Disclaimer: Even three whole years later, I sadly do not own my favorite characters of all time.

Author's Note: I am so so so sorry. It has been far too long, but by the time I decided it was better late than ever, I realized that I had outgrown my writing style from when I was twelve and that if I were to finish this story to the best of my ability, I would need to edit my old story. There aren't really any major changes until about chapter three-ish.

But anyways, to all those who wanted me to finish this story, thank you for the thoughtful and encouraging reviews. Once I saw that people actually enjoyed my writing, even so many years ago, I realized I had to finish. I know how depressing it is to run into an unfinished story ;(

For all new readers, thanks for choosing this story to read.

I have chosen to keep the original setting of this story which means it is set around the end of Season 15 after all the ordeals involving William Lewis.

"Thanks so much Lucy," Olivia greeted her babysitter as she walked into her apartment after a long day at work. She had spent the previous night at the precinct since the squad had to track down a serial rapist who preyed on little girls who were only nine years old. Every two hours they had a new victim until they had finally found the rapist only four victims later. Peter Arold. Even saying the name made her want to puke. At least they had adequate evidence to get him the maximum life sentence.

"No really, it's fine. I completely understand," Lucy replied despite her exhausted looking figure. Lucy gathered her purse and threw on her jacket while Liv took off her jacket and put down the files that were in her hands.

"Noah is fed, changed, and I was about to put him to sleep so he should be falling asleep soon," Lucy said, exhaustion overcoming her as she scarcely stifled a yawn. She began to open the door to exit when Olivia stopped her. "Thanks again Lucy, I really don't know what I would've done without you."

"You're welcome Liv, I'm happy to do it" Lucy said beginning to walk down the hallway, "I'll see you tomorrow." Olivia shut the door to her apartment and spotted Noah on his walker already dozing off. Glancing at the clock Olivia realized how truly late it was. It was 11:43pm. She bent down and lifted little baby Noah into her protective open arms and started swiftly pacing to Noah's room. She cautiously placed the sleeping child into the crib. She lent down near her son and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead, her deep brown eyes catching a glimpse of the semper fidelis necklace around his small neck; a reminder that he would always be protected by Olivia, just as Elliot had protected her throughout the years they'd known each other. As soon as she had brought Noah home that first night she had the medallion fixed onto a smaller silver chain and delicately placed around his neck. And there it had remained ever since. Taking one last glance, her eyes darted from Noah's sleeping form to a picture frame on the nearby vanity set.

That picture, the picture she had kept for three years now, was of Elliot and the barely born Eli Stabler. Elliot, looking as proud as a father could be, was holding the small little Stabler in his strong, protective arms. She remembered the day she had been packing that box up with all of her ex-partner's items. A week later no one had come to claim it so she took it upon herself to take it home as a memory of him, his children, and their partnership. Thinking about their twelve-year long partnership and how it had ended, a single tear slid down her cheek and she turned off the light to the room, hoping to forget that last memory of his departure. El was such a good little family for her. Until, he wasn't.

Olivia slowly made her way to her room and removing her clothes, she went to get her pajamas.

After taking out the pair of pajamas, Olivia shut the drawer and changed into her pajamas. She then went back to her living room area where she had left her bag and dug out her badge and gun. Disposing them both into her bedroom bedside table drawer, where she always put them, she finally eased herself into her bed. Alas, the tired, new mother, struggling to balance her rather generous workload and the new baby she had begun to foster, finally had a couple of hours of restful sleep in her schedule.

"Drop it! Drop your weapon now! Drop it! Drop it!" screamed Olivia in pure fear for her partner of seven years.

"I'm gonna shoot him!" Gitano shouted even louder.

"Shoot him!" Elliot commanded.

"Don't be an idiot Gitano, put the gun down or you're dead," Olivia shouted once again not knowing what to do.

"Pull the trigger! Don't even think about it!" Elliot ordered despite being in complete fear himself.

"You hear me he's gonna die!" Gitano yelled through the partners' conversation.

"Shoot him!" Elliot demanded yet once again.

"Shut up! Everybody shut up!" Gitano shouted once again interrupting Olivia from her thoughts longing to form a plan.

"Victor, there's no way out of this," Olivia said still not having an idea.

"Stop talking," Gitano ordered panicking from the situation.

"You know what's gonna happen if you don't put that gun down. Now enough people have died," Olivia stated, wanting just to calm Gitano and her partner down.

"Olivia," Elliot said in a voice just above a whisper that even Olivia could not recognize.

"And I know that you don't wanna die. You could have pulled the trigger on Detective Stabler and then I would have had to kill you. But you didn't do that, you didn't do that because you were being smart," Olivia continued, ignoring him.

"You've only got one chance. You gotta take it," Elliot pleaded with Olivia to take the shot.

"Where's Rebecca Victor? Is she alive?" Olivia asked, hopefully.

"I'm not gonna tell you dick until you drop the gun, bitch!"

"Shoot him!" Elliot yelled.

