Hi! I love how everyone is so passionate about these last few chapters. Some are on Team Olivia and some are on Team Elliot and you're all right. It's both of their fault. They need to just get over themselves. Sorry for the ride and sorry for the drama if that's not your cup of tea, but hopefully we can work through this and leave some of the drama behind. Thanks for all of your reviews!

EOEOEOEO

Elliot hadn't left Terry's with the intent of picking up Elise and spiriting her away for the day. But on the cab ride home, he realized that he wasn't ready to talk to Olivia yet. He was hungover, and still a little angry, and he knew there was a really good chance any discussion would turn into another argument.

He wasn't stupid enough to think that he didn't play a role in this argument. And he wasn't naïve enough to think Olivia's insecurities wouldn't show up every once in a while. He knew better. Especially with everything that was going on right now. But he did expect that they would work through issues. They'd become so much better at talking about things. Hell, he'd even deal with an argument like they'd been having the night before.

But when she had slid her engagement ring off her finger…

That was what had driven him over the edge.

To him, it meant she was questioning everything about them. He needed to know she was sure, because once she put that ring back on her finger…if she put that ring back on her finger…it damn well wasn't coming off.

For better or for worse.

His anger had flared again at the thought of it. He couldn't stop seeing the image of her taking the ring off and holding it in her hand. He had been muttering to himself in the cab and the driver probably thought he was a little crazy. He decided then that he wasn't ready to talk to her yet. He was going to give her some space, and he needed some too.

He had heard Elise and Olivia talking when he opened the door to the apartment. Olivia had avoided looking at him, and that sealed it for him. She obviously wasn't ready to talk either. He had scooped up Elise and decided to go ahead with the plan he had hatched in the last few minutes of his cab ride. A day at the beach, with Elise, would hopefully clear his head and take his mind off everything.

When he'd gone into Elise's room to get her and her things, he saw the expression on Olivia's face, and he knew she was hurting. But he had made his decision and he wasn't going to change it now. Everything he'd thought through in the cab was still true, and he was worried that anything he said was going to come out with a bite to it. He'd been about to leave without saying anything at all, but had paused just long enough to tell he that they'd be back. It was all he could offer her.

When he had buckled Elise into the car seat, she'd immediately been on him about breakfast and Katie and Liz. He quickly scrambled, making a few calls to his kids. But it was still early and they were all sleeping. He decided to take Elise to a small diner close to the beach for breakfast, and he would see if he heard from the kids later on. It didn't really matter. He and Elise would have fun by themselves.

EOEOEOEO

Olivia sat in Elise's room for a bit, seemingly rooted in place. It was times like this that she really wished she had someone to talk to. The person that knew her best was the very person she wanted to talk about. He was her best friend. He knew all of her demons.

She debated calling Casey. They had been pretty close friends. At least as far as Olivia was concerned. Casey had learned a lot more about her many years ago, when they were working on the Carrie Eldridge case. Some of the more sordid details of living with an alcoholic mother had come out, and Olivia had told Casey about some of the darker moments. But she felt that things were a little different since she'd come back. Probably a result of closing her out for all those years she was gone.

Still, she had told Casey a lot. And Casey called her on her shit. Maybe that's what she needed right now. A cold, hard reality check.

She pushed herself up off the bed and went in search of her phone. She found it on the coffee table, right next to her engagement ring. She sat down hard, picking up the ring and staring at it. She thought about the night Elliot had asked her to marry him. It was such a short time ago. It had been so romantic. Perfect. She had been surprised, but there had really never been a doubt in her mind about saying yes.

She wanted to marry Elliot. He was the only man for her, and had been for a long time. He had told her she was it for him, and she believed him.

So what the hell was her problem?

In her defense, she hadn't told him she didn't want to marry him. She just questioned if they were moving too fast. But she had seen the look on his face when she pulled the ring off, and she could only imagine how hurt he was. If the tables had been turned…if he had been the one to tell her that, she didn't know if she would have been able to take it.

She picked up her phone and found Casey's number. She hit SEND, and pulled her knees to her chest as she leaned back and waited for her to answer.

The phone rang five times and Olivia was about to give up when she heard a groggy hello.

"Casey?" she asked. She realized she must have been sleeping. She looked at her watch and saw it was only 10AM. On a Sunday morning. She should have checked before she called.

"Yeah. What time is it?" she rasped into the phone.

"A little before 10." Olivia said. "I'm sorry I woke you. I'll call you back later."

"No. No. I'm awake now." Casey said, her tone still thick with sleep. She must have realized it must be urgent for Olivia to call this early on a Sunday. "What's going on?"

Olivia took a deep breath. "I fucked up." There was really no other way to put it.

