Disclaimer: I own no one! SVU and all recognizable characters belong to Dick Wolf.

A/N: Many thanks to both of my betas! And an extra thanks to Sam for being my sounding board for this idea and helping me come up with a different yet believable plot!

I know that the "Liv gets pregnant and her significant other leaves her" storyline has been done a lot. But I've added another twist to it, so maybe this one won't be like all the others. Hopefully this one will be somewhat different and a fresh take on an old storyline! Please leave me a review and let me know what you think!

Chapter One

"That better be decaf," Detective Elliot Stabler teased with a smile as he approached his desk and plopped down into his chair.

His partner, Detective Olivia Benson, greeted him with a raised eyebrow as she sipped from a steaming coffee cup. "Good morning to you too," she said as she sat her cup down on her desk.

"Decaf?" he asked, pressing the issue as he raised his own eyebrow in response.

"Yours," she nodded toward the cup of coffee that she had placed on the desk facing hers, only moments before. "No." Then motioning to her own cup, she sighed. "Mine, yes."

"Good," he winked before retrieving the cup from his desk and taking a sip. Then he nodded toward the cup in his hand. "Thanks."

"You think Dean would actually let me buy a caffeinated beverage for myself right now?" she smirked.

Elliot glanced down at his cup, quickly verifying that it did, in fact, host the logo of their favorite coffee shop. He looked over at his partner with a frown. "Porter went to the coffee shop with you?"

Olivia looked down at the cup she held between both of her hands. "El," she sighed. "I know you don't like him."

"Don't like him," Elliot snorted. "That's an understatement."

"El," she sighed again. "I love him… he's my fiancée."

"He's not good enough for you, Liv. You deserve better."

"And," she continued as if she didn't hear his comment. "He's my baby's father," she rested one hand over her barely there baby bump.

Elliot opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind and sighed instead.

"I know you're just trying to look out for me," she looked up at her partner with tears in her eyes. "But you're my best friend and I need your support and encouragement right now. It breaks my heart to see my best friend and my fiancée always at each other's throats."

He looked across their desks and his smart aleck comeback died in his throat when he saw her tears. "Liv… I'm sorry," he rubbed his face with both hands before continuing. "Porter just… I've never liked the guy."

"I know," she answered quietly. "Will you just TRY to get along with him? Please?"

"Alright," he agreed.

"Thank you."

"But I'm not making any promises."

"I wouldn't expect any less from you," she grinned as she wiped away her tears.

"So, why was Porter at the coffee shop with you?"

"We were on our way to work," she replied as she turned her attention to a case file on her desk.

"Together," Elliot paused skeptically. "You don't usually ride in together."

"I have an appointment today. He wants to go with me, so we thought it would be easier to just take one car."

"A doctor's appointment?"

"Umm hmm," she mumbled, her attention still on the case file.

"Didn't you just have one the other day?"

"Umm hmm," she mumbled again.

"Olivia," Elliot called with a slight harsh edge to his voice, needing to get her full attention.

She looked up in surprise at the sound of his voice.

"Didn't you just have a doctor's appointment the other day?"

"Yeah."

"Then why are you going back again so soon. Is everything ok?" he frowned.

"Yeah," she waved his concern away with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Just getting test results."

"Test? What kind of test?" the concern remained in his voice.

"CVS test."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"El… don't worry. My doctor said it's just a routine test because of my age."

"You're not old."

"No, but I'm in the category of advanced maternal age because I'm over 35. She said she doesn't think there's anything to be worried about but she had rather err on the side of caution."

Elliot nodded, the concern he felt only moments before, melted away as he took in the information. Knowing that the doctor wasn't worried eased the tension and he visibly relaxed. "So that's why Porter wants to go with you."

Olivia smiled as she remembered the conversations she had with her fiancée. "He wants to go to all of my appointments. He's just as excited as I am about this baby."

"You're gonna make a wonderful mother."

"I hope so."

"You will," Elliot spoke confidently. "I've seen how amazing you are with children for years."

"That's different," she shook her head. "Child victims and the children of victims are different."

"You're good with them too… but I was talking about my kids. You've always been wonderful with them."

"You have great kids. They're easy to be good to," Olivia smiled as she picked up her cup of coffee again.

His smile grew at his best friend's comment. "They think you hung the moon."

Olivia laughed. "I dunno about that."

"They do," Elliot sobered as he continued. "When Kathy and I were going through the divorce, you were the only one that my kids would talk to about it, they wouldn't even talk to me."

