A/N: We're 2/3 of the way through! Hope you're still enjoying it :) Also, anyone else a 90s General Hospital fan? Every time I write this I think of Sonny and Brenda...

Elliot glances over at her in the dark interior of the car. Olivia's head is turned, looking out the window. Despite their mutual confession of love just a short time before, she seems withdrawn. He reaches over and pulls her hand out of her lap, causing her to turn towards him. For a moment she seems lost in a fog of sadness and he thinks of the ways he's still trying to reach her, still trying to assure her that he wants all of her.

"Ok?" he asks gently as he runs his thumb along her knuckles.

"Why were you so angry?" she replies, her voice low.

He frowns, a spark of that anger returning, "You know why."

She shakes her head a bit, "No...there was something else." That appraising gaze of hers is taking him in and he wonders yet again at her ability to see through him. The way she can read him so easily.

He sighs, reaching for the button to close the partition to where the driver and bodyguard sit. "It's just something with the business. A rat I need to root out."

She tilts her head and smiles at him softly. "You just need to lay out the right cheese."

He laughs softly, "What?"

"Oh," Olivia ducks her head and tries to wave it away with a hand. "It's stupid."

He squeezes her hand. "Tell me."

She looks at him out of the corner of her eye and then hastily looks away. "Something one of my foster mothers used to say. She'd catch us in lies by pretending she trusted us."

Elliot considers this as he taps a staccato against her knuckles. "Sort of like giving someone the rope to hang themselves with?"

Olivia nods.

Elliot has never had anyone to discuss business with, always relying on his own instincts and what he'd seen to make decisions and deal with people. He finds himself drawn to the idea that Olivia could provide some value. "One of these guys is counterfeiting my product and stealing my clientele."

She presses her lips together in thought. "If it were me...I'd tell each of them separately that I know I can trust them, that I know it's not them. Then I'd see what they do."

Elliot chuckles, "That's devious."

Olivia's eyes sparkle with mischief. "It's effective."

"Do I want to know how you've used that in the past?" He asks out of curiosity, but he delivers the question with a gentle tease.

"It's come in handy in the group homes." She responds with a melancholic air.

He lifts her hand to his mouth and gently kisses it. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that."

She shrugs, "It made me tough."

Elliot thinks he couldn't possibly love her more.

Elliot's fist connects with a satisfying crack. The man in front of him groans and Elliot gives a sardonic laugh in response.

"Feel free to speak up anytime, Ricky." He grabs at the hair at the back of the man's head and yanks his head back harshly.

Olivia's trick had worked like a charm. He'd planted a seed with each of the families and found that the Chao clan had been working an angle on the side. It had been so easy to trace everything back from there. And once he had secured the loyalty of Ricky's second, the only thing he had to do was cut off the head. After he made an example out of Ricky, he'd be back on track, untouchable.

Ricky's face is a Jackson Pollock of blood, worked over well by Elliot's men before Elliot stepped in himself. He doesn't really need anything from the man. The details are already known from Ricky's second, who was all too ready to sell him out to save his own ass. This was more about teaching the lesson, showing the others what happened when they betrayed Stabler and his leadership.

He releases his grip on Ricky's head, steps to the side table to wipe his bloodied hands on the towel. He's tired of this game and ready to go home to Liv, tell her all about their success.

"Finish him." He instructs with a wave of his hand.

Elliot pours himself a drink as his bodyguard wrestles Ricky out of the chair and shoots him point blank in the head.

Olivia smiles at him as he updates her, idly wandering through the suite. She makes her way to the chair behind his desk, settling back into it and kicking her heeled feet onto the desk in front of her. "So my idea worked? Sounds like I should be the boss." She teases. He moves closer, grinning down at her. His hands brace on the arms of the chair and he leans down as he kisses her. When he pulls back she smiles softly at him, "Should I go? Do you have work to do?" Her hands smooth over the lapels of his jacket. When he straightens, her hand clasps onto his and she looks at his injuries. Her fingers lightly probe before she gently kisses his bruised knuckles. "You work too hard," she says softly.

