Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to leave kind words about this story it means a lot to me. And check me out three updates in a week must be a record for me lol.

Chapter 10

The only light in the room coming from the street lights outside. Her eyes caught something moving in the refection of the window and her heart began to race. She reached into the top of her jeans and pulled out her second weapon, pulling the hammer back quietly. She put her wine glass down and took a deep breath before spinning around and pointing her weapon.

"Shit," she said as she pointed at nothing. She lowered the gun her hands shaking as she let out the breath she had been holding. She released the hammer on the weapon and put it back into the top of her jeans.

"You need to be quicker than that baby," said a familiar, deep, sexy voice. A voice she hadn't heard for almost three years.

Olivia froze her heart beating so fast she thought it was going to burst out of her chest. She moved her hand towards the waist band of her jeans and towards her gun. She jumped when his hand reached around her and he placed it on top of hers stopping her from pulling her weapon out. His fingertips were cold on her skin.

"You don't need that," he told her his breath against her ear as he talked, she felt the goose bumps spreading over her body. "Have I ever hurt you before?" he asked moving his hands to her hips and holding her gently. "Have I?" he asked again as she felt his cheek rest against the side of her head, his breath blowing against her hair gently as he talked.

"N….. No," she said quietly licking her lips as she felt his thumbs rub against her skin along the top of her waistband.

"So why would I hurt you now? I could never hurt you Liv. That's why I had to stay away for so long."

"You needed to disappear for almost years so you wouldn't hurt me?"

"Yes," he said nuzzling his nose in her hair. "It wasn't safe for me to come back at first."

"And you didn't think it would hurt me not knowing if you were alive or dead?" she asked starting to get angry. "Not knowing if I would ever see you again, not knowing what happened to you."

Elliot chuckled quietly as his fingers continued to move over her stomach. Hearing him laugh was the final straw she pushed away from him and spun around.

"You bastard!" she yelled punching him in the face. Elliot didn't even flinch as her fist connected with him. "Fuck!" she cursed holding her fist with her other hand.

"Damn it Liv," he said stepping forward to her.

"Don't," she warned him her good hand grabbing her weapon again. She cocked it and pointed it at him. "Don't, fucking move," she said as she flexed her hand trying to ease the pain from where she had punched him. It had felt like she had hit a brick wall. She stepped back and finally took some time to look at him. Her eyes taking in every inch of him as he stood there in front of her wearing a dark blue suit and white shirt. She looked at his neck there was no scarring or any signs of the injuries he got when he was attacked. He looked exactly the same except more toned and his skin a little paler.

"Are you….. Are …." She struggled to get the words out. "…You one of them?"

Elliot nodded "You know I am Liv, you have always known that's what happened to me," he said stepping towards her. "That's why they never found my body."

"Don't," she warned him. "Stay there."

Elliot stopped moving "Okay," he said smirking with that smug look that made her want to punch him again. "You do know I could take that gun off you with no problems don't you…..But I don't want to hurt you Liv, I could never hurt you."

Olivia just looked at him her hand with gun shaking slightly. "That was when you were…. You were human. I don't know you now."

"Don't give me that Benson you knew that I would never hurt you if I came back. That's why you kept the apartment in my name on the lease when you moved in here. You gave me a safe house in the city. You gave me somewhere I could come to," as he spoke he stepped forward slowly towards her, his hands raised. Olivia's eyes blurred with tears.

"I can't hurt you Sweetheart. I can't hurt you for the same reason you will never pull that trigger and kill me," his voice was soft and deep as he talked, he stopped moving when the barrel of the gun pressed against his chest, directly above his heart. "I love you too much to ever hurt you," he smiled at her as he saw a tear slip down her cheek.

He reached up and wiped it gently away with his thumb.

"I never stopped loving you Olivia," he said cupping her face. "Never."

Olivia shivered at his cold touch. She slowly dropped the gun to the floor and reached up to touch his face. "I couldn't believe you were gone," she said quietly. "Everyone told me to let you go, but I couldn't….. I just couldn't. I prayed you would come back to me. I needed you to come back, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to you."

"I would have come back sooner, but it wasn't safe," he told her as he pulled her closer to him. "It wasn't safe for you."

"I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," he said as he dropped his forehead to hers and ran his fingers through her hair. They stayed like that not moving in the middle of her living room.

"We need to talk," he finally said breaking the silence. "I need to explain everything."

