Oh hey there! Well I think I should give a shout out to my fans

7Seven7; Wow, how did you know? I called Martha up and was all "Ok, you and Superman hook up; what's the kid like?" And she basically came up with Mr. Shag all by herself.

-HiGhLaNd8-; I glad you enjoy it. Did you see I named a chapter after you, my friend? After 'Highland's Apparition' by Chevelle. Good song, you should check it out.

I also know that this chapter is a LOT of cheesiness and fluffiness but hey! What kind of sappy love story would it be without all the cheese and fluff.

Enjoy this next chapter, where Silas faces some old demons, and we learn exactly why he came to SVU…

I Don't Think You're Nervous Enough (VII)

Casey had gotten cleaned up and then went back to the hospitable. Elliot, Munch, Silas, and two court officers were all still in surgery. One officer, Redding, Judge Skyler, and all the shooters, including Kyle had died in the courtroom.

Olivia found Casey sitting in the waiting room, nursing a coffee. She slid into the chair across from her.

"So," she asked, "How long?"

Casey answered without looking at her. "Over a year."

"Really?"

"Yeah ever since we were stuck in the elevator together." She smiled at the memory. "We were too busy hating each other to realize how much we had in common. I never met anyone who likes spaghetti westerns as much as I do."

They both laughed a bit, but then Casey started crying. "God, he almost died! He was bleeding all over, and I felt powerless to stop it…"

"Hey," Olivia put a hand on Casey's knee. "He's not dead; he's going to be fine, thanks to you. If you hadn't made a tourniquet out of your jacket, he might have bled out."

"You know," Casey whipped her eyes on her sleeve. "We've been together for over a year and we've never said 'I love you', not even once. I was too scared to tell him, because of something like this; he puts his life on the line all the time, and I was afraid to get hurt… again. But today made me realize that was a stupid reason to not tell him."

"Then tell him." Olivia said. "Let him know."

Casey smiled weakly. "Thanks, Liv."

Time dragged on slowly it seemed, but finally the doctor came out and took Casey to Silas's room.

"…And keep him hydrated." The doctor said. "He drank too much caffeine today, that's why he was losing it a bit in the court room; he was so dehydrated. He's very lucky; he'll make a full recovery within a few months if he doesn't try to do anything stupid."

"I can't thank you enough," Casey said when they reached his room. "For everything."

"No problem, Ms. Novak." He said. "Now please, he's been asking for you for quite some time now."

Casey opened the door to see Silas propped up, drinking a large Gatorade. "Doctor's orders." Silas said when he saw her smiling at him.

"Don't worry, he's told me all about it." She crossed the room, and hugged him as best she could. "God, I was so scared."

"You were scared?" Silas looked her in the eye. "I saw a Neo-Nazi put a gun to your head, and then use you as a human shield! Call me when you ever get scared over something like that." He took her face in his hands. "I'm so glad you're ok, though. I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you."

"Silas," she smiled, "I should have told you this a long time ago, but I love you; you risked your life for me, and then I almost lost you without even getting to tell you how much I cared."

"I love you too." He pulled her down and kissed her. They were still kissing, when they heard someone clearing their throat.

Olivia and Dana were both standing in the doorway, smiling. Casey blushed and got off of Silas.

"Thought that would never happen." Olivia said walking over to them, Dana following. "I can't even describe how much I'm going to love not having to listen to your fake fights anymore."

"Only half of them were fake." Silas said. "Dana good to see you."

"You as well, Silas." Dana walked over and shook hands.

"You know her?" both Olivia and Casey looked surprised.

"Yeah back when I was down in Texas, my investigation got mixed up with serial killing, and Silas and I met there." Dana looked at Casey, "He was fresh out of the academy. He was adorable."

"Ha ha." Silas rolled his eyes. "You're hilarious."

"I know I am." Dana smiled.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you guys about her." Silas said, redirecting the conversation. "It would have compromised her investigation though."

"Thank you for not giving me away." She smiled. "I've got to go, but I'll see you around." She smiled again, and then left.

"How's everyone else doing?" Silas inquired.

"Ok, one court officer's touch-and-go, but Munch and Elliot and the other officer are ok." Olivia said.

"Good." Silas smiled at her.

"I'll leave you two then." Olivia smiled at the couple; Silas had taken Casey's hand and was stroking it with his thumb.

"Thanks, Liv." Casey called as the door closed.

The two of them were quite for a bit. "This really wasn't how I planned on asking you," Silas said "But I was wondering if you'd move in with me?"

Casey smiled and kissed him, loving how she could kiss him whenever she wanted now. "Of course." She whispered against his lips. Casey could definitely get used to this.

