Hey all, the reviews are fab and thanks to everyone who's alerted - it would be great to hear from you all too.

So, I forgot to mention that while I was down the coast I found this $10 necklace - which I brought - it was a love heart with 'BLISS' engraved on it.

I thought it was pretty cool.

Disclaimer: I am so in need to money coz I really need to buy season 3 and up now...I think that's all I'll ever own coz I'm certainy not gonna have enough for the real thing.

- - - - -

Olivia paced the full length of the cribs; she had done so for the past 5 minutes. Yeah right, sure she was going to sleep. How did Cragen expect her to rest when she had just blown up in the squad room?

She continued to walk the lines of cots and bunk beds, keeping her eye on the time and glancing up at the clock every seventeen seconds or so. The dimly lit room was beginning to aggravate her and all she wanted to do was lash out at somebody.

- - - - -

Elliot tapped his index finger on the edge of his desk, nervously glancing up at the cribs every so often. Cragen was aware of this as he strolled around the squad room. He walked up to Elliot's desk and perched on the edge of it, planting his feet steadily on the ground about shoulder width apart.

"What did Olivia say to you?" He asked quietly, also looking up at the cribs.

"When?" Elliot looked to the older man and furrowed his brow.

"In the bathroom. What happened?" Cragen turned to Elliot and eyed him suspiciously.

"She didn't say anything to me. She said she was fine." Elliot shrugged and turned back to the computer and began typing once again.

"Well, I don't believe you or her but I know I'm not going to get anything out of you," Cragen sighed, "But, it was obviously something or there's something you know because I can't work out whether you've spent more time on that report or looking up at the cribs."

Elliot paused for a moment trying to collect his thoughts, "She just- I mean, well, umm-" Elliot stumbled trying to work out how much to tell Cragen, "We had dinner last night but she didn't end up eating all that much. I think she was probably sick from the coffee and orange juice she had this morning."

"Are you sure it wasn't the case?" Cragen raised his eyes brows slightly in question.

"I'm not a mind reader." Elliot shrugged, nervously glancing at the cribs again.

"Go and talk to her and try and find out what's going on. If she can't handle this case I'll pull her from the investigation." Cragen told Elliot sternly.

"Cap, that'll kill her. If she doesn't collar this bastard herself she's just, I dunno." Elliot sighed.

"Go and talk to her, Elliot." Cragen pushed off the desk, patting the other mans shoulder before walking away.

Elliot glanced at his captain retreating into his office before pushing his chair out from his desk. He stood and slowly made his way to the stairs, trudging up them dejectedly before walking towards the door of the cribs. He didn't knock, instead opting to just push it open quietly.

Olivia was still pacing the room, mumbling to herself, brow creased in thought. She turned and spotted Elliot standing in the door way and stopped passing immediately.

"What, what is it? Do we already have a lead!?" Olivia's eyes held hope that they had finally found the scum bag even though they had only been looking for ten minutes.

Elliot shook his head and Olivia's posture sagged, "Oh, okay. Why are you up here then? For all you knew I could have been sleeping." Olivia said, resuming her pacing.

"But I know you better than that, Liv." Elliot murmured.

Olivia stopped dead in her tracks. She looked up from twisting her hands to gaze at Elliot. Some how the little light in the room only managed to catch his blazing blue eyes. Her own eyes danced between his before she gained equilibrium once again and turned back around, short of where she had previously walked to before turning to pace some more.

Elliot took this as an invitation to follow suit and he let the door fall closed before heading for a cot at the back. He sat down on the edge and waited for Olivia to join him; instead she stopped pacing and just stood against the wall opposite him.

"What do you want?" Olivia sighed in frustration.

"Papa bear sent me to find out what's going on." Elliot smiled humourlessly.

"Oh." Olivia deadpanned, switching the foot she was leaning her weight on.

"So, care to elaborate on that any more?" Elliot sighed, leaning back a bit.

