Sorry it took so long!!

Anyone hanging out for 'Whisper' - sorry, I still have that writers block.

Thanks to Nettie for beta-ing this chapter for me!!

Disclaimer: My school bag broke - I think that's an idictaion that I'm probably not even old enough to own anything from SVU.

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14th February,

Some back road, upstate New York.

4:13pm

"So, I was thinking maybe we should go for a walk and try and see if we can get some reception." Elliot sighed sarcastically, finally breaking the silence, pulling his phone from his pocket.

Olivia turned away from the window and the blurry snowflakes. Her cold, dark eyes met his blue ones, sparks of annoyance darting between them. "No," she spoke flatly.

She was not going to go out side. Cold and Elliot didn't mix. Her being cold with Elliot didn't mix. The white snow was not appealing whatsoever; it was cold enough in the car without having the icy snow soaking through their coats as well.

"We can't just sit here," Elliot protested, rolling his eyes.

"You want to go out in that? I'm sorry but I'm not completely insane but feel free to go for a walk if you want to but I'm assuming you'll probably never make your way back to the car," Olivia replied, turning back to her window, shivering as she shifted.

"Fine, you want to be like that Olivia? Fine." Elliot turned and pushed his door open, letting in a blast of frigid air as he stepped out.

Olivia gripped the sleeves of her coat and pulled it tighter around herself, shivering violently as the wind attacked her before stopping abruptly as Elliot slammed his door.

Olivia shrunk back into the seat, scowling as she watched Elliot's retreating form in the rearview mirror. She could see him stomping away and throwing his hands about, no doubt muttering to himself about her and her inability to do something. He always seemed to think it was her fault – never his.

She gritted her teeth, realizing she was going to have to follow him. Great. Fabulous. Olivia reluctantly shifted forward in her seat and prepared herself for the cold; getting a brief preview from the freezing leather. She pushed the door open, snow flakes and a light wind greeted her, wrapping and winding through the air. Pulling herself out of the car she ducked her head down and turned to glance up at Elliot's blurred form. She slammed the door closed, the built up snow sliding down the outside of the car.

Olivia began stomping through the snow, feeling it already invading her boots and soaking through her slacks. Why did she have to go for the nice, sleek black slacks instead of her thicker, slightly navy ones which didn't make her arse look nearly as good?

She moved around the side of the sedan and out of the snow, onto the road. Her heels clicked lightly on the tarmac and she pressed on, shivering insanely as the cold attacked her through her clothes.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, bad, stupid idea.

Olivia sped up, jogging stiffly to catch Elliot before he got too far out of reach. She avoided most of the black ice, sliding once or twice but quickly regaining her balance. Elliot took no notice of Olivia's foot steps getting closer as he tried to speed up; if she didn't want to talk to him he wasn't going to make any effort to talk to her.

"Could you slow down just a little, El?" Olivia called out, her breath slightly ragged.

All Olivia got in reply was a grunt.

She quickly sped up yet again and managed to fall in step next to him within a couple of meters. The walked at the same pace for a few minutes, listening to the almost silence around them, other than their footfalls on the bitumen. Olivia was shivering uncontrollably and Elliot was shuddering every few moments but neither wanted to give in and say it was a bad idea to come out.

"How are the kids?" Olivia finally spoke, her teeth chattering.

"Fine," Elliot gritted out his answer, his voice monotonous.

"Maureen doing okay at College?" Olivia asked quietly.

"Fine." Elliot kept his stiff gaze forward.

"How are the twins coping with the divorced parent thing?" Olivia was grabbing at straws here, she needed some form of conversation and usually any mention of his kids and he wouldn't shut up.

"Fine," Elliot answered once again.

"And how are we, Elliot?" Olivia said exasperated, pausing momentarily before continuing to keep pace.

"Fine," Elliot replied, just to spite her, knowing she was ready to throttle him.

"Of course we are Elliot! You're kids are fine, you're ex-wife is fine, Ryan's probably fine, you're fine. Hell, why not, I'll be fine too!" Olivia was practically yelling as she stormed down the road, "We're all completely and utterly, fucking fi-" Olivia was cut off as she slipped on some black ice, landing awkwardly before falling backwards and meeting the cold hard ground, "Fuck!"

Elliot ran over to Olivia, mindful of the slippery spot where she had just fallen, "You still fine?"

Olivia didn't open her eyes as she focused on breathing through the stabbing pain which was attacking her ankle and making her head swirl. She held her breath as she tried to deal with it using 'mind over matter'.

"Liv?" Elliot asked, quietly, crouching down next to her, unsure of what he was meant to do.

"I was never fucking fine. It's called sarcasm, asshole." Olivia bit out.

Elliot cracked a smile, "Are you hurt?"

Yes, I have bruises on my legs from where my now ex-boyfriend rested his knees on me, where his finger tips groped me, a bruise on my cheek from his hand, on my wrists and to top it off I think I've twisted my ankle as well as winded myself.

"No." Olivia gingerly pushed herself up into a sitting position, brushing her hands off.

She slowly moved to kneeling before she shifted onto her good leg and got up to standing, wobbling slightly with the uneven weight on each leg. She stood for a moment, letting her leg get used to the new position and feeling a sort of normalcy wash over her limb. Maybe it was okay.

