Again, I'm SO sorry for the delay but this one is long one to make up for it and it will explain a lot!
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Elliot wondered if Olivia needed more time away from him. He had been sat with Phil for more than an hour now. Phil had explained how his job had dragged him away from his wife and how she just couldn't take it any more, Elliot almost felt like sharing his experience of separation but after admitting the chance of having feeling for Olivia he didn't think that Phil would appreciate a sob story about how Kathy had nearly left him.
Kathy hadn't wanted him to take this job, she had begged him to stay with her and the children, perhaps knowing Olivia would somehow be involved. His wife was anything but stupid. She was dignified in her silence but he could see it in her eyes. She had had to share him for so long, and now, when she finally got him back she had to share him all over again. he had thought about Kathy, of course he had but now when he was lying in bed with Olivia last night. He had thought about Kathy when he suddenly realised just how easy it was to have an affair, how quickly one touch or look could push you over the threshold and into adultery. He had never before been so close to Olivia, that wasn't to say he hadn't thought about it. He closed his eyes and silently thanked God that Olivia wasn't interested, he wasn't sure how he would have coped if she had turned to him and looked at him the way that he had wanted her to.
He could see it, but that didn't mean he would have done it. He was sure, that he could use all of his will power and prevent himself from touching Olivia in the way he had always imagined but it would have taken everything he had to walk away from her. Despite the ache in his chest whenever he thought about it, Olivia not reciprocating his feeling was a blessing in disguise. He never wanted to be that man.
There were of course men who simply screwed everything that walked because they didn't respect or cherish their wives, those men who Elliot despised and couldn't understand at all. He did however, now understand those who genuinely fell in love outside of their marriage and weren't strong enough not to submit He wasn't in love with Olivia. Sure, it hurt to be away from her and he wished at times that things were different but that wasn't love it was...confusion. He had spent twelve years with the woman, she was attractive and unattached, of course he was going to have a boyish crush. That was all it was, he was sure of it, it has just lasted a little longer than most crushes.
Olivia was different to any other woman he had met and yet strangely similar to his wife at times. Olivia's worst quality was not allowing anyone else in, not even thinking for a second that they could care for her. She thought she was damaged. She was anything but. She had moments, moments where she came out of her shell and attempted to be what she would consider normal, but the dedication to the job and the victims proved too much for most meant to take and she would just watch as the ran, not bothering to try and get them to stay.
She and Kathy were the two people in his life who had ever really been able to control him. He had often thought Olivia could because of the fact that she was his partner but it was so much more than that. She was one of the few people who had been through what he had, who could really understand. But still, it was more than that, he had never connected with other partners like he had with her.
"I don't know how you do it," Phil spoke, shaking Elliot from his thoughts. "I mean dealing with rapists and...peadophiles every day," the other man shuddered. "You come across many rapists who attack men?"
"Yeah," Elliot nodded. He knew that SVU was something many cops put to the back of their minds, they didn't understand the different dimensions of what the job entailed.
"Has uh, has anyone ever tried to…" Phil looked away for a moment before looking back. "I worked in narcotics, an addict tried to attack me with a needle filled with meth…" he trailed off hoping Elliot would see where he's going.
"Has anyone tried to rape me? No…" Elliot trailed off, no one had ever asked him that before. There had been times when he's been punched, or kicked, or thrown through a glass window, shot, pushed off of a building…there were too many to mention but other than a grope years ago he had never even been in remote danger of being sexually assaulted. He had never feared for his own safety in terms of being raped. He had never even considered it.
"What about Benson?" Phil asked, wondering just how the two officers could work in such a department, it was dangerous, he would have thought having Olivia on SVU would be like throwing a piece of meat to the lions?
"Uh…" Elliot trailed off. He knew that something had happened, something bad, something that had affected her but he didn't know all the details.
"Oh Jesus…" Phil saw the pained expression on Elliot's face. "Was she…was she raped? I just, I don't know how she could still do this job-"
"She wasn't raped…" Elliot wasn't quite sure what to say, even the idea of someone touching her like that made him feel physically sick. "He didn't get that far, if he had I wouldn't be sitting here right now." He didn't want to talk about it anymore. Elliot knew that if Harris had raped Olivia, he would have ripped the man apart limb by limb. It had taken everything he had not to do so when he had found out how Fin had found her in that basement and that was weeks after it had actually happened. She had never spoken to him about it and as cowardly as it sounded, he was relieved, he couldn't stand to think of someone harming her in that way. He had tried to forget it but there were time when he just couldn't, when he would desperately want to know exactly what had happened but he couldn't broach the subject, not with her not when he knew it would kill him to hear what had happened. He didn't trust himself not to find the bastard and put a bullet in his head.
