She sat on the couch in her small apartment, her knees pulled up close to her chest with a book resting on her lap. She heard the key turn the locks in the door and she looked up. It squeaked quietly as it was pushed open.

Grabbing her gun from the coffee table, she pressed herself against the wall and peered into the next room. The door began to open slowly and Olivia pointed her gun at it. She slowly crept away from the wall and towards the door.

A tall man with pale skin and dark hair sidled into the room as quietly as possible. He noticed Olivia with her gun and froze, putting in hands in the air innocently.

"Elliot!" she sighed. "It's only you." She dropped her gun.

"Who'd you think I was?" he asked, dropping his hands and coming further into the room.

"I don't know. I just forgot I gave you a key."

He chuckled as he turned and closed the door. When he turned back around to face Olivia, she was right in his face, her gun pointed at him. "Next time," she said playfully. She lowered the gun and pointed it at his boys. She rammed the barrel into his crotch and he nearly doubled over. She grinned. "Call."

She pulled her gun away and walked away grinning as Elliot cupped his boys. "Right," he said in a strangled voice. "I'll call."

He followed her into the living room with a slight hunch as continued to cup his crotch. She sat back down and picked up her book. He cleared his throat. "Anything new?"

She pouted her lips to the side and shook her head. "I think there's something wrong with me, I can't get pregnant. Or maybe I'm just not destined to be a mother," she said, not looking up from her book.

He sat down next to her, fixing his pants uncomfortably. He put a strong arm around her. "Of course you are. You'll be a great mother."

She looked up at him and grinned weakly.

Olivia leaned her head on Elliot's chest, curling her knees up close. "I love you so much, Elliot."

He leaned his head back into the pillows as he rubbed gentle circles on her arm with his thumb. "I love you, too, Liv."

He ran his fingers absently over the wound on his head as he squinted at the bright light as he stood outside the hospital doors.

He didn't even notice Elliot and Olivia approach him from behind.

"Keith," Elliot said, making him jump.

Keith turned around to face them. He smiled. "Detectives," he began brightly. "Did you find who attacked me?"

"We have a few more questions, actually," Elliot told him.

"Okay."

"Let's go down to our station," Elliot said, grinning.

"What's all this about?" Keith asked as he sat in one of the chairs in the interrogation rooms.

"You know that your roommate found you wearing nothing at all, right?" Olivia asked as she paced back and forth in front of the two-way mirror, staring at her shoes.

Keith looked away and nodded uncomfortably. "Yeah…"

"What were you doing like that?"

"I – I…" he stuttered. Leaning in close to Elliot across the table, he whispered, "You can't tell me you've never self served?"

"I've never had my head beaten in because of it," Elliot said, a little accusingly.

Keith sighed and slumped back in his chair, looking out the barred window. "I don't remember what happened," he admitted.

"How do you know you were 'self serving' then?" Olivia asked, putting quotes around self serving with her fingers, continuing to pace back and forth and never looking up over to either Elliot or Keith.

Elliot raised his eyebrows, repeating Olivia's question with his cerulean blue eyes.

She knocked on the door as Elliot came up behind her. They stood on the doorstep for a short minute before it swung open, almost violently.

A young woman stood in front of them with long, curly blond hair, a strong cheekbone and jawbone, and shining blue-green eyes. "Hi?" she said as Elliot and Olivia held out their badges. "Can I help you?"

"Julia Wilcox? We need to ask you a few questions about your husband," Olivia said.

"My husband? You mean my ex-husband?"

Olivia looked back at Elliot, her eyebrows raised.

Julia looked from Elliot to Olivia with a confused look. "What happened to Keith?"

Olivia sighed. "Can we come in?" she asked after a hesitant minute.

"Of course, of course," she said, opening the door further and walking into the next room.

Elliot and Olivia followed her into the living room as two young children ran by.

"Mason! Stop chasing Jenny!" Julia yelled after the kids. She sighed and began to pick up the brightly colored toys left scattered around the room.

"When did you two separate?" Olivia asked as Elliot trailed her closely, not saying a word.

