Title: Genesis 8/10 (yeah, I misnumbered, there was 9, now there is ten, math was never my strong suit)

Author: CSIphile/hipinapple

AN: Thank you so much, I keep saying it, but I really, really mean it! Y'all are so nice, so many reviews…sniffle. Thanks. Loki: Thank you very much, glad you found this fic and enjoyed it. Sadly, I am not an amateur fic writer (though I am an amateur writer in general), Ive written quite a few fics for other fandoms, though this is my first L&O. Constructive criticism is always welcome, so feel free to let me know what I can improve.

AN2: Italics are flashbacks.

AN3: Ok, this is unbetaed and there is good reason. Cause I misnumbered, somehow this one slipped through and I have my poor, already overworked beta working on something else. So, any and all mistakes are mine, I'm sorry if its annoying, I tried to catch most, but I'm pretty bad with grammar (that's her job).

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Chapter 8: Consequences

Elliot opens the door to his house, thinking more about the woman he had just left in bed then the one he is going to.

"Liv," he whispered.

"Mmmm."

"I have to go, babe." Regret tinged his voice and she rolled over to face him.

"I know."

"Are you ok?"

She smiled at him. "Oh yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"That I'm leaving."

"You have to Elliot. I understand."

If Elliot was a crying man, he probably would have right there. This woman owed him nothing, yet she understood that he couldn't stay the night, couldn't stay after they had…"Your perfect, you know that?"

Shock covered her face. "I…I think that's the single most beautiful thing anyone's ever told me."

Fully dressed he had leaned over and kissed her. "Well you are. Bye Liv, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Bye El."

There had been no confessions of love, they both knew that was something farther down the line for them both. The situation was already complicated enough without adding another dimension to it.

Walking into his dark bedroom, Elliot slips into the bathroom unnoticed. Swiftly he strips off his work clothes and gets in the shower. The thought of getting into his bed with Kathy while still smelling of Olivia makes him nauseous. Twenty minutes, and one clean body, later he slides into bed, looking at his wife in the dark.

Elliot has every intention of telling his wife what had happened; as it is he is an adulterer, he cant stand the thought of being a liar on top of it. Besides, Kathy does need to know, for obvious reasons. Clearly their marriage cannot continue, and truth be told, it had ended long ago. The only unknown in the entire equation is Kathy's reaction. He does feel guilt for what's happened, not so much guilt about what he had done with Olivia, that felt right to him; but guilt about what had happened in his marriage. That neither of them had tried harder to stop the downward slide. They had grown apart, especially with the departure of their oldest to college. It seemed that with Maureen out of house and no longer needing her parents, the entire reason for their marriage was gone, so why bother.

Closing his eyes, Elliot tries to sleep, but the picture of Olivia lying in bed alone in her apartment is enough to keep him awake.

When he wakes the next morning Kathy is already up, he can smell coffee downstairs. Groaning, he slides out of bed and dresses in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, looking at the clock he vaguely wonders if Olivia is up. 'Of course she is, she's probably been at work for hours by now,' he thinks and heads into the kitchen.

"Morning," Kathy says brightly and hands him a mug.

"Morning." This felt wrong, so very, very wrong now. The normalcy of the morning, the other people in the kitchen unaware of what had happened last night. Unaware that he had irrevocably changed their lives. Suddenly Elliot feels guilty, really, truly, mind numbingly guilty. Last night, it all seemed so….unreal. But this morning, standing in his kitchen, looking at the faces of his family, reality comes crashing down. Making a decision and facing the consequences are two separate things Elliot now realizes.

A voice breaks him out of thought.

"El? Hello? Earth to Elliot."

Kathy.

"Yeah, sorry."

She smiles at him. "I'm leaving, have to take Lizzie to the dentist. See you later?"

"Yeah, Ill be home by 6." He can tell his tone is flat, but Elliot somehow cant seem to put any life into it.

"Ok, everything all right?"

He cant lie. "We…"

"MOM! Come on!"

"Sorry, catch you later, k." She gives him a quick kiss and looks at him funny when he doesn't return the gesture.

