Chapter 3- 3Musketeers

Casey stripped Olivia's soiled clothes; while Elliot cleaned himself up a bit. With his help Casey placed her in the tub, he was trying not to look at her naked physique, but it was damn near impossible, for more reasons then he would like to admit. Neither Casey nor Elliot spoke a word. They were too worried to speak.

Elliot left the bathroom so Casey could wash Olivia. He needed to change himself. He walked into Olivia's bedroom thanking God that he let her borrow his clothes every now and again. He found a pair of his gray sweatpants, and his favorite hoodie. It was navy blue with white lettering that said NYPD on the front and Stabler on the sleeve. It was her favorite hoodie as well. She would steal it every chance she got, he'd steal it back just the same. They never talked about it though. It sort of became a game for them 'Capture the Hoodie'. He had it in his locker when Olivia left for the FBI. When he called her cell phone and found out it was disconnected he went to his locker to see if it was there. It wasn't. She drew a smiley face on a post-it and placed it where the hoodie had been.

He walked out of Olivia's bedroom and sat on the couch next to Porter. Porter looked Elliot up and down. "You keep clothes here?" He asked raising his eyebrow.

Elliot didn't feel the need to respond to that question, "Why are you here?"

Porter put his lips together understanding that it was none of his business why Elliot's clothes were in Olivia's bedroom, "Can't say."

"How long are you here for?"

"Can't say."

Elliot smiled in frustration at the man. He hated those words, 'can't say'. He never wanted to hear them again. It was what Cragen told him when Liv went undercover. "So why are you here at Olivia's?"

"I wanted to make sure Liv was ok. You know cause of the death and all."

Elliot shook his head. He had no idea what he was talking about.

"Didn't she tell you?"

Elliot bowed his head, and said in just above a whisper, "Today was the first time I have seen her since she got back."

"Oh. Really? Huh. That's odd because she couldn't wait to get back to you..."

"She told you that?"

"Yeah. So you don't know about T-Bone?" Elliot shook his head, "Olivia made friends very quickly with the group. I mean why wouldn't she? She's the greatest," Elliot smiled that sounded like his Liv, "Anyways we had her staying with a girl named Red (a/n: someone has to know the redheaded girls name…until I find out, I call her Red) and a guy named T-Bone. The group named them the three musketeers, they were inseparable. They were hilarious together, I would see them out and about and all they did was laugh. When I would have our meetings, Liv would get so distracted talking about them instead of her assignments. She talked a lot about you too. Anyways, T-Bone died the day Liv got back to NY. Hit by a car during a protest. When I told her I think it killed her. I think she feels bad for Red too. As far as Red is concerned she lost two of her best friends with in 24 hours. I know Liv feels terrible about that, there is no way she wouldn't. I think she thought of T-Bone as you and Red as her-" He said pointing to the bathroom to indicate Casey, "I think that is why she is taking this so hard."

"Elliot." Casey said as she peeked out of the bathroom. "Can you get Liv some clothes, and then help me get her out of the tub?"

"Yeah." Elliot felt a rock in the pit of his stomach. God he was such an asshole, he thought to himself as he headed to Liv's room.

He heard Porter's cell phone ring and him mumble some words. Porter entered Olivia's room. "Listen Elliot, I'm not sure what is going on with you two, or even Liv for that matter, but she needs you. She cares a lot about you. I mean she is the only person I have ever met who went undercover and actually wanted to give themselves up so they could come back home. There's not a doubt in my mind that when she said 'home' she meant you."

He walked out the door with out another word. A single tear fell down Elliot's cheek. He wiped it away and headed to the bathroom.

Elliot picked Liv up out of the tub, as Casey put a robe over her and dried her off. Liv started to make some sounds but they were inaudible. Elliot picked her up and carried her to her bed where he laid her down and covered her up. He kissed her on the forehead and walked out to find Casey. She was in the bathroom cleaning up.

"Hey," He said leaning up against the door frame crossing his arms across his chest, "Go ahead and take off. I'll finish cleaning up."

"You sure?" Casey asked.

"Yeah."

"Call me when she wakes up?"

"You bet."

Casey placed a sympathetic pat on Elliot's shoulder and let herself out.

Elliot took a deep breath as he looked around Olivia's trashed apartment. He started to clean, room by room. All he could think about while cleaning was how awful it must have been for Liv to come back and lose a friend, and then see him with Dani. She must have felt like she lost 2 best friends. Then she must have thought of Red and felt like a terrible her friend herself.

Elliot could see inside her. He knew exactly how she was feeling. It killed him to know that he was part of the problem and not the solution. He threw a dirty rag at the wall in a fit of rage.

When he was all done and her apartment looked like he remembered it he went into Olivia's bedroom. She was still sleeping. He took a seat in her oversized chair that was next to her bed. He stretched his legs out and watched to make sure she was still breathing. She looked so peaceful when she slept; it wasn't before long that he too passed out into deep slumber.