Things are getting interesting in Redmond. Its rainy as hell suddenly. I biked today, several miles after work in the rain. I'm STILL cold! Damn! My fingers are a little numb still, but its lead the way to Chapter 5. Today is WHY there will be chapter 5!

This chapter includes two of my favorite songs, which I've now assigned one to Olivia. Its called Galileo, by Inigo Girls, and the other to Elliot; Baba O'Riley by The Who (Any House M.D. fan knows this song!)

This chapter is for All that Love OnE!

This chapter starts something new. Timeline!!!!


April

Elliot awoke to the same morning sounds he'd gotten used to over the last month. Olivia was making breakfast. He smiled, remembering how flushed she was when he brought up the dream. He knew he shouldn't have teased her, but it was too easy! Elliot wandered into his bathroom and showered quickly.

His mind was set on one goal today; Don't Piss Off Olivia. As he started to sing in the shower, he chose her favorite song, and sang loudly. Hell, he'd heard it enough every morning on the drive to work, it may never leave his head. At least it wasn't a bad song. It was one his daughter, Maureen, loved as well.

"Galileo's head was on the block. The crime was looking up the truth. And as the bombshells of my daily fears explode, I try to trace them to my youth. Then you had to bring up reincarnation over a couple of beers the other night. So now I'm serving time for mistakes made by another in another life time?" He stopped, trying to remember the next line. "And how long til my soul gets it right?" he sang. "Can any human being reach that kind of light. I call on the resting soul, of Galileo. King of Night vision...king of insight." He couldn't remember the rest of the song. He cursed himself and tried to think of another song. Nothing came to him, so he turned the water off and dried himself. Elliot was pleased with himself that he remebered at least that much, and hoped Olivia wouldn't be wearing head phones.

"Hey," she said as he entered the kitchen. "Coffee is fresh, and there's eggs."

"Thanks." He grinned to himself. Olivia was still smiling, and her laptop was closed. She wasn't scarred from his singing today. Mission accomplished. One step forward.


Olivia hummed as she typed up the report of a peeping tom case at one of the local high schools. The three that remained filed paper work, and studied old files that Elliot brought from New York. Pete's desk was finally cleared off, and waiting for its new occupant. No one wanted to replace him.

"Is this SUV?"

"SVU. Yeah. I'm Stabler."

"Detective Kaye Goldman," the woman said. "I've been assigned to this unit."

"Pick a desk," Olivia said. "I'm Olivia Benson, that's Caleb Miller, Jack Porter, and-"

"Rain Garver," Kaye said, grinning. She set her box on the desk and pulled her orders out. She stepped into Torres' office long enough to hand him the file before returning to her desk.

"Rain?"

"Short for Rainbow; parents are hippies." Garver turned red, but kept his eyes on the file in front of him. "I'm sorry, Garver. Couldn't help it."

"Sure, Goldman. You had to inform them that I have the gayest name in history for a man. Even The boy named Sue got teased less." He left the unit, grabbing his keys.

"He'll be back," Kaye said. "So, New Yorkers."

"Yep."

"Nice. How do you like Seattle?"

"I haven't actually been there yet. When my kids fly in, we're taking them to the Space Needle for the 4th of July. Got tickets and everything."

"And you?"

"Where he goes, I go."

"Ah, been partners a while..."

"Coming up on 9 years." Kaye grinned and emptied the box into her desk. "We don't have any major casses. He only had one, but it was done in 24 hours."

"You're good at what you do, in other words."

"I like to think so. Welcome to Hell."


Elliot looked up from the TV to see Olivia putting on ear rings, and fuss with her hair. Panic rose in the pit of his stomach. She was wearing 'Date' clothes.

"Date?"

"Kind of. Jack's friend from lunch the other day...we're going to dinner."

"The geek?"

"Yeah. He's sweet, and its been so long since I went on a date." Elliot felt his face harden as he turned back to the TV.

"Have fun."

"Don't wait up."

"You can count on that." Olivia felt the heart-break in his voice.

"If you have a problem, Stabler-"

"Nope."

"Good. See you later." Olivia took her purse and left. Elliot waited a full 5 minutes before turning the TV off and going after his last beer. He Hated her out on a date with anyone that wasn't him.

Two steps back.

