AN: Well, I've been having a bit of writer's block, which has really thrown me. This story was based on a rough outline I had put together a while back, so we will see how it goes! Let me know your thoughts. This takes place late in Season 9/early Season 10. Not quite canon as Elliot is divorced. Thanks!

EOEOEOEO

Olivia kicked the door to her locker closed after she had grabbed a change of clothes. She made a mental note to replenish her supply as she made her way to the showers. The long days this past week were killing her, and she had worked through everything in her locker. Everything except for her workout clothes. She hadn't had time to use those at all.

She locked the door to the shower room behind her, and started to peel off her wet clothes. They had found another victim…the fourth woman in eight days…and she had been standing in the rain for the better part of the past two hours. She was chilled to the bone.

Olivia pulled her sweater off and saw the blood stains on the front. Olivia stood and stared at them for a moment, reliving the moment they had found the woman…still alive. The poor woman has been beaten, raped and stabbed, and she had reached weakly for Olivia as she leaned over her. But it was too late.

Victim #4 was dead just a few minutes later.

Olivia let out a sound of frustration as she balled up the sweater and threw it angrily in the trash. The white tank she had been wearing beneath had a large pink stain, and she felt tears of fatigue and frustration snake down her cheeks as she tore it off and threw it on top of the sweater. She whipped off the rest of her clothes, still shivering, and started the water in the shower. She shifted her weight between her two feet with her arms wrapped around her, waiting impatiently for the water to warm. As soon as it felt warm enough, she slipped behind the shower door and closed it behind her.

The hot water sluiced down her skin, and Olivia lifted her face to the water, letting it wash away the tears that were flowing freely now. She was frustrated with this case…four women assaulted and two of them dead. She was frustrated with her partner…he wanted her to take a break…get some rest. But how could she?

The attacks were happening at a frightening pace.

They had to push forward.

Olivia was finally beginning to thaw, and she tried to put thoughts of the case out of her mind. She needed just a few minutes to breath. The shampoo and conditioner in the shower were hers…one of the benefits of being one of the few women in the squad room…and she was shampooing her hair when she heard a sound in the shower room. Olivia froze.

"Hello?" She called out.

There was nothing but silence, and for a second, she thought she had imagined it. Then she heard another sound, and she swiped the soap out of her eyes.

It was late at night. There was barely a soul in the precinct. Elliot, Fin and Munch were the only ones that knew she was up here.

"Elliot?"

Still no answer, and now she was getting pissed off. She opened the shower door a crack and peered into the room, prepared to give Elliot a piece of her mind for intruding on her space. Only he would be bold enough to come in here.

But no one was there.

Her eyes scanned the small room again, but there was nowhere to hide. The room was empty. Her eyes landed on the door, which was standing slightly open, and she knew she hadn't been imagining it. Someone had been in there.

Olivia ducked inside the shower and quickly washed the shampoo out of her hair and the soap from her body, cursing at whoever had decided to invade her privacy. She didn't know why she couldn't have one damn moment to herself.

When she slipped from the shower, Olivia grabbed a clean towel and wrapped it around herself, tucking an edge between her breasts. She pulled a second towel of the pile and dried her hair, trying to get as much water out as possible. When she had towel-dried it as best she could, she dropped the towel and braced her arms against the counter.

God, she looked like hell.

Olivia reached for her stack of clean clothes, but stopped short when they weren't where she had left them. She looked to her left, thinking maybe she hadn't remembered where she put them, but they weren't anywhere on the counter.

Goddamnit! Where were her clothes?

Olivia heard a noise out in locker room, and she strode quickly to the door, pushing it open a little more so she could duck her head around it and see into the locker room while she hid her body behind it. But the room was empty.

What the hell?

Olivia turned back to the shower room, but her clean clothes were nowhere in sight. She shook her head, snagged her phone from the counterand dialed Elliot's number. He answered on the first ring.

"Liv?"

She heard the question in his voice. "Damn it Elliot. This is not funny." She said…practically yelling into the phone. "I am not in the mood."

"OK." He said confusedly. "Mood for what?" He asked.

"Just get up here." She said, ending the call.

Elliot burst into the locker room barely a minute later. "What's wrong?" He looked around the room and saw Olivia standing just outside the shower room door. He couldn't help his eyes from wandering as he stared at her for just a minute longer than he should have…all that bare skin was throwing him off.

"Elliot!" She snapped, and his eyes flashed up to meet hers.

"What?" He tried not to sound guilty.

"This isn't funny."

