((Author's Note: I do not own Law and Order: SVU or any of the characters. This story takes place at the end of "Justice Denied"

Note: Although an anonymous reviewer was very rude, they did have a few good points.. 1) Olivia and David's breakup was mutual and so I changed the story to fit that and 2) A walk from Queens to Manhattan would be entirely too long of a walk so I made it so that Elliot's apartment was in Manhattan as well. I welcome everyone's reviews and if I make mistakes please do point them out to me.. I only ask that you do so in a nice way if at all possible *sweatdrop* I am pretty new to writing fanfiction and so I would really appreciate all the support and kindness that I can get! Thanks everyone and I hope you enjoy the story and will continue reading the chapters to come!))

Chapter One

Olivia went home that night with a very heavy heart. As she walked through the door of her apartment she realized that she was more mentally exhausted now than she could remember being in a long, long time.. probably since the night she'd come home after Elliot had left SVU. She refused to think about that now though just as she'd refused to think about it a million times before. Besides, there were plenty of other complicated thoughts to occupy her mind right now.

She still felt what was, at least in her opinion, a well deserved guilt over the case against Pena. Because of her poor judgment and lack of attention to detail, he'd been forced to live out eight years in prison for a crime he had not committed. Hell, the actual sentencing was for more than three hundred years and the thought still sent a cold chill down the back of her spine, the thought that he could have lived out the rest of his life in prison all because of her. Sure, she was glad that he was out now and acquitted of all charges.. but that would not give him back the eight years that he'd lost, eight years that he'd spent doing nothing other than writing letters in an attempt to get at least one person to hear him out.

Her own guilt and anguish was so strong now that it caused a wave of nausea to pass over her. She made her way to the couch in her living room and plopped down on it, the exhaustion clearly visible upon every single one of her features. She grabbed a throw pillow and a blanket that lay across the back of the couch as she laid down and curled her legs up against her chest. Her eyes closed as she willed the overpowering feelings to leave her, but of course it was never that simple. She was unsure how long she lay there thinking about the case and Pena.. and then of course there were only more troublesome thoughts after she'd exhausted that one.

An image of David Hayden crossed through her mind, the way he'd looked earlier that day in his office.. when they'd more or less decided that their relationship was over. They'd made the decision because of work related issues, but she couldn't help but wonder if there had been more to it than that. Although she did not fault David over this, seeing as it had been a mutual agreement, a tiny part of her had still wished that he'd at least said something more.. She hadn't expected him to fight for her per say, because doing so could result in him losing his entire career, and she would never want that for him or for anyone.. but that tiny part of her simply wished that he could have given her something to hold on to- telling her that he would miss her, that this was hard for him, something. Maybe she was just being too needy though.. It was just a hard fact to accept, that not a single relationship had ever worked out in her entire life. David was now just another notch in her belt of failed relationships.

For some reason she thought back to Elliot now as well. Technically they'd never been together romantically.. but there was no denying that they'd shared some kind of relationship, and a very strong one at that. Of course it had been clear why he'd left SVU; he hadn't been able to handle the job anymore and she could not blame him for that, especially after the event where he'd shot and killed a girl in order to protect the others in the squad room. She cringed at the memory, but there was no denying that situations like that were always possible when it came to their line of work. Elliot had been with SVU longer than anyone else she had ever known and so maybe it should have been expected that one day he would reach his final straw. Although difficult to accept, she could at least understand that part.. but the part that she could not understand was why he'd dropped all contact with everyone, including her. Not one single text message, phone call, letter, visit.. nothing. Like with David, she couldn't help but wonder if this was somehow her fault.

She was angry with herself now because she'd allowed her thoughts to move in this direction, when she'd promised herself time and time again that she would refrain from doing so. What Elliot did was based off of his own decisions, not because of her. The same went for David.. The only thing that should be bothering her right now was the case against Pena, because that had been her fault.. and while that was still weighing heavily on her mind, she couldn't help but to feel saddened and guilty over David and Elliot too.. Despite how hard she tried, her self doubt and insecurities still lingered as she finally dozed off some time later.

At home a very worn out David Hayden sat at his desk with two objects in front of him: a glass of ice and a bottle of whiskey. His phone was still in his jacket pocket and his fingers almost burned with the desire to take it out and call Olivia. He knew it was too late to call, but besides that, he knew that she may not be ready to hear from him after what had been decided earlier that day.. and now he was wondering if he'd made a terrible mistake in allowing such a decision to be made. Yes, their jobs were complicated.. and his work had pretty much always been his whole life.. but over the short period of time that he and Olivia had dated, she had become really important to him as well. She was special.. but he wondered if that was enough to risk both of their jobs over. As he downed his entire glass in record speed and poured another, he continued going back and forth between his thoughts.

The figure of a man stood just outside of Olivia's apartment building. Illuminated only by the dim lighting of the streetlights, Elliot Stabler paced back and forth in silence, completely unsure of what to do next. He was on his own and had absolutely nowhere else to go. Kathy had kicked him out about a month ago and he'd gotten his own apartment in Manhattan. However, he'd lost his job shortly after that and so he hadn't been able to make the rent payment, which had resulted in him getting kicked out of there too just earlier that day. He was running very short on money at this point and didn't have enough even for a hotel. He had his car, but it was in the shop and so he'd walked the distance between his apartment and Olivia's. It was a long walk, but with the current state of his thoughts he could have been walking for minutes, hours, or even days. It all felt the same to him now anyway. He was a broken shell of the person he'd been months ago, before that incident had occurred at SVU. That was the reason he'd lost his job and partly the reason he and Kathy's marriage had failed, although admittedly they'd had numerous problems even before that.

So now he stood outside of Olivia's apartment even though he knew he had no right to be there. He'd left SVU and had not been in contact with any of them since then, including her.. and that was completely unforgivable on his part, especially when it came to Olivia. She'd not only been his partner, the longest one he'd ever had and not to mention the best, but she'd been his best friend as well and he'd been hers.. although now he doubted he even deserved to be considered an acquaintance. Still despite all of this, he'd found himself walking in the direction of her apartment although he'd had no plans except wandering around aimlessly to gather his thoughts. He looked up at her window as he continued debating on what to do next.

Olivia was unsure what time it was when she was woken from her fitful slumber by her phone ringing.

((So whose calling? Is it David or Elliot? Find out in Chapter Two!))