Elliot Stabler sat in the small family court room, to his right at was his lawyer and a few feet away was another table where his soon to be ex-wife sat with her own legal representative. The divorce had been clean for the most part neither party was seeking spousal support from the other. The only sticking point had been the issue of the children. Kathy had naturally gone for joint custody with primary residence for the children to live with her. While Elliot could see the wisdom in that; he still didn't like it, and like the majority of divorced fathers he'd only see his children every other weekend and for a few weeks in the summer.

In the end it was really out of his control as the judge would make the final decision regarding the children and as expected Kathy was awarded custody with the terms her lawyer asked for along with eight-hundred and fifty dollars a month in child support that was the part that really griped Elliot's cookies. He'd always told Kathy that he'd be there for her and the kids when it came to money. However the judge wanted to make sure that he lived up to his responsibilities and even added. "I will expect that you will write the first cheque to your ex-wife before you leave this court room today, Mr. Stabler. The decree for divorce is granted and will come into full effect after the standard ninety day waiting period. We are adjourned." With a bang of his gavel the judge got up from his chair, and left the room. Soon the two lawyers also were gone leaving just the now newly divorced couple behind. Elliot reached inside his jacket and pulled out his wallet and opened it to his check book and started to fill out the first of many cheques to his wife in the amount of $850.00 then tore it free from the book and held it out between his fingers. "The first of many..." he said ruefully.

"Thank you Elliot," Kathy said reaching for the check knowing their children weren't going to be too pleased with this turn of events, however for the sake of her own sanity this divorce was needed.

"Try not to spend it all in one place." He said without humor as he got up and reached for his overcoat. It had been raining off and on the entire day. He did favor his ex-wife with a smile as he held the door to the courtroom open for her. "Still ever the gentleman." It was true, Elliot would do the same for any woman it was just common curtsy. "I am sure that you will want to have a big old bonfire and burn the bed and mattress once you get home." It was the first actual snide comment he'd leveled at Kathy since the beginning of this ordeal. He knew that it was him that she blamed for their marriage crashing and burning, and he did agree with her up to a point. When she'd found out about his affair with Chester Lake he'd never expected Kathy to turn into the vindictive bitch she'd become over the past eight months. "So have you started dating yet? You're free to look for a younger model now."

Kathy looked to her ex-husband then simply walked out of the room without a word. She would not dignify his childish behavior with a comment. Getting into her car and slamming the door shut to leave.

Elliot walked down the street a few feet. His own car was parked three cars behind Kathy's when he stepped up to the driver's side he saw something was taped to the window. From the side of it he realized that it was a cassette tape case, prying it off the window, he unlocked the door and deactivated the alarm as he sat down behind the steering wind. Flipping the small box over in his hand he opened and took out the tape. Scrawled on one side of it in Kathy's distinctive hand writing were the words "Play me!" After pulling out in to traffic his curiosity got the better of him and he slipped the tape in to the player and turned up the volume. He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing but leave it to Kathy to get the last laugh and turn the screws to make him squirm.

"You think that I can't live
Without your love, you'll see
You think I can't go on another day

You think I have nothing
Without you by my side
You'll see, somehow, someway

You think that I can't
Never laugh again, you'll see
You think that you've
Destroyed my faith in love

You think after all you've done
I'll never find my way back home
You'll see, somehow, someday

All by myself
I don't need anyone at all
I know I'll survive
I know I'll stay alive

All on my own
I don't need anyone this time
It will be mine
No one can take it from me
You'll see

You think that you are strong
But you are weak, you'll see
It takes more strength to cry
Admit defeat

I have truth on my side
You only have deceit
You'll see, somehow, someday

All by myself
I don't need anyone at all
I know I'll survive
I know I'll stay alive

I'll stand on my own
I won't need anyone this time
It will be mine
No one can take it from me
You'll see

You'll see
You'll see
You'll see"

It must have taken Kathy a few hours to look for just the right song to really get under his skin, and she'd done just that. "You'll See" By Madonna had to be the anthem for every jilted wife in existence.

