I closed my eyes as a foggy sensation filled my head and left no space for anything else. I wanted to cry, but my consciousness was slipping away rapidly. I was about to be gone forever and leave my body an empty shell. It was a surprisingly soothing feeling, luring me into the calm of oblivion. It was hard to resist, but the thought of the people I would leave behind if I gave in made me hold on. Legally, Noah had no one else to take care of him but me, and that thought terrified me. I should've made arrangements while I still had the chance but I didn't want to deal with that possibility. I also thought about the family that I created at the precinct. Amanda and I have gotten really close in the last few years through the job and our kids. They spent time together and loved each other like cousins. I knew that if something happened to me she would take care of Noah, but she would have to fight for it in court because we're not blood-related and I was too much of a coward to do it properly. Fin was my family more than anyone in my life, he's been by my side the longest and he's always had my back and supported me, just like a brother. Even Kat and Carisi, who were fairly new in my life, crossed through my mind briefly. I'll miss them, too.

And Elliot. I wanted to see him one more time so badly, to have one last chance to tell him everything I needed to say and he needed to hear, but I had no strength left to fight.

Barely aware anymore, I felt something tightening beneath my armpits and a moment later I was yanked out of the water and placed gently on the bottom of the stairs.

"Liv!" Elliot's hysterical voice sounded muffled like he was behind a closed door or just really far away. I didn't feel like I could move yet in order to respond. "Come on, baby, don't do that to me!"

Did he just call me baby, or was it a final hallucination? Was I dying?

"Come on, Liv!" he patted on my cheeks to wake me up.

I must have misheard him. But I really wanted to stick around and find out.

Out of nowhere, the need to breathe blasted my lungs. I started coughing, gasping for air. Elliot helped me to sit up so I could breathe better. I felt him patting my back to help me. It took several long moments to regain control over my breath and when it finally started to happen, he just left his hand there.

"You're ok, everything is ok," he said softly in my ear.

I turned my head right and at once, his face was inches from mine. We looked at each other for a moment and I felt my body becoming limp with exhaustion. My head dropped to his shoulder and my eyes closed against my will. I felt his fingers gently moving the hair from my face and then his palm resting on my wet cheek. The pouring rain outside gave its concert in full volume and I just wanted to sleep right there and then for a week.

"Liv… we have to keep moving," he said eventually. I moaned in response. I was too tired to speak.

"Come on!" he got up abruptly and pulled me to my feet with force, leaving me no choice but to stand. I was confused, it was almost brutal.

"GIVE HIM BACK."

And then I understood. To my left, Ellie was standing again in the middle of the water and looking at me with her evil eyes. I should've expected it, but it surprised me.

Elliot started running up the stairs and pulled me with him. Now I was fully awake and alert. The danger caused a new rush of adrenaline that temporarily repressed my exhaustion and allowed me to run for my life.

"Don't leave me here! I'm dead because of YOU!" she kept yelling behind us.

When we reached the open door I heard her crying. It broke my heart, but I tried to keep reminding myself that it wasn't really her. Nevertheless, I felt like I needed to see what was going on with her. I knew that she was some sort of an illusion, but the instinct to help a woman in need was stronger than logic for me. As soon as we stepped outside, I turned around to look at her, but Elliot slammed the door shut before I even completed my movement. We both stood in the rain and stared at it for a quick moment, processing the fact that we actually got out.

From the side of my eye, I saw him looking at me and I turned to look at him, too. The moon went in and out from behind the rain clouds, giving us brief moments of soft light. His intense eyes shined at me when the light touched them, but he didn't look happy. His eyebrows were pulled closer together and the corners of his mouth slightly drawn downwards. It seemed like he was about to cry. I thought I saw tears pool in his eyes but I didn't trust my own eyes because of the rain and the dark and because I have never seen Elliot Stabler cry. Except for Kathy's funeral, which was easier for him, of course, because it was socially acceptable.

"I thought you were gone," his voice was shaky.

