Olivia decided to stay with Elliot so he wouldn't be alone as he waited for his family to come home. On the way back, she called Lucy, who agreed to bring Noah to Maureen's house along with overnight bags for both him and Olivia. Noah would be at school until three PM, then Lucy would pick him up and take him to the park for a while before going back to Olivia's apartment to pack the bags. She would bring Noah to Olivia around dinnertime. That way, Elliot would have time to rest and regroup before having a child in the house. When Casey got Olivia and Elliot to Maureen's house, Elliot found the spare key and let himself, Olivia, and Casey inside. After making sure her friends would be ok, Casey gave them each a hug and headed out.

As soon as Casey was gone, Elliot turned to Olivia. "I'm going to go take a shower."

Olivia nodded. "I'll make us some coffee. Are you hungry? I can order us some sandwiches from the deli around the corner."

Elliot shook his head. "I'm not hungry. Coffee sounds good, though."

"Ok," Olivia murmured, barely audible. As Elliot passed her, she gently squeezed his shoulder.

Elliot went to the back of the house while Olivia went in search of the coffee pot.

After the coffee was made, Olivia found the mugs and poured a cup for each of them. Walking to the back of the house, she found that the bathroom was empty. She figured that maybe he was using another bathroom, so she headed back to the living room and took out her laptop, deciding to work on some paperwork while she waited.

Several minutes went by before Olivia realized that it was taking too long for Elliot to return to the living room. It was also strangely quiet. Puzzled, Olivia headed back towards the bedrooms and found the door to one of the guest rooms partially open.

Knocking lightly, she softly uttered, "Elliot?"

Receiving no response, she opened the door and repeated, "El?"

It was then that Olivia saw her former partner stretched out across the bed fast asleep, one leg dangling off the side.

An affectionate smile crossed the woman's face as she gently moved his leg back onto the bed, and covered her best friend with a blanket she found folded on a nearby chair. Then, dropping a light kiss on the man's forehead, Olivia quietly left the room.

After calling to check in with her squad, Olivia worked on some more paperwork. Before she knew it, it was 3:30 PM. She knew Lucy would have picked up Noah by then, so she called her nanny to check on her son.

"Hi, Mom!" called Noah from next to Lucy.

"Hey, Sweet Boy. Did Lucy tell you what's happening tonight?" Olivia greeted her son.

"Uh-huh. She said you and me are staying at your friend's house. Why are we staying at your friend's house? Who is it?" Noah replied.

"Well, It's Eli's daddy. Remember I told you about him?" Olivia reminded the boy.

Olivia saw Noah nod through the screen."Yeah. His name's Elliot. You used to work together and he's your best friend. He had to go away for work. But he's back now because Eli's mom died. Why haven't I met him yet, since he's back?"

Olivia sighed. She didn't want to get into Elliot's jail time with her eight-year-old, so she decided to tell part of the truth. "Well, the bad man that hurt Eli's mom was mad at Elliot and wanted to hurt his whole family. They had to go away for a while until we caught the bad guys. Elliot had to come back and help us catch the bad guy, but his family is still away. It's hard for Elliot, so he needs friends."

"Oh," was Noah's simple reply.

"I just wanted you to be with me and I really want Elliot to meet you,"

"I bet Elliot's really sad, huh. When will Eli be back?" Noah said softly.

"Well, he and the rest of his family are on their way back. They won't be here till after midnight, though. You'll get to see Eli and Shay when you wake up tomorrow morning," Olivia assured Noah.

"Ok. But I get to see Elliot tonight?" Noah asked hopefully.

"Absolutely. And he is very excited to meet you," Olivia promised.

Noah grinned."Me too. Eli says he's really nice, and he's the one who left you that secret message."

Olivia just shook her head. "That's right, Buddy."

A few weeks after Elliot had left, Olivia had received a mini badge and note in Elliot's handwriting. It had been his way of letting his former partner know he was safe and he hadn't wanted to leave her. That he still cared. She had found out he was undercover sometime later when Elliot was able to get a message to Olivia through Kathy. She had been sworn to secrecy about his assignment. Then, several years ago, Noah had been looking for a pencil in his mom's nightstand and had discovered the special badge and note along with a picture of his mom and Elliot together. When Noah had asked about them, Olivia had simply told him that they were from a special friend who had to go away for a while for work. When asked if she missed her friend, she had told her son honestly that she did. Sensing that memories of the man made his mom sad, Noah never brought the subject up again. Now, as Olivia watched her son through her phone screen, she was so happy that her precious son was finally going to meet the man she secretly loved with all of her heart.