Elliot listened to the full song and when he realized that the tape was a continuous loop of "You'll See" he let out a snarl and hit the eject button. After putting down his window he flung it out of the car as he drove over the Hudson River Bridge and into the water below. Taking a deep breath he tried to calm his nerves before he arrived at his So-Ho apartment. He'd refused to take his anger home with him. Not when he had his current love interest waiting for him. Chester Lake and Elliot Stabler had had an instant attraction to each other when they'd met only four months ago. Within a few weeks of Lake's being assigned to the SVU squad it was clear to the others that the two men were "seeing" each other, however, everyone including Olivia Benson had kept mum about it. That was until one late one night Benson had come back to the office to pick up some files she'd left behind and had heard the sounds of grunting and groaning coming from the "crib", a room off the main squad room that was used by cops when they'd been working for too long and needed to catch a few hours' sleep. What she'd saw when she peaked through the small window on the door had made her stomach drop to her knees! There on one of the beds was her partner and Chester Lake right in the middle of screwing each other silly. Chester was on all fours with Elliot behind him, hands gripping his waist as they copulated. Without thinking Olivia Benson had taken out her cell-phone and snapped a number of pictures and then quietly left before she was noticed.

Those pictures found their way to Kathy Stabler's personal e-mail address under the title. "For Your EYES Only!" Olivia didn't use her own email account she'd simply signed it. "A. Friend"...

When Kathy had confronted her husband with them when he got out of bed it had led to one of the worst arguments two had ever had and Elliot had packed a bag and had left the house. Thankfully the children had been in school while this happened so they didn't witness any of it.

"Kathy I don't know what to tell you!" Elliot stated, blushing deeply as he viewed the pictures on his wife's laptop screen. "It just happened!"

"I can see that… everyone can see that!" Kathy yelled fighting back tears at her husband's betrayal. Another woman she could have handled, but how could she compete with another man?

"What do you want me to say?" He got up from the chair he'd been sitting in and threw his arms wide. "It was just sex..." Of course that was another lie, the pictures showed that it had been more than that. The way the two men had clung to each other after they'd finished it made it clear this had not been the first time they'd screwed around. "What more can I say or do?"

"You could tell me the truth rather than lie about it. There's no way you can prove to me that it was just sex look at the pictures it's obvious! Screwing around with another woman is one thing I could compete with that, but how can I compete with another man I don't' have the same parts!?" She yelled.

"Every now and then a guy likes a good stiff dick..." As soon as the words where out of his mouth he wished he hadn't said them. Suddenly he found himself ducking when Kathy threw her coffee mug directly at his head, it smashed against the wall behind him. "Jesus Christ!" He turned to glare at her. "Tell me what you want me to do and I will do it?" He felt like a man that had had his pants pulled down in the middle of the street for everyone to see. He'd never been more ashamed in his life, but it wasn't due to the fact that he'd had sex with another man. It was because somehow, some way Kathy had been informed about it.

"I want a divorce! I want you out of my home and I wish I'd never laid eyes on you Elliot Stabler!" She yelled throwing the crystal heart he'd given to her for their anniversary just last month.

He wasn't really surprised at Kathy's demand for a divorce. Biting his lip he nodded. "I think that would be for the best. I will be gone within the hour." He started to walk towards the stairs leading to the upper floor of the house. Once again he had to duck when another object went flying through the air. From the broken shards of blue and red glass he realized it was their "First Christmas Together" ornament that they'd had spent a small fortune on; it had been commissioned from Tiffany's. Once he'd packed what he'd need for the next few days he cautiously came back down the stairs and found Kathy sitting at the dining room table. A lit Virginia Slim cigarette between her fingers. He watched her take a long haul on it and exhale angrily as she continued to flip through the file of pictures on her computer, a glass of what looked like ice water near her other hand, when Kathy sipped at it and grimaced, he realized it was not water but vodka in the glass. "You really shouldn't torture yourself looking at those pictures over and over again."

