Disclaimer: I do not own Law and Order: SVU

A/N: Like House M.D.? And/or femslash? Check out my other story, "Run Through Your Heart"

Chapter 25

"CODE RED, CODE RED. WE HAVE AN ARMED INTRUDER IN THE BUILDING. BEGIN LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES IMMEDIATELY."

For a moment, everything was frozen. The air hung stagnant in the room.

Elliot was the first to move. "Alex, shut the blinds and then get down behind your desk. I'm going to lock the door," he commanded. The blonde attorney followed his instructions, almost automatonically, as though she was in a trance. Meanwhile, the detective rushed back towards the heavy wooden door, closing it swiftly and quietly. As he went to secure the lock, however, he was only able to jiggle the knob meaninglessly. "Alex, what's wrong with the lock?" he hushed.

In her position back behind her desk, the woman's pale skin became ghostly wan in recognition. "I- I forgot. It's broken. Ma-maintenance was supposed to come this afternoon," she stuttered.

Elliot ran his hand through his short patch of hair as he willed himself to remain calm. "Get down behind the desk," he ordered, "I'll move the couch in front of the door." Just as he was about to push the black leather sofa in front of the door, however, the knob turned and it banged open quickly, knocking Elliot backwards to the ground. One of SVU's former suspects entered the room, semi-automatic poised.

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Olivia yawned and took another sip of the strong cup of coffee that she had made herself as she looked over another DD-5. Although her partner was dropping off a stack of the documents to Alex, the paperwork never seemed to end at SVU. She just hoped Elliot returned soon.

Thankfully, it was Friday and she had the weekend off, the detective thought to herself. Although she wasn't quite sure that the time spent at home would be anymore relaxing. While she wished that some simple space would solve the tension between her and Alex, she knew a conversation with her wife was inevitable. And she was dreading it.

Sighing heavily, Olivia turned the page and tried to drown herself in the task at hand to distract her from her personal life. She had been fairly successful, even losing track of time, until Cragen's voice broke her out of her concentration. She knew the tone he was using, and that never meant anything good. As she looked up, she caught sight of her watch. It was nearly 10 – where the hell was Elliot? Had something happened to her partner?

"What's going on, Captain?" she asked nervously, standing up from her seat.

"Olivia, come in to my office."

The brunette's eyes widened. Now she knew this wasn't good. Stomach churning, she followed the older man, shuffling back and forth on her feet until she heard the door shut "Cap –"

"Olivia, ESU just called. David Hoffman was spotted at One Hogan Place. He has a gun."

A fresh flood of adrenaline coursed through the detective. "Where is he? Alex – "

Cragen sighed. "Last visual they had, he was on her floor…" Noticing the look of pure panic that crossed Olivia's features, he quickly added "But they put the building on lockdown. To my knowledge, Elliot should be with her."

Olivia pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen. No missed calls. No texts. Something wasn't right…

"I need to get down there," she said, swinging around to exit.

Cragen grabbed her shoulder. "Olivia, you have to follow ESU's orders on this." The brunette steeled her jaw in defiance, but eventually nodded, knowing that it would be the fastest way to get her out of the precinct. "I'm coming with you," Cragen informed, opening the door. The two officers hurried out of the building and headed down Park Row, sirens blaring.

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It happened so quickly. Before Elliot could get off of the ground, Hoffman had moved across Alex's small office and now had his gun pointed directly at the attorney, who cowered in fear, arms wrapped protectively over her stomach.

A few moments later, Elliot pulled out his pistol, pointing it at the gunman. "Hoffman! Come on now, put down the gun."

Hoffman chuckled sickeningly. "Come on now, Detective," he said, sanguine. "You know how this plays out. You tell me to drop my gun. I tell you that I'll shoot her. How about we expedite that by you giving me your weapon right now, before I blow the bitch's brains out." He grinned. "I don't think Detective Benson would like that."

Elliot willed his face not to fall as he debated what to do. In any other situation, he wouldn't give up this easily. He would continue to try to negotiate with the perp. But this wasn't any other situation. This was Alex. Olivia's Alex. And something about Hoffman's expression told him he wasn't playing when he said he would shoot her right on the spot.

"Okay," he finally remitted, holding his trigger hand up. He released the magazine and bullet to the ground and slid the parts over towards Hoffman, who stowed them away in his pocket.

"Glad to see your feeling amenable, Detective," Hoffman smiled. "I know you were trying to push the couch in front of the door, but the desk is much heavier. How about you move that?"

"Dustin –"

"Detective" the gunman responded, shaking his gun in Alex's direction.

Elliot sighed and stood, walking over to Alex's desk. Stealing a look behind it, he caught a glance of Alex's terror-stricken face. He had to come up with a plan. And come up with one quickly.