There was silence on the other end of the line and Olivia wondered if Casey had fallen back asleep. Then she realized she heard whispering.

"Oh my God Casey. Is someone there with you?" Now she really felt horrible. "I'm sorry. Forget it."

"Stop Liv. You can't tell me you fucked up and then hang up."

"But…"

"It's fine. He's leaving. Just…give me a second, OK?"

Olivia heard some rustling and assumed Casey had put the phone down. She debated hanging up, but knew the damage was done. Casey was already ushering him out the door. She was going to owe her big time.

A full two minutes passed before Casey got back on the phone. "OK. Sorry."

"Who's the guy?" Olivia asked. She didn't know if Casey was seeing someone or if this was just one time thing.

"Stop changing the subject." Casey said, her voice sounding better than before. "So spill it."

"Elliot and I got into a fight last night."

"Yeah, what's new?" Casey teased.

"This is serious." Olivia said.

"OK." Said Casey, sobering up immediately.

"He left. And he didn't come home all night." Olivia said, and she could already feel the tears brimming on her lower lashes and she hated it. She wasn't normally a person that cried easily, and she felt like that's all she'd been doing.

Casey must have picked up on the waver in her voice. "Are you crying?" she asked.

Olivia could tell she was really throwing her off. "No." she said, but a tear spilled over. "Yes." She whispered.

"Jesus. What the hell happened?" she asked, concern in her voice. "You know what? Never mind. I'm on my way over."

"You don't have to come over." Olivia said quietly, silently hoping her friend would override her and come over anyway.

"I'm already halfway out the door." Casey said. "You guys moved right? Text me your new address."

"OK." Olivia agreed. "And Casey? Thanks."

EOEOEOEOEO

Elliot and Elise had eaten breakfast and spent almost two hours at the beach before he heard back from Elizabeth. She told him that she had plans and couldn't make it. Kathleen called a short time later and told him the same thing.

He realized that it was just going to be he and Elise all day, and he wasn't sure if he could survive a whole day of being buried in the sand, of building and knocking down sand castles and tossing her into the waves and 'saving' her. He always forgot how much energy this little girl had. And he was preoccupied with thoughts of Olivia.

He had left Elise building another princess castle, and moved to the towel a few yards away to watch her play, promising her he would be back once he'd taken a break. He was stretched out on a towel, lying on his side with one elbow cocked beneath him so he could still see her and keep her out of harm's way.

Since being out at the beach, his anger had subsided a little. He saw lots of families spending the day out here, and he felt a pang of jealousy and sadness. The three of them should be here together. Right now, he felt like a single father that had Sunday visitation with his daughter.

He was itching to call her. He wondered what she was doing right now.

"Is this spot taken?"

Elliot heard a voice next to him and looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun. He saw a woman standing there, her arms laden with towels and a bag and some beach toys. "What? Um. No."

"Thank God." She said, dropping all of her things at her feet on the sand next to him. "This place is a zoo today."

"Summer in New York. Whaddya' gonna do?" Elliot said.

"Are you here with your family?" she asked as she spread two towels out next to his.

Elliot didn't want to engage in conversation with this woman; he didn't want any company at all. He hoped his acknowledgement that the space was open didn't mean he was locked into talking to her all afternoon.

"Yes. That's my daughter." He said, pointing to Elise.

"Oh, what a beautiful little girl." She said.

Elliot beamed slightly. Elise was beautiful, and people complimented her all the time. "Thank you."

"She's playing with my son, Alex." She said, pointing back at the kids.

Elliot noticed a little tow-headed boy on his knees next to Elise and she was gesturing madly at him. Elliot could only imagine what she was saying to him; but he was fairly certain she was giving instruction of some sort. Poor Alex didn't have a chance.

"And is your wife here?" his new neighbor asked, trying to be nonchalant and failing miserably.

Elliot wanted to roll his eyes at her lack of subtlety. "She's not feeling well." Elliot said. "So she didn't make the trip with us."

"Aw. That's too bad." She said. A little too excitedly for Elliot's taste. She settled on to the towel next to him and stuck out her hand. "My name is Clare." She hesitated a second. "I'm glad Alex has someone to play with because his father, my ex, isn't here either."

Elliot groaned inwardly, not surprised that she had somehow managed to sneak in that little tidbit. He also wondered how, with all of the space on the beach, he ended up here with this woman beside him. And how he was going to make it through the rest of the afternoon.

EOEOEOEOE

It took Casey almost an hour to get there, and Olivia was pacing before she heard the buzzer. She opened up the door before Casey could even knock.

"Walking out the door huh?" Olivia asked, and then realized she sounded like a complete bitch.

"Nice to see you too." He had two coffees in her hand and offered one to Olivia.