Elliot shook his head, and furrowed his eyebrows slightly. "I wasn't laughing." He was really confused now. He thought she was calling him out for checking her out, but he certainly hadn't laughed. There was nothing funny about a barely clothed Olivia Benson standing in front of him. His eyes glanced down to the knot tucked between her breasts…

Elliot shook his head and scrubbed a hand over his face. This was not the time for that. It was never the right time for that. She was his partner…

"Elliot!"

He looked back at her and could see her eyes flashing. She was really angry, and this time, he had no idea what he had done to cause it. They were both exhausted, physically and emotionally, and he really wasn't in the mood. "What? Why are you yelling at me?"

"What did you do with my clothes?"

Elliot pressed his lips together and furrowed his brows again. "Liv, I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm not in the mood for practical jokes." Olivia snapped. She was so annoyed as Elliot stood there with a perplexed look on his face, as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Olivia." Elliot said, and there was an edge to his tone. He didn't know what the hell she was talking about and he was way too tired to try to figure it out. "I don't know what you're accusing me of, but whatever it is, I didn't have anything to do with it."

Olivia watched him cross his arms across his chest and widen his stance a bit. He gave her a look that let her know he was about at the end of his rope as well, and she realized that she had been crazy to think it had been him. He wasn't one to play practical jokes, especially when he was as exhausted and stressed as she was. "Someone came into the showers while I was in there…" her voice trailed off. She had assumed it was Elliot because he was the only one she could think of that would dare invade her privacy like that…but even that was odd for him.

Elliot straightened up. "What d'ya mean someone came into the room?" He was on full alert now and he took a few steps towards her. "What happened? Didn't you lock the door?"

Olivia just stared at him. "Nothing happened. I mean, they didn't talk to me or even say anything. For a second, I thought maybe someone came in to use the room and then realized it was in use but…I locked the door El. I know I did." Everyone that worked there knew if the door was locked than the room was in use…off limits. They wanted to avoid any embarrassing situations.

"Are you sure?" Elliot asked.

Olivia nodded. "100%." She furrowed her brows together. "And when I got out of the shower, the door was left open…just a few inches…but it was open." If someone had honestly made a mistake, they would have closed the door behind them. "And my clothes are gone."

Elliot screwed up his face. "Who would want to steal your clothes? You're sure they're not there? Or in your locker?" He made a move towards the shower room, and he could see Olivia was annoyed, but she stepped out of the way so he could enter the small room.

Olivia followed him in and watched as he looked around. He pointed to the pile on the floor. "What's that?"

"My wet clothes." Olivia said, picking up her pants off the floor.

"Where are the rest of them?"

"I threw my sweater and my tank in the garbage." Olivia said, looking in the garbage bin. "They're still there." She stood up and looked at the pants. "But…"

Elliot stopped and turned to look at her. "But what?"

"My underwear and bra…they were on the floor with these pants and they're not there either."

"So, someone broke into the room, stole your clean clothes, and the underwear you'd just taken off?" Elliot asked, trying to make sure he understood what had happened. "That's crazy."

Olivia nodded. "I know it sounds crazy, but that's what happened. It had to be someone with a key. They were quiet. I barely heard a sound, especially with the water running."

"Who would do that?" Elliot asked, leaning against the counter.

"I don't know! That's why I called you. At first I thought maybe you were playing a prank on me…"

Elliot cut her off. "Hardly my style."

"I know, I just couldn't think of who would come in here while I was in here."

"Well, it wasn't me. Or Munch or Fin. We've all been in the squad room with Cragen."

"Well, whoever it was it's not funny." Olivia said. "And when I figure it out, they're going to hear about it."

"I don't like it." Elliot said. Even if it was meant to be a joke, he didn't like the idea of someone actually going into the shower room while Olivia was in there. It crossed several boundaries, and when they figured it out, he was going to do more than talk to them.

"Don't turn it into a big thing." Olivia said. She could hear the protectiveness in his voice, and she was almost sorry she had called him. "Just some stupid prank." She rolled her neck. After almost ten years on the force, she shouldn't have to put up with juvenile shit like this, but sometimes it happened. Especially to a woman in what was viewed as a man's world.

"I'm not turning it into a thing." Elliot said, even though he had no intention of letting it go like she was. "Get dressed. Cragen wants an update and then wants us to catch some sleep." He walked out into the locker room and then hesitated, not wanting to leave her alone.

Olivia walked over to her locker and opened it up. "I don't have anything to wear except my workout clothes."

"It's fine." Elliot said. "We're just giving Cragen a briefing and then I can run you home. You need to catch a few hours of sleep anyway."

