A/N: A decision she never thought she'd have to make, is finally made.

DISCLAIMER: SVU and its Characters belong to Dick Wolf. Storyline and dialogue, and narrative belong to TStabler©

"Hey, this one looks good!" Olivia said from the bathroom doorway as Elliot shaved. "Five bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, full dining room, and it's in Queens. Kids wouldn't have to change schools."

"They go to Trinity Prep, Liv," Elliot said, carefully dragging the razor down his face. "They don't go to school in Queens."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "I meant Dickie's karate classes, Lizzie's dancing school, Maureen's piano..."

"Oh, yeah," Elliot said, chuckling. "Well, how much is it?"

Olivia looked at the paper and said, "Five hundred thou..."

"Stop talking," he said, turning to face her, half of his face still unshaven. "Where in Queens is it?"

"Jamaica, One-hundred-and-ninety-third Street. Honey, it's a corner house in a good community, El. Finished basement, finished attic, it's a really cute colonial with a lawn and..." she stopped, looking at his face. He was giving her a goofy smile. She wasn't sure why she was getting so excited. It's not like she was buying the house. "Never mind," she said, sighing. "Here. Just, uh, look at it later." She put the paper on the edge of the sink and walked out of the bathroom.

Elliot picked it up, flipped through it, and smiled. Olivia had circled every five-bedroom house in the city that looked to be in a safe, decent neighborhood. He looked in the mirror and sighed, then, as he finished the other half of his face. He was gonna miss being with her, every minute, of every day. He was gonna miss coming home to Olivia. Home. Olivia. The two were synonymous now. Then again, he realized, they always had been.

They walked into the sqaudroom, seemingly chipper, and Cragen shouted, "You two! You might wanna read Kathy's statement before Fin and Munch sign it. Make sure there's nothing you two wanna deny, or rebuke."

Elliot and Olivia looked at each other, nervous, as Elliot took the file out of Cragen's hand. Elliot read it first, and as he did, his eyes widened. She'd left out any mention of their relationship, but instead, told the detectives how Olivia had been more of a mother to her kids in recent years than she was, and how it was jealousy that led to her drug use. She also confessed to drug trafficking and solicitation, and one instance of sexual assault. But they knew that. They'd read it last night. He handed the file to Olivia, and turned to Cragen. "No, Cap. Everything Kathy said is true. Liv's been there for my kids, on countless occasions. I know it's not a partner..."

"No one said you couldn't be friends outside of work," Cragen said, emphasizing the word friends just a bit. "You care about each other. When one of you is in trouble, it's the other's job to get you out of it. That's why Benson has six people staying in her tiny, one bedroom apartment."

Elliot chuckled. "Yeah, it is."

"I didn't perform an emergency appendectomy on Lizzie!" Olivia yelled, holding up the file. "She was choking! I gave her the Heimlich! Are you sure Kathy's not still using?"

"Oh," Elliot said, smirking. "Must have missed that one."

Olivia made a face and hit him in the arm with the file. "Here," she said handing it to Fin. "Sign away. I'm not gonna deny being a large part of the Stablers' lives."

"No one's asking you to," Munch said. "In fact, uh, we're pretty surprised that it hasn't escalated to more that friendship already, now that you're both single."

"Munch!" Olivia scolded, shocked.

"What, Benson?" Munch asked, peering over his sunglasses at her. "You're hot, and you two are..."

Olivia interrupted. "Partners."

Fin scoffed. "If you two are just partners, then Munch is my father!"

"I could be, ya know," Munch said. "I was married four times. I'm pretty sure one of them was black."

Fin just gave Munch a look that said, "What the hell?" and glanced back at Elliot and Olivia. "You've gotta be aware of this thing hangin' between you two, but if you're not, we'll take your word for it. Oh, uh, Baby-Girl, a guy named Danny called for you. Said he got the wedding cancellation card in the mail, and he'd like to know if you're ready to date again. Here's his number." He held out a post-it to her.

Olivia's eyes went wide as she took the paper from Fin. "Yeah, I'm not calling Danny." She tossed the paper into to the trash can and shook her head. "That was two months of my life that would have been better spent watching paint dry."

"That bad, huh?" Elliot said, smirking.

"Have you ever seen that movie, Open Water?" Olivia asked.

Elliot nodded, sipping his coffee. "The two people just floating in the water for two hours, then they get eaten by sharks. That movie sucked. Most boring thing I've ever seen."

Olivia looked deeply into Elliot's eyes. "Compared to a night with Danny, that movie is like a day at fucking Disneyland."

"Ouch," Fin said, shaking with chuckles. "I'm sure the right guy will come along for ya, Baby-Girl."

"Eventually," Olivia said, sending a furtive glance at Elliot.

Cragen smirked and shook his head as he handed Elliot a pink slip. "You have a vic at Mercy General. Take your, uh, partner, and go get a statement and a rape-kit."

"Yeah," Elliot said, nodding. He looked at Olivia and they walked out, in step with each other. Waiting for the elevator, Elliot took a breath and let it out, harshly. "Liv, are you getting sick of us? Me and the kids, I mean. Are we wearing out our welcome?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Are you nuts? Why would you ask me that?"

Elliot cracked his neck and cleared his throat. "You seemed eager to get rid of us this morning, that's all."

