A/N: Okay guys, so I have been writing for a while now but this is my first post/official public sharing of my writing. I've been watching SVU since I was a litte kid, and got obsessed with it for a while to a point where I had seen all the episodes multiple times. Needless to say that was a bummer since I used to binge watch it lol. So I took a break and I am just getting back into it. So, now I am at a point where I, along with the rest of you, am finally getting some closure to the E/O storyline (Why torture us for all those seasons! Why! We all saw it!). So because of all of that, I'm now inspired to write and share and E/O fic. I do have some caveats below though. Just me giving my probably unpopular opinions, though they may not be that unpopular, that I will be including in the story (keeping in mind that I am still catching up to the show where it is now; yes, I took a really long break but I am now happy about it because I get to freaking binge watch a whole bunch of episodes I haven't seen).

Unpopular opinion 1: I could not stand Elliot's family lmao. I am sorry, but his kids did waaaayyy too much in the earlier season. Which, okay, teenagers coming from a home where the parents were forced to marry and borderline hate each other most of the time at this point in their marriage, I get the acting out, but they were still a bit much even with all that. Anyways, I digress. I understand the rest are older and better at this point and I'll eventually get there but I have to write my disdain for them in the beginning of this fic.

Unpopular opinon 2: Who is writing this reunion/reintegration!? I mean, is there not a petty, vindictive person in the writer's room? I'm sorry, but at this point Olivia should be making Elliot openly beg for her presence in his personal life. And the selfishness he still portrays after all the crap he pulled. I just...it couldn't be me. All I am saying is, she is better than me!. But, I will be writing this relationship the way I think it should go. Again, we'll eventually get there if you guys like this fic enough for me to keep going.

Now for the fic itself. So setting: The timeline for the background of this fic is essentially crunched. Why you say? Because I wanted to include all of my favorite characters and the obvious solution that came to my head that I liked was to crunch the timeline. So this fic will start in what would technically be considered season 11-12. Elliot and Olivia were partners for ~7-8 years and Elliot left ~4 years ago. So Amanda, Nick (not so much), Velasco (soon), Iyanna, Jet, Carisi...basically all the old and new characters that I like : ) I will work details from the show into this contrived timeline, but obvs from the beginning some things will be different. See the summary (premise isn't anything that hasn't been done before but I just have not seen a fic exactly like this, so here's my attempt at it)

Summary: Elliot left SVU after shooting Jenna Fox, only he and Olivia had a chance to drown their grief in each other before he abruptly disappeared with his family. Now he's back, but everything has changed, espescially his former partner he left behind. A lot has happened in the time that he's been gone, and she is just finally getting her feet under her again after facing a series of events. He wants back in her life, she just wants him to leave her the hell alone. She's finding her happiness, and she will not allow him and his chaotic baggage to jeopardize that.


Don Cragen tried his best to focus on the documents that were in his hand. But the man pacing around his office, the same man who had delivered the information packet to him, was making that a little more difficult than he usually did. It was enough that the man had only reappeared in his life a little over six weeks ago, informing him of a criminal organization he thought he would be interested in since it fell under the department he currently headed. But for him to be in his office under the current circumstances, well…

They had been pushing it. Well, the man had been pushing it since his first unannounced visit in the wee hours of the morning. It had been a surprise to say the least, but he had entertained him. The man, afterall, had been one of the best detectives that had ever worked under him. Now, he felt like he was helping him tempt faith since he continued to allow and encourage the visits. Though, thankfully for him, he could rationalize the fact that it was work related, and that they were at least trying to keep the personal blow up this would cause from occuring. At least he thought that was what they were doing. But from the way Elliot was currently pacing around his office, more often than not glancing out of the windows that framed the corridor his detectives, or rather one particular detective, had to travel in order to get to her desk made him feel like he was aiding and abetting a social melt down in his place of work. He checked the clock on the wall once more, confirming what he had already known and confirmed a few times already.