Without saying another word we both moved simultaneously into a hug. Tears started streaming down my face but I couldn't feel them on my cheeks. I was already completely wet from being drowned and from the rain, it just all blended together. It started to sink in that I was a few moments away from dying. That he saved my life.

Elliot held me tighter than he ever had as if he was afraid I might drown again right there and then. I felt his fast breath on my neck and I held him tighter, too, closing my eyes and melting into his arms, his chest. I was pressed hard against him and it felt comforting, like nothing in the world could hurt me.

If it was up to me, I would've stayed like that for a long time, but when I felt his breath slowing down as he calmed down, I knew it wouldn't take long until he pulled back, away from me. For some reason, he looked embarrassed.

"Thank you for saving my life," I tried to keep my voice steady but I couldn't fully control it.

"Not just yours," he said quietly.

I wasn't sure what he meant by it, but he looked so awkward that I decided not to ask.

"Let's go back to the road that led us to this damn place," eventually I said, to change the subject. Once again I was falling into my usual patterns of keeping my feelings to myself. I wished it would be easy for me to open up but I just wasn't that person. Every bad thing that happened to me in life added more and more walls around me, closing me off more and more. If I could avoid talking about my emotions in any given situation I'd do it. The fact that Elliot wasn't any better at it made the situation worse. I couldn't imagine us having an open and honest conversation about our feelings and thoughts.

I sighed and shook my head a little before I looked around to understand where we were standing. The world around us was mostly swallowed by the darkness of the night, but I could see the shadows of the trees and bushes that lined up the edges of the big yard. I couldn't see much, but I was certain they were neglected and somewhat mysterious, like the rest of this place. Their branches moved violently with the wind and the rain and resembled strange arms. It gave me chills.

"Come on," Elliot took my hand and we started walking along the big building's wall. We had to go around it and back to the front, from which we arrived at the hotel, in order to be able to leave. He held my hand tight to make sure I didn't drown again in any puddles, or just suddenly disappear from his side. I was grateful for that because I was too tired to focus on my surroundings. I watched his profile as we walked. It was so dark, but I knew it by heart. I must have spent hours of my life in total just looking at it. The sight of him comforted me, even with all the emotional baggage that he brought back with him from Italy. The familiarity of him caring for me and protecting me made me feel safe even in this wild place. As we walked I thought to myself that everyone should have an Elliot Stabler in their life.

We reached the end of the wall, not far from the edge of the yard. It was too dark to see what lies beyond it, or even if there was a way out through the live fence. The rain kept falling on us, not giving us the opportunity to start drying. It didn't subdue even for a minute. In fact, it remained steady since it started falling in an unnatural, monotonous way.

I glanced over at the bushes closest to us while Elliot peeked around the wall, to see if the coast was clear. Between all the dark shadows, I suddenly noticed two eyes glowing in the dark from within them. There wasn't any light around to return so there was no reason for them to glow like that. I shut my eyes tight for a second and opened them again, convinced that I was so tired I was seeing things. But they were still there, two eyes watching us. I couldn't tell what it was exactly, and I didn't want to find out.

Tugging on his arm, I tried to get Elliot's attention. He looked at me in confusion for a moment, and then looked at where I was pointing.

"What is that?" I whispered.

"I don't know, some nocturnal animal?" he didn't sound bothered by it.

"And how are the eyes glowing when it's almost completely dark out here?"

Elliot stared at me and I tried to make out his facial expression. I couldn't tell if he thought I was being silly, or he just didn't have an answer because I was right. I didn't understand how, after everything we've been through in this place, he could stay so calm. I looked over at where I saw the eyes before, but they were gone.

"Problem solved," Elliot said and turned to look again at the path we wanted to take. "I think the coast is clear, we can start walking along the side of the building toward the front."

I looked at where we were supposed to go and decided not to say anything more about the eyes. Maybe Elliot was right in not giving it any importance.

