I own no one but my own people

Olivia Margaret Benson had tackled the most violent psychopathic sociopaths that Manhattan had thrown at her. She looked the devil himself in the eye a fair number of times and came out the other side triumphant.

How then, with her history at showing up at deaths doorstop to personally mock him, was a $50 tent getting the upper hand of her?

"Ya know," she sighed as she struggled to get the metal ring hooked onto the pole, "they rent cabins here. Wouldn't that be easier?"

"It would," Tucker admitted as he stacked the firewood they had bought into a neat orderly pile, both of them keeping one eye on Noah who was busy blowing bubbles. "But then it wouldn't be camping."

Tucker had convinced Olivia that instead of the usual rooftop BBQ and Macys fireworks she had done the past two Fourth of Julys she had with Noah to go camping upstate.

Olivia, who had never once even went into an outdoors store her entire life, shut down the idea as quickly as Tucker had brought it up. The way she saw it, people evolved to live in houses and apartments. The only people who slept outside didn't have a choice. There was dirt and bugs, no showers, no electric... there was no logical reason why someone would want to spend a night outside on the cold hard ground.

But then Noah, with a pouty quivering lip and his big gray green eyes, had gone 'please Mommy', the two words the Detective had yet to figure out how to say no to. So it was with a grumble that she finally agreed to take up her boyfriends offer to go camping and two weeks and an expensive trip to 'Big Joes Outdoor and Sportsman Store' later she Tucker and Noah were three hours away from their beloved city in the smallest town Olivia had ever set eyes on.

But, not that she would ever admit this to Tucker, she knew every time she saw Noah's face light up with excitement every time he talked about what he was going to do while they were camping would make everything she would go through worth it.

Tucker wiped his brow as he finished stacking the firewood and went over to where Olivia was still struggling with the tent, quickly bending over and doing what she had struggled to do for the past three minutes in three seconds.

"Showoff," she said as he finished hooking up the other three poles. He just stood up and smirked at her. She went over to him and draped her arms around her neck, unable to help the smile when he wrapped his powerful arms around her and brought her tight against him.

"We're gonna have a good time" he told her, gently swaying her.

"We could have just as good a time in a cabin. With our own bedroom... and not sharing a tent with a three year old," she told him with a slight smirk.

"How about I make you a deal?" said Tucker. "We all share the tent for the week, and then when we get back to the city I rent us a hotel room and the two of us make up for lost time?"

Olivia's smile grew before she pressed closer to him. "Oh yeah? And uh... What exactly does making up for lost time entail?"

"You'll see," he told her with a smirk before capturing her lips in a soft kiss.

Olivia let out a soft moan before she pulled away from him. "I think Ill take that deal."

"Thought so."

Another quick kiss between the couple before Olivia spoke. "I am going to go find a bathroom and shower close by. I'll sleep in the tent but I refuse to go without bathing for a week."

He watched her walk away for a moment, taking a second to admire his girlfriend in tight-ish shorts before he went back to getting the camp site ready.

Tucker didn't remember a single summer that wasn't spent every other week as a kid with his dad in various sites in and around NY camping. His father was a New York City firefighter while his mother was a stay at home mother meaning his small family didn't have a lot of money for vacations like the other kids in his school that went to amusement parks or expensive hotels in expensive cities. But an old patched second hand tent two sleeping bags a cooler full of food and drinks and a couple of fishing poles brought the young Ed Tucker more joy and happiness as a kid then he could have ever imagined.

That's why he suggested the idea of camping to Olivia. He wanted to bring that same joy to Noah that his own father had brought to him.

Also, there was a more romantic reason for wanting to bring Olivia from all the stress and bustle of the city and into the quiet woods of small town.

Tucker had planned to propose in Paris, right in front of the Eiffel Tower after a romantic dinner... The proposal every little girl dreams of, or so he thought. However the night he was supposed to ask her to spend the rest of their lies together, another guy standing not even three feet away from him had the exact same idea, taking away the romance of the moment.

Then afterwards when they were back in the hotel room Olivia confessed to him that, even though it was romantic, she thought of a proposal in front of the Eiffel Tower was a little bit unoriginal, that it was something every other romantic movie set in Paris did.

Olivia told him she didn't want a 'movie proposal'. She wanted something sweet and intimate, not being asked in front of hundreds of strangers where the same thing had been asked of hundreds of girls.

So he decide to scrap that idea entirely, instead choosing to ask her when they were alone with only the light from the fire and the stars around them after spending several days proving to her that he didn't just want to be her husband but also a father to Noah as well.

Just as Tucker started to unload the sleeping bags from the trunk, another truck pulled into the site next to their and he let out a soft groan. There was ten other free sites available all around them, these people HAD to set up right beside them?

He just shook his head as he set up the two adult sized sleeping bags and the child sized Batman sleeping bag inside the tent along with the pillows. When he climbed out of the small tent he glanced back over at the newcomers and his eyes went wide with shock as the driver climbed out of the truck and shut the door behind him.

Tucker swallowed hard as his eyes quickly looked over the man who would be staying beside him for the next week, making doubly sure the person was who he thought he was.

The mans short bristly brown hair had receded some since he last saw him and a well maintained beard now adorned his face but there was no mistaking the baby blue eyes Tucker had looked into far too many times when he interrogated the former police officer.

Elliot Stabler was now standing not even fifteen feet from Ed Tucker and his ex partners son...

Elliot turned to go to the trunk of the truck when his eyes fell on the former IAB agent and his eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Lieutenant Tucker?" he asked, not quite sure of what his own eyes were showing him.

Tucker cleared his throat and took a deep breath as he walked over to the man, his heart pounding hard against his chest.

