Chapter 10:

Olivia and Elliot woke up blissfully a few hours later, still on the couch. Despite their traumatic experiences they slept peacefully and once awake found it impossible to return to sleep.

"Olivia, you really should stay here and try to get some more rest." Elliot chided. "You deserve it more than any of us. Cragen will be beside himself if you come into the precinct today."

"Look," Olivia said exuberantly, "after being proposed to last night there is no way I am going to or could just sit at home alone, even if I was kidnapped yesterday! I'm going with you, we're catching this Shankle bastard, and after we tell everyone we're getting married they won't even remember all the chaos from yesterday!"

"Huh…" Elliot said, "I guess I can't say no to that. "Besides, I of course want my lovely fiance by my side from now on." With that Elliot took Olivia into his arms and they kissed passionately.

SVU-EO-SVU

An hour or two later the two detectives shuffled into the precinct, later than they should have been, disheveled, and trying too hard to conceal the cause of their tardiness.

"Well I'm glad the Mr. and Mrs. could join us," Fin said, jokingly.

Elliot and Olivia exchanged glances.

"Stabler, about time you- Benson I thought I told you-" Cragen began but was cut short by Olivia's too quick reply.

"Captain Cragen, everyone! Elliot and I are getting married!"

Cragen just stopped, his arm and pointing finger suspended in midair. John Munch spewed coffee all across his desk and slapped his thigh. Fin shook his head and just said, "well I'll be damned."

"Elliot proposed to me last night and I agreed." Olivia added. "The first SVU marriage that I know of," she said smiling.

Elliot was red in the face but beaming nonetheless, his beautiful and proud wife-to-be standing by his side.

The rest of the team was still too shocked to respond. "Shall we get on with business then?" Elliot said hopefully. "Don't we have a rapist to catch?"

"Elliot's right," Fin said. Munch was frantically trying to clean up his spilled coffee. "We've been hard at work while you two have been, uh, … But we still have no leads."

Cragen finally regained himself. "All right, Olivia and Elliot this is fabulous news. I guess I don't need to say we've all been waiting for this for months. However, Mrs. Stabler, if you think this is going to cause me to retract my previous-"

The phone rang, distracting Cragen, who looked at Munch to answer it. Munch was still vigorously preoccupied with his ruined desktop and didn't seem to even notice. Cragen finally said, "well, somebody answer it!" Fin answered, and Cragen returned to a pink faced Olivia.

"Right. If you think your new marriage plans are going to make-"

"Captain," Fin said, "Kelly Tucker's in NYPD custody. They're bringing her in right now."

Cragen wheeled. "What? What happened?"

"Officer says she just turned up on the streets battered and bruised, with hardly any clothing and managed to flag a car down and call 911. Police picked up her soon afterward."

"Jesus, she must have escaped." Cragen said. "We might only have a short amount of time to catch Shankle before he realizes she's gone and books it himself. Elliot and Olivia, prep for interrogation. Fin and Jo- John! Goddamnit! A little spilled coffee's not the end of the world, let's go! Fin and Munch get out to the location Kelly was picked up at and ready for further commands from us."

The all dispersed, Olivia slyly winking at Elliot.

SVU-EO-SVU

"Kelly, you need to tell us everything you know about what happened to you," Olivia said.

"All right," an unkempt and mistreated Kelly Tucker replied, trying to compose herself. "He… He was at my house and surprised me, I don't really remember anything after that. I was unconscious. When I woke up I was in an apartment alone with him. He said, 'I didn't pick you out but you sure are a cute one.' Then he… he raped me. I was tied down, couldn't get away. He kept me there and… raped me again and again as time went on. The apartment was very dirty and after one of those times he left the shirt he was wearing next to the bed, it had a pen in the pocket, and I managed to use the pen to cut through the rope that was tying my hands. He wasn't there then so I just threw on my thrashed clothes and got the hell out of there." Kelly was crying by this point.

"Kelly, I'm so sorry," Olivia said sympathetically. "Do you remember which apartment it was?"

"Yes," Kelly sobbed. "It's… it's on the fifth floor. Room 42A, of the Huxley Apartment Building on 28th."

Olivia nodded to Elliot who hastened out, repeating the address in his mind. "Thank you Kelly, I promise you're safe now, and we're going to catch this bastard and make him pay for what he did to you."

Kelly nodded her head in silent understanding.

Outside the room Elliot relayed the information to Cragen who immediately called Fin. "Huxley Apartments, Fifth floor room 42A. Go."

SVU-EO-SVU

Munch and Fin burst into the apartment and swept through it, before concluding that no one was home. Fin called Cragen.

"Yeah, cap, no one home. You want us to wait outside for this guy?"

"No, wait in the apartment. I'll send Elliot and Olivia to watch the front."

Elliot and Olivia drove over to 28th Avenue across from the Huxley Apartment Building and waited in their patrol car for Carl Shankle to return.

"Well, here we are again," Elliot said, "staked out waiting for Shankle to return to his apartment, except he's got no heads up this time."