Olivia sighed. "OK." She didn't really want to stand around the squad room dressed like that, but she didn't have an option. She looked over at him standing about ten feet away. "Are you going to stand there and watch me get dressed?"

Elliot flushed slightly at the thought…unbidden images crowding his mind. "No. I just…" he turned around. "I'm just going to wait for you."

"El." Olivia said. She wanted to tell him she was just fine. But if she was being honest, the situation had made her slightly uneasy, and she didn't mind him waiting until she could get dressed and get her gun back on her hip. She glanced back over at him to make sure his back was really turned, remembering how his eyes had trailed over her body when he had walked into the locker room. His perusal of her had surprised her slightly. She had witnessed the occasional stare if she wore something revealing for an undercover op, or was dressed for a date, but never this kind of open appraisal. It confused her because they were close…closer than partners should probably be. But they had maintained a level of professionalism between them. She certainly kept her long stares and indecent thoughts in check.

Well, most of the time.

She wondered how she would have reacted if she had walked in on Elliot with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"You ready?" Elliot asked, startling Olivia back into action.

"Not quite." She dropped her towel and reached for her workout bag. She set it on the bench and unzipped it, finding a pair of athletic shorts, a sports bra and a thin t-shirt. "Christ." She muttered under her breath. She could only imagine the comments from the guys. She dug around but didn't find any underwear tucked away. She pulled on the pair of shorts down her hips as much as possible. But even then, they were well above mid-thigh. She pulled the black sports bra over her head and struggled to get the piece of spandex in place with her damp skin.

"Problems?" Elliot asked with a chuckle, and Olivia realized she was being vocal while she was getting dressed.

The last item was a thin white t-shirt, and she realized you'd be able to see her sports bra through the material. "El, do you have a sweatshirt I can borrow?"

"Maybe." He honestly didn't know what he had in his locker. "Can I turn around now?"

Olivia let out a sigh. "Yeah." She was waiting for him to make a smart comment, but he didn't say a word as he walked towards her, and his locker.

He climbed over the bench and opened his locker, digging around in the pile of clothes. "I don't see…." He stood up suddenly with a blue NYPD hoodie in his hand. "I just have this." He held it up to his nose and took a sniff. "I think it's clean."

Olivia wrinkled her nose. "That's disgusting." She said, but she grabbed it out of his hand. Unless it reeked, it was better than parading down in her shorts and t-shirt. She pulled it on and zipped it up.

"Now it looks like you don't have any clothes on." Elliot said, noticing that the length of the sweatshirt reached down to where her shorts ended.

Olivia rolled her eyes and she shoved her feet into her running shoes. "Can we just get back to work please?" she said in her most annoyed voice.

Elliot stepped back over the bench and extended his arm in the direction of the door. "After you."

EOEOEOEOEO

Olivia had weathered a few comments from Munch about her unprofessional attire, but Cragen shut them down, anxious for an update. He ordered Elliot and Olivia to get some sleep after that, despite their protests, and they agreed to be back in four hours. Normally, they would just sleep in the cribs, but Elliot had offered to drive her home to pick up some clothes, and she gladly accepted.

Olivia pulled her gun and badge out of her desk drawer, and shoved them in her purse. With her shorts on, she had nowhere else to put them, and it annoyed her. She fished around for her keys, but couldn't feel them. She sat back down in her chair and peered into the drawer, moving around the mix of personal stuff stored there. After a few minutes and some sounds of exasperation, she sat up and looked at Elliot. He was standing next to his desk, waiting patiently…maybe impatiently…for her to gather up her things.

"What's the problem?" he asked.

"I can't find my keys. Do you have them?"

"Why would I have your keys?" Elliot asked, showing her his own keys in his hand. "Wait a minute…" He came around and grabbed her purse. "You're sure they're gone?" He turned Olivia's purse over and dumped the contents on her desk.

"Elliot!" Olivia persisted as he dug through her things. She felt a small blush in her cheeks when he picked up her pack of birth control pills, and she grabbed them angrily out of his hands. "Do you mind?" She shoved them back into her purse, along with the lip gloss, aspirin, tampons and other things he had so unceremoniously dumped out. "They're not in my purse. I don't put them in there because they're hard to find."

Elliot didn't say anything, slightly annoyed that she was annoyed. He had a wife and three daughters; did she really think he didn't see those things on a daily basis?

Ex-wife he reminded himself.

Olivia grabbed her purse off the desk. "Maybe I forgot them at home."

"Liv." Elliot said. "Someone stole your keys. That's how they unlocked the door to the showers."

Olivia sat down hard. Now she knew how tired she was, because she hadn't put those two things together. "You think?"