As Elliot pulled the heavy mahogany desk away from her, Alex startled before shaking wildly. She couldn't do this. Not again. Not after Velez. Not when she had a family. Not when she was pregnant… As though frightened themselves, the baby kicked in her belly wildly as she sat there, helpless.

Hoffman had clearly noticed her present condition. "Miss Cabot. It seems like congratulations are in order. You and Detective Benson must be happy." Alex looked at him blankly, too afraid to speak. "Yes, yes, I know you two are together now. Amazing what the Internet will do. Certainly explains all of the eye fucking you two were doing when you locked me up years ago. And now look at us all. You two are married. I'm sure Detective Stabler here was the best man. You have little girl and another baby on the way. Yep, that's right, I know about little Amelia. And I'm out of prison. Jeez, after all of these years, it's hard to think of anything that's the same. Except, oh that's right – " his playful tone turned into a growl, "My brother is still fucking dead because of you."

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As they sped to One Hogan, Olivia went over the Hoffman case in her head. It had been years ago. A string of serial rapes and murders. The last victim was, unbeknownst to the perpetrators, a police officer. Andrew and David Hoffman were brothers and partners-in-crime. David did the hunting and violating, and Andrew covered up his brother's tracks by torturing and killing the victims, disposing of their bodies on the other side of the Hudson.

The men were completely loaded – trust fund children. This afforded them stellar council who, despite Alex's strongest efforts, got David Hoffman 15 years with eligibility for parole. Andrew, on the other hand, had not been so lucky. His murder of a police officer had earned him a needle in his arm.

Out of jail for good behavior, it now seemed like David was seeking revenge.

One Hogan was surrounded with police officers and ESU. Cragen and Olivia rushed through the mob of officers towards the ESU Lieutenant. "Lieutenant Daniels," Cragan called out, catching the man's attention.

"Captain Cragan," Daniels acknowledged. "One of your detective's is inside?"

Cragen nodded. "Elliot Stabler. This is his partner, Olivia Benson. Her wife is in the building. ADA Alex Cabot."

Daniels looked at the nervous woman in front of him. "Our officers are trying to get a visual, but we know that Hoffman has a semi automatic and that he's on the sixth floor."

"Alex works on that floor," Olivia relayed, trying her best to keep her emotions together.

Before Daniels could respond, an ESU officer interrupted, pulling Daniels aside and speaking to him, hushed. The commanding officer stiffened noticeably, clearly uncomfortable. After giving the officer a command, he watched back towards Cragen and Olivia. "I've just been informed that the team has a visual on Hoffman. He's in your wife's office and ADA Cabot and Detective Stabler are inside.

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Flashback

Alex sighed heavily, flopping back on to the bed. She grabbed a book from the nightstand and tried to read it but quickly tossed it down in frustration.

She and Olivia had just had a fight. Their first major fight since they started dating a month ago. The detective had stormed out of her apartment and into the rain fifteen minutes ago.

Alex grabbed her phone and glanced down at it. No missed calls. No text messages. She was about to crawl under the covers and try to sleep when she heard a knocking on her door. Furrowing her brow, she padded to the living room and looked through the peephole. A very drenched Olivia was outside. Opening the door, she gave the detective a curious expression. "You have a key."

Olivia gave her a sheepish look and shrugged. "Patrick let me in the main door, but I wasn't sure if you would want me to come back to the apartment."

Alex sighed, stepping aside and letting the brunette into the hall. "Olivia, you are always welcome in my apartment."

Olivia looked down at her shoes. "We had a fight. A bad one."

Alex felt herself softening, unable to stay mad at the woman in front of her, the woman who she was falling desperately in love with. Placing her hand on the detective's cheek, she gently lifted the older woman's face so they were looking at each other. "Olivia Benson, the two of us are going to be fighting until we reach the grave."

The detective chuckled, finally giving a small smile. "I'm really sorry, Al."

Alex nodded. "I'm sorry too."

"I love you."

"I love you too." She took a step forward towards the detective but then stopped. "And I would hug you but you are soaking wet."

Olivia laughed. "Yeah, it's raining pretty hard out there."

"Is that why you decided to come back?" Alex joked.

Olivia shrugged. "I don't know. I just – wanted to see you. I didn't want to leave things like that… I know, it's stupid…"

"Hey," Alex gently stopped her. "It's not stupid." She gave the brunette a comforting smile and intertwined their hands. "When I was growing up, my parents had this rule. I mean, we used to fight. A lot. But we were never allowed to go to bed fully angry with one another. At least when I was a child. Sure, we would sometimes take up the argument again the next morning. But we always had to say 'I love you' before we went to sleep. My mom said it was because we never knew what the night would bring. I don't know, my parents and I had a lot of problems. But I always liked that we did that."

Olivia smiled softly, squeezing the attorney's hands. "Do you think we could do that too?"

"I'd really like that," Alex responded, burrowing herself into the detective's wet clothes.

"I love you, Alex Cabot."

"I love you too, Olivia Benson."