A/N: What does Porter have to say for himself? Who does the talking, and how does Elliot handle the jealousy and stake his claim on Olivia?

DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns characters and Law and Order: SVU. TStabler©, that's me, owns the story, plot, narrative and dialogue.

Elliot and Olivia and just gotten back after picking up the hundreds of files, and other evidence from Kathy's office, to the precinct. They were both tired, and now they were off and running on another fight. Cragen had told Olivia, upon her entering the bullpen, that Dean Porter had stopped by to "get an answer." He had left it at that, trying to be coy and figuring that it was really no one else's business. Elliot, who hated Dean with every fiber of his being, had been bugging the crap out of her since then, and all he got in terms of an answer from her was, "We used to date, okay?"

The ride back to Olivia's apartment was tense, since Elliot kept asking, through gritted teeth, "What does he want? If you're not with him anymore, then what kind of an answer does he need? Are you still seeing him? When was the last time you talked to him?"

Olivia couldn't help but smirk. She knew that Elliot had a mean, vindictive, arrogant side. She got turned on immensely when that part of him came out. And she knew, too, that he was incredibly jealous, she saw a hint of that part of him when O'Halloran asked her out at the hotel. But this? This was amazing. He was turning red, driving way over the speed limit, and interrogating her like one of their greasy suspects. She couldn't wait to get him home.

"I'm not hearing answers, Liv," Elliot shouted.

Olivia laughed nervously when Elliot blew through a red light. "Okay, hold on. You just found out your wife has been cheating on you for a year while running a fake marriage counseling seminar in order to watch random people fuck each other senseless, and you don't care. You find out that I actually had a love-life before you and you go completely bat-shit crazy," she told him.

Elliot nodded. "Doesn't that tell you something? Doesn't that mean anything to you, Liv?" He was yelling, viciously. He was going faster now. "it means you fucking mean more to me than she ever did, is what it means."

"El, I...calm down, you're gonna get us killed," she said as he swerved through three lanes of traffic. "Slow down! Dean and I dated when I was just starting out as a cop. He gave my district a seminar on behavioral analysis and I thought he was smart, okay?"

Elliot smirked and pushed down on the gas pedal. "Keep going," he barked.

Olivia felt the wetness pooling between her legs. He was both terrifying her and turning her on in the worst way. "We went out for drinks, then we saw each other, just casually, for a few months. It was never a serious relationship in my eyes, El."

"What the fuck does he want to know, then? What question does he need an answer to?" He took the turn down her street sharply, making the tires screech and the car swerve dangerously into oncoming traffic.

"Christ, Elliot! I can't tell you if I'm dead!" She grabbed the bar on the door and took a deep breath, believing for the first time, that he was going to kill her. "He was way more invested in the relationship than I was. He asked me…to, uh…when I got my shield, when I became a detective. He took me out, to celebrate. He asked me to marry him."

Elliot hit the brakes. The car came to a complete, screeching stop, in front of her building. "What?" he asked, venomously, his eyes narrowing to bare slits.

"I just ran out. I didn't even answer him. I thought he was out of his fucking mind. I haven't seen or spoken to him since, El. I don't know why he even thinks that was anything but a big, fat, fucking 'no.'" She ran her hand through her hair and tried to control her breathing.

"You didn't love him?" he asked, sourly.

Her response. "Did you love Kathy?"

"I asked you first!"

"I deserve a goddamned answer, first. You just tried to get us both killed over this," Olivia exclaimed. "It's probably the same answer, anyway!" She unbuckled her seatbelt and huffed. "What do you think?"

Elliot let go of the steering wheel, the color immediately returning to his knuckles, and shook his head. "So, you didn't love him, then." He unbuckled his own seatbelt and reached over the console, pulling her to the driver's seat, forcing her to straddle him. He ran his hands up and down her arms. He couldn't wait five minutes to get her into the building and into her apartment.

"If I loved him, I would have said 'yes,'" she said. "The only person I've ever really loved, as much I hate admitting it, is you."

"Why do you hate admitting it?" he asked, his eyes still narrow.

Olivia looked down at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, finally calming her breathing, but not feeling any less tense. "Because, it scares the shit out of me."

Elliot reached his hand down and pulled the lever, reclining the seat back. "You'd better get over that fear, fast, baby." He pulled her down to him and kissed her, and as she moved, trying to get comfortable, she felt him, hard and ready. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who'd been aroused by the fighting and the tension, and the fast, reckless driving. He moved from her mouth to her neck and whispered, "I'm not stupid enough to let you run away from this." He nibbled on her ear and tugged on her sweater.

