Elliot was angry, extremely angry but not at her, never at her, Olivia had just been the messenger of a horrible accusation against him which was totally insane. He was just relieved that Olivia knew he'd never do it, not that he'd ever believe that she'd feel any different, they had been together for 8 years, married for 3 and sense he retired they hardly fought anymore because the fact was work was always the reason for 99% of their disagreements and with work out of the equation for him disagreements were pretty much out of the equation to.

He noticed after a few minutes of stroking her hair, rubbing her back and being careful not to show her an ounce of the anger that he possessed inside of him towards Rafael Barba, a man that he didn't even know that her silent crying had stopped thank god... He thought to himself as he softly sighed in relief "you ok sweetheart?"

She nodded "yeah sorry about that El I guess i just needed a cry."

He shook his head "no no it's ok, we all need to cry every once and a while.. It's perfectly normal and I know you were sorta scared to tell me.."

She nodded her head some as Elliot nodded "I could tell.. I know you better than I think you know yourself sometimes, and yes I'm angry, trust me I am, but I'm not the least bit upset at you."

She nodded "I know, I guess I..." She hesitated.

"What is it sweetheart? You can tell me."

She nodded and sighed "You know that saying don't shoot the messenger?"

He nodded "yeah."

She nodded "I guess I was worried that that would happen, not in the literal sense of the words" she clarified and chuckled.

He smiled, chuckled and nodded "I understand what your saying sweetheart, and don't worry we'll work through this mess with your coworkers tomorrow, we'll end this gossip once and for all.

She nodded "at this point I'd love that, really i used to not care but they crossed lines tonight."

He nodded "I know they did hey you wanna talk about the case? You sounded really stressed when i called you about Izzabella." Liv sighs and nods "yeah i am... This case.. It's just really gotten to me, if you saw the crime scene photos..

"You can tell me Liv i promise i'm alright, I can handle it".

She nodded her head as he started to rub her back again "the guys name is William Lewis, he's as bad as they come, he's lived in Maryland Alabama and several other states and in all those states he's kidnapped women there, some were old girlfriends, some were old defense lawyers He takes them to a secluded spot, brands them with lit cigarettes, keys, any metal objects he can get a hold of, tortures them for days, force feeds them drugs and alcohol, rapes them then finally leaves them for dead and he might get off tomorrow thanks to the labs screw up.

He sighed "I'm sorry Liv, That's gotta be tough in my 16 years there I never saw 1 that bad." She nodded "yeah I know , you know I interrogated the guy?"

Elliot shook his head "how'd that go? Did he confess? We used to be the best at making perps confess" he said as his mind flashed back to some of their older memories in the interrogation room with perps.

She nodded and shivered some "oh he confessed alright, he more than confessed"

Elliot frowned not liking the sound of that or the way she shivered in his arms "what happened in their honey?"

She frowned "he showed me what a sick, evil man he is, he confessed to me what he did to the last woman he held captive in graphic detail."

Elliot nodded "what else?" He asked knowing that perps had done that before and it hadn't shaken her up like this meaning there had to be more to it.

She shook her head "that's it, after he was through i went and showered, really needed 1", she chuckled slightly trying to move the conversation along.

Elliot shook his head not taking the bait "what else?"

She sighed knowing she had to tell him "he told me that I should be so lucky someone does that to me"

"What!? He said what!? Cragen better have handled him! That bastard better not be let out! Elliot ranted angrily as this was an anger that he just couldn't hide.

"Elliot, Elliot please calm down El I'm here, I'm safe I promise."

"s-sorry honey, sorry I yelled I-i'm not mad at you... It's just not okay what he said please tell me something was done about it? Put on the file about it?"

She shook her head and sighed "not officially no but Amaro was in there, he heard it and he stopped him before he said anything else."

Elliot sighed "Olivia you should have told Cragen.. If he doesn't end up going to prison you've gotta promise me that you'll tell him."

"El..." I'm okay I promise."

He nodded "yeah you are right now but I know you wont let me keep you in my arms forever so that's the next best thing. Please Olivia, please I never beg but I will beg for this..."

