Panic

Disclaimer: Not mine

Summary: See ch1

A/N: Loving all the reviews keep it up!! oh, and omg "I'd give you my kidney"! Best line ever!!!!!!!!!

Not-So-Perfect Proposal

Olivia waited anxiously that night for Elliot to arrive. She was dressed in her favorite navy blue cocktail dress. It was off the shoulder with a scoop neckline and went to her knees. She wore black stockings and black closed heels. She wore her hair down and straight and put in her pearl drop earrings to match her pearl necklace.

She sat on her couch waiting for Elliot to walk in the door. She jumped a little when someone knocked.

"Oh, now what?" She wondered to herself as she made her way over to front door. Now was not a good time for uninvited guests.

"Who is it?" She called, annoyance prevalent in her voice, as she made her way across the room.

"Your chariot awaits my dear." A familiar voice called through the closed door.

Olivia immediately opened it to reveal Elliot, dressed in his best suit and a gray satin tie. In his hand he held a dozen red roses.

"Why didn't you just use your key?" She asked, completely forgetting about being romantic. Sometimes her blunt side overcame her romantic side, but that was okay with Elliot.

He just smiled. "Remember the whole 'trying to be romantic' thing?" He asked.

"Oh, right." Olivia smiled. It was so strange for her to see him acting this way. They were so comfortable around each other; there was never much need for "romance". They loved one another, and each knew it. "Would you like to come in?" She asked. The question sounded so alien coming from her lips; after all, the man usually let himself in!

Elliot just smiled and crossed into the apartment allowing Olivia to close the door behind him.

She turned around to find him extending the roses in her direction. "For you my love." He smiled.

"Okay, this is getting weird." She answered with a laugh as she accepted the flowers. "But thank you. I love them." She added after kissing him gently.

She made her way into the kitchen to fill a vase with water. As she was running the tap water into the glass container Elliot just stood against the counter.

"When will you admit that you like my romantic side?" He asked with a goofy grin.

"I never said I didn't like it." Olivia defended, placing the roses in the vase, and fixing them a little. "I just said it was weird." She finished fixing the flowers and placed them on the coffee table in her living room.

Elliot followed her. "Would you rather I call you and say 'hey babe be at the curb by eight or I leave with out you?" He asked in a rough Bronx accent.

Olivia just laughed and sauntered over to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and in a quiet voice said, "You don't need to romance me Stabler, you've already got me."

Elliot, in turn, wrapped his arms around her waist and answered, "I may not have to, but I want to. You deserve to be romanced sometimes Liv."

Olivia just smiled and gazed into his eyes for a moment. "I love you." She whispered before pulling his lips to hers.

She began to part his lips when he pulled away apprehensively.

"As much as I love it when you do that, we have to get going or we're gonna be late." He told her.

"You gonna tell me where we're going?" She asked, stepping away from the embrace to retrieve her coat.

"All in good time my friend, all in good time." He simply smiled before placing his hand on the small of her back, and following her out the front door.

Olivia sat in the passenger side of Elliot's car chuckling lightly. She watched in awe as Elliot jogged around the outside of the vehicle to open her door for her.

He pulled it open and extended his hand to Olivia to help her out. She took it, shaking her head with a smile.

"You are really pulling out all the stops tonight, aren't you?" She asked smugly.

"Only the best for the birthday girl." Elliot answered as he helped her out of the car and shut the door behind her. "Shall we?" He asked, beckoning to Tavern On the Green.

"El, you really didn't have to do this." She said in awe when she realized where he had taken her.

"Will you stop saying that? I've done it. It's done. I don't care whether I should or shouldn't have at this point." He said, mocking her. "Just enjoy the evening."

He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her up the steps to the restaurant.

"Stabler for two." He told the matrade.

"Right this way Mr. Stabler." The older man said leading the way to a corner table. "Your server will be right with you." He said as he handed the two menus.

Elliot pulled Olivia's chair out for her, and then took his seat. "Thank you." He smiled taking the menu.

The two looked through their menus and ordered. The waiter brought a bucket of champagne over with two champagne glasses as requested by Elliot.

Elliot raised his glass to propose a toast. "To the woman who has stolen my heart on her birthday." He smiled.

Olivia clinked glasses delicately with him. "You really are an amazing man." She responded after taking a sip of her drink. "What did I do to deserve you?"

Elliot placed his drink back on the table and took Olivia's hand in his. "I think the better question is what did I do to get you to accept me when you can clearly have better?"

Olivia's eyes widened when she realized that he was serious. "El, there is no one out there better than you. Trust me." She said gently, locking eyes with him. She had been with many men in her life, and none of them even came close to Elliot; hell, her dreams hadn't even come to close to the reality that was this man sitting before her. She loved him, and she knew that this was the man she would spend the rest of her life with, as soon as he asked that is.

"Looks like we were made for each other." He answered. He fiddled with the box in the pocket of his jacket with his free hand.

He had big plans for this evening. He had decided a month ago that he was going to ask Olivia to marry him, and he figured that doing it on her birthday would be a great gift; so long as she said yes. He had been waiting for the right moment all day, and as he stared into Olivia's eyes over their champagne glasses, he felt this was it.

"Seems that way." She smiled, her eyes were sparkling. Elliot always seemed to have that effect on her.

"You look so beautiful tonight." He said suddenly, taking hold of the small velvet box.

Olivia pushed her hair behind her ear out of slight embarrassment. She loved that Elliot thought she was beautiful, but people talking about her always made her a little uncomfortable. "Thank you." She said quietly. "I guess I clean up nice when given the chance to get out of cop attire." She smiled.

"You know that I've absolutely loved every moment we've been together right?" He asked, slowly stroking her knuckles. This was it, the moment he had been waiting for all day.

