Disclaimer: I do not own Law and Order: SVU. It belongs to a genius named Dick Wolf. No profit is being made from this story.

She threw herself over to the other side of the bed and grabbed the phone with a shaking hand. Her fingers trembled as she dialed Elliot's number.

One ring. Two rings. Tears were seeping out of her eyes as she remembered the horrible images of the dream. She shuddered. Three rings. Four rings.

Why wasn't he answering? Panic lodged in her chest, making her fight to breathe. It was only a dream….he was fine…. Olivia let out a sob at the fifth ring. It had only been a dream….right?

The loud noise penetrated Elliot's deep sleep, making him jump and let out a strangled gasp. His heart hammered and he lay still in disorientation. He recognized the shrill ring of the phone next to him and clumsily reached for it.

Olivia was sobbing openly now, and was startled when she heard a click. When she heard the husky voice on the other end, she let out a huge breath.

"Hello?" Elliot croaked, struggling to focus. He was halfway back to dreamland. Feeling his head drooping back toward the pillow, he shook himself. "Hello?" he said, firmer this time.

She hung up quickly without speaking, shaking in relief. Sliding back under the covers, she lay down flat and waited for her heart to slow down. It would be a long time before she could sleep again.

The sharp click made Elliot groan angrily. He tossed the phone on the table without bothering to hang it back up and sank back down under the warm blanket. He snuggled his face back into his pillow and was asleep within seconds.

Despite having heard his voice on the phone, Olivia's stomach was knotted as she drove to work. As she stepped out of the elevator with the bag full of Chinese that she had promised, she was shaking.

When she stepped around the corner, she could see inside the glass squad room doors and got a full view of Elliot, sitting at his desk. He was perfectly fine.

The sudden rush of relief made her lightheaded as she let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She had to stop for a minute and grip the wall to stabilize herself. As her heart rate slowed, she laughed at her own absurdity.

Of course he was alright…why wouldn't he be? Her crazy dreams were starting to make her paranoid. Elliot would probably make her see a shrink if he knew what she was thinking. Shaking her head, she strode towards the office.

Elliot glanced up when the doors opened, and smiled when he saw Olivia.

"Hey," he greeted.

She smiled pleasantly. "Hey," she replied. She came around to his side of the desk and plopped the white plastic bag she was carrying on his desk before going to her locker.

He rooted through it, inspecting the contents. "Chicken and cashews…yum," he commented, continuing to poke through the numerous boxes. "Shrimp fried rice….double yum. Egg drop soup…"

She heard the change in his voice and turned around, grinning. He hated egg drop soup.

He wrinkled his nose and sniffed indignantly. "You can have that."

"Thanks," she said sarcastically.

He laughed. Rolling her eyes, Olivia grabbed the bag and headed for the refrigerator.

"Wait, hold it," Elliot said, hastily scribbling something on a piece of paper. He ripped a piece of scotch tape off of the dispenser on her side of the desk and came over to her.

She looked at him in confusion. He taped the piece of paper to the bag. "There," he said triumphantly. "Have to protect the valuables."

Looking suspiciously at him, she peered down at the piece of paper.

Property of Olivia and Elliot- Touch this bag and you will die

She shook her head and laughed before setting the bag in the refrigerator. Elliot reached around her and made a show of pushing it to the very back, moving cans and jars around to hide it from view.

"I think it's safe," she said in amusement, watching him rearrange the contents again.

He stepped back and surveyed his work, nodding in approval.

There were no cases waiting that morning, so they took advantage of the temporary lull and attempted to tackle the seemingly never ending paperwork stack.

Olivia couldn't hold back her giggles as she concentrated on her report. Elliot's eyes were following every person who went toward the refrigerator, watching like a hawk. He had been on the same page for five minutes and had yet to make a pen mark.

Cragen came out of his office. "Elliot," he said, catching his eye. "Can you bring us up to speed on the information you got from ATF?"

"Sure," he said, putting his pen down. He reached for the top desk drawer, but suddenly stopped.

"Wait," he said, remembering. "No…Sean has the notes from the meeting on his palm pilot." A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Hey, where is he, anyway?"

Don shrugged. "He hasn't come in since I've been here," he said. "Call him; find out what his plans are for today."

It wasn't spoken like a request, and Elliot didn't take it as one. He grabbed the Post-It note that had his brother's hotel number on it and picked up the phone.

"Sean Stabler, please," he said into the receiver. A minute passed. "Hey," he said, having obviously gotten connected. "Where are you?"

He listened a minute. "Well, we need the notes from yesterday's meeting so we can get a jump start on this…no, I figured yours would be enough…." He rolled his eyes, his tone annoyed.

"Why?" he asked. "I have…" He sighed irritably after a minute and curtly said, "Hang on."

He held the phone out. "He wants to talk to you," he said to Cragen in a no-nonsense voice.

Don looked confused as he took the receiver from Elliot. "Hello," he said. He listened for a minute. "Alright….ok, sure….uh-huh….well, can you get them to Elliot sometime before then? We need to go over…..yeah….sure. Thanks." He handed the receiver back and nodded at Elliot to hang it up.

They all looked at the captain expectantly. "He says Chief Hammond called an emergency meeting this morning in Jersey," he reported. "He's headed there now, but says he can drop the notes at your apartment in about twenty minutes before he leaves."

Elliot sighed inwardly. He was really not looking forward to having to drive all the way back to Queens after having just left.

The captain had other ideas, however. "You can head there on your lunch break," he told Elliot. "Right now, I want you two to go talk to CSU…see what they have on the scene from yesterday."