Olivia pushed off the wall and slowly made her way over to Elliot before dropping onto the cot next to him, "I told you I'm fine."

"Yeah and I asked if you weren't okay last night and you said no." Elliot reasoned, turning slightly so he could face her better.

"I didn't say 'no' exactly." Olivia argued.

"That's right, but that was only because you couldn't form words." Elliot through her actions back in her face and she was embarrassed by them to say the least.

"I can't believe you would bring that up! Oh my god, I just, I can't believe you Elliot," Okay, Olivia was mortified, "I was emotional! Is that okay by you!? I watched an eleven year old girl who had been molested and raped by her own father for so long, commit suicide, and so excuse me if I wasn't able to form coherent sentences!" Olivia felt tears stinging her eyes but after the stint Elliot just pulled she wasn't about to let him see her cry again, "I can't help it if I feel responsible for not stopping her! You weren't in that room! You weren't even there when she pulled that fucking trigger and ended her life!! She was just a baby!" Olivia was now standing in front of Elliot, yelling at him as the scrutinized tears began to blur her vision but still hadn't fallen.

Elliot stood as well, "Don't you think it makes me feel just as sick, Olivia? Don't you think I want to catch this guy just as bad!? At least I can hold it together!" Elliot began to raise his voice "You don't even have kids!!"

Silence.

The room fell deathly quite as the final words dropped from Elliot's mouth.

Olivia let out a short breath as if she had been winded, punched in the gut full force. The verbal hit was so hard that it felt real.

"You bastard." Olivia whispered with such venom that Elliot almost feared that she'd bite him, almost, "You fucking bastard! HOW DARE YOU!!" Olivia screamed, yelled, she had just received the biggest insult Elliot had ever dished out her way and it hurt, it hurt so fucking much.

Elliot had out done himself, he had officially been titled 'biggest prick of the free world'. He was stunned at his words. He didn't even register what he had said until he had seen the unmistakeable look of heart break in Olivia's eyes as she yelled at him.

She snapped, "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!! We're meant to be friends you son of a bitch!!" She swung her right arm, missing Elliot's jaw but knocking the air out of his chest, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT MEAN'T TO MEAN!? Because I don't have kids I can't understand the pain!? Because I DON'T HAVE KIDS I can't possibly know how much it hurts to see an eleven year old girl lying on the ground with half her face blown off!?" Olivia was screaming and pounding Elliot like no tomorrow.

All her technique had been lost in her emotion but the force was enough to surely leave bruises.

"Fuck you, Elliot. FUCK YOU! You weren't there when she looked at me with those dark brown eyes and told me she couldn't take the pain any more, that she couldn't handle it, that it hurt too much." Olivia was crying hard as she tried with all her heart just to keep hitting and hitting Elliot until he hurt as much as she did, "You son of a bitch! You didn't see her when she looked at me with those beautiful eyes and whispered 'sorry' before pressing the gun to her head and- and-" Olivia's insides constricted violently as she fought for control, dropping her arms from hitting Elliot, instead she held them close to her chest, "Why did she pull the trigger, El?" Olivia cried, her body shaking with all the effort to keep everything bottled up.

Elliot couldn't believe he had caused her so much pain, so much anguish. He couldn't believe he was the one who had made her break, made her fall so hard that she was standing in front of him, trying with all her strength not to shatter completely.

Elliot pulled her towards him, grabbing hold of her upper arms and pulling her flush against him and wrapping his own arms around her, holding her as close as she could get and feeling her arms clutching him to her almost instantly.

"God, I'm so sorry, 'Livia." Elliot whispered, his mouth close to the base of her neck, his head burying into her hair, "I'm so, so sorry! I am so, so sorry."