"Of course I do." Olivia answered, confused at what he was getting at. "Does he think I don't know how much he loves me? Does he think I don't feel the same way?" She wondered. "I've loved it too." She added, just incase he was questioning her feelings.

"I can't imagine my life without you Liv." He said, pulling the box out of his pocket, but still keeping it out of her sight. "And I know, that no matter what happens, or where I am. I'm always gonna love you."

"You goin somewhere Stabler?" She asked, honestly terrified that he was leaving her. "He wouldn't do that to me. Not on my birthday. Not after all this. But then again, maybe that's why he did all this for me. Maybe he wants to soften the blow!" She panicked.

"What?" He questioned. He hadn't meant for it come out like that. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I just…" He began, but then lost his train of thought. She had caught him off guard. "How could she think that I would leave her? I want to spend the rest of my life with her!"

As soon as he realized what he was about to ask her, his nerves hit him. "What if she's asking that because she wants to leave? What if she doesn't want me to ask her to marry me? What if she's not ready?" He asked himself.

"You just what?" Olivia asked when his sentence trailed off. The color had suddenly drained from his face.

"What?" He stammered coming back to reality.

"You said that you hadn't meant it to come out like that, and that you just something. You just what?" She reminded him.

"I just, uh…" He stammered. His arm jerked involuntarily because of his nerves, and knocked over his champagne glass. "Shit!" He cursed under his breath, letting go of Olivia's hand and pushing himself away from the table to avoid the bubbly liquid.

He shoved the ring back in his pocket as he frantically grabbed for his napkin to sop up the spill.

Olivia reached over and helped him sop up the small spill. "It's okay El, it was only a little champagne." She said trying to calm him down. "What has gotten into him?" She wondered. "You okay?" She asked after he sat back down, clearly embarrassed.

"Yeah, no I'm fine. Sorry." He apologized.

Olivia eyed him suspiciously, but didn't get the chance to fully evaluate him because their dinner had arrived.

The two ate their dinners and shared in their normal conversation; concerning work, Elliot's kids (whom Olivia had gotten close with over the past few months); how Casey's recent engagement was going, and some non important idle chit chat thrown in sporadically.

Of course they had shared most of what they ate as they had always done. There were some "partner" habits that they knew they would never break. It would have been a totally normal evening, except for the fact that Elliot seemed to be waiting for something. Olivia could have sworn that he was analyzing everything she said like he would a perp. There was definitely something going on with him.

After dinner the two ordered coffee and cake. They sat in comfortable silence waiting for their desert to arrive.

Olivia noticed Elliot staring at her.

"What, do I have something in my teeth?" She asked self consciously.

"No. It's just…" He began. "Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?" He asked.

"Only five times since we got here." Olivia answered with a small chuckle. "What's wrong with you tonight?" She questioned.

"Nothing." Elliot answered quickly. "You wanna dance?" He asked, quickly changing the topic and rising from his chair. He extended his hand to Olivia. He had an idea for the perfect proposal.

"Okay, sure." Olivia smiled. He was all over the place tonight!

She grasped his hand, and the two headed out to the small dance floor. There were a few couples swaying to the string music already, and they silently joined them.

Elliot pulled Olivia close and rested his hands around her waist. Olivia wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into his chest.

"You have a good birthday?" He asked.

"The best." She smiled truthfully. "Thanks to you."

"It could always be like this ya know." He told her. It was now or never.

"That would be amazing." She said. She didn't know how she even managed to get that out. When he said the words, "for ever", her heart had stopped beating. Was he going to ask her to marry him?

"You're not scared of those words anymore?" He asked, pulling slightly away so that he could look into her eyes. Elliot was referring to the time when they just started dating when she had told him that she didn't want to think about forever, and just wanted to be happy in the present. He needed to make sure that she wanted to marry him before he asked. The last thing he wanted to do was to push her away.

Olivia shook her head. "Not if forever could be like this." She smiled. The truth was that if she could feel the way she felt when she was in Elliot's arms forever, she couldn't wait!

"Well, it's a good thing you feel that way." He smiled, putting his hand in his pocket to get the ring. He knew what he was going to do. He would get down on one knee, in front of the entire restaurant, and ask her to marry him; right now.

He closed his fingers around the box. "Because I can't imagine my life with out you. I want to sp…" Before he could even finish his thought some man waltzing with his wife danced right into Elliot's back, knocking him off balance, and toppling him over onto Olivia.

She tried to brace him and stop his fall, but he was too heavy for her, and the two of them ended up on the dance floor.

"Damnit!" He cursed.

"Oh my Goodness. I'm so sorry." The man exclaimed. He and his wife both extended their hands to help Elliot and Olivia up. "I didn't even see you two there."

"He really needs to watch where he's going." His wife offered as she helped pull Olivia off the ground.

"Yeah well…" Elliot began, irritated that this man had ruined his moment!

"It's fine." Olivia said, cutting him off. She knew that tone. It was the tone he used when he was going to say something nasty, and she saw no need for it. After all, it had all been just an accident. "Really." She added, giving him a warning look.

"Uh, yeah. Don't worry about it. No harm done." He said quickly, noticing the death glare Olivia was shooting him.

"You okay?" Elliot asked once the couple had danced off. "I didn't mean to land on you."

"It's fine." Olivia smiled. "I've been fallen on men by men heavier and a lot less attractive then you. But, what were you saying before you were walked into?" She asked. She needed to know if this was the proposal she had been waiting for.

"What? Oh, nothing. Forget about it." Elliot huffed. The moment had been ruined, it was pointless now.

"Oh." Olivia said, disappointment resonating in her voice. "Well, it looks like our desert's here, let's go eat it." She offered, turning back to the table before he could answer. She didn't want him to see how her face had fallen.

TBC... stay tuned!!! Review!!!!