A/N: Many of you will be wondering how I got inspired to write this, so I'm just going to explain today I was watching Psycho and got totally hooked. It's been months since I've seen it, before I started watching SVU. All in all, I looked at it in the perspective of Liv and El and thought it would be a cool idea.

This is rated M because I unintentionally made this story really emotionally scaring for Olivia and Elliot. If you haven't seen Psycho, please watch it and you will understand. Also there will be M rated language. I don't know how much smut there will be in it, but I'll try to put at least a little bit.

Please review tell me if I should continue or not :) Pretty please..and thank you all so much for the other reviews on my stories; I never say thanks.

SVU belongs to Dick Wolf and friends.

Season: 12 (I liked Olivia's hair in this one :P)

April 14

"Getting born in the state of Mississippi Papa was a copper and mama was a hippie! In Alabama she would swing a hammer! Price you gotta pay when you break the panorama! She never knew that there was anything more than poor! What in the world does your company take me for!" Olivia laughed and whacked Elliot's arm playfully while trying to be serious at the same time, knowing that if she gave him the satisfaction of making her smile in the first time all week, she'd never hear the end of his gloating.

"Elliot, shut up." Elliot nudged her with his elbow and his hand traveled over to the air conditioner where he proceeded in putting it on full blast. The sudden rush of freezing air made Olivia's head fall back against the headrest with a sigh of pleasure. Ever since they had come here, the environment had contained only been two things: work and heat. California was hardly a place Olivia hated, but when it came to working in California things got a little iffy.

Two weeks ago, Olivia and Elliot were called into Cragen's office, thinking that they would be yelled at once again for busting up a perp a little. Police Brutality was a rarity in sex crimes, especially since Elliot recently had learned to control his temper, but to be completely honest, he still lost it sometimes. Maybe it was from pent up anger at Kathy for shipping the kids away to Florida where she was moving with her mother. Although Olivia could probably get him to back off, most of the times any incident happen, she let it go. Some people might say she was taking her job and respect for granted, but she wasn't. Some things you just had to let go, tossing all rules out of the window.

Anyway, Cragen had gotten a call from a Police Lieutenant from southern California who had requested the assistance of Olivia and Elliot. There had been a string of grizzly, disgusting rapes/murders that somehow tied into a case the two detectives had worked on back in 2001. That had been years ago, Olivia honestly didn't recall most of the details, but she could, however, remember the basis of the crimes. There had been over 20 dead girls, all the same age, 12, all the same looks, blonde hair, blue eyes, all the same lifestyles, rich, wealthy families with caring, loving parents. It was sickening that their bodies had to be fished out of dumpsters and sewers, their normal, childish beauty flawed by mud and litter. They had never found the perp, though they questioned dozens of people all with rock solid alibis. The case took up months of their time and all for nothing. All they had managed to uncover was dirty family secrets and money scams that had absolutely nothing to do with the killings. Eventually everything just stopped: the killings, the rapes, and the disappearances. It was as if none of it had ever happened.

No one would have thought that nearly ten years later, more murders would have been committed the exact same way with same M.O. as the others back in '01. Cragen had explained to them that once again more little girls were turning up, discarded like trash all with the same unique signature of the perp. Their hands were always tied tightly behind their back, their hair was always braided neatly down the back, they always had perfect makeup applied to their faces, although most of it had been marred by the places they were left in. The girls had the same blonde hair and blue eyes that must have somehow fascinated their perp. Over five girls were already dead in the span of over a month, but there were two more missing, so evidently time was not on their side.

Hurriedly, Cragen flew Olivia and Elliot out to give their expertise to the detectives working the case in the reasonably sized town of of Brandon County, California. For over a week, Olivia and Elliot worked their asses off, went through crime scenes with a fine tooth comb, and talked to the friends and family of the missing girls. It was on Sunday, yesterday, that they had finally found the man who committed all of the rapes and murders, in both New York and in California. It was a long and painful process, but all of the mothers and fathers had the same man mowing their lawn every week from the same company; his name was Samuel Frank, a 28 year old psychopath who escaped his mental health facility in a fire when he was 18 exactly around the time the gruesome crimes began.

