Please review! Everything that happens in this chapter has been planned since the very beginning. This was one of the big reasons I created this story, so I hope you guys like it. Today marks eight years that I've been on this site!

Elliot kept his gun trained on Louie's head despite the gun pointed at him. He glanced between him and Olivia, seeing the nerves in both sets of eyes. "Louie, you need to put the gun down. You know we have the place surrounded. There's no getting out of this for you."

"There's always a way out." Louie spat back, nearly seething as he spoke. He was like a caged animal waiting for the first chance of freedom. A cornered creature timing for an attack. It was way too calculated for Elliot's liking. "I want a car here to take me to the airport. I'll leave your friend here on the tarmac."

"You know I can't do that, Louie." Elliot shook his head, sucking in a breath. "It's over. Put down your gun and remove the knife from the Captain's neck." He saw a spark of something in Louie's eyes, like gears suddenly grinding to life in an old factory. "I can't help you if you don't help yourself. Put down the gun."

Louie jerked on Olivia, hauling her back a step. "You put down the gun. I may not care about whether or not my people survive, but I know you police will defend each other until the death. So, let's see who caves first. Cop held at gun point or cop held at knife point. You know at least one of you will have to die."

Olivia clenched her teeth together. "Elliot, take the shot."

"You know my answer to that." Elliot bit back, his eyes still trained on Louie. He spared a glance at Olivia, seeing the determination in her eyes. With that determination, there was an acceptance he wanted to get rid of, and he suddenly understood why she asked for a new partner after Gitano. That acceptance of fate was terrifying, and she couldn't reassure him the way she wanted to back then. She couldn't tell him how much she needed him in her life, how much she loved him. She didn't know it. Neither of them did.

But, things were different now.

Louie jolted Olivia again, leaning close to her ear. "Shut up!"

"No one else is coming in." Olivia continued anyway. "The back door is still locked."

"I said shut up!" Louie barked.

Elliot shook his head, blue eyes meeting brown. "We'll find another way."

"I thought someone was supposed to open up the back door?" Jameson walked up to Fin and Amanda.

"No one opened it?" Fin asked, walking around the semi with the two following him towards the back door of the restaurant. He stopped in his tracks though when he saw the steel door was still closed. "Shit. That's not good. Elliot and Olivia went in there to smoke out Louie. Has anyone got eyes on them?"

Reagan came bolting on track legs out of the alley, skidding on the loose gravel for a second before motioning them to follow her back down the alley. "Guys, we have a problem. Louie has Captain Benson at knife point and Stabler in a twenty paces showdown."

Amanda quickly caught up to her with the boys in tow behind them. "Is there another way inside?"

"Back door is steel and locked. If we blow it, we risk Louie trying to kill Cap and disappear with Benson. Front door is clearly in his view. We could try the door on the roof, but it's most likely locked and it leads to the front of the place. Again, Louie would see anyone we send in a heartbeat."

Fin glanced in through the windows as they made their way out front, seeing glimpses of what was happening through the muntins. His gut dropped knowing this situation was not just a simple case of waiting for backup. "So, we can't get in. They're going to come up with a way to get out."

"How?" Reagan asked as she pulled out blueprints of the building while a SWAT member opened up a folding table from the van.

Fin sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know, but it isn't going to be by the book."

Louie started laughing darkly, moving closer to Olivia as he spoke. "Another way? What other way? You've got a choice, Elliot. Seems pretty intimate for her to be calling you Elliot." He smirked. "I sense a little chemistry here. Am I wrong? I think she may just be more than a colleague to you."

Elliot's temper flared as he shouted. "Put down the gun!"

"No!" Louie bellowed, his entire face twitching in intensity. "You, your girlfriend, and I all know that nobody else is getting in here, and I'm getting out of here alive one way or another. Now, you can choose whether or not she lives. But if you decide to shoot me, you better make sure you kill me. Who knows? If I think you're going to shoot, I could put her in front of me. You could kill her with your own gun. Let's say you hit me. If you don't immediately kill me, I could still fire at you. Slit her throat. The possibilities are endless, Elliot."

"You also know the only ways out of here are in handcuffs or a body bag." Elliot stated. He kept his finger close to the trigger but never on it. "We can all live and save this fight for court if you put down your gun."

Louie chuckled. "Court? The justice system is a joke. I got off once. Why wouldn't I a second time? Nobody wants to touch the guy who could order your family's death." He took another step back towards the bar. "Even if I did decide to give myself up, you would rather we finished this here."