"Shut up Elliot!" Olivia shouted back.

"Stop moving or he's dead!"

"And then what? Do you really think that you're gonna walk out of here? Because that's not gonna happen. Now this is your choice. Dead or alive?" Olivia asked with her voice slightly wavering, allowing only Elliot to realize.

"I go, he goes," Gitano stated with conviction.

"Victor, tell us where Rebecca is and we can end this right now," Olivia offered trying to distract him as she moved closer.

"Dead. I used her up and I bled her dry. You wanna hear how she screamed? How she begged for her mommy?"

"Stop it," Olivia said as she resisted the urge to just kill the man.

"She was a slut down, and a real little whore," Gitano added.

"And I'm looking at a dead man," Elliot roared.

"Any closer, and you're gonna be wearing his brains on your coat!"

"Olivia, there is no reason to keep this piece of crap alive. Pull the trigger right now! Olivia, pull it! Shoot him!" Elliot reasoned for the third time.

"You know…you know that little girl? It's possible that she isn't dead. She could be locked up in this building somewhere, huh? Or someplace else 15 miles away. You really don't know do you?" Gitano said desperately.

"You're a liar!" Olivia spat at him.

"Yeah, well, that's the point," Gitano admitted.

"Tell us where she is, Victor," Olivia pleaded, hoping she did not sound as desperate as she really was.

"She's here! She's not dead, otherwise he would've been long gone! Unless you like them dead. You sick like that too Gitano? You like to play with corpses?"

"Yea, I like that. The deader the better. They don't fight as much," Gitano stated, earning a look of pure disgust from Olivia.

"You could kill us both, Victor, you'll still never walk out of here," Olivia growled back in disgust.

"Drop it, Drop the gun. Drop it now! Put the gun down now! Now! You cops don't come in here, or everybody dies!" Gitano shouted at the top of his lungs as there was sudden noise coming from behind them. In complete fear and panic he pulled the trigger and just as Elliot fell to the floor the sound traveled through the air.

"BANG!"

"Elliot!" Olivia shouted sitting up and waking up in a cold sweat. It took Olivia a couple of seconds until she recollect her mind and herself. She sighed. Loudly.

It had been nine whole years since the incident and she was still reliving the nightmare that was the Gitano case. Nights these days were plagued by the usual appearance of William Lewis in her apartment, occasionally taking Noah with him and promising to her that she'd regret ever disrespecting him. It crossed her mind tht perhaps she should be thankful that such wasn't the case tonight.

At the very least Olivia was dearly relieved at the fact that Noah had not awokenfrom her terrified screams. Before laying back down Olivia caught a glimpse of her alarm clock. It read 1:03am. Without wasting another second she quickly slipped back to sleep. The second time around Olivia found herself dreaming of nothing after being pushed way past the limit of exhaustion.

Around an hour and a half later, Olivia awoke once again but this time was different and left her puzzled. There was no crying from Noah, there was no message at her phone waiting to be answered, and it wasn't another nightmare. Olivia had just randomly woken up and could not go back to sleep. Even though Olivia couldn't explain it, she just didn't feel right. She felt as if something were wrong and that something was going to happen. Not ignoring the premonition as a mother she went to Noah's room, unwilling to lose a second.

When Olivia got to Noah's room, everything was calm and peaceful. Olivia made her way over to the crib, but found Noah sleeping as he was when she left him all those hours ago. Olivia looked around his room and made sure that his window was shut. Finally approving that everything in his room was okay, she moved on to the living room. Olivia then double checked that she had locked her doors before taking a seat on the sofa and just staring at the clock.

'Something doesn't seem right,' she thought to herself. She then closed her eyes and listened to her surroundings. The night was completely silent except for the regular sound of her refrigerator and the frequent car engines driving down her avenue. Yet the tone of the atmosphere was ominous in its complete stillness. Suddenly, she heard a distant car door slam shut.

BANG!

A gunshot was heard by the neighborhood through the clear crisp silence. The next thing Olivia knew she was sprinting to her room and opening her top drawer desperately to get to her gun. Just as her fingers grazed upon the butt of her gun, she heard a second gunshot followed by a very faint and muffled whimper. She clutched the gun, ran to check on Noah and in seeing that he had remained sound asleep, her cop instincts took over. Olivia was never one to stray from the danger that came from her line of work, but now she did have Noah to worry about. She briefly recalled her neighbor across the hallway assuring her that if Lucy was ever unavailable and she needed anyone to babysit, to just knock on her door, especially if it was any emergency. Assuming that this counted as an emergency, Olivia practically sprinted over to the 80 year old woman's door and knocked repeatedly on her door. "Mrs. Kweller! I need you to watch Noah for me! I heard gunshots outside!

The old lady appeared at her door in a matter of seconds. "I heard! Of course, of course, dear. Be careful!" With that matter settled, she was on her way down the stairs when she radioed for back up to meet her outside her apartment and called for a bus. When she got to the entrance, Olivia opened the door and burst through it.

