Finally, the second chapter of this is done! I've had a bit of writer's block, but it's over, and I'm working on ANOTHER postep for Fault. Heh... such a wonderful episode. Now, the last part of this chapter gets a little crazy, so beware! Enjoy, and please remember to review!

WARNING! SMUT ALERT! WOO HOO!

Disclaimer: Not mine!

EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Olivia stared at the page in front of her eyes, unable to make sense of the sentence she had been attempting for the last half hour. It was a package on how to care for Elliot while he was recovering, and she found that a lot of it was common sense. Stay home, no bright lights... Her mind strayed again.

"Livia...?"

She quickly set her cup of hot tea and the papers down, then hurried into their bedroom. He was twisting restlessly in the sheets, and it quickly dawned on her that he was trapped in a nightmare. Sighing sympathetically, she quickly climbed into the bed and stretched out beside him. "It's okay, El," she soothed, reaching out to smooth her hand over his damp hair.

He twisted again, groaning quietly. Where was Olivia? Why wasn't she stopping this?

He wasn't responding to her touch, so she scooted closer and drew him into her arms. "Come on, El. It's just a dream. Just a dream..." She gently rolled him onto his side and snuggled up to his back, holding him to her by wrapping her arm around his waist and sliding her other arm under him. It would probably fall asleep soon, but that didn't really bother her. He would never admit it, but she had woken up in this particular position more often than any other. She had never said a word, but she loved it. His anger and his pride wouldn't let him say when he was hurting and feeling vulnerable, yet she could always sense when he was. She nuzzled his neck.

The change in his breathing alerted her to the fact that he was finally waking up, and she sighed in relief.

He didn't bother opening his eyes. He didn't want to face it right now. Feeling her chest rise and fall against his back soothed him, and he reached down and ran his hand lightly over her arm. Her skin was so soft, such a contrast from the hardened facade she maintained at work. And it was only him who was allowed to know that, to be able to break down that wall.

She smiled, softly kissing his neck.

He relaxed further into the protective curve of her body. This was a side of Olivia Benson that only he was privileged enough to be able to see. He was the only one allowed to touch her, to kiss her and hold her in his arms. God, he loved this woman. And if he had gone back to Kathy that night instead of showing up in front of her apartment building, he wouldn't be in her arms right now. He shuddered. He was a good Catholic, but he just couldn't go back to a marriage that really was only a ghost of what it used to be. His babies were almost completely grown; they didn't need him at home. He would have only been going back to soothe his own guilt over his disintegrated marriage, if there ever had been one. They had been so young, and it had barely meant anything to him when she had begged him to spend the night with her. Just the night... That one night had turned into a lifetime of responsibility. And while he loved his children more than the next breath he took, his relationship with Kathy had turned from one of mutual understanding to one of resentment over lost dreams and what could have been. What their lives could have been, and how different everything could have turned out if he had just been able to say no to her one time. Just one time.

Olivia slid her gentle hand under his shirt and over the muscles in his chest. Just to hear him breathe, to be holding him, was a comfort she was never going to be able to give up. She had spent a decade wanting and praying he would be hers, but deep down she thought it could never happen. He was a married man, with four kids, a wife and a mortgage. She had her apartment, exes, and a lot of emotional baggage. Then one night last year he had shown up at her place, and before she knew it, he was spending nearly every night in her bed. And the others she just spent in his. She saw more of his kids than she ever had, and it thrilled her. It didn't matter that they were the children of another woman. She loved them because they were Elliot's babies. They were what had made him the man she loved.

He reached down and closed his hand around hers, squeezing gently. Her desire to protect him was hard for her to hide. It had been for years. From the first day they had met, they had developed an almost instantaneous relationship, with emotions that ran unfathomably deep. And the need to protect the other, for both of them, was unexplainably strong. He laced his fingers through hers and felt her smile against the nape of his neck. Even now, she was protecting him, just by the way she was holding him so tight. With Kathy, it had never been like this. He had been raised to protect the fairer sex at all cost, to keep them safe and sheltered. That coupled with the fact that he was born to a long line of cops had been what had led him to his career choice.

He had never let anyone take care of him, even at his most vulnerable points. Instead, most times, he had lashed out at the very woman who was laying beside him right now. She was a safe target to take everything out on, even things that had nothing to do with her. And she had taken every bit of it and then some.

