AN: Sigh...It's been a long 48 hours my friends. I feel like I just got dumped. But not dumped by somebody I'm still in love with or by somebody I hate (Which really means love). Like dumped by a guy who I've decided to remain friends with. Like the break up needed to happen but the relationship would still go on in a new form. I never thought I could be ok with this, but it almost feels good. Bittersweet. I think I like that they may not ever kiss...tear. Okay, who the hell am I fooling. I'm still crying about it.

So anyway, I wrote this chapter before "the hug", and I'm having a hard time posting it, because I almost want to change it. But I want EO to be the right time and the right place, so I can't bring myself to delete it. SO here it is. It's the longest chapter ever, because I just couldn't figure out how to make it two chapters. And well...my brain has been on over drive for like seven days. Focusing is not an easy task at the moment. But if anything hurts right now, it's definitely the spot in my ventral tegmental that I have or had for EO. Somebody pop me an advil.

It's a black day for EO shippers everywhere. Chin up, time heals everything.

Jumping the Shark

"Elliot, hold up, I got it."

Lake ran for the mini van that Elliot was racing towards.

"Keys," Lake yelled as he slapped the door with the palm of his hand.

"My right pocket…," Elliot gasped. His voice was muffled by the frenzy and the sore throat he'd obtained from lack of sleep and large amounts of stress.

The cool November air hit Olivia's face and her eyes blinked open. She made several confused sounds as Elliot's heart pounded beneath her shivering body.

"Liv," he blurted. "Can you hear me?"

"mm….hu…my head…"

"Stay still, I got yeah," he said trying to keep her neck as braced as possible.

Lake pulled open the back sliding door and quickly pushed the seat into the floor. The two men carefully lifted and laid Olivia in the empty space. Had she been more than slightly aware, her independence would have died of humiliation.

The blanket fell open creating a chill that ran up her damp body.

She grabbed at the cloth and froze in pain from the movement.

"Ah…"

"I got it. I got it," Elliot said as he pushed Chester out of the way and fixed the blanket.

"Where…..what's….," she mumbled.

"Keep still. Relax."

After they got her in the van Elliot noticed the blood on his jacket. He ripped it off and quickly unbuttoned his shirt. The goose bumps raised on his bare arms as the wind blew the white cotton T-shirt to his body and he jumped into the back rolling the blue work shirt into a ball. Olivia turned her neck to the side and groaned from the pain. He could see her shaking.

" Lake, turn up the heat."

"On it," he said from the driver's seat as he revved the engine. "You got her?"

"Hang on."

Carefully he maneuvered himself around Olivia and placed his shirt over the gash on her head. "Okay go."

"Why didn't you get this checked," he whispered half to himself and half to her.

She was so out of it that she couldn't answer him even if she wanted to. The pain was deep. For a brief second she wished she were still unconscious.

Elliot tightened the blanket around her shaking body and held himself over her chest to keep in the warmth. He then placed his hands next to her ears and held her head as still as he could. Her face scrunched up in pain. She took in a few shallow breaths of air and tried to keep herself calm.

"Relax," he breathed. "Tell me what hurts?"

She could see the panic in his eyes. He was trying hard to be her tranquil support, but she was an expert at smelling his fear.

"It wasn't. …bad…it wasn't," she muttered through her heavy eyelids.

"What wasn't bad? Olivia, eyes on me."

"My head…it was fine last night. I'm just dehydra- AHhh…."

Again she winced and the color drained from her face.

"Liv, don't close your eyes. Breathe through it. Eyes on me."

The darkness came and went as her eyes towards a dream. The image of his face faded with each wave of pain.

"Look at me Liv."

She couldn't. "I just need stitches…it's fine."

"Stitches or not you've got a concussion. Eyes up here. Look right up at me," he coached. His thumb rubbed the side of her cheek. "Stay with me, Liv."

She blinked to see him and wished she could think of anything other than the pain shooting down her neck. Each bump of the road was like a jackhammer to her head.

Her moans were dragging. Elliot lightly rubbed the side of her head with his free hand. Her wet hair twisted around his fingers. "Don't think about the pain. We're almost there. Lake you wanna step on it?"

Chester beeped the horn and swerved around the traffic.

"Ow," she gasped.

Elliot held onto to her and balanced the movement, all the while never taking his eyes from hers'.

"Don't stop looking at me."

She held on to him with her eyes.

"That's it. Take a deep breath. Let it go. Talk to me. Tell me about something. Tell me about your last vacation."

She squinted in confusion.

"Okay tell me about you next one."

"Elliot….no…"

"Tell me about Oregon."

