Thanks to everyone who has latched onto this story.....keep the reviews coming!

This chapter is short but it's leading to something good, I promise! :)

"You've got to be kidding me," Olivia blared into the phone. She rubbed her forehead as she listened to her landlord on the other end.

Renovations, blah, blah.

Getting things up to code, blah, blah.

Shouldn't take more than a week, blah, blah.

The bottom line--she would be removed from her apartment until the work was finished.

"Okay, thanks," she said, hanging up the phone.

Fuck. She cursed inwardly. "Fuck!" and outwardly as well. She hated the inconvenience, and of all times in her life to be uprooted from her home. Guess I'll be crashing in the cribs for a few days. The thought did nothing to improve her mood. The cribs were fine for a couple hours sleep, but she was less than excited about having to live out of them.

The work crew would be there tomorrow, so she started gathering her things together. Olivia was fairly low-maintenance, but by the time she finished packing up, she had three full suitcases. A garment bag and two duffels filled with her clothes and toiletries--just the essentials. She really wasn't sure how long she'd be misplaced, so she gathered enough to last her a week.

She was making her way to the door, all three bags hanging awkwardly from her frame. She heard her cell phone ringing from the other room. "Shit," she slung the luggage to the floor, going in search of the ringing.

"Hello?" she barked.

"Good morning to you, sunshine." No matter her state of aggravation, Elliot's teasing made her smile. She slumped down on the sofa with a huff.

"Sorry," she replied. "I just found out that my landlord's having my apartment complex renovated, so I'm going to be without a place to live for a few days. I'm just trying to get some things together."

Elliot was silent for a moment. "Where are you going?"

"To beg Cragen to let me crash in the cribs, I guess. It's not like I have a lot of options," she exhaled.

More silence.

"Hello, did you fall in a manhole?" she joked.

"I'm here," he said with a tinge of uncertainty. "And you're not staying in the filthy cribs. You're staying with me until your apartment's ready."

"I am, huh?" she quipped, trying to joke but choking on her heartbeat.

"Yeah," he said, smiling into the phone. "We spend enough time at that damn precinct. You won't get a moment's peace if you have to work there AND sleep there."

Olivia was afraid to respond, afraid he would sense the fear and enthusiasm building within her.

"Elliot, I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

Silence.

"Liv, don't be ridiculous. What're friends for, right?" Friends. She silently mocked the term.

"Okay," she finally complied. "if you insist."

"Well, I do, so it's settled," Elliot said. "I'll be around for a little bit if you want to bring your stuff over now."

"Sure, I was heading out the door when you called." She checked her watch. "I'll be over in a few."


The commute from her place to his only took about twenty minutes. She would have time to drop off her stuff before heading to work, which was a much better scenario than having to lug it to the station.

She arrived at his place in record time. He buzzed her up, and in minutes she was standing at his door. He answered her knock, and she was greeted by a shirtless Elliot, a towel draped over his shoulder. His skin gleamed with moisture, and for a few seconds Olivia couldn't move.

"You gonna stand there looking like a coat rack all day or what?" he jested to her, reaching to take her luggage. Olivia shook the stupidity off her features and followed him inside. I wasn't expecting him to have his shirt off for crissakes, she silently screamed.

Her eyes scanned his apartment, appreciating his sense of style. It was completely Elliot--simply furnished, tastefully decorated, and impeccably neat.

"I have to say, Stabler, I'm pretty impressed with your place." She shook off the awkward staring contest she'd initiated a few seconds ago.

"Thanks, it's not much," she heard him say from the bathroom. "But it's something, I guess."

"It's great," Olivia replied. She sank down onto the sofa and closed her eyes. This arrangement had disaster written all over it, and she knew it. Why the hell did I even agree to this? She cursed herself for so impulsively accepting his invitation. But she did have to admit, this beats the cribs any day.


Elliot finished shaving, rinsing his face and toweling it dry. There was a newfound freshness to his features today, and he knew it had nothing to do with the new shaving cream he was using. Something inside him leapt when she agreed to stay here with him. He truly thought she would say no, but was so relieved to hear her say yes. True, it was only for a few days, but the air was laced with something like—possibility?

The past few months had been hell for them both, and they were on their way to finding their rhythm again. They had been through an emotional collapse, but light was beginning to filter through again. She still had walls when it came to some things, but in all the years they had been partners, he had never known her to be as open to him as she'd been lately.

They still had their banter, their teasing moments. But their interaction had become something much more intimate. Her torturous stint at Sealview had broken her, changed her. She still had not told him what she had went through, but he was greatly comforted by the fact that, in general, she seemed to turn to him now more than ever. Her moments of shutting him out with bottled up silence were becoming less and less often.

"You decent?" he heard her say from the hallway, tearing him back to reality.

"Yeah," he replied, throwing on a shirt.

"I'm going to head on in to work," she said, propping against the facing and looking at him with an unrecognizable emotion in her eyes. "It wouldn't do for us to show up at the same time."

He nodded, slowly fastening the buttons on his shirt.

"El, thanks for letting me stay," she said softly. She couldn't help but stare. I've seen him a dozen times with his shirt off, what's the big deal now?

But she knew the charted territory they had tarried in before was long gone.

Elliot nodded again. "I'll see you in a little while," he said, ducking his head and trying to meet her heated gaze.

She swallowed, dragging her eyes up to meet his. Her skin tingled with a bashful glow.

"Yeah, see ya." It was all she could manage.

She spun away quickly, hoping to regain some composure and maybe a shred of dignity. Yes, this arrangement is not going to lead to anything good, she told herself. Or could it?