Elliot had been pushing it these last couple of weeks. When the man had shown up the first time, he had been the only one at the precinct, save for some scraggler night shift unis. He had informed his former captain that he was there at the behest of his current unit's sargent, Iyana Bell, to solicit their help on a segment of the case they were currently working on. It was simple, the organized crime unit had been investigating a smuggling cartel. They ran their operation like an illegal supply chain. At first they'd thought they only dealt in money, drugs, weapons and other inanimate objects, but when they'd found that they were trafficking human beings, they knew they needed help. It had actually been Elliot's idea to involve SVU and his higher ups had agreed. OC would handle the overarching investigation and focus on going after the heavy hitters, while SVU would try to pin point the how, where, and why of the human trafficking portion of the cartel. They would both be focused on taking the organization down as a whole, but with SVU running side investigation, they could at least make sure the the innocent people caught up in this had a special focus and were being as protected as they could be until the organization had been taken down.

And so far, it had been running smoothly. Don had been getting and sharing information with OC, mainly through Elliot and Iyanna and the information they gathered would get passed along to the SVU captain, who would pass it along to their team to help guide their investigation. The only kink in the plan was starting to show. The man currently pacing the SVU Captain's office, was starting to get an itch that the older man could tell he was getting closer to having to scratch.

"Running a little late today, aren't you?" Don asked, piercing the silence of the office. The sudden intrusion of his voice made Elliot's head snap towards him, but he didn't immediately respond. He studied the older man for a second, weighing the options of his response and gauging which one he could more readily get away with. He turned away from the man, not wanting to look into his eyes as he spoke, for fear of being called out.

"Yeah, the kids…" he started, then back tracked. "Kathy and I overslept a little this morning and she needed a little more help than normal getting the kids out of the door, so… ya know," he stated matter of factly.

He continued to look out of the window into the hallway for a moment, shoving his hands into his pockets, before chancing a look at the man to see if he would let it go. He was met with the incarcerating stare of his former captain, and he immediately stopped rocking on his heels. Clearly the casual vibe he was trying to project wasn't being bought by his audience.

They held eye contact a moment longer, Elliot being the one becoming uncomfortable and therefore being the first to speak. "What?" he asked now switching to an heir of ignorance as his defense.

Don didn't say anything immediately, just continued to stare, studying the younger man further. He was not a fool. And he knew that Elliot knew that he wasn't. He'd failed at trying to pull enough over on him while working under him to know this. So he had no idea why Elliot thought this one would fly. He'd noticed from the first time Elliot had visited his office, the surprise on the detective's face as he'd turn to exit after coming to an agreement on their invovlement in the case. Cragen had quickly followed his line of site, noticing the faltering in his stride and saw that the picture of the brunette had caught his attention. More specifically, the picture of the brunette snuggling a laughing infant. Olivia was smiling at the infant she was nuzzling, while the adorable baby brought it's tiny little hands to her face, as if trying to thwart off the love attack. It'd been a candid picture, one Fin had taken during one of the infant's visits to the precinct. It was Olivia who had loved the photo and gotten it framed, and he who had pestered her for a copy of it to which she had delivered it to him in the current frame that sat on his desk. He'd seen the questions and confusion that had passed through the younger man's eyes before he was able to regroup and continue on his way out of the precinct. It didn't take long for him to notice Elliot's eyes starting to wander a little more at their next visit. But to his credit, he had quelled his urge to ask. Don thought that was a feat within itself for the prying man. Espescially after he noticed him noticing a black and white picture of the same brunette detective with her cheek pressed against the cheek of different chubby cheeked infant, while a cheesing toddler draped her shoulders from behind, all three staring at the camera and smiling. But now…Don checked the clock again. Yes, Elliot and by association, he was definitely pushing their luck that they wouldn't be found out.

He continued to stare at the younger man until he started to fidget under his stare. He decided to speak. "Elliot, I think we should try to keep our meetings to the earlier parts of the morning. That's if you're going to continue coming." He'd added that last part because he'd offered mulitple alternatives, including someone else from his unit being the liasion or them meeting off site. He had declined both. The Captain believed it had had something to do with the photo he'd seen on his exit. It had cracked a door, and it seemed Elliot was having a hard time closing it again, espescially after he found that room behind it contained information he was not yet privy to.