"mmmmm," she twisted and moaned.

"Okay…okay, your right, bad topic. Your nephew. Mikey. Tell me about Mikey."

She hated that she was being placed in the victim's seat. He'd have never asked about Mikey if they were having an everyday conversation. "He likes CHiPs."

Elliot smiled. "That's my girl. Teach'em young. What's my favorite episode of 'CHiPs'? "

She held his eyes and took in slow staccato breaths.

"Head over heals," she weakly replied.

He nodded with a hint of light in his eyes. "Why?"

"Sallee….Young," she blinked, holding back a smile.

"First brunette I've ever crushed on."

She gave him a look that made his uncouth thoughts stir with pride.

"Don't look at me like that. You're the one who thought Mel Gibson was hot in Lethal Weapon."

"His ass. His ass was hot."

"Right," Elliot laughed. "Well, I can't help it. Sallee Young was naked in that one film that came out when I was old enough to sneak into the R movies. A young boy's first boob encounter is huge."

"Sicko…" she gently poked almost forgetting the thumping pain in the center of her skull.

"You can't do that and then give the girl a uniform and a gun, it's just not right. But what can I say, liberal brunettes have always fascinated me. Too perfect to talk to. Too sweet to ignore."

Olivia closed her eyes, this time out fear that he'd see her furtive thoughts.

"Hey, what'd I say about that? Don't think about the pain."

Easy for him to say. She wasn't sure what was worse her physical condition or looking into his eyes while they pretended this wasn't flirting. The little piece of emotional hurt that she normally defused so well wielded her strength to look at him and a sickness in her stomach rose to the tip of her head. She scrunched her face to hold back the tears.

"Lake, go faster," Elliot yelled.

"I'm trying bro. Rush hours a bitch. Should of-," he stopped himself. The moment was too sensitive to agitate. Softly he spoke to himself under the sound of the wimpy Japanese horn. "Should have called an ambulance."

BEEP Beep beep Beeeeeeep

"Come on buddy, this isn't Ohio!"

Elliot watched her clenching beneath him. He just kept holding the shirt to her head and rubbing the sides of her face. His touch was like a tonic. She could feel her tears between his skin and hers. The sensation was both relaxing and upsetting.

Elliot let his eyes close as he held her and prayed. His guilty regret burned the vulnerable parts of his psyche. Again he'd let her down. Left her out. Pushed her to the side. Even though it wasn't his job to take care of her, he had always made sure that it was. In the darkness of prayer he was interrupted by the lurid misshapen forms that had become his life.

Three days ago….

"Welcome back Starsky!"

"I thought you were Starsky," Elliot joked.

Olivia placed a whole-wheat bagel and a coffee in front of him and began taking off the many layers of cold weather accessories. "I don't know, which one was bald?"

Elliot stopped in mid bagel de-wrapping to lift his brows in receptive burn fashion. "Excuse me. That would be – Hutch- and he wasn't bald. He was blonde and he had a receding hairline. Big difference!"

"Compared to you're half eaten doughnut hair? Yeah, I could see why that would be inaccurate."

Elliot threw the bagel wrapper with a sarcastic smirk. "You're lucky I owe you Benson."

"You owe me nothing," She lightly smiled sifting through her messages.

"I'm just glad to see you back in that chair."

"Yeah, well I'm glad to be able to see the damn chair."

With mixed feelings of hope and fear they both paused in the moment. Elliot could feel that tingling comfortable tension emanating like a magnetic pull. He took a bit of his bagel and bathed in the familiar awkward silence. "Thanks for the breakfast."

She put down her pen and shortly nodded. "Your welcome."

Before the pause got too long Elliot turned away and grabbed his coat. "Call me if something comes in. I gotta run something over to Warner."

"What case is it for?"

"A personal one."

Elliot opened his eyes. There she lay. Inches from his face. She was calm. Serene. Her eyes were closed and her breath was shallow.

"Hey, Hey, Liv? What'd I say? Don't close your eyes. Liv. Liv!"

She jumped back to life taking focus of his blurred features once again.

" I know I'm not much to look at, but you gotta stay awake."

His distressed face reminded her why she could never shut him out. She swallowed the watery feeling in her mouth and weakly replied ", It's not your breath."

Elliot smiled a little. A tear of exhaustion dropped onto her face.

Lake laughed from the front seat. "Did she just burn you?"

"That she did," Elliot choked, nervously wiping his eye with his shoulder.

"Olivia, you're relentless," Lake smiled.

"Noted," she answered almost inaudibly.

Elliot rubbed the sides of her head in a comforting motion and held onto her.