"Those things will kill you..." He man said as he moved towards the front door. "I know that the water heater is on the fritz. I left a blank cheque upstairs on the dresser for you. I will be staying at the Ritz Carlton until I can find an apartment to move into..." He pulled the door open. Once I have a place of my own I will send for my other things." With that Elliot pulled the door closed and walked to his car and got in drove away…

All of that played in his mind as he parked his car in the underground parking garage of his apartment building and rode the elevator up to the seventeenth floor it was a short walk to apartment 1701. Putting the keys into the lock he opened the door and stepped inside. "I'm home!"

Chester appeared in just a towel, having taken a shower while Elliot was out. "Welcome back." He winked.

Stabler grinned as he threw his key ring on to the kitchen counter. "Three more months and I am a free man. The judge granted the divorce today. He did however make sure that I didn't try to go back on my responsibilities as father by slapping me with an eight hundred and fifty dollar a month child support payment. It bothers me knowing that a New York City Family Judge sees me as nothing but a "dead beat dad"." Elliot moved to retrieve a bottle of beer from the fridge and opened it. Walking to the living room he flopped down on the couch. "I never once told Kathy that I'd wouldn't be there for her or our children." It was clear from how the older man was acting that he was licking his wounds and feeling sorry for himself.

Chester didn't say anything at first. "Man can you really blame her?" He asked Elliot honestly. Granted he knew for a fact that Elliot would always be there for his family, but a wife who loves as deeply as Kathy would have doubts at the way her marriage had ended.

"Either way I am just glad it's over and I can finally get back to doing my job." It was only then that Elliot realized that he was still wearing his wedding band on his left ring finger. With a grunt of effort he managed to take it off to reveal the tan line on his finger, due to it being the middle of July. "Won't be needing this anymore." He looked at the dented and dull yellow gold band that had been part of his body for the past eighteen years. "Bet it wouldn't even get more than a hundred dollars at a pawn store."

"Why would you want to?" Chester asked arching one brow at his lover.

"It's just a reminder of a painful year of my life. When everything imploded." When he saw the sudden hurt look that came to the Native American's he started to back pedal. "I didn't say that I regret what has happened between us. You know I love you Chess." The older man put his beer bottle down on the end table, deliberately not using one of the coasters. Knowing how much of a pet peeve it had been of Kathy's. She had spent years trying to break him of that habit. Reaching out with his hand he cupped the younger man's cheek in his palm. "God I love your eyes. I could spend a lifetime diving into them among other parts of your body." Stabler moved in and suddenly the two men were kissing and grinding against each other. Braking away he looked down at the younger man. "I need a shower." and got up walking towards the master bedroom and the on suite bath room. "How do you feel about ordering Chinese food for dinner tonight?" Stabler started the water in the shower making it as hot as he could stand it before starting to undress. "And get a double order of moo shoo pancakes. I am not fighting with you over the last one like we did the last time."

"Right." Chess said getting on that order.

Elliot stood in the shower propped on his hand as the hot water ran over his naked body. His head bowed between his arms his eyes closed. He was just about to tilt his face into the water when he felt a smile creep on to his face. He'd left the both the bedroom door open and the bathroom as well, just in case Chester called out to ask him something. Instead what he heard was music. ABBA's "Dancing Queen" of all things. Chester had to have the volume up rather high for him to be able hear it clearly in the shower and he found himself swaying to the song as he continued to wash his body and then shampoo his hair. When he finally emerged from the bathroom he'd slipped on his robe and tied it shut. "I keep forgetting that you're a child of the Seventies."

Chester smirked dancing slightly to the music. "I figured a little upbeat tune would help." He smirked.

Elliot moved so that he could pull the towel from his lover's hips and let it slip to the living room floor and then continued to watch Lake dance for a few seconds more. "You're a dirty boy you know that?" Stabler gave the 35-year-old's firm ass a playful open handed swat with his hand. "Someone I know, needs a good spanking. Dancing around the apartment with the windows not covered at night time for the whole world to see."

