A/N: The first night at Elliot's, a new day at school, and Elliot's secret's out.

DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story

"Well, it's not the Hilton," Elliot said, holding his apartment door open for Olivia.

She walked through it and chuckled. "El, it's safe, it's someplace where she can't get to me, and it's with you. It's paradise," she said, looking into his eyes. She looked away when an uncomfortable heat began to rise in her body, and she plopped her duffle bag down on the couch.

Elliot walked over to her and brushed his hands over her shoulders. "Can I get you anything? You want a drink? I can run the shower for you, if you..."

"Yeah," she interrupted. "A shower would be nice, actually," she said, pulling her nightclothes out of her bag.

Elliot nodded and smirked. "So hot it almost hurts, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Olivia said. "If you could turn the dial to 'volcanic,' it'd be perfect."

"Funny," Elliot said. He pulled her toward him, brushed her hair back and kissed her. It was short, sweet, and full of emotion. Olivia could see tears in his eyes. "Liv, you're my best friend, you know that, right? You're the most important thing in the world to me."

Olivia stared up at him and blinked. "El, what...yeah, ditto. On both counts. Why are you..."

"I just need you to know, Liv. I wouldn't have let them take you anywhere, even if Joe couldn't have helped, I would have found a way." Elliot kissed her again. "It's over, Liv. It's all over, baby. You're safe with me, now, and she's never gonna hurt you again. No one is."

Speechless, Olivia wrapped her arms around him tightly and pressed her lips to his. "You're so amazing, El. I love you," she said. "I don't know why that's so easy to say to you, or so easy to hear from you, but you're the only person that I've ever said it to or heard it from, and it's not as scary as I thought it would be."

Elliot raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Because, Liv, you know I mean it. It's only scary when you're not sure if the feelings match the words," he told her with another quick kiss. "Come on, let's get you in the boiling kettle you like to call a shower."

He led her toward the bathroom, turned on the water, very hot, got her some clean towels and kissed her on the forehead. He helped her wrap her cast in plastic so it wouldn't get wet. "You can use my toothbrush. Just until we either go back and get yours or get you a new one. I'll be right in here if you need anything," he said with a wink.

He walked into his bedroom, shaking his head as he closed the bathroom door behind him. She was naked, or about to get naked, and wet, and running her soapy hands, his soap, all over her body. He tried not to think about it but he heard the shower curtain slide and knew that it was all happening, at that moment. He wanted, so desperately, to watch her or join her, or something. But, this was Olivia. Yeah, they were together now, but they'd only been together, technically, for four days. Before that it was a three-year crush wound into a powerful friendship, and he knew she'd kick his ass for even thinking about her naked, wet, soapy, smooth, athletic, tight, body. "Shit," he muttered to himself with a groan. "She's gonna drive me crazy."

When Olivia came out of the bathroom, clean and dry and in her pajamas, she found Elliot half asleep on his bed. She smiled, grabbed the blanket that was folded at the bottom and began to walk out of the room when she heard a groggy, "Where are you going?"

"The, uh, couch," she said.

"My ass," Elliot said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He slapped a hand on the bed and got up, grabbing his sweatpants off of the back of the chair by his desk. "You're staying in the bed," he said through a yawn. "The couch likes me more than it..."

"El, I am not kicking you out of your bed! If you want me to sleep in your bed than your just gonna have to sleep in it with me," she said, only realizing it after the words had left her mouth. Her eyes widened as she saw the slow, sly grin spread across Elliot's face.

Elliot chuckled as he stepped into the bathroom to take his own shower. "I think that can be arranged, baby." He'd never showered so fast in his life. Every time he picked up the soap, he'd remember that it was the same soap she used and he'd get incredibly turned on. He needed to get back out into that bed and hold her and kiss her and love her. He turned off the water and didn't even bother with the towel. He threw on his sweats and shook the excess water out of his hair, like a dog after a rainstorm. He plodded into his room and hurled himself into the bed, laughing when he heard the squeal come out of Olivia's mouth.