"You're upset," she softly said to him as they held each other's gaze.

"Don't you worry about me. I'm uninjured and I've got leverage."

The van came to a stop and Lake opened the door.

Before Elliot could even focus on the task at hand, the medics were pulling her from the van and taking her towards the ER wing.

Again his mind went on cruise control.

Two Days ago…..

"Yes dear. No. I don't know when I'll be home. Because I don't."

His hand slapped the cell phone shut.

"That was short," Olivia said from her side of the car.

"Yeah."

Elliot could feel her trying to decide whether or not to question the hostility. For a moment he wished she would bring it up, but she didn't. Which was uncomfortably hard for Elliot to handle. He'd grown increasingly needy for her support recently.

"I'm thinking about taking a vacation," She replied, as to ignore the topic. "Possibly Europe. Maybe Japan. I can't decide. I'd like to take Simon or somebody. I've never been out of the country. It's high time."

He gave her a nod. "I've been a few times. Military mostly. Can't really take a vacation with four kids, a cop's salary, and a wife who refuses to go out of the borrow for fear she'll get lost. Ah…I'm so tired of it all."

Again she ignored him. "I don't think I'd want to do it alone on the first go. Not because I can't read a map, but something about the isolation. Being an outsider and not speaking the language. That and there's something about sharing that with another person…"

Elliot sat in the passenger seat swimming in thoughts of Kathy's blatant disregard of her actions. He was listening to Olivia, but just barely.

"Elliot?"

"Yeah, London. You and Simon. It's a good idea."

Olivia pulled up to the precinct and parked the car. Her eyes rolled and she shook her head in annoyance. "What. What is it, Elliot?"

"Hm?"

He'd turned to look at her. His elbow leaned on the window holding his head onto his shoulders.

"You gonna tell me what's going on with you and Kathy or do I have to pretend like you're listening to me all day?"

He rubbed his face trying to decide if he wanted to use Olivia as his punching bag once again. Like a fist to a glove he slipped into the role. "She's being dishonest with me. Keeping secrets. Denying things. She was seeing another guy when we…ah, forget about all of that, the baby could be somebody else's."

"What?"

"Yeah. Huge."

"Did she tell you that?"

"No. I over heard…Don Sheffield. I can't believe she was seeing that Ned Flanders kiss ass… You know what the worst part is? I think she knows that I over heard and she's intentionally ignoring it. She's walking around the house with this smile on her face like nothing is out of the ordinary and that we're back to normal."

"Well are you…back to normal?"

"If by normal you mean, fighting, then yes."

"Well, Elliot, I don't know what to tell yeah. Talk to her."

With that she abruptly opened the door and headed to the office.

"Hey, did I say something?"

"No."

"Well, wait up."

Olivia hit the stairs at a fast pace and he ran in front of her. "So what if it's not mine?"

"I don't know, Elliot. You made your bed, so lay in it."

He slammed his hand on the glass door and got up in her face. "What's your problem?"

And there it went again. The same old episode playing out like a repetitive dance. Leading and passing. A soft decrescendo roaring into a loud and lengthy instrumental Brazilian Tango, only to simmer into silence. Olivia couldn't handle the same ending again and again. Her anger grew to a boil and she didn't back down.

"You want to know what my problem is? You! Everyday it's always about you. You're so afraid of doing the wrong thing that you can't even decide when it's ok to talk to you're wife. And the biggest problem here, is that every time I give you the answer, I end up failing myself. So, I can't help you any more, Elliot, because like you said….you're a big boy. Now if you don't mind I'd like to get this case wrapped up and head home."

Elliot's hand slid from the door as he speechlessly released the invisible chains from her side. This time he didn't follow her. "I'm gonna go pick up the results from Melinda."

"Fine."

Maureen walked by the open hospital doorway and saw her father sitting on a bench outside. He sat in the cold with a white T-shirt as his only barrier to the bitter chill.

"Dad, what are you doing out here?"

He looked up at her and pulled himself away from his mind. "Thinking."

"It's cold out here. Where's your coat?"

Sullenly he looked down at his shirt and stood up in a trance. "It's in the car."

"Dad, your hand…it's."

Maureen's mouth fell at the sight of the blood on his left hand.

"Liv was….she had an untreated concussion. It's probably nothing. How's your mother?"

"Good. Asking for you. Is Liv here?"

"ER."

Elliot fell back to the bench covering his tears with the palms of his messy hands.

"Dad…," Maureen grabbed her father's cold shoulders and pulled him into her arms. "Dad, it's okay. We're all here. This too will pass."