Olivia cried hard, she cried for the anguish that Melanie must have felt, the humiliation, the desperate need to be forgiven. She cried for the way Elliot had insulted her and even though he had been so cruel, the fact that he was just as sorry if not more so, the fact she believed him, that she trusted him without a doubt. She cried for herself and her pain, her anguish and her humiliation and the desperate need she felt to be forgiven because she couldn't stop Melanie from pulling that trigger. She cried because she could feel the heart beat of the man she loved moving at the exact rhythm of hers and she couldn't tell him because she was afraid. She couldn't tell him that their hearts beat to the same drum because she was too afraid even though she knew that life was too short and she knew it all too well.

- - - - -

The squad room was silent; waiting for what they were sure to come but neither Elliot nor Olivia ever came storming down the stairs. If everyone hadn't been so positive that their weren't any missing murder weapons from the lock up they would have ran up there a good five minutes ago but the yelling had ceased completely.

Cragen walked out of his office to see why all the commotion had stopped and found that the only noise in the room were fax machines, photo copiers and printers all smearing ink onto paper. He took another look around and noticed that all eyes were on the cribs he briskly began walking towards the stairs.

"Where are you going Cap? Lake asked timidly, surprising both Fin and Munch by doing so.

"I'm going to see what the fuck Benson and Stabler are up to." Cragen informed him sharply before turning back to the stairs.

"No!" Both Fin and Munch had begun at the same time, each looking at each other with furrowed brows, "You can't do that.' Fin added.

"And why not, Detective?" Cragen raised his eyebrows.

"Ummm…well because, they um-" Fin was never that great at lying on his feet and thankfully Munch stepped in.

"Honestly?" He asked.

"Of course." Cragen replied, mildly amuse as to what might have occurred in the ten minutes since he had left the room.

"Off the record?" Lake asked cautiously, continuing on from Munch.

"Okay…" Cragen agreed slowly.

"We don't know what's going up there and being Elliot and Olivia it could range from murder to sitting in silence to…well, I'm sure you can come up with the possibilities on your own but if you walk in there and see anything slightly non-partner-relationship-stuff you're going to have to report it to IAB., "Lake reasoned, "Isn't it a much better idea to run with the philosophy of 'Don't see it, doesn't count'?"

"Where does that come under? The same category as 'Finders' keepers; losers' weepers.'?" Munch snorted.

Both Lake and Fin shot him dirty looks.

Cragen concealed his smirk as he watched his detectives, descending the stairs as he did, "You three, my office."

"Dad's not happy guys!" Munch called.

Fin and Lake grinned as they all trudged to the office.

Cragen walked in behind them and pulled the door closed before walking around his desk, dropping into his chair and pulling out some 'Twislers'.

"You wanted to see us, Cap?" Lake furrowed his brow.

"I don't care what Elliot and Olivia are doing as long as they work out what's going on and how Olivia is dealing with this case. But, I do need to keep up appearances and at least look like I'm pulling rank and kicking your arses for the stunt you three just pulled out there." Cragen chewed his twisler thoughtfully.

All three detectives shared a look before turning back to their captain, "Can we go now?" Fin asked.

"Not yet, give it a couple more minutes." Cragen shook his head before thrusting the container of lollies forwards, "Twisler?"

- - - - -

Neither of them had moved. Elliot's shirt was soaked in the one spot where Olivia had cried for nearly ten minutes now and although there was occasionally a sniffle she was pretty much silent, even as the tears continued to flow and her breathing hadn't quite settled.

Elliot, on the other hand, hadn't stopped. He continued to murmur his apologies and had even said she was beautiful twice. He stroked her hair gently, letting his fingers lace with it loosely before pulling away and dragging them through again. Olivia had managed to calm herself enough that she felt able to talk but she didn't to wreck the moment. She was still clutching him and he still held her tightly and she didn't want it to end.

After a couple more minutes of silence she finally dared to move; looking up at him with tear stained cheeks and beautiful brown eyes. Her mouth finally gained the courage she needed when Elliot gave her a small smile, his blue eyes gleaming in the dim light.

"I need you," She whispered.

- - - - -

Okay, so that was a little cruel leaving you all there buut I think that was a pretty good chapter.

Drop me a review!!

Love,

Curses...