And there they stood, Elliot's arms tightly around Olivia, her face against his chest, his chin against her head.

And only the wind around them sang its sorrowful song, caressing the little boy's soft hair, where life had flowed strong just little while ago.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Olivia was lying in her bed staring at the ceiling. She was dead tired, but sleep had left her eyes just as life had left little Oliver's body. The sight on the field had seared into her retinas and didn't leave her alone, and if she closed her eyes, it only made it worse.

She had only stayed at the farm for two days. Two days. In that time, she had met Elliot, James, who she thought was dead, and who couldn't remember who he was, and found a brutally murdered 7-year-old boy in the middle of a dark field. She had worked many times undercover, so the toughness of the cases did not come as a surprise to her.

But this…

She turned onto her side, sighing uneasily, and thought of Oliver's mother. She and Elliot had reluctantly left the boy's body in the field and run to the farmyard to tell the sheriff. When they had arrived at the yard, they had seen a crying Julia, and Olivia had had to prepare again for a situation that she had been in many times, but every time it broke her heart.

How do you tell parents that their child is dead?

"We found Oliver."

"Oh my God, where?"

"He's… I'm so sorry."

"No. No no no… No! NO!

The memory made a lump rise in her throat, and she wiped her eyes. She and Elliot had guided the sheriff to the place where the body was found and answered his questions afterwards. Olivia's brain had been constantly trying to shut itself down, to protect her from all of this, but she had managed to answer at least somewhat sensibly.

"I'll inform your Captain."

And when the initial shock had subsided, it had hit her. Guilt. Not the kind of guilt you feel when you've crashed someone else's car, or you're late for an important meeting. It was the kind of guilt that felt like a ton of weight on a chest, gnawing at every cell in a body, and blocked a breath.

I'm here because I'm supposed to protect these children.

Not because I dance with Elliot, and in the meantime a kid disappears and dies

.

Cragen is right, this is my last chance and if I screw it up, I rightfully deserve the consequences.

I failed him.

I failed Oliver and his mother.

His blood is on my hands.

"Liv?"

A voice from the darkness interrupted her thoughts, and she swallowed.

"Go to sleep, Elliot. I'm fine."

"Yeah? I don't even need my memory to realize that was a lie. Can I… Can I come in?"

No.

"Yeah. "

The hell?! Why did you say…

But then the door opened, and Elliot's dark figure entered the room, and suddenly it felt like her every cell in her body was begging him to stay. He stood in the doorway as if he didn't know what to do, and Olivia sat up in her bed.

"Are you okay?"

"Well, I think if I answer "I'm fine" now, it's as big a lie as you told me," he sighed, shrugging his shoulders and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I… Have I seen dead bodies before?"

"Countless times," Olivia answered quietly.

"Children too?"

"Yeah."

Elliot nodded and swallowed hard, and Olivia pressed her chin against her knees.

"I thought so. This was the first time I remember seeing a child's body, but somehow... Somehow it didn't seem to surprise me, you know? I mean, it was terrible, but…"

"I know. This job... In this job you see all kinds of things. Horrible, absolutely mad and terrible things that no one should have to see or experience. It... It hardens the heart."

"Yeah..." Elliot lifted his feet from the floor and leaned against the wall. They sat quietly, each on their own side of the bed, just breathing and staring at the dark room in front of them. But still, something about it felt reassuring, comforting, right. They weren't alone, they had survived the horrors they had faced before this too.

Because in the end, they had each other. Two souls who understood each other in a way others didn't.

"Do you think that an animal killed Oliver?" Olivia's voice broke the silence, and she turned to look at her former partner for the first time.

"The sheriff and the farm owners would say yes," he turned his gaze to Olivia. Based on the marks on Oliver's body, the sheriff had announced that it was a cougar attack. Those animals were rare in the area, but they were seen occasionally, and the wounds matched them. He had explained to shocked travelers and farm workers that Oliver had gone the wrong way in the dark yard and encountered a cougar that had dragged him to the field.

"But if you ask me... I don't think so. No one has seen a cougar near the farm for many years. How likely is it that one would attack a little boy in a farmyard and drag him a mile away? No, I'd say someone abducted him, killed him and left him somewhere far away, where an animal, possibly the rare cougar, found him and thought that he was its lunch."

"Yeah... The murderer was lucky if this happened. Or... Maybe it's a cougar after all? Maybe it kills children?"

"A cougar that punctures children like with a knife them and chokes them underwater? I don't think so."

