A/N:As long as I got you by my side, I know what I wanna do in this life (Soldier - James TW)

DISCLAIMER: SVU and all related plot/characters originally belong to Dick Wolf. This story is allllllllllllllll mine. © TStabler

"Im sorry," she says, and she's barreling through the halls of the federal building following Elliot like a mad woman. "Hey! Hey!" She reaches for him and her fingers pinch the thick material of his wool coat. "Stop for a minute!"

He turns, his face cemented in pure rage, and he lets his nostrils flare once as he says, "What?" His chest rises and falls, his fists are clenched tightly, and he can feel the blood pumping through every vein because his muscles are pure hit iron looking for a place to strike.

She flinches slightly as her hand falls away from him, and she whispers, "I wanted to…" but she stops, she's not sure why he's so angry because it's not like they had to cancel any official plans, and they could probably go down to the courthouse tomorrow and do the same damn thing. "Calm down."

He closes his eyes and he drags one hand down his face. He exhales, brushing lint and dust off of his coat sleeves, and he says, "Just another fucking reason to hate this son of a bitch." He rolls his tongue around in his mouth, folds his arms, and he says, "He couldn't have waited five more minutes? You told him we'd be a while, and right when we are about to actually see the clerk, he calls back and says he can't fucking wait anymore! Does he have the car bugged, too? Is he tapping our phones?"

She moves closer to him, runs her hands up and down his arms to calm him down, and she says, "I'm upset, too, okay? You…" she pauses. Her head fills with the million reasons maybe it's a good thing they were kept from rushing into a legally binding contract, the small dregs of resistive doubt and jaded cynicism are multiplying. She clears her throat and says, "We have to stay calm, here, because we know what he's trying to get us to do, and if we go in there already steaming…"

"Yeah," he snaps, and his focus shifts away from her. It hurts to look at her; he'd come so close to having her, permanently, where he wants her, and once again they're split up by a man who seems to just know exactly when to drag them into the fray. "Let's get this over with."

She watches as he turns and walks, and the small pang of pain ripping at her heart fades quickly. She knows he's a live grenade on a good day, so when someone pulls his pin, he explodes a lot quicker leaving more collateral damage in his wake. She follows him with a shaking head, her hands shoved in her pockets, and she curses under her breath when she feels her rings snag on the fabric, the engagement ring and wedding band he'd practically demanded she put back on her finger.

He nods and grunts as he passes by agents and clerical officers, his gait never shortening, and when he blows into Porter's office without knocking, he stares down at the man and pulls on the cuffs of his jacket sleeves. "This had better be fucking important."

Olivia slips into the room, stands beside Elliot, and under the guise of putting her hands on her hips, she steadies her palm over the grip of her gun. "What's this about? Cragen didn't say anything about…"

"I went over his head," Porter states, and he turns and tilts his head. "Dug up a little dirt on you, Benson. No husband to speak of, so why lie to me?" He tosses a file at her.

She catches it and rolls her eyes with her tongue caught between her lips. "It's not on the books, for...personal reasons." She glares at him as she holds up her left hand, wiggles her fingers, and says, "I didn't change my name or anything, so there's no way you…" she hurls the file back to him. "Why are you rifling through my files anyway?"

Porter smiles and shrugs with a cat-ate-the-canary look in his eyes. "Just thought maybe I'd be able to convince you to take a chance and let me take you to dinner." He sobers then, nods once. "But you're...really married?"

Her heart stops and she says, "Yes," but she instantly regrets it. She should be, but she isn't. "Did you pull us away from something that was pretty fucking important just to…"

"I need the two of you," Porter cuts her off, standing. He fastens the last two buttons on his suit jacket and walks around to the front of his desk. "You won't be in harm's way, you won't even be involved in the take down. I just need you to be, uh, the entertainment." He chuckles. "So to speak."

"Bait," Elliot spits. "No fucking way."

"Not bait," Porter leans back against his desk, and he starts mentally sizing up Elliot. He chuckles, knowing his suit and shoes are more expensive, but he frowns a bit when he notices Elliot is taller, more muscular. He sneers a bit when he sees that Elliot's hands and feet are bigger, which makes him feel more inadequate and less placating. "A distraction. You give him something to watch, keep him focused on you, so he won't see us coming."

