Part 4: Getting Somewhere

Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.

Skoda sat, leaning back in the mesh-covered chair near the fire-ring, watching as Olivia and Elliot roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. He scribbled notes in his pad, smirking, acknowledging the differences in the pair's approach to the task at hand.

Elliot was messy, getting melted chocolate all over his fingers, sucking them clean when he realized it. His marshmallow, gooey and barely brown, alternated between being mashed underneath the chocolate and sitting on top of it, he didn't seem to care.

Olivia, though, was particular. She roasted her marshmallow to near-burnt, her chocolate square was perfectly centered on the bottom graham cracker. She slowly placed her skewered marshmallow on the chocolate, and then used the top cookie to hold and pull, keeping her fingers completely clean.

Elliot watched her, his mouth full, chocolate on the outer corners of his lips. "Why are you doing that?" he asked, chewing.

"What?" her reply came, one eyebrow raised and an offended tone to the question.

"You're being so careful, it's...it's all going to the same place, just slap it together and eat it." He bit into his s'more, the sticky white and brown filling dripping out from the edges.

She laughed and shook her head. "Like you?" She scoffed and carefully sank her teeth into a corner, holding a napkin underneath.

Skoda tilted his head. "Your personalities shine through, in everything you do, don't they?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Olivia asked, mildly irritated.

"Benson, you're calculating," Skoda told her. "Organized. You always have a plan, you don't act on impulse. You need to have a clear focus, and if you can't have things go exactly as you feel they need to, then you won't even begin, am I right?" He smiled. "You're reserved, neat. You don't like to cause chaos, you won't make a move if it will somehow affect you or someone else negatively."

Her silent, deer-in-headlights expression was all the validation Skoda needed. "And Stabler," Skoda continued, "You act first, impulsive and rash. You know what the outcome is going to be, so the path to get there doesn't matter. You're impatient, you want what you want when you want it, and if things happen to get messy along the way, you don't care. You're not concerned with collateral damage, as long as the job gets done."

"Pretty much," Elliot mumbled, swallowing.

"Okay, uh, now we get down to business," Skoda said, sitting up a little straighter. "Do you miss your partner when he's away, Olivia?"

She froze, staring at the therapist with her mouth still mid-bite. She let the s'more fall away from her, placing it on the plate on the ground beside her. "What do you mean? Like, on vacation? Of course, I do, because then I have to work with Munch, and that's not exactly..."

"I mean, whenever he's away," Skoda interrupted. "When he's not right beside you."

If you're asking if I suffer from Elliot withdrawal when he's in the bathroom, the answer is no," she said, rolling her eyes. Her arms crossed and she linked her ankles.

Skoda hummed and wrote something in his notebook about her closing herself off when the question was asked. "So when he's not around, say, for a day or two, then? You miss him?"

"He's my partner," she told him, her brows knitted together.

Laughing to himself, Skoda looked at Elliot. "Since she's refusing to answer the question, you tell me, Stabler. Do you miss her when she's gone?"

"Every second," Elliot said. There was no hesitation in his answer. He was flatly honest and looking directly at the doctor. "She...she's the only person in my life who gives me...I don't know, a sense of calm. Self-control. She keeps me grounded and always pulls me back if I'm flying off the handle, which...happens a lot."

Skoda wrote jumbled words down before looking back toward Olivia. "See, he's being upfront and open to this, why can't you just answer the..."

"Yeah," she interrupted, her lips tense and her eyes slightly narrow. She tightened her grip on her own arms. "I miss him when he's gone. Next question."

"If you were on a call, and the conditions of violence and danger were escalating, would you tell him to leave or would you need him to stay?" He half-blinked at her, trying to discern the hidden signs in the expression on her face. "For example, you're pretty sure the building is about to blow up, but you've got a victim or perpetrator to deal with..."

"I would tell him to get the hell out of the building," she said quickly, one firm nod.

Skoda leaned closer to her. "Is that because you want to save the girl and get the bad guy all by yourself? You don't like sharing the glory, Benson?"

"What?" Olivia spat. "No, not at all! I would tell him to get out of the fucking building because if it blows up..." she paused, sighed, and said, "He's a father. He has a family."

"And you think his life means more than yours because of that?" Skoda questioned.

"Yes," she said. It came out as a definitive statement. "Among other reasons."

