A/N Thank you very much to my latest anonymous reviewer... I've been feeling a little discouraged lately which is why I haven't posted ... but you motivated me. This chapter is very short, so I am posting two together. I also edited parts of chapter 13, so hopefully it reads a little better.

14

Present time

She shivered involuntarily and she felt Elliot's arms around her tighten supportively. She was snuggled up firmly against him, her head resting on his upper shoulder and chest, her arms wrapped around his waist, his arms around her. She couldn't remember moving to this closer position, but it was probably not long after she had started speaking. She raised her head enough to look up at him and saw the tears swimming in his eyes. She immediately felt terrible. It was bad enough that this had happened to her, but listening to her as she described the whole experience in detail, was obviously making him distraught too. The last thing she wanted was to cause him any sadness. The words left her lips before she could stop herself.

"I'm so sorry El." It was a half-whisper. Even to her own ears it didn't sound like her own voice.

"Please stop apologising," Elliot replied immediately and firmly.

"But I never wanted to cause you any pain," she continued miserably.

"Listen, Liv. I've told you already. I want you to share this with me. I want to be here for you. You can't do this alone. I admit, it's not easy to hear what you're telling me, but it was so much worse for you. At least you are here now in my arms and I know you are safe. You didn't know what was going to happen when you were being held."

"El, I…"

"Sweetheart, it's OK. It really is. I love you so much." He kissed her head, watching sadly as the tears streamed down her face, feeling his own begin to roll down his cheeks.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for being here."

"I'll always be here for you. You're going to get through this sweetheart. It's going to get better. I promise."

"I hope so," she said doubtfully as he kissed her again.

"Are you up to continuing, sweetheart? Do you need a break? We could finish this later?" It was the last thing he really wanted. He wanted to hear everything right now and finally get answers to the questions tormenting him, but he had to put her first. He could only imagine how exhausting it was for her to be going over everything in fine detail like this. He vaguely wondered if he was doing the right thing getting her to talk here. Part of him thought they should be doing this down the precinct, recording every word so she would never have to repeat the awful story again if she didn't want to. He suspected that suggestion that would only serve to clam her up though. She had already been clear that she didn't want anyone knowing about this, or at least not the intimate details. He knew that her opening up to him like this was no small thing. He was immensely proud of her and over-the-moon that she trusted him enough to talk to him.

"I'm OK El," she replied. "I don't want to do this again. I want to tell you everything now." He nodded and took a deep breath, bracing himself for what was to come.