Title: Some Crimes
By: giantessmess
Fandom: https://www.amazon.com/Law-Order-Special-Victims-Unit/dp/B00SG0UKJC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1499638252&sr=8-9&keywords=Law+and+Order:+SVU+dvd&linkCode=ll1&tag=michaelchance-20&linkId=e5186419b226c813cda893d34bb3b95aLaw and Order: SVU
Pairing: Alex/Olivia
Rating: PG
Word count: 250
Notes: thanks to dictionary.com ;P***
The law doesn't cover all crimes.
Like lying, for instance, as your partner takes another "˜sick day,' when really you know she's taken to drinking in the daytime.
And the crying.
He sees her returning from coffee breaks, red-eyed.
"God, I should've gone. I should've gone with her."
When they drink together, she either broods silently, or babbles about Alex as if she might enter the bar at any moment. Elliot tries to listen. Tries not to hate her, for lying about it until after it was all over.
Protection. What protection? "'Saving' people from their own lives is a crock, if it rips the guts out of them anyway. (And what exactly is the appropriate jail-time for heartbreaking?). Besides, Valez is just one person. If Alex didn't piss him off, she would've rubbed someone else the wrong way.
"She never backs down, El."
He can't argue with that. But he also doesn't think any of this is Alex's fault. Or Olivia's, for not diving in front of the bullet. (Or for never opening up.)
"I just...did she really want to hear about that stuff? You think she wanted that in her head?"
Now all she can do is kick herself for wasting that time. More than one thing died, when Alex didn't. And even after all the perps are rounded up, the distance and gaps will stick in the air between them. Sometimes there isn't anything left to say.
No, Elliot thinks. The law doesn't cover any of it.***