Hi, all, and welcome to my story! This is my first EO fic, although I have enjoyed reading many by the talented writers on here.

Please R&R :)

DISCLAIMER: I realize that Dick Wolf owns these characters...I just want to borrow them and have a little fun with them.....I will promptly return them when I am finished ;)

Blackouts and Elevators....

"Thanks, we'll be in touch." Elliot turned to head back down the hallway, Olivia in his wake.

They reached the elevator; Olivia rubbed her temples and sighed. "This has been the longest day in history." Elliot nodded in response, reaching for his phone. The elevator dinged and the doors swept open. "I'm just ready to get back to the station and maybe get some sleep," Elliot said, stepping onto the lift. Olivia thought it was odd he said 'station' instead of 'home', but she said nothing.

She punched the lobby button, leaning back against the wall, arms folded. Neither of them wanted to talk about the case, and neither was particularly chatty, so the ride down was quiet. They had reached the 4th floor when the elevator came to a sudden and violent halt, forcing them both back against the wall. The lights were out, and all was quiet and dark.

"This is such bullshit," Elliot spat, slamming his hand against the metal interior, trying to regain his footing. It was pitch black. "You okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, what the hell is going on?" she asked, her words tinged with panic. Small spaces were not her thing.

"I dunno, I would say the elevator's just stuck, but why the hell are the lights out, too?" he asked rhetorically. He punched at where he thought the floor buttons were, as if that would magically fix the problem.

"Here," Olivia said, regaining some composure. She took out her cell phone and flipped it open. "At least this will give us a little bit of light."

Elliot found and punched the call button, but to no avail. "Shit, this is unbelievable," he said, rubbing his face in aggravation. Looks like the building's lost power. The maintenance call doesn't even work."

Olivia began to feel the cold creeping up her body. She was terrified of being trapped here, in the dark, and no one knew where she was exactly. At least I'm not alone, she thought.

"Let me call the station and see if anyone there can tell us what the hell to do," Olivia said, dialing the number. But her attempt was only greeted by a beep and a dropped call. "This is perfect," she said, studying the phone. "I have no service in here."

Elliot checked his phone to find he only had minimal signal, not enough to sustain a call. "I've got one bar, lemme see if I can text someone." He punched the message through and waited for a response.

A few minutes passed, and finally he got an answer. He stared at his phone for what seemed like an eternity. "What is it, El?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"You're not gonna fucking believe this," he said, glaring through the dark to where she stood. "There's been another blackout. The whole damn island!"

Olivia leaned her head back against the cool metal wall. "Only I could be fortunate enough to be stuck here when it happens," she said, eyes closed.

Elliot handed her his phone. "Hold this so I can see what I'm doing." He shucked his jacket, down to his tee shirt, and moved to the doors. There was a very small space where the doors met, and he dug his fingers in, trying to pry them apart. Olivia watched as he engaged every muscle in his body, until he was spent and sweaty. The doors wouldn't budge an inch. Hands on knees, trying to catch his breath—it was quite an amusing sight.

"Something funny?" he said to her, barely catching her amused expression by the cell phone's backlight. She bit her lip and swallowed the laugh bubbling up. "Of course not," she replied with a smile. "But you know that these doors aren't gonna open unless someone pries them open or the power comes back on." She knew Elliot, however. He always had to act as if he had the solution to any problem.

She handed him back his phone. "Just text someone at the station and at least let them know where we are." He obliged, then decided to seat himself on the floor. She was soon to follow. "This is not how I pictured spending my night off." He grunted in response. A few minutes passed, and Munch texted back. "Well, at least someone knows where we are," Elliot said, "but with all the chaos it'll take hours for someone to get here."

Olivia whined, closing her eyes again, her body weary from the day. "I guess we might as well settle in for a while," she sighed heavily. Elliot heard, as he could not see, as Olivia took off her jacket and settled herself back against the wall.

They sat together in the dark for a while, not speaking. Bodies tired, minds weary and needing rest. It was going to make for a long night. There were intervals of quiet and conversation-just small talk mainly. Things between them had been strained lately to say the least. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something had definitely been different with him--something eating at him and alienating him from their usually natural banter. Any time she tried to ask what was wrong, they either were interrupted by work or he found some way to change the subject. She couldn't help but wonder if she had done or said something wrong. It was troubling, but she respected that he obviously didn't want to talk about it.