Elliot flattens his smile and holds out a hand, waving it. "No, no," he turns to look at Olivia. "I'm not comfortable with this. Cragen's not on board, we shouldn't…" And just as planned, his cell phone rings. He knows who it is without looking. He answers with an almost disgusted sounding, "Stabler."

Olivia waits. Her hand is still poised near her gun, she is only half listening to Elliot's conversation as she looks around the office. The almost regal looking wood and marble furniture makes her queasy. It's the only difference between a federal gig and her own, the budget, and she a brief moment of repressed regret as she recalls a time when she refused an offer that would have landed her in a similar space. She moves her head and suddenly she's locking eyes with Porter. She knows the look in his eyes; it's the very same as the one in Elliot's after three shots and a stiff drink, when he stares at her too drunk to hide his lust. She tries to hide the distortion of her smile and that's when she hears Elliot say goodbye and hang up.

Elliot shoves his phone back into his pocket, and he gnaws at his cheek for a moment. His eyes dart toward Porter's window. He knows that just outside, Tucker is sitting in a car, ready and willing to tail them if they want to turn the tables or bust into the office if they'd rather end it now. He's honestly torn. Does he take her back into a situation where he knows they're being watched, used, or does he mow down the bastard now and settle into his life with her?

"Uh, hello? You gonna do this or not?" Porter barks, his impatience clear.

"Listen, you text me," Elliot says, making his decision. "The address, the time you need us there, the cover story." He checks his watch and then hits Olivia's arm. "We have to go." He storms out of the office leaving Porter more irritated than before, but he knows Olivia is following him.

"What the hell was that?" She snaps into old habits so easily. Her eyes are dark and close, her lips are pinned in a wavy line, her entire body is a knotted muscle. It's the way she reacts whenever he makes a move without telling her, when he gets too rough with suspect or too violent with a perp, when his arrogant rage comes out in an interview or interrogation.

"What was what?" He doesn't even turn to look at her, he simply keeps on trucking through the hallway toward the front doors. He knows she's pissed off; he can tell by her voice, by the heaviness of her footsteps behind him, and by the heat radiating off of her and hitting his back. It makes it difficult to keep focused on what he has to do and where he's going.

She scoffs and picks up her speed, catching up to him and stepping beside him. She's glaring at him, but since he's staring straight ahead the only part of him feeling her wrath is his ear. "You just decided that we're doing this? We can't trust him, Elliot! How do you know he's not luring us to some safe house to…"

He stops suddenly and turns, grips the sides of her arms, and he looks into her furious eyes. His dick twitches; watching her this way, fighting with him, her anger in interrogations or discordance off the clock has always been one of his biggest turn ons. Their arguments have always led to him needing to rub one out, and now when they can fuck each other calm, he's in the middle of a crowded lobby. "Exactly," he hisses, and one hand leaves her body to pull at the fabric that's been grazing against his erection. "Why do you think I told him to text me, I told him I needed where and when, in writing."

She squints, trying to figure out what he's getting at, and she licks her lips to hide the fact that she can't.

He chuckles as his hands slide down her body: beneath her leather coat and black suit, he knows she's wearing the hottest red lace bra in the world. He knows she isn't wearing the matching underwear, that she isn't wearing any. He clears his throat and blinks at her. "He's telling us where to be and when to be there, but we aren't the ones that are showing up." He bites his lip. "At least, not alone."

Before she can say anything to him, she's pulled across the lobby, through the doors, and over to a waiting black car. "El?"

He opens the back door, nods once, and says, "Get in."

She slides in, sees Ed Tucker behind the wheel, and she finally asks, "What the hell is going on?" She feels herself being pushed further and knows Elliot is slipping into the car beside her.

He wraps himself around her and kisses the back of her head. "Payback," he says. "Cragen knew that Porter would try to do this, because he…"

"Did it before," she says, remembering that Porter refused to take Cragen's denial and went right to the Chief of Detectives, forcing the captain's hand and dragging them under without his expressed consent. "There's no op, is there?" She turns to Tucker and leans over to look at him. "We really were fucking right?"

