Chapter 3

You are my family

Elliot looked over at Olivia. He thought he was dreaming. His Olivia was standing right there in front of him. Her brown hair was past her shoulders, and her chocolate brown eyes were the same as he remembered.

Fin and Munch both came back from interrogation and they stopped dead in their tracks at who was standing there. "Hey guys." She said with a slight smile. They just stood there in shock and silence. Elliot walked over to her and took her in his arms.

He clutched to him. Olivia rubbed his back. His shoulders shook slightly and she felt wetness on her neck. Elliot Stabler was crying. They stayed like that, the noise around the squad room didn't exist. All that existed in that moment was Elliot and Olivia.

Cragen walked out of his office and he started at Elliot hugging someone. "I hate to break up the moment Elliot, but you have work to do." Said Cragen. Elliot turned and there stood Olivia by his side, her arm around Elliot's waist.

"Oh my god. Olivia." Cragen crossed the room and hugged Olivia tightly. Munch and Fin joined in the hug. Elliot buried his face in her hair as she hugged Cragen. They felt complete. They were all together again.

William came in and stood at his desk in shock. The whole squad was hugging someone. He cleared his throat. "Morning guys." They all broke apart and looked at William. "Morning Drake." Said Elliot with a smile.

"Detective Drake, Olivia Benson." Olivia offered her hand. William took her hand. "It's nice to meet you Ms. Benson. The whole squad has talked about you and told me about you." Olivia giggled. "Good things, I hope."

William chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, good things." Olivia retuned the smile. Elliot couldn't stop smiling. The woman he loved more than anything was standing right in front of her. She was alive. He was still in shock.

Cragen looked at Elliot. "Elliot, why don't you start your vacation early. You only have a few hours left anyway. You should spend some time with Olivia." He said as he looked at both Elliot and Olivia. Elliot turned to Cragen with a smile.

"Are you sure? I can stay if you need me to." Cragen shook his head. "No, go spend time with Olivia." Elliot smiled and nodded. They left together. "Well, what do you want to do first? Are you hungry?" Olivia sighed.

"I guess the first thing I should would be to get a hotel room. I need to drop my stuff off and I could use a nap. I've been traveling for hours." Elliot shook his head. "You don't have to stay in a hotel, Liv." Olivia laughed.

"I don't have an apartment to go to. It's been sold. I don't have anywhere to stay for the time being." Elliot shook his head. "You can stay with me." She looked at Elliot. "El, I can't." What about Kathy and the kids? You don't need me to be taking up space."

Elliot shook his head. "Well, Kathy won't be a problem. She and I divorced about 7 months ago." Olivia looked at him in shock. "Yeah, and when we divorced, I got sole custody of the kids. Maureen is a junior in college. Kathleen is a sophomore in college. "

"And Dickie and Lizzie are seniors in high school." Olivia shook her head. "The kids really have grown up. It feels like when I left, they were still so young." Elliot nodded.

"And besides they love you anyway. So, you don't have to stay in a hotel. You can stay with me. You've spent enough time away from me." Olivia's heart skipped a beat at what Elliot said. Elliot panicked as the last thing slipped out.

Olivia turned and looked at him with slight shock on her face. "What do you mean?" Elliot turned from her, blushing. Olivia walked behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on El, please talk to me." Elliot turned and looked at her.

"There are many times that I wished that I would have this moment. So many times, that I would wish that I would have one more chance to see you, to talk to you. I wished for the opportunity to talk to you about your letter."

Olivia smiled. "You got my letter?" he nodded. "Yeah, I took everywhere with me. I carried it in my wallet. I would take it out if I had a rough case, or if I missed you after I visited you. I would visit you every morning."

Olivia smiled and her smile faded. Elliot could see the guilt in her eyes. "Don't make that face." Olivia looked up at him. "What face?" Elliot chuckled. "I know you Liv. That is your guilty face. You have no reason to feel guilty."

She shook her head. "I have so much to be guilty about. I caused you so much pain. I mean I left. I left with no explanation or reason." He shook his head. "You may have left Olivia. But I know that you left for a reason. You would do anything to help a victim."

"And I understand that you couldn't contact me. Everyone had to believe that you were dead. I understand for whatever reason that is." Olivia looked at him. "Since you have off tonight, why don't we grab something to eat and we head to your house? I'll tell you everything you want to know."

Elliot nodded. "Sounds like a plan." They grabbed Chinese from their favorite place and they headed to Elliot's. "Wow, nice house." Said Olivia. He nodded. "Yeah, it gives all the kids their own rooms and space."

They got their food out and they started to eat. Olivia picked at her food. Elliot looked up at her. "Liv, are you okay? You've hardly touched your food." Olivia took a deep breath. "So, the year I was gone…." Elliot got quiet and looked at her.

"I was flown to Texas, and I was undercover as a prostitute. I was supposed to report my findings on how big the ring was and how many women and girls were being brought in or shipped out. And I went to a café to talk to Porter to report my findings."

"I looked up in time to see someone raise a gun. I yelled gun and pushed Porter to the ground. The gunshot rang out. I was hit in the right chest." Elliot's heart sped up as he pictured his Olivia laying on the ground, bleeding to death.

"All I really remember is the pain in my chest when Dean put pressure on the wound. I also remember Dean begging me to stay awake." Elliot took a shaky breath, putting a hand on hers to comfort her. "The next thing I knew, I woke up and I was told that Olivia Benson was dead."

"Someone in the ring found out who I really was and they put the hit on me. I was told that Olivia Benson was dead and that I had to leave everything and everyone I knew behind. I begged them to let me talk to you, just for a moment. I wanted to just tell you that I was okay."

"Dean told me that if I tried to contact you or the squad it was a danger to you. I couldn't live with myself is something happened to any of you because of me. For 9 months I was in hell. Maybe not the same hell you were in, but I was in hell."

"They checked every number I called. They caught me trying to call you more than once. For the first few months, they wouldn't even let me use the phone to even order food. They couldn't chance someone learning I was alive. I had lost the only family that ever cared for me. I felt so alone. And I was so afraid that I would never see you again, and tell you how I feel."

Elliot's heart sped up at her last sentence. He looked at Olivia, her chocolate brown meeting his cerulean blue ones. Olivia took a deep breath. "In case we get interrupted by something like this again, I want you to know…I love you Elliot Stabler. Always have. Always will."

Elliot sat there with the biggest smile on his face. "I love you, Olivia Benson. Always." Elliot leaned in and their lips met for a sweet kiss. A kiss that they both had waited almost 10 years for. It was so perfect, so natural.

Olivia felt sparks shoot through her body. She couldn't believe that she was kissing her former partner for almost 10 years. She was kissing the lips of Elliot Stabler, and nothing felt more perfect and right.

You guys, I am so sorry. I've been super sick, busy with work, and have had a lot of stuff happen in the past month. But the good thing is that I have a laptop again so I can start to post new chapters more often. So again, SO SORRY! Thank you for not abandoning the story! Leave a review and let me know what you think!