Olivia rubbed her temples in response to the sheer exhaustion of the past few days. Working nonstop, with very little sleep--it was beginning to take its toll. He seemed uncomfortably quiet, so she broke the long silence.

"Shouldn't you let Kathy know you probably won't be home for a while?" Olivia said, her voice piercing through the dark. Her words were followed by a long pause. "She's not home," Olivia heard him finally say, his words heavy and uncertain. When she didn't immediately reply, he added, "she moved out, her and the kids. She filed for divorce a couple of weeks ago."

Olivia was commanded by a surge of emotions at that moment, and she was trying cautiously to sort them out. This explained his aloofness for the last few weeks. She felt sadness, anger, worry, and—anticipation? After several moments of uncertainty, she spoke.

"Elliot, I'm sorry, but why in the hell didn't you tell me?" She tried to keep the hurt and anger from her voice, but wasn't doing a good job of it. She stared through the black to where he sat, waiting for an explanation. "I'm your partner for crissakes, we know everything about each other!"

"I know, I know," he said, rubbing his face, "Liv, I know. It's just complicated."

Olivia grew indignant. "Complicated? We've been partners for ten years and now it's complicated? In all the time I've ever know you, you have always let me in. Why shut me out now?" Her confusion and frustration from the last few weeks were finding their way out in her words.

"It's not about shutting anyone out, Liv, it's about me not wanting to talk about what's going on in my mess of a life. It's hard enough to know it's happening, it just makes it worse when I talk about it. I didn't mean it to be hurtful, just trying to protect myself."

Olivia sat in silence as she processed what had just transpired. She knew that things with him and Kathy were no walk in the park, but she had no idea that it had come to this. Eventually, her sadness for him overcame her pride. "El, I'm really sorry. I didn't know things were that bad."

Elliot let out a strange sound akin to laughter and said, "The sad thing about it is, neither did I. I came home one day and the kids were gone. She was there, explaining to me how I wasn't there for her, and that she needed some perspective. What the hell does that even mean? Perspective." He spat out the words in one breath, it seemed. "Two weeks later," he continued, "she filed for divorce. So much for perspective, huh?"

Olivia listened quietly as the silence weighed down on them. This changes everything, she thought to herself. For years their relationship had grown and evolved into something very beautiful and complex. She couldn't think of any other person of whom she had so much trust and respect. But it didn't stop there. It was a constant battle to stay objective when the feelings were there. She relentlessly fought the attraction between them, trying to focus on the job instead. Now, here they were, trapped together, and armed with the knowledge she now had. She navigated the situation carefully and slowly.

"I know that things haven't been great for you guys," she said to him, "but the blame can't be placed solely on one person. Relationships take compromise and commitment that has to come from both sides, and sometimes it just breaks down. I'm so sorry that you're having to go through this. But you don't have to keep it all to yourself. We've been there for each other through just about everything. This isn't any different."

"I know, Liv, I do know that. But when I said it was complicated, I didn't just mean my divorce." He paused, as she hung from his last word. "Me and you have known each other for a long time, and we have been through a lot of shit. But all this time-, "he paused again, unsure that he wanted to say what he was about to say. "Let's just be honest with each other for a minute. Our relationship, it's not just about being partners. I think we both know that."

Elliot surprised even himself at the bluntness of his words. Almost as if now, he was allowed to say the things that he had known all along.

Elliot had left so much uncertainty hanging in the space between them. "El, I-," the words hung in her throat as she was paralyzed by the swirl of emotions she was experiencing. Her heart slammed against her chest; it was so loud, she was sure he could hear it. "I care so much about you, El" she finally managed to say. Olivia was drawn aback by what she had just uttered, as if Elliot's revelation had given her the permission she needed to say what she had felt for so many years now.

Elliot was touched and simultaneously scared by the feeling in her words. "I care about you too," he said to her after a long pause, "and it's just that all this time, there's been a marriage to keep it all in perspective. And now…" It was amazing how the quiet could be louder than the conversation.

Everything was becoming so different yet so much the same. They both had known for a while that their relationship wasn't just about partnership, just like he said. But the words had never been spoken; it was just a brewing force that simmered under the surface-hot enough for both to feel but benign enough to keep in check.

Olivia's head was spinning, reeling from the undeniable spiral this conversation was going down. She didn't know whether to speak-she certainly couldn't run away! She pondered changing the subject but she heard him through the darkness. "Liv," she could feel him move a little bit closer and her heart threatened to jump right out of her. She swallowed hard, not sure whether to keep fighting or succumb to what she had wanted, had dreamed about, for so long.