It was a dance they were doing now. Step forward, step back, step back, step forward, back, forward again. He didn't know where he was with her, and it was hurting too much for him to continue trying to win her over. He shouldn't have to work so hard to tell her. It should be easy to say three words. Hell, he says two of them all the time. "I" and "You." Its just the middle one he couldn't get out.

That word. Love. The four letter word that would forever change how Olivia looked at him. He didn't know if it would be a good change or a bad one. He was so afraid that it would push her even farther away. BUT, it could be the word that put her in his arms for the rest of his life. In some ways, he wasn't sure which one scared him more; never or forever.

Make that three steps back.


Elliot listened as the door shut and locked. She was home, and she was alone. Not a bad, nor a good sign. He heard her purse slam against the counter, and her sniffling. Bad date. He wanted to come to her rescue, but he knew that she didn't want him to see her cry. She was tough. Tough women didn't let anyone see them cry.

He weighed in his mind what would happen. She would stop crying, feel a little better knowing he was happy to have her home, and go to bed not feeling like shit. Or she would watch TV, deal with it alone, and go to bed, and be a little sad in the morning. Elliot rolled out of bed, pulled a robe on and wandered into the living room.

"Liv?"

"Sorry. Did I wake you?" There were two of the three words. He shook his head and dropped onto the couch next to her.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Gotta love bad dates." And there was the last of them.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No, I just couldn't listen to him talk about Star Trek anymore," she lied. In reality, he brought her home early because she kept talking about Elliot. She didn't even realize she'd done it, until he told her to talk to her partner. "I don't like Kirk OR Picard."

"Dickie told me once he figured you were a Janeway fan if anyone." Olivia snorted a laugh and groaned. "If it helps, you look fantastic."

"Not really," she said, smiling.

"Hey, if he's too much of a geek to see how nice your legs are, then maybe he's gay." Olivia laughed and rested her hed on his shoulder. She could feel Elliot's heart pounding. "Come on," he said. "Let's get some sleep."

Olivia nodded and padded off to her room.


Light was coming into Elliot's window. It was nearly time to get up, but he was awake suddenly. Olivia was dreaming again. She was terrified. No matter how many nights she woke up from dreams, which was nearly every night, Elliot couldn't leave her when she was scared. Before he thought about it, he was in her room, settleing into her bed as she was waking up.

"You okay?" he asked when her eyes opened. She tucked herself closer.

"Make it stop," she begged. "Make it just go away, Elliot."

"Make what go away?"

"You were so scared. When you said It was okay to let him kill you, you were calm, but you were so scared," she whispered.

"Is that what's been waking you up every night?" Olivia nodded.

"You...I almost lost you, Elliot."

"I'm here, Liv. I'm not going anywhere. I'm here," he soothed. He held her tightly. "Not going anywhere." Olivia buried herself deep into his arms, making it hard for him to breath. "I'm not leaving you...ever."

"Every time I close my eyes, I see your face, with that gun jammed to the back of your head. And when they shot him, I thought for a minute it had been you. I expected you to fall."

"I know, baby, I know. Gitano got to both of us. When I saw you lying on the ground, holding your neck...I thought you were dead. Gitano did a lot of damage...to a lot of people. He's dead, and we're safe now." Olivia sniffled. "Why don't we just start our nights like this, and maybe you'll sleep more than a four hour stretch...okay?"

"What?"

"You sleep better when I'm here, and...I sleep better. Its just...I love...this." So close to what he wanted to say, yet not close enough. She sniffled again and turned over. He climbed the rest of the way into her bed, and pulled her close again. "Sleep, Livia."

Another step forward.


Olivia smelled something burning. Elliot wasn't in her bed anymore, and something was burning. She jumped out of bed and threw on a robe and dashed off to the kitchen. Elliot, wearing only the boxer briefs, was washing scrambled eggs down the drain, cursing the pan. As if to mock him, the hot pan burned his thum when the poor man went to scrub at it. He swore again and dropped the pan into the metal sink.

"Having fun?" Liv asked, grinning. He jumped in surprise.

"Don't do that!"