"Bye," he responds distantly.

"Bye." She gives him another quick glance as she shuts the door behind her.

He has to do this tonight. He has to tell her what happened and hope for the best. He still doesn't regret what happened the night before. He wanted it to, he could have stopped more than once, he made a decision, and now he has to face it and deal with the fall out.

SVU Squadroom

10 AM

Olivia looks at the map in front of her and chews the inside of her lip. She cannot believe they didn't see this before. There WAS a pattern to the murders, it just wasn't obvious, it was almost too simple.

When she walked into the unit at 6 am, Fin was bouncing around like a child who just got a dog for Christmas. Before she could even get her coat off, he was dragging her over to the glass board.

"Fin, you need to settle down man."

"Oh hell no. You wont even believe this."

"What? This better not be another dead…."

The words had died on her lips the second she looked at the map and the piece of paper in his hands.

Olivia is pretty sure she had told the other man she could kiss him at that moment. She smiles slightly at the memory and turns away, thanks to Fin's early distraction she had managed to only think of Elliot for a few seconds at a time.

Right now though, it's killing her to talk to him, she needs to make sure that he still isn't regretting what happened. Suddenly Olivia feels very much like the Catholic she isn't. 'Maybe El's rubbing off on me,' she thinks. Guilt gnaws at the pit of her stomach and no matter how much she tries to ignore it, she cant. She helped her best friend commit adultery, Olivia refuses to go so far as to call herself a mistress. Her rational mind can justify the action to a point. They were both consenting adults, they knew what they were doing and knew what the probable consequences of the action were. But there's something about voicing them and then actually having to face said consequences. Olivia is willing to face them, she's just unsure what they are.

Suddenly her cell rings and she stares at the display for a moment before picking up.

"Hey," she says quietly.

"Hey," his voice is smooth on the other end of the phone.

Silence ensues before they both laugh lightly and she speaks. "How are you?"

He sighs. "Tired, but good."

Looking around, Olivia moves to a quieter spot in the bullpen, with all the noise, its unlikely anyone would hear her but she didn't want to take that chance. "Was it weird?"

He knows she's not talking about last night. "Yeah, really weird. I did this thing that's going to change all their lives, and they have no idea."

"I wish I could do something for you."

"I know. I'm going to talk to Kathy tonight."

"You know I don't expect anything from you right? I mean…I understand that you have to take care of things first."

He is about to speak when her distant voice floats through the phone. "I think I might love you."

"I'm sorry?" Her tone was light, but still.

"Oh god!" she says and starts laughing hysterically. "I was talking to Fin, sorry."

"Uh huh…Fin? Didn't think he was your type."

She rolls her eyes even though she know he cant see her. "You aren't going to believe this. Fin found a pattern."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's a genius. An overworked, exhausted genius."

"He's standing right there, isn't he?"

"Yup. Its unreal, you know those sheets victims services hands out with the list of rape crisis meeting dates and locations?"

"Yeah."

"He went down the list, just picking the first meeting that was that night."

"How did he get a hold of that?"

"No clue. There wasn't an attack last night though, because the meeting on the list was cancelled due to construction in the church. Rescheduled for tonight. We have a window to grab him."

"Nice job."

"Yeah. The meeting organizer just gave us permission to place decoys."

"Are you?"

"Yeah, I am. I have too."

"I know. Fin still there?"

"Nope, went off to gloat some more I think."

He smiles into the phone, this feels all too normal. It just seems that when two friends sleep together, there should be a period of awkwardness. But there isn't, its as if it didn't happen, but they both know it did.  "Be careful Liv."

"I will, promise."

"Bye, beautiful. I'll try calling later."

She smiles into the phone. "Ok. Bye." Quickly she snaps the phone shut and walks back to her desk. If she bothered to rank days in terms of good karma on her side, this one would be number one, easily. She knows any relationship with Elliot will be difficult, a challenge, and it might have to wait until he gets his life in order. She can step back for a while, something Olivia isn't accustomed to doing, for the promise of something phenomenal.

tbc………………….