Welcome back! I want to say thanks to everyone that was patient as I finished up one of my other stories. Now that it's done, I'm back to this one and will stay focused on this to the end. You may want to go back and read the story again, or at least the last chapter, so you'll get a feel for where we left off. I had to! Thanks again for reading and please leave a review.

EOEOEOEOEO

"Elliot. I want this…." Olivia started. She was still reeling from everything that had happened in the last few minutes. Elliot telling her that he loved her. Elliot kissing her. His hands on her. His obvious desire for her. It was like a dream come true. She'd let herself get caught up in it, but now cold, hard reality was setting in. What had she set in motion? "But…"

"Liv. No buts." Elliot said, frustration in his voice. He knew his partner well and he knew that right now, she was thinking about all potential repercussions, calculating risk. "Stop overthinking this!"

Olivia shook her head. "I'm not overthinking anything. I'm just being rational. Maybe there's a good reason we never took this step." She stood up and walked a few paces away from the couch. She turned back towards him. "We have to think about our jobs, your kids, your wife." Shit. His wife. "Elliot, you're still married." The thought came roaring into her brain and she felt a mix of guilt and fear. What if he went back to his wife?

Elliot stood up "I'm separated." he said quickly.

"But technically, you're still married."

Elliot closed the distance between them and placed his hands on her upper arms. "Olivia. Stop it." He rubbed his hands up and down her arms. "Just stop it. We finally had the courage to tell each other how we felt after all this time…and now you're already trying to run from it?" He pointed towards the couch. "Are you telling me that you don't want this? Because it certainly seems like you do…" There was no mistaking the passion in that kiss…in her reaction to his body against hers. But he knew that telling her that he loved her had scared her to death. He should have gone slowly…it was too much too fast. But it was out now; he couldn't take it back.

She took a step back, forcing him to drop his hands from her arms. She looked into his eyes, and bit her bottom lip with her teeth. She wanted this…if he only knew how much she wanted this. But he was her best friend. If things didn't work out between them, she would lose everything. Was it worth the risk?

She swallowed hard. "I'm scared El." she said softly. "I want…" her voice trailed off and she looked away. She turned her back to him; she couldn't look at him or she would break. She knew what she wanted, but she couldn't put voice to it. It made it so real. And if it was real then there was always a chance there would be heartbreak and disappointment.

Elliot came up behind her, and placed his hands lightly on her shoulders once again. He felt her body tense. "Liv. Just listen to me." He whispered. "I know you're scared. I'm scared too. But I've wanted this. I've wanted you. For a long time. I'm not in love with Kathy any more. I'm not going back. I didn't tell you how I felt because I wanted it to be right; for everything to be settled. But when you told me how you were feeling…Liv, I couldn't have been happier. I was never certain…I thought you felt the same way, but I didn't know. So I'm sorry if I came on too strong…if I scared you by telling you that I'm in love with you. But I am. I'm not going to deny it." He thumbs caressed her upper arms and he squeezed lightly, looking into her eyes. " I want to be right here. With you. I'm not going anywhere. And no matter what you tell me; no matter what you decide, I'm going to stay by your side. " He turned her around slowly, so she was facing him. He put a hand underneath her chin and tilted her face up towards his. "I'm never going to let you go. So I need you to decide. I need you to tell me what you want."

Olivia blinked rapidly a few times, trying to stave off tears that were threatening to flow. Who was this? She'd never seen this side of Elliot. This was more emotion than she'd ever heard from him in the past seven years. This tenderness…she wasn't used to it and it threw her a little. She saw the intensity and emotion in his eyes…and she knew that she was lost. There was no going back.

She parted her lips slowly…uncertain as to how to respond to that outpouring. Knowing she couldn't possibly say all the things she wanted to say. "El…" Elliot furrowed his brows and she could see that he was expecting her to retreat. To take the love he had offered and cast it aside. She looked into his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling as if she was about to jump out into an abyss. "El. I want this to work. I want us to work."

