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Of all places Olivia Benson would normally plan to spend a Saturday night, a karaoke bar with Amanda Rollins wasn’t one of them. The blonde had convinced her that she deserved a night out after the week she’d had.
“So…”
”Amanda,” Olivia warned, sensing the direction her friend was headed.
Amanda took a sip of her drink, shrugging innocently. “I was only gonna ask if you’ve talked to him. You know, on the phone?”
“Who?” Olivia feigned ignorance. “I’m a Captain. I get a lot of phone calls from a lot of people.”
“Is one of those people a tall, bald detective who buys you jewelry and sends flowers to your office?”
“Who says the flowers are from Elliot? Maybe I just wanted to decorate.”
“Come on, Liv.” Amanda groaned. “It’s sweet how insanely in love with you he is.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “He is not insanely in love with me. ”
The truth was, she and Elliot had been dating for a few months now, but Amanda didn’t need to know that yet. She took a long sip of her drink, turning her attention away from Amanda and watching the people who were obviously more drunk than she was, dancing on the karaoke stage.
She should’ve known better than to take her eyes off of her tipsy friend. “Let’s call him and ask.”
Her eyes widened. “What? No! What are we? Sixteen?”
“If we were drinking like this at sixteen, we would have to arrest ourselves.” Amanda pulled out her phone, scrolling through her contacts.
“Are you serious? You are not calling Elliot! Put the phone away, Detective.” Olivia was hoping Elliot was at work, or for some other reason was not able to answer, but before she could get the phone out of Amanda’s hand, the line picked up.
“It’s Sergeant now, Captain” Amanda pushes the phone to her ear and turns her head away.
“Stabler.”
“Hey handsome!” Amanda shouted, clearly much closer to being drunk than Olivia had realized. “I have a question. Olivia wants to know if-”
“It’s nothing, El. She’s losing it. We’re sorry to bother you.” Olivia cut in, glaring at her companion.
Elliot chuckled. “Sonny mentioned you girls were hanging out tonight.”
“You should come join us! It would be fun!” Amanda took another drawn out sip.
“Jesus, Amanda, he’s probably working.”
Elliot cleared his throat. “Actually, uh, I’m at home. Where are you girls at?”
“Karaoke City!” If it was possible, Amanda was getting louder with each drink she took, and Olivia wondered if Elliot’s eardrums were bleeding, but he seemed to be amused.
“ Karaoke ? How the hell did you get Liv to do that?”
”Oh fuck off, Stabler! I can ‘be fun’!” Olivia feigned offense.
His response was low and husky. “I’m well aware of that bab-Olivia.” He caught himself and luckily Amanda didn’t seem to notice. “I could probably use a night out. You sure you don’t mind me crashing your fun?”
”Never!” Amanda screamed, nearly knocking Olivia’s glass over.
“Liv?”
Based on what came out of Olivia’s mouth, she concluded that she must be tipsy herself. “Well, I do miss you.”
“I miss you too,” he replied warmly. “I’ll see you soon. Be safe.”
“Awwwwwwwwww! God you guys are so sweet together.” Amanda giggled as she chugged the remaining bits of her drink. “Let’s go sing before he gets here.”
“Not a chance in hell.” Olivia took another drink, watching as Amanda stumbled towards the karaoke floor.
She’d considered closing out the tab, but ordered another drink when Amanda started singing along to ‘Friends In Low Places’ by Garth Brooks. If she was gonna get dragged into karaoke and singing in public, she wasn’t sure she wanted to remember it in the morning.
“Come on, Liv!” Amanda found her way back to the counter and swung her arm around Olivia’s shoulders. “Live a little! Get it? Live? ”
She started to protest. After all, she was a decorated captain and a mother, but she was off tomorrow, and her son was in Woodstock, and she wasn’t getting any younger. Amanda’s kids were at Sonny’s mother’s, he had driven them up earlier in the day. Olivia and Amanda deserved to have some fun too.