It had been emotional to say the least for Elliot, who was already angry and upset, having his children taken away from him. Besides the fact of being emotionally drained, he seemed in good spirits, satisfied that they finally had caught the sick bastard that taunted their brains for over a decade. Except that even though he could never again rape and murder any other girl, 27 other girls had died in vain, for nothing. (The other two that had been missing had been found deceased.) Olivia, too, had been bothered by the fact, but now that they were on their way to the airport, which was fairly far away from Brandon County, she was in better spirits.

"Damn, I can't wait until we get home." Elliot reached over to Olivia and grabbed the McDonalds Coke they had snagged a while ago at a deserted shopping mall. Hungry as he was, he still hesitated in pulling into the creepy looking place. Olivia, being a smart ass, pointed out that the whole desert was fucking creepy. All they could see anyway was the occasional cactus and scrawny looking tree. They hadn't seen a car in miles so that checked another disturbing thing off the list.

"That makes two of us," Olivia murmured as she lay her head on the window as she watched the hot desert hills roll by.

"What do you plan to do when you get home?," Elliot asked with a grin. Somewhere in his heart he knew that Olivia would come up with dozens of answers that would make him even more eager to get home, prop himself up on his bed, eat junk until he almost died, and sleep for a week straight.

"Hmm," Olivia grinned and closed her eyes, imagining herself in her favorite city, "a nice, long, steamy shower." After she said it, her eyes snapped open realizing how inappropriately she had phrased that. She hadn't intended to turn him on, so she pretended not to see the way Elliot blushed deeply and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. She knew he wasn't really attracted to her. He was still getting over his divorce for god's sakes, he was awkward around every woman, though she never thought he actually considered her a woman since they had been partnered for so damn long. Actually, Olivia was pretty confident she could fit in with one of the boys at the bar, talking about beer or poker or whatever the hell they took interest in. "And a nice, juicy cheeseburger and fries with a venti Starbucks Frappe."

"They both sound amazing," Elliot moaned, letting his head lull back, he too thinking of what it would be like to be home...in the shower...with Olivia. He had to distract himself from thinking about her, naked, wet, and sudsy by pressing his foot on the accelerator.

"A little eager are we?" Elliot was so, so thankful he could mask his want for her as his want to get home.

"Just a little homesick." He handed her the soda which she took a grateful sip of. "You are too, Liv." Olivia gave him a quizzical look as him as she swallowed her Coke.

"Sorry, Stabler, you are certainly wrong there."

"Nope."

"Yep."

"Nada."

"Si."

"Hardly."

Olivia punched his arm playfully and pulled her legs up against her chest, suddenly very cold. The sun was just beginning to go down over those scary, freaky hills.

"Elliot, the only reason you're homesick is because you've got kids." She paused. "And friends." Elliot glanced over at her, thinking he heard tears in her voice. It pained him to hear her like this. It hurt him more than he would have liked it to.

"Olivia, I don't have kids, not anymore at least. And did you seriously just say I had friends?" He grinned at her, trying to cheer her up, using his hand to gently massage her shoulder as she leaned against the window once more. Elliot had a feeling the reason her eyes were closed again was because she was fighting back tears...and that just wasn't acceptable. "You should know better than anyone that this man could never make friends." Olivia stifled a laugh and placed her hand on top of his. "Honest to God, I don't think I've made a friend since eighth grade."

"Elliot, but you did have kids. I mean, you still do, just not in the city. At least you got that chance at life, that chance at actually loving someone," Olivia explained, shaking her head as she tried desperately to make him see from her side of the fence.

"Olivia, to be completely honest, the only reason you haven't loved anyone yet is because you won't let anyone into your life." He knew he made a mistake the moment the words left his lips. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Her big, fawn eyes snapped open, looking like red, hot knives against the orangey desert terrain.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Elliot didn't want to explain himself any further, scared that she would kill him before they got to the airport.

"Nothi-" Elliot was cut off as a groan from the cherry red, Buick Riviera made the car shudder with effort. Olivia's eyes were wide, not really with anger anymore, but with fear and dispair.

"When was the last time we got gas?," Olivia interrogated as she tried to get a look at the ancient looking dials and numbers on the dashboard. Elliot shook his head and tapped where it displayed quite clearly that the gas was half full.

"We have plenty of gas I don't understan-" The car lurched forward and Olivia painfully slammed her head into the front window. The next moment she felt blood pouring down her face, but more startling was the feeling of the car slowing down at a rapid pace.

"Fuck!" They said it simultaneously as blood seeped out of a deep slice in Olivia's forehead and the car came to a complete, utter stop. There was an eerie quiet for the next few minutes.