Elliot let out a sigh of relief. He'd been so nervous that she'd push him away. That she'd spout off a million reasons why this wouldn't work and refuse to give them a try. He wouldn't have been able to take it. Even though he said he'd stay by her side, no matter what, he knew it would be difficult. Especially now that he'd kissed her…felt her body beneath his. This was about more than sex, but those few minutes had been heaven.

He took a step forward and reconnected, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her towards him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tight against his chest, burying his face in her hair.

"God Liv. Thanks for taking a chance on us. I promise that I won't disappoint you."

Olivia said something but it was muffled against his chest. He loosened his arms a little and she pulled back.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I said I can't breathe." she laughed. "You were holding me so tightly." She smiled. "When you said you were never going to let me go, I didn't realize you meant it so literally."

Elliot laughed…a great big, roaring laugh. After the seriousness of the past few minutes, he was happy to see that his Olivia was back. His laugh helped to diffuse the tension in the room, but now there was a new sense of awkwardness. Before, he had kissed her and it had come naturally. As had everything else that followed. But now, he saw Olivia looking at him, and he wasn't quite sure what to do. He wanted to kiss her again, but he knew they had a lot of things to figure out.

Olivia smirked, watching him. "So…" She snagged his hand and walked back over to the couch.

She sat down and Elliot sat a little ways away from her, turning so he faced her.

"So." he said.

She laughed. "What are you thinking about right now?"

Elliot swallowed, because he didn't really want to tell Olivia what he was thinking right now. Because he'd been thinking less than wholesome thoughts about his partner. Partner?

Olivia raised an eyebrow and smiled at him. "I don't think I want to know."

Elliot recovered quickly. "No. I'm just thinking. Well, now what? Are you my girlfriend? Do we go out on dates? I mean, where do we go from here?"

Olivia made a face. "I don't know Elliot. This is new to me too."

"Calling you my girlfriend sounds so…"

"High school?" Olivia offered.

"Yeah. "

"And as for dating… don't you normally date so you can get to know someone? I know everything about you El." Olivia laughed.

"So. We're not dating and you're not my girlfriend?" Elliot asked, a puzzled look on his face.

Olivia moved closer to him on the couch. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

"But I get to kiss you and…" He couldn't say the words, but thoughts of making love to Olivia flooded his mind.

Olivia hesitated. She wanted Elliot to take her to bed, but she wasn't sure if tonight was the night. She wanted to take things a little slowly so she could adjust to this new reality.

Elliot noticed her hesitancy and he wanted to kick himself for what he'd said. He'd already scared her once with his proclamations, and although he didn't imagine Olivia was any kind of shrinking violet when it came to sex, he didn't want her to think that was all that he was after.

Olivia gave him a small smile. "Yes, you get to kiss me. And I get to kiss you. As for the rest…let's just see what happens, OK?"

Elliot closed the gap between them and grabbed her hands. "Liv. I didn't mean…I'm not trying to push. We'll take this at whatever pace you want. I'll follow your lead."

Olivia looked back at him. "El. There's something else."

Elliot braced himself. He could see by the look on her face that it was something big.

Olivia chose her words carefully. "I want to be honest with you." She looked at Elliot and saw he was listening intently.

"We have to be honest with each Liv. Or this isn't going to work." He meant what he said. They hadn't had the best track record with honesty in the past and it caused a lot of problems for them. If this relationship was going to have any chance, they'd have to work hard at it.

Olivia continued. "When you said you wanted me for a long time…well, I felt the same way. But you were married. It would have been easy to forget that." She looked at Elliot, willing him to understand what she was saying, but he just looked back at her, waiting for her to continue. She took a deep breath. "I never wanted to be the other woman El. I won't be. I've done that before…" Her voice trailed off, remembering back to an affair with a married man when she was much, much younger.

