The old lady looked up from her wrinkled hands and smiled at Olivia. "Jane?" She said softly, her voice hopeful. "No." Olivia said softly tucking her cropped hair behind her hair. " No ma'am, I'm detective Benson." She squatted down level, standing on the balls of her feet, catching her eye. "Oh." The old woman said her wide green eyes losing a little of their sparkle. "Oh, there are so many men here." She half whispered her voice light like most elderly woman, she pulled her robe tighter around her unhealthily thin body and pointedly looked at most of the Uniforms.

Olivia tried to keep the smile on her face polite, and she looked at the men in blue cocking her head to the side and they took the hint and began packing up to leave. Leaving just her and Elliot with the old woman. "Ma'am?" Olivia said softly laying her hand on the woman's shoulder. "Can you tell us your name?" "Gina. Gina Davidson." Mrs. Davidson whispered, not making eye contact with anyone, almost as if she was looking at someone else, lost in her own history.

"Gina. Gina honey?" Olivia standing back up and sitting down next to her on the couch. She slipping her hand into Gina's wrinkled one. Gina looked at her snapped out of a daze, her green eyes suddenly bright again.

"Jane." Gina smiled and squeezed Olivia's hand, and Liv couldn't bring herself to breaking the old ladies heart.

"Yeah Gram, I'm here." Olivia said a bitter smile on her lips twinges filling her chest, her heart being tugged around carelessly.

Gina's bottom lip began to quiver, and her eyes quickly filled with tears. She leaned into Olivia, who wrapped her arms around the old woman as she began to sob. Elliot raised an eyebrow at her, but his eyes mirrored her own sadness and pity.

They sat like that for a while, as a couple uniforms searched the apartment, a uniform held up an evidence bag, but its contents was too far away for Olivia to make anything out, she raised a hand, pointer finger the only one outside of a fist.

Gina pulled away from Olivia's embrace, "Jane? Is this your husband?" She said looking at Elliot, sizing him up, "You know I always wanted you to be happy. With a big strong man to keep you safe."

Elliot smiled at the old lady behind the concern he held a wicked light, he could play Benson's Husband, especially if it meant he got to be a Big Strong Man to keep her safe.

They took Ms. Davidson back to the precinct, they had checked her out of the hospital and were hoping for some answers. "Nana? can we talk?" Olivia said sitting on the couch next to the old lady. "Sure. thing Janey dear. " The lady smiled and Olivia's heart melted in a bittersweet way.

"Janey… Can I hear about your husband first?" Gina said her voice gleeful.

"Is that what it will take?" Olivia shot back resigned.

"I will answer if you do." Davidson said coyfully, a sparkle lighting her old worn face. It seemed to be one of her better days, the only thing she had a hard time remembering was that Olivia wasnt actually her daughter, or granddaughter.

"What do you want to know?" Olivia smiled, clapping her hands into her lap.

"Your wedding colors? The first moment you knew you loved him? How about the one little thing you love about him, that no one else seems to see."

Olivia opened her mouth, ready to drop some fake story from a novel she had read in order to satisfy the woman when Elliot cut her off. He had been waiting in the door frame, his arms folded, silent, just waiting, no one had noticed him until then.

"Rose red and white." He started off. Olivia nodded but was silently cataloging all the wedding pictures she had seen of Elliot and Kathy, their colors had been pink and gold, her mouth opened slightly wondering where this was going.

Elliot took a few steps forward, unfolding his arms. " Drunken Karaoke a few years ago when she had had a few too many but stood up on her wobbling legs to sing a few bars of Don't Go Breaking My Heart." Elliot had a smug smile on his face, and his blue eyes shined fondly at the memory. Munch had his birthday at a Karaoke bar, he thought it would be the perfect cliche for cops to sing on their spare time. Olivia had climbed up on stage, and she had a carefree smile on his face that he rarely saw on her sober.

"And that one little thing you love?" Gina pushed a toothy smile now spread up on her face. Oliva's jaw was dropped and she rebuked herself for the eagerness in which she wanted hear his answer as well.

"The way I can see her smile out of the corner of my eye when I hand her coffee in the morning, or maybe the way she insists on tucking her hair behind her ear when it is way too short to stay and she knows it will fall back in her face anyway." Elliot finished and he shot Olivia a look that she couldn't place.

Cragen's head peaked through the ajar wooden door he gave Elliot the two fingered point, calling him over. Elliot nodded and ducked out of the room.