XXX

A few days later when Silas was discharged, they moved Casey's things into Silas' apartment. Well, Casey and some of the able-bodied SVU detectives, since Silas was barred from all physical activity. He was suspended from all field work until further notice, which meant he spent most of his time with Casey in her office, making profiles for cases sent from the BAU.

Casey was putting her law books on a book shelf next to all of Silas' books on criminology, when she heard his voice coming from his (well now their) study.

"What is it, babe?" she poked her head in. He was sitting at his desk, motioning for her to come over.

"I've thought it over," He said very solemnly. "And I've decided that you have a right to know." He opened a drawer; inside were about nine what looked like gun slugs suspended in glass cases. Some were partially destroyed, some were large, others small. Each one had a card.

"This is…" She looked for the right words. "Quite the collection."

Silas shrugged. "They remind me how lucky I am. How I probably shouldn't be here right now."

Casey picked one up. "October 27, 1999. Virginia." She read aloud. ".45 cal. Left shoulder. Chasing unsub Henry Rise (later shot and killed)."

"One of my first serial cases."

She picked up another one. "February 15, . .60 sniper round. Upper chest, missed heart by three inches. Police Plaza. Three cops killed. Unsub Brandon Nar caught one week later."

"Only after two more shootings and five more bodies." He reached in and handed her one; it looked like a web, as the bullet had shattered, and had been placed to expand perfectly out from one point. "This one was case that made me take a break and come here."

"March 14, 2005. Manhattan." Casey read, shaking a bit now. "Modified .45 cal. to shatter one inside victim. Close range abdomen shot. Home of Joseph Dunning (about to take him in for questioning). Detective Ben Silver died. Almost bled out; needed blood transfusion. Caught Dunning forty-eight hours later. Sentence to life without parole." Casey mulled over the name. "I read about that case in the paper… It was all over the news… The new Son of Sam." She looked at him. "You were the cop that almost died."

Silas nodded, his blue eyes unfocused. "His bullets shattered to create this effect." He opened a file to show Casey a picture of a dead man whose chest looked like it had been shattered like glass. Casey remembered reading the description of the way the victims had been killed in the paper, but the pictures had been too gruesome to be printed. Now she knew why.

"It was like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands with that guy. Until we realized he had been pretending to be one of his own victims. The perfect cover and the perfect way to insert himself into the investigation. The detective I was with and I went to take him in for questioning, we found him in the basement, my gun hand twitched, and he shot Ben in the head and me in the gut. I was in that basement for three hours and close to dying, before the rest of my team arrived." He lifted up his shirt, to show Casey the paper thin scars on his stomach that she had somehow never noticed before.

"I was back to work within two weeks after I got out of my coma. I had a hard time sleeping before but after that it was like I couldn't go to sleep at all. Then my mom died and Katrina hit, and during a raid on an unsub's home, I had a flashback and almost shot him. My supervisor said I would be for the best if I took a break; except I didn't want to just take a few months off and stare at the wall. The Chief of D's heard about my dilemma and asked if I'd like to come back to SVU for a bit."

This was almost too much for Casey to comprehend. Just the macabre collection in and of itself was almost too much to handle.

"This is…" Casey put the glass case back in the desk, like it was diseased or something. "Crazy."

Silas shifted a bit in the chair. "Tell me about it."

"I had no idea…"

"It's ok, I don't go around advertising what happened. No one else in SVU knows about it."

Casey opened her mouth to say something, then closed it.

They were quiet for a bit. "Are you ok?" Silas asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm…" Casey tried to find the right words. "Honored that you trust me enough to tell me about this."

"They only other people who know the full story are back in my old unit; I trust them all more then anything."

"Then I feel quite honored."

"You don't think I'm…" He choked on the word. "Crazy?"

Casey's eyebrows shot up. "No, no, absolutely not!"

Silas looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before; I was a afraid you wouldn't want to be with me if you knew."

"No, just the opposite!" Casey held out her hand and helped pull Silas to his feet. "Maybe we could try to work on it, you know," she gave him a small smile. "Together."

"I appreciate that, Casey." He smiled back, pressing a kiss to her lips. "I love you, so much."

"I love you too."

XXX

Whoah, I know I threw a lot at you in this chapter, but I hope this clears up most of the fog that is Mr. Shag's past. I

know that bullets probably can't explode into a perfect spider-web pattern but hey! It's a story! I also know that the whole keeping the bullet thing is a bit weird, but I'd do it too. Hell, I'd probably wear them all on a chain, like Tom Sawyer!

In speaking of past, anyone catch the 'usub' I threw in there? And who does Mr. Dunning sound like? Anyone, anyone?

Reviews are nice :)