Olivia told him that she hadn't seen her once best friend in six years nor had he ever contacted her despite her numerous attempts to contact him. He never asked her but he always thought the two of them had been romantic together, at minimum they had sex once or twice at most a real loving relationship but even when he was IAB and Olivia was nothing more than a pain in the ass, as long as their relationship didn't get in the way of the integrity of the jobs, he never asked.

Now that he was dating her and, hopefully, soon to be her fiancee, he didn't want to ask simply because he didn't want to know. He saw the way her eyes lit up in old photo of the two of them, heard the absolute heartbreak in her voice when she spoke about him now... He had read the statement from her first encounter with William Lewis where he had mocked her for thinking about Elliot in the absolute worst moment of her life...

Tucker knew Olivia loved him, there wasn't a single doubt in his mind about that. He just wasn't sure if she had loved Elliot much less ever stopped loving her old partner...

Tucker cleared his throat as he reached the former cop, his hand outstretched as a means of peace. Elliot looked at it like it was snake before he slowly reached out and shook it, blue eyes looking into blue.

"Oh wow, it really is you," said Elliot as he gave his former foe a once over. "It's been a long time."

"Yeah it has," Tucker answered, as neutral as he could make his voice. "How you been, Stabler?"

Elliot shrugged as he shoved his hands into the pocket of his jacket. "Pretty good... Retirements been treating me as good. Working private security to keep busy."

Tucker nodded, not particularly keen on reminding Elliot that it was his report that said see a therapist after the shooting or put in your papers that led to the retirement. "Good. That's good... So are you here with your family?"

"Just my youngest," Elliot said, not adding on any more information than that. Tucker nodded again, trying not to notice the lack of a wedding ring on his hand... "You?"

"I'm here with my girlfriend and her son," he said, leaving out the fact that his girlfriend was the woman Elliot had worked side by side with for twelve years. "He's right over there," Tucker added, nodding towards the young toddler who was too busy playing with his trucks to notice the two adults.

Elliot narrowed his eyes in what could have been disgust. "Your girlfriend has a kid that young? How old is she?"

Tucker felt that old familiar annoyance at the blue eyed sex crimes detective bubbling up once again. "She just turned fifty in January," Tucker told him, trying his damnedest not to sound short with him. "She adopted."

Elliot nodded, the disgust in his face falling somewhat. "I get it. Sorry."

Tucker said nothing and just nodded to the truck where his nine year old was getting out the supplies form the trunk of the truck. "Ya know Stabler there's a lot of different sites you could choose, more open. You sure you wanna go to this one?"

"Considering this is my reserved site every summer for the past four years, I'm pretty sure," Elliot told him with a bit of a bite. "If you want though I can help pack up your stuff, help you find another spot. It won't be as nice as the area here but..."

"Nah, I mean we got her a few hours ago, we were already here... This site suit me just fine."

Elliot and Tucker stared one another down for a moment before Tucker cleared his throat and took a step back from the old Detective. "I should get back to setting up the site."

"Yeah and I gotta get mine set up as well," Elliot told him. "Guess I'll see you around."

"Guess you will."

Without another word Tucker turned and walked away, biting his lip out of nervousness. How the hell was he going to break this news to Olivia that the man she had worked with for twelve years and haven't seen in half a dozen was now going to be sleeping ten feet from them.

Before any type of plan could cement in his mind he saw her walking down the path towards him with that smile he loved seeing on her face.

All of a sudden holding his ground about staying here wasn't all important to him. He just wanted to get her away before she saw him

"There is a surprisingly clean bathroom and shower just on top of the hill," she announced with sigh of relief. "Meaning I won't have to be smokey and dirty for seven days straight."

"That's great, Liv, but I'm thinking we should move down a few sites. Wanna go down and tell the groundskeepers?"

Olivia furrowed her brow in confusion. The spot they choose had the perfect mount of shade, was the second largest site on the campground, the largest was the one directly next to them which was reserved for someone else who came up from the city to vacation, it had a bank next to the river where Tucker could teach Noah how to fish, it was close to a volleyball court as well as a it was close to the bathroom and the showers... Tucker had practically jumped up and down when he discovered this site was free to use.

"But you said this was the best site on the grounds."

"I know but the guy that reserved it showed up and it just kinda ruins it. Wouldn't you rather be somewhere private?"

Olivia shrugged. "It's a big enough site, we don't even have to talk to them."

"I know but-."

"We're here, we're all set up, we're not moving."

Tucker sighed, giving it one last go. "I know but we have neighbors now and-."

"Ed, baby please stop, it'll be fine. Besides they might be nice, we should go over and introduce ourselves."

Tucker opened his mouth to protest but before he could she walked past him to pick up Noah and made their way over to the site where Elliot had his back turned to her getting out his camping supplies.

"Hi, we're your camping Neighbors. I'm Olivia," she greeted with a welcoming smile.

Elliot froze where he his, his face still hidden from her view. He would know that voice from anywhere, despite not hearing it for six years.

"We came up from Manhattan," she continued but taking a step back as she did, the mans demeanor making her hair stand up a little bit. "And you guys?"

The former detective took a deep breath before he turned to look at her, only able to speak two words when he finally saw her.

"Hi, Olivia."

She simply stood there frozen, her eyes wide, unable to move or speak or even blink as she looked upon the man who had been her everything for twelve years.

As Elliot waited for her to speak, a realization dawned on him. Tucker, IAB rat Ed Tucker, was here with his girlfriend and her son and he was staying right beside them. Olivia just came over with the same boy Tucker pointed out saying she was his neighbor which could only mean...

This was going to be a very very long camping trip for the three of them.

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