Phil could see the torment written all over Elliot's face. There was no doubt in his mind that the married man was in love with his partner. He had thought about Olivia late into last night, about her motivation for joining SVU, and now, learning that she had been attacked as well, she had more balls than he gave her credit for. "I just…I would imagine the perps would try to use her to get to you? I can see how close you are, they must as well…"
"It's happened a few times…we've barely made it out alive…but here we are," he sighed. Phil frowned, he had once met a man who had been forced to watch as his female partner was tortured, there was nothing else his captors could have done to him that would have hurt more than that. He could see the long and detailed history between Elliot and Olivia and couldn't help but wonder how far they would go to protect each other.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Olivia took a step back as Kieran grasped the side of his face. She'd hit him hard, one harsh warning slap.
"You stupid bitch," he grinned widely taking a step towards her. "You just gave me the green light, don't you know I like it when they fight back," he asked, closing in on her as she backed away wishing that she had her gun. "You think I don't know what you are?"
"Keiran! What the hell are you doing?" Phil's voice bellowed as the door opened and he and Elliot walked in.
"Did he touch you?" Elliot asked, not waiting for an answer, grabbing Kieran and throwing him against the wall, his arm pressed against the younger mans throat. "Did you touch her?" he asked through gritted teeth. Kieran struggled against the tight hold on his throat.
"Elliot," Olivia quickly grabbed her ex partners arm and pulled him away, watching as Kieran gasped for breath. "He didn't touch me," she kept a tight hold of his arm. "He didn't," she pulled his face towards hers as his chest rose and fell too quickly. He was like a raging bull.
"Get out of here," Phil literally pushed Kieran out of the door and closed it. He turned to Olivia and Elliot, they were simply staring at each other, almost communicating without words, he had never seen anything like it. "You okay?" he asked, almost not wanting to interrupt.
"Yeah, fine," Olivia pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and turned to face Phil. "I could have handled it, but thank you."
"Be careful Olivia, you may think you can handle him but he just flips-"
"I can handle myself," she interrupted. She looked at Elliot, watching as he tried to calm himself down.
"I uh," Phil looked away from Olivia for just a moment. "I guess now isn't the best of times but uh, we have a problem."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Olivia closed her eyes as Elliot approached her. She willed her shaking hands to still as he pressed his toned body against hers and pushed her into the wall. She had never been afraid of enclosed spaces, until now. All of Elliot's hard body was practically moulding into her own and she had to concentrate just to breathe. She was sure that he would be able to feel her heart beating against his chest.
"Relax," he whispered, running his hands up and down her arms. Relax? How the hell could she relax, he was touching her. She closed her eyes and ran her hands along his lower and upper back, hoping whoever was watching would take this as the only evidence they needed.
Phil had explained that a few of the men had heard about the filing cupboard incident and weren't convinced. He had said the discussion had got quite heated and that there was every chance that if something wasn't done their cover would be blown. So there they were, about to simulate sex in front of a camera that they supposedly didn't know about, Phil would later show the tape to the men who were doubting them, problem solved. Problem one solved, problem two was that she was completely overwhelmed.
"Ready?" his whisper shook her from her thoughts. Within seconds his hands were on his belt and his trousers were sliding down along his legs.
"Yeah," she barely whispered, her throat too dry to speak. He towered above her with his back to the camera that she wouldn't be seen, just her hands as the roamed his back.
"Jesus, I can't believe this shit…" he sighed, lifting her leg until it rested on his hip. "You okay?" he asked, watching as she nodded. They had agreed that he would keep his boxers on but that she would remove his shirt, they had veery move planned and they would make sure they didn't touch each other from the waist down, he would thrust without making contact with her and hopefully that would be enough. The skirt she had worn was now pushed up to her thighs and to the unsuspecting eye they really were about to have sex. "Tell me you're ready," he whispered, frightened that she had stayed quiet for so long.
"El, I'm ready," she answered, sounding slightly more annoyed than she had meant to. He pushed his hips forward and she grasped the material of his shirt, she could do this, she could. He avoided all contact with her as he thrust forward hoping that whoever was watching would be fooled. When Phil had first suggested this, he had wanted to punch him there and then. How the hell could he ever, ever think that pretending to have sex with Olivia was a good idea? Sure it would save their lives but he would never be able to look at her again. He closed his eyes, willing his body not to respond to her touch.