"Yeah," Olivia said, "and this time we're engaged." The two detectives swapped glances of delight and grasped each other's hand.

"So, how long do you think we'll manage to get for the honeymoon?" Elliot asked.

"We'll be lucky if Cragen gives us a week!" Olivia said. "Elliot I'm so glad we're getting married. I can't wait to tell your children, they'll be so happy to hear."

"They will be so glad. They've actually asked me before if Aunt Olivia can move in with them. I'll have to tell them its not Aunt anymore. What do you say after we nab this Shankle loser we pick up the kids and take them out to dinner somewhere nice tonight to celebrate?"

"That would be fantastic, El." Olivia said, thrilled at the idea.

"Then after that we can begin moving some of your belongings to your new house."

"Sure!" Olivia replied. "What shall we do about the children during our honeymoon? Can we bring them with us?"

"Certainly," Elliot said. "Anything you want, and I would love to have them along, after…" Elliot stopped, "god I forgot about the custody suit from Kathy's parents." He sat back, disgruntled.

"Oh honey, don't worry. There's no way they'll win that, we'll get Casey working with us and now that you're getting married they'll have practically no case at all."

"You're right, I hadn't thought of that yet. That's a relieving thought."

"Hey, check this guy out," Olivia said looking across the street as a blonde man in an overcoat approached the building.

"Oh, yeah, that's definitely him this time." Elliot said. "Come on, Liv, let's go."

The pair of detectives jumped out of the patrol car and followed the man into the apartment. Shankle had just entered the elevator and the two detectives had to wait for the next one. Elliot phoned Munch to let him know Shankle was headed his way.

The second elevator appeared and Elliot and Olivia got in. As soon as the doors closed Olivia pounced on Elliot, kissing him vigorously. She pressed his body against the elevator wall and their embrace intensified.

Ding went the bell indicating their floor was reached. Olivia stepped back speedily. "Sorry, I've always wanted to do that."

"I'm not complaining!" Elliot said, "hey, come on." Shankle had just turned the corner.

Elliot and Olivia rounded the corner just as Shankle opened his apartment door to find Munch and Fin waiting for him. Elliot flew up behind him and slammed him against the wall as he and Fin said in unison, "Carl Shankle, you're under arrest for the rape and abduction of three women."

SVU-EO-SVU

Carl Shankle was indicted and convicted by Casey Novak, and the case was closed. During interrogation SVU had learned that Shankle's original beef against Jason Clooney had been a long repressed anger from his childhood. According to Shankle Jason had bullied him at a park in his neighborhood multiple times, and humiliated him in front of his friends. Carl said that Jason would force him to come to the park by threatening that he would tell everyone at their school what a puss he was, and when he showed up at the park Jason would beat up and shove him around. Carl had burned with hatred against Jason all these years, and had been concealing a morbid revenge plan the entire time.

"Do you think he was molested by Jason, as a boy?" Olivia asked Elliot.

"He sure could have been. He didn't admit it but it wouldn't have helped his case, he was going down either way. Maybe he didn't want Clooney to keep shaming him even after his death."

"He did try to frame Clooney with a rape, that would confer worse shame onto him then what Carl had to endure as a child. It would be the perfect answer to being molested, returning one ignominy for another."

"Yeah, and with Clooney it was worse because of his parents. Jason was driven to kill himself because his parents disowned him upon learning he raped someone. He couldn't bear the shame, and took his own life."

"Which sent Lewis into his bloody rampage for revenge."

"And now they all end up dead, with Carl serving life."

"Jesus, El, this is miserable, what do you say we call it a day and go pick up our children?"

"Sure thing, sweetheart. It just goes to show the power and danger of a grudge, I guess. But yeah, let's go home."

Home, Olivia thought. She didn't know if she had even been able to use that word in its proper sense. Not when she was a child, no, and not now, now her home was just where she lived, it had no sentimental value. How she had longed to belong somewhere though, to be able to call somewhere home.

She smiled gratefully at Elliot, "yes, yes let's go home."

The two left the precinct arm in arm and picked up Elliot's children, who were overjoyed to learn of the marriage between the father and his favorite friends.

"So we can call you mother now!" Kathleen asked.

"You sure can my dear!" Olivia replied, merrily.

The elated family had a scrumptious Italian dinner and then went home, finally. The all fixed cookies and watched a movie together, and Olivia settled into her new home and family. She was happy, she thought, with the man she loved and children she adored. Before, it was a silent struggle to continue living her life. But now, she thought, now, she would wake up every morning with the lasting happiness of living the life she had always wanted.

"Thank you El," she said, before they went to bed. "I love you."

"Thank you, my dear," Elliot said sweetly. "And I love you so much, too."

EOnd.

A/N

All right that's the end. I know it's a little cheesy and probably hard to follow all the different villains, but that's it. The conclusion of my first story. Please review, please! Especially if you're a stalker and haven't review yet, let me know what you think, even if you don't like it. and thanks to all who have reviewed already (12...)

I'll be working on a future project shortly. Until then, farewell!