"I'm not running from you, baby," Olivia panted. She bucked her hips and rubbed against him. "Fuck, El, does it look like I'm running?"

Elliot laughed. "I'm just letting you know, you couldn't even if you wanted to, I…you've gotta be fucking kidding." He only turned his head for a moment, and saw Dean Porter standing on the steps of Olivia's apartment building.

"What?" Olivia asked, wondering why he'd stopped. She was finally in a position that didn't make her feel like they were in a sardine can and if she moved her leg a little bit to the left, they'd have no problem getting their pants off. "What happened?"

"Get off," he snapped, suddenly turning back into the angry, green-eyed monster he'd been moments ago.

Olivia looked hurt, but she obliged. "What did I do?"

"Not you, honey. Him," Elliot said, jutting his chin toward her steps. "Fucking idiot," he mumbled. He lifted the seat back up and opened his door, then walked around to help Olivia out of her side. He opened the door for her, held out his hand, and smirked, smugly, as she took it.

"Don't do anything stupid, El. Just let me talk to him, okay?" Olivia asked, calmly. Seeing the look in Elliot's eyes, she shuddered, and knew he wouldn't listen.

Elliot bit his lip and nodded. "Yeah. Sure." He gripped her hand and pulled her up the steps, stopping as they met Dean. "Porter," Elliot said. "What brings you to this side of modern civilization?"

"Uh," Dean said, noticing Elliot's hand entwined with Olivia's. "I came to see Olivia."

"She has a phone," Elliot said, matter-of-factly. "You could have saved yourself the trip." Elliot pulled Olivia the rest of the way, pushed through the door and couldn't help but smirk.

Dean followed them down the hall and into the elevator, still silently brooding over the fact that their hands were still clasped together. "I know she does. Have a phone, I mean. She hasn't returned any of my calls," Dean said, quietly.

The elevator dinged, they stepped out and Elliot, using his key to open Olivia's door, much to Dean's chagrin, asked, "And that didn't set off any alarms in that empty head of yours?"

"Okay, Olivia, why does he have a key? You never gave me a key," Dean said, facing Olivia for the first time. "You've been avoiding me for the last three months; you didn't even explain...I think I deserve a reason and a real answer." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a black box, tossing it to her.

She didn't have to open it; she knew what it was. She threw it back to him. "No," she said, trying to get passed Elliot into the kitchen. She needed a drink, Elliot, however, stopped her. He looped an arm around her and pulled her back toward him.

"Whoa, Liv. It's okay, baby," Elliot said, unable to wipe the smug grin off of his face. He loved Olivia, Olivia loved him, and the desire to rub porter's nose in it was immense. Olivia rolled her eyes and gave Elliot a half-smirk, knowing exactly what he was doing. "He said he wanted an explanation, didn't he? A real answer?"

"Baby?" Porter asked, his voice cracking. "Did he just call you 'baby,' Olivia?"

Olivia swallowed. "Yeah, he does that. Look, Dean, you obviously felt more for me…"

"I'm in love with you," Porter interrupted. He held his arms out in defeat, the ring-box still clutched in his hand. "I want to marry you."

"I got it, thanks," Olivia said as she squeezed the bridge of her nose. "But, I don't…I'm not in love with you. I don't want to marry you. You asked me without even talking to me. You never noticed I had never even said the words? You would say, 'I love you' and I would say 'thank you,' or 'that's nice." I didn't think you were serious! I didn't love you and I didn't know how to turn you down easily so I just…left. I figured you'd get over it."

Dean's eyebrows raised high and he scoffed. "Well, you figured wrong, Olivia. I can wait, you know," he told her, stepping forward. "I can wait until you are ready, until you do want to marry me."

"You're gonna be waiting a long time, pal," Elliot interjected. "She's never gonna wanna do that."

"Stabler, go suck on an exhaust pipe," Dean shouted.

Elliot chuckled. "An exhaust pipe? I'm real offended, Porter."

Dean pushed him, roughly. "Seriously, this doesn't concern you."

Olivia paled and held up her hand. "It sort of, um, does concern him, actually."

"How, Olivia? How does your pain-in-the-ass, hot-headed, thick-skulled, piece-of-shit-cop partner have anything to do with our relationship?" Dean fumed, his hands on his hips.

