She needed him.

He came.

That's just how they were, how they've always been.

She didn't even have to call him.

He knew her that well, knew her inside and out.

She knew that if she hoped with all that was left in her, which wasn't much, he'd come.

This case, it had killed her inside, shook her to her core. He knew that. Of course he did, because he's Elliot and she's Olivia. That simple.

It seemed, the moment he interred her apartment, she lost every little bit of composer she had left. Which, once again, wasn't much.

This time at least, he was there to catch her. That's how they worked, if one was falling, the other was there to catch them. Simple, yet so crucial to their sanity and survival.

For them to survive without each other was absolutely impossible. Nothing is impossible for her, she thought, with Elliot around that is.

As she sat curled up on her couch, she drowned even farther in guilt.

After all, it was her fault that they didn't make it to the Vic in time... the Vic who just happened to be a cop.

One of their own. Single, diffidently not a rookie, no family anywhere to be found, and ridiculously close to her partner.

Essentially, she was the most like Olivia Benson you could get. Granted, her relationship with her partner was nowhere near what Liv and El's was, but it was most certainly the most similar one out there.

After all, no one had a partnership like Olivia and Elliot's. No one.

As she was just mere inches from hitting the bottom, she heard the lock on her front door slide to unlocked.

The first time she had actually felt relieved that day. All because of El. Her life story, it seemed. At least for the last 12 years that is.

When he spoke, his voice seemed so loud and sobering.

She felt her heart start to mend. Not by much, but just enough.

She knew, now that he was here, she'd make it. At least through the night.

He was saving her, and for now, that would have to be enough.

Just for now though, just for now.