"That was friggin' fast, Stabler. You sure you washed behind your ears and everything?" she quipped.

He worked the sheets up and around them and pulled her close, enveloping her in his arms. He laughed and said, "I promise, I'm thoroughly clean. I just couldn't want to get back out here. With you." He dropped several soft kisses to her neck and right shoulder, and he heard a soft moan. He trailed the kissed up to her lips, and worked her into a slow, deep, kiss, while his hands gently rubbed soft circles on her back. Their soft moans were getting louder and their kiss grew more intense and Elliot knew he needed to stop before he couldn't stop.

He pulled away, breathing hard, and looked at Olivia, who was also struggling to breathe. They laughed, finding humor in the tense situation, and Elliot pulled Olivia closer to him. He dropped a sweet kiss to the top of her head as she wrapped herself around him. "Goodnight, Liv."

"Goodnight, El." As she listened to his rapidly beating heart, she dropped a kiss to his chest and said a quiet, "Thank you. For everything." She drifted away to sleep, not realizing what "everything" truly meant.


"Aren't you the least bit concerned that one of the nuns is gonna see you with that and dropkick you from here to hell?" Casey asked from her spot on the grassy knoll in the quad.

Alex, with a cigarette in her mouth, tugged on Casey's Mary-Janed foot and leaned back on the grass. "Nope. They haven't caught me in two years."

"I think you should quit," Olivia said, her legs crossed at the ankles as she rested on her elbows.

"I think you should eat me," Alex quipped with a laugh as she puffed. "What is the point of this stupid game?"

"Cabot, it's ultimate Frisbee. The point is to catch and throw the Frisbee," Casey explained, as if Alex were three years old.

Olivia scoffed. "And see how many bumps and bruises you can get while you do it. This is the only game of Frisbee I've ever seen where you can tackle....ow! That looked like it hurt. Do you think he'll be okay?"

"Chester? Yeah, he's a tough guy," Alex said, smirking. "I think he hurt the grass more than Fin hurt him."

Casey looked over at Olivia and smiled. "Hey! Benson, what was your first night with Stabler like?" she asked, wagging her eyebrows.

"Oh, my God, Novak!" Olivia shouted, rolling her eyes. "We didn't sleep together, we just slept together."

Alex looked at her, expressionless. "Did you just hear what came out of your mouth?"

"Hardy har, Cabot. You know what I meant. We cuddled and actually slept. You'll both be happy to know that Elliot doesn't snore and..."

Alex interrupted and flicked her extinguished cigarette away. "Okay, bore me to death later, when are you gonna rip his clothes off and ride him like a..."

"Alex!" Olivia yelled, shocked, slapping her in the arm. "Jesus Christ!"

Casey chortled. "It's an honest question. You've been waiting for him for three years, Benson! It's not like you'd be rushing into anything. You know him, you trust him, you love him. You do love him don't you? Because, if he did what his father wanted him to for you and you don't even..."

"What? What his father wanted him to do? What did he do for me?" Olivia asked, her smile gone.

"Uh-oh, uh, never mind. Oh, look. Stabler's taking his shirt off!" Casey shouted.

Olivia glared. "Nice try! He's wearing his uniform, Novak, now spill!"

Casey rolled her eyes. "Okay, it's not that bad! Really, it's not. Fin told me, so I thought Stabler told you!"

"Well, he didn't So, you're going to! Out with it! Don't make me go all 'Bad-Ass Benson' on you, too. We both know I could kick your ass with one arm in a cast," Olivia threatened.

Alex laughed. "Who needs cable when you go to Catholic school in New York City?"

"Shut up," Olivia said, smacking Alex in the leg. "Casey, what did Elliot do for his shithead father?"

