Hey all: thanks so much for the reads, follows, and reviews, they've really helped encourage me to keep writing this story! Anyone else still reeling from last night's ep? I can't believe Elliot loving Olivia is officially cannon! For this story, we are still post-ep 3 but before ep 4, so none of that happened. I wanted to continue the story in the way that I wish Elliot had told Olivia he loved her, even though I loved the ep. This is a slow burn, but I promise the smut is coming so hang in there! As much as I want them to just bang it out on an interrogation wall, EO is endgame and I think they need to really air some stuff out before that can happen. Then we can let the smut ensue! Tried to keep them as true to character as I could, let me know what you think!

Still don't own anything here, I'm broke af and just love playing with these characters

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Olivia looked up, and this time when brown met blue, she didn't retreat. All these years apart, and she could still find everything she needed to know in those deep blue eyes. She could see sorrow, regret, pleading... and love. The latter was the one that scared her the most, because although it wasn't the first time she saw that in his eyes, she had thought for 10 years that she had seen it for the last time. He brought his hand up to cup her left cheek, and this time it was her who let a few tears escape. No one had ever looked at her the way Elliot was looking at her now, it was as if he had known her all his life yet was seeing her for the very first time. Comfort, yet insatiable curiosity and need. "You see, Liv" he began, "I could never forget you. In fact, I was scared of how much I needed you, how much my ability to do our job depended on you. You were my rock, Liv. My stability in every fragile situation, and the one person I would entrust with my life, day after day. But I had become a burden, and I wasn't the only one who needed you. The victims needed you, Liv. To give them the voice that you always had, the one I couldn't give them anymore. I meant what I said Liv, if I had heard your voice, I never would've been able to leave".

Olivia was frozen against the fridge, her hands trembling and her face burning where his hand lay upon her cheek . She could feel every inch of his body pressed against her, her skin tingling from the close proximity to her partner. He had never touched her like this, they had always avoided getting too close, as if they knew that once the dam broke, it could never be repaired again. One touch was all it would ever take. A few seconds later, she found her voice. "I understand why you didn't, but I just wish you told me El. I needed you as much as you needed me, and then you were just gone. I spent so long just hoping that one day I would walk into the precinct and you'd be sitting across from me again, as if nothing had ever happened. I was in denial, until Cragen told me I needed to move on.. that your desk couldn't be a shrine anymore because you weren't coming back. Deep down, I knew he was right. But semper fi, right? You were my family Elliot, the only one I ever had before Noah". Tears were streaming down both their faces now, and Elliot used the pad of his thumb to swipe hers away, as she moved her hands in slow, comforting circles on his back.

Elliot nuzzled his head into the crook of her neck as she continued her exploration of his back. He wrapped his hands around her waist, tucking them up into the bottom hem of her sweater and her hips bucked slightly, surprised by the skin on skin contact. Her heart was racing, and she knew he could feel it because his chest was pressed hard against her breasts as he began running his thumbs gently across her skin. The soft touch set her skin on fire, and she knew by the feeling in her belly that she was already wet from the light touches. No man could ever light her body up like this, no man other than her partner. She spent so many nights wondering what his body would feel like pressed against hers, so many days wanting to pin him to a wall in the interrogation room, or climb on top of him during a trip to the cribs. He riled her up without even touching her, but now that his hands were on her body, it was all she could think about.

Her head was resting on his shoulder when she whispered, "We wasted so much time" as she slid her hands under his shirt, finally feeling the structure of his back that she admired from afar for so many years under her fingertips. She followed every chisel and curve, and when her hips pressed forward slightly, he let out a moan. She felt his erection pressing against her core again, and she knew they had crossed an invisible line. The dam was broken. Even if they stopped now, she would never be able to forget what it felt like to have a rock hard Elliot stabler between her legs, and she knew she never wanted to.

That was all the encouragement Elliot needed, he softly nipped at her earlobe and whispered, "I love you, Liv, and I'll never leave you again" before trailing open mouthed kisses down to her collarbone. Liv involuntarily let out a soft moan a tilted her neck the other way, grinding her hips against his erection as he kissed his way back up her neck. Olivia was a woman of action, words were something she couldn't process right now. She couldn't tell him how she felt, so she might as well show him. She moved her hands to the front of his shirt, running them across his abs and up to his pectorals. His skin was so soft, a direct contradiction to the hardness she felt pressing against her pelvis. When his kisses took him on a path toward the corner of her lips, Olivia pushed him back far enough to look into his eyes.

"10 years, El" she stated, but she left the rest unsaid. 10 years wasted, 10 years they could've been happy. Together. In love. She begged him to see it in her eyes. And like he always had, she knew he did when he responded, "Actually 23 years, Liv". Always so in sync.

Olivia was kidding herself if she believed that there was a day in her life that she knew Elliot Stabler and didn't love him, but thanks to his complicated history (and unrelenting Catholic faith and sense of duty), she never really knew if he had always felt the same. Yes, they put each other before the job. Yes, she probably knew him better than his own wife. Hell, probably better than he knew himself. Yes, he was always jealous of the men who paid attention to her, even though he never needed to be because she relentlessly compared every man to her partner. But now, in this moment, her partner practically confessed to loving her since the moment they met, and Olivia didn't care if it had been 10 years or 23 years, they had already wasted enough time. She took his face in her hands, and pressed her lips against his.