She sighed in exasperation "okay Elliot, okay if he gets the mistrial tomorrow I'll let Cragen know."

He nodded "thank you Olivia, I know you don't want to but thank you" he said as he kissed her tenderly "what exactly did the lab do wrong anyway?"

She sighed "I guess they were in a hurry when they tested the DNA and they tested his DNA on the same trey as the DNA from Alice Parkers apartment. Just a simple accident that probably costed us our case."

He nodded "I'm sorry honey... You know maybe it wont cost you your case I mean even if they exclude his DNA as evidence they still have the confession he made to you right?"

She shook her head "sadly no as we were rapping it up his lawyer walked in and he said that it was all hypothetical and that he had told us we weren't allowed to talk to him."

He nodded his head "I'm sorry..." He said softly as he just rubbed her back not sure what else to say but wanting to still listen "it's not your fault El really but sometimes i wander why i even still do this job, i think about cases like this , the victims that i was so close to being able to help but was just a fraction of a second to late and it makes me want to put in my papers and for me and you to just run to Florida with Izzabella, i mean after all we'd be with your other 4 kids then to",

He nodded "I get it honey, you know i'd support you in anything you do but make sure that before you decide on anything that you can answer no to 1 question".

"What question is that?"

"Would you regret it". Elliot said softly.

She nodded her head "I'll think about it for a while she said as she yawned , exhaustion taking over as she laid her head back on his chest and fell asleep.

1 hour later.

Elliot gently tapped her on the shoulder "honey? He said softly "mmm 5 more minutes." He slightly chuckled "honey you must be hungry", she shook her head slightly "nnhnn your to comfy" she mumbled as she nuzzled further into his arms. "come on please? For me? My chest will be here and waiting when your done besides I'm hungry to, I waited for you remember?"

She nodded and sighed "mmhmm I remember... alright I'll move for you, I don't want you to be hungry" she said as she stretched then raised up off his chest.

Elliot smiled and went to fix their plates "maybe after we eat I can give you something better than snuggle time on my chest if you want" he said in a suggestive tone.

That perked her interest as she became more awake "and what would that be?"

"Lets eat our dinner then i'll gladly show you" he said with a smirk as she nodded and sighed in contentment while waiting on him to bring over their food.

"You know I've gotta say the 1 thing I've loved most about you turning into a recluse is you've mastered how to make some of the best food I've ever had" Liv said after taking her plate from him and eating a few bites.

"Thanks honey although I think you give me to much credit, it's not like it's chef material." He said in a slight chuckle as he finished the bite of food he was eating then playfully stole a garlic stick off of her plate.

"I think it is!" She said excitedly "and just think about how much money we save now that we're not eating Chinese takeout every day." she said as she smiled seeing him eating her garlic stick as she returned the favor stealing a piece of chicken off of his plate.

"You have a good point there" he said with a smile as they then fed each other the last 2 bites of food on their plates playfully then headed to the kitchen together to put their plates in the dishwasher and put away the leftover food in the fridge.

"So now that we're fed you owe me whatever you said would be better than snuggle time on your chest" Olivia said as she had a look of pure desire on her face.

"Oh how could I forget" he said softly as he picked her up and carried her into their bedroom bridal style as he then gently laid her down on the bed and stepped away "hey where you going?!"

"Just trust me love, just trust me" he said as he lathered his hands in her favorite lotion then walked back over to the bed.

Once her clothes were off he proceeded to give her a full body massage "ahhh right there... that feels so good" she moaned as she relaxed into his touch and once he was finally through relaxing all of her tense muscles he removed his clothes and they made love tenderly.

"Was that better than a simple cuddle on the couch?" He asked softly once they were both down from their highs.

"Most definitely El, this turned out to be a really good evening, so much better than i thought it would be when i first got here she murmured contentedly as she laid cradled in his arms, her face buried in his chest almost asleep.

He smiled "I'm really glad my love, I'm really glad that we were able to talk and get some of that weight off your shoulders, I love you", he whispered but there was no response because she was already asleep as he smiled, kissed her head affectionately then fell into a deep sleep himself.