A/N: Hey between losing the planning for this story and then starting a new job working 11 odd hours a day this story was kind of forgotten about. I can only apologise and hope that I can get this finished now I've written a new plan for it. Love Steff xx

Ps. Join me on facebook at SteffieDawn Fanfiction for previews to stories!

"Where are you going?" Don asked as Olivia began getting out of bed.

"To see Brain." She replied grabbing her bag that Amanda had bought over containing her clothes.

"It's five in the morning Liv he's probably asleep." Don chuckled, she had a certain light in her eyes that he'd never seen before and somehow he knew it was the light that love was bringing her.

Whether it was her possible mortality or his, Don knew that Olivia was in the mind set of not wasting another moment of her life messing around. She was taking control of her destiny, her future and if she wanted that future to be with Brian Cassidy then he would support her one hundred percent.

"I'm gonna shower." Olivia said as she headed for the bathroom at quite a speed considering she used one crutch and had a hole in her side.

Don chuckled a little as the door locked and shook his head. Thirteen years ago he'd really had no idea about Brian and Olivia and he would have never bet on it either, they seemed like the most unlikely of couples but if Olivia was happy then he had her back.

He made them both a coffee and a couple of slices of toast. He had the overwhelming urge to take care of her and that included making sure she ate before she headed out and maybe he could keep her in the house till at least seven and that way Brian could have enough sleep before she went there.

When Olivia came out of the bedroom her hair was wrapped in a towel above her head and dressed in a pair of black pants and a blue shirt with the top three buttons undone. She smiled when he placed a coffee in front of her and began to dry off her hair. Still Don could see that light shimmering in her eyes and considering all the heartache that had been around and the pain and the unknown of the past few weeks.

"So changed your mind yet?" He teased making her laugh.

"Nope, I haven't been so certain about anything in a very long time in all honesty Don. I want to marry Brian."

He could only smile widely at her almost childlike happiness. The only person he'd ever see make Olivia smile the way she was now was Elliot Stabler. The man who in all honesty broke Olivia's heart. He knew for a fact Olivia hadn't heard anything from the former Detective and that had hurt him, he found it personal that he'd not been in touch with Olivia and offered her a real explanation.

After she'd eaten her toast and drank her coffee Don knew there was nothing else he could do to hold her back and took her to the door. The detail pulled up outside as soon as the door opened and they guessed at once that they weren't taking any chances.

"Detective Benson would like to go to the hospital." Don told them.

"Hop in Detective." The young uni replied and Olivia gave a small smile, saved getting a cab.

At the hospital the uni's insisted on walking Olivia inside. She wanted to snap but the fear of someone coming for her and shooting her again was a little stronger than her annoyance about having babysitters.

Once on post-op the two uni's let her go inside and settled themselves outside the door until she was ready to leave.

She walked as fast as she could with her crutch. She smiled over at the nurses station where the nurses there recognised her and waved politely. Once at Brian's door she pushed it open to see him sitting in bed watching TV.

"Liv?"

"Yes." She said panting with the struggle she'd gone through to hobble down to the room quickly.

"What?"

"I'll marry you." She said with a wide smile.

"You will?"

"Yes!" She beamed struggling into the room. "Yes I'll marry you."

"Liv…"

Whatever he was going to say was silenced by Olivia's kiss as her lips latched onto his. It was deep, passionate, thirteen years of hidden feelings.

"Liv… Liv…" He pulled away slowly.

"What?" She asked worrying that he'd changed his mind.

"As much as I love your lips on mine I've got a boner that I can't deal with." He said in all seriousness while Olivia laughed. "It's not funny, it's your fault."

"I'm sorry." She chuckled climbing onto the bed. "I don't want to wait."

"For what?"

"To marry you." She smiled looking right into his eyes. "As soon as you're out of here, we should go and get a marriage license."

"Really?" He looked like a kid at Christmas.

"Yeah, thirteen years has been wasted Brian, I don't want to waste anymore." She admit quietly.

"Neither do I." He admitted. "I love you Liv, if that bullet would have killed you…"

"Shh." She put her lips to his to silence him. "It didn't, we're both still here."

"I'm going to be thanking God for the rest of my life about that."

"Me too." Olivia replied snuggling into him more.

"I think I can get out of her tomorrow." He said quietly.

"You're coming home with me." She wasn't giving him an option.

"Your place?"

"You've been UC for three years do you even have a place that's yours?" She asked and he sighed realising she was right.