It was almost funny, it was like two magnets repelling each other as someone tried to push them together. He thrust again, making sure that he didn't touch her at all as she moved her hands to the bottom of his shirt, pulling it over his head and pulling him towards her again. Whoever was watching had better damn well buy it. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she caught sight of his toned torso, how the hell did he look so good? She had known he was toned, even caught sight of him topless a few times but now, as he was pressed against her she struggled to think of a single man who compared to him physically. All of her past sexual partners suddenly seemed insignificant when compared to Elliot Stabler.
She could do this. She was a professional. She closed her eyes, it was as though someone was punishing her, she couldn't even share a bed with the man and now this? She had been trying to get over him, trying to live her life without him and there he was, literally pressed against her. Typical. Someone was certainly having a laugh at her expense. She could do this.
Suddenly she gasped and her eyes flew to his. Elliot froze. He tensed his jaw as his dick suddenly sprung to attention, he ha managed to surpass it until now, until he'd accidently stopped thinking and thrust too far. "Jesus."
He was pressed against her, his erect penis was pressed against her centre and he couldn't move. She bit her lip, her hands grasping his shoulders involuntarily. Someone hated her. Someone up there really, really hated her. She took a deep breath and with shaking hands, she slowly pushed him away from her until she could no longer feel his erection against her. She looked up at him, unable to hide the fear in her eyes. This was a mistake, the whole thing, she should never have agreed to an undercover operation with him.
"I'm sorry…" he mumbled, looking totally defeated. He was humiliated, he couldn't just hold it together for a few minutes. This could be saving their lives and he can't even manage a few minutes. He was terrified to move, scared that he had frightened her or just embarrassed the hell out of himself.
"It's okay," she whispered, her heart racing. She slowly brought her hands down to his waist, pulling him towards her, close enough to look like he was penetrating her but not close enough so that they touched again. Just a few more minutes, she could so this.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Elliot needed to hit something. He could barely even look at Olivia. Just a few hours ago they had simulated sex, against a wall, in front of a camera and when it was done he had simply pulled up his trousers and walked away. Phil was in the process of showing the tape to the non believers and she only hoped it was enough to make them believe.
He had gone for a walk, he wanted to try and calm his thoughts. He'd decided to take Olivia's turn of checking on the man who Phil had been keeping prisoner. He walked towards the room, making sure no one was following. Pulling open the door, Elliot froze.
He was gone.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Phil had asked Olivia to meet him in the filing cupboard, she had tried to find Elliot but had no luck. She couldn't miss this chance. He had barely said a word to her since their minor mishap. They had carried on, Elliot hadn't looked at her even once after that moment he simply played his part and protected her from view. She wanted to talk to him, to save him some embarrassment, to let him know that it was okay? She just didn't know how to approach him. Over the past few days they had gone from sharing a bed to low blows and thrusting.
She desperately wanted to sit with him, to tell him why she had stayed away for so long. She wasn't sure that she could face losing him a second time. Elliot was the biggest part of her life for so long and as much as she wanted to trust him, to really truly trust that he wouldn't get tired of her or give up on her she just couldn't force herself to take the final step of telling him why she had pulled away. He would think she was desperate and sometimes, she wondered if she was. She cared for him, a great deal. She had been scared that she wouldn't be able to hide her feelings for him without the comfort blanket of their partnership, scared that because of her feelings, when he pulled away it would hurt so much more. She had thought about trying to trust herself, trying to be friends with him whilst masking her feelings but what if she couldn't? At that moment in time she couldn't even force herself to try for fear of losing him but hadn't she lost him already?
Having been without him for the past few months she could only describe herself as miserable. Was it worth the risk of trying, just to lose him again? If she didn't try she would lose him anyway.
She knew that Elliot's pride was bruised, that her lack of contact made him less likely to contact her and she hadn't exactly been warm and inviting. She just missed him. Even while he was with her, that wasn't them, there were no jokes, it was all strictly professional. She had made it that way. She had pushed him away, tried to remain as professional as she could and then, when she realised that that's exactly what she had, she hated it. She missed her friend. She was undecided about how to show it, maybe to ask him if he wanted to see a movie or go for dinner when they got out of this hell hole? She knew that after pushing him so far there was a chance he would say no, she wasn't quite sure if she was read to take that risk.
"Detective Benson?"
Olivia frowned as she heard the voice from behind. Within seconds she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head and hit the ground.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Elliot slowly walked through the door of the room where the prisoner had been kept, straight ahead all that he could see were the ropes that had once tied the man's arms and legs. His heart was racing, the silence of the room only intensifying the anxiousness. What if the man had already escaped and outed Phil? What if someone else had found him?