"Mom, We're at the park now. I see my friend, Jake. Can I go play with him?"

Olivia chuckled. "That's fine. I'll see you in a couple of hours. I love you."

"Love you, too! Bye, mom!" was Noah's response before blowing his mom a kiss.

Olivia returned the kiss and replied, "Bye, Sweet Boy."

"I'll have him there about six, Liv. Text the address to my phone," Lucy told Olivia who agreed to do so before they both ended the call.

As Olivia put her phone away, she heard noises coming from the guestroom. Concerned that something might be wrong, the SVU captain quietly walked back towards the room and was sad to see that Elliot appeared to be in the middle of a nightmare.

She slowly approached the bed and gently lowered herself onto it, sitting next to her best friend.

"El, wake up. You're dreaming. Elliot, come on, sweetie. Wake up. It's ok. I'm here."

She didn't even register the pet name she had called him. She was too concerned about her friend, who was still not waking up and was becoming more and more agitated.

"Elliot!" Olivia called louder, shaking him gently.

He began to struggle. "Let me go! My partner and kids need help! Stop hurting them! Leave us alone! NO! Olivia! Don't touch her you sick pervert! Take me! Leave my family alone!"

Olivia shook Elliot harder. "El, You're ok! I'm here!"

After what felt like forever, the man finally jolted awake, his eyes darted around the room frantically.

With tears in her eyes caused by feeling her former partner's pain, Olivia began to stroke his hair soothingly whispering, "Shhhh. You're ok. I'm here. I'm ok. It was just a dream. Your kids are safe and on their way back here with Alex. I promise. Everythings ok."

Elliot's eyes finally landed on his best friend and he rasped out, "Liv?"

The woman nodded tearfully. "It's me. It's only me. I'm here, El. You're safe."

Elliot's eyes welled with tears of his own as he sat up and pulled Olivia into a death-grip hug."

"He-he was going to hurt you. Hurt the kids. He said he was going to do to you and my girls the same thing he did to K-Kathy. He was going to make me and Dick and Eli watch! We couldn't stop him!" Elliot choked out, causing Olivia's tears to come faster. She began to cry even harder for her friend.

She was able to whisper hoarsely, "I'm so sorry, El. I promise we're all ok. The bad guys are in prison for life. They can never come after you or your family again. Shhhhh. It's ok. I'm here. Honey, I'm right here. I won't let go."

Both of the former partners were so wrapped up in the very emotional moment, that neither of them acknowledged the second term of endearment Olivia had called the man in a period of just a few minutes. They just cried and held onto each other for several minutes as Olivia kissed the side of Elliot's head as she rubbed his back and ran soothing fingers through his hair. After a while, they both calmed themselves down and Elliot pulled away.

"Liv, I need to talk to my kids. I can't wait until tonight. I just- I just need to know that they're ok. Can you call Alex and see if she'll let me talk to them?" Elliot requested.

Olivia squeezed her best friend's shoulder and stated, "I'm sure that won't be a problem. I'll go get my phone and we'll call."

Olivia stepped out of the room and Elliot tried to gain some control of his emotions while she was gone. A few moments later, Olivia returned with the number already dialed. "It's ringing." She assured him in a low voice.

Then she spoke into the phone. "Hey, Alex. How's the trip going?... Good. Would it be ok for Elliot to talk to his family? He just... he would love to hear their voices... Ok. Thanks, Alex. I'll see you later. Here's Elliot." Olivia handed the phone to the Stabler patriarch and headed back out to the living room so the family could have some privacy. She knew Elliot needed this to feel safe and calm again. This was the best she could do for him right now. But that was ok. It would help her best friend just to hear his kids' and granddaughter's voice and be reassured that in just a few hours, the family would be back together again, all of them safe and sound.

I'm ending the chapter here. I want to start the next chapter with Elliot meeting Noah and Elliot's family will show up after that. I wanted to use this chapter to show Elliot's emotional state after dealing with everything and having to be strong for everyone else. I also wanted a way that Noah could have known a little about Elliot and his past with Olivia before meeting him. Thanks for reading. The next chapter will be posted Wednesday.