There was only the sound of their heavy breathing.

There was only the setting sun visible over the mountains.

There was only the smell of burning rubber and gas.

There was only the feel of blood under Olivia's hand and cheep leather under as Elliot gripped the steering wheel, waiting for the damn thing to start again.

Both of them tasted blood since they had both bitten their tongues in the unexpected, violent lurch forward.

They were screwed.

They were in the middle of nowhere.

"El?" Her voice was soft and if Elliot didn't know any better, he would declare she sounded scared. He looked at her pressing the wound on her forehead as blood flowed out through her hand. All feelings of complete helplessness faded somewhat as his protective, alpha male self came into play, opening the door for her and ushering for her to get out. The both of them quickly exited the car, intending only to examine the damage under the hood. But the next moment Elliot's arms were wrapped tightly around Olivia as he cupped her head close to his chest.

She couldn't stop the few, tiny tears that escaped her closed eyes as she breathed in his scent, like pine trees and laundry. Oh god, she was terrified. Not because their car broke down, that didn't really bother her. It was the mere fact that they were in the middle of a place Olivia despised. She rarely told anyone this, but she hated the desert with a burning passion. Nothing in her childhood or young adult years issued this hate. There was just something about being somewhere where there was so little, no houses, no trees, no people. It was the exact opposite of the city she had lived in her whole life. The change scared her...a lot.

"Are you okay?" Elliot's concern was growing by the minute and not hearing her voice telling him it was going to be okay pushed him over the edge. It pained him to feel her pull away, but the embrace had been for over three minutes, far longer than they had ever hugged.

"Shit, El, I got blood all over your shirt." Olivia's worry lines appeared on her forehead as she brushed the medium sized, rusty spot where her head had been resting.

"Liv, I really don't care...Are you okay?" She nodded, her attention now diverted back to the car.

"What should we do?"

"I don't really know anything about cars," Elliot admitted sheepishly.

"Exactly." Elliot shot her a glare. "So, what do we do?"

"Why the hell are you asking me?" His voice became angry and irritated and that reminded her of what he said in the car.

"Because you seem to know everything, butt head!" Not her best, but still. Elliot snickered coldly.

"Butt head? Is that the best you go?"

"You know what," Olivia's voice rose and Elliot could see the pink tint on her cheeks as she became incredibly angry, maybe not at him, but certainly at the situation, "I'm walking." Okay, yeah maybe at him. She snatched the Coke out of the car along with her gun and badge that had been resting in the backseat since obviously there was no need for them as they drove.

"Wait, what?" His voice lost it's callous, it was once again concerned and confused. That didn't drive the pain away from Olivia, but she knew that he was truly sorry for what he said in the car, even though they didn't exactly discuss it throughly.

"You heard me."

"Olivia," He groaned, jogging to catch up with her, "can't we just wait for someone to drive by?" Olivia shook her head and continued to walk at a steady pace down the side of the gravely road, still radiating heat from the afternoon sun.

"You can, but I'm not taking my chances." Her jaw was firm, her voice strong. He knew she wasn't going to back down on this.

"Fine." Elliot turned around, silently fighting against every instinct he had to go with her and protect her. It was the worst feeling he'd ever gotten, but quite frankly at this point he knew nothing on this trip had been his decision. This had happened with Kathy too. He was just the defender, not the leader, that was Olivia's job, but right now he was fighting for this. He knew that if they walked on it could be miles to the next rest stop or pay phone or living soul. The chances were just so damn slim.

As he saw her profile fading into the dim sky, his thoughts were thrown out the window. Fuck fighting for control, he really didn't give a fuck anymore if that meant having to be separated from her.

"Liv, wait!" Elliot sprinted to catch up with her and was embarrassingly out of breath when he finally reached her. He noticed her head was still bloody and as they walked he tore a piece of his thin, cotton shirt and gave it to her.

"Thanks," She murmured as she nursed it against the painful cut that was still bleeding.

"I didn't realize you were so stubborn," Elliot joked as he squinted off into the distance seeing nothing but black road stretching into the distance.

"You have a lot to learn then." But he knew that he really didn't. Olivia was the closest person he'd ever had to him and he would stop protecting her...even if it meant risking his own life.

"We all go a little mad sometimes."- Anthony Perkins, Psycho