Then they fell silent again, and Olivia could almost hear Elliot thinking hard. However, something in his presence had started the nervousness and guilt raging inside her to ease and give way to the sleep that began to spread into her limbs. Her eyelids suddenly felt heavy, and she closed them. She heard Elliot's quiet voice from somewhere in the distance, but she was no longer aware of his words.

"Olivia? Did you hear me?"

"W-what?"

"Do you want to sleep?"

"I… Uh… Maybe. But if you want to talk…"

"No, it's okay. I let you sleep," he said and was about to get out of the bed, but that's when Olivia felt as if another force was controlling her body from within, and she grabbed his arm.

"No! You… You can stay."

Okay, Benson, you're on thin ice…

She could almost hear Elliot raise his eyebrows.

"Really?"

"I… If you want. I think the bed is more comfortable and…"

But she didn't have time to say any more as Elliot laid back down the bed and pulled the blanket over him. Olivia was glad that the bed was a double bed, and the blanket was for two people, because otherwise…

"Night, El," she mumbled and closed her eyes as she turned her back towards him.

"Night, Liv."

They didn't touch each other, there was an invisible fence between them that prevented them from entwining each other. But Elliot's calm breathing and his warmth under the blanket caused an inexplicable sense of peace to settle in Olivia's heart, and with a light smile on her face, she drifted into a much-needed sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Olivia hadn't been asleep for long when a strange voice intruded on her sleep. It was low, menacing, and it resembled…

Growling.

The beast has gotten into the house.

She opened her eyes with a violent flinch and realized that the voice was still there. For a couple of seconds, she lay unmoved as if paralyzed with terror, but the further the dream escaped, the better her brain began to function. And finally she realized that the voice wasn't a beast, it was Elliot snoring.

Except you don't know what kind of beast Elliot is in b-…

Yeah, okay. Shut up now.

She rubbed her eyes and watched the dark room. She hadn't looked at the clock before falling asleep, but she figured she'd only slept for a couple of hours. It was still as dark outside, and the fatigue still weighed heavily on her body.

Then her gaze shifted to Elliot's sleeping figure. He was sleeping on his back, hands behind his head, breathing calmly. It was warm under the blanket, and Olivia laid back down, her eyes still on her old partner. The thought of him being alive and sleeping in the same bed with her felt almost insane, and she had to use all her willpower to prevent herself from touching him.

"I can't lose you, Liv."

The words echoed in her head, and she closed her eyes. The way he had said it, the way he had touched her… Cold shivers still ran down her spine. His touch had made her forget everything else, and even though she tried to deny it to herself, it had only made her want it more.

I wonder if he's right.

If children are not killed by animals, but by a murderer who is on the loose...

And then she suddenly remembered the little warehouse Elliot had shown her on the first day. It had been located approximately where Oliver's body had been found, but it was not visible from the road, but was a little further behind the trees.

How did we forget to check it?

If the murderer…

She sat up in bed and looked at Elliot. He was in a sound sleep, so restful that Olivia didn't dare to wake him, despite her will. But she knew she had to go check the warehouse. She had to.

Your last chance.

She hadn't been able to save Oliver, and that was why she had to be able to find out what had happened to him. She owed it to him.

And as silently as a shadow, she got out of the bed, opened the bedroom door, and after one last look at Elliot, pulled on her shirt and pants, grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen table and disappeared into the dark night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Elliot wasn't sure what had woken him, but something shook the restful sleep from his body, and he turned onto his side with a grunt. However, despite his efforts, sleep didn't return as he had hoped, but began to turn into restlessness, and he decided to focus on his surroundings to calm his mind.

I'm in my bed.

With Olivia.

The thought inevitably made a smile to spread across his face, and he waited to hear her calm breathing.

But he couldn't hear anything.

He held his breath and tried to listen more carefully, but he didn't hear a sound. It was like he would have been in the room…

Alone.

He opened his eyes and tried to see in front of him, but his vision was blurry from sleep and the room was dark, so he reached out his hand. But the only thing his hand hit was a cold pillow and a rumpled blanket.

She's not here.

Feeling his heart rate quicken, he got out of the bed and stumbled to the door, expecting to see his former partner sleeping on the sofa. However, his heart stopped when the sofa also waited lonely in the living room.

"Olivia?"

The bathroom was also empty, as was the kitchen. Panic started to burn in his throat, and he returned to the bedroom, turned on the lights and realized her phone was still on the nightstand.

And then he realized that he had been in a similar situation before.

Grand Central Terminal.

Merritt Rook.

Olivia missing.

And the same distress he had felt then, which had squeezed painfully his every cell, felt more real in the dark night than ever.