"You would sacrifice yourself," Skoda said quieter, writing something down. "You tend to do that, I mean, people talk. I've heard about your willingness to be the one suffering so he doesn't have to, care to tell me why?"

Olivia scoffed. "You mean when I left the unit?" she shook her head, knowing this would come up. "He had more to lose than I did, and we were in a...situation...that could have completely destroyed his life if I didn't make the choice. I didn't care what happened to me. My life has never really mattered too much, not to anyone except..."

Elliot looked at her, his eyes wide, and he wouldn't let her finish her sentence. "Are you out of your fucking mind?" he barked, and then turned his chair to face her more severely. "I wouldn't leave you alone in any situation, at all, regardless of whether or not it was dangerous! You...you really think you...you don't know how much you fucking matter, do you?"

Skoda smirked. They were playing his game, after all. "Why don't you tell her, Elliot?"

"Fuck, Liv, you're a part of my family, so don't even think...Christ, I wouldn't leave, and you know it!" Elliot told her, ignoring Skoda and just being honest. "We go into a situation together, we come out together, or we don't come out at all, because if anything ever...ever...happened to you, I don't think I'd..."

"Whoa," she held up a hand, her eyes wide and her face white. "Stop. Stop right there." She silently told him not to say anything else in front of Skoda. "I know," she whispered, her eyes closing slowly.

Elliot waited until she opened her eyes, then nodded sadly at her, biting the inside of his cheek.

"You'd what, Stabler?" Skoda prodded, watching him intently, his face brightened with proud curiosity.

"She knows," he told the doctor. "You, uh, I guess you have my answer, then." He slapped his hands on his thighs. "I wouldn't leave her. I wouldn't tell her to leave, because I know she wouldn't go. I'd wait, or I'd..." he paused and laughed a bit. "Together. Partners. Whatever happens, ya know?"

Olivia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "You have a bad habit of just saying whatever is on your mind, El." She eyed him for a moment. "You don't care who's listening, you don't care about the consequences."

"Damn right, I don't, Liv," he said to her. "I say what I gotta say, and people who need to hear it are gonna hear it."

She shook her head again, her arms dropping limply to her lap. "Any more questions, Doc?" she asked bitterly.

"Yeah, actually, one more, for tonight," Skoda said, again his pen danced across his paper, his expression smug. "Has Stabler ever disappointed you?"

Her head fell to one side, her lips curled into a confused grimace. "What? I don't...how do you mean?"

"However you want to take it," Skoda returned, gesturing to her. "Personally or professionally. Both."

She took a breath, bit her lip, and looked at Elliot. She caught his eyes, his deeply soulful blue eyes, and she smiled at him. "Situations we've been in have been disappointing," she said, and then she looked at Skoda. "Things have happened...completely out of our control...but he...he has never disappointed me. Not in a way that could be considered...important, not at all."

Skoda dropped his pen and stared at her. "You didn't..." he let out a harsh breath. "You didn't fight me on that one. You just...that was honest and fast and...are you smiling, Detective Benson?"

She looked at Skoda, then at Elliot, and then back to Skoda. "I answered the question," she said, relaxing into the chair. "You gonna ask him, now?"

Skoda was completely flabbergasted. His whole plan had been turned on its ear, her bluntness unexpected and unprepared for. "Uh, yeah, uh-huh," he nodded dumbly.

Elliot laughed. "Don't bother, the answer's no," he said. "I don't think she ever could, either. Nothing about her...she isn't, never has been, and never will be a disappointment to me. In any capacity." He rose, then gave Skoda a snarling sneer. "Nice try, though." He bent down a bit, since Skoda was still sitting. "I know what you're trying to do, here, and I promise you, it isn't gonna happen. We are here, as partners, for work, so keep the objectivity of these asinine questions focused on how capable we are of doing our jobs, and stay out of our personal lives, or I swear..."

"El," she broke in, giving Skoda a demonstration of exactly what Elliot had described: her ability to pull him back from the brink of destruction. "He's not worth it. I'm tired. We have a long day tomorrow. Let's just go to bed."

Elliot shot Skoda one last warning look, then turned around.

Skoda watched them walk back toward their room, puzzled. He rubbed his forehead for a moment, thinking, and then he grinned in realization. "Well, I'll be damned," he said, and he grabbed his pen once more, writing out a new approach. He now knew exactly how to get what he wanted from them.

Peace and Love

Jo