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Olivia laughed and Elliot nuzzled deeper into her neck. He pulled her hair back, and kissed her on the neck. Olivia felt a tingle down to her toes as Elliot continued to place small, open mouthed kisses on her neck. He trailed his hands up her arms, and she leaned back into him, enjoying the feeling of his body behind her. Elliot wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, resting his cheek against hers.

"Olivia Benson. I love you so much. I feel like the luckiest man alive."

EOEOEOEO

Olivia smiled and let out a contented sigh. She couldn't believe that Elliot's arms were wrapped around her; this didn't seem real.

"I love you too." she whispered softly, turning her head and placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Elliot loosened his hold on her and turned her around so she was facing him. He moved his arms up so that both hands were resting on her shoulders. He gently rubbed his thumbs back and forth across her collarbone, sliding underneath the collar of her t-shirt. He was looking down at his hands as he caressed her, as if to be certain it he was really touching her.

"You don't know how long I have wanted to touch you. There were so many times we were together that it would have been so easy to reach over and touch your cheek…your arm… or take your hand. There were times I almost couldn't stop myself from doing it." Elliot was speaking in a whisper, afraid to break the spell of the moment. He was here, with Olivia, and he was finally able to tell her how he felt; how he was feeling; instead of tamping it all down inside of him.

Olivia shivered as he continued to run his thumbs across her collarbone while his hands caressed the skin on her upper arms.

"Your skin is as soft as I imagined it would be." He ran both hands down her arms, capturing her hands in his. He smoothed his thumbs across the back of her hands, staring down as if to memorize every detail. He brought one hand up and kissed it gently, and placed it against his cheek. As he did so, he looked up at Olivia, and saw she was staring at him intently, taking in everything he was saying.

He continued to hold her hand against his cheek, and took his other hand and caressed her cheek with it.

"Liv. You are so beautiful. Your face, your eyes, your skin, your body…your heart and your soul." He paused. He gently dropped her hand that was against his cheek and reached up so that both hands were cupping her face. He leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips and pulled back. "You deserve so much Liv. You deserve someone that loves you, worships you, respects you." He ran his hands back down her arms and gathered her hands in his. He pulled them both up to his chest and rested their clasped hands over his heart. He could see tears brimming on Olivia's lower lashes and he smiled. "No one's going to hurt you ever again Olivia. I want to give you everything you ever wanted. I want to make you happy."

Olivia couldn't believe the words that were coming out of Elliot's mouth. In the past seven years she had known him, she could probably count on one hand the number of times he had opened up about anything, much less been this vulnerable and emotional. She never thought she would hear him tell her that he loved her, much less be on the receiving end of this raw emotion. She didn't even know he was capable of such tenderness and honesty. It was almost too much for Olivia. She had never had someone feel so…much for her, and the intensity of it scared her a little.

She looked up and saw Elliot watching her and she knew she had to say something. She opened her mouth, hesitating for a moment. What could she possibly say in response to that? She wanted to convey the depth of her feelings for him too, but also how scared she was at the prospect of a real relationship with him.

"El." she said softly. "I can hardly remember a time that I didn't love you. That I didn't want you to look at me, or touch me, like you are right now." She pulled her hands out of Elliot's and gripped the counter behind her, eliminating the contact between them. "But it also scares me. You're my best friend Elliot. You're my partner. You're the closest thing I have to family in this world. I couldn't take it if I lost you." Olivia looked away.

Elliot shook his head slightly, as if in disbelief. He put his hands on her shoulders and then ran them up to her cheeks, forcing her to look at him again.

"Did you just hear a word I said?" he said, a little frustration edging into his tone. "I love you. I'm not going anywhere. You're not going to lose me."

"What if things don't work out?" Olivia asked. "You don't know…"

"Liv. Stop it. Just stop it. Why are you sabotaging this before we've even started?" He knew that she was scared; that she had never really had anyone she could trust in her life to be there for her.

"I am not sabotaging anything. Elliot, we have our relationship worked out. We're great partners; we're great friends. Things are going well…"

Elliot dropped his hands. "We love each other. It can't get any simpler than that. Why can't we be together? I want more Liv. I can't stare across my desk anymore and wonder what it would feel like to caress your skin, to kiss you, to make love to you. I don't want to."