"You locked up your apartment this morning, didn't you?"

Olivia nodded. "But why would someone steal my keys? They couldn't have known I was going to take a shower. I didn't know I was going to take one. And why steal my clothes?"

"Someone's messing with you." He knew she was right. The person that stole her keys wouldn't have known she was going to still be here, which means they wanted them for another reason…to get into her apartment. It was the only logical reason.

"They have the key to my apartment." Olivia said, her thoughts mirroring Elliot's. "But why? I'm a cop for Chrissakes. I don't own anything valuable. What could I have that they could possibly want?"

Elliot felt a small chill at her words, because she was right. She didn't own anything anyone would want…or at least would go to this much trouble for. Which meant this could be personal, and the only thing that sprang to mind was that the perp wanted to hurt her in some way.

Olivia jumped out of her chair. "I need to get home."

Elliot grabbed her arm, halting her progress. He dropped it as soon as she turned to look at him. "Hold on." He said.

Fin and Munch were out of their chairs, having listened in on the conversation.

"What's goin' on?" asked Fin, and Olivia explained what had happened in the locker room and showers. "I'm gonna call a locksmith to meet you over there." He said, picking up the phone. "We need to change those locks A.S.A.P."

"He's probably already been there." Olivia said. She tried to run through her possessions in her mind, but besides some jewelry from her mom, and her television, she really had nothing of any value.

"Liv." Munch said. "Fin's right. We need to get the locks changed. And we should send a patrol car over in case you've been robbed."

Elliot was glad Fin had suggested the locksmith and that Munch agreed. If he would have suggested either of those things, she would have rolled her eyes at him and told him to stop being so overprotective. "I'm going with her." He nodded towards John. "Go ahead and send the uniforms over and they can meet us there."

Olivia thought they were probably overreacting, but she knew her squad. They were like family and they cared about each other…watched out for each other. There was no way any of them were going to let her go to her apartment by herself. "Fine." She acquiesced.

The first few minutes of the ride to her apartment were quiet, with Olivia trying to move her legs in a way that didn't make her shorts ride high up on her thigh. She wore these shorts to the gym almost every day, so she didn't know why it bothered her to wear them around Elliot. Maybe it was just the fact that he'd seen more bare skin today than he'd seen in nine years and it just seemed...seemed…

She didn't know what it seemed, and she let out a sigh.

Elliot glanced over at Olivia, and saw her fidgeting in her seat. "Something wrong?"

"I'm fine." She said quickly…too quickly. "I'm just annoyed." She said, trying to refocus her thoughts. "This is ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous?"

"All this." She said, waving her arms. "My own personal escort to my apartment. The uniforms." Olivia paused. "I'm armed you know. I know how to take care of myself." When Elliot didn't respond, she pushed on. "Whoever this guy is, he's probably already been to my apartment, ransacked the place, and taken what he wanted."

Elliot honked the horn. "Get out of the way jackass." He yelled, motioning at the driver in front of him. He glanced back over at Olivia. "C'mon Olivia. This guy's messing with you and you know it's better to be safe than sorry." He still couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness, and he didn't like Olivia's cavalier attitude when it came to her own safety.

Olivia looked out the window, watching the city go by. "Fine."

When they reached her apartment, the patrol car was already waiting outside. Olivia didn't appreciate the spectacle, but she supposed she should be happy that the lights weren't going. It was after midnight, and she didn't need the entire neighborhood to know her business. They already had a love/hate relationship with her in the building.

Olivia let them in the front door, but Elliot pushed ahead of her as they reached the stairs, and the two uniformed officers were behind her. They made an unlikely parade down the hall, and Elliot put up a hand when they reached her door.

Olivia rolled her eyes. He was being a bit dramatic as he inspected the door.

"No sign of forced entry." Elliot whispered as he turned his head to look at her.

"He had a key El." Olivia said sarcastically. "Can we just get on with this?" She was tired, and she wanted to get this over with and get some sleep.

Elliot used the key he had and opened the door of the apartment. He opened it slowly, with his hand on his gun. He pushed his way inside, but her apartment was dark. He fumbled around for the light switch, but Olivia pushed in behind him and swiped the lights on. The light illuminate the small foyer and threw light into the living room and kitchen, and nothing seemed to be disturbed.

Elliot walked farther into the apartment and turned on a lamp in the living room. The room was bathed in light, and Olivia looked around. The TV was still in its' place, and everything seemed to be where it belonged. Olivia let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding, and she realized she had been more worried than she had let on. The idea of having a stranger in her apartment bothered her more than she thought.

"It's OK." She said. "He hasn't been here."

