DISCLAIMER: Law and Order SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. This story is solely for entertainment and practice.

A/N: Hey! I'm back. I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but my laptop's screen died, and I haven't been able to fix it, yet. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, please review! I promise to update sooner if you do. :)

Chapter 7 – Between catching up and pizza

After her conversation with Elliot, Olivia hurried up and finished her paperwork in record time. Then she almost ran to the locker room to check her clothes: she was wearing a dark red shirt, black slacks, boots and jacket; she wanted to look good to meet him.

She sprayed herself with perfume, checked her make up and glanced at her watch. Still twenty minutes left until his estimated arrival time.

She sat again at her desk, trying not to let anxiety consume her. She drummed her fingernails against the table, while she bounced her leg up and down repeatedly and after a few minutes, she would changed position. After three rounds of that nervous wrecking routine, Fin stood up and gave her a weird look, to which she responded by shaking her head, making it clear she didn't want to talk about the real reason she was so nervous, so he settled for saying good bye for the day, no questions asked.

Five minutes later, her cell phone rang, making her jump a foot up in the air. She automatically answered it, and was surprised to hear herself agitated.

"Benson,"

"Hey, Liv! Didn't you say we should cut the damn 'last name' formalism? I'm outside the building, you can come down now"

"Ok, I'll be there in a minute".

For once, she didn't wait for the elevator, she took the stairs. In seconds, she opened the precinct's door to catch sight of his car was parked out front. Even though she had thought he would wait for her inside the vehicle, she was gladly surprised to find him standing there in a relaxed stance, with one hand in his pocket. His shiny blue eyes matched the dark blue from his shirt, he looked like a model. Damn, he is hot! She thought for the millionth time since the day she met him. His outfit was completed with a black leather jacket and black jeans.

He gave her an almost shy smile but his eyes spoke volumes, they were full of emotion. As they met each other's gazes, she started walking slowly toward him until they found themselves wrapped in an equally emotional hug, that lasted more than a few seconds and almost had them shedding tears.

Finally, Elliot sighed and reluctantly let go of her to take her in: she was thinner but still healthy, her hear had few more lighter streaks and he could tell that today she had given special attention to her look, even her make up was different compared to how she normally wore it.

"Hey, Liv" he said with his most beautiful smile, and she melted inside.

"Hey, El" she whispered as she smiled back to him.

He finally let go of her, and reached for her hand and lead her to the car. "Come on, let's go and take as much time as we can"

Olivia was voiceless, after saying hi to him her brain had stopped cooperating. She got into the car, and waited for him to start the engine.

After a short ride, which was spent in silence, and a phone call to order the pizza, they sat on the couch. After a while, Elliot couldn't take the elephant in the room anymore.

"So Liv, what's on your mind? It's not like you to be so quiet"

She tried to fetch for an excuse for her odd behavior, but she could never lie to him. After a moment of hesitation, she started to talk.

"Honestly? I still can't believe our time apart is over. I'm sorry if I'm a little tongue tied tonight, we have so much catching up to do and I don't know where to start. You should know that a part of me believed that once you fixed things at home, you'd just forget about me"

"You're wrong. You're my best friend, you know that. I could never forget you… " he paused. "Actually, I never got to fix things at home, at least, with my wife. During the last two or three months, I got to spend a lot of time with the kids, but not with her, she's at the hospital all the time." He hesitated for a moment and tried to test the waters with her "I don't think she spends all of it working, if you know what I mean…"

"What are you saying?" Olivia turned a little to the side, crossing her right leg over the left, facing him.

"I'm saying that I'm almost sure she's having an affair with some doctor that works with her. I'm not surprised, considering the fact that I haven't touched her in months"

"Ok, that is way too much information about your sex life… but let me ask you, what are you gonna do about it? I mean, if your suspicions turned out to be true." She asked cautiously.

"After all those unfounded accusations, I stuck around for her and the kids, I did everything I could to save this marriage, only to find out she has no qualms about throwing it away for some sex with a surgeon…" he spoke in a quiet, resigned tone. He sighed. "The truth is, Liv, she doesn't give a shit for me anymore. This realization became crystal clear after the last three months. She didn't even ask me how I was doing, not even once" he ran a hand down his face, a gesture he always did when he was speaking about personal stuff and felt uncomfortable about it.

Olivia could tell he was hurt, even if he tried to project a façade like it didn't affect him, but the truth was it did. Elliot was facing the end of his marriage, his only truth for more than 25 years, and he was mourning. Even if that love had been gone for the last years, it was painful for him.

After timidly laying a hand on his leg and squeezing it, Olivia said "You know you can count on me, whenever you need to talk, vent or cry…" She looked at him with those kind eyes of hers.