"Why's that?" Elliot asked. Louie smirked before pressing the gun into Olivia's wounded temple, causing her to cringe. Elliot stepped closer, the vein in his forehead raising underneath his skin. "Put down the gun! Now!"

Louie snapped the gun back to pointing at Elliot, grinning like an evil king. "You'd wish I kept it as simple as just shooting her." He almost seemed to get comfortable. "You would never know when someone is going to come out of the dark and snatch her right up and away from you. I promise you. When you find her, you won't recognize her."

Olivia blinked as the pain dulled in her head. "Elliot, shoot him!"

"You know why I can't do that!" Elliot gritted out.

"Ah," Louie beamed before getting close to Olivia's ear, "I think he loves you. Do you? He certainly looks like a man in love. But, do you love him?" He moved the gun in Olivia's eye line, making her look straight at Elliot behind the barrel of the gun. He made a show of crooking his finger in around the trigger. "Say goodbye."

"No." Olivia blurted out. They were only showing their weaknesses to him, and why not go for broke at this point. She exhaled sharply when he removed the gun from in front of her face. It was still pointed at Elliot, but their last seconds together were pushed back for the time being.

Louie squeezed his arm around her tighter, the cool blade threatening to pierce her skin. "No, don't shoot him, or no, you don't love him?"

"Liv," Elliot's voice warned her.

But, she was already confessing. "Don't shoot him."

Louie seemed to find the confession his glorious savior. Or, the final nail in their coffin. He cackled like his empire was flourishing in hell with all the treasures in the world around him. "Oh, this is just too good. Cops with a fault. Lovers." He cocked his gun, his face immediately turning to anger. "This is how it's going to go."

"Can't we shoot him through one of the windows? C'mon, we need to do something." Fin negotiated with the team, pointing up towards the restaurant as they still tried to find a vantage point inside the building.

"Too risky. He's too far back in the restaurant. We risk hitting Captain Benson. If we shoot through the glass just as a distraction, he could get violent. We know he's not afraid to kill cops. He could shoot Captain Stabler and flee out the back with Benson. He'd face more officers back there, but he'd hold her as a hostage. We need to hold off until he shows a weakness."

Fin slammed his hands down on the table. "We don't have time to hold off. Those two are the best cops I know, but we are dealing with two officers who will do anything to get the other out of harm's way, even if it's unorthodox. There has to be something."

Amanda pulled on Fin's shoulder, tugging him away from the table to talk with him privately. "I know you want to get them out seeing as you care about both of them. They're my friends too, but you're looking at what everybody else is looking at. You know there's no way we can help without seriously endangering them. They won't jeopardize each other's lives, Fin. They care about each other too much for that."

"That's the problem." Fin huffed out. "They care so much for each other; I'm afraid of who will try to sacrifice themselves if it means saving the other." He shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "Who do you love most in the world?"

"My kids." Amanda stated without a pause, shrugging as if the answer was obvious.

Fin nodded. "And, what would you do if you saw someone threatened to hurt them, to kill them?"

"Anything." Amanda said, again with a second thought. Her eyes closed in realization though. "Shit."

"Pretty sure you don't have anything to negotiate, Diamond." Olivia huffed out, blowing hair away from her face. "You may have us, but you're not getting out of here even with the grace of God."

"Zip it." Louie spat, baring his teeth in a hiss. "Pretty sure I've hit the jackpot with you two. Wouldn't want the man you love to die right in front of you now, would you?" He turned his glare to Elliot. "I'm getting out of here."

Elliot shook his head. "I can't authorize that."

"Bullshit!" Louie shouted.

But, Elliot yelled back. "Diamond, New York finally has evidence that can't be doubted in a court of law. They aren't going to give you up. Considering how many lives you'll take if you get out of here, two lives aren't worth it. We've got an army of officers out front and out back. Your drug shipment is property of the NYPD now. I'm sure there's already officers at your residence to take your daughters into the state's care. Even if you somehow managed to escape, you'd have nothing." He took a deep breath. "So if you want to stay in your daughters's lives, I need you to put down your gun."

Louie scoffed. "What? Exist through some steel bars for a few years until they get their own lives, start families of their own. They won't come visit. Tell me, Elliot, what do I do then? What do I do when I can't even reach out to my daughters when they decide to cut me out, change their numbers, pretend like I never existed to them."

