"Elliot, take the shot!"

"SHUT UP, BITCH!"

Olivia had gone missing nearly a week ago following a cop-killer case that every unit was working on together. They had leads, but nothing ever proved fruitful. About three days after the latest killing, Olivia had failed to clock in. The next day, SVU received eye-witness accounts of a woman fitting Olivia's description being stripped of her gun and badge and forced into a white cargo van at knife point. Luckily, two people managed to catch a license plate number and, between the two partials, the detectives found a car matching the description. After a lot of detective work, they found that the owner of the vehicle was a brother to the cop-killer, Tom Keating.

Now, Elliot's gun was pointed at the head behind Olivia, who had a gun pointed at hers. His gun was as still as a parked car, but his eyes twitched at the thudding raindrops that fell on his face. Keating, Olivia and Elliot were standing in the middle of a forest, rain pouring down on them, half a dozen agents posted around them in hidden locations.

"Keating, put the gun down. If you do anything to her, you won't walk out of here in one piece, left alone alive."

"At least I'll have something for my troubles."

"Elliot, take the shot."

"Liv, I'm with Keating on this one; shut up," he growled. She looked up at him with wide eyes and tears streaking her face.

"Elliot…" she whispered. His gaze flickered to hers for a brief second. "I love you."

"Liv," he breathed, swallowing hard, "you can tell me again later, okay?"

"You're pretty cocky there, detective," Keating snarled quietly.

"With reason," Elliot growled back. Then, his eyes lifted from Keating's face to look past him at barren forest. "Hold your position! Hold fire!" he yelled.

Pandemonium! Keating looked back, just as Elliot had expected, and Olivia took the opportunity to elbow him swiftly and roll away from his side. He doubled and tried to raise his gun again, but before it was even halfway up, the crack of a gunshot rang through the air. All eyes fell on the smoking barrel of Elliot's pistol and, slowly, waiting to make sure Keating was no longer a threat, Elliot lowered his gun, watching the rain pummel the body.

Raindrops thudded against Elliot and Olivia, both their gazes lifting from the corpse to each other so slowly, it was almost like watching stop frame photography. She panted a moment before a dawning horror filled her face, realizing what she'd just blurted out only seconds ago. She staggered briefly and, before she could regain her balance, Elliot was beside her, holding her close as she collapsed to the ground, the intensity of the past days catching up to her. She took a few deep breaths before sitting up.

"I'm fine," she whispered. He tried to hold her, but she shrugged him off. "I'm fine, Elliot." she growled and tried to get away from him, but he just pulled her closer still. She spun around and faced him. "Let… me… go."

"Not until you repeat what you said," he murmured, his eyes intense and blue and entirely too piercing. She tried to look away, but he wrapped his fingers around her jaw ad turned her face back towards him. "Olivia… please. I won't let you go until you tell me again… now that you're not at gunpoint. Olivia…" he whispered and placed a soft kiss to her cheek. She choked a little on her tears and tried to pull away before he saw them, but he just smiled and wiped at her tears with his free hand. "Crying doesn't make you weak or demean you in my eyes. Liv, it's okay."

"Elliot, look. I'm sorry about blurting that out. I didn't mean to. It was just–"

"You didn't mean to say you love me?" he asked with a tiny grin. "You looked pretty certain to me."

"It was the situation. I was scared."

"So instead of tell me something true, you lie and say you love me?" he said mockingly. "Come here," he mumbled before pulling her face to his and pressing his lips to her with a decisiveness that curled her toes. His fingers tangled in her wet locks of hair and she moaned against his mouth as he deepened the kiss, oblivious to the movement around them. When he retracted his lips from hers, she whimpered at the loss of the heat and his skin against hers. She shuddered with unshed tears, the cold not helping her in the least, but his proximity keeping her slightly on edge.

"Elliot, I…" she sobbed. The words caught in her throat and she thought she would choke on them, but one look into his fiery eyes and she found an unexplainable heat spread through her whole body. "I love you, Elliot Stabler," she whispered while tears seeped down her cheeks. His hand cupped her face and she sighed at the warmth of them.

"I love you, too, Olivia Benson. I do…" he murmured before hugging her close and moving his hand up and down her back before gathering her up and walking her towards the squad car. With a reassuring hug, he helped her in. "How about we go home and warm ourselves up?"

"That," she said softly, her head lolling towards him in the driver's seat, "is the best thing I've heard all week."

-Fin-