i am skipping right over elliots check with huang cuz what needed to be said was said thru olivia. one serving of kathy coming up! ;)

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"Liv, are you okay," he asked when he got back from talking with Huang. He noticed she was zoned out again.

"Yeah, just thinking." It was the truth. She was thinking.

"About what?"

"My thoughts aren't going to be public, El," she laughed. "How did it go with Huang?"

"Good. Didn't think my first real day would be so crazy," he said.

"There's been crazier days," she smiled a bit.

"Elliot, Olivia, go home. You're done for the day," Cragen said. It was 6 30. He wasn't going to keep them there after the day they had. He just wanted to make sure they both got in to see Huang.

"Not arguing," Olivia said. She started getting all of her things together.

"Do you wanna go get something to eat Liv?" He was hoping she would say yes, but doubted that she would even consider it.

Now she had to make another choice. Her brain was tired of choices. She had to take this chance with him though.
"Sure. I assume you want to drive?," she asked completely serious.

He was shocked. She said yes. "Uhm, yeah. What do you want?"

"Oooh. You decide."

"How about I wait to tell you?" He walked with her to the elevator.

"Okay?," she said with question.

They drove a short while until they landed at a restaurant.

"Wow, how did I know no matter what you would have gone for Chinese? It is your favorite," she said as they got out of the car.
He chuckled. "I didn't think you would say yes."

"Well I have given you reasons to believe that I wouldn't. But I want a fresh start." She smiled.

They enjoyed their meal with each other's company. Everything was slowly returning to the way she remembered before he left, and seeing new sides to him that she hadn't seen. They had both grown as people. They weren't kids anymore.

The meal was interrupted with his phone ringing.

"Ah the joys of the job. Stabler. Kathy? Why- What? I'm eating a meal with my new work partner. Yes she's a female. No I'm not cheating on you. I'm not coming home tonight. I just got a call for a case. Gotta go." He hung up on her. He didn't want to deal with his girlfriend at the moment when he was enjoying a meal he had been meaning to make up for 3 years with the girl he still loved.

"Why'd you hang up on her? She obviously wants you home," Olivia asked, remembering he had a girlfriend. Then she felt like she had made a mistake going with Elliot.

"I hung up because she is grilling me on if I'm cheating on her. And I'm not."

"I should probably get going. It's 8 already and we have a big day tomorrow. I'm not gonna sleep anyways, but I can try." She felt her walls coming back up after feeling them come down for a short time.

"Liv, don't go because of her calling me. I wanted to hang out with you tonight, like old times. We can go to the movies or something. Come on, please?"

"Elliot, we can't," she said, the same words she said to him the night they kissed.

"Can't or won't?," he asked, wondering what was really going on.
"Both." She started walking out. He ran over to her, determined not to let her walk out on him like that. He grabbed her hand, and she was pulling away half heartedly. He turned her around.

She felt every emotion she ever felt with him flooding back. She felt the tears starting to form, she blinked them away. If he saw that weakness he would know. He would know that she still cared. She couldn't do it right now.

"Liv..." She tried her hardest to avoid his eyes as their faces were closer together and their bodies were centimeters apart.

"I know. I have to go though." She tried tugging away again, with very little effort.

"No you don't. Besides you heard me tell Kathy that I wasn't going home. Where am I going to stay?," he asked, hoping she would say the apartment.

"I don't know, you shoulda thought about that before saying it. Elliot, please let me go," she said desperately.

"No. Not until you agree to come with me. I want to show you the best night of your life, as friends." He smiled.

"But then it will turn into something else that we don't need to happen. I don't want that to happen." She did want it to happen, and obviously he did, too. He was willing to respect her wishes though.

"Fine, Liv. Let's go."

She reluctantly went with him, and they went on like they were kids again, doing everything they could in one night. They went to the movies, to the arcade, and to their favorite spot, Central Park.

"Elliot, what are we doing here?" She didn't want to be there, she hadn't been there in months. She didn't want to be engulfed in the memories. She tried to stop them from walking through the park. It was midnight, they had a fun night.

She wanted to be anywhere but there.

She shuddered getting a bit cold. He wrapped around her like he used to do. She tried getting her to unwrap his arms from around her, no matter how cold she was.

"El, stop." She said it. 'El,' meaning she was 100 percent serious. He knew she was fighting it.

"No, Liv. I want to be here. Right here, with you." He kept her moving until they arrived at the fountain. The fountain where they first kissed, the fountain he kissed her at before he left her.

"El..." She could see his face underneath the lighting. He grabbed her hands so he was facing her again. She started tearing up again. He wasn't doing this. Not now.

"Liv. I still love you, and you told me today that you still love me, meaning I was right. It also means that this isn't wrong, that I'm not chasing after nothing. Don't ignore this, what we have." He kissed her hands.

"El, we can't...I can't, not right now." She was starting to cry.

"Why do you always say that? We can, and we will. What we have, right now, is greater than any other force in the world. I will never leave you again. I promise."

He leaned closer, their bodies pushing together, their lips just barely touching. Olivia didn't fight it anymore, she didn't have the strength to. She didn't want it to end. Their kiss grew deeper, her tears still falling. He kissed all of her fears away, all of her doubts. Their kiss had more fire than ever before, and neither wanted it to end.

They pulled away for a second. "Let's go home Liv." He wrapped around her as they headed back to the car, together. And that's where they would stay.

She didn't think about anything else in that moment, just him, what they would always have.

There was someone who didn't want them to have what they had though, and she was going to do anything to split them up for good.

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Dun dun dun! together at last, but with a price. what happens?

thanks for reading, and reviews are greatly appreciated! :)