We started to advance carefully along the side of the hotel building. It was a narrow path, bordered on one side with the wall, and on the other with greenery. Elliot didn't let go of my hand the entire time, even now that I had to walk slightly behind him because I didn't want to be too close to the bushes. I kept watching their shadows and listening for any sounds that might indicate movement – rattling leaves or cracking branches or anything else. But the rain was so loud, it was like a wall of sound that blocked everything else.

We almost reached the front of the hotel when I saw it again. Two glowing eyes looking at us. It made me stop so firmly, that Elliot couldn't move forward and stumbled back a little. Whatever it was in the bushes, it wasn't moving, just watching us. I wondered if it was a predator watching its prey before attacking.

From the side of my eye, I could see Elliot looking at me and then at where I was looking. We both stood there, watching the eyes watching us like under hypnosis.

"You will never leave here," a whisper passed by my ear like a gust of wind.

I jumped and clung onto Elliot, clawing his shoulders as if I was about to fall off a cliff. It's been such a long time since I had someone by my side that I could trust to be my safety net. I got used to having my own back, especially after Lewis. I realized back then that without Elliot, I had no one in my life to notice if I was gone for more than a few hours, to always have my back. I had my squad, of course, but it wasn't the same. I wasn't always on their minds like I was for him. When we were partners, he had a wife and four children, later on five, and I was still the one he called or texted on his days off, the one he preferred to stay overtime with over going home, the one he knew would do anything for him just like he would for me. What we had was different than any other relationship in our lives for both of us. It was hard for me to describe in words, even after a decade, and now all of it was back in my life again and it was weird to feel myself falling back into my place next to him so quickly and so effortlessly. It was a natural, forceful process that I couldn't stop even if I wanted to. And deep inside I didn't, even though we had a lot of wounds to heal.

I looked at where I just stood a second ago, but couldn't see anything. "Did you hear that?!" I kept looking around us frantically. I couldn't figure out how I even managed to hear a whisper over the rain.

"No, hear what? God, Liv, you're shaking." He put his arms around my waist.

"Someone just whispered in my ear," my eyes were open wide in the darkness.

We stood there in the pouring rain without moving, trying to perceive any suspicious sights or sounds. Whatever it was that I heard seemed to disappear as it came.

Suddenly, Elliot pushed me away from him. Not backwards, but to the side. It made me trip and almost fall, but I managed to regain my balance at the last moment. I turned around, shocked and confused but mostly indignant. It felt like he was casting me aside and I was going to demand an explanation but the words never left my mouth. I saw a sight that froze my blood: two hands coming out of the bush that was just behind me a moment ago, fingers wrapped around Elliot's neck as he struggles to release himself. The hands were so pearly white, I could see them even in the dark.

"Elliot!" I yelled in horror and rushed to help him. Without thinking, I grabbed the wrists of the hands choking him. They were ice-cold and strange to the touch. It didn't feel like I was touching skin, but more like marble. I tried to pull them away from him with all my might, but they wouldn't budge. It was almost like sculpture arms.

"Leave him alone!" as I yelled it, I wondered who I was talking to. The hands didn't seem to belong to anybody.

Elliot wanted to say something as his fingers tried to pry open the hands that were choking him, but he failed in both. I could see he was losing his strength fast the longer he was without air. The sight of him was tearing me apart, I felt so helpless.

I got down on the ground and started feeling with my hands after something that might help me. I came across several small stones, but who would I throw them at? A lot of leaves were covering the path we were on. Between the rain and the darkness, I didn't even realize it until that moment. But they couldn't be of use either.

Finally, my hand landed on something that I recognized as a big enough stick that might be helpful. I was already getting back on my feet as I grabbed it, and started to hit the hands with it as hard as I could.

They wouldn't budge.

"LET." hit. "GO!" hit.

Nothing. Elliot was running out of time. And so was I, if anything was to happen to him. Suddenly I understood what he meant earlier when he said he didn't only save my life. He saved his own life by saving me, and now I had to save his life to save mine. Determined, I pointed the end of the stick at the bush, from which the hands were coming out of, and jabbed it as hard as I could.