"Not so fast." Elliot said. He nodded towards the bedroom. "We need to check the other rooms." He forged ahead, but came back out a few seconds later. "Doesn't look like anyone's been here." He furrowed his brow. "Unless you made your bed this morning?" The bed looked slept in and he hoped someone hadn't let himself in and done something disgusting in her bed.

Olivia shook her head. "I haven't slept here in days, but the last time I left, no. I didn't make the bed."

"OK then."

The two uniformed officers were standing awkwardly in the doorway, and Elliot thanked them and told them they could go. The locksmith turned up about fifteen minutes later, and Olivia wondered how much Fin or Munch had promised them to show up so quickly. She was glad and would happily repay them. She wanted to get the lock changed and get to bed.

"How long will this take?" She asked.

"Twenty minutes, give or take."

Elliot moved a little closer to her, and she jumped when she heard his voice in her ear. "While were waiting, you may want to check and make sure nothing is missing in your room. You know…like more clothes or …."

Olivia moved away slightly, and turned to face him. "OK, but El, you can go home. I'll just let this guy finish up and then I'm going to get some sleep." She yawned, as if making her point.

Elliot shifted uneasily on his feet. "I was thinking that maybe I'd just crash here." He glanced over at the couch. He didn't feel comfortable leaving her, even with the change in locks. Maybe he was being overly cautious, but as he'd said, better to be safe.

"El…" Olivia started to protest, but after all these years, she knew him well. He was feeling uneasy, and in his role as her partner, he wouldn't leave. His took his role as her backup seriously. "I'm too tired to argue with you. If you want to sleep on my lumpy couch instead of your own bed, knock yourself out." She went into her bedroom and came back minutes later with a set of sheets, a pillow and a blanket. "Here you go."

The locksmith was checking the keys in the lock. "I'm done." He said. He handed Olivia a small clipboard and an invoice, and she grabbed the pen clipped to it and signed. The locksmith handed her two keys and left, and she locked the door behind him.

Olivia turned and saw Elliot unfolding the sheet, prepping his makeshift bed. "Elliot." He looked up as she walked over to where he was standing, and she held out one of the keys. "Do you realize that in all the years you've had an extra key to my apartment, you've never had to use it?"

"Thank God."

Olivia nodded. "Night El." She said softly.

"Night."

It took seconds for Olivia to fall asleep once she fell into bed, and when her alarm went off four hours later, she could barely believe she'd gotten any sleep at all. She groaned as she turned the alarm off and snuggled into the covers. She wasn't ready to get up…she needed at least eight more hours of sleep. A few seconds later, she heard a quiet knock on her door, and jumped. Then she remembered Elliot had slept on her couch, and she sat up, pulling the blankets up before she told him to come in.

"I brought you coffee." He said, walking into the room with a mug in his hand.

"I didn't even know I had any coffee."

"Yeah, well, I don't know how good it's going to be. Looks like maybe it's been there for a while." He said, handing her the mug.

Olivia gave him a small smile. "A girl could get used to this." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could take them back. It didn't sound as she had intended, but Elliot didn't seem to notice. She changed the subject. "Did you get any sleep? You know you didn't need to stay here. This is all blown out of proportion. Someone just thinks they're being funny."

Elliot shrugged non-commitally. "Maybe." He hoped that was true, and this was the end of it. They needed to focus on this case, and he didn't want Olivia to be dealing with this kind of mindless harassment. "Hey, we need to get going." He said. "And we need to stop at my apartment so I can take a shower and get changed."

"So, get my ass out of bed?" Olivia said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, yeah." He smiled. "I'll wait in the other room."

Olivia climbed out of bed and headed into the bathroom. She reached behind the shower curtain and started the shower, and then got undressed. She still had her eyes half closed when she got into the shower, and she let the hot water run over her body, trying to shake the fatigue from her body. She took a step back and reached for the body wash, but then she froze.

"Elliot!" She yelled. "Elliot!" She yelled a little louder. Olivia stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel just as Elliot tore into the bathroom.

"What?" He saw Olivia wrapping a towel around herself as he stopped barely a foot away from her. "What's wrong?" He had heard an urgency in her voice…a bit of panic.

"I found my keys." Olivia said, feeling a little embarrassed at how she had screamed out his name. She had just reacted without thinking.

Elliot peered into the shower and saw a shower caddy hanging inside, full of shampoo and body wash. And dangling from one of the hooks were Olivia's keys.

Someone had been in her apartment.

That changed this from a harmless prank to something more serious.

He pulled back and looked at Olivia. "Get dressed." He said. "We need to call Cragen."