"Okay," she said quietly her voice just above a whisper. "But first," she whispered lifting her head slightly so her lips were close to his. "I need to do this," she said her lips gently pressing against his. He parted them slightly as he gently kissed her back. Apart from his lips being slightly cold, kissing him was exactly how she remembered it.

"It's really you," she mumbled against his lips as Elliot took a deep breath.

"It's really me," he whispered back as she flung her arms around his neck and held him tightly to her, as his arms went around her waist.

They both jumped when Olivia's phone rang. She pulled away slightly from him. "I best get that."

Elliot nodded his eyes never leaving her as she walked across the room to the phone.

"Hello," she answered. "No John I'm fine…I don't ….Yes I went to see them, their all good….. Really John I have never felt better," she said looking at Elliot who was taking his jacket off. She smiled as she watched him roll his sleeves up just like he always did. "John….John! "She said raising her voice making Elliot chuckle. "I'm going to take a bath and go to bed, so no you don't need to come over… okay," she watched Elliot as he walked around the apartment looking at all the photos she had up. "Okay, I will speak to you later, Bye," she said hanging up the phone.

She watched as Elliot stood in front of the photos of his kids that she had put up. They had been taken in the summer when they had all gone for a picnic.

"They all look happy," he said running his fingers over the glass.

"Their getting there slowly, they miss you."

"You know that has been the hardest thing about all this, knowing I would never be able to hold them or talk to them again. That I will outlive my own children and everyone else I know," he said putting the photo down and gripping the fireplace. "That everyone I have ever known will be dead and I won't have aged."

Olivia heard a crack and a crunch as she walked towards Elliot. She stopped beside him. He was gripping the shelf so hard he was breaking it. She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"El," she said softly coming closer and reaching forward putting her hand on top of his. "Let go El," she said to him. He turned his head and looked at her his pupils were bright red. Olivia gulped and reached up stroking his face. "It's okay," she said softly, "its okay."

Elliot took a few deep breaths and Olivia watched as his pupils turned slowly from red back to bright blue as he calmed down.

"I'm sorry," he said looking at the damage he had done to the shelf. "I will sort that out for you."

"It's okay," she said taking hold of his hand. "Why don't we get a drink, I could do with something a lot stronger than wine I was drinking."

Elliot nodded and looked again at the photo of his kids before Olivia led him away and to the kitchen.

She opened the cupboard and took out a bottle of whisky and poured out two glasses. She picked one up and went to hand it to Elliot.

"Erm do you, you know drink normal stuff?" she asked.

"Yes Liv," he smirked. "I still drink normal stuff," he said taking it from her and taking a large drink as he rested back against the benchtop opposite her.

"You have been back in the city for a while haven't you?"

Elliot nodded.

"Following me?"

"Yeah, I needed to know you were strong enough to handle seeing me again."

"I fell apart for a while when I first got back. Nobody would listen to what I was saying. I think Cragen wanted to get me committed," she chuckled. "I finally talked to Munch told him everything…"

Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"We were right," she grinned. "He believed me."

"Knew he would," laughed Elliot.

"After that I went on vacation. I travelled around the little Greek islands and then went to visit Ryan and the twins."

"You're still in touch with them."

Olivia nodded. "They are all doing well considering what they went through."

"We all went through a lot, but we did it Liv, we kept the kids safe and got them out of there."

"Yeah," she said looking down at the floor. "But I didn't keep you safe, I left you."

Olivia didn't even see him move but he was there taking her glass from her and putting it down on the counter.

"Liv you did what you had to do," he said taking hold of her hands. "There was nothing you could have done for me, I was dying. If you had stayed and tried to help me we would all have died."

"I know but…"

"No buts," he said putting his fingers under her chin and lifting her head. "And no more tears," he said wiping them away his thumb.

Olivia sniffed looking into his eyes realising they were a lot bluer that they used to be. "What happened El.? After I jumped in the car and took off, what happened?"

Elliot was about to answer when a phone rang.

"Damn it," he said pulling a cell phone from his pocket. "I'm sorry but I need to take this."

"It's okay," she said picking up her drink and taking another sip. Elliot walked away as he answered the phone.

"This better be fucking important," he growled into the phone. "I told you I didn't want disturbed tonight."

Olivia stood in the kitchen trying to listen to his conversation.

"When…..where," he said looking over his shoulder and giving Olivia a small smile. "Is the bastard still there?" Elliot rubbed his face as he talked on the phone and looked out the window. "No, I want to question him myself, stay with him and if he leaves follow him, I won't be long," he said snapping the phone shut. He put it in his pocket as he turned back to face Olivia.