"And you love every second of it." Lake smirked.

The 46-year-old man found that part of his body that defined him as male responding to the show that his boyfriend was giving him. He was glad that he still had his robe on so his arousal remained hidden for the time being. "Dancing Queen started to fade out and the ballad "All Time High" by Rita Coolidge started. Elliot arched an eyebrow and then closed the few step to close the gap between himself and Chester and took him in his arms so they could sway to the music together. The song had become the anthem of the relationship that the two men shared. Elliot had just allowed Chester to slip his robe off his shoulders and bare his chest when there the door buzzer sounded. "Wow... Ming Palace is really quick tonight." He grinned. Turning down the music Elliot walked down hallway so he could press the answer button, expecting to hear the voice of a delivery driver. Instead when he answered with "Come up to the seventeenth floor, apartment 1701." He was surprised to be answered by his eldest daughter Kathleen.

Chester disappeared to get dressed. Kathleen knocked on the door as she came up to apartment 1701.

Elliot slipped his robe back up on to his shoulders and tied it closed with the belt around his hips before moving to open the door as he looked at his watch. It was almost twenty after ten. "Kathleen... What are you doing here so late at night?" He asked as he held the door open and let his daughter into the apartment. "Does your mother know you've left the house?" It bothered him that his seventeen-year-old had made the trip into the city on her own at this hour of the night. The music was still playing softly and he found himself actually blushing when Janet Jackson's "All for You" started playing. Reaching for the remote he hit the "off" button.

"Where is he? Is he here?" She demanded wanting to meet the man who'd destroyed her family she glared at her father...

Elliot narrowed his eyes not caring for the tone of his daughter's voice. "If you mean Detective Chester Lake, decorated NYPD officer and the person your father happens to care a great deal for... Yes." His tone conveyed that he was still her father and he expected some respect from her. "You've known that I have been seeing Chester for the past three months. Why did you, just now, come into the city to meet him?"

"I've known you've been lying to me and hurting mom and that he ripped our family apart and you still think you deserve my respect that just because he's a respected cop means anything to me for what he's done!?" She demanded of him tears in her eyes raising the empty bottle of pills. "Do you think anything you say or do now will make me forgive you?" She yelled having taken the bottle not too long ago.

When the pill bottle slipped from his daughters hand and she sank onto the couch. His training as a police officer took over. While his first thought was to move to try keep Kathleen awake he instead reached for the nearby phone and dialed 9-1-1. Once he had an operator on the other end of the phone he barked out his badge number and identified who he was and that he needed an ambulance at his address for accidental overdose and told the operator who the victim was, but he was horrified to find out that the pills that Kathleen had taken where Oxycontin. Reaching to put his fingers to her throat he felt for a pulse and dropped the phone so he could none to gently move his daughter to the carpeted floor of the living room. "Chester!" he called out frantically as he used tore open the light blouse his daughter was wearing and started chest compression's.

Chester was by his side in a second. "What the hell happened?" Lake demanded looking down at his lover and lover's daughter...

"She came in... Was yelling about how I'd ruined the family and then she just collapsed. The bottle says there where thirty pills in it." He gave his daughter three breaths and then started another series of chest compression's. "We are going to have to work to keep her alive until the paramedic's get here." He nodded to his unconscious daughter. "Three breaths every five compression."

"Right." Lake said great feeling guiltier as he gave her 3 breaths every 5 compression's that Elliot gave her.

Thankfully Elliot had left the apartment door ajar so the paramedics had no trouble entering the apartment. When they arrived and took over working to keep Kathleen Stabler stable until she was transported to the nearest hospital ER. Elliot of course didn't care that he was still only in his robe and bare feet as he jogged beside the gurney as his daughter was taken down the hallway towards the elevator. "Call my ex-wife and tell her what is going on." He called out to his boyfriend. "I am going with Kathleen to Manhattan General." Elliot knew that Lake would of course follow him and would likely bring a change of clothing for him too after he'd informed Kathy of what had happened.