"Wow," Olivia gasped in anger, her eyes wide. "We don't have a relationship, you mutant, and if you ever call Elliot a pain-in-the-anything, ever again, I will personally see to it that you…"

She was cut off when Elliot pulled her toward him and kissed her, one of their most brutally passionate kisses ever. They both heard dean gasp and curse, but neither of them seemed to care. In fact, Elliot smirked against Olivia's mouth, earning a smack on the shoulder for it from her. They pulled away from each other and Olivia turned, sheepishly, toward Dean. Elliot turned toward him, too, a smug, arrogant, victorious smile on his face. "That's what I have to do with it," he said, snidely, his arms still firmly wrapped around Olivia.

"How…why…when…what?" Dean stuttered. He looked at Olivia and asked a string of more coherent questions. "When did it start? How long have you been seeing him? Did you ever really love me? Do you love him?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "I'll take, 'slow the fuck down' for five-hundred,' Alex."

"Olivia, I'm not in the mood for your damn jokes," Dean barked.

"Maybe if you had a fucking sense of humor," she mumbled under her breath, "You would be." Elliot heared her and laughed as he rubbed her stomach, still eyeing Porter eviliy. She took a deep breath and explained. "Dean, I don't think what I felt for you was love, no. I liked you. You're a great guy, but, there was nothing there for me. When you asked me to marry you, I knew I had to walk away. You were feeling something I wasn't and I couldn't let you think I would ever get to that place; I couldn't let you hope for something that would never happen. And yes," she said. "I do love Elliot."

Dean sighed. "What…help me out here, Olivia. What does he do, have or say that I don't, that I didn't, that made it easier for you to fall in love with him than me?"

Elliot chuckled again and pulled Olivia even closer to him. "A personality," he said. "Intelligence, an emotional connection, physical attraction and a really big…"

"Okay, El," she stopped him with a hand over his mouth, which he promptly began to lick and kiss. She shot him a smoldering look. "Not helping," she whispered. She turned back to Porter. "Dean, I can't explain it to you. I can't even explain it to myself. All I know is, it happened, too fast and it was too intense for my own liking, actually." She rolled her eyes a bit in response to Elliot's palm-licking. "So, you got your answer, and your explanation. Could you…leave now?" she asked, bluntly.

Dean smirked. "Stabler, you wanted a reason, remember? You were always looking for a reason to fight. Looks like we've got it." He tossed the ring-box up in the air and caught it, slipping it back into his pocket. "This isn't over," he declared, pointing at Elliot. "I think I've got a case that I could use your help on. I'll see you both tomorrow." He glared at Elliot and then smiled softly at Olivia. "You'll change your mind, Olivia." He turned and marched out of her door, slamming it behind him.

"Jesus," Olivia muttered.

Elliot pulled her hand off of his mouth before pulling her toward him, roughly. "I was going to say 'heart,' baby."

"Sure you were," she said with an eye-roll. "You just couldn't resist throwing it in his face, could you? You just had to kiss me in front of him, huh?"

Elliot nodded as he pulled her sweater off of her. "I hate him, Liv. I always have. Knowing he got to you before I did, that pisses me off. I had to show him that even though he got you first, I got you for real. I bet he never kissed you like that," he said, quickly taking off her pants. They dropped to the floor as he led her over to the couch and collapsed onto it, taking her with him.

Olivia shook her head. "Never," she said, sliding his tie off and unbuttoning his shirt.

"Did he ever take the time to touch you like this?" he asked, sliding her panties down with one hand, and rubbing the other over her smooth, bare legs. "To really make you feel?"

She shook her head. "El, no one has ever made me feel the way you make me feel."

"I intend to keep it that way," he mumbled as he trailed kisses over her neck and chin. He stopped, for a moment, and looked up at her. "Liv," he said, "I meant it when I said I want you to meet the kids. Tomorrow night, come with me to pick them up from Kathy's parents' house. Let's give this a real shot, huh?"

She looked down at him. Her heart gave a short shudder and her mind went blank. The man she used to date had walked out moments ago, vowing to win her back, and the man she was madly in love now with was half naked underneath her, asking her to meet his family, and she couldn't think of a damn thing to say. Her heart answered for her, instead, forcing her head to nod and her lips to curl into a smile. Tomorrow, at work with Porter and at home with the kids, was definitely going to be interesting.

A/N: Who wants to smack Dean? (raises own hand) Reviews are fun! Next chap is almost done!