As she approached the street, Olivia saw the injured person and ran closer to the slope of the street to help in any way she could since she was a person in authority with experience. She then bent down and realized something that shocked her to oblivion. She couldn't have been more shocked if her deceased mother were the person on the floor. Her heart rose up to her throat and she felt as if she couldn't breathe. Tears blurred her vision with all her mixed emotions contradicting inside her. 'No,' she thought as she pushed all the anger she felt toward this man away so all she felt was worry. On the verge of having a panic attack, Olivia began to apply pressure to the gunshot wound on his stomach and took off her sweater to stop the blood on the second gunshot wound to his the left side of his chest.

"Elliot, no, God no," She said as she kept applying pressure. By now people were peering out of their windows to see what had happened, but were too scared to come to help. Staring down at her former partner's slumped body Olivia made her want to be sick. He had duct tape covering his mouth, a bruise covering his right eye, and little cuts everywhere. He was wearing sweats that were now soaked in blood and he was unconscious. He was losing blood quickly.

Pulling out her phone from her pocket, Olivia dialed Fin's number as fast as possible. "Fin," she started as the man on the other line answered, "There were shots fired on my street, and please don't ask any questions now, just meet me here and bring the team cause I need someone to watch Noah. Please hurry… it's Elliot, Fin… I-I," she paused as her breath hitched and she was forced to hold in a sob, "I don't know what to do… there's so much blood… I-"

"Liv-I'll be right there." Olivia threw her phone off her shoulder and focused on the task at hand. She needed to wake him up somehow because she knew he was losing too much blood.

"Elliot… El… I need you to wake up" She said caressing his forehead with her thumb. "Come on El, I need you to wake up… please." The blood seeping through the material on her sweater scared her enough to make her turn pale. "Dammit Elliot, you do not get to die… not like this!" As gently as she possibly could, Olivia moved him carefully onto her lap.

"Come on, El wake up," Olivia pleaded. She took his hand and held it with her left hand as she continued to apply pressure with her right hand. Around two minutes later Elliot began to stir awake and Olivia watched him as he began to open his eyes. When Elliot's eyes opened fully Olivia saw truly how scared he was. She had never seen him so scared before. As Elliot realized he had tape on his mouth he began to panic and squirm.

"Hey, El." Olivia greeted the man who she hadn't talked to in so long. Elliot's ocean blue irises finally found their way up to Olivia's tear-filled brown eyes. Although the familiar trustworthy face in front of him seemed to calm him a bit, the fear in them remained evident. She leaned down closer to his face and attempted a comforting warm smile despite the tears running freely down her cheeks. "El, it's okay, you're going to be okay," Olivia said as she squeezed Elliot's hand in her own. When Elliot began to blink away the water overflowing in his eyes, Olivia sat down fully on the floor and took him into her arms. When Olivia saw Elliot struggling to speak, she as tenderly as possible, began to peel it off of his mouth.

"Try not to speak, Elliot," Olivia said after she finished peeling the tape off of him. Not being given any opportunity to speak, he went into a coughing fit. "Ca-can't breathe…"

Liv's heart froze upon hearing those words fall from his mouth. "Shhh, don't try to speak… just calm down El…. I promise, you'll be just fine." Just then Olivia heard the bus coming and sure enough it was turning at the corner of the street. Right behind the bus were two squad cars who belonged to Fin and Nick. Olivia closed her eyes and sighed in relief at the fortunate timing. A minute longer and she feared the promise she had just made to Elliot would be broken. As the paramedics came over and began to lift Elliot onto the stretcher, Fin came up behind one of the paramedics and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

Fin shot her a look. She knew that look all too well. Don't lie to me, Olivia.

One tearful glance back at Fin and he got his answer as she turned away and swallowed hard. Fin reached an arm onto her shoulder and squeezed. "I know, Liv…. I know."

She felt Elliot's grip on her hand tighten. She turned to face him. When she looked into his eyes she saw panic beyond what she had ever witnessed in him.

"L-Liv?" he said just above a whisper. "Yes, it's me… I'm coming with you," Olivia stated with only tenderness in her voice just as they went into the ambulance.

She turned quickly back to Fin. "Just meet me at the hospital and I'll explain everything there, but for now have Nick or Amanda go into my apartment and stay with Noah until Lucy get there," Olivia stated. When Fin didn't reply, she realized he had been taking in Elliot's worsening condition. "I'll explain later," she repeated, earning a nod from Fin. After he left the paramedics told her that if she wasn't family she couldn't ride.

"I'm riding with him" Olivia glared at the paramedics, daring someone to tell her otherwise and squeezing Elliot's hand harder. The lead paramedic rolled his eyes at the detective's raised voice, but complied with her demand. Olivia then took a seat near Elliot's head. Though they hadn't been in contact with each other for years, Olivia supposed they were still partners, for better or worse.

A/N- Please, please, please leave a review! I'd love to see if there is still interest in this story. Thank you so much!