Elliot gulped, shaking his head. "That could happen, but they will come around. The people who love you always find their way back home. It will take time, may take years. You may have given up hope on them returning, of them ever coming back to work things out with you. But, they'll return. Because the people you love, the people you can't live without, are the ones that make you feel like you're coming home. It doesn't matter how many times you move or how much time has passed. You gave them unconditional love when anybody else would've given up on them, when everybody else did give up on them. Their views and feelings about you may change, but you will always be their home." He teared up despite himself, shaking his head. "Don't take that away from them."

"I won't be a to do task on their lists." Louie shook his head furiously. "I won't allow them to have to schedule their lives around visitation." His own eyes watered over. His voice choked. "Put down your gun."

"You know I can't do that, Louie." Elliot reminded him. "We can reach out to the other officers outside and see if there's anything we can work out. Maybe we could come up with a plea deal-"

Louie moved closer to Olivia. "Put down the gun or I'll slit her throat." That caught Elliot off guard. "I'll do it, man. I'll cut her from ear to ear and let you watch her life drain out on the floor."

Elliot shook his head. "You don't want to do that."

"Oh, but I kind of do." Louie smirked, another layer of crazy adding onto the tremor in his hand. "It's not very often I get to kill the people I actually want dead, and you two have quickly put yourselves high on my list." His voice rattled now. "Put down your fucking gun."

Olivia saw the struggle going on behind Elliot's eyes. "Elliot, don't do it."

"Shut up!" Louie nearly choked her in his hold.

"I'll put my gun down!" Elliot yelled, but kept his gun trained on Louie. "On one condition."

Olivia shook her head, but Louie's brow arched. "What's that?"

"You need to let her go." Elliot demanded. "You can't kill her."

"I need a way to get out of here." Louie stated almost cruelly. "She's staying right here. Her life dangles in your hands, Elliot. Put down the gun."

Olivia struggled against Louie's hold. "El, you go. You can back out of here right now. He needs me alive to get out of here."

"That won't work for me either." Louie smirked. "Shouldn't wear your heart on your sleeves so much." He met Elliot's eyes. "If you don't put that gun down, you will kill her." Elliot didn't move. "Three, two-"

"I'll do it!" Elliot wildly looked between Louie and the blade, seeing his hand relax a little on the knife. "I'll do it."

Louie nodded. "Good boy."

Olivia teared up when Elliot's stance broke, his gun slowly lowering away from Louie. "El, he's just going to kill you if you put that gun down. Even if you follow his orders, he'll shoot you anyway."

Elliot gave her a small, sad smile, nodding. "I know."

Olivia shook her head, tears nearly clouding her vision as Elliot lowered the gun down to his side. "I love you." She mouthed to him, her voice not cooperating with her at the moment.

"Me too." Elliot breathed before dropping his gun onto the nearby table.

As soon as he looked up, Louie fired his gun twice. Olivia couldn't even tell where the bullet hit, but she screamed when Elliot hit the floor with a thud. "Elliot!" He laid unmoving, and her heart sunk thinking that her forever was just ripped from her. Tomorrow with him wouldn't come. The morning they had this morning wouldn't happen again. No more cocky grins or cheesy innuendos. No more office lunches or cooking lessons with Noah. Not even another chance for her to disbelief his claims of how beautiful she was. Everything she had allowed herself to dream of with Elliot, to want with Elliot, was shot through with a bullet. Her twenty-two year partnership, friendship, of never crossing that line, of biting her tongue, of running away when things got too personal, of denying that he was the one for her. . .it was lying on the floor.

And, Louie Diamond was chuckling against her.

Almost as soon as Elliot hit the floor, Olivia pressed her neck against the blade but pushed the rest of her body back. The knife pierced her skin, but Louie fell back hard into the bar. The stumble gave her enough chance to slam his arm against the counter and knock the gun out of his hand. She reached for the knife hearing the gun skid across the floor and used it to stab it into Louie's thigh before grabbing his gun from his hip pushing off of him.

"You bitch!" Louie shrieked before body slamming her.

They both landed on the floor, scrambling for the gun. His hand snatched the gun first and pointed it at her, but she was already on top of him and clasping her hands around his to stop him from shooting her. He managed to jam the gun up against her sternum though. "You son of a bitch!" She seethed.

He grinned up at her, nearly panting himself as he pushed hard on the gun. "I'm honored."

Two more shots rang out, causing Olivia to fall onto her back hard. The impact knocked the wind out of her as the pain spread throughout her chest, feeling like a ton of bricks toppled over her. It took everything in her to keep her eyes open and pay attention to her surroundings. Her heart raced though when she heard his shoes scuff against the floor.

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