"I called every contact I have," Tucker looks over his shoulder into the backseat. He smiles as he watches Elliot smooth his hands around Olivia's face and pull her to him for a kiss, and he scratches at his chin while he waits for them to break apart. He raises a brow as he says, "No one knows anything about a sting, not one that requires the two of you to…" he rolls his eyes, his words haven't had the desired effect, so he spits out, "Jesus, can you two please…"

"Sorry," Elliot wipes a hand down his face but his head rests on Olivia's, still, his way of apologizing for his moments of Hulking. "So this is all him? This is just Porter…"

"Trying to get the two of you away from the unit," Tucker says, and he looks at Olivia. "The bomb in your apartment wouldn't have done much damage, but it would've cause minor injuries and a lot of fear. I don't think he's trying to really hurt you, Benson."

Elliot sighs. "We know what he wants," he says. He shakes his head and says, "He wants her. He wants me to think someone is after her, he wants me to get mad at her for putting my kids in danger. He wants me to leave her, so he can move in and…"

"Relax," she interrupts, placing her hand on his knee. "He doesn't know us, even if something happened, you wouldn't have…" she stops mid-sentence. She looks away from him because she doesn't know what he would've done, if it would've been the impetus that sent him back to Kathy.

"Never," he reaches over and cups her chin, gets her to look at him. "It's what he wants but he's never gonna get it." He kisses her cheek softly and says, "So we let them handle it. We know it's a trap, so we get the address, send a couple guys in to scout the place, and when he gets there, expecting to meet us, he'll come face to face with his boss."

Olivia tilts her head. "Okay," she blinks quickly and turns to fully face him. "Usually, something like this happens, you want to be the one to…"

"Hey, I would love to head him off and look into the assholes eyes as I beat the piss out of him," he hums and he smirks. "But we have too much going on, too much to do...and I really…" he exhales and he sits back. "I really don't want to give Cragen another reason to think we're taking risks just to protect each other. We beat him at his own game, we set the trap, it's his turn to fall into it."

She nods at him. "Okay," she settles into the seat as Tucker starts the car, and she stares out the window as they move. She takes a breath and she smiles slightly, realizing the change in him, realizing the reason. "This could've played out differently." She angles her head toward him. "You don't want him watching us, or even believing he'll get the chance."

"The last time," Elliot says breathlessly, scooting closer to her, "We didn't know Porter was watching, and at least there was…the assumption it wasn't real. Things we stopped ourselves from doing, so he didn't see..." he looks at her. "This time, he'd be watching everything...all of it, because there's nothing stopping us now. He'd watch...something that is too immaculate and too fucking pure for anyone else to be a part of, ever." He leans in, his lips graze her neck, and he whispers, "No one else is ever gonna see the faces you make when you cum, or how your body moves when I'm making you."

She shivers, the goosebumps rise, and she wraps her hands around his. "Ditto," she says, and then something hits her. A thought that scares her but makes so much sense. "What if he already has?" She snaps her head toward Tucker. "He's probably furious because I told him I was married, he knows Elliot...was married when…"

"What are you getting at?" Tucker queries as he turns the car down the street to get to the station.

Olivia laughs but it's anything but happy. "He thinks we're having an affair. He's mad because I turned him down every single time he asked, but…" she rolls her eyes at herself. "No, no, wait...this...he's not doing all of this because he wants me."

Tucker parks the car, and as he unbuckles his seat belt he turns to them. "He wants you, but...that's only part of it." He sighs and says, "I told you I called every contact I have. One of them is Porter's old partner. I didn't want to tell you guys this, not until we had specifics of what he wanted from you."

"Ed," Elliot moves closer. "Tell us, man."

Tucker clears his throat and says, "Syracuse...was his last case. He was fired. He was only in his office today because he was cleaning it out. He fucked up and you two closed the case yourselves. His boss didn't take it too well, and since it was the fourth case in a row Porter dropped, he was canned. This isn't just about his boner for you, Benson," he pauses and looks at Elliot. "It's about revenge."

A/N: …?