Elliot, who had been looking to the floor, raised his head and he had tears in his eyes "I can't believe I asked you to stay away, it was all for nothing… I'm sorry, Liv"

"El, it's OK. You know I'd do anything for you." She kept caressing his thigh in a reassuring way.

He was getting goose bumps from her rare display of affection, so he took her hand in both of his and said "You have no idea how much I missed you"

"I missed you, too. But, Elliot, you're here now, and that's all that matters." She wanted to shift the conversation to happier thoughts, but she was interrupted by the bell. Their food had arrived.

During dinner, they covered a lot of ground catching up about Fin's upcoming engagement, Munch's upcoming retirement and Cragen's new hobbie: he was taking saxophone classes.

Olivia told him things hadn't been the same without him as her partner, she couldn't seem to find the motivation she used to have for field work. She had been putting a lot of effort though, and was closing a record quantity of cases, but she was doing it so she could get a promotion. She needed a change of air, and certainly it didn't help matters the fact that she didn't feel comfortable with her new partner.

After that, she changed the subject and asked him about his new job. He grinned as he broke the news about his promotion. And she was truly happy, there was no one that deserved that position more than he did, and she told him so. Then, she joked about his temper, he would have to find a way to control it if he wanted to remain in this job, both professionally and healthily speaking.

For a moment, a comfortable silence settled between them and Olivia took that time to pick up the dishes and put them into the sink. She glanced at the clock in the kitchen; it was a quarter past eleven. Wow! More than four hours talking, I didn't even realize it was so late…

She washed and he dried. After that, they cleaned the table in perfect synchronism, as they did everything else together.

"Want some coffee?" Olivia asked.

"Sure" Elliot saw it was late, but he didn't care, he wanted to spend as much time as he could with her.

Soon, they were sitting on her couch again and Elliot took the chance to ask her the question that had been floating in his mind all day.

"So, you said that you haven't been getting along with your new partner… want to tell me about him?" he asked carefully.

"His name is Dwayne McAllister, he comes from LAPD… I don't know, I mean, he seems to be good at his job, but we don't exactly click" she frowned as she thought about her current partner.

"What do you mean?" he wanted to find out more about this guy.

"We don't coordinate. We can't seem to work as a team, either he takes the lead or I do. I must say, most of the times I do, because I'm not comfortable with the way he takes point on those investigations, he doesn't seem to care about the victims." She decided to leave out the part where she didn't feel safe with him; McAllister didn't seem to know how to watch her back. But Elliot didn't need to know that, knowing him, it would make him feel guilty for leaving, and he didn't need that right now.

But he could tell she was leaving something out, so he pressed for more information.

"Olivia, is that the only reason you can't stand him?" He raised his eyebrows to underline his point.

She hesitated, but she gave in. This was Elliot, her best friend, and she could tell him everything "Well, it might have to do with the fact that he's hitting on me all the time…"

"What?" he tried to hide the jealousy, but it came out clear. Olivia, however, read it as overprotective indignation.

"Well, he might have tried to touch me in an inappropriate way but don't worry!" she hastily said as she watched the veins in his neck throbbing in anger. "I put him in his place."

"Liv, do you need me to…" just as he was about to ask her if she needed him to get the prick to back off, he was interrupted by her ringing cell phone.

"Oh, God! I only ask them to give me a break for one day! Just one day! I was having such a good time…" she complained before picking up. "Benson" She listened for a minute before reaching for a pen and a paper and scribbling down an address. "OK, I'll be right there".

She turned to Elliot and said regretfully "I gotta go"

The look in his ocean blue eyes mirrored her feelings "I know. Do you want me to give you a lift to the scene?"

"Elliot, that's a lot of trouble, I couldn't ask you to… you should go home. It's getting late"

"No, Liv, you said it yourself: it's late and you don't have your car. I'm not letting you go in a cab. Let me take you there, no one is waiting for me at home and I would rather spend more time with you, I mean, if you don't mind…" He said with pleading eyes, the ones he knew she wouldn't resist. Secretly, he also thought he could have a chance to meet McAllister and mark his territory, but she didn't need to know that.

Olivia wanted to spend as much time as she could with Elliot too, so she gave in "Ok, but you know this could take hours so, drop me there and go back home. I know that tomorrow you have to be early at your precinct, too". She gave him her most charming smile, and he felt his legs almost give in.

"You got it, milady" He smiled and winked at her, and was surprised to see her blush.

She tried to cover it, and said between laughs "What's with the middle age manners?"

He opened the door and held it for her to go first, in a gentlemanly way he offered his hand with a bow, and said "Shall we?" trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably.

Both of them snorted and were laughing all the way to the elevator, which they took arm in arm.

A/N: Next, the other long awaited acquaintance.