When they got to Stabler's home Maureen, his eldest daughter, was still awake.

"Olivia!" Maureen got excited and threw her arms around her. Benson smiled widely.

"How you been doing?" Benson asked as Maureen let go of her.

"Ok. I'm tired" she yawned.

"Yeah I bet. Well, we'll talk more later ok?" Benson smiled.

"Ok" Maureen smiled back.

"Thanks for waiting up for me" Benson called out as Maureen headed for the stairs.

"She really wanted to say hi before going to bed" Kathy smiled as she took Benson's bag.

"She's a sweet girl- I can take that" Benson offered but Kathy took it around the stairs and to the small bedroom behind the staircase.

"It's not the biggest room, but it's comfortable" Kathy set Benson's bag down on the bed.

"Its bigger then my whole apartment" Benson smiled as the two women went back out to the living room.

"Kathy, I just wanted to thank you for letting me stay here- I appreciate it" Benson said.

"No problem. I'm pretty tired myself though-" Kathy stretched her arms out.

"Alright. Goodnight" Benson smiled.

"Night. Oh and Olivia, you can help yourself to anything in the kitchen or whatever" Kathy said while going up the stairs. Benson smiled as Stabler came out from the kitchen.

"You going to be ok?" he asked as he walked closer to her.

"Yeah. Don't worry about me" Benson warned him.

"I don't" he told her as he looked into her eyes. She looked back when he finally turned away.

"Well, I'm going to hit the hay." He commented as she nodded looking off in another direction. He walked toward the stairs, but stopped before he climbed any.

"Olivia, you know it's ok to be worried or scared. You're only human." Stabler told her before he continued his journey to his room. Benson took in a deep breath as she stood in the Stabler living room. She closed her eyes to take it all in. To just mediate for a minute. To realize and accept…. Or not. She headed toward the kitchen and made herself a mug full of hot tea. She sat at the kitchen table, all the lights off except for the one above the stove. She just sat and drank her tea sip by sip. She had lost her self in her own trans when she realized Stabler was standing in the doorway. She burned her lip on accident.

"Dammit" she mumbled. Stabler came in the room and sat across from her at the small kitchen table.

"You ok?"

"I'm fine" she grunted.

"What are you doing up?" Benson frowned as she went for another sip of the tea, more carefully this time.

"I was going to ask the same. We have rules in this house, and one of them is that no one is suppose to be up past 12:00… and its about 2:00 now" he said squinting at his watch.

"Then what are you doing up?" Benson questioned with a smirk, as Stabler looked up at her.

"Go get some sleep" he told her as he got up and left. Don't go she thought to herself as he walked up the stairs.

The next morning came by slowly and Benson had slept in longer then she thought she should of. She was awoken by the twins. They ran in before Kathy could stop them and jumped on her bed. They were excited to see her and Kathy had to grab them away and take them out of the room. Benson smiled as the twins waved.

"Sleep well?" Stabler asked coming in a second later.

"Yeah" she said pulling the covers up around her.

"I guess I'm going to make us late huh?" she asked.

"I actually called Cragen, he told us to take the day off. So, sleep in as long as you want." Stabler said as he walked away. She let out a sigh after he left. She didn't want him to go, she wanted him to crawl in the bed next to her. She was actually scared- she wanted someone to just hug her and hold her close.

An hour later she came out of her bedroom. She had comfortable pajama bottoms on and a tank top that showed a bit of her tan stomach and back- also reliving her broad tan shoulders.

"You look comfy" Stabler said as he looked up from his newspaper, on the couch.

"You look pretty 'comfy' yourself" she flirted a little as she walked to the kitchen. She came back out with a glass of orange juice and sat with one of her legs under her on the couch next to Stabler. She leaned down to the ground to retrieve a piece of the paper when she felt a hand over hers. She turned to look at Stabler. He had his hand over hers as he drank some of her orange juice. She sat up straight and frowned at him as he continued to drink her drink.

"Hey" she finally said.

"What's with you and drinking other peoples drinks?" She asked as he took another sip of the juice. He shrugged his shoulders. Her mouth dropped a little. She finally pulled her hand away along with her drink. He looked at her frowning. She looked into the glass and got back up.

"Would you like some orange juice Mr. Stabler?" she asked.

"No thanks, I'm fine" he answered leisurely as he put the paper back up in front of him. She fake smiled while he didn't look and walked off into the kitchen again. The doorbell rang and Benson called from the kitchen.

"I'll get it" she told Stabler as she went to the front door. Stabler didn't hear anyone.

"Who was it?" he called out but there was no answer.

"Who was it?... Olivia?" he called out as he set down his paper in front of him. He stood up slowly and headed toward the front door.

"Olivia?" he called out again worried as he passed the kitchen and kept going for the door. Benson smiled as she popped out from the kitchen and put a cup of ice down the back of his shirt. He was shocked and turned around making a funny noise.

"Cold!" he shouted as he shook out the ice cubs. Benson had run off and he ran to go find her.

"Where are you?" he whispered as he walked down the hallway slowly. He sneaked around when he heard her down the hall. He slowly made his way through the living room then walked by the staircase. She was right inside her room and he scared her when he jumped out in front of her still in the hallway. He ran into her room as he grabbed her by her legs. He picked her up and threw her down on the bed. He lay on top of her as they both smiled.

"Why'd you put ice down my shirt?" he asked.

"You drank my orange juice" she smiled back even wider. He looked at her differently all of a sudden. His smile started to disappear but his eyes were warm. She felt a shortening of breath as he looked into her.

"I'm back" Kathy called as she entered the house. Stabler got up off of Benson, like they were brother and sister playing rough. She shut the door behind him and leaned against it. She took in a deep breath then went and got changed.