Gina waited a respectable amount of time before turning to Olivia her mouth still agape from the answers that Elliot had supplied them with.

"He is cheating on you you know." Gina stated folding her arms.

"What?" Olivia said snapping out of the thoughts she had been drowning in. " No Nana, he isn't. He wouldn't cheat on anything. Wouldn't cheat on anyone." Olivia said slower thinking about Kathy, and how until the ink dried on their divorce paper that Elliot wouldn't so much as look at another woman.

"Yeah he is. I saw him with that skinny blonde bitch." Olivia recoiled at the profanity coming out of the petite crownes mouth. "He held her in his arms and kissed her right on the cheek. Then he called her Kathleen and watched her walk away. Right here in your own work!"

Olivia's heart which had been racing just moments before slowed at the sound of Elliot's Daughter's name. She smiled gently to Ms. Davidson. "No, thats his sister." She lied she didn't want to pretend to have a fake daughter on top of a fake husband.

"So will you tell me about the attack now?" Olivia asked softly, waiting for the stubborn woman to make up her mind.

"Do you love him?" The old woman asked, not yet satisfied.

The question tugged on Olivia's heart, but she ignored it, not wanting to even think about what that emotion was, let alone why she felt it.

Elliot popped back into the room, his brow crinkled and his nose wrinkled in his usual lost-in-thought face.

"Yes." Olivia said suddenly staring at her partner, him and his bright blue eyes, and his crinkled brow and the way her hunched over when he was thinking. She ignored the old woman's gaze.

"Tell me about the attack." She said popping the cap off a well used pen, a yellow legal pad sat in front of her, they got shipped in by the hundreds around here.

"Prove it." The old lady squealed clapping her hands together. " Oh Janey prove it. Kiss him!"

"You know, you can tell if people love each other by the way they kiss." She nearly yelled in a sing-song voice.

Elliot tuned into their conversation then, and blinked in surprise not knowing what he had just walked into. Cragen had just nailed his ass to the wall, on yet another excessive force case to put in his jacket.

Olivia caught his eyes and shot him a glance that said Well? Starting on of their silent conversations. They had had them before but no one seemed to notice it was quite useful, especially in the interrogation room.

Well what? His baby blues said

Should we?

How do you know she isn't leading us on…. again?

Elliot. she sighed

Olivia.

El.

Liv.

So? Olivia cleared her throat and looked from Elliot to Gina

Do you know what you are asking? Olivia's heart sank, she wanted to do this for Gina, wanted her to be happy, and it was obvious that she deserved a little happiness. The victims always seemed to get to her. But one that couldn't even remember her own daughter. That was a stab to the muscle Olivia seemed to use the most but show the least.

It wont mean anything She tried to assure him. But that was what he was worried about. His heart sank and his head filled with thoughts about Olivia that seemed to plague him more and more lately. He shook his head out but when he met her eyes again they were pleading. He couldn't understand why she needed this so much, why she had connected to Gina so ferociously but he knew he would do anything for Olivia.

No one. No one finds out.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Elliot rather reluctantly nodded his head and a small smile crept over Olivia, but then she realized what she was about to do and it disappeared just as fast. Olivia rose from the small steel chair and they took a few tentative steps towards each other.

Olivia's heart raced in her chest, she was closer to Elliot then she had been in a long while, her head barely reached his nose so he looked down at her, her stomach dropped when she met his eyes, their noses almost brushing from how close they were.

He leaned in, tilting his head to the side and touched his lips to hers. The pink flesh barely touched, feather light, tickling her lips, and an electric sort of buzz ran through her lips and down the back of her neck They only kissed for a heartbeat, maybe two. When Olivia pulled away she looked down at the tiles on the floor, looking for any sort of pattern to catch her eyes and keep her eyes away from his.

She returned to her seat, looking at Gina who wore a smile ear to ear. Olivia cleared her throat and returned the pen to her hand. "Okay, your turn."

Then Gina Davidson opened her mouth and let the horrible story fall out, with each gruesome detail Olivia felt her stomach flip flop and her lunch become dangerously close to coming back up.

Gina and Olivia both were in tears when her story was over. Elliot walked over to Gina and extended his arm to her, thanking her for her time and her patients and escorted her to a middle aged woman from the hospital who was there to take Gina to yet another new nursing facility.

Olivia tried to wipe the tears out from under her eyes with the heel of her palms. She sniffled and tried to straighten out her blouse along with her heart.

