Hi everyone! This is just a short little fic-let based on a preview of Olivia and Elliot that was shown on The Kelly Clarkson show today so FYI a *SPOILER* is included (the first quotation). Hope you enjoy! It's one of my first fanfics so please be kind :)

"Elliot you have to take care of yourself. I am begging you to slow this all down. Go home, eat something. Get some rest. Elliot, you have to do it for yourself. For your kids.." Olivia tries to plead with him, desperate to get through to him. Despite all the years that have passed, looking at him struggling so much was pulling at her heartstrings in a way that should couldn't quite explain. She didn't really even want to think about it at the moment, she just wanted him to be okay.

"..for you?" Elliot asks her, looking almost tentative and she sensed that he needed something to hold onto, that he needed to know that someone cared.

"Yeah, for me" Olivia tells him empathically. She looks in his eyes for a moment seeing him gazing at her intensely and has to avert her eyes down from his, feeling almost overwhelmed by the intensity.

However it's not long before she feels a slight pull on the side of her head. Before she realizes that it's Elliots right hand in her hair, his lips are on hers. Instinctively, she responds and kisses him back, all the emotions that they have felt for the last 22 years pouring into the kiss. There had been so many nights that she had laid in bed and dreamed of this happening, of him realizing how badly she had wanted him all these years. His lips were soft, just as she thought they would be. Suddenly she felt his tongue run along her bottom lip, seeking entrance into her mouth and she crashed back into reality. His wife had just died, he was battling PTSD. This wasn't the fantasy that she always dreamed of, this was him spiraling out of control. She broke the kiss and quickly stepped back.

"Elliot….we can't", Olivia told him brokenly, still trying to catch her breath from the fiery kiss.

Elliot suddenly darted his eyes around, seemingly in recognization of what he just did. He rubbed his hands over his face. What was wrong with him? Lately he couldn't be around Olivia for a second without blurting out his long buried love for her and now kissing her. His wife just died and yet every time Olivia was around he felt like he was drowning and she was the only one that could save him. And that thought alone always made him feel like he was drowning even more. His guilt wouldn't allow him to really let her in. He didn't deserve her. Not after Kathy just died and not after he abandoned her for 10 years.

"I…I'm sorry….Liv I…", Elliot starts really not sure what he was supposed to say to explain his actions. Most days he didn't even know what he was doing so explaining his thinking to Olivia seemed even more of a task.

"El, it's okay, I know you're not in your right frame of mind. I know you didn't mean it or what you said the other night—" , Olivia tells him trying to let him off the hook and ease some of the guilt he was feeling, even as it hurt to say.

"I did…I did mean it, Liv I lo—", Elliot interrupts her, not wanting her to feel like his feelings for her weren't real. However she quickly interrupts him in return, not ready his words.

"Please, don't. El, you need help. You're spiraling and you're not okay. This isn't about us right now."

"But I just need you to know how I—" Elliot tries to tell her, but again she interrupts him quickly.

"If you really …mean that, then please, get help. You and me, that's not going to happen as long as you're battling all this. You need to relax, get help. If you need to do it for me, then do it for me. If you need someone to hang onto, I'm here. But only if you try" Olivia tell him honestly, looking deeply into his eyes, trying to portray all the emotions that she is feeling for him.

It wasn't that she didn't want him. She did-god this had been something she always wanted. But she was worried. This wasn't Elliot. She knew the signs of PTSD all too well and she knew that she wouldn't be on solid ground until he faced what he was feeling and dealing with. She felt Elliot gazing back at her and saw fresh tears shining in his eyes.

"I, okay. Okay I will. I promise." Elliot tells her honestly, reaching for her hand and squeezes it softly while looking into her eyes with a soft, emotional smile.

He was reaching out and holding onto her, and for the first time in weeks, she actually believed he may be on the path to healing.