“Fine. One song, but if El shows up, I’m done.” Her former partner absolutely did not need to see her making a fool of herself on stage.
She took another drink before being dragged to the stage, and wondered with each swaying step if she’d underestimated how tipsy she was.
X
One song quickly turned into three, and they had each had enough to drink that Olivia actually found singing karaoke fun. They had just finished belting out to ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, collapsing into a near hysterical mix of laughter and tears, when she noticed Elliot sitting on one of the barstools they’d been at earlier grinning.
Sober Olivia would've been mortified and embarrassed by her next actions. Not-so-sober Olivia didn’t give a shit.
She threw her arms around Elliot, catching him off guard, but he securely wrapped his arms around her.
“Hey, Liv.” He rocked her from side to side as she held on. “Looks like you’re having fun.”
She nodded against his shoulder. “That song was about you, you know? You broke my heart,” she sniffled.
They’d had this conversation when she was sober, and they’d worked through a lot of it, but he knew there would be times like tonight where the hurt was brought back up.
“I know.” He murmured against her hair. His voice was dripping with regret. “I’m so sorry”
“Just promise you’ll never do it again.”
“I promise. I’m never leaving you again.” He spoke into her ear, quietly and softly enough for only her to hear.
“El?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you still love me even though I can’t sing?”
He chuckled, but she felt his arms tighten around her. “Of course I do.”
Olivia buried her face in his neck. Her head was starting to ache, and she closed her eyes against his shoulder, making no move to leave his warm embrace. “You’re a good man. Kathy was lucky.”
Elliot brushed his lips against her temple. “Thanks babe.”
“Olivia is lucky too.”
He barked out a laugh at the use of her name in third person. “Olivia’s gonna have a hell of a hangover tomorrow.”
“You’re wrong. Olivia Benson doesn’t get drunk.”
“Liv-”
“I’m fine. I’m just a little tipsy. And I’m done for tonight.” She opened her eyes long enough to see Amanda still on the stage, singing along to a Shania Twain song. “I’m cutting her off after this song.”
“You sure? You don’t have to stop on my account.”
“I’m stopping for me. I’m too old to drink and party like this.”
“There’s nothing wrong with having a night out, Liv.”
Her only response was a hum and snuggling deeper into his arms. He sat on one of the barstools with her arms still around his neck, pulling her down onto his lap as they watched Amanda.
“You’re cozy.” Olivia told him after a moment.
“I’m cozy?” He asked as if unsure what to make of the comment.
“Yeah, you’re all muscles. You’re practically a human furnace. I like it.”
He chuckled, standing with her still in his arms as Amanda dropped the mic and stumbled towards them.
“Come on! You guys don’t want to sing?” Amanda pouted, but grabbed the edge of the counter before she could say anything else. “Crap, I’m dizzy.”
“I think you’ve had enough, Sergeant.” Olivia lifted her head, but Elliot still wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her steady.
“I’ll drive you girls home.”
”You don’t have to,” Olivia protested. “I don’t want to take up all of your night.”
He’d seen enough horrific things when he worked SVU to know what could happen to two intoxicated women who were out in the dark in New York City trying to hail a cab or an Uber. If Olivia and Amanda were sober, they’d be thinking of that too.
“You’re not. Come on.” He kept an arm wrapped securely around Olivia’s waist to help with her balance, and let Amanda link arms with him to help her balance
“You’ve got a good one, Liv.” Amanda said as they approached Elliot’s car.
“I know. He’s all mine.” Olivia turned, wrapping her arms around Elliot’s neck again as he opened the door, helping her get into her seat.
The drive to Amanda’s was silent, and Elliot waited until she was out of earshot, knowing Olivia wasn’t ready to disclose just yet.
”Your place or mine?” They wouldn’t do anything tonight, not while she wasn’t sober, but she knew he’d make something to help with the hangover, knew she was safe with him, and that he’d hold her hair back if she had to throw up, or whatever else she needed.
He’d take care of her, and love her, and keep her safe, and that was all that mattered.
“Yours.”