He sighed, as he saw the tell tale signs of the change in Elliot's demeanor. He had spent years trying to effectively wrangle this bull, so he knew when the horns were coming out. He watched as he stood a little straighter and his chest puffed out a little more.

"What'da you mean?" Elliot started. He noted the defensiveness within his own tone and tried to reel it in as not to completely give away his position. "It's only seven forty five, Cap. It is early morning."

Cragen just stared at him again. "Uh huh," he returned after a beat, noting Elliot hadn't even had to glance in the direction of any clock to know what time it was. This confirmed to Cragen he knew exactly what he was doing. "And you know," he started his formal response as he stood slowly from behind his desk, "Olivia is going to be showing up here any second."

Elliot made a face, that he hope conveyed disinterest and indifference. It didn't, Cragen noted to himself. "Whata ya talking about?" Elliot started, his accent becoming more apparent as it usually did when he became more emotional. "I'm here for work Cap. Olivia's got nothing to do with this. We all work in the same field," he stated removing his hands from his pockets and making a wide gesture, "we're going to run into each other from time to time, if she can't handle it that's not my problem."

"Yeah, okay" Cragen said, moving to stand to the side of his desk and turning to sit halfway on the edge of it. "First of all, she doesn't know you two are in the 'same field', as you put it. Hell, I had no idea you were still sharing our stomping grounds until a few weeks ago. From what you tell me, you weren't." He was referring to the conversation that had occurred during their third meeting, when both men had become a little more comfortable with being in each other's company again.

Apparently after his impromptu disapperance, Elliot had taken his family and hightailed it overseas where he did a short stint of owning his own private investigation company before becoming a U.S. law enforcment ambassador. While Cragen was proud of him, that still didn't erase the disappointment that had been created by the devestation he had left behind. Granted, everyone was fine now, but it had been a rough go for a period of time.

"Second off," Cragen continued, "you know exactly what I'm talking about." Elliot threw one of his hands in the air and turned away from the man, as if to cut him off or stop his argument completely. He wasn't detered. "We talked about this Elliot. We agreed to a schedule." The older man spoke louder as to speak over Elliot, who tried to interrupt again, but he did his best to keep this from turning into a yelling match. "You agreed that it was best if everyone…if she didn't know that it was you bringing in the information for the case."

"She doesn't know that!" Elliot yelled. This caused Cragen to retreat a little. He refused to engage and draw more attention to the ghost that was currently standing in his office. It had only been four years. There were still plenty of cops and other personnel that knew exactly who Elliot Stabler was. And he knew, sooner or later that news would get back to Olivia. How she would handle it, was yet to be determined. But he wanted to put it off for as long as possible, or at least until he found a way to bring it up to her. He didn't want her to feel betrayed by him, because a part of him did feel that he was betraying her.

"Elliot," Cragen tried to level with him, "You've been showing up here later and later every Friday. Last week you two barely missed each other. You walked out of here and I sat at my desk for five minutes just listening for the shit to hit the fan. I didn't know if to expect yelling or gunshots. All I'm saying is…" before he could finish, he was interrupted by someone entering his office.

"Okay. Okay, a quick good morning," he instantly recognized the voice and his heart jumped up into his throat. He had a feeling Elliot felt the same way as the man's whole body seemed to stand at attention as he turned towards the entrance to the office. She, however, had not noticed the complete list of occupants of the room as she looked down at the toddler making her way through the door while simultaneously trying to hold on to everything in her arms which included a chubby cheeked little infant. She leaned heavily against the door, holding it open and trying to bare the weight of all she had to carry. "Then we have to go. We're already late, and Mommy has a lot to get done."

Both men watched her as she smiled down at the toddler rushing into the room. Cragen was the first to come out of his shock, due to the toddler launching herself at him. "Paw Paw," she called out as he stooped to scoop her up with a grunt. "Oh-ho," he said bringing her up to eye level, "You're getting so big. You've gotta slow down, or else Paw Paw isn't gonna be able to pick you up soon."