"Sorry. Go shower, I'll fix bagels," she teased, nudging him out of the kitchen. Elliot pouted lightly and left her in the kitchen. "Nice pajamas." Elliot shook his butt at her and dashed off as she grabbed a dish towel. Olivia shook her head and dug for the bagels, still blushing form the little 'show' Elliot put on. As soon as the awter started running, he started singing again. She laughed as the sounds of 'Baba O'Riley' flooded the house. After 3 rounds of the song, he was clean, dressed, and headed to the kitchen.

"Mmm...smells nice."

"Smells like Not Burned."

"Exactly."

"So, we've been here a month now."

"Yeah. Time to let the ducklings take over for a day?" he asked, seeing the sun shining into the glass door from their back porch.

"I think so."

"I'll let Torres know we're going on call today."

"Nice." Elliot snatched up his cell phone and pressed a few buttons.

"Captain, Benson and I are going to just go on call today. The squad can handle a day without us."

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow. Enjoy the sun."

"Thanks Cap." He snapped his phone shut. "I'm going to change. Suits on day off equals geek." Olivia laughed and followed him back to the bedrooms. "You gonna watch?"

"Ha. No. I can't go out in a robe."

"Aw, you do look nice in a robe." Olivia made a face at him and shut her door.


MAY

The squad room was running smoothly. Elliot and Olivia had been there two full months now. Everyone knew their jobs now, and two more detectivews would be joining them. As far as the cases went, Elliot, Caleb, and Jack did most of the criminal work, while Liv, Garver and Kaye worked with the victims. The case load was light. Much lighter than anything Olivia and Elliot had ever seen. It was, for the first time, a 9-5 job. It was still daylight when they left. Their evenings were rarely inturrupted. By the time the second month had finished, they'ed cleared off the cases that had been dumped into Torres' lap in the begining, and were only working current cases.

Liv and Elliot had fallen into a very comfortable routine. She's shower, while he ironed clothes for the two of them, and she'd make their breakfast while he showered and dressed. As far as sleeping arrangements went, they shared his bed. While it was strictly platonic, it was still very close. She trusted him completely, as he did her.

"Liv?" a voice called into the squad room.

"Hey, Griffen. What brings you here?"

"Came to see if you wanted to join me for lunch."

"We tried this-"

"I was an ass. He's your partner. I'm just some computer geek. Didn't think I had a chance..." Olivia blushed. "There's a sushi place next door...pretty good." His big brown eyes sparkled and danced with mischief. He was something Olivia had never seen before; he was happy. Happy in life, happy in work, and happy to be near her.

"Sure." She pulled her purse from the desk drawer. "Stabler, I'm going to lunch."

"Have fun," he said, not looking up. He knew she was on an official date.

"You bringing the gun?"

"Kind of stays with me...being a cop and all. Why? Does it make you nervous?"

"No...well...a little. But don't change for me." Liv smiled and followed her date out.

"You look pissed," Jack said, seeing Elliot's jaw set.

"I don't like him."

"Because...?"

"Shuddup." Elliot went back into the file room to put away the completed files. He looked at the room. There were 6 filing cabinets. Only two drawers were full. Somehow, that didn't comfort him. They expected 34 more drawers to fill up. At least the two drawers were not full of rapes. They'd only had one real case. Daniels. And his file would never leave Torres' bottom drawer.

"Stabler," Torres called into the room. "Office."

Elliot closed the drawer after filing away the folder he had and made his way to the office.

"Something wrong, Cap?"

"Nope."

"What's up?"

"Daniels' case gained us recognition." Elliot looked away. "They decided they aren't going to desolve the unit under one condition."

"Oh?"

"You and Benson stay."

"I can't do that, sir. I have kids-"

"You and Benson have until March 1st of next year to decide. And this doesn't leave this room, except to tell your partner.." Elliot nodded. "And Stabler?"

"What?"

"When I pulled you two in, I was already aware that you had an ongoing relationship."

"We don't-"

"If you want to stay together as partners, you won't finish that sentence. If you tell me you don't, and I find out that you do, or you start one later on, I have to split you up. But if I knew full well, coming into this, that you two were together, then there's no problem." Elliot nodded. It was a way out of answering why he and Liv were so close. "Go to lunch."

"Yes, sir." Elliot turned back as he left the room. "Hey, Migel...Thanks." The younger man smiled.


Does anyone see Elliot taking bigger steps soon? I'm not sure...but we'll see!