Chapter 1

"Everyone my office now!" yelled Cragen from the doorway to his office.

Olivia sighed, pushed her chair back and pushed herself up.

"What you do now?" asked Fin asked her.

"Nothing," she told him leading them passed Cragen and into the office. Cragen shut the door behind and before taking his seat back behind his desk he closed all the blinds on the windows.

Munch looked around the room and grinned at everyone. "All very cloak and dagger."

Cragen looked at him but didn't smile as he stood behind his desk.

"We have been requested to protect a witness, an FBI agent who has been undercover for just over a year." he told them. "At present not even the FBI know where he is, he will get in touch and arrange a meet at a time and place he feels safe at. Our job will be to get him back to New York and keep him safe. The Bikers he is testifying against have already tried to shoot him. They want him dead because he knows too much. The FBI needs his testimony to bring the gang down on drug charges, weapon charges and rape."

"You gotta be kidding me," sighed Olivia. "We have been told by the FBI we need to babysit one of their witnesses, why can't they do it. What has this got to do with SVU?"

"I'm with Olivia on this one Cap," said Amaro. "We have enough to do with our case loads without this."

"Our cases are being taken over by other Units for the duration of this task…."

"But Cap why us, don't the FBI have enough of their men to cover babysitting a witness" asked Fin.

Cragen held his hand up to silence them. "The reason he broke his cover was because he was expected to have sex with someone in the club house, in front of everyone else. He refused when the girl they brought him was only 15 years old. The gang were already suspicious when a few of their girls had gone missing. It turns out he was giving them money and putting them on buses back home or having the local police arrest them and return them home. He was beaten and threw into a room with the girl and told to have sex with her or they would kill them both. The gang was in a circle around them and they all had guns pointing into the centre."

"Jesus," said Rollins. "How the hell did he get out of it?"

"The local police raided the place, he grabbed the girl threw her on the back of his bike and got out of there. The local police chased him for a while before giving up. He has been on the run ever since. The gang traced him at one point when he was trying to get in touch with his handler, they shot at him but he got away. He has been in hiding ever since."

"Cap I understand he has had a rough time but this is FBI business not ours. So I ask again why do we need to give up our cases to protect him?" asked Olivia.

Cragen sighed and picked up the file in front of him.

"Because he asked for us," he told them all as he handed Olivia the file. "He refuses to come out of hiding unless we are the ones protecting him. We are the only ones he trusts."

Olivia narrowed her eyes and opened the file looking at the photo inside.

"No," she said shaking her head."You got to be fucking kidding me," she said snapping her head up and glaring at Cragen. He shook his head.

"I'm serious…. This is serious," he told her.

"Liv what is it?" asked Fin as Olivia stared back into the file.

"Olivia," said Amaro as she sat in silence.

"I….. I can't do this," she said throwing the file on the desk and pushing herself quickly out of the seat and rushing to the door."

"Olivia!" yelled Cragen as she got to the door. "You can't say anything to anyone," he warned her as Munch picked up the file and opened it.

"Shit," he said handing the file to Fin.

"Oh boy," said Fin looking at Munch then Cragen. "I will go after her," he told Cragen throwing the file on the desk and quickly leaving the office.

Rollins picked up the file and looked at the photo."Who is he?" she asked looking at the man with longish un kept hair and a goatee beard before passing it to Amaro.

"That my fellow crime busting and soon to babysitter friends is the one and only Detective Elliot Stabler," he grinned. "Or should I say Agent Stabler?" he asked Cragen. "I can't believe he went to the dark side."

"Elliot Stabler?" asked Amaro. "As in Olivia's old Partner, they guy who just left and never got in touch, that Stabler."

"The one and only," said Munch. "Although I'm starting to think there was a lot more to his strange disappearance now," he said raising an eyebrow at Cragen.

"There was, but I was only told it all this morning, I will fill you all in once we are on the road."

"Cap, I'm not being funny but…. I think it would be best to leave Olivia out of this."

Cragen couldn't help but smile "You do, do you."

Amaro nodded. "I saw what she was like when I first started here, she doesn't need this, and she doesn't need him screwing up her life again."

Cragen just nodded. "Well thank you for your concern Detective Amaro and I'm sure Olivia will appreciate you looking out for her, but I won't take her off this just because you think I should. If she wants to step down then fair enough I won't force her."

"But Cap…"

Cragen raised his hand. "That is the end of this conversation. I want you all ready to leave in two hours. We have a flight to catch."

"A flight?" asked John.

Cragen nodded. "We are flying out then we will pick up two vehicles and drive back."

"Drive back, why not just fly?"