"You're leaving," she said unable to hide the upset in her voice.

"I just need to do something I wouldn't go if it wasn't important."

"I just got you back; I have so much I need to ask you."

"And you will get the chance to, I promise you. I should only be a few hours."

"You have been gone for three years," she said walking over to his jacket and picking it up throwing it at him. "The least you could have done was to give me a few hours of your time," she said angrily throwing his jacket at him.

"Liv…."

"Shut the door on the way out," she snapped turning around and walking over to large window pissed off that he was leaving already, no explanation, nothing.

"Olivia," he said softly suddenly behind her caging her in as he put his hands on the window either side of her. "I need to do this. Trust me I don't want to leave, but I have been looking for this guy for months, I can't let him get away, and I need to question him. Then I will be back as soon as I can."

Olivia laughed "What the hell are you? The Vampire Police," she asked sarcastically.

She looked at his reflection in the window.

"Yeah," he smirked. "Something like that," he said his eyes meeting hers in the reflection. "Now why don't you take that bath you were going to have and relax till I get back," he said nuzzling her neck. "And then I will tell you everything, I promise," he said his lips brushing against her neck as he placed a soft open mouth kiss against it on her pulse spot as she closed her eyes at his touch.

Olivia shuddered as he gently sucked her skin into his mouth making her moan. She opened her eyes and met his again in the reflection and saw they had turned bright red again.

"El," she whispered as he sucked a little harder.

"Fuck," he moaned dropping his forehead to her shoulder. "I'm sorry I got a little carried away."

"Your eyes," she said turning to face him and looking into his red eyes.

Elliot gave a little smile "The change colour when I'm either angry or….. Aroused," he chuckled. "I can't control it."

"Oh right," she said blushing and looking away from his gaze.

"I need to go, but I will be back. I promise you," he said kissing her lightly on the lips as she closed her eyes. When she opened them he was gone.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Olivia opened her eyes and jumped up when she saw Elliot's silhouette against the window.

"Jesus Elliot," she gasped.

"Sorry, I didn't meant to scare you," he said in the darkness his voice so quiet as he turned around to face her.

"How long have you been back?"

"About half an hour."

"You should have woken me, what time is it?"

"Almost six the sun will be up soon."

Olivia turned around and reached over to put on the small light next to her. She turned back and looked at Elliot.

"Elliot," she said jumping up and throwing her blanket behind her. "What the hell happened, are you hurt?" she asked running to him. The white shirt he had on was covered in blood, so was his face and hands.

"I'm fine," he told her. "It isn't my blood."

"What happened?"

"Let's just say the interrogation took a bad turn. The little fucking weasel thought he could take me. But unlike in the past Cragen wasn't there to stop me," he said making fists with his hands. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Any chance I could take a shower and clean up."

"Erm, yeah of course you can, after all it is still your apartment."

"I promise you we will talk after okay," he said going to touch her face and stopping as he looked at his blood covered hands.

"Just tell me he was evil," she said to him.

Elliot smiled at her. "He was I promise you. The worst thing is I didn't want to kill him I needed answers from him. I wasted all these hours away from you for nothing."

"Go and shower," she told him. "I kept your clothes they are still hanging up in the bedroom, so you can put something clean on."

Elliot nodded and walked towards the bathroom. He stopped and turned to face her. "Olivia one question," he said turning back to face her. "Why are you not freaking out right now? I show up after three years. I come back after being out all night covered in blood and you don't even question me, you not scared. Your just acting like all this normal."

"Elliot after what we saw and witnessed in that town, nothing surprises me anymore. I have been waiting for you to come home for three years, and I knew what you would be when you did."

"And that doesn't scare you."

"No…. What scared me was the thought of never seeing you again….. Now go and get in the shower, you have a lot of explaining to do."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Elliot stood under the hot spray and looked down at the knife wounds on his chest and stomach they were taking a little longer to heal. "Little fucker," he cursed under his breath. "Must have been silver in the knives."

He climbed out the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist before he opened the bag he had brought in with him. He reached down to the bottom and took out one of the blood donor bags. He checked the door was locked before breaking the seal , putting the bag to his mouth and tipping his head back drinking the blood, it was gone within seconds. He picked up a second bag and drank that just as quick. It had been a few days since he had drank any human blood. He always felt guilty about breaking into the blood bank and taking the blood, but he needed it for emergencies just like this. He looked down and watched as the knife wounds began to heal. He put the empty blood bags into the bottom of his bag and zipped it up, before brushing his teeth. The last thing he needed was for Olivia to smell or even taste blood on his breath. He quickly got dressed in a pair of his old sweats and one of his old wife beaters before opening the bathroom door.