"Nooo," the toddler giggled as she rejected the idea while simultaneously trying to fight off the small tickle attack. She didn't notice that the attention of the man she had affectionately come to know as her grandfather was wavering back and forth between herself and her mother.

There it is. He thought as he watched Olivia step further in the room, her head immediately snapping to the right as she caught the figure looming in the corner on the farside of the room. The smile she wore vanished almost immediately, replaced by a look of shock and confusion. He watched as her jaw fell open and hung there for a second before closing again. He could hear the toddler babbling away in his ear, but he didn't register a word she was saying. He was too focused on staging an intervention if need be.

He glanced briefly at the man in the corner, who'd been standing as still as a statue from the moment he'd laid eyes on her. His eyes flitted back and forth between the two as they just stared at each other for a moment. He would not be the first to speak. This wasn't his problem to hash out. He wouldn't intervene, at least not until he had to.

He watched as she blinked, and readjusted the infant in her arms as she noticed he, along with some of the other items she had been holding, were slipping out of her arms. The lack of anger on her face, which he was sure was due to her complete and utter shock, prompted a goofy smirk to come to Elliot's face. Bullshit, he didn't know what he was doing, Cragen thought at seeing it.

"Hi, Liv," He dared. He smiled at her. Her face remained one of shock. And then he saw it. She had made a decision. Compartmentalize, retreat, and regroup. Well, at least there wouldn't be any violence. For the time being anyway.

Her mouth, opened and closed again before she turned to the older man in the room and the little girl in his arms. She seemed to take stock of her cargo she had bought with her as she then glanced down at the infant, who looked up at her curiously while pulling on the pacifier in his mouth. She then turned back to the familiar stranger.

"Um…" she heard herself stutter, "Hi." This was an ambush, in every sense of the word. This scenario she had just walked into was the epitome of an ambush.

This situation had been at the very bottom of the list she had expected to find herself in and of all fucking mornings. First, she'd gotten a text from the daycare that it would be unexpectedly closed for the day due to some plumbing issues. That meant, she had had to pack extra items for the kids before she headed out of the door. While she would normally drop their breakfast with them as they would eat during drop off time, she'd had to stop and grab something for them on her way in. She had a shit ton of paperwork on her desk left over from the previous case she had worked, due to a bout of a twenty four hour stomach flu in the toddler room at the daycare earlier during the week. Thankfully, that seemed to be over and done with. To cut it short, her morning had been a cluster, and she'd expected it to continue that way until the nanny could make it down to the station to pick up the kids. She would have to juggle mommy duties for a little bit before she could even start to get a handle on her day and get it back on track. And now this. He'd literally trampled his way back into her space with a fucking 'Hi, Liv' as if they had just seen each other yesterday. Well you know what? She wasn't doing this shit. Not right now. She just would not participate in whatever this was.

She took a second to regroup and decide what the best plan of action was. Focus. Focus on the objective tasks she needed to acomplish. Get her kids settled. Get them fed. Try to get something work related accomplished and keep them any melt downs to a minimum until the Nanny showed. She was now operating under robot mode. No room for emotions. Her therapist would probably cringe at the strict boundaries of compartmentalization she'd constructed in that split second decison, but desparate times called for desperate measure. It was either that or regress even further on the ladder of toxic coping skills. All in all, she thought, her current plan of action was a pretty short decent.

She turned back to her Captain and leveled her voice as best she could as she spoke gently to the toddler in his arms. "Com'on baby. We have to go."

Cragen complied with her subtle demand by bending slightly and placing the girl back on the floor. Her little legs immediately began moving back towards her mother. "Bye Paw Paw!"

"Bye Sweetheart," he yelled behind the little girl who was already racing out of the room. Her mother didn't waste a second before turning quickly and following her out, letting the door close softly behind her.

