Benson Residence
Manhattan, NY
May 22nd

The next morning he woke up to a small clinking sound coming from the kitchen. He got up and went out to see what it was. He walked into the kitchen and found Olivia fixing a cup of coffee. She was wearing pajama bottoms and a small black tang top. He suddenly felt drawn to her in a way he couldn't explain. She turned around and found him standing there in nothing but his boxers. Her eyes skimmed over his broad muscular chest. She could see every muscle through the sparse hair that grew on his chest. She had seen him without his shirt on many times before, but it had never been like this. She thought about how it would feel to have her body pressed up against his. She suddenly realized what she was talking about. She had to snap back in to reality. He was her partner, she couldn't think about him that way, but she could dream couldn't she?

"Morning," she said with a smile. That smile, that beautiful smile. He was mesmerized by it. He suddenly felt tingley all over. "El, you ok?" She said. He finally snapped out of it.

"Yeah, Morning. I just need my caffeine fix."

"Well here then," she said handing him a cup of coffee.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Yeah, best I've slept in a while."

"I was gonna let you sleep in a little bit longer. You looked so peaceful."

"Mmmmmmmmm," He hummed taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well you should go," A look of confusion came across his face. He thought she didn't want him around anymore. "We have to go to work. Remember?"

"Oh yeah, well then I'll see you at work." He went and put on his clothes. "Bye, Liv" he said before leaving.

SVU Squad room

Elliot walked into the squad room looking better than he had in months.

"Morning," he said. Fin and Munch looked at him with a look of shock and surprise pasted on their face.

"What's gotten into you?" asked Munch.

"Nothing. Why, is there something wrong?"

"No," he replied. " But you do look a lot better than you did yesterday."

"Yeah and the past few months," piped Fin.

"Well I got a little more sleep than I usually do last night. Maybe it was that."

"Well whatever you did, you should do it more often. I was starting to get tired of seeing your moppy face and your mood swings," said Munch. Elliot laughed at this statement, but the more he thought about it he figured that maybe Olivia was good for him. He had only spent a night in her bed, with the mere scent of her, and it had worked wonders on him.

The rest of the day they all spent their time trying to convince some hookers, any hooker of cooperating with them. But they were either too scared or they just didn't trust them.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Munch. "No hooker is willing to through with our plan."

"You're right, anybody got any other ideas?" asked Cragen.

"How 'bout we send someone in. Like one of us," Fin suggested.

"Yeah but who?" asked Cragen. Everyone looked towards Olivia.

"What me?" she asked. "Oh no, no, no, not me," she said putting her hands up defensively and shaking her head. Everyone continued to look at her.

"Livia…" said Cragen.

"No, no, and hmm let me think. No!"

"Livia, you're the only one with the looks and the skill to get the job done."

"But why me? Why can't we send one of the boys in as drag."

"Again Liv, looks and skill."

"Yea would you pick Munch here up if he was in drag?" Fin asked.

"Of course not! Come to think of it I would not like to see what Munchy here would look like as drag." She grinned slyly. "But then again I wouldn't have to pick anybody up," she sassed. Everyone laughed at this.

"Ha, ha, ha, you guys very funny. So Olivia you gonna do this or not?" Munch asked.

" Fine, but I better be getting paid extra for this."

"Alright, so is every body Ok with this?" Cragen asked. He looked over at Elliot who hadn't said anything the whole time.

Elliot hadn't been paying attention to anything that had been going on. He had received a disturbing phone call from his lawyer earlier that evening and had been unable to focus the rest of the day.

"Elliot?" Cragen repeated.

"Oh, huh, yeah Cap?" Elliot stammered.

" So are you Ok with this?"

"Sure," he nodded. Once Cragen stepped away he went over to Fin. "What exactly did he want know if I was Ok with?" he asked

"With Olivia playing a hooker. Where've you been man?"

"No where." He answered quietly. He wasn't ok with Olivia playing a hooker.

"So are you Ok with this or are you gonna play my big overprotective partner?" she teased. When she noticed he wasn't answering she suddenly became serious. "Elliot?"

Elliot snapped back into reality. "Oh no. You always know I'm gonna look out for you no matter what you do." He smiled.

"You guys gonna be Ok with this?" Cragen asked. Respecting the kind of relationship Elliot and Olivia had, and how possessive he was of her.

"Yea," Elliot answered. Knowing the question was more directed towards him.

"Well I think we should call it a day. Everyone go home and be back tomorrow to catch this guy," Cragen said before heading to his office.

Everyone began to pick up their things when Olivia noticed something was still bothering Elliot. "El, you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired."

"Ok, well you know if you wanna talk."

"Yeah I know. See ya later."

"See ya."

She knew something more was wrong with him, but she wasn't going to drag him back to her apartment again. If he wanted help he was going to have to make the effort and take a step in helping himself. She grabbed her things and left without another word.

Benson Residence

Olivia sat curled up on her couch watching TV, drinking a beer when she heard a knock at the door. She got up and went to answer it.

"Who is it?"

"It's me."

"Elliot?" She looked through the peephole and saw him standing there. She hadn't expected him to come so soon. She would have given him at least a couple of days. She opened the door and let him in. "You want something to drink?" she asked as he walked in to the room.

"Sure," he said taking a seat on the couch. She got him a beer and sat next to him.

"I wasn't interrupting anything was I?"

She glanced at the TV. "Oh no just trying to catch up on my shows," she said flipping the TV off, and handing him his beer.

"Like what?"

"Gilmore Girls."

"Gilmore Girls? Liv my daughters watch that show."

"So what, its very entertaining, you know. Now Enough about what I watch. So what's up?"

"What else do you watch?"

"Nothing. So what's the matter? You seemed kind of out of it this afternoon." He took a sip and sat there in silence. "Elliot common. I know you're here to talk so why don't you just spill?" she said softly so as not to startle him or cause him to retreat.

"Kathy is suing for sole custody of the kids. Says I won't be seeing them much so she might as well have full control of them."

"Elliot I'm so sorry." She said putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"What am I gonna do? She's taking away my kids. My babies, Liv. They're all I have."

"What do you mean what are you going to do. You're going to fight back. Talk to Casey, I'm pretty sure she can find someone good enough to help you and if she can't I'm pretty sure she'll do it herself. She can't do this. They're just as much your kids as they are hers, and you have to fight for them El, you have to."

"Thanks Liv. I just… I just don't understand how she could be so cruel?"

"I don't know, El. Really I don't know," She said pulling him into ha hug.

He loved holding her in his arms. She felt so good there. He pulled away from her so he could look at her. He brushed his lips gently over hers. When she didn't pull back he went back for more, deepening the kiss. Her lips parted from the pressure allowing him to slip his tongue in. He began to pull away; sucking on her lips as he went, but she tasted so good he had to go back for more. She realized what was happening and suddenly broke the kiss.

"What?"

"Elliot we can't do this," she said standing up.

"Why?"

"Why? Because we're partners, El! This," She said motioning between them. "Can't go on. I think you should leave."

"No wait, Liv. Lets just forget the kiss. I love talking to you. Please Liv, let me stay."

She was quiet for a moment. Contemplating whether or not this was a good idea. Sure she would love to be in a relationship with Elliot, but she couldn't. Because of work, because he was her partner and her best friend. She wasn't sure if she was ready to lose that for something that just could be. "Nothing about the kiss."

"Fine."

"And no more kissing."

"Got it. Now can you sit back down?"

She sat back down and they spent the rest of the night talking. They forgot about being professional and got personal. Getting to know each other more emotionally and intimately. Learning more about each other better than they had in the past six years.