She couldn't see anything, and could only rely on her other senses to know what was going to happen next. "El," she reached into the black to find his hand. The contact, which was meant to be comforting, produced a charge through her body that almost literally lit up the small space between them. She sucked her breath in hard and waited for his response to her touch. Her breath caught in her throat when she felt his hand move from her fingertips to her wrist, and she let her body obey when he gently pulled her forward. He kept her hand in his grasp, and her other fell to his shoulder. She felt his free hand sweep slowly from the middle of her back, down to just above her hips, and then came to rest on her side. Her breathing was becoming faster as she anticipated his next move. She felt completely at his mercy, and she couldn't think of any place she'd rather be at this moment.

Elliot moved one hand to her face, his touch soft and genuine. She placed her hand on his chest and smiled when she felt the drumming of his heart through his thin shirt. His hand slipped from her wrist to catch her behind her elbow, and with gentle pressure, beckoned her even closer. There was something exciting about the darkness, and how expertly they found each other. She inched toward him and crawled up to straddle him. She felt his hand cup the back of her neck and pull her closer still. They were mere inches apart, and she could feel his breath soft on her neck. His other hand moved to her hips, and she instinctively moved against him. He released a sound of pure ethereal passion, and it surged through every part of her. She let out a moan of her own when she felt his lips on her neck-the touch was so soft, so painfully blissful. For the first time in an eternity, he spoke.

"Liv," he whispered against her skin. "Are you sure this is okay?" She pulled back, but stayed inches from his face. "Elliot, I've wanted this for so long. I've dreamed about how it would feel for you to touch me like this." Her words were breathy, sultry-and they gave him all the permission he needed. Their lips touched, softly at first, as if testing the boundaries. God, there had been so many boundaries. The job, the marriage, the uncertainty-but none of that mattered right now.

The kiss ignited them both, becoming hungry and desperate. Tongues slid against one another in a delicious friction. He gripped her tight against him, and she could feel his reaction through his jeans. She reached down to grasp the hem of his tee shirt, and he complied, letting his arms rise for her to remove it. Her hands trailed down his bare chest, her caress light and explorative. It was so quiet around them-the only sound was the rhythm of their breathing. Olivia ducked her head and began to place kisses on his shoulders, his collarbone. Elliot let his head rest on the wall behind him, reveling in every exquisite brush of her lips. The sensation was like icy fire stabbing through him, penetrating every pore of his body.

It has been said that when one of the senses is inhibited, all of the others become super-charged to compensate. Elliot now knew that this was true. Although he could not see her, he didn't need to right now. The feel of her, the scent of her, the sound of her heavy breath—he was electrified. He slipped his hands underneath the fabric of her tank top, and she shuddered at the feeling of his hands on her bare stomach. She gripped and yanked off the top, giving him no time to rid her of it. He laughed softly, loving her eagerness. He worked his hands up further, feeling her body-which was hard and soft at the same time. Taut muscles encased in skin of silk-she was absolutely stunning. With the absence of sight, his imagination was running wild with visions of her. He pulled her down for another hard kiss, and felt her hands as they played at the waistband of his jeans. Her body moved against him, and she carried her hand down to play with the curious hardness she found there. He growled into her ear, she smiled and began working on the button and zipper that separated her from what she wanted. "Please," she breathed against his lips. He sat upward, working down pants and boxers in one motion. She dragged her lips down his jaw line, kissing his chest, while one of her hands found the surprise he had for her.

"Liv," he groaned at her touch. "Your hands….feel so good……"

"Mmm hmm," her breath was hot on his skin. She let her kisses travel lower, and lower still, until the lips found their destination. Slowly, her tongue slid down his erection. She took him into her mouth, and cherished the deep growl that escaped his lips. Over and over, agonizingly slow, she stroked him with her tongue, until finally he stopped her.

