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"Elliot, why would Richard Wheatley know why you aren't leaving me?" Olivia asked again, her voice barely above a whisper.

Elliot closed his eyes, holding her hips tighter. "When he was arrested, I found out he knew about you. He must've been having me followed. Maybe he just looked into my history, but he found you. He knew without even knowing you."

Olivia swallowed, feeling the tension growing in his chest under her hands. "The night Wheatley was arrested, you called me to tell me you caught him. I told you how happy I was. But, then you asked me if I was okay. You asked that because he mentioned me, didn't you?"

"I always want to make sure you're okay." Elliot was almost trying to defend himself even though there was nothing to defend.

"No, this was different. Something spooked you." Olivia stated, shaking her head when he tried pulling away. "El."

Elliot remained. His nickname off her lips keeping him in place, keeping him from running. "Richard said something. Made me think that he was coming after you."

"What did he say?" Olivia asked, nearly demanded.

"It doesn't matter. It's over for now." Elliot tried to dismiss the topic, regretting he ever mentioned Wheatley in the first place.

"Elliot, if we're going to divulge everything to move forward, you can't hide anything from me." Olivia reminded him, getting him to look back at her. "El, baby, just tell me. Don't run from me."

"I'm not the one who ran away this morning." Elliot deflected, trying to push her away, but the crack in his voice told her everything.

Olivia cupped his face in her hands, her throat constricting seeing how painful this memory was for him. "I'm not the one who ran away for ten years. Just tell me." She waited, but he didn't speak. He just stared back at her, helpless and desperate to be let off the hook for this one. She couldn't do that though. Dropping her hands from him, she nearly pushed him away. "Fine, if you're not going to tell me, I'll leave."

Elliot's heart dropped to his stomach when he saw her reach for the chair jamming the door. He nearly charged her, blocking her from the chair and the door. She stared back at him with hard eyes, eyes he'd received before. Eyes that had slowly wore down the night of the explosion when he demanded to come into this very room, but he knew they weren't going to soften this time if he didn't try to explain. "We're not done."

Olivia cocked her eyebrow, tearing up as he continued to stay silent. "Tell me or I leave."

Elliot's exhale was shallow, trembling even. "Why can't you just trust me?"

"I trust you more than any other person in my life, but you and I both know that what you promised last night means no secrets." Olivia nearly spat the words, his promises to her last night still very clear and something she doubt she'd forget in her life. "We've never had secrets."

He couldn't deny that. If he couldn't tell her, he couldn't tell anybody. "When I told you to back off, it wasn't meant to hurt you. It was the opposite. I didn't want you anywhere near my case because you were, you are, the person who I can't lose in my life. I thought if I pushed you away whoever killed Kathy wouldn't find you, but I was wrong." Elliot explained. If he was going to tell her, he was going to lay out everything. Even if it meant acknowledging that Richard was right about Angela killing the wrong person. He was going for broke if it meant she'd stay.

Olivia was determined for it as well. "Tell me."

"Richard never said your name, but he told Angela she killed the wrong person. He said Kathy wasn't the love of my life like Angela's son was the love of hers. If Angela wanted to hurt me that way, she would've been after you." Elliot stated bluntly, surprising Olivia that even Richard knew what they were before they ever admitted it to each other. "I knew, even though he didn't say your name, I knew he was talking about you. The second he said brown eyes. That's why I called you. And, I was right. He knew exactly who you were that day when you showed support for us."

Elliot stepped away from the door, knowing Olivia wouldn't leave now that he was telling her. As he walked away though, he didn't know if he was still trying to explain Richard to Olivia or if he was getting angrier at himself for getting her caught up in all of it, for getting caught in loving her as strongly as he did. "He found you. He found you despite everything I tried to do, and now he knows who you are. And, I can't lose you. I won't let him take you away."

"Hey," it was Olivia who approached him this time, relieved when his arms enveloped her even if only to reassure himself of her words, "I'm right here."

"I know. Just the thought. . .trying to hide it from you was stupid. I just didn't know how to tell you. Kathy had just died. Even though I never divorced her and I did love her, I wondered if she saw what Richard saw. She had to know." Elliot breathed before shaking his head. "We do everything together. Win. Lose. If I'm fighting for my life, you've been right beside me fighting too." Elliot kissed her forehead, taking a moment just to exist with her. "I need you, Liv. I've loved you longer than I've known you."

Olivia tensed slightly at those words. Those words were concrete. There was no doubt. "No, you haven't."

"I thought Kathy was the one I was supposed to be with, but you're the one who I thought of as a kid wondering who I would spend my life with. You're the one, the face I didn't know who I wanted by my side." Elliot continued.

"No." Olivia repeated, pulling back to stare up at him with her own tears. At this point, she didn't know why she was denying it. If she really searched her mind, she would see the same with him. The faceless person everybody wonders about until they meet said person. The mystical 'one' that every person dreams about being their partner in life. It hadn't been a mystery to her in twenty-two, nearly twenty-three years, but she'd denied it up until now.

Elliot stared right back, seeing her now soften at his words, her walls starting to crack. Seeing her melt because this was their truth, and it had taken all this time to say it out loud. "You can say no all you want, but it's true. You didn't ruin anything, Liv. Not my marriage, not my relationship. I did all that myself. You did nothing wrong. You were just you, and I fell in love with you." He saw some of the guilt still wavering in her mind. "Liv, you're the one for me, but you're not the other woman. You didn't do anything wrong."

Olivia felt her emotions overflowing at a rate she had never allowed. Her heart was racing. "Why now? Why not tell me fifteen years ago with Gitano when you and Kathy were separated? Why not tell me when you left SVU if you were going to disappear anyway?"