Elliot remembered the conversation they'd had about it…a comment in passing really. "Liv. I wouldn't have wanted that either."

"But you're still married Elliot. So technically…"

Elliot sat back, rocked by what she was saying. "So are you telling me that we can't move ahead until my divorce is final?"

Olivia ran her hands through her hair. "I don't know what I'm saying. I haven't thought this through Elliot." She stood up. "I wasn't exactly expecting all of this to happen today." She thought back to this morning and it seemed so long ago. Jeez. Just a few hours ago she was kissing Adam.

Elliot stood up and walked over to where she was standing. "But you're the one that told me how you felt first. If you didn't want this, then why did you tell me?" His voiced was slightly tinged with anger. He was frustrated and he looked down at the ground, trying to rein it in.

Olivia looked up at him. "Elliot. Look at me."

He looked up at her and she continued. "I just told you that I wanted this." She let out a sigh. "We've been dancing around this for so long. I've been thinking about it a lot since you've been separated. And today…it just came out. I saw the look on your face when you saw Adam, and I just wanted to let you know how I felt."

Elliot started to interrupt but she held up her hand. "Just let me get this out." She put her hands on his chest and looked up at him. "Elliot. I think I'm as madly in love with you as you are with me. When you kissed me…" She smiled. "Well, let's just say it was everything I imagined and more."

Elliot smirked and she slapped his chest playfully.

"I know I shouldn't have told you that." she joked. But then her face turned serious again. "But Elliot, I know how much your family means to you. I know you've stayed with Kathy all these years…and that its going to be hard to leave that behind." Her voice choked up a little. "I can't go into this not knowing…if we're together and then you decide to go back to her…it'll kill me Elliot." She shook her head. "You're all I have in this world El. I can't lose you. "

"Liv."

"I mean it. If I can't have you this way…if you're not certain…then I'd rather leave things the way they were."

Elliot reached up and cupped her face with his hands. "I've never been more certain Liv. This isn't a fling. I hope you know that." He leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss. "I'm going to talk to Kathy and I'm going to file for a divorce."

Olivia wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. He rubbed his hands up and down her back and nuzzled his face in her hair.

"I love you Olivia. We're going to make this work. I've never wanted anything as much as I've wanted this. I would never hurt you."

Olivia sighed. She wanted to tell Elliot not to make promises he may not be able to keep. But she kept silent. She was happy snuggled into his body right now. She felt content. She felt happy.

Elliot loosened his arms a bit and she pulled back and looked up at him. "So back to the conversation about kissing…" he started. He hand reached up and caressed her cheek. "I'm not sure what the rules…"

Before he could finish the sentence, Olivia had wrapped her hand around the nape of his neck and pulled his face to hers. She pulled his top lip between hers and tilted her head, trying to deepen the kiss. Elliot didn't need any more encouragement. He moved his hand from her cheek to tangle in her hair as he opened her mouth with his. He dipped his tongue inside her mouth and felt a tingle as his tongue touched hers. He wrapped one hand around her waist, pulling her body against his and devoured her mouth. He spun her around and started walking her backwards towards the couch. When her knees hit the couch, she fell backwards, losing contact with Elliot's mouth. Elliot tried to stop her descent but failed. She laughed as she looked at him standing there with a look of dismay.

"It seems to me like I've been here before." she say, a coy smile on her face.

Elliot's look of dismay turned into a crooked smile as he realized she was OK, and that she was teasing him. He saw the look in her eye and was hit again with the realization that there was most assuredly a sexy, sultry side of Olivia that he'd never seen before. He smiled broadly, looking forward to the moment when he'd get to see that passion directed at him.

Olivia held out her arm, and crooked her finger, motioning for him to join her. She never lost that devilish look in her eye and Elliot smiled. She's going to be the death of me. He climbed over her on the couch, bracing himself on his knees and his forearms and looked down at her, smiling up at him. But I'll die a happy man.

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