A/N: Just thought I would thank you all for putting up with the chronological jumping of this story, I know it can be hard to follow sometimes… I love you guys! Sorry for the delay in getting this up- all my teachers decided that this past week and a half would be an excellent time to triple the homework load.

Disclaimer: Oh yeah, they aren't mine…

Flashback…

Olivia woke up late the next morning, finding Elliot already gone. She sat up, running a hand through her hair and yawning. Only then did the events of the previous night hit her completely. Everything about it had been wrong. But she had done absolutely nothing to stop it, and what was even worse, she hadn't wanted it to. Not only had she helped him cheat on his wife, she had allowed herself to completely throw into jeopardy the job that she had so badly wanted to attain for years. Olivia sighed and mentally berated herself.

The door then clicked open and Elliot walked back in, dressed in a nice suit and carrying a large bag of what looked like breakfast food. "Morning. They had a breakfast buffet, so I got us some stuff." He said, sitting down on the bed next to her.

"Thanks." Olivia said, smiling slightly at him. She pulled the sheet up a little more around her and took the croissant he was holding out to her. They didn't say much else for a while, only split their breakfast sandwiches and fruit dishes. When they finished breakfast Olivia stood up and pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a tank top. Elliot stood and walked over to her.

"So… last night…" he began awkwardly.

Olivia sighed and didn't answer.

By the time they were supposed to leave for the banquet, both Olivia and Elliot were more than ready to focus on the task at hand than walk around in a guilty silence. Olivia selected perhaps her favorite dress, a dramatic red with a long train behind it and a strapless top. She was also sure to wear the white bracelet.

"I got this the other day from a man here, I just love it!" exclaimed Olivia, showing off the bracelet to a group of people for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

The group smiled forcibly and said that it was nice. Elliot handed Olivia a glass of champagne and they walked away from the group. "No luck so far." Olivia muttered to him, glancing around.

"We can only try the 'show the bracelet' tactic for so much longer, otherwise someone might get suspicious." Elliot said softly, smiling and waving at one of his friends.

"I know. Let's just try one more group." Olivia said, ambling over to the next large gathering.

This time however, a man smiled at her and said, "I got one too! A lady gave it to me."

Olivia quickly asked, "Really? Who?"

He glanced around and then pointed to a blonde woman standing over the wall, his bracelet swinging lightly from his wrist. Elliot nodded at Olivia, striding away towards the woman.

There was an instant uproar. Several party guests screamed as loud shots echoed through the wide room. Olivia leapt forward, knocking the man to the ground. He stared up at her in shock as he realized how close they were to getting hit by the bullet that had zipped through the spot where they had been standing only seconds before. "Sir, as soon as it's clear I need you to get out of the banquet hall. I am with the NYPD, and some of my colleagues will be ready to help you."

"I don't understand…" the man began, looking as though this was the most excitement he had seen in the entirety of his life.

"Your bracelet. You were selected to be murdered." Olivia replied quickly, slowly sliding off him and glancing around. The room was in absolute chaos. People were screaming and crying as they stepped on broken glass. "Get out of here! Go to Room 264." Olivia told him, holding out her hand. He took it and she pulled him to his feet, rushing him over to the exit doors. "Hurry!"

But Olivia quickly realized that this man was so confused and stunned that he wasn't going anywhere fast. She turned around and looked for Elliot, but he was nowhere to be seen. Olivia bit back the worry twisting in her stomach and then grabbed the man's hand again, hauling him off down the hall. They sprinted down the steps and ran down the dark corridor. Olivia knocked loudly on the door of the room and Mrs. Gunnison opened it, looking quite frazzled. She had her radio in hand and was apparently radioing back up in. "This is the other victim." Olivia said simply, shoving the man inside the room and then turned to run back.

Mrs. Gunnison called out, "Detective!" Olivia stopped and turned to catch the gun Mrs. Gunnison tossed to her. "Your back up will be getting there soon. Just keep them inside the room."

Olivia ran back up the hall, finding Elliot pinning the blonde woman to the ground. She was making an impressive effort to get free and Elliot had to put his full weight on her to keep her down. "He's over there!" Elliot screamed, pointing over in the direction of the large balcony. The woman used this brief moment of weakness to flail her arm up, whacking him across the shoulder.

Another gunshot echoed through the room, which was quickly emptying into the hall. Olivia leapt aside, and then saw Justin standing at the doors of the balcony with a nine millimeter held steadily at her. She took a few slow steps towards him, her weapon raised as well. "Justin, come on. Give me the gun. We can end this peacefully."

"You know, you really put yourself at risk. If I would have known you were a cop I never would have killed you. You aren't what I am interested in." Justin replied, allowing her to step even closer.

"Oh yes? What are you interested in?" Olivia questioned, now very close to him.

"These people that think we can find common ground, it's just flat out irritating. We can never get along. They only make it worse." He replied, his logic clearly impressing himself. Olivia just stared at him, finding absolutely no sense in what he had just said.

"Justin, give me your gun." Olivia said, holding out her hand slowly, the bracelet dangling ominously from it. Justin smiled crookedly and shook his head.

A loud crash signaled the SWAT teams arrival and Olivia heard the clattering of the feet coming up behind her. Justin placed his finger on the trigger. Less than a second later he fell dead with three bullets in him. Olivia turned and saw a SWAT member lower their rifle, nodding slightly at her.

