"Olivia?" Elliot said his voice concerned. Olivia's eyebrows raised gently and she shot him a gentle smile.

"Yeah?"

"N-nevermind." He stammered out then look down to his paperwork hoping he could get it done soon. Olivia sat at her desk twisting over in her chair, side to side, one leg folded over the other.

Fin and Munch came into the room, they picked up their respective meals, the white take out boxes marked with red characters. They jostled each other and left. Olivia pulled at her turtle neck, then placed it carefully back in place, but not before Elliot noticed the purple/yellow splotching, that confirmed his suspicion.

"Olivia?" Elliot tried once more.

"Hmm?" She said her brown eyes catching his.

"What do you have on your neck?"

"My. My neck?" Olivia said softly,

"El... I have, I have to go." She said and she felt sick, bile rising in her throat and her head spun.

Olivia picked up her purse and left without another world, she drove home, her knuckles white with tension, wrapped around the wheel. When she got home she lay the couch clinging to the furniture to stop the world from turning. Before she fell asleep she gave Cragen the call she should have before she left the precinct, he responded with a fatherly tone to get better. Olivia fell asleep in her day clothes, laying on the couch, until the nightmare came to her and she woke up in a cold sweat. A knock on her door resignated in her head and she stumbled to the door. She looked through the peep hole where Elliot stood patiently outside.

Olivia opened the door. And Elliot invited himself in, normally corgail and a gentleman, Elliot's concern outweighed his manners. "What are you hiding?" He put bluntly, he had spent the entire day worrying about his partner and couldn't imagine what it was, didn't want to, and that scared him. Olivia closed the door softly and turned to face him, leaning against the heavy oak for support.

"Olivia. Please." He said his voice cracking as he said her name. Olivia pressed her lips together, and shook her head softly.

"El. I-i can't." She swallowed and her voice shook.

"Liv." He said his patience wearing out, a lump grew in his throat, "please."

Olivia nodded knowing that her partner was just trying to look out for her, "I, I had a date last night... he he seemed nice and all and he walked me home... when we got back-" she cleared her throat.

Elliot's eyes burned, "tell me he didn't." He growled and started pacing her kitchen.

"I, he, no." Elliot looked unconvinced, his eyes grew dark and his brow set in a hard line but stopped and stayed still.

"Show me." He said his voice as hard as his eyes. Olivia watched, she was sure he was on the edge of violence, but she knew he wouldn't lay a finger on her.

"Elliot, its not a big deal." she tried to persuade him, Elliot just stared at her until she complied. She pulled off her jacket and discarded it on the floor, she paused faltering, not meeting Elliot's blue eyes, before she started to pull the dark turtle neck over her head. She revealed the dark yellowing purple splotches marking her abdomen, there was another one around her waist that clearly showed the imprint of a hand and she had a couple more that dusted her ribs. Elliot sat silent, icily calm. There was bruises down her arms and the one that worried him most, the one around her neck, he had tried to choke her. The bastard had tried to choke her.

Olivia stood in the middle of her living room, goosebumps rising up her arms and revealed stomach, she stood shirtless, in a dark lace bra in front of her partner, a flush creeping up her cheeks but all he did was stare at the bruises on her neck.

"Elliot... say something." She pleaded a lump grew in her throat and she knew she couldn't handle anymore questions. Elliot stood up, ice cold eyes suddenly burning with a new level of hatred.

"I'm going to kill him." He said a gravel in his voice, the muscle in his jaw twitching from being clenched so hard. He made a move to her door, he didn't have a name but he knew her lobby had a video camera and he wouldn't sleep until this bastard had a bullet in his brain. He was turned away from her when she called his name

"El." Her voice broke and tears flooded her face. When Elliot turned back to his sobbing partner he knew that he need to stay. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as her chest shook. She didn't say anything else as she cried, and Elliot maneuvered her to the couch where he laid down. She curled up in his lap her stomach aching where the bruises marked her body. Elliot pulled a blanket over the both of them where Olivia fell asleep, her head resting on his chest. Elliot leaned down and kissed the forehead of his sleeping partner, suppressed the urge to kiss every bruise she had hidden across her body, and snuggled down deeper into the arm of the couch, where he spent the night, until drifting off to sleep.