He stepped straight out into the living room without even thinking "Fuck!" he yelled jumping back into the bathroom. "Erm Liv!" he yelled. "Liv!"

"What?" she asked running out the bedroom. "What's that burning smell?" she asked sniffing.

"That would be me," he chuckled. "Would you mind closing the curtains, so I can actually leave the bathroom?"

"Oh shit," she said running to the windows and dragging the curtains closed. "I'm sorry, I never even thought about that."

"It's okay," he smiled coming out the bathroom finally and into the dark room towards her.

"So is there anything else I need to be warned about?" she asked him.

"No not unless you're going to shoot me with your gun, stab me with one of the many stakes you have hidden around this place, cut my head off with that sword," he said nodding to the large sword on her wall. "Or stab me with a knife that has been dipped in silver."

"Knife dipped in silver?" she asked him as he got close and stood in front of her their chest only centimetres apart.

"Yeah, that hurts like a bitch but Martin forgot to tell us about that one."

"Oh right," she smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. "And I guess from that little display in the sunlight, the vacation you promised to take me on to somewhere hot is out of the question."

"Yeah I guess it is I'm sorry about that. But I don't have a ring made by a witch to allow me to go out in daylight and unfortunately my skin doesn't just shimmer like gold in sunlight, it sizzles and turns black, cooking me from the inside out."

"To much information Stabler," she said wrapping her arms around him and letting him hold her tightly to him resting her head on his chest. It was the first time she had felt completely safe in the last three years.

"Come on," said Elliot. "I think someone needs something to eat."

"No, I'm fine," she said pulling him to her holding him tighter.

"No you're not, I can hear your stomach growling," he laughed. "You need something to eat."

"You could hear that?"

"Yeah, now let's get some food and coffee while I finally tell you what happened."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Do you want some of this?" she asked him as she heated up the lasagne.

"I'm good thanks. I have already eaten I will have a coffee though."

"When you say you have already eaten you mean…"

Elliot nodded. "I got a little hurt at the meeting I needed some human blood to help me heal. Plus I haven't had any for a while."

"Where did you get it?" she asked him.

"Well we have people and places all over the world that we can go to if we need blood. It was true what Martin told us there are a lot of people that know all about us and are willing to let us feed from them."

"So you went there?"

"No. I always carry a small supply with me that I got from a blood bank. Because I'm still a young Vampire I still need quite a bit human blood to survive."

The microwave pinged and Olivia took her food out and carried it over to the couch as Elliot carried their coffee over.

"Do you still eat human food?" she asked him as they sat opposite each other on the couch.

"Yeah, but I don't really need it and it takes a little longer to digest."

"I have so many questions I want to ask you," she said taking a mouthful of food.

"Well why don't I start with what happened that night after you left."

"Sounds good," she said getting comfy.

"Well first of all I the last thing I remember that night was telling you to go and you telling me you loved me," he smiled. "Then everything went black. I woke up in a large white room. My whole body was in cramps, I felt like head was about to explode and I had a craving for blood. I tried to move but I was chained to a bed with Martin sat next to me. It seems him and Arnie found me just after you drove away with the kids."

"Martin and Arnie made it," she smiled. "I really thought they had been killed and their bodies removed like yours."

"No, they found me and knew they had to get me out of there. I was still alive but only just. I had lost a lot of blood and my pulse was so faint and weak. The only thing Martin could do to keep me alive was to give me some of his blood, until they got me some help. The sun was starting to rise and they knew they had to find somewhere to hide out, so they decided to try and get to Martins and wait out there. However on their way they were attacked by a group of about seven. My … They got hold of me and they, they snapped my neck killing me."

Olivia put her fork down and put her plate on the coffee table next to her suddenly losing her appetite.

"Arnie and Martin thought their time was up as the group surrounded them, they had no way out. Suddenly out of nowhere another group turned up and totally wiped out the group that was surrounding us. It seems Devon managed to get a message out there before he was killed it just took them a while to get to us. They told Martin to get me and Arnie to the boat they had arrived on whilst they tidied the town the best they could, getting rid of bodies. Martin picked me up and another Vampire carried Arnie and they just ran. Trying their best to stay ahead of the sunrise for as long as they could. They got as far as they could then dug a deep snow hole and we stayed in there till the sunset again. Then they carried on to the boat."