"Because, I kept trying to deny what was really happening." Elliot stated, his voice choked up with his own emotions. He tried to blink the tears away, but they were building faster than he could blink. When she pulled away, he let her walk away. She didn't go far, only around the table to sit down. He sat down across from her, his reddening eyes meeting her own set. "I wanted to pretend that I had everything together. I told myself that I was still in control. That I could get over you. It was stupid and pointless. I was fighting a losing battle the moment I met you. But, I'm done fighting. I'd give up everything for you. I'd walk blindly by your side because I trust you. I want to love you, more than a friend, more than a partner. I don't want to control my feelings or force myself to take a step back because we're getting too close. I don't want walls up around you. I want to fall apart with you, because that's what you do for the person you love. You fall apart, because they make you stronger. You fall apart, because you deserve to let your guard down even when you spend your whole life trying to protect yourself from the ones around you. You fall apart, because that's what you do to have love, to be loved by someone unconditionally. They make you put the pieces back together in a way that makes you a better person, because they make you want to be a better person. I want to fall apart with you, because I can't be with anyone else. I don't want to be with anyone else."

Olivia shook her head. "I'm not the same person from ten years ago, El."

"I'm not the same guy either." Elliot replied softly. "But after ten years apart, I still love you the same way I did then, if not more. I haven't felt like that in ten years. I've only ever felt that way with you, and I know that I will never have that with anyone else. Because, one look at you. . .and I'm yours." He shook his own head. "I'm never leaving you, Liv."

"I'm still scared." Olivia confessed, biting her lip.

He felt his own tears fall as he watched hers, neither of them reaching to wipe them away. "I know, and I will do everything to fix it. I'll tell you anything and everything you want to know. I'll show you how much you mean to me every single day that you allow me, Liv." He folded his hands, looking almost as if he was preparing to pray. But, he just had one request, not from God, but from her. "Fall apart with me."

Olivia stared back at him, knowing this was his Hail Mary. He'd put everything out on the table and left everything going forward in her hands, in her control. Her fear of him leaving was crippling as well as her fear of saying no and losing him anyway. The only part of her that wanted to reject his offer was the part of her still trying to protect herself. Trying to protect her heart from the ultimate blow if things ever went bad between them. It was the fear, because she knew that she'd choose him at the end of the day. She had been for years. No matter what they'd been through, what they put each other through, she still chose him. Even if she was mad at him, she just wanted him at her side. And, it hit her like a tidal wave that despite her fear she couldn't deny her happiness anymore. She didn't want to.

"I wanna fall apart."

"What?" Elliot asked, despite a small smile growing on his face.

Olivia grinned, chuckling as more tears fell from her eyes. "I wanna fall apart."

Elliot ran a hand down his face, wiping away his tears before peering at her over his hand. "With me, right?"

"Yes, with you, El." Olivia laughed, nearly squealing when he ducked under the table and crawled under it. He popped up on her side and captured her lips with his, holding onto her like he'd found a life preserver after wading in an ocean for hours. As he moved to his feet, Olivia followed him, standing from her chair so their lips only parted when they needed to breathe. "I love you, El."

"I love you so much." Elliot breathed, grinning so wide his face hurt.

Olivia held open the door for Elliot before he walked through carrying to the two conference room chairs to return to their rightful places. When she stepped foot into her office, her eyes widened seeing the scene in front of her. Takeout boxes, empty coffee cups and soda bottles, the chairs facing the interrogation room. "Oh my God, have you been in here watching us all day?"

"Not all day." Amanda wiped at her eyes with another tissue. "We had to get food and use the bathroom."

"It's Friday night. You guys should be going home. Actually, you should be home. It's almost eight." Olivia admonished before grabbing her phone off her desk. "Lucy is probably worried I haven't answered my phone."

"Took care of it. She knows that you'll be home late." Kat reassured her, starting to pick up the trash they hadn't bothered to throw out earlier. She picked up a bag from in front of Olivia's desk, holding it out to her. "Fin also ordered you dinner."

Olivia smiled, taking the bag and turning to her number two, and was surprised to see him wiping the corner of his eye with his thumb. "Aw, Fin, are you crying?"

"No," Fin spat, despite it being an obvious lie, "just thinking about how I should've texted the wrong thing to Elliot twenty-three years ago." He looked over to the conference room door when Elliot walked back in, the two sharing a knowing look that said everything needed to be said. "Good for you, man."

"Thanks," Elliot smiled, clapping Fin's shoulder, "but if you ever send me a text like that again-"

Fin scoffed, pointing to the interrogation room. "Hearing all that, I'm only going to call you from now on." He thumped his fist against Elliot's chest twice before walking towards the door. "You guys deserve each other."

Olivia chuckled before grabbing her purse and the takeout bag. "I should be getting home to Noah." She turned to Elliot, holding up the two items. "Purse or food?"

"I'll take both." Elliot grinned, grabbing the two items and transferring them to one hand. "I took some stuff over to my new place this morning. There should be a couple boxes of clothes. Do you want to swing by before going to your place?"

"Yeah, it's on the same street." Olivia nodded before glancing around and making sure she didn't forget anything. She turned back to Amanda and Kat, blushing slightly when they both looked like they were about to cry again. "Call me if you guys need anything. Have a nice weekend. I'm taking Monday off, so I'll see you Tuesday." She chuckled when they just nodded before turning to Elliot. "Ready?"

Elliot held out his arm, letting her slip underneath it so she was tucked into his side. He nodded once two the two detectives. "Goodnight." As they left her office, he leaned over and kissed her head, grinning when she started giggling with his next words. "I think we broke them."

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