Elliot handed the woman off to the team and walked over to Olivia. "Good work Detective."

"You too." She answered, hugging him briefly. And so it was they solved their first case together. No one had been severely injured in the shooting episode and the woman involved was given twenty five to life. They both viewed it as quite the success- in more ways than one, whether they admitted it or not.

Over the next few months Olivia and Elliot were quite busy with a string of new cases and stayed late at the precinct almost every night. It was a relief when they took a day off to practice for the cop's flag football game the next day against the Bronx SVU. Elliot and Olivia wound up on different practice teams, something that Elliot was more than a little disappointed about, as Olivia was probably the best player in SVU. And not only that, but it was his job to cover her.

Olivia grinned over at him as they all lined up to play. As soon as they broke the formation, Fin, the quarterback, immediately found a wide open Olivia. She caught the ball deftly, sprinting down the side of the field. Elliot sighed and took off after her, reaching in vain for her flag. Just as she stepped into touchdown zone, Elliot decided that he would just have to break the rules. He lunged forward, grabbed her waist and dragged her down onto the ground. Olivia glared at him and said, "I still got a touchdown, loser. You didn't get my flag."

Elliot smirked and waved the blue cloth in front of her face. Olivia rolled her eyes but couldn't keep from laughing as she made a couple lame attempts to push him off of her. He took his own sweet time getting up off of her as her teammates screamed their disgust at him.

Munch looked furiously at Elliot- though it didn't have quite the same effect as usual, as he looked so out of place in his practice clothes. "Elliot, this is flag football. Did you forget that in your desperation to get an excuse to jump on your beautiful partner? And by the way, we still won this game."

Fin, the most competitive of the group, ran over to Olivia, demanding to know if she was alright. When she assured him that she was fine he then went into a long tirade about how Elliot had fouled. When they finally pulled themselves up of the muddy ground Elliot admitted the other team's victory.

They walked together over to Elliot's car, parked just behind the indoor gym. As soon as they were out of sight he pulled her up against him, kissing her with great passion. Olivia was a little surprised- they hadn't so much as hugged since that night when they were undercover. But she quickly recovered, tightening her arms around his neck. He slid his hand up her shirt and pressed her harder against the side of the car. "Elliot… not here." Olivia mumbled, pulling his hand out.

"Tomorrow night… after the game." Elliot whispered in her ear. She smiled at him and nodded.

When Elliot walked into his house that night he was immediately approached by Kathy. "Where have you been?" she snapped.

"Practice. This flag football thing is new, we aren't all that good." He replied steadily. Kathy rolled her eyes.

Maureen walked by, doing a double take when she looked at her father. "Whoa dad, you and Olivia take up mud wrestling?"

Kathy bristled at this remark and glared at Elliot. "No, I fell during the game." He told his daughter. She didn't pay much attention as she had already moved on to grab the phone and call her friend.

Lizzie and Dickie both ran over to greet him, and Elliot scooped his youngest daughter up. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, not seeming to mind the mud. "Daddy?"

"What, sweetheart?"

"Can we meet Olivia? She sounds nice." Elizabeth asked, her eyes pleading.

"Of course! I am sure she would love to meet you." Elliot replied, smiling at her. Elizabeth grinned back and curled up against his chest.

End Flashback….

Olivia opened her eyes, the evening light causing her to squint. She yawned widely, still drowsy from her medication. Shoving the blankets off of her she sat up on her couch and then stood. It had been three weeks since the accident and Cragen had forced her to take sick leave. Not that she could have worked very well- her medication made her sleep constantly. She slowly made her way into the kitchen for a snack.

A knock on the door made her look up. She started over to it, setting down the bottle of Pepsi she had pulled out. But they didn't wait for her, and she heard the key scrape in the lock. Olivia froze as the door swung open. "Hey Liv." Elliot said, his voice softer than usual, but his eyes as bright as ever.

"Elliot!" Olivia exclaimed, running over to him and gently taking him into her arms. She buried her head into his shoulder and held him close, reveling in the warmth of his body against hers. He wrapped one arm around her waist and pressed his cheek against her silky chestnut hair. His other hand ran gently up and down her back. When she finally let him go, she was crying. Elliot took her face in both hands, gently kissing her forehead.

"It's alright, Liv. I am going to be fine." Elliot told her gently. Olivia didn't answer, just placed her hands very gently on his injured side. He laid his much larger hands over hers and said quietly, "The doctor's said I could go home today as long as I had someone to stay with. You up for the challenge?"

"Of course." Olivia said, smiling broadly at him. She then wrapped her arms around his neck once more, breathing in his familiar scent and shutting her eyes.

When Alex had come back in crying Olivia instantly thought the worst. And for that brief moment, she knew what it felt like when your soul died. Then Alex had told her Elliot had pulled through surgery, and as long as he had the strength to keep on fighting, he would be alright. Olivia had visited him every day in the hospital, though more often than not he was asleep. She had of course been discharged a day after the incident, as her injuries were relatively minor.

And now here he was. He had come home.

Elliot held her close to him, his hands tracing lines up and down her sides. As the warm heat of her breath tickled his neck, he remembered…

A/N #2: So that's the end of 'Part One'… now on to 'Part Two'…. REVIEW!