Sorry for the delay, having a weee bit of laptop drama. As always thank you so much for your reviews X x

"Fight back you son of a bitch!"

Elliot's fist connected with Charlie's jaw for the second time, the first having landed as soon as the other man had opened the door. Charlie had fallen to the floor from the sheer force of the blow, he'd slowly stood up before simply turning and facing Elliot, not moving and not fighting back.

He'd expected this visit, perhaps not so soon but he'd known it would happen and he knew exactly what he'd do when Elliot Stabler came to beat the hell out of him, take it.

"Fight back!" Elliot roughly grabbed the other man by the throat pushing him against the nearest wall, he'd never been angrier in his life, the urge to tighten his grip and watch Charlie struggle for breath was almost overwhelming him. Charlie had hit Olivia, he'd physically attacked her and now he was going to pay for it. "Fight back," he ordered through gritted teeth, the harder Charlie fought, the harder he could hit back. "You can hit Olivia but you can't hit me?"Anger consumed him as he imagined Charlie's hands on Olivia.

"I didn't mean to-" Charlie choked as Elliot's grip grew tighter.

"You didn't mean to? Have you seen what you did to her you son of a bitch!? I trusted you, you..." he shook his head, part of him wanting to squeeze the life out of the man who had hurt his partner, the logical pat of him screaming to let go before he killed Charlie.

"Do it," Charlie gasped. He knew exactly how much Elliot wanted to hurt him, how much damage the other man could so but he didn't care, he deserved every blow. "Do it. Please..."

Immediately Elliot's grip loosened and he angrily pushed himself away from the other man. Charlie hadn't fought back once, as much as Elliot would have enjoyed kicking the crap out of him he knew it was the easy way out for Charlie. He looked at Charlie as he simply leant against the wall, no fight in him at all.

"I love her-"

"Shut up," Elliot warned, knowing if he got his hands on the other man he would kill him, he needed to control himself. He turned to the other man again, his bloody lip and nose the evidence of Elliot's anger.

"What's stopping you Stabler? Come on!"

Did he have a death wish? Elliot shook his head, he wanted nothing more than to hurt him, to land blow after blow until the man was barely alive...

"Come on! You've been waiting to do this since day one, now's your chance!" Charlie slurred, tempting Elliot.

"Shut the hell up-" he was shaking, the urge to hit out dangerously close to overwhelming him.

"I hit her!" he knew this would get the other man going. "I hit her Elliot, I know exactly what you wanna do so come on and do it-"

Elliot tensed his jaw and clenched his fists, Olivia would never forgive him if he harmed Charlie anymore, he had to leave, he had to get out of there before his anger convinced him to do something he probably wouldn't regret. He slowly turned and walked towards the door, stopping as his hand reached the door knob and he heard.

"I forced myself on her." He knew that this would do it. He hated revealing what he had done to Olivia, he had never in his life hit a woman and now, the guilt was literally tearing him apart. He'd tried to kiss her tried to make her stay, only realising afterwards how dangerously close he was to assaulting her. The thought made him want to vomit but he knew that this would be the straw that would break Elliot's back, he just wanted to be put out of his misery to pay for what he'd done. Even whilst drunk, the realisation of what he had done made him hate himself more than ever, he didn't want to wake up the next morning and have to face it, he just couldn't, he knew that if he pushed Elliot enough he wouldn't have to wake up and face the reality of what he had done.

He watched as Elliot tensed, his hand shaking as he froze, his back to Charlie. "She said no," he admitted, urging the other man to attack. "She was begging me to stop and I didn't, she was terrified and I wasn't going to stop. I...I touched her-"

He didn't even have time to finish his sentence as Elliot launched himself towards him, sending them both crashing to the floor.

"You son of a bitch!" Elliot punched as hard as he could, the thought of Charlie forcing himself on Olivia was too much to take. He was going to kill the bastard. Another punch. A haze descended over Elliot as he blindly hit out, Charlie was underneath him, not even trying to stop him as he hit, and hit, and hit.

"Elliot!"

He felt himself being pulled off of the other man. He fought, Charlie needed to pay for what he had done to Olivia, no one was going to stop him.

"You're going to kill him!" the voice cried, as hands yet again pulled at him, desperately trying to pull him away. "Elliot stop it!" he felt himself fall backwards as a pair of hands pushed against his chest. He struggled to catch his breath as he sat up.

Olivia.

She was stood in between him and Charlie, her chest heaving as she stared at him in disbelief. He'd promised that he would stay with her, that he wouldn't touch Charlie. She tore her gaze away from him towards Charlie who was lying on the ground, hands over his bleeding face as he slowly sat up and propped himself against the wall.