She took a step forward, screaming out in pain at the added pressure on her ankle, sucking in a breath when Elliot's arms caught her.

"Ow, fuck. Ow, fuck, fuck, fuck, shit! Ooohhh, fuck; that hurts!" Olivia cursed, scrunching her eyes closed at the pain.

"Yeah, I'll take that as a no," Elliot chuckled slightly before his eyes settled on the bruises on Olivia's wrists where her hands gripped his forearms.

"I'm- I'm- I don't know what I am," Olivia grumbled, knowing she couldn't say she was fine.

She stood up uneasily and tried to work out what she was going to do:

Hopping wasn't going to work. She may as well face it now.

Walking was a no go as well. She could crawl and wreck her already ruined, perfectly nice, sleek, black, 'make-your-arse-look-fabulous' work slacks but then she'd tear up her hands.

She gave Elliot a sideways glance and knew what was coming.

"Need some help?" Elliot smiled genuinely.

"Yes," Olivia sighed reluctantly.

Elliot slipped his arm around her waist as she held onto his shoulders; he turned them so they we're facing the sedan and slowly began helping Olivia make her way back.

Olivia hopped with caution, trying not to move her ankle to much in a vain hope to stop it from causing her any more pain. After a few minutes of not getting very far Elliot finally gave up and stopped, bringing Olivia to and abrupt halt.

"Do you want me to carry you?" he asked, completely serious.

"What?" Olivia arched her eye brow.

"It really would be easier and a lot faster," Elliot sighed.

"Are you saying I'm slow, Stabler?" Olivia asked, hand on her hip.

"No, I'm just saying it would be faster." Elliot smiled.

"No, you're not carrying me. No way." Olivia put her hands up.

"Olivia, last time I'm asking…" Elliot's smile was slowly becoming bigger and she knew this was all going to end badly – for her at least.

"No, not happening." She shook her head, trying to balance properly as she did so.

"Fine." Elliot's smile was a full blown wicked grin as he ducked down and quickly scooped Olivia up, much to her surprise, "Now, I'm telling you; I'm carrying you."

"Elliot, put me down, now!" Olivia told him sharply as she clung to his neck, hoping not to be dropped, "Right now, Elliot!"

"No, I think I like you right here, you can't hit me without letting go and you can't kick me without being at risk of hurting your leg more." Elliot strode towards the car in the freezing cold, exuding confidence, "And personally, I'm a lot warmer."

"Yeah, I guess." Olivia mumbled, subconsciously pulling herself into Elliot more.

As much as she wanted to fight Elliot, it felt good to be in his arms, good to give up even for just a few minutes it felt good to just be and not have control or have to think. Although her throat was a little tight and scratchy from the cold it felt good just to breathe and not worry about where she had to put her feet when the chase was on, it felt good not to be completely independent.

It felt good not to be alone.

Olivia shuddered because that was just it, she was alone.

"You okay?" Elliot asked quietly, breaking Olivia out of her trance.

She slowly opened her eyes, not realizing that she had closed them in the first place and blinked up at Elliot, "Huh?"

"I asked if you were okay. You just seemed a little off for a moment there." Elliot replied, almost at the car now, "Didn't realised you had dozed off."

"I didn't 'doze off'. I was just thinking with my eyes closed." Olivia said defiantly, trying to suppress a yawn.

"Sure, Liv." Elliot grinned.

"I was!" Olivia protested; adamant about the fact that she had not fallen asleep in his arms.

"Why are you so tired today?" Elliot asked, all of a sudden serious as he tried to pull the keys out of his pocket.

Olivia stiffened.

Because I didn't sleep last night, because I was scared her was going to come back.

Because I was scared.

"Late night I guess." Olivia sort of shrugged, chewing the inside of her cheek as Elliot moved around and opened her door, kicking it a bit wider with his foot.

He gently lowered her into the seat so her feet were still dangling outside the car. He didn't say anything as he undid Olivia's right boot, sliding the zipper from her ankle down to the sole of the shoe. He slowly wiggled it off her foot, only touching her lightly with his fingers before standing again.

Elliot moved around to the boot of the car, looking for a plastic bag or something like that. He found a zip-lock freezer bag, something that usually held children's school sandwiches. He picked it up and slammed the boot closed before walking back around to Olivia and crouching down again. He shoveled some snow into the bag and swiped it closed before taking hold of Olivia's right ankle again. He rested her foot on his knee and held the 'ice-pack' to it. He gently let his thumb run circles over the skin where his hand rested before looking up at Olivia.

"What were you doing?" he asked.

"Huh?" Olivia had no idea what he was talking about and the way he was touching her was making her head swirl slightly with the need to giggle or swoon.

"What were you doing that caused you to have a late night?" Elliot asked again, a mask of innocence across his face.

"I, um, well, Ryan and I um…" Olivia was stuck. She couldn't force the words out of her mouth, she couldn't lie to Elliot about this, she couldn't say anything about Ryan, so she told a different lie, "I was just watching movies all night…on my own. Ryan, um…had to go…out." Olivia replied, looking anywhere but at Elliot.

"Then explain to me how you got bruises on your wrists…while watching movies?" Elliot frowned, continuing to draw the small circles with his thumb.

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