He sighed again. He found himself doing that a lot already today, and it was barely 8 am. He looked over at the man that was left standing in the room with him, but it seemed that he had not yet remembered his presence as he watched the woman make her way down the hall, the toddler bouncing along in front of her while the infant tried desperately to pull off the sock that clothed his left foot. He still had that idiotic smile on his face. Finally the woman disappeared from their view and they stood there another few seconds. Cragen studied Elliot as he seemed lost in thought. He continued to stare out of the window where Olivia had gone. Cragen cleared his throat, causing Elliot to finally look away from the window. He still didn't make eye contact with his former boss.

The silence resumed. This time Elliot figured he'd be the first to break it. He couldn't help himself. "So," he started, accent heavy, and Cragen already knew that tone, "two kids, huh?"

Cragen watched as he shoved his hands back in his pockets and looked down at the floor breifly before finally making eye contact with him.

"Yep," that was it. That was all he would offer. Like he said, he wouldn't get involved, not unless he needed too.

Another smile came to Elliot's face, but it was that mischievous smile. At least that was the way he would describe it. Mostly because it meant that he was about to start some trouble. He watched as Elliot dropped his head back down to the floor, seemingly in a moment of contemplation before starting again. "So uh…," he began before lifting his head again and scratching the back of his neck as he turned back to the window "who's the guy?"

Okay, straight forward. Well, he had to admit. The man had never been known for his subtlety, especially when it came to their current topic of discussion. His mouth had fallen open at the blunt question, but then he realized he wasn't quite sure how to respond. So he was honest. "I'm not sure if she would want me sharing that information."

Elliot's smile just got broader, as he again looked back out of the window he had last seen Olivia. "Hmph," he let out. But Cragen could tell it wasn't a moment of contemplation. Elliot had already decided on his next step. He watched as he held himself back as long as he could, which wasn't very long, before he took off towards the door.

Cragen stepped back around his desk, preparing to do what, he didn't know. Something told him that Elliot wasn't going to give him the opportunity to be able to focus on going over the rest of the information he had provided him.

"Heading out?" Cragen asked, already knowing the answer to his question and knowing that in this instance, Elliot would be too stupid to take his subtle hint of guidance.

Elliot looked at him, becoming a little irritated at the man continuing to call him out on his actions. No, he wasn't doing it blatantly, but they both knew what was happening.

"Naw, not yet," Elliot, decided to answer honestly, tired of beating around the bush.

Cragen waited until he heard the door disengage, before offering his last and final words on the subject for the time being.

"Elliot," the sincerity in his voice made the detective turn to him, dropping all of his previous defenses he'd put up during the encounter.

"Yeah, Cap?" he answered with a tone of familiarity.

"You know, I've known you for a long time," the man started as he considered his words. "I don't have any kids, but I've thought of you as a son for a lot of that time." Elliot smiled at the man, thankful for the sentiment as he too regarded Don as a father figure from time to time. But Don wasn't finished.

"But I always said if I were to have kids, I wanted girls." This caused the smile on Elliot's face to shrink as he was starting to get the man's drift. "I've only seen that girl cry openly for two reasons," Don continued as he settled into his chair. "One was when someone died, and the other," he looked up at Elliot and locked eyes with him, "was when you left and didn't reach out." He went silent for a moment, letting his words sink into the younger mans head. It didn't take long for Elliot to hang his head, looking down to the floor. Whether it was in shame or his own hurt at causing her pain, he didn't know. Either way, Elliot's feelings were not his priority at the moment.

He continued. "So if I see her crying again, it better be for the first reason," he paused again making sure the man was still following him. And when Elliot looked back at him with a look on his face that satisfied him, he finished, "or someone is gonna wish they were dead."

He continued to stare the younger man down and Elliot swallowed thickly. For all the bravado, maschismo, and testosterone his youth compared to the man afforded him, he knew when he was facing off with one of the elders of the pack of his subspecies. He nodded once to the man in recognition, before exiting down the hall in which Olivia had gone.


A/N: Soooo, what do you guys think? As I said, if I will or won't continue this story will depend ont he feedback I get. If no one is interested in reading it, I will just keep it in my head lol. So let me know! I understand it can be hard to get a feel for a fic from only one chapter so I'll start working on the second chapter just to give those who are undecided a better feel for it, hopefully.