"About three months ago," Julia said, picking up the baby that was crying from it's crib. "Shh, shh. It's okay Jessica, it's okay," she cooed to the baby as she rocked her gently.

"Why did he leave you?"

"I left him. The job made him too much to handle anymore."

Olivia drew her brow in with question.

Julia looked from Olivia to Elliot and back to Olivia quickly, a look of realization on her face. "He's a cop, a State Highway Patrol Officer. He was always away a lot, and when he was back, he was often tired, angry, or upset... so pretty violent. I was lonely, and I thought it was better for the kids."

"Did he ever hit you?"

"No, never," she said, putting the down the calmed baby in the crib. "He would never hurt us. But he did beat up quite a few walls."

Elliot held his breath guiltily and averted his strong gaze from Julia's. Olivia looked back at him and her heart suddenly ached.

Not wanting to confuse Julia, Olivia turned back to her confidently. "Your ex-husband was involved in a beating last night."

"What? Is he okay?"

"He's fine now, Ms. Wilcox."

"Oh, thank god," Julia sighed, running her hand through her hair long blond hair.

Olivia rubbed her thighs uncertainly. "But we also believe he tried to rape a woman."

"What?" she asked, turning back to them, a look of almost fury in her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"We have a statement from the girl, and it would explain why we found him without any clothes on, and why he can't come up with any excuse for why we found him like that," Elliot said suddenly.

Olivia looked back at him with hurt in her eyes. She wanted to reach out and hug him, kiss him, comfort him.

He leaned over her, his arms straddling her as he leaned on her desk. He let his head fall close to her neck and discreetly pressed his lips against her skin. She smiled and nuzzled the side of his head with hers, almost nudging him away.

"Not here, El," she whispered. "We'll loose our partnership."

"I know," he breathed onto neck guiltily. "But I still don't understand why we can't tell them. I mean, aren't they our friends?"

"It's not that easy, El."

"Why not?" he whined quietly into her ear.

"I don't want to loose you as my partner, do you?"

"Of course not."

"Then we have to keep this quiet."

He sighed and dipped his head. "Okay," he succumbed.

Just then, a woman burst into the room, clenching a newspaper in her hand. Seeing Elliot and Olivia first as they looked up at her, she trotted angrily over to them. She slammed the paper onto the desk in front of them. "This man raped a woman?" she asked, pointing to Keith's picture on the front page.

They both looked down and saw Keith's picture. Elliot suddenly straightened, punching the air behind him. "Damn it," he whispered angrily to himself.

"Um... he tried to, but she got away," Olivia said uncertainly.

"Good," she sighed, rubbing her forehead nervously.

"Why?"

"Because he raped me, too."

"Why don't you just tell me what happened, Alissa?" Olivia asked gently, pushing the cup of coffee toward the woman.

"I was driving down the freeway at about ten a few weeks ago," she said, taking a sip from the cup Olivia had given her. "And he pulled me over. I gave him my license and registration, he went back to his car, stayed there for a few minutes, came back and said my license was out of date and I needed to go down to the station with him."

"Alright, what happened after that?"

"I went with him and he took me to a rest stop, and pulled off into a shadowed area. He climbed into the back seat with me and started to caress me and pull at my clothes."

"Did you fight back?"

"I tried, but he'd just hit me and tell me to be quiet. Then, while he was raping me, he made me tell him things."

"Like what?"

"How good he was, how much I loved him," her voice remained calm and poised, unfaltering. "And how he was the best I'd ever had, and I'd never leave him."

"When did he rape you?"

"About two and a half months ago."

"Did he use a condom, Alissa?" she asked.

She looked away, suddenly showing an emotion other than anger. Humiliation.

Olivia cocked her head slightly to the side. "Alissa?" she asked more gently this time.

Alissa bit her lip and shook her head hesitantly. Slowly, she put a hand to her stomach. Olivia noticed and her eyebrows relaxed into a surprised look. She looked up to Olivia with tears behind her hazel eyes.

Olivia's mouth fell slightly agape as she looked back at the young woman, searching her eyes.