At once, a monstrous, angry sound came from the bush and the hands let go of Elliot's neck. I repeated the motion a few more times, dodging the hands as they tried to grab the stick. Eventually, they gave up and disappeared back into the bush.

Elliot bent over, coughing and gagging, trying to get his breath back. I kept holding onto the stick, just in case, but placed my free hand on his back, patting on it gently like he did for me when I was in his situation only minutes ago.

"You ok?" I asked over the clamor of the rain.

Elliot nodded with his head still down. He took a few more seconds and then stood back up slowly, one hand on his chest.

"Are you sure?"

He looked so fragile to me in that moment. All I wanted was to be cuddling with him in a warm bed instead of being cold and soaking wet and fighting for our lives in this hell hole.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," he growled in anger. I knew that tone. The thing that strangled him was lucky it wasn't in front of him right now.

I grabbed his hand and led the way. He has done that enough during our time in this horrible place and I have let him because I liked feeling protected by him again. But he wasn't invincible and I wanted to protect him, too. Luckily, he didn't oppose, but I was willing to fight him about it if he did.

We walked as fast as we could with him still trying to regain his strength and stop coughing. The big gravel lot at the front of the building, which was probably used once as a parking lot for the hotel guests, was only a few steps away. We were about to be in a vulnerable position as we cross it because there was no wall there to hide behind. Unfortunately, being unfamiliar with the place, it was the only way we knew that would take us back to the main road from which we came.

We stopped right before departing from the wall that offered us protection (if we didn't get close enough to the bushes), in order to check out the parking lot before stepping onto it. The rain pounded on our heads and kept soaking us to our cores incessantly. It was almost cruel in its behavior.

"I can't see much, it's too dark," I stated the obvious. Elliot came close behind me and peeked over my head.

"Yeah, we're just gonna have to take the risk. How do you wanna do it?" he looked at me, waiting for orders.

I was taken aback for a moment. Was that his way of showing me he respected my rank? Or that he simply trusted me like back in the day? I hoped that both.

"I think we'll just have to walk as quickly as possible through the middle part or close to it, and stay close together," I had no idea if what I was saying made sense. But nothing in this place did. If we learned one thing from staying here, it was that anything could happen.

"Definitely through the middle part, not going anywhere near those damn bushes again," he threw a resentful look at the shadows of the plants that bordered the parking lot, and absent-mindedly rubbed his neck.

"Ok. Ready?" I asked because I wasn't. A strong, irrational need to stay in that exact spot forever washed over me and seeped deeper than the rain. I was too afraid to move after everything we went through.

Elliot squeezed my hand in encouragement and I wondered if he was feeling the same.

"Let's go," he said and we started walking immediately before we got a chance to think about it any further.

It wasn't the fastest walk. Our shoes were filled with water and our bodies were exhausted. I felt like I was made from cement. But we did our best. I held his hand tight, waiting for something bad to happen. I could hear the gravel beneath our heavy steps even with the loud downpour. Halfway through the lot I looked at the horizon and thought I recognized the first sign of dawn. It comforted me that we were about to see the sun. Everything was much less scary in the light of day.

All of a sudden, a square of light appeared on the ground a few steps away from us, as if someone had turned on the light in one of the rooms on the second floor. We both froze on the spot at the exact same time and slowly looked at each other.

"There's someone there?" Elliot asked quietly.

"It's another trick," I couldn't believe in anything anymore.

"Should we take a look?"

"I say we ignore it and keep going."

"If there's electricity –"

"El, there's nothing there, you know it. Nothing is real in this place."

He frowned at me as he considered it briefly and eventually nodded in agreement. "Let's go."

I was relieved. We started walking again, stepping over the square of light as we continued our way toward the road.

"DAD!"

Elliot let go of my hand and turned around the second he heard Eli's voice. I turned around, too, and saw a silhouette of someone standing at the window.

"DAD, I NEED YOU!"

"Eli," Elliot mumbled and I already had a dreadful feeling that he was about to run back into that hotel.