"We could be married by Friday."

"Yeah we could. I'd like that." She smiled. "Fresh start for both of us."

"I should get going." She sighed.

"Back to Don's?"

"No precinct, I want to see if they have any idea who tried to kill me."

"You're supposed to be resting." Brian pointed out thinking she really needed the rest.

"I will rest, when you're home with me and my shooter is behind bars." She said struggling off the bed.

Brian could see that her comment about not being the person she was thirteen years ago was only half the truth. Yes she was different, she wasn't the commitmentphobe she was all those years ago and she'd shown that by not only agreeing to marry him but marry him within the week. However, she still lived for the job, he could only hope that she was also now living for him the way he was living for her.

"I'll see you later." She smiled leaning over him.

"Shoot me a text." He said and she nodded before kissing him again, loving the feel of his lips on hers as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

After she left he grabbed his phone and knocked the speed dial number for his mother.

"Hey Mom, I need a favour and I've got some big news… I'll see you in a little while."

Olivia walked straight into the precinct not surprised to see her picture up on the board and details of the case. She read everything, taking it all in.

"You shouldn't be reading that."

"Captain." She said looking at Harris, the word tasting bitter in her mouth.

"You shouldn't even be here."

"I have to do something." She sighed hobbling away from the board and towards her desk.

"There's someone in my office who wants to see you."

"Who?"

He just shrugged. Olivia rolled her eyes and changed direction towards the office wondering who on earth would be there to see her. There wasn't a single realistic name that came to mind.

"Hey Liv."

"George." She gasped.

"How are you doing?"

"You're here?"

"In the flesh." He teased. "So come on sit down fill me in."

"You mean talk to me so I can shrink you to death." She laughed hobbling over to the couch so she could rest her side, the stiches pulled slightly with every movement.

"Exactly so spill." He said pulling up a chair in front of her. "I want all the gossip."

"I'm getting married." She said sounding like she didn't believe it herself.

"You are? To whom?"

"Brian Cassidy. We're going to get a marriage license sorted tomorrow."

"Congratulations." He said trying to gauge her reaction. She just smiled, her eyes lighting up.

"Thank you."

"So come on Liv, these have been a hell of a couple of weeks but I want to know how you and Brian got to the point where you're getting married." George pushed.

"The night Clarissa was killed in Cragen's bed Brian was in my apartment. We'd had a few glasses of wine and caught up on thirteen years before we decided to relive the night we slept together in ninety nine." She said. "It was only supposed to be the one night but then with the case we saw each other more and more and I'll be honest and say that he'd crossed my mind a lot in thirteen years but then when he was gunned down in front of me… I wanted to be dead too… if he wasn't going to live then I didn't want to either… I realised then that I loved him."

"Wow."

"Yeah." She nodded and smiled. "I think I may have fallen in love with him thirteen years ago but I was scared and wanted to focus on my job. Now… we've already wasted thirteen years."

"Ok, and how are you handling being shot?" George asked his concern for the Detective in front of him evident.

"Alright." She shrugged. "It hurt more than I ever thought it would." She added as an afterthought.

"That's a else do youing to give me? It hurt?"

"What else do you want?" Liv frowned, she wasn't here for a shrinking session right?

"What about this whole thing with Cragen, how have you been handling that?" George wasn't going to push her yet, he'd get to do that when he would be evaluating her but for now he wasn't even going to tell her that he was back for the foreseeable future.

"I'm fine with that, for once I realise some of the crazy shit that Munch spouts has some truth to it though." She chuckled. "Talking of Cragen I better go, he's due in court soon." Olivia said as she glanced at the clock for confirmation of the time.

"I'll come with, I'd like to see Don again." He smiled which Olivia returned.

"You know he missed you during all of this." Olivia said as she hobbled out of the office ahead of him.

"You think?"

"I know, I mentioned you and had to reassure Don you'd have been here if you could."

"Well I'm here now, I closed all my cases up and handed them over to everyone else before leaving, I came as fast as I could."

"I know." Olivia smirked, she really did know, SVU was in Huang's blood like it was in hers.

They were a little late arriving at the full courtroom but Olivia wasn't surprised to see a spare seat for her with Fin, Munch, Nick and Rollins in the front bench behind Don. They shifted up when they saw she wasn't alone and Fin and Munch both did a double take at Huang but said nothing as not to disrupt the courtroom.

