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He'd been alone his whole life.

Charlie Wallace was always a loner. For the second time in his life he'd stupidly allowed himself to believe that he could be happy and for the second time in his lonely life he'd ruined it. His knuckles still ached, he could still feel her cheek bone, still hear her shocked gasp and the devastating feel of her wide stare as the realisation of what he had done shocked them both. He'd reached for her, tried to comfort her, tried to make it better only to make it worse, only to kiss and touch her against her will. What the hell had he been thinking? He just wanted to make it right. Even whilst drunk he knew he would never forget the sound of her pleas for as long as he would live.

"Please...Charlie no!"

He hadn't stopped shaking since she'd left, falling to his knees as soon as he'd heard the door slam, knowing he'd lost the only thing that made getting up every morning worthwhile. He'd sat, head in hands, for what he'd thought was hours but was merely minutes before picking up his phone, frantically dialling. He had to talk to her. He had to apologize. He had to tell her that he hadn't meant it, he hadn't meant anything he'd said, he hadn't meant to hit her, to scare her, to make her run...

"Baby..." he slurred. "It's me, I'm so sorry, please, please come home...please I'm so sorry I'd never hurt you...I'm sorry, please come home...please."

"Mugged?" Elliot asked, physically shaking as anger shot through his body. He clenched the glass in his hand, aware that it could shatter at anytime as he turned to his partner, watching as she sat, nervously, her hands in her lap, looking like she could break at any moment.

"It's not a big deal-" she murmured, still in shock. How could he do this to her? How could he...

"Not a big deal, you're still shaking!" he hadn't meant to shout. "When...where did it happen?" he was in instant protect mode. Nobody hurt his partner, no body. He watched as she shook her head and took a deep breath, she was probably still in shock, had it just happened? "We need to get you to the hospital-"

"El," she pulled away as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I just...it's okay, I just need..." she shook her head, what the hell did she need? How could he do this?

"What do you need?" his stare was almost too hard to take, she almost wanted to tell him, to break down and let him hold her but she couldn't. Telling him would make everything so much worse, he would get angry, he'd return the violence. "You need Charlie?"

"No! No..." she sighed. "No, he's asleep, he'll only panic..." she lied. "I'm fine, I am I just...didn't know where to go-"

"And you've made a report?"

"Yeah." Another lie. She nervously linked her hands, knowing it wouldn't be long before he tried to take over the case only to find there wasn't one.

"But they didn't send you to the hospital?" he frowned, watching as she shook her head.

"El, please...I just don't want to...can we talk about something else?" she asked softly. Don't break down. Do not break down. She looked up at him and forced a smile. "I'm fine."

"Your face..." he shook his head. When she's first turned up on his door step the only thing he saw was the large purple bruise forming along her cheek bone and under her eye. She'd explained that she's been mugged and they'd taken her purse, keys, everything, the truth being that she'd ran out of the apartment without anything she needed, so desperate to get out that she'd even left her car keys. So two hours later, after crying the whole way to Elliot's house she'd pulled herself together and knocked on the door, hoping her story would work.

She winced as he ran his hand along her cheek bone. "I hope you gave the son of a bitch as good as he gave you?" he tried to joke. "I'll get some ice," he informed her as he stood up and headed towards the freezer.

She closed her eyes, thinking of any excuse to stay the night, she couldn't go home, not when Charlie was there, not after what had happened.

How could he do that to her?

He'd been so mad, so unbelievably angry but she hadn't thought for a single second that he would ever raise a hand to her. That showed exactly how much she'd known. He'd seemed as shell shocked as she was as she backed away from him, his eyes wide, unable to speak...and then he'd grabbed her, he'd grabbed her and kissed her and touched her and she was terrified, no idea what his boundaries were anymore, had she ever even known at all? He had begged her to stay, begged her not to leave as he clawed at her, frightening her more and more with every move he'd made.