It was the first time she'd seen him since he'd hit her and her heart was eating twice its usual rhythm. She'd woken to find Elliot gone and knew exactly where he would be, she'd only hoped that Charlie would have been gone before Elliot arrived, she wasn't ready to face him again.

"Liv-" Charlie reached his hand out to her, she'd come back for him. He'd gone though this pain for her, he needed her to know, this was his punishment. His eye was burning, he could barely see out of it but he could still see the look on her face, she was...she was still scared. "I did this for you-" he clambered up off of the floor.

She backed away slowly. He looked awful, a potentially broken nose, a busted lip, bruised jaw, cheekbone and eye. She couldn't do this, she slowly edged towards the door. "Baby don't go," he struggled to stay standing, leaning on the sofa for extra support.

"You should...you should go to the hospital," her heart skipped a beat.

"Take me...please?" he reached out his hand to her.

She loved this man, the man who had fathered her baby, the man who had made love to her, the man who had made her fall in love with him, but he was also the man who had hurt her, who had become emotionally darker and darker every day and the man who had assaulted her just hours before. Tears filled her eyes as the urges to both get away from him and help him attacked her. His hand was reaching for hers, desperately, longingly.

"Please, I'm sorry. I did this for you, I let him do this to show you how sorry I am-" he was still drunk, having been drinking for nearly 10 hours straight, there wasn't a drop of alcohol left in the apartment.

"Stop," she whispered, a single tear slipping down her cheek. She wasn't ready for this, she couldn't do it. "I can't..." she bit her lip as a sob threatened to escape. "You need to go..." she told him, watching as his hand dropped. "You need to go and get checked out-"

"And then?"

"And then you need to find somewhere to stay." Be strong, be strong, don't cry. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she watched his face drop, his had slipping to his side. She closed her eyes as he staggered past her, only opening them when she heard the door close.

"Liv," Elliot stepped towards her, watching as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Get out." She wiped the tears away from her cheeks and turned to him.

"Wait-"

"I asked you to leave," she didn't raise her voice and she wouldn't meet his stare.

Didn't she get that he'd had to do this? That the thought of anyone hurting her nearly killed him, that looking at the purple bruise that covered her cheek physically hurt him. He'd gone too far he knew that, and it scared him to think of how much damage he would have done if she hadn't pulled him away, but no one touched her, no one could hurt her and get away with it, not after everything she had been though.

He watched as she struggled not to fall part in front of him, and despite the crippling urge to hold her in his arms he did what she asked.

She heard the door close or a second time and knew that she was alone. As the tears in her eyes slipped down her cheeks she sank to the floor, unable to take the physical pain in her heart any longer.

EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE

"Wallace."

Charlie looked up from his desk as Cragen called him, "Yes Sir."

"My office."

He got up slowly. This was it.

It had been exactly eight days since he had been beaten to a bloody pulp by Elliot Stabler, eight days since he had seen or heard from Olivia and eight days since he had ruined the last good thing in his life. He could now see out of his left eye again, and had full feeling back in his cheek bone. He'd been seen after only a few hours in the ER, the doctor advising him that if he should call the police to tell them about the savage assault, if only she'd known.

He'd woken up in a strange bed, a hotel he couldn't even remember entering. The reality of exactly what had happened hit him hard and fast as he threw up the contents of his stomach into the hotel toilet. He had hit Olivia, he'd screamed and yelled and hit her, he'd pinned her against the wall as his hands roamed her body without permission, despite her constant pleas to stop. He'd stayed in bed all day, waiting for Cragen, Fin and Munch to find him and finish the job that he had begged Stabler to start.

He'd known self loathing, but never like this. When he's turned up for work two days later Cragen had yelled at him for disappearing for two days, told him he looked like hell and told him to go home.

Home. He didn't have a home, he was still in the hotel, too afraid and ashamed to return to Olivia's apartment, even to pick up his things. Cragen had informed him that she had taken holiday that she was owed, and asked if she was okay. Charlie simply nodded, the older an obviously had no idea what had happened.

He had yet to face Elliot again, the other man had barely been into the station since their altercation and he thanked God, he couldn't face the man who knew exactly what he had done. Now as he walked towards Cragen's office he wondered if he knew, if this was the moment when the fact that he had assaulted the woman he cared about so much was going to become public.

"Sir?" he started, his stomach churning as he waited for Cragen to begin.

"I need people to re visit some of the victims parents, I need you to tell me if you can do this. No one will think any less of you if you can't, I wouldn't dream of sending Olivia but I know that you've taken a more active role-"

"I'll do it Sir," he told the older man. He could do that, he could speak to parents who felt the same pain as he did, he could fight his own feelings, he'd have to. Would it hurt? Of course it would, but it was the least he deserved...