"They want us to keep him out of sight, he might be spotted at an airport but they reckon if we stay off the highways we have a better way of getting him back here alive. They also think there is a leak at the FBI, so they are putting the word out that Agents are flying to get him and are bringing him back to act as a decoy. That way no one will be suspicious of us flying out. As only two people know we are in on this and one of them is Dana Lewis. She will be the one to get in touch with us."

"Damn, I love all this sneaky beaky stuff," grinned John.

"This is serious John," snapped Amaro. "You saw the state of Olivia when Stabler left, she was a mess."

"Yes she was, but going undercover and just leaving her are two different things."

"He has been gone for a year and a half without one phone call," he said following Munch up to the cribs with Rollins trailing behind.

"And I'm sure there is a good reason for it and I for one can't wait to hear all about it. Of course Elliot might end up turning himself back over to the Biker Gang once Olivia gets her hands on him," he said entering the cribs and leaving Rollins and Amaro stood outside.

Amaro let out a deep breath and fell back against the wall.

"What's the matter with you?" Rollins asked resting against the opposite wall. "This could be good for Olivia, it will give her the answers she needed."

"Huh, yeah right, the man is a total prick for what he done to her."

"You don't know that…"

"He hurt her!" he yelled. "And I won't let him do that again to her, I won't let him hurt her like he done last time," he said storming away from Rollins. She sighed and dropped her head back against the wall.

"This is gonna be fun," she said to herself.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Olivia rubbed her eyes and dropped her head back against the head rest as the plane levelled out.

"You sure you can handle this?" asked Cragen. "I don't want the added pressure of you being pissed off on this job."

She nodded but never spoke and Cragen leaned closer to her so he could talk quietly. "He couldn't tell you Olivia."

She opened her eyes and faced him. "You said he has been under for just over a year," she whispered angrily. "And I get he couldn't get in touch during this time, I've been there I understand that," she said thinking back to when she was Oregon. "But that doesn't explain the five or so months before that. That doesn't explain why he never answered my calls or messages, does it?"

"How many?" Cragen asked her.

"What?"

"How many calls, how many text messages. How long did you try to get in touch with him before you gave up?" he asked.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Just wondering," he said. "You see, I care for both you and Elliot. You were the perfect Partner's, you both worked so well together and cared for each other way more than you should have as partners."

Olivia went to speak but Cragen held up his hand.

"I understand your pissed that he never got in touch, but what I want to know is if you were that worried about him….. Why didn't you go around and visit him," he knew his words were going to piss her off, but it didn't stop him asking it, it had to be said.

Olivia glared at him.

"What!"

"Why didn't you go and see him. Sure I know he wasn't answering your calls, but you could have gone to see him. He had shot a kid; his head was probably all over the place. And instead of going to him and seeing how he was, after a couple of weeks you just stopped calling, and moped around the place snapping at everyone."

"Fuck you!" she snapped a little too loud and a few people turned in their direction looking at them. "You don't think it was hard for me, I held Sister Peg in my arms as she died."

"And Elliot held Jenna, the child he had just shot, the child whose life he had ended to save us all. Nobody knew where or who she was going to shoot next so Elliot shot her."

"He had his family around him….." she said tears in her eyes.

"But he didn't have his Partner… When you went to Oregon I saw him calling your number every minute he had. He called the FBI at least three times every day trying to get answers. Hell they called me and told me if he didn't stop they would get him for harassment, I even found him drunk in your apartment. For three months he tried to find you. But you….. You gave up after a few weeks and have been putting the blame on him ever since, making it sound like he gave up on you."

"It wasn't….. I didn't…"

"Yes you did Olivia, that's why Fin is pissed with him and Amaro doesn't like him despite the fact he has never met him."

Cragen sighed and ran his hand over his face.

"You want to know why he left? Why he didn't want to talk to anyone? After shooting Jenna he went to a bar and got drunk. Sick of all the calls and just wanting to be alone, he smashed up his phone. He staggered home and found the place empty. Kathy apparently was pissed because he was late again and left taking Eli with her. Elliot spent the next few weeks getting drunk trying to block it all out."

"I….. I didn't know."

"Well maybe if you visited him you would have. In the end he pulled himself together and went to stay with his Mom up the coast. He thought you hadn't tried to call him, because he didn't have a cell phone. He thought you hated him for shooting Jenna and that's why you hadn't been in touch. That's why he handed his papers in."

"I….. I could never hate him."

"But he didn't know that. A month later he found out Eli wasn't his; it was like everything he cared about was gone. The FBI went to see him a month or so later thanks to Dana Lewis to see if he was interested in the case. He had nothing else so he took the job."