She'd been hit before, she'd been punched before, too many times to mention but never by someone she knew, or loved and although she knew the physical pain that a punch could bring, the emotional confusion that surrounded her was almost too much to take.

"Liv?"

She jumped as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry." She sat up and tried to force another smile, she failed miserably as tears filled her eyes.

How could he do this?

"Hey, hey you're okay." Within seconds she was off the sofa and wrapped in his arms. His hands wondering through her hair as he promised she'd be okay and that he'd catch the son of the bitch who'd hurt her.

He hated seeing her so vulnerable, only months after the most traumatic event in her life more pain had followed and it killed him to think that she may not have been strong enough to take it all. "I..." he stopped as he felt his heart skip a beat as she clung to him. He mentally scolded himself, now was not the time to be thinking about how nice it was to have her in his arms. "Let's get some ice on that eye, you look like you've done a round with Tyson."

"Is it that bad?" she asked, her bottom lip trembling as she sat down again. No amount of makeup would cover it, how many people would she have to lie to?

"No, no, it's not." They both knew he was lying but neither of them spoke another word as he gently pressed the ice pack against the side of her face, watching as she closed her eyes, fighting tears of pain. He needed to make sure that she was okay and then he was going to find the son of a bitch who had hurt her and...

He looked up as his phone began to ring. "It's okay, the machine will pick it up," he told her as she opened her eyes, silently offering him the chance to answer it. He pressed the ice pack against her cheek again, sorry to have to cause her even the tiniest bit of pain.

"Liv..."

Her head shot up as she heard Charlie's sob.

"Liv, I'm sorry please come home...please...I'll never...I'll never hurt you again- you have to believe me, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened. I know you're there, please, please pick up and come home, please..." the line went dead.

"El-" she didn't even have time to say his name before he shot up. "No!" she grabbed his arm, desperate to keep him with her, to stop him from doing something he probably wouldn't regret.

He pulled away from her grasp, turning round and throwing his hand towards the phone. "He...he hit you? He did that!" He pointed to her face. Now he couldn't even being to surpass the yelling. He simply stared at her, watching as tears filled her eyes and her chest heaved as she struggled to breathe normally. "I'm gonna kill him-"

"No!" she took two steps forward, stopping short of reaching him.

"I'm gonna find him and I'm gonna kill him!" he angrily threw the ice pack to the ground. "What...I'm gonna kill him!" He didn't want to know what happened, it didn't matter what had happened, he was going to kill Charlie Wallace. He'd thought that the idea of Charlie's hands on Liv whilst making love was the worst thing he'd ever imagined, but the bastards' hands on her to cause her any pain...he was going to kill him.

"Please...please don't," she begged, her pleading eyes almost impossible to ignore.

"He hit you..." he shook his head, the thought nearly caused him to explode. The son of a bitch had hurt her, he'd physically hit her...

"I know...and I...I didn't know where else to go- I didn't want to be alone-"

"Liv-" he could barely breathe as his anger slowly began to subside, millions of thoughts running through his head as he struggled with the choice of holding Olivia in his arms or causing Charlie serious physical damage.

"Please, please let me deal with this-" she watched as he shook his head. "Please? Please, let me deal with this- I don't want anyone else to know-" she never thought she would understand the shame that followed being hit by a spouse but as it threatened to consume her she could barely stay standing.

"This isn't your fault, don't you think-" he took two long strides before he was at her side, her hands in his as he pressed his forehead against hers. "This isn't your fault...I'll stay, I'll stay."

She'd fallen into a troubled sleep on the other side of the sofa exactly an hour ago on his sofa as they watched a film, he didn't recall the name, or the plot or anything about it, he'd been too busy watching her pretend to stare at the screen, desperate not to talk to him about what happened. He'd been watching he sleep for 60 minutes, watching as she frowned and twisted, wondering what horrors from the past 5 months she was dreaming about. He got up slowly, slowly enough not to move or wake her and despite promising to stay he quietly walked towards the front door...

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