Olivia leant forward and put her hand on Cragen's shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze in the process. He didn't look at her but knowing it was her he reached up and patted her hand before changing his mind and taking a hold of it, not caring about showing any weakness in front of a courtroom of people.

"Are all in agreement that the charges against Captain Donald Cragen are dismissed with prejudice?" The judge asked looking at the new DA that had been drafted in for this as the former was now awaiting her own trial.

"Yes your Honour." Both defence and district attorney's replied.

"The Captain Cragen you are free to go, this case is dismissed with prejudice and cannot be refilled."

"Thank you your honour." A teary Captain choked out giving his Detective's hand a squeeze in the process.

It was like a collective sigh of relief passed through the bench in which the SVU team where sitting. Even though they had known that the charges were going to be dropped as the girls had recanted hearing it in open court with the charges being dropped with prejudice made them all know it was finally over.

"You ok?" Liv asked giving her Captain a hug as they stepped out into the walkway to meet him.

"I am now George, when did you get here?"

"A few hours ago. Sorry I wasn't here sooner."

"I suspect you were busy."

"Very, needed to close off everything before I left." He smirked and Cragen new what it meant.

"You're back?"

"As long as you'll keep me after Harris is gone." George chuckled and Cragen beamed and shook the psychiatrist's hand.

"Thank God for that." He added chuckling.

"I don't know about you guys but I could really do with a drink." Olivia said thinking out loud.

"Our usual?" Fin asked talking about the small café/bar that had become SVU's hangout especially over the last case as they couldn't exactly discuss it in the squad room.

"Yes." Cragen nodded though Olivia wasn't sure about putting temptation in his way. "I'm fine Liv." He whispered as the rest of the gang headed for the exit. "You shouldn't be drinking on these pills either."

"I'm having one I think I deserve it." Olivia replied with a shrug and Don chuckled, he couldn't agree more.

They caught up with the group just outside the courthouse doors where Olivia gasped at seeing Brian Cassidy in a wheelchair with the woman she knew to be his mother stood behind holding the handles.

"Brian what are you doing here?" She asked struggling in front of him.

"I gotta do this right Liv." He said as his Mom stepped from behind the chair and helped him to the floor where he managed to get into a very uncomfortable looking kneeling position.

From his jacket pocket he pulled out what looked like an old wooden ring box that had clearly seen better days.

"Brian…" She said clearly embarrassed, for the first time in years Olivia felt shy.

"Olivia Benson. You fucked with my head for thirteen years and I'm a lucky son of a bitch that you're giving me another chance…"

"Language Brian." Mrs Cassidy snapped playfully.

"Sorry." Brian coughed before he snapped open the ring box revealing a beautiful three stone ring, a plain diamond in the centre slightly bigger than the two bright red rubies on either side. It was clearly an old ring that had been cleaned and Olivia knew from the slight sadness yet pride in Mrs Cassidy's eyes that it was once her ring

"Olivia, you've already said yes but I'm giving you an out here ok? Will you marry me?"

"I don't want an out Brian." Olivia said passing her crutch off to Don as she fell heavily to her knees in front of Brian, smacking her knees on the cold wooden floor but causing less pain than had she lowered herself gracefully due to the hole in her side. "I love you and my answer's not changed, it will never change. Yes." She said before kissing him to the hoots and hollers of those around her, even lawyers, cops and other visitors of the courthouse had stopped to watch the show and clapped along in surprise.

Brian took the ring out of the box and it was quite a shock that it slid into place and fit perfectly along Olivia's slender fingers seeing as that ring had been Mrs Cassidy's many years ago when she had married Brian's father who had passed it on from his Mother before.

"You've made me the happiest man on planet earth Liv."

"Shouldn't you be at the hospital?" She asked as her forehead pressed against his.

"Nope, discharged myself. I wanted to go home with my fiancée." His form of address had Olivia beaming. She'd been a fiancée once before but that was when she was still just a child. Now she was an adult getting on in life and she was going to get married and settle down and possibly have a family of her own. "Did I hear someone say drinks?" Brian asked as Olivia was helped to her feet by Don and George and Cassidy was helped into his wheelchair by Fin and Rollins.

"You can't have a drink on your medication." Olivia gasped.

"Just the one… ok I'll have a soda but I've been cooped up in hospital too long Liv." He laughed. Olivia could only smile, with every word that passed out of his mouth she could see why she had fallen in love with him.