Cragen handed her Elliot's file. "It's all in here," he told her as he watched her wiping her eyes. "Olivia I didn't want to upset you but you have spent the last year and a half being a bitch about Elliot leaving and we have all tip toed around you. It was time for someone to tell you the truth….. You needed to hear the truth. Elliot has been through enough the last year, he doesn't need you being a bitch to him when we finally meet up with him. And he also doesn't deserve getting the cold shoulder from Fin and Amaro either."

Olivia looked at him but never spoke.

"Now I am saying this as your Captain, sort your head out or get on the return flight back to New York, cause I can't have you jeopardising this job."

Olivia opened her mouth to say something but Cragen spoke before she could.

"As your friend, I'm asking you to think of all the times Elliot had your back and you had his. You both made mistakes over the last year and a half, but can you really tell me you haven't missed your partner," he said standing up. "You need to stop being angry with him for something he never done, otherwise you are going to lose him for a lot longer than a year and a half….. Now I'm going to have a word with John and Fin, I suggest you read that file," he said walking down the plane aisle.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You gotta be friggin kidding me," said Fin as him, John, Cragen and Olivia stood looking at the vehicle in front of them.

"I think it's great," chuckled Munch.

"You would, it probably brings back great memories of the 60's," he said looking back at the motor home in front of them.

"They said they wanted us to blend in," said Cragen. "I guess this makes it look like we are just on a road trip."

"And what if this gang comes after us; we can't exactly out run them. Shit as though this job wasn't a pain in the ass to start with," he grumbled."Come on Liv, back me up on this," he said turning to Olivia who had been stood quietly looking at the motor home.

"I think its fine," she said opening the door and climbing inside.

"She okay?" John asked Cragen.

"She will be, I just had to tell her a few home truths and it hit her a little hard."

Fin looked away. Cragen had watched him go and sit next to Olivia during the flight and he figured Olivia had told him everything he had said to her.

"She gonna be able to handle this job okay?" John asked him as Fin followed Olivia into the home.

"I think she will be fine," he smiled. "If I thought there was a problem, she would be back on the flight to New York as we speak."

John was about to say something but they were interrupted by the loud roar of a black sports car pulling up next to them.

"Hell no!" said Fin coming to the doorway of the motor home as he looked at the car and the grinning faces of Amaro and Rollins, as they sat in the convertible wearing sunglasses. "How come they get that and we have this?"

"Luck of the draw I guess. You guys know where we are staying tonight," Cragen asked them. They both nodded. "Okay we will meet you there; if anything changes I will call you."

"See you guys there," grinned Rollins as she turned up the radio and Amaro accelerated loudly away from the group.

"Dammit," grumbled Fin going back into the motor home. Cragen and John looked at each other and laughed before climbing in the front seats and setting off after their colleagues.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Olivia lay on the double bed staring up at the ceiling. Despite having a motor home they had booked into a Motel for the night. Amaro and Rollins sharing a room as they were pretending to be married, and Munch, Fin and Cragen sharing a room, which meant Olivia, had a room to herself for now which she was happy with.

Cragen's words had been going round and round in her head all day. At first she had been angry with him, then angry with Elliot and finally the anger had turned to herself, when she finally realised how selfish she had been.

All she wanted to do now was talk to him and to tell him how sorry she was for not going to see him and not trying harder. She just hoped he didn't hate her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. She jumped out of bed and pulled her grey hoody over her head.

"Who is it?" she asked quietly.

"It's Don."

She unlocked the door and stepped back as she opened it letting him in.

"Everything okay?" she asked him.

He nodded as she closed the door and wrapped her arms around her waist hugging herself.

"Elliot called five minutes ago."

Olivia felt her heart beat rising and her stomach started to flip.

"Is… Is he okay?"

"Honestly, I don't know. We didn't talk for too long. He was on the phone long enough to give me the coordinates of where to meet him tomorrow. It's a lake about three hours from here, a vacation spot so we won't look out of place."

"What about Amaro and Rollins in that car?"

"They are booking into a lodge for a few days."

"Wouldn't it be best to get Elliot and just leave, instead of waiting around and giving them a chance to find us? We would be safer on the move."

"I agree however Elliot insisted we stayed for a couple of days. He sounded tired. I'm thinking he just needs to rest for a while. We will book in for a couple of nights and just take it from there."

Olivia leant back against the door and Cragen watched as she chewed on her lower lip.

"You were right," she said quietly. "About Elliot."

Cragen sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. "I shouldn't have been so harsh on you; it was a bad time for everyone."

"I gave up on him. I was pissed because I thought he didn't need me, just because he didn't reply to my texts. I though he didn't need me, that he had Kathy and his kids, I mean what could I do for him that they couldn't."

"You were his Partner Olivia, of course he needed you."

