not looking. But maybe I won't call her early sunday morning anymore just because Kathy wants me to help with spring cleaning or my mother-in-law is on her way over and I need Liv to call me away to some *really important* double-murder.> He tried valiantly not to picture the sunday morning cuddling or any other activities in the Benson/Cabot household.
"Elliot?" Anxious brown eyes waited for an answer.
"It won't change anything between us," he assured her. "Well... except maybe now you will be a little more understanding when I tell you that two or more PMS'ing females in the same household..." He looked at her face. "... nope, not understanding at all."
Olivia smiled and relaxed.
Elliot scratched the back of his neck. "So... did Maureen ever set off your... what do they call it... your gaydar?"
"No, she certainly didn't. Every time I was at your house, she was mooning over some boy."
"You don't think she's gay?" Elliot asked a little hopefully.
Olivia shrugged. "Sexuality is not a black or white thing, Elliot. Maybe Maureen's just experimenting, maybe she's bi and maybe she'll discover she is a full-fledged lesbian. She is just 16. At her age, anything is possible and everything can change. Just because she's kissing a girl today, doesn't necessarily mean you have to join PFLAG and buy a rainbow sticker for the family car."
"So what should we do? Nothing? Just sit and wait?"
"I don't think I'm the right person to tell you what you should or shouldn't do. I can't be your Guide to Gay Etiquette, Elliot."
"Haven't gotten the Secret Handbook yet, huh?"
Olivia laughed. "Something like that. What I do know is that it's not a good idea for me to talk to Maureen before you and Kathy have. If she thinks you're avoiding her because she might be gay..."
Elliot rubbed his chin. "So we should talk to her."
"Only if you're sure you can be supportive. I know you're not a homophobe, but you tend to be a little... hot-headed and overprotective when it comes to your kids," Olivia said with a hint of a smile.
"I'm just worrying about her. I don't want any of my kids to go through life as an outsider, someone who will be discriminated at work, whispered about at school reunions and spat at by total strangers."
Olivia didn't try to whitewash any of it. "I'm sure some of those things will happen to her and it'll hurt her - but not as much as it would hurt to hide who she really is or to have her family criticize her for who she loves."
Elliot nodded slowly. "We won't hurt her like that. I just need some time to get used to all of it. I took a lot of things for granted, just like any other parent. And now I will never lead my oldest daughter to the altar, I'll never bounce her kids on my knees... all those little Whiterspoons... and I'll never play basketball with my son-in-law."
"Bullshit!" Olivia shook her head at him. "If she's really gay, you will stand up for Maureen at her commitment ceremony, you'll bounce her kids on your knees, no matter if they are biologically hers, her partner's or if they are adopted, and who knows your daughter-in-law might have a mean hook shot."
Elliot tilted his head and looked at her. "Have I ever told you how glad I am that you're my partner? Pete, Dave, Alphons and the other boys I've been partnered with would have advised me to 'get the girl some therapy' or they would have told me about their extensive collection of girl-on-girl-porn."
Olivia laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Happy to help. But I think you'll have to excuse me now." She grabbed her empty mug and stood. "I still have a DD-5 to write and an impatient girlfriend to report to."
Elliot leaned back in his chair and watched her walk away. <I really wouldn't mind having a daughter-in-law,> he concluded, <if she's anything like Liv.>
END.
Note: This story is continued in "
Confession".