"But El if you were dead why not just leave you for the authorities to find you, why take you and turn you?"

"Because I was already turning. Some of those Vampire stories and TV shows we have read and seen actually tell the truth," he smiled. "Martin gave me his blood to keep me alive till they got help. When I was killed I had his blood in my system. That is the first of two steps to becoming one of them. They couldn't leave me in the town because I would have eventually woken up from the dead. Can you imagination how freaked out people would have been, not to mention me. At least this way I had Martin with me."

Olivia sat silently for a while taking in what he was saying.

"So where did they take you on the boat?" she asked him as she moved across the couch towards him and cuddled into his side. Elliot put his arm around her and hugged her to him.

"Northern Russia. To a Coven there. When I woke up Martin explained to me what had happened. God I was so pissed off, I wanted to just kill him. He told me I had a choice…"

"Drink human blood and completely change or don't and die," she said finishing off the sentence for him.

"Yeah," he said kissing the top of her head. "Got that from TV huh," he chuckled. Olivia nodded. "Well like I said some of the TV shows are actually spot on about some of things."

"Why did you choose to turn yourself into one of them, why not just die?"

"Because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to you yet," he whispered. "We had only just got together and admitted how we felt. I wasn't ready to lose that yet."

"So why stay away for almost three years, why not come back sooner?" she asked looking up at him.

Elliot sighed as she sat up to look at him.

"When you turn all your senses go into overdrive. Your hearing, smell and touch are all heightened. But also the type of person you are and your emotions are also heightened. Which meant my fuse was a lot shorter than normal and my temper was a lot worse. Also….." he said lifting his hand and playing with a strand of her hair.

"Also what?"

"My feelings for you were a lot stronger," he told her.

"And that was a bad thing?"

"Yeah, I had to learn how to control all of these feelings Liv. If I had come back to you straight away I might have hurt you….. Or even worse, killed you."

"But….."

Elliot took hold of her hands. "Liv I wouldn't have done it on purpose, I would have had no control over it. With everything enhanced and the fact I was a lot stronger and faster, I would have wanted to …. I did want to make love to you," he said dropping his head. "It was all I could think about and when I couldn't my rage took over. It took me months before I was able to even start controlling myself."

He finally looked up and saw Olivia with a huge grin on her face.

"What's so funny?" he asked her.

"Just got this image in my head if you being in one of your super pissed off moods walking around with a permanent hard on," she giggled.

Elliot's mouth just dropped open.

"I cannot believe you just said that," he grinned.

"I'm sorry but it is a little funny."

"Try telling that to Martin and the other guy who my mentors were for that first year. Don't know how many times I broke them, before I started to calm down and learnt to control myself."

"And you have it under control now?"

"Most of the time. When I get pissed off I really do get pissed off, hence your shelf above the fireplace."

"And what about me?" she asked moving closer to him.

"I still want to make love to you," he whispered. "More than anything I have ever wanted before."

Olivia blushed "I'm really glad to hear that," she said a yawn escaping from her mouth, making Elliot laugh.

"I think someone needs some sleep."

"No I'm fine I have so much to ask you."

"And it can wait till later."

Before she had time to complain she found herself in Elliot's arms as he carried her towards the bedroom.

"Elliot I don't want to sleep," she protested.

"Well your yawning is telling me something different," he said placing her on the bed.

"Stay with me," she said reaching out for his hand.

"I wasn't planning on going anywhere," he told her climbing onto the bed and lying down next to her. "I need some rest myself anyway.

"You need sleep."

"Yeah, I can go for days without any but I need to rest up every now and then," he said wrapping his arms around her. Olivia lay her head on his chest.

"Does your heart still beat?" she asked him.

"It does, but it's a lot slower than yours and quieter."

"How slow?"

"About one beat every ten seconds, but it is there."

"So you are alive?"

"Honestly Liv, I really don't know what I am, what we are. But I do know I am here and here with you and that is good enough for me. Now close your eyes and go to sleep, I will answer all your other questions when we wake up."

"Promise me you will be here when I wake up."

"I promise you I will be here. I will always be here for you," he said kissing the top of her head. "Oh and Liv."

"Hmmmm."

"Merry Christmas Sweetheart," he said kissing the top of her head.

Next up what Elliot has been up to since he left and what he is doing now and I think it could be time for them to final take that final step in their relationship. If this is the case the story will be turning M rated, as you all know I find it hard to hold back on the naughtiness once I start.

Leave a review and make my day.