"Yeah well at the time I didn't think that. I just thought he was ignoring me, that he didn't need me, and the more I thought that and let it in my head the more angry I got. In the end I just thought to hell with him. Especially when you told me he had handed his papers in. I was so fucking angry with him because he didn't come to me first."

"And now?"

She sighed and moved across the room and sat down next to him on the bed.

"Now, I'm just angry with myself for not going to him. If the roles had been reversed he would have hounded me. He would have kept calling, kept texting, hell he probably would have camped outside the door of my apartment until I talked to him. It shouldn't have mattered that he had a family or hadn't answered my calls, I should have gone to his house and forced him to talk to me, and I shouldn't have given up."

"So what now?" he asked her. "When you see him tomorrow?"

"I tell him I'm sorry and pray to god that he doesn't hate me."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Olivia took some bottles of cold water from the fridge and moved to the front of the motor home and handed out the water.

"Glad to see they gave us the home where the air con is busted," moaned Fin opening the water and taking a large drink.

"How much further we got to go?" she asked Cragen who was driving.

"Only about half an hour. Amaro said he would call if they saw anything strange when they got there…."

"As in a gang of hairy bikers fishing down by the lake," butted in John. "Or sitting around a camp fire singing Gin gang gooley."

"I guess as we have heard nothing then the place is good to go," he said ignoring John.

Olivia sat down behind the driver's seat and stared out the window at bending road in front of them as it wound through the trees and hills, and she couldn't help but think how nice this would be if she were on vacation.

Twenty minutes later they pulled up to a wooden reception hut.

"I will go and book us in," said Cragen standing up and stretching. "Fin, Olivia take a quick look around. John, Nick sent a text they are in cabin 14. Take a walk over there and say hello."

They all nodded and climbed out the motor home into the fresh air. Olivia took a deep breath.

"Smells so good, so fresh," she said looking at Fin.

"Give me the city any day," he grumbled making her smile.

"Come on lets head down towards the lake the place looks pretty quiet," she said as they walked side by side.

"Yeah, maybe that's why he chose here…. How are you feeling about seeing him again?"

"A little worried, I just don't want him to hate me after everything that's happened."

Fin chuckled. "Honestly Liv, I don't think Stabler knows how to hate you and no matter what you might say, you can never hate him either, not deep down or in here," he said tapping his chest above his heart.

"And what about you, you haven't been his biggest fan over the last year and a half."

"Only because I saw how upset you were. And just like you I thought he was he was being a prick and ignoring your calls. We all could have handled this better, even Stabler. So don't beat yourself up," he said nudging her shoulder as they stopped by the lake.

"It's hard not to knowing he has been alone for all this time. The fact he took an undercover job that took him away from his kids," she said bending and picking up a stone throwing it into the calm water. "He must have been in a bad way."

"You read his file. Kathy had gone, Eli wasn't his. His kids were in college or Uni. He had quit his job. This job despite how it turned out was probably something he needed, something for him to focus on."

"But if I had gone to see him…maybe he could have come back to SVU."

"Honestly Liv, I think his time was up. He needed to get out and get away from it. It was slowly killing him."

Olivia nodded. "Yeah I guess."

They both turned when they heard the horn on the motor home and saw Cragen waving at them.

"Dads calling," laughed Fin making her smile as they both turned and walked back up to the reception.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Elliot watched from the wooded hillside as Olivia and Fin headed back to the motor home and Cragen. He had lost track of Munch as soon as Olivia had stepped out of the doorway, his eyes had never left her.

He winced in pain and looked down at his stomach and removed his hand that he had pressed there, blood was seeping through the bandage he had put on.

He had wanted to go to them straightaway but he had to know they hadn't been followed. He had been hiding in the tree for the last two hours.

A few minutes after Olivia and Fin returned Munch appeared and they all got in and started the engine. The home turned around and Elliot followed it the best he could as it drove down the track towards the lake. He lost sight for a while as he moved through the tree line. He found it again parked down by the lake away from everyone else in a secluded spot.

"Fuck," he cursed quietly as he sat on a log behind a bush and kept watch on the motor home. Despite the pain he was in and the blood he was losing he couldn't show himself yet. He had to make sure there was no one following them.

He carefully pulled off his t-shirt and pulled the tape that was holding on the bandage. He bit down on his lip to stop him crying out as he pulled the bandage away. The knife wound was still seeping blood.

He rolled up his t-shirt and pressed it against the wound. He just had to hold out for a couple of more hours. He had to make sure he was safe; they were safe, before he went to them.

I know a new story when I have so many going but I promise I am going to complete them all, but when I get an idea I just have to go with it. Well as long as people want me to.