"Well, I still have work to do," he tells her with a naughty glimmer in his eye. He scoops her out of the chair, turns and deposits her on the desk. His head dips down again to kiss her as his hands push at the short skirt she's wearing. He leans her back to lay across the desk, lifts her legs over his shoulders as he sits in the chair and scoots closer to her.

His thumb shoves her thong to the side and his mouth is on her, his tongue sweeping across, already tasting her arousal. He probes at her entrance with his tongue before he moves his fingers into place. He slides into her wet heat, feeling her thighs tighten around his head. She whispers his name and he grins into her flesh. Elliot rubs his 5 o'clock shadow against the sensitive skin until she cries out his name.

His tongue dances across her, slipping inside her, swirling over her clit. Repeating the motion again and again before finally closing his lips over her clit and sucking until she arches and screams his name.

He stands to release himself from his pants, bending down to kiss her. Olivia's hands frame his face, her tongue in his mouth, feeling her groan as she tastes herself on him.

He enters her swiftly, leaning over her prone body to push her top to the side and taking her exposed nipple into his mouth.

"More, El…"

He complies by grabbing her hands, pulling them above her head and pinning them against the desk. Elliot picks up speed as she looks up at him and he thinks then of the power she has over him, even now as he controls her body.

"Liv," he grits out. He moves both her wrists into one hand and grabs her hip with the other so he can fuck into her harder, faster. She keens against him, crying out and he squeezes his eyes shut as he comes with her name on his lips.

His fingers trace patterns along her shoulder and she sighs contentedly.

"When you were growing up and things were hard, what was the thing you wanted most in the world?" He asks softly before he kisses her forehead and pulls back to look at her.

"Money." Her eyes are closed and she grins sleepily. They're lying in bed, spent, their bodies curling together.

Elliot laughs. "Besides that."

Olivia blinks her eyes open and looks at him shyly. "A house on the beach. With a big kitchen and lots of windows and sunlight. And a big wraparound porch."

"Oh, is that all?" Elliot teases gently.

"That was plenty." Olivia laughs softly. "The foster homes were always so crowded and dingy. It was so hard to find a few moments of peace and quiet. I saw this magazine one day and it had this house with these giant windows and I remember just thinking that was it. If I could get that, I wouldn't need anything else. Ya know?"

He looks at her fondly. "Yeah. I know exactly what you mean."

"I was sure I'd never have anything nice. It was just a far away dream. Something to keep me company." She slides her hand up his chest. "But I think that little girl would be really happy if she saw where she was going."

He grins and kisses her slow and tender. "I love you, Olivia."

She smiles back at him and then she rolls him onto his back.

He looks up at her as his hands slide up her back. "I was thinking you should work on something for me."

"What kind of something?" She leans down, propping her arm on his chest and looking down at him.

"Now that this counterfeit issue has been dealt with, I want to look at our distribution. I think we could do better. I think you could help me figure it out."

Olivia scrunches her brow at him and then laughs lightly. "I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"You're smart. I'm sure you'd have some brilliant ideas. Anyways, do you want to be waitressing at the No Name forever?"

She shrugs. "Not really. But it's not like I've got a lot of other experience."

"Well, lucky for you I'm not looking for you to have any experience. I think you could be a big help. At least until you land on something you do want to do."

She bites her lip in thought. "And you don't think there's going to be objections to your girl working in the business?"

"Remember what I said when we met? People usually let me have my way. And after I've just given them a show of strength, no one's going to say shit." He grins up at her.

She still looks at him, uncertainly.

"Tell you what. We'll work on this together and if you hate it you never have to do it again." He tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and watches her consider.

"Tell you what." She grins at him naughtily. "I'll come work with you if we spend at least half our time in bed."

He flips their position without warning and Olivia yelps with a pleased surprise. "You got a deal." Elliot grins as he leans down and kisses her.