He turned to Munch and Fin. "You guys dig up any information you can find on homicides involving prostitutes in the last two years…maybe we'll get lucky and find a connection somewhere."

They nodded. "Keep me posted," Don said, and headed back to his office.

"Oh, goody," John mumbled sarcastically, once the captain was out of earshot. "Just what I love to do….a paper trail."

Elliot looked at Olivia glumly as they stood up. "Looks like Chinese is out," he said bitterly. "Again."

She smiled sympathetically at him as they headed for the doors.

As they drove, Olivia filled her partner in on the findings from the morgue the day before. "…and when we looked inside, there was lighter fluid inside her mouth," she finished.

Elliot almost slammed on the brakes. "What?" he screeched, jerking his head toward her. "You're not serious."

She grimaced. "Yeah," she said. "That was my reaction, too."

He blew out a breath slowly. "Man," he said quietly. "I hope we get a break soon…there's no telling how far this could go."

The meeting with the CSU technicians ended up to be fruitless. The team had no further leads besides the ones that the detectives already knew about. They promised to call the minute anything new developed.

Olivia sighed as they walked back out into the bright sunshine, instantly shivering at the contrast of the blazing heat to the frigid air-conditioned building. "I hate days like this," she grumbled as they walked down the front steps. "It makes me feel so useless."

Elliot nodded his agreement. "I hear you," he said. He checked his watch as they approached the car. "Hey, you mind if we swing by my place to get those notes?" he asked. "Seeing as we're already out anyway…we can get started on the case faster."

She shrugged. "Yeah, why not?" she said. "I'll call captain and let him know."

She pulled out her cell phone as they pulled back onto the street. "Hey…wait a minute," she said after a minute, pausing before pressing the first digit. Turning in her seat, she looked at Elliot accusingly. "You just want to go there now so you can eat that Chinese food at lunchtime, don't you?"

He had never been able to pull off an innocent look when he was called on the carpet, and she knew it. But he tried anyway, knowing that it would fall flat even as he did it.

Cracking under her look, Elliot burst out laughing. Olivia tried to remain stern, but couldn't keep it up….her partner had the most contagious laugh she had ever heard. Soon she was giggling.

"You dirty liar," she gasped out. "You couldn't give a shit about the case…all you're thinking about is your damn stomach."

He shrugged, his shoulders shaking from laughing so hard. "Give me a break," he said. "I've been craving that stuff since you called me last night…don't torture me."

She shook her head and grinned, but his words had reminded her suddenly of the dream she'd had that morning. Goosebumps rose instantly on her skin.

They arrived at the complex fifteen minutes later. Olivia followed him inside as went to the front desk to get his mailbox key. The small box was stuffed.

"Geez," she commented, watching him attempt to dig out all of the papers and envelopes. "When is the last time you checked your mail?"

He gave her a lopsided smirk, keeping his attention on the pile in his arms so that it wouldn't go sliding to the floor. "So it's been a while," he said defensively. "It's not like I don't have a life, you know…I am an eligible bachelor."

She laughed. "Right," she said. "I'm sure you've got women lined up around the block for you every night." Reaching over, she grabbed a portion of the stack he was juggling before it could fall.

He smiled gratefully at her, but kept up the ribbing. "Oh, yeah," he scoffed, rolling his eyes. "A pity line, maybe." He gestured with his shoulder for her to follow him. "Come on…let me drop this upstairs."

She followed after him dutifully, but her thoughts were on his words. He hadn't sounded like he was kidding, and she was surprised. It had been a year since he and Kathy had officially divorced, but he had made no effort to get back into the dating scene, at least from what she saw.

She never pushed him about it. Even she knew that one couldn't just bounce back after having a twenty-year commitment suddenly vanish. It surprised her, though, to think that he might believe he wasn't good enough for another woman.

For one thing, he was incredibly attractive. He was muscular and in terrific shape, and his smile could make a person melt in a two seconds. His face was still youthful and full of boyish charm, and his eyes were breathtaking. It was hard to miss the looks of envy on woman's faces whenever they were together on the job, and a small part of her secretly enjoyed making them think he was hers.

Her face flushed at the thoughts, but what could she do? Despite being his best friend, she was still a woman and could appreciate a handsome man as much as any female.

But what made him so wonderful, at least to her, had nothing to do with his physical appearance. It was his natural charm that was most appealing. He was one of the few men she had ever known who was a true gentleman and still did things like open doors and offer his coat to a woman regardless of whether she was a stranger or an acquaintance. There was a sweet side of him that no one in the office had the opportunity to see, but she had gotten a glimpse and knew right then and there that he was one of a kind.

Elliot didn't know how wrong he was. Any woman who managed to snag him would be the luckiest woman in the world….she couldn't believe that Kathy had let him get away.

"Liv?"

She was startled to find herself inside his apartment. She had been completely zoned out. Snapping out of it, she shook herself quickly. Elliot was looking at her in amusement. "You still with me?" he joked.

"Yeah," she said quickly. She ducked her face to hide her blush and playfully shoved his arm. "Come on, hurry up."

"Patience, patience," he chided, picking Sean's notes from the stack of mail and pushing the rest aside. He folded them and put them in his pocket. "Alright, let's go."

She waited for him to lock the door, and they headed down the hall together.

He had just pushed the door open when a loud shrieking noise made him jump. Olivia looked around in surprise. "What is that?" she asked frantically.

His stomach dropped to the floor, and he felt blood rush to his face as he looked at her. Her eyes widened as she caught on, and he knew she was thinking exactly the same thing he was.

"It's the fire alarm."