"You don't get to do all the playing, Benson," he said to her, and her heart jumped with anticipation. She rocked back onto her knees, and he came to find her in the dark. He kissed her mouth, then moved to the tender skin of her neck. Lower still, he realized she was still bra-clad. He frowned and ran his hands around to her back. He unhooked her bra, quite expertly, and let the lacy garment fall to the floor. He smiled when he heard her gasp. It was fun because neither of them knew what the other was going to do in the dark. He ran his hands up her back and over her shoulders, down the sides of her breasts, letting the tips of his thumbs graze over her nipples. This elicited a little cry from her, and he wasted no time. He sucked on her neck, drowning in the scent of her, then slowly moved his lips to claim the hard tip of her breast, first one then the other. Her cries were languid and erotic. She lolled back her head as he continued to tease her. She knew she deserved it for what she'd done a few minutes ago. The ache within her was growing, her face was flushed, she dug her nails into his shoulders. He moved his mouth back to her neck, and she felt his hands as they unfastened her jeans and began sliding them down her thighs. She was on fire and weak from his touch, but somehow managed to wriggle out of her jeans and panties.

She whimpered as she felt his hand sliding up the inside of her thigh. Olivia rested her forearms on his shoulders, feeling the strength leave her as Elliot found her center. His touch was so feathery light. He teased and massaged her, smiling at how ready she was. He slid his finger inside her, and she gasped sharply. "Oh, god," she purred, tilting back her head. He worked his finger for a few minutes, and listened as her breathing became very shallow and erratic. Just as quickly as he began, he moved his hand away, and laughed deeply at her response.

"Goddamn you, Stabler," she said weakly.

He devoured her in another fierce kiss, and they moved so close their bodies were touching, skin on skin. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. All the years, the longing—brought them to this moment. He moved his lips to her neck once again, and she felt as he entered her. Her cry was primal and electric, "Oh!," she winced slightly at how he filled her completely, and he could feel the hesitation in her body. "Go slow," she breathed.

Elliot remained perfectly still until her body gave the permission to continue. He moved from his knees to a sitting position, taking Olivia with him. He waited, groaning at the feeling of being inside her. Her body began to move against him again, and he grasped her hips, kissing her mouth once again.

"El, ohh," she moaned. "So….good…." Her breathing was deep, then shallow, as she reveled in the feel of his body, his hands, mouth—all of him. Her hands caressed his bare chest, then moved to clasp around his neck as their rhythm matched. Slow and seductive turned to something more frenzied as the pleasure increased. Soft moans combined with surprised cries, heavy passion-filled sighs—neither of them wanted this to end, but they knew that it soon would.

'God, Liv, you're so fucking good," Elliot groaned almost desperately. She dug in her nails as a wave of pleasure washed over her, grabbing her at her very core.

"El, oh, I'm…, I'm gonna," she whimpered.

"I know," he replied gritting his teeth in ecstasy. "Me…too…."

She was first, crying out the most beautiful love sounds he had ever heard. He was soon to follow. He gripped her hips tightly, pushing deep in. "Liv," was all he could say as his climax racked his body. His groans were loud and raspy as their bodies were ensnared by an incredible state of bliss. Olivia swore she could see stars behind her closed eyelids. After several moments, the cries became gasps of satisfied breath. They remained together, limbs tangled, her head resting on his shoulder. A sheen of well-earned sweat covered them both as their gasps morphed into smiles, then soft laughter. So much relief-physical, mental, and emotional. This moment had been more than ten years in the making, the product of a wonderful metamorphosis. They began as partners, soon becoming friends. But it had been very obvious to both of them that 'friends' just wasn't the right way to describe what they now had. So many trials, so many close calls—enough to let them know that their bond was something so much stronger.

They clung to each other in the darkness, encased in an alternant reality. Their lives were surely waiting on the other side of those doors, but neither of them were worried about that right now. They re-dressed, knowing that at any moment someone could come to rescue them, or the power could come back on. Elliot sat with his back against the wall, Olivia comfortably in the crook of his arm. Her fingers traced small circles on his chest, and they both were silent for a while.

Elliot, drawing a deep breath said, "You know, everything's gonna be different now."

"I know," was her reply. Both of them knew that there would more than likely be consequences from work. Partners needed to be objective, and if they had an issue with that before, it was certain they would now that their feelings were out on the table. "But no matter what happens, I'll never be sorry." she finished.

"Me either, Liv. Do you know how many times I have played this out in my mind? I have wanted for so long to know what it feels like to be this close to you," he said, kissing her forehead.

She laughed softly, "Me too, El. You just have no idea. You've been right there in front of me, but there was nothing I could do. I had just resigned myself to the fact that it just could never happen. And now, here we are," she said, snuggling closer to him.

They sat in silence again, enjoying the feel of the closeness. "Whatever happens tomorrow, I'm prepared to deal with it," Olivia said.

Elliot agreed, pulling her close. "Me too, but tomorrow will take care of itself. All I'm worried about is right now."