Casey sat up and took Olivia's hand. "Look, Benson, he probably didn't tell you because he thinks you have other things going on, with your mom and the cops, and he didn't want to upset you anymore, so promise me you won't get mad at him before I tell you."

"I couldn't get mad at him," Olivia almost whispered.

"Okay. His father made him..."she paused as she saw the look on her friend's face and decided to just spit it out. "Jesus, Benson, after he graduates he's going into the Marines."

Olivia's face fell. She suddenly couldn't breathe. "The...Mar...with the knives and the guns...and the...dying."

Casey rubbed Olivia's shoulder, lightly. "No, Benson, honey. No dying. Just the Corps. Boot Camp, training, a couple of years and then...um...oh, he had to promise he'd go to the Police Academy and..."

Olivia snapped. "What? I'm gonna find his father and give him a damn reason to be an asshole. I'm gonna rip his head off and shove it so far up his ass he'll be talking out of his armpits!"

"There's a nice visual image," Alex cracked. "Olive, look. What's the big deal? He told you the military was an option since he couldn't pay for school on his own, so you expected something like the Marines. And you want to be a cop, don't you? You can go the academy togeth..."

Olivia interrupted. "Elliot hates cops! He told me once he'd rather be a professional dog-shit-eater than a cop. He only supports me in my decision because of my reason. The kind of cop I wanna be, and why I wanna do it." She dropped her head into her hands. "I can't believe he ruined his life just to...

"Save yours," a voice from behind her said, softly.

Olivia turned her head and watched as Elliot bent down and sat beside her. He took both of her hands in his, rubbing a finger over her knuckles and her cast, and he sighed. "Baby, I did what I had to do to keep you safe, and keep you with me where I knew you'd stay that way. So, I don't get to do the whole four-year college thing, we knew that was never an option for me, anyway. The Marine Corps is better than the Army, or the Navy where I'd probably be shipped off to some pointless battle without any thought at all, and it's only four years, baby. You'll be here for another year without me anyway, then you'll be away at some fancy college. I can meet you at the academy. I'll be a year ahead of you, but...Liv, he didn't make me do anything I wasn't prepared to do."

"When were you gonna tell me?" Olivia asked, looking into his eyes. His clear, blue eyes that made her melt.

"When I was sure you were okay, I didn't want to upset you," he said.

Olivia looked at Casey, who shrugged and smirked. She turned back to Elliot and leaned over. She brushed her lips to his lightly. "No more making life altering decisions without me, got it?"

Elliot laughed and pressed his lips to hers. "Got it." He got to his feet and pulled Olivia gently to hers. "We're gonna be late for Calcu..."

Olivia interrupted him by cupping his face with her hands and giving him another kiss, this one deep and passionate. She pulled away, biting her lip.

"...lus," Elliot finished. "What was that for?"

"For loving me the way you do," she whispered to him. "Because, I love you just as much," she said, softly, as she linked her hand with his. She tugged him along, heading to class, as Alex and Casey, watched them go.

Fin walked over and slung his arm over Casey's shoulder and asked, "What are we watchin'?

"I'm not sure," Alex said, "But it's fucking beautiful." She began walking with Fin and Casey, and as they stepped into the immaculate school corridor, all three of them stopped. "Oh, now this is just too good. Blackmail and revenge always did go hand in hand," Alex said.

Casey covered her mouth with her hands and mumbled unintelligibly.

Fin chuckled. "I don't know what the hell you said, but I think I agree with you." He unzipped his bag, quietly and took out a camera. "Needed this for an art project," he explained. Turning the flash off, he snapped a few quick pictures. "I don't know what's gonna be more fun, getting even with her, or getting him fired."

The three of them chuckled as they padded, unnoticed, through the quiet hallway, armed with their newly discovered scandal and the evidence to make Kathy Malone pay for what she did to Olivia and Elliot.

A/N: What did they see? What are they gonna do with the pictures? What will night two at Elliot's place bring for the two lovebirds? And what happens when Brian comes back? Reviews?