Author's note: I completely forgot to cross-post this! Anyway, I said on Twitter that I had seen so much on social media over the past several months about Olivia and Elliot from the Law & Order shows that I could probably write a halfway decent fanfic about them without ever having seen a single episode. This is the result of that self-given challenge. All credit for accuracy goes to the barrage of posts from social media pals who are obsessed with SVU and OC. :)


Olivia had just finished pouring herself a glass of wine when she heard a knock at the door. She wasn't expecting company and hoped that the noise wouldn't wake Noah.

She left the glass on the countertop and went to find out who thought it was a good idea to show up at ten o'clock at night on a weeknight.

Olivia opened the door.

She didn't expect to see Elliot Stabler there, clean-shaven and standing tall, with no visible traces of his stint as Eddie Ashes.

Olivia almost thought she was hallucinating at first. The last time he'd been in her hallway, he'd barely been able to keep his balance long enough to make it into her apartment.

"It's late," Olivia said, not sure if she wanted to let him in. When he'd shown up at her place unexpectedly before, he was a mess and she barely held it together.

She didn't have the energy to deal with something like that right now. Not after her last case.

She didn't have the luxury to lose herself in emotion.

"Can I come in, Liv?"

"Not for long."

He gave a brief nod of his head, accepting the boundary she'd drawn without question, and followed her inside to her living room.

When they moved into the room, Olivia turned to face him, the lines of his face and the blue of his eyes as familiar as anything she'd known.

Elliot Stabler still counted as the longest relationship she ever had, even though she thought that bridge was burned long ago when he left without a word and disappeared for years.

The fact that he was back, now...after all this time...stirred up emotions she wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with.

Elliot was once the person she knew best in the entire world, but the years he was away might have turned him into someone she didn't know. She didn't have enough time to learn who this new version of Elliot was before he went deep undercover and turned into someone else entirely.

"So," she said, "You're here."

There was too much emotion in his eyes when he looked at her. It made her think of the way he clung to her when dangerously high like she was his anchor. It made her think of the way his thumb brushed the corner of her lips when he reached for her.

It made her think of too many words left unsaid.

"I am," he agreed.

"And you shaved the beard," she commented, not sure what else to say.

Without meaning to, she lifted her hand to touch his cheek just like she did when she asked him to come home...to not get lost in the character of Eddie Ashes. This time when she went to pull away, he pressed her hand to his cheek with his own.

"I did."

They stood there for a moment, Elliot's warm skin above and below her hand.

"Looks good," she admitted.

He moved his hand and hers dropped to her side.

A part of her wanted to move into his arms and lose herself in the sensation, but Olivia knew that would be skipping around a thousand steps.

There was about a decade of space they needed to broach and tragedies of their own they needed to deal with before she could even consider letting him into her life the way she wanted to.

She still didn't trust him not to disappear on her again.

It would take time and Olivia had accepted that.

Something about Elliot Stabler being a core part of her life again felt inevitable. It didn't escape her notice that ever since he moved back to New York, the ties between them had been growing back. His kids, his mother, overlapping cases...it didn't matter that they were no longer partners. There was no ignoring the pull she felt towards him. It felt like gravity.

"What are you doing here, Elliot?" she asked. "It's late, Noah's asleep -"

"I know," he interrupted. "This won't take long. I just needed to see you."

Olivia felt a tug on her heart at his words and tried not to let it show.

"Like you said," Elliot continued, "it's late. I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I'm home, for good."

He said the word home like it was in italics and looked at her like she was included in the concept.

Elliot reached out for her hand and squeezed it.

"I'm not leaving again," he promised.

"Good," she managed to say, throat choking up with unexpressed emotions.

He turned their hands until their fingers interlaced together and moved a thumb over her skin.

She thought about the line he'd scrawled on that letter, about how in a parallel universe they'd be together. It felt like she'd stumbled into that parallel universe somehow...one where Elliot Stabler held her hand and considered her part of his concept of home and looked at her like he was thinking about kissing her.

He made Olivia want to skip all those conversations they probably needed to have.

"I'm glad you're home now," she said instead. "I'm glad you're home and okay and that..."

Olivia was just so glad that she hadn't lost him to the undercover operation right after she'd gotten him back again.

"Me too," Elliot replied.

He dropped his hand and she immediately missed its warmth.

"I should let you head to bed, get some rest."

Olivia didn't think she'd be able to get to sleep. Her mind would be running through the details of his visit.

There wasn't a reason for Elliot to stay, though, so she murmured a thanks and told him she was glad he'd stopped by.

Olivia walked Elliot to the door.

She did her best to ignore how close they stood in the hallway. Elliot reached out and opened the door.

"Hey, El."

He turned around and she thought she saw longing in his face. She wondered if her face reflected the same emotion.

"We should grab coffee sometime," she offered, determined to repay his gesture tonight with one of her own. "Maybe talk about parallel universes."

He grinned at her and it was almost Olivia's undoing. She missed that smile.

"Anytime, Liv."

Elliot said goodbye and closed the door behind him. After he left, Olivia leaned back against the wood.

She felt something she hadn't felt in a long time - hope.