"How'd you get so cultivated," he sniffed. "Ah, god, you're right. I'm just tired. She's gonna be fine. She's made it through worse. She's a fighter."

"Yeah, mom's tougher than she looks."

Elliot looked at Maureen and weakly blinked the thoughts of Olivia away. "Right…your mom. I guess I should go tend my duties."

"You know, Dad, if you want to be with Liv, I'll tell her you're working."

Elliot threw a look at her. "Why would say something like that?"

"I'm not blind. Dad, go be with Olivia. She doesn't have anybody. Simon's out of town. Fin got a hold of him. She needs you. Besides you'll just upset mom anyway and she needs to rest."

Without another word he rubbed her back and started for the automatic doors. Maureen followed a little concerned by his strange behavior. "Dad, you gonna be okay?"

With his back to her he continued to walk like he was on a mission. "Hold down the fort. I'll come get everybody for dinner."

"Love you Dad."

He went right past intensive care and didn't stop till he hit the rush of the ER.

Olivia lay on a bed in a small room. Her eyes were closed and her arm was hooked up to an IV. The doctor had just finished the last of the stitches.

"How is she?"

"She's lost a lot of blood. I'm a little concerned about the length of time she bled out. She said this happened yesterday, but the details were fuzzy, is that correct?"

"Yes, she was in a car accident. There was a fair amount of blood on her pillow."

"Okay. Well, we'll hook her up to a pint of blood, some fluids, and send her up for a CT Scan."

"CT Scan?"

"Just to make sure. My guess is a skull fracture at the worst. Nothing life threatening. A few weeks of recovery, she'll be as good as new."

"Do you need a donor?"

"For…"

"The blood."

"Why, are you compatible?"

"Yeah."

"Great. That would be great. I'll send a nurse in."

Elliot was left alone with the rise and fall of Olivia's sleep. He grabbed her hand and kissed it lightly.

When the nurse came in she took his blood and it was immediately tested and placed in the spot of the IV.

He sat next to her bed for hours until he felt the presence of her eyes staring up at him.

"Hey," she smiled.

"How you feeling?"

"High."

She half smiled at the light pat he gave the back of her hand.

"You're a piece of work Liv."

"I like to keep you on your feet. What time is it? Shouldn't you be with your family?"

He dropped her hand and almost shrugged. "Probably."

"How's the new addition?"

"He's mine."

The heart monitor next to her beeped and blinked a few times at the sound of it.

"That's good," she replied shortly.

They sat in the silence. Elliot teetered on action and self-control.

"Liv…"

"Hm?"

"Thank you for…everything. I don't say that enough, but you're important to me. More than I ever cared to admit. In the past, I mean."

She searched his eyes for the meaning behind his confession.

"I'm not dieing am I?"

He ignored her humor and grabbed her hand. "We're thicker than blood, Liv. Deeper than any vow I've ever made. I'm not sure how to handle what goes on inside of me when I'm with you…hell when I'm not with you, but I'm tired of ignoring it."

She blushed nervously. A strange hint of surprise and desperation came over her face. "What are you saying?"

He shuffled in a military stance, trying to be as casual as possible. "I…I think I'm…not sure, god I know I can't lose you from my life…But I just…I need…" When she didn't break her gaze, not even a blink, he lightly touched her hand in the frustration of his wordless emotions.

She followed his eyes and looked down at the back of his left hand. The stains of her blood still remained on his bare knuckles and she traced the shape of him lightly. "Your ring. Did you lose it?"

He turned the back of his hand away from hers and fingered the underside of her palm. "I'm not married."

"How long was I out? What do you mean you're not married?"

"According to the law. The papers were signed and sent in weeks before…all of this. I couldn't put that ring back on until I knew it was the right thing to do."

His touching started to grow. Slowly around her hand he went; between her fingers, around the tips, up to the wrist, the sunken places between the bone, and back again. Olivia watched his patterns. It was calming, soothing, different. She practically sighed as she fell into the spell of it all.

"And is it the right thing to do?"

His hand stopped.

Their eyes met. She could see the answer right there on his face. He didn't need to speak or nod. Slowly and carefully he bent in towards her and left the thought on her forehead…then her nose….then she lifted her hand to the side of his face and gently pulled his lips to hers.

"Daddy…."

And the touch faded. Olivia was too afraid to open her eyes. Too afraid to awake to a dream and too ashamed to look at the one person who could confirm that it wasn't.

"Kathleen…"

AN: For some damned reason my Bold/underline won't work, so I hope it's not too too confusing. DOLE. Drop me happy thoughts.