A/N: Sometimes people need to have things pointed out to them, even though they're quite obvious. And it hurts so good.

DISCLAIMER: SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf. Tstabler © own this story.

It had been six months. Six months of waiting, wanting, wishing, hoping. Six months of wondering if she'd imagined the flirting and hinting around that he had feelings for her that went beyond partner, beyond friend.

Six months since he had come in without a ring on his finger, declaring himself single for the first time since high school. Six months since she assumed it was only a matter of time until he moved on, to her.

She glanced at him across their desks, and she shook her head in disappointment. She knew, deep down, that she had probably been seeing things. It was probably wishful thinking, and he probably didn't have any romantic feelings toward her at all.

She sighed when she noticed his crisp-looking, white shirt and his black tie with red hearts dancing on it. She scoffed, wondering if he was wearing it because it was Valentine's Day or because he had a date, someone to share all of those smiling hearts with.

He looked up, catching her eye, and almost as soon as he looked at her, her head shot to the computer screen in front of her. He thought he saw her turn slightly pink, he knew he saw her bite her lip. "Liv?"

She glanced at him. "What?"

"Are you okay?" he asked, leaning forward a bit.

She shook her head and got up, moving out of her chair and over to the coffee pot. "Fine," she said, no feeling at all in her words.

"You, uh, you have a date tonight, right?" he asked, following her with his eyes.

She cringed. "No," she said. She was hoping he wouldn't pry, hoping he wouldn't ask why. She couldn't tell him that for the last six months she was turning down every man that asked her to dinner, shooting down every guy that approached her, keeping herself available for him.

He tilted his head. "But it's Valentine's Day," he said. "Don't you think you should…"

"Drop it," she snapped. "I don't have a date, I don't want a date, I just wanna go home, watch a bunch of bad movies that have nothing to do with love, eat cold pizza, and drink myself stupid."

He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "You want some company?"

She furrowed her brow. "I thought you had a date," she said, sitting back down at her desk. "I mean you're…"

"I haven't dated since…well, no, Liv. I don't have a date." He sighed and said, "If you don't want the company then…"

"I do," she said, nodding. "It'd be nice. We haven't spent a lot of time together outside of…"

"I didn't think you wanted to," he interrupted, continuing their pattern of cutting each other off. "I guess I just thought…everyone's been weird around me lately and I thought you'd…"

She looked at him and said, "I'm trying to be here for you, El, really, I just…I don't wanna bring up…stuff."

He sighed. "I haven't talked to you about it, I know. I didn't know how. Not without sounding like a complete asshole."

She chuckled. "You always sound like a complete asshole." She winked at him and said, "After work, my place?"

He smiled at her and nodded. "It's a date."

She narrowed her eyes and threw her pencil at him. "Jerk." She gave the impression she was annoyed at his joke, but part of her wanted it to be a date. Badly.

"What movies did you get?" Olivia asked, opening the door to her apartment as she tried not to drop the pizza. They'd stopped at a rental place, but Elliot went in alone.

He hummed for a moment, then he said, "Interview with the Vampire, Blade, Once Bitten, From Dusk Till Dawn, and The Lost Boys."

"Wow, nothing says 'Happy Valentine's Day' than a blood-sucking creep marathon," she chuckled.

"I was trying to stay as far away from romance as possible," he said. "I know you hate it."

She looked at him, offended. "I happen to love romance."

He laughed. "I know that, I meant in your choice of movies. You hate love stories." He waggled an eyebrow at her and said, "You have a thing about vampires, I know you do. Besides, you might get scared and need me to hold you. See, I thought this through."

Her head tilted, she raised an eyebrow, and she folded her arms. "What?"

He sighed, sat on the couch, and pulled a slice of pizza out of the box she'd dropped onto the table. "Liv," he began, "Are you avoiding it on purpose or are you really blind?"

She knew what he meant. She threw the first movie into the DVD player, grabbed the remote, and sat beside him. "A little bit of both," she said. "I had a feeling you…but then you never made any kind of move so I…I thought I was wrong."

He shook his head. "You're not wrong. I was scared. Liv, I wasn't ready. I knew if I told you, if I did something about this, that I'd want a real commitment. But after the divorce I felt so …" he shook his head.