"I'm sorry Case." Olivia said as she took the coffee and closed the door. "I'm just on edge."

"That's why I'm here." Casey looked around. "This place looks nice. You got things put together really quickly."

"Elliot did all of this yesterday. I fell asleep and when I woke up…" She waved her hand around the room.

"I can see why you guys got into a fight. Looks like he's been a real slacker." Casey said, sarcasm evident in her voice. She moved around the chair and sat down, making herself comfortable. She took a sip of coffee and leveled a stare at Olivia as she sat on the couch across from her. "OK. I'm all ears. Tell me what happened."

Olivia didn't even really know where to start. She looked down at her cup and then took a small sip.

"So, you guys moved in yesterday…" Casey prompted.

Olivia nodded. "Yes. And Fin and Munch and even Cragen stopped by." Olivia proceeded to tell her about the conversation she'd overheard.

"And it pissed you off because you felt like Elliot was telling you that you couldn't go back to SVU." Casey said.

"Yes!"

"But didn't you tell me just two days ago that you were pretty sure you weren't going to go back?" Casey asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"Yes, but…" Olivia nodded. "You're missing the point. Being married doesn't mean he just gets to have the final say. He should be supporting me, in whatever way he can. I heard him tell them that he didn't want me going back. He doesn't need to be talking about it behind my back. And he's told me that to y face too."

"But he didn't say you couldn't go back, did he? I mean, if you had really said you wanted to be a cop again, don't you think he would have done what he could to back you?"

"It's not just that Casey. It's just a lot of little things that made me think that he's questioning my judgment and my capability." She was getting herself worked up again.

Casey furrowed her brow. "Elliot's always been a little overbearing…"

Olivia interrupted her. "I felt like he wanted me to become someone else. Someone I'm not."

"And you told him that?"

"Yes, and he told me that wasn't true. "

"But you don't believe him?" Casey still had a puzzled look on her face.

Olivia knew that Casey knew both of them pretty well, and that's why she was a good person to talk to. She could see both sides. She ignored her question. "I told him that I thought maybe things were going a little too fast." She pointed to the ring on the table. "I took off my ring."

Casey raised an eyebrow. "What the hell?" she set her coffee down and leaned forward. "You don't want to marry him?" She shook her head. "I can't believe that."

"I just…I don't know why I said it or why I did it."

"Well, he can definitely be a pompous ass sometimes, thinking he knows what's best for everyone and in every situation." She had been in that position more than once in working with him. "But you knew that going in." Casey said. "And he has to know that you're strong-willed and independent. I can't see him wanting you to change. Those are the things he loves about you I'm sure. I've always been able to see how proud he is of you." She cocked her head. "Do you expect he's going to change?"

"No."

"So why are you surprised by his behavior?" she asked.

Olivia shook her head again. "I don't know. I'm not I guess. I …."

"You think you can't be a good wife and mother?" Casey asked.

Olivia looked at her sharply because the moment she said it, the words resonated with her. Maybe subconsciously, that's what had been at the base of everything. "What if I can't be? He's used to a certain kind of family. A certain kind of wife. I'm not like that."

"Are you joking right now? If that's what Elliot wanted, he would have stayed with what's-her-face. He loves you. Just the way you are." She looked back and forth between Olivia's eyes. "And as far as not being a good mother, that's crap. You're a great mother." She said. "And believe me, that child is not easy. I love her but she's the two of you rolled together and the way you handle her is amazing." She sat back with a smile on her face.

Olivia bit her bottom lip. She could see the look of smug satisfaction on her face at having presumably gotten to the crux of the problem.

"You make it sound so simple. Like the problem's solved." Olivia said.

"It's beyond me how you can be this smart, capable, independent woman, and Elliot can be this strong, resilient man, and yet the two of you can reduce each other to idiocy with just a few words. You need to stop overthinking everything and you need to remind Elliot that you're perfectly capable of taking care of things. It's not like you haven't reminded him of that a million times over the past twelve years. You need to remind him of who you are, and you need to remember who he is. And you both need to relax. Why can't you tell each other to back off like normal people? You both need to start really listening to what the other person is saying instead of trying to read hidden meaning into every damn thing." She laughed again. "I thought you told me that you two were talking about stuff for once in your life." she asked. "Seems like the same old shit to me. If this is the new, improved version of you two, I'm going to get a lot of late night calls."

Olivia picked up the ring from the table and fingered it.

"As for that, that was kind of a bitchy move. Poor guys' probably having a heart attack."

Olivia raised an eyebrow at her, not surprised by her direct comment.

"I can't believe you told him you thought things were going too fast. God Liv, this has been going on way too long. You know. I know it. And Elliot knows it. Put that ring back on your finger and marry the man and put him out of his misery."