He saw movement in the corner of his eye and spun around just as a body lunged at him. Without time to prepare himself he flew to the floor, taking the brunt on the fall on the back his head as it slapped against the concrete ground. He shot up, grabbing the ankle of the man who was trying to run away and flung him backwards. The man fell, landing on his stomach and in second Elliot was on top of his pinning his hands behind his back. He stopped as he heard…
"Wait! I'm a cop!"
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Olivia slowly opened her eyes, her head throbbing. There was something heavy on top of her crushing her, hurting her, restricting her breathing. As she finally came around, panic filled every inch of her body. Kieran was on top of her. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious for but it wasn't long enough for him to do what he had intended, the bastard was pulling at her belt.
Immediately she shot into action, ignoring the pain in her head. She clawed his neck, letting him know that she was awake and that there was no way she was going down without a fight.
"So glad you're awake sweetheart, the thrill of the fight turns me on, didn't I tell you?" He punched her in the face, his knuckles crashing against her cheek as he grabbed her hands and pinned her to the floor. "How does it feel?" he asked as she was struggling to recover from the blow. "That feel nice?" he asked, rolling his hips so that she could fee his erection. She struggled to control her breathing, closing her eyes tightly and bucking her hips, trying to force him off of her. He simply laughed. "Where's your boyfriend now huh?" His lips crashed onto hers as she desperately tried to push him off of her, shaking her head to try and get his lips away from hers. "Keep fighting, that's it, keep fighting," he laughed as he reached to undo his belt.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"What?" Elliot asked, still sitting on the man. He was lying, that much he knew, but why?
"My name is Phil Lewis, I…I'm from the 2-8 in Chicago, specialise in human trafficking," the man told him breathlessly. "I know who you are, you're Elliot Stabler, your partner is Olivia Benson and you're from New York."
"How do you know that?" Elliot asked, loosening his grip on the other man.
"I was supposed to meet you…I don't know how many days ago…what day is it?" he asked, blood dripping from an old wound on his head.
"It's Friday,"
"Two days ago, I was supposed to meet you two days ago…" he trailed off, letting his forehead rest against the floor. "They put me in here four days ago, I don't know how they made me…"
"You're lying," Elliot told him, confusion gripping him. How would the man know this? Phil hadn't mentioned that he had known about the fact that he and Olivia were coming.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"No!" Olivia screamed as Kieran ripped the vest top that she was wearing, exposing her bra. She struggled and fought as he cawed at her breasts, laughing all the while.
"You've been the most feisty yet, you'll be my biggest achievement," he whispered in her ea, grinding his pelvis against hers as he licked the side of her neck. "How does it feel to be completely helpless?"
She quickly turned her head and bit his cheek as hard as she could. He sat up and slapped her so hard across the face that she couldn't even see straight, followed closely by another slap. "You think you can fight me? You think you can stop me? This was written in the stars sweetheart, as soon as I saw you I had to have you!"
"No! No!" she screamed as he wrapped a hand around her throat and squeezed…
"The uh, the man who brought you here, Walter, he has red hair and blue eyes, he uh, he has a scar across his cheek." That did it. Elliot pushed himself off of the other man. He sat up, as did the man and they simply stared at each other. "They know everything about you and Benson, I'm sorry…" he hung his head. "They tortured me, I thought that if I told them that they would run, that if they knew you were coming they would just go…"
"You're lying."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Olivia struggled to breathe as Kieran tightened his grip on her throat. This couldn't be it. This couldn't be how she died. She was losing the will to fight back, clouds forming in front of her eyes, unable to move her hands or legs as her oxygen supply became dangerously low.
Suddenly there was air. He was gone. She was being pulled up off of the floor by something, someone.
"Jesus, Olivia. Olivia are you okay?" Phil shook her shoulders as she leant towards him struggling to catch her breath. She looked up to see Phil's worried eyes staring at her. Kieran was unconscious on the ground. "You're bleeding," he wiped the blood that was leaking from the side of her mouth after a particularly powerful punch. "Come on, lets get you out of here."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"I know you don't believe me Elliot, but you need to. Uh, you're Captain….uh, his name is Cragen, something Cragen, how the hell would I know that?" The man wiped his eyes. He had awoken after four days of sedation only a few hours ago. "The boss his name is Rogers, Carl Rogers. He's big time, he doesn't mess around. He's hardly ever here, he works with the parents, pretending to be a lawyer, sorting out all the money so that if it goes wring he can claim to have been hired by the boss and bullied into doing his dirty work."