"El, I'm eager to get your kids off of my floor, and my couch, and make sure they're comfortable and happy. I'm eager to see Maureen smile, instead of scowl at me like she does every morning, and if she's not around me, maybe that'll happen. I'm not eager to get rid of you," Olivia said, furrowing her brow. "I love having you all there. Really."

"So," Elliot said as the doors opened, stepping inside, "I mean, it might take a while to find a house, Liv, and when I do, I..."

"Stay as long as you need to stay," Olivia said, chuckling. "I just told you..."

"Liv," he interrupted. "I was gonna ask if...you wanted to...come with us," Elliot said, stumbling over his words.

Olivia was speechless. She was saved from answering, thankfully, when the doors opened. She followed Elliot out of the station and into the parking lot. She thought, as she got into the car, that she'd never considered moving out of her apartment for anyone. Trevor had been the one to move in with her, and they weren't even thinking about buying a house. She'd given up on Elliot long ago, so she'd never thought she'd need to move out to be with him and his kids, and he just asked her to do exactly that. She looked at him as he started the car, and she sighed, as the realization that her days living in a one bedroom sublet could be over hit her. "Yeah," she whispered.

"What?" Elliot asked, keeping one on her and the other on the road.

"Well, maybe," she said, louder. "You really want me to..."

Elliot interrupted her. "You and the kids, Liv," he reminded her, spouting it in a cocky manner. "All I'll ever need."

"How'd it go?" Cragen asked as his two best detectives walked in. "What the hell happened?"

Elliot, holding an ice pack to his eye, said, "I asked the father for a DNA sample."

"I told the mother her daughter tested positive for Chlamydia," Olivia added, holding tissues to the still-bleeding scratches on her arm.

"Damn," Fin said, shaking his head. "Did you guys arrest them for assault?"

Elliot shook his head. "I'm a father, Fin. I would have punched me, too."

"She didn't really assault me," Olivia said, shrugging.

"She scratched the shit out of you, Liv," Elliot said, making a stern face.

Olivia shook her head. "Anyway, we got a full statement and Warner has the rape-kit."

"We didn't get an ID, though. She just kept telling us that he had the wrong girl," Elliot said, handing Cragen a mini-recorder. "She said that once he knew he had the wrong girl, he stopped, panicked, and took off."

"He's still going after the right girl, then," Munch said, tilting his head. "Fin and I will take it. You two, take a nap, or some valium, or some vodka, or whatever."

"Gee, thanks, Munch," Olivia said, chuckling. "That's so very kind of you."

Munch saluted as he and Fin left. Cragen grabbed his coffee and said, "I have to make a phone call. Go take a nap." He walked into his office, closing the door behind him.

Elliot looked at Olivia and sang, "I think we're alone now..."

Olivia laughed. "Paula, Simon, and Randy would love you, El."

"A nap," Elliot said, throwing his ice pack onto his desk, "Actually, sounds really good."

Cragen stepped out of his office just in time to see Elliot leading Olivia up the steps to the cribs. "I'm calling you down here if I need you two," he yelled.

"We figured," Olivia said, without turning around. Once they were inside, with the door shut behind them, Olivia pulled Elliot's head toward hers. But she didn't kiss him. She examined the nice black eye that was forming. "That's not gonna be pretty,"

Elliot chuckled. "Neither are those scratch marks, baby," he retorted. He lifted his head a bit and caught her lips, kissing her deeply. "Did you mean it? Before, when you said you would move..."

"I said maybe, El," Olivia interrupted, moving toward a bunk. She sat, and as he plopped next to her and wrapped his arms around her she said, "I'm not sure. Your kids are okay with staying at my place because of the circumstances, El. If I move in with you, then that means it's..."

"Real," Elliot interjected. "We sleep in the same room, Liv. The kids know about us. And what we have is already very real."

Olivia kissed him, pushing him down flat on the bed. "I know that, I'm just worried about..."

"Maureen," Elliot interrupted again. He brushed Olivia's hair back as he looked up at her.

Olivia chuckled. "Why do I even bother talking if you know what..."

"You're gonna say?" Elliot finished, with a wink and a chuckle, as he kissed her. "Liv, Maureen is gonna have to get over it, baby. You're not just a fling, you're not a rebound, you're not going anywhere. She loves you, Liv, really. She just hates that she loves you, because she feels like she's betraying her mother by doing it. She's also pissed at me, honey. She hates that I didn't see what was happening to Kathy, because I was so wrapped up in..."

"Me," Olivia said, nodding in understanding.

Elliot kissed her again. "Now who's finishing whose sentences?" he asked, bending his head up to kiss her. "We belong together, baby. Admit it, you'll be just as lost going home without me as I'll be going home without you. We spent years denying that we always left a part of ourselves in the office, with each other. For the first time in my life, Liv, I feel whole when I go home at night. When I go home to you."

"Exactly how I..." she paused, shook her head and swallowed, looking into his eyes. She kissed him, passionately, as she curled into him. She rested her head on his chest and sighed in comfort. She let her eyes drift shut, and as she felt him kiss the crown of her head she said, "As soon as you find a house, I'll tell my landlord he needs to find a new tenant."

A/N: Will moving out of her place, and in with the Stablers, be everything she dreamed? Or will it be an absolute nightmare? Review to find out!