She rested her hand on his knee, an attempt at comfort. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really." He looked at her, vaguely listening to the movie playing. "I didn't know how you felt, either. I didn't wanna take the chance, and have you shoot me down. I mean, you've been kind of breaking a lot of hearts lately. I was secretly hoping you were just waiting for me, but I wondered…what if you were just not…"

"I was," she said, nodding. She bit her lip and said, "That's so stupid, saying it out loud. Makes me sound kind of pathetic." She laughed a bit, rolling her eyes.

"Not at all," he told her. "It shows that you really loved me. I've been doing the same thing." He shrugged and said, "I had to make sure my kids were okay, they kept saying they were, but…you know kids. Maureen kept trying to fix me up with her teachers, but I only wanted you. Kathleen wasn't ready to see me date, and the twins are still so upset about not having their mother around that I didn't want to give them any reason to hate me, or you, if we dated."

"El," she said as her heart cracked a bit. She squeezed his kneecap and said, "That's why. That's why I couldn't date. I knew you...if you asked, it would be a risk, and a big one at that, so I couldn't take a chance of being with someone if you decided you wanted…you wanted me."

He turned to face her completely, his hand dropped over hers on his leg, and he lifted her fingers, interlocking them with his. "I want you." His eyes were filled with love and certainty. "I want you."

She couldn't breathe, she could only nod, accepting what was coming now that she saw it so clearly heading for her. She heard the woman on the TV scream and her eyes flashed toward the screen for a moment.

He smirked and gently moved her head, making her face him again. "We can always start it over," he said. "Happy Valentine's Day." He closed the space between them, pressing his lips to hers softly. Tenderly.

Her hands, shaking, rose and caressed the sides of his face. She wanted more, but she didn't want to be greedy. She would take whatever he would give, and she would love it.

His lips moved from her lips to her chin, then grazed her collar bone until her pulse beat beneath them at the crook of her neck. He chuckled, low and evil, and swiped his tongue over her flesh.

"Oh, God," she moaned, her eyes fluttering closed as he lavished her neck with attention. "This explains my obsession with vampires," she said as she whimpered and scratched at his scalp.

"Did I find a weakness, Detective Benson?" he chided, scraping his teeth over her skin. He dropped two soft kisses, then lapped at the spot where he could see rapid pulsing. He moaned, acknowledging that he knew how was affecting her, and he sunk his teeth in, closing around her heartbeat.

She moaned louder, his name, and she clutched the back of his neck. If this is what this felt like, then why the fuck was that woman in the movie screaming? It felt amazing. "Oh, God," she whined.

He unlatched himself from her neck, but nibbled his way up to her ear, pulling at the lobe and licking behind, around, and inside. She was wriggling in his arms. "God damn, Liv, you're making this so fucking difficult."

"What?" she moaned, feeling herself drifting further into him, into his touch.

"Waiting," he whispered, meeting her lips with another delicately loving kiss. "I don't want to rush this, I've waited too fucking long for you to not take my damned time."

She chuckled and blinked up at him. "Why today?" she asked. "What happened today to make you decide to…"

"Your eyes," he said, interrupting her, as was his way. "Yesterday, when everyone was talking about their Valentine's Day plans, you had this look in your eyes that broke my heart and made me fall in love with you all over again." He kissed her softly. "When you said you just wanted to forget about it, I knew I had to make you change your mind. I had to give you a reason to believe in love again, believe that I loved you, because I didn't think you could see it."

She kissed him, making the first move for the first time, and she whispered, "I believe in love, El. I love you."

He laughed, a real laugh, and he kissed her again. "I love you, too, baby."

"Baby?" she questioned, smirking.

He nodded. "My baby. You're my baby now," he said. "That is, if you wanna be."

She kissed him, biting his bottom lip and tugging. "Yes," she whispered. She wrapped her arms around him, let him give her the deepest kiss she'd ever been given, and moaned his name against his lips.

"Liv," he whispered, moving his lips back toward his new favorite spot on her neck.

She hummed, answering him.

He chuckled as he licked and kissed her strong pulse again. "You need to wear a turtleneck tomorrow," he quipped. He bit into her throat, sucking and moaning as his hands traveled over her body, caressing and teasing her nipples and toying with the waistband of her pants.

The movie went unwatched, the pizza went uneaten, and the world slipped away as the risk that had been so obviously there was finally noticed, and finally taken.

A/N: I've gotten some requests! Tomorrow's installment includes a blindfold. O..O Review here, or on Twitter: TMG212