Thanks for your continued support of these stories. I love to hear your thoughts on the story, so please post a review! Thanks.

Elliot waited patiently as the rest of the squad took turns visiting Olivia. They each only stayed a few minutes, as the nurse was getting annoyed, claiming her patient needed rest. Each one of the guys said goodbye to Elliot as they left, knowing he would probably stay. Captain Cragen sat down after visiting with Olivia, letting Casey have the last visit.

"You OK?" he said, sitting down next to Elliot.

Elliot scrubbed his hands over his face. "Yeah. Just tired."

"Maybe you should go home and get some rest." he said, knowing Elliot wouldn't take his advice. "You know she's going to be fine. Nothing's going to happen to her here."

"I know." Elliot said, not committing one way or the other.

"Will I see you at the House tomorrow?" Cragen asked, referring to the 16th precinct.

"I think I'll take a few days. Liv will probably get released tomorrow and I'll need to get her home." Elliot said. "Is that OK?"

"Yep." said Cragen. "I kind of expected that." The both sat in silence for a few minutes. Cragen was trying to decide if he wanted to bring up Elliot and Olivia's relationship. He wanted Elliot to understand how he felt about the whole thing. What was at stake from his point of view.

"Elliot." he started. "I love Olivia. She's like the daughter I never had."

Elliot looked over at the Captain, but Cragen kept talking. "I know you love her. And I know she feels the same way about you. I've known for a long time…I knew it would just be a matter of time before you two worked through what you are to each other."

Elliot started to say something but Cragen stopped him. "Don't interrupt. I need to tell you this."

He placed his hands on his knees. "Olivia's had a rough life. She doesn't have much in this world except you and her job at SVU. We're her family. And I don't think she could stand to lose either one." He paused again. "If you hurt her…"

"I would never hurt her." said Elliot.

Cragen looked back at Elliot. "Never say never Elliot."

"Are you telling me that you don't want us to pursue this?"

Cragen shook his head. "I'm not saying that. I don't know what's happened between you two, or when, and I know I said we will talk about it later, but it's clear that something has changed. And before you make any decisions, I just needed to tell you how I feel; what's at stake here. I want Olivia to be happy, but I also want you to realize the power you have in your hands. Don't take it lightly."

"I don't. Believe me, I don't. I want to make Olivia happy too. I want nothing more. And I know how important SVU is to her. I would never hurt her Cap'n. I love her."

Cragen sighed. He knew how they felt about each other, but he had also heard them say some pretty horrible things to each other. He knew with great passion could come great pain, but he was powerless to stop it.

"I hope things work out for the both of you. We will have to talk about what happens next…you know we do. But for now, focus on getting Olivia home and on the mend." He stood up. "Tell Liv I'll call her tomorrow. Good night Elliot." He put a hand on Elliot's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. And then he walked out.

Elliot leaned back in his chair, and pulled out his cell phone. He sent a group message to Kathleen and Maureen, letting them both know that Olivia was fine and that she would probably go home tomorrow. As he was finishing up the text, the nurse came out of Olivia's room with Casey. She walked over to him.

"Ms. Benson wants to see you." she said, with a frown on her face. "But you can't stay. She needs to get her rest."

Elliot nodded. "I understand." He turned to Casey. "I'll have Liv call you tomorrow, OK?"

Casey nodded. "Night Elliot."

Elliot turned back to the nurse. "I'll just say goodnight and then I'll go." She looked at him, and nodded. Elliot walked over to the room and knocked lightly on the door before he went in. Olivia was lying back on the pillow and the room was still dark. But she smiled when she saw him, and held out her hand. Elliot walked over and took her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm tired and I have a killer headache." She said. "They tell me it will go away, but right now, it's awful."

Elliot immediately looked concerned. "I'll get the nurse."

"It's fine El. There's nothing they can do right now. I just need to sleep it off."

"OK. Do you want me to leave?" he asked.

Olivia really wanted him to stay, but had never been good at asking for anything for herself. She looked down at their intertwined hands. "You should probably go and get some rest. You have to work tomorrow."

Elliot shook his head. He could read between the lines. "I think I'd like to stay if you don't mind."

Olivia visibly relaxed, and Elliot was glad he had made the decision to stay. "Although, when I thought about dropping the kids off and spending the evening with you, this wasn't really what I had in mind." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "How come whenever it's your turn to make it up to me, something happens to interrupt us?"

"I'll make it up to you. Don't worry." She yawned. "Just not tonight." She pulled back the blankets again, looking at Elliot and smiling. "This is all I can offer right now."

Elliot smiled and toed off his shoes again. "I'll take what I can get." He gently climbed in bed next to her and Olivia snuggled up next to him again. "I think we'll have to get a twin bed at home." Elliot said. "Then you'll be forced close to me every night."

Olivia yawned again. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself Stabler. It's only been a couple of days and you're already got us living together."

Elliot smiled. He had more than that planned. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her next to him. "Go to sleep Liv."

The nurse came in about 30 minutes later and shook her head when she saw them both sound asleep. She knew she should wake them, and kick the detective out, but she didn't have the heart. She backed out of the room quietly and shut to door behind her.

EOEOEOEO

Elliot woke up when the nurse came in around 2AM. She had to check Olivia's vital signs again. Elliot climbed out of bed and Olivia woke up.