He took a step back. "Do you honestly think this isn't going to work out? We're the best of friends and know each other like nobody else does. We've been together for 7 years, and we fight and we make up and we care for each other and protect each other. That's the hard part. Adding the physical part is easy. The chemistry between us has always been undeniable. When I kissed you, the connection between us was undeniable. I have never felt this way about anyone."

Olivia couldn't argue with him. Everything he said was absolutely true. She looked down at the ground, and then slowly raised her eyes until they met his. She could get lost in those eyes. A smile tugged at her lips. "You're right." She paused. "But I have one question. Why now? You've been divorced for months…and never made any move to change things between us."

Elliot considered her question. "I had to get my shit together after the divorce; get my life settled and a routine established. It's hard to be on your own after twenty plus years of marriage. I thought about us a lot…you can't imagine how often I thought about the fact that I was free to pursue things with you." He took a step back and leaned against the counter across from Olivia. "But then I started to worry that maybe you would reject me or that you would feel like I was on the rebound." He stopped talking as Olivia got an amused look on her face. "What?"

"C'mon El. We've been dancing around this for so long. Did you really think that was likely?"

Elliot shook his head. "I guess I was just scared really. And maybe part of me was hoping you would make the first move." He saw Olivia smile again, shaking her head. "But then when I saw how much attention that jackass was paying you at the party, I started to realize that if I didn't speak up, I could lose you. That you date a lot of men, and what if you found Mr. Right while I was twiddling my thumbs? I realized that I took you for granted. That I assumed you would always be there waiting for me to get my shit together, and that it could change at any time."

"I don't date a lot of men…" Olivia started to protest.

"You're missing the point Liv. The point is, I realized I had to tell you how I felt. And then all this other stuff happened and everything came out. It wasn't really how I wanted to tell you. I had a more romantic version in my head."

"Well, everything that's happened today has been a surprise." She smiled shyly and averted her eyes. "If someone would have told me that Elliot Stabler would be standing in my kitchen and sharing such romantic thoughts with me and touching me so tenderly, I wouldn't have believed it. I have never seen this side of you." she pushed herself off the counter and looked up at him. "Things have been building between us for so long that I never imagined much…restraint. From either of us. I figured if we even did get to that kiss that it would be…" she paused, looking for the right words. She looked up at him. "I guess I figured we wouldn't be able to stop at a kiss; that it would be frantic and passionate. That we'd be tearing off each other's clothes and barely able to control ourselves."

Elliot closed the gap between them, his eyes twinkling. "Me too. That's more like the scene I had in my mind when I thought about kissing you for the first time. Unfortunately, the first time was at the precinct. Not a good place to rip off your clothes." He eyed her up and down. "You can't imagine how many times you've been the subject of my dreams…daydreams too." He put his hands on her waist and nuzzled her neck, nipping at her neck lightly. "And when we get to that point, it will be amazing and intense and I will be ripping your clothes off." He nipped her neck again.

Olivia swatted him on the arm playfully.

"Elliot."

He pulled back with a smirk on his face? "What? You just said the same thing! Now you're trying to tell me you haven't thought about us having sex?"

Olivia didn't want to admit how many times she had thought about it. "Maybe." she said playfully.

"Right. I've seen you looking at my ass." he teased back.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "The number of times you've caught me staring at you pales in comparison to how many times I've caught you staring at me. And I am sure I've missed a lot."

"Yeah, that's true. Mostly because a lot of the times I was staring at you was when you were walking away." He slid his hands down and gave her ass a gentle squeeze. "You've got a great ass Liv." He gave her another smirk and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She pulled his hands off of her and pushed him back slightly. "Nice El."

"C'mon Liv. I've waited so long…I couldn't resist." He put his hands back on her waist. "Now where were we?" He leaned in and captured her lips again. He moved his hand up and cradled the back of her head, threading his hand in her hair and deepening the kiss. Olivia wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, reveling in the feel of his lips on hers. She could already feel her body responding to his kiss, and she knew that the chemistry they had felt all these years was real.

TBC