Elliot still couldn't believe what he was being told. The man could see the uncertainty. "Look at my watch," he took off his watch and handed it to Elliot. In the back it had the Chicago Police emblem on it. "You have to believe me Elliot. You're in danger."
Elliot simply stared at the other man. Torn between believing him or not.
"Elliot while Rogers is here-"
"Wait he's here?" Eliot's eyes shot up. The mastermind behind the whole ring was there? Had they been with him the whole time? Images of Kieran sprung to mind, what if it was him?
"Yeah, it was him, the guy who did this to me? The guy who was with you when you came here last time."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Phil brought a cold flannel to the large bruise forming on Olivia's cheek.
"I told you he was an animal," he mumbled. "I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner."
"What are you going to do when he wakes up?" she asked, her head throbbing. Phil had reached her just in the nick of time. She had been terrified. She couldn't stop her hands from shaking.
"Dump him with the other guy, I have more drugs…"
"Won't people notice he's missing?" she asked, grasping the back of her head.
"Let me deal with that, why don't you go and get changed…" he gestured to the fact that her bra was still on show. She gave him a soft smile and walked towards the bedrooms.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"Come back with me," Elliot started. "Help me to find my partner and get out of here."
"I can't go back there…"The real Phil shook his head, his hands were shaking. He couldn't even begin to describe what he had been through. Being sedated was the least of it.
"Will you stay here then? I'll get her and then we'll come back-"
"No, no I need to leave now-"
"If they catch you they'll kill you, and then they'll kill me and my partner I just need you to stay here for a little while longer, please?"
"You don't know what they did to me…" tears filled the younger mans eyes, he looked away. Elliot had seen this too many times, watching victims cower away, watching them shaking, crying. He closed his eyes for a moment, what the hell had they done to that poor man?
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Olivia left the bedroom and walked towards the room that she had left Phil in. She stopped and frowned as she heard a familiar voice.
"Could you not have just given me a few more minutes? The bitch could have done with being taught a lesson," Kieran spat.
"We agreed you could have your fun with her, but I told you not to kill her." Olivia's heart practically stopped as she heard Phil.
"I wasn't going to kill her."
"You think I wasn't watching the whole thing? You could have just raped her and left? I would have found her, everything would have gone according to plan but you had to push it."
"I want her!" Olivia jumped as Kieran slammed his fist against something. Nothing made sense, nothing at all. Was Phil acting? Why would he lure her to the store cupboard if he knew that Kieran was going to attack? Why wait so long to intervene?
"You want her to hear us? She thinks your unconscious upstairs…"
"Yeah, well she thinks you're a god damn police officer Rogers! Jesus, I just wanted a few more minutes. What are you going to do with her now?"
"I need to get rid of Stabler first, then we can all have our fun with her, get rid of her too and get on with what we're meant to be doing, now get out of here before she sees you."
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Olivia's heart stopped as she heard a voice behind her , the game was up. She turned towards the man and without saying a word, she ran. As she ran she heard.
"Shit! Grab her!"
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Elliot moved slowly towards the factory door having left the real Phil in the other room, waiting for him and Olivia to return. He just had to grab her and run. As he turned the corner he ran smack in to something and landed on the floor, hard. He could feel the blood trickling down the side of his head as two frantic hands pulled him up.
"We need to hide!" Olivia told him, grabbing has arms and pulling him towards the nearest door. She pulled at it and cursed as she realised it was locked. "No! No, no no…"
"Jesus, Liv, what happened?" he asked only just noticing the bruises across her face.
"They're coming," she whispered. "We have to hide, now!" she grabbed his hand as they heard heavy footsteps and he quickly pulled her into a small space in between the door and wall.
Olivia took deep breaths as she struggled to control her laboured breathing. Elliot held her tightly against him, blood tricking down the side of his face. They were both battered and bruised, sweating and shaking.
"Elliot…" she gasped, barely able to speak. She had never been so terrified in her life, nothing could compare to the fear that was quickly building in her stomach every time she heard a single sound in the distance.
"Shhh," he whispered, pressing them even further into the tiny crevasse they were hiding in.
"Phil-"
"I know, I know." He rested his chin on the top on her head, utterly exhausted. There was nothing that they could have done. They couldn't have seen it coming.
They both froze as they heard a voice, Elliot's grip on Olivia tightened as she tensed against him. It was too close.
"Detectives! Come out, come out wherever you are."
Thank you so much to all of you who are about to review. XX