Something I started writing a while back. This is sort of a post-ep for Florida, but written before it airs, if that makes any sense. It's supposed to follow the events of the episode, and details will follow in later chapters.

Thanks to Rose, again, for putting up with all my fanfic craziness! And thanks in adnace to all the readers!

Chapter 1

You said you needed your space
I wasn't where you wanted to be
I didn't stand in your way
I only want you to be happy
Keith Urban, "I Told You So"

She feels his presence before she even hears the knocking on her door. Shit. She's standing in a pile of suitcases and folded clothes. This is NOT going to go well.

She considers ignoring it, ignoring him, but she knows that's not really an option. She is drawn to him like a moth to a flame, and just his nearness seems to settle her inside. She's not sure what the hell she's doing, but he is her constant. She has to do it right this time, has to make him understand why she's leaving again. She just hopes this conversation won't break her heart.

Olivia sighs, moving to open the door.

"Hey," he breathes, and dammit if her knees don't go just a little bit weak. The icy blue of his eyes alone is enough to make her swoon.

"Hey, El."

He walks in, eyes scanning the apartment like the detective he is. Fortunately, she thought to close her bedroom door before she let him in. At least that conversation can be put off for a while. Elliot plops down on her brown leather couch, acting as if he didn't just show up unannounced at 2:30AM.

"Liv, I need to tell you something, and I need you to really listen." Her stomach clenches, and she thinks that this may be it, this might be the time he tells her he is leaving before she gets the chance to. If he tells her he is leaving SVU to go be a happy family again, she's not sure the ache in her heart will ever subside.

"'Livia, breathe," he commands softly. She didn't realize she'd stopped. "It's nothing bad, not really. Just, hey, it's gonna be okay, Liv." Elliot freezes temporarily as the sight of her watery eyes.

"Okay, well you know I told you I was going home to Kathy?" She nods, imperceptibly, the ache in her heart quadrupling until she's sure she is about to have a heart attack.

"Well, it was a mistake." Heart attack averted. "Liv, I'm not in love with her anymore. I thought things would be better, but I realized that I don't belong there anymore."

"Oh."

His eyebrow raises. "Just, 'oh'? C'mon, Olivia, I'm looking for some support on this."

"Elliot, you know I told you I thought the divorce was the right step. I'll back you up, no matter what."

"Thanks, partner. I knew I could count on you." Crap. Yeah, about that sense of security, I'm about to take that away from you. Again.

She thinks about the conversation she had with him on that stakeout. The one where they finally admitted all the wrong step they'd taken the past couple of years. When he had told her just how much he'd missed her while she was gone, that he didn't know how to do the job without her. She had finally admitted that she should have never gone to Oregon. And that she'd missed him, too.

Now, oh but now, she was going to have to tell him she was leaving him again. It was her job, her damn duty to make him understand why the hell she has to go do this. She'd fight all night if that's what it took. Hell, she'd catch a later flight if she couldn't do it in time to board her plane. But she knew that she had to go. This was something she needed to settles, in her heart and in her soul, so that she could finally just be Olivia Benson.

Here we go.