AUTHORS NOTE: This is my first attempt at a SVU fic so please be critical but nice in reviews! I do accept that my writing isn't all that but I don't want pure flames! Hope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters

[His Second Chance]

"It's over," she whispered through her tears and he couldn't help but wonder how many times she had said that to him but she'd always come back. Everyone said it was because their love was too strong to be broken but he knew the truth. She needed his support. She wasn't strong enough to look after their children alone. This time though he could hear that this was it. This was their final goodbye. He nodded his head as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, his hands resting on her shoulders as he thought of all the years they'd spent together.

Everyone had told them that it wouldn't last. They'd married too young and followed by that, they had children too young but they'd been determined to prove them all wrong despite the fact that his first love was his career. He'd drop everything just to be at work and especially now when their relationship was restrained.

"I know," he admitted as he moved away from her. "I'm unsure how I'm going to cope without you though." He said not afraid of showing his weakness. He'd never been alone. She'd always been there to make sure that he ate on jobs that lasted days and she was always phoning him to remind him that he has family.

She laughed as she ran her hand down his cheek before smiling, "you'll survive." She whispered through her tears as she reached up and pressed a kiss to his lips. "You always do." She stepped away from him. "We'll need to sort out a plan with the children..." Her conversation ended with the sound of his mobile ringing. She couldn't help but smile at the irony. "Goodbye Elliot," she just left without finishing her sentence.

He stared after her for a few minutes before answering the mobile as it started to ring for the second time. "Stabler," he responded. "I'll be right there." He confirmed hanging up and grabbing his coat.

His last thought as he left the house was that he was going to look for an apartment.

Olivia was worried about Elliot's uncharacteristic quiet behaviour. He'd allowed her to do all the talking with the victim's mother and when the ex-boyfriend has caused problems, she'd been the one pinning him to the wall and reading him his rights. That was normally the job that he enjoyed doing. They were back at the precinct and Elliot had gone upstairs to the crib. Olivia watched after him.

"What's biting Stabler?" Munch asked swinging on his chair, his hands playing with the ball that he kept on his desk. She raised her shoulders.

"You don't know?" Fin said shaking his head, "damn baby girl you always know what's wrong with that guy!" She turned to glare at him and he laughed. "Sorry. I would suggest talking to him though. He's going to blow up eventually and I wouldn't like to be the person at the other end of that particular storm!" Olivia didn't really want to be that person but she agreed with Fin. Someone needed to talk to Elliot. She started up towards the crib.

"El?" She said softly seeing him lying down on one of the beds, his gaze just staring at the ceiling. She walked over to him and stood there for a minute before sighing. "Budge up." He looked at her with his eyebrows raised. There was no way the two of them would be able to lie on the bed so he swung himself up so that he was sitting up. She sat down across from him and just waited patiently.

"Aren't you going to interrogate me?" He demanded to know and she looked over at him, her lips pursed as she sighed.

"Is that what you want?" He thought it over for a minute and shook his head. Olivia was the one person that he could talk to about anything without even being prompted so he didn't know why he was being an ass now.

"She left me," she went to say something but he cut her off, "and this time it's the real deal. We're going to arrange custody for the children and..." he stopped talking for a minute as he looked up at her. "I'm going to be alone. I've never been alone before." She just sighed before squeezing his shoulder.

"Oh Elliot, I'm so sorry." She whispered as she leant in to hug him. Olivia and Kathy had never seen eye to eye because of the woman's insane jealousy for how close Elliot and Olivia are but that hadn't stopped her from seeing that Elliot had loved something in his wife. "You'll do just fine," she promised him. He held onto her for a few more minutes before pulling away.

"Could you cover for me?" He asked. "I just need to go for a walk and clear my head." She nodded which gave him the permission he needed to leave. Olivia stayed up in the crib for a short while longer.

It was probably the first night in a long time that Elliot Stabler walked through his front door in time for dinner. It also happened to be the first time that his family weren't waiting to see him. He chuckled sadly at the irony as he moved to the fridge where there were leftovers from last night's dinner and a six pack of beer. He grabbed a bottle and moved to the couch. One good thing was that he had control of the TV.

The rap on his door caused him to lean his head back as if he was trying to look through the wood. His plan of action was that if he ignored them, they would go away. That didn't seem to be happening as their knocking got more persistent. He sighed as he moved towards the front door and opened it to see Olivia stood there. "Liv?" He said shocked.

"I don't know why I came here," she admitted truthfully as she moved inside and allowing him to help her out of her coat. "I just kept hearing you say that you was going to be alone and you couldn't..."

"Oh Liv, I didn't mean for that to worry you! I'm not stupid enough to do anything." She looked at him for a moment and realised that he had mistaken her and thought that she'd feared he would commit suicide. She shook her head.

"I know you'd never do that, El." She laughed looking over at him. "What I meant to say was you're not going to be alone. You've got the captain, Fin and Munch." She looked nervously down at the ground, "and me, Elliot. You should know that I'll always be with you."

"I know." He said wrapping his arms around her. "That's what friends are for." She groaned into his chest. How could someone be so knuckleheaded?

"I mean I love you," she cleared up before laughing. "Every time you came into work and told us that Kathy had walked out, I'd always thought that was my chance but she always came back and I was just left to wait another couple of months. This time, I wanted to tell you before she came back so that you know there is an..." her words were cut off by him taking hold of her lips with his. She gasped gently, her arms snaking up around his neck as she kissed him back.

When the kiss broke off, he looked down at her. "You've always loved me?" She pressed her forehead against his and nodded. "Oh Liv," he whispered kissing her again. He might have been in love with his wife for all those years but a fraction of his heart had always belonged to Olivia and with Kathy again, he was looking forward to a whole new start.