"I got time for a beer." Elliot said back at her desk, his way of asking her to the bar brought a small smile to her face.

"Yeah," She said grabbing her keys from the top drawer. Wanting nothing more than to drink away her sorrows.

He came back to the booth with their beers. They twisted off their caps and tapped the lip of the bottles to each others before taking that first drink of the ice cold alcohol. Elliot took a small gulp before putting the brown bottle on the coasters that had been piled on the middle of the table. He turned to face Olivia who still had the bottle turned up draining it quickly. She set it on the table half empty and noticed him looking. "Yes?"

"So…" he lead, not normally one for humor but he felt they would need some tonight.

"Yes?" Olivia said waiting for him to finish his thoughts, the vein in her left eyelid twitching as she tried not to lose it.

"Is it okay to call you babe? Now that we are married that is." Elliot said leaning against her, bumping his shoulder up against hers, before swiftly pulling away.

Olivia let out a pitiful laugh, "Only if I can call you honey." she shot back.

Then one beer turned to two.

"So Babe" She emphasised and they both laughed, part pitiful chuckle part the alcohol taking effect . "Another beer?" She said with a flirtatious smile holding out the one she had been drinking that was nearly empty.

Elliot sighed. "Sure thing sugar, anything for my honey."

"Thanks Dear."

He returned with a beer for each of them. He slipped into the booth and the look of his strong broad shoulders was suddenly very appealing, her stomach, already filled with her heart, bounced with butterflies. She took a deep breath then leaned her head against her partner. The rock in her world as of late. Her stability.

She leaned on him harder not wanting to have to hold her weight anymore. He lifted his arm over her head and wrapped his arm around her waist. Olivia nestled into him, just clutching onto something, anything to keep her from dipping into this dark place she felt after every interview, this one had been especially bad. They sat like that sipping on their beers, not mentioning how they were positioned. Not mentioning much of anything.

Two beers turned to two beers and a glass of wine.

"Elliot." She said suddenly looking up into his twinkling blue eyes.

"Hmm?" He hummed out a 'what'

"What if…..What if we really were married?" Benson whispered. The question had twirled in and out of her mind all night, as they had talked to the old woman.

Elliot coughed out a sip of beer. He stopped and chuckled, avoiding any form of an answer.

"You're afraid I'm not kidding. But Elliot. Those stories you told today…." Her voice was pleading.

Elliot stopped his heart in his throat. He smiled at the memories, his partner singing karaoke, the dark red dress she wore as a bridesmaid to his cousins wedding. The way she tucked her hair back behind her ear.

Thinking of it he looked at her face and noticed a clump of hair in her eyes. He brushed his fingers across her face swooping a stray hair behind her ear.

"Then I think I would love you." He said, finally slipping out those three words, even if a few more had been slipped in.

Do you love him? do you love him? do you love him? she heard Gina's voice replay the question, over and over.

"El." Olivia said twisting out of his arms suddenly to look him straight in the eyes. "Elliot kiss me." She whispered.

Elliot obliged he took her into his arms and held her to his body as kissed her. Her lips were soft against his and he felt a tingle that he thought could only be from some form of lip gloss or chapstick that Olivia was wearing. The kiss filled him and emptied him all at the same time, he never wanted to pull away from her and those lips, the sparks from this kiss lighting a fire in his heart.

Olivia's heart skipped when Elliot leaned in and wrapped his arm around her waist. Her heart sped up and she threw herself into the kiss pushing Elliot farther into the booth. He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist as they kissed, for what could have been moments or a life time that was until Olivia pulled away. Elliot moved away from her on the booth scooting a few feet away but he left his hand lingered on her own.

Just the touch of his fingers against her palm, just that little connection kept her heart racing filling her with an emotion she couldn't put into words. Then it struck her and she knew, her heart raced and she felt her gut wrench at the words she wanted to say but didn't know how to. "Elliot….. I love you." She whispered and exhaled waiting. The moments between those words and his response felt like ages, felt like an eternity of waiting, for what could be the end of something wonderful, or the beginning of something beautiful beyond belief.

Elliot did not respond in words, but the edge of his eyes crinkled in a silent laugh, his lips pulled up at the corners and he leaned in and gently kissed her lips again, pulling away just as quickly again. Olivia smiled back and everything in her world felt right. "I love you Liv" He said under breath.

I love you Liv.

I

Love

You

Liv.