Olivia smiled sadly at her best friend. "Sometimes it's easier to talk to someone who's not your parents."

He shook his head, to clear the sad thoughts away. "Anyway, my point is that you are absolutely amazing with children and you're going to be the best mother."

"Thanks," she swallowed back tears that threatened to spill down her face. "I needed to hear that."

"No thanks necessary. That's what I'm here for," Elliot grinned comically.

Olivia laughed and threw her pen at him, "Get to work, I wanna be done with this paper work before Dean picks me up for my appointment."

~~EO~~EO~~EO~~EO~~EO~~EO~~EO~~EO~~EO~~EO~~EO~~

Much later that evening, Elliot and Fin walked back into the squad room after spending hours dealing with four back to back calls. They made their way back to their desks, both glad to be back in the squad room.

Elliot dropped down into his chair then looked up and found the desk facing his, empty. It was obvious with one glance that his partner had not been back yet, her desk was still clear from where she cleaned it off earlier before her doctor's appointment. He frowned and looked around before turning his gaze to Munch. "Liv hasn't come back?"

"No, not yet," the older detective answered. "She probably had to wait awhile. You know how doctors' offices can be."

"Yeah," he replied, a frown of worry still on his face as he glanced at his watch. "But it's after 6, most offices close at 5."

"Maybe hers' doesn't," Munch replied calmly. "Or maybe she was tired and just went home after her appointment."

"She would have called if she was too tired to come back," Elliot pulled his cell phone from his belt and hit the first speed dial button. His brow furrowed even more as his call went straight to Olivia's voicemail. He snapped his phone shut then stood and started toward the Captain's office. He quickly crossed the squad room, stopping only to knock briefly on the open door.

"Elliot?" Cragen asked as he looked up from the work on his desk. "Something wrong?" he asked when he saw the look on his detective's face.

"Has Liv called?" Elliot asked bluntly, with no preamble.

"No. Why?"

"She should've been back by now."

Cragen frowned as he looked up at the clock on the wall. "I didn't realize it was this late."

"It's not like Liv to not come back and not call."

"I know."

"Cap… I've gotta - - " Elliot started but was quickly cut off by the Captain.

"Go," Cragen nodded. "Keep me in the loop."

Elliot responded with a nod of his own before turning and hurrying out of the squad room.

Ten minutes later, Elliot pulled up in front of Olivia's apartment building. He jumped out of the car and hurried into the building, choosing to take the stairs up to Olivia's floor rather than waiting on the elevator. He ran down the hall with his cell phone held to his ear. He skidded to a stop in front of her door as his call went straight to voicemail for the fifth time. He shoved his phone into his pocket and knocked on Olivia's apartment door. "Liv?" he called through the door.

He was greeted by nothing but silence.

He called again, louder this time as he knocked on the door harder, "Liv?"

Again, silence was his only answer.

"Liv!" called more urgently as he now pounded on her apartment door. "Olivia!"

More silence.

He paused for a moment before calling to her again. "Do I need to use the key you gave me? Cause I will if you don't open the door!"

And yet again, his only answer was complete silence.

He fumbled with his key ring, taking only a couple of seconds to locate the key that Olivia had given him early in their partnership, over a decade ago. He had never used it before, it was only for emergencies. But this was an emergency, he assured himself as he slid the key into the doorknob. "Liv… I'm coming in," he called as he turned the key, unlocking the door.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside her apartment, calling for her once again. "Olivia…"

The answering silence and stillness was deafening.

Elliot crossed the apartment, approaching the door that he knew led to her bedroom. "It's just me…" he called, giving her ample time to answer or to stop him before he slowly opened the door. He frowned when he found both the bedroom and bathroom empty. He moved to the bedroom closet and looked inside. He looked up on the closet shelf, where he knew she kept a suitcase. Then ran both hands up his face, over his head and through his hair; he sighed heavily and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He flipped it open and hit another speed dial number.

It only rang once before the person on the other end picked up. "Elliot?"

"She's gone, Cap."

"What?"

"She's gone," Elliot's voice cracked as he repeated his statement.

"What do you mean gone?" Cragen asked in shock.

"I mean gone. Her apartment is empty, there's very few clothes left in her closet and her suitcase is gone."

A/N 2: Uh oh! Liv's gone? Where did she go? And why? Where's Porter?

Anyone curious? Tell me! Please review!