What Happened Between Olivia and Elliot on ‘SVU’?

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the Jan. 25 episode of Law & Order: SVU.

In the Season 12 finale, Elliot shoots a rape victim after she tries to open fire in the squad room. It was the wrong move to make, and unfortunately, Elliot is out of second chances. Even though he’s told he’ll be cleared, we find out in Season 13 that he has retired, leaving Olivia by herself. This was abrupt and emotional, since Olivia and Elliot have had a 12-season-long will-they-won’t-they relationship and close friendship.

After all this time, SVU finally reunited Olivia and Elliot in SVU Season 22, Episode 9, “Return of the Prodigal Son” and Organized Crime Season 1, Episode 1, “What Happens in Puglia,” and it made fans extremely emotional. (Spoilers ahead for the latest episodes of SVU and Organized Crime — you’ve been warned!)

The beginning of Elliot and Olivia’s reunion starts when Olivia responds to a call and sees Elliot’s wife, Kathy, on a stretcher. Someone bombed her and Elliot’s car, The Godfather-style, and she was critically injured in the attack. “Liv,” Elliott calls out to Olivia. This is when Olivia learns that Elliot has been working for a special task force in Rome. After visiting Kathy at the hospital, Olivia finally asks the words we’ve all been thinking for so many years.

“Are you sorry for leaving? Or, are you sorry for walking, for not giving me the courtesy of not telling me?” Olivia asks Elliot.

“Both,” he replies.

“You walked away … That’s what you did, Elliot. You were the single most important person in my life and you just disappeared,” Olivia says.

“I know. I was afraid if I heard your voice I wouldn’t have been able to leave,” Elliot says, tearing up.

According to Entertainment Tonight, the tension between Olivia and Elliot isn’t over yet — far from it. Even Mariska tweeted, “So many stories, told step by step, side by side…. with so many stories still waiting to be told.”