"Sheesh. You can never rest in a hospital." She grumbled. Elliot excused himself and went in search of the public restroom. He came back into the room as they were changing the dressing on Olivia's head. She winced as they redressed the wound; her headache wasn't getting any better.

The nurse looked at Elliot. "Sir, I really need you to leave. Ms. Benson needs to rest." Elliot knew he wasn't going to be able to argue with her this time. "Liv. I'll be back early." He took a step towards her, wanting to give her a kiss, but the nurse put her hand on his chest. "Out. Now."

Olivia smiled. It was funny to see the nurse take on Elliot. But he didn't fight her. "Night Liv. I love you." he said.

"Bye El."

EOEOEOEOEOEO

Elliot really didn't want to leave the hospital, but he figured he would need to take a shower and get changed anyway, so he headed home. When he got there, he undressed and fell into bed, not realizing how really exhausted he was.

He woke to the sound of his cell phone ringing, and recognized Olivia's ring tone right away. He sat up quickly, searching for his cell phone. He found it in the pocket of his pants, and answered it quickly.

"Liv." He said, more of a statement than a greeting.

"Who is this?" he heard a male voice on the other end.

Elliot was confused for a moment, still half asleep. He couldn't figure out who would be using Liv's phone. He started to get panicky, thinking something had happened to her, when he remembered what had happened. This was the jackass that had attacked her and stolen her phone. Unbelievable. He knew he had to play it cool; that he couldn't let him know he was a cop.

"This is Elliot. Who is this?"

"I have her phone. Just wondering if she wants it back. And what it's worth to her. Since you're #1 on her speed dial, I figured you would know."

"Yeah, she wants it back. What's the asking price?"

"$500." The voice said.

"Are you crazy? You can only pawn it for maybe $100. It's not worth $500." Elliot knew the guy was fishing, and would probably settle for a lot less than $500.

"$300." the voice countered.

Elliot didn't want to push him too hard and have the guy hang up. "OK. How do we get it back?"

The voice on the other end of his phone gave him a location in Central Park. "Come alone and bring cash. 10AM today. Oh… don't get any funny ideas because I'm not going to be alone."

"OK." said Elliot. He hung up the phone and shook his head. "What an idiot." He thought to himself. But he knew that this guy had no idea that he was dealing with cops. He figured the guy thought he could make a quick $300; more than he could make if he pawned the phone. He fished around in his pants pocket, looking for the card that Detective Corolli had given him. He finally found it, and gave the detective a call. He relayed everything the mugger had told him and Corolli was going to set it up. "But Corolli. I'm going to be there too." Elliot said before he hung up, not giving the Detective an opportunity to object. He wanted to get his hands on the guy that had attacked Olivia.

EOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Olivia was awake early and wanted to get out of the hospital. She hadn't gotten much rest and she still had a headache. She just wanted to go home and sleep in her own bed. As soon as the nurse had been in this morning, she had asked about being released, and the nurse had informed her that she had to wait until the doctor made rounds and that he would determine if she could go home or not. Olivia sighed. She wasn't a very good patient.

She heard a knock on the door and then saw Casey peek around the corner. Casey had a small bag from their favorite bakery in her hand. "I brought you breakfast." She said, smiling as she walked in the room. She handed the bag to Olivia.

"Thanks Casey!" Olivia opened the bag and got a whiff of the fresh blueberry muffin inside. "It smells wonderful." Olivia motioned towards the chair. "Sit down."

Casey looked around. "Where's Elliot? I assumed he would have spent the night in this chair. He was pretty upset last night."

Olivia shrugged. "He was here for a while but he went home."

"So…you going to fill me in?" Casey asked, raising an eyebrow at Olivia.

"Fill you in?" Olivia asked.

"Liv. C'mon."

"Did Elliot say something to you?" asked Olivia, not sure where this was coming from.

Casey didn't want to push. She had been around Elliot and Olivia so long; she had seen the relationship between the two, and Olivia had always insisted that nothing was going on. But she couldn't forget what Elliot had said to her last night.

"Kind of." Casey said, looking down at her hands.

"Casey. Just tell me what he said." She couldn't believe Elliot would have said anything since they had decided to keep this between the two of them.

"He was really upset last night, especially when he didn't know what had happened, and they wouldn't let him see you." She looked back up at Olivia. "I know you two are close, and I knew he would be upset but when I talked to him, he told me that you were his world…he was so scared." She gave Olivia a small smile. "So, even though I'm not a trained detective, I thought that maybe you've been keeping something from me."

There was another knock on the door, and Alex walked in. "God Liv. I just heard. I was out of town until late last night. Are you OK?" She rushed over to her friend.

"Alex. I'm fine. I just got mugged in the park. Just a few stitches and some bruises."

"Thank God. That's what Fin said when I called him back this morning. But I had to see for myself." She looked over at Casey. "Hi Casey. Sorry to interrupt."

"It's OK." Said Casey. "Liv was just going to tell me what's going on between her and Elliot."

"What?!" exclaimed Alex. She turned back towards Olivia. "I KNEW it! When we had lunch on Saturday I asked you! And you completely denied it."

Olivia shook her head. "I haven't told you anything. You two are making all of this stuff yourselves."

Casey and Alex looked at each other, and then back at Olivia. "Spill it Benson."