And it only made him love her more. Through his divorce, through too many breakdowns to count, she had been there. Like a tree refusing to be uprooted by a violent storm, she had stuck by his side. For better or for worse. And too much of that had been the worse. Yet there she was, his constant, his rock. She took the brunt of his verbal and emotional attacks, often fighting back with assaults of her own. And he deserved every bit of it. The one thing he didn't deserve was her. He never had. If he had put Kathy through even a fraction of what he had forced Olivia to suffer, she would have left him years ago. And he wouldn't have blamed her. Just like he wouldn't blame Olivia if she decided to up and leave him. Though somehow he knew she wouldn't. If she had stayed by him for this long, she really was in it for the long haul.

She gently freed her hand and resumed caressing his chest, her fingers slowly tracing old scars. Many of them she knew about, but some she intended to question him about at a later time. Some had happened without her there, and some had happened right before her eyes, leaving her cursing herself for not being more diligent. For not being a better partner. She traced a small scar just below his heart, then settled her open palm over his rapidly beating heart and held it there.

He made a soft noise and pressed closer to her, resting his hand over her smaller one. He couldn't see it, but he could feel the difference in size, in texture. Her hands were capable of anything; from subduing a violent suspect to comforting a small child. And everything in between that was called for in their line of work. His finger absently traced a line on the back of her hand. Kathy's hands had always been smaller, more delicate with no calluses or scars. Olivia's were the hands of a woman who had seen too much, who bore more than any woman, any person, ever should. The fingers were long and slender, with calluses and small scars in varying places. She had never shied away from hard work and it showed every day, in her hands, in her eyes.

He loved her eyes. Somewhere he had read that eyes were the windows into the soul, and he wasn't sure about that until he had met her. She could lie to him, but her eyes never could. The soft depths changed shades depending on her mood, but the most beautiful they ever looked was when she laughed. He loved to hear her laugh. He didn't hear it enough, and often times he blamed that on himself. He was the source of too much unhappiness for this woman, but she never complained. He squeezed her hand again and sighed quietly. If this didn't change, if he didn't get his sight back, he would never see her smile again. His grip tightened on her hand. He would never see those beautiful eyes, the nose she hated but he loved, the way she seemed to glow whenever she was around a child...

When he grasped her hand and clung to it, she kissed his neck. "It's going to be okay, Elliot," she whispered, closing her eyes. "You're going to get your sight back. I know you will." He had to.

He nodded weakly as his fingers lightly caressed hers. Why was she even still there with him? Most women would consider him used goods, nothing special. Yet here she was, holding him like she would never, ever even consider letting him out of her arms.

Just what had he done to deserve her? Certainly nothing he could think of.

Sighing quietly, Olivia gently eased Elliot onto his back, then straddled his waist. The only way she knew to get through to him was reassurance that she was still there with him and wasn't going to leave him. Silently she reached down and pulled her shirt off. Then she leaned down and kissed him languidly.

He was surprised, but he eagerly returned the kiss as he let his hands roam over her back. God, she felt absolutely amazing.

Quickly she reached down and helped him out of his boxers. Then she sank down on him, her fingernails digging lightly into his shoulders. "God, El..."

He groaned loudly, jerking his hips upward and sheathing himself entirely inside of her as he grabbed her hips in his large hands.

She let her head fall backward, her eyelids fluttering shut as she cried out his name again.

He desperately wanted to see her expression, but he concentrated on the soft swells of her breasts and teased her nipples.

She moved faster on him, her breaths coming in short gasps. "Fuck!" She suddenly leaned forward and started nipping at his neck.

He slid his arms around her and thrusted upward, burying his face in her neck.

She suddenly clenched around him as she rode her release. "Elliot!"

He suddenly flipped her onto her back and continued thrusting until he found his own release. Groaning deeply, he collapsed into her arms and buried his face in her neck again. "Damn, Liv..." he panted, holding her tight.

She closed her eyes, kissing his damp head. "I love you..."

He smiled into her damp skin. "Love you, too..."

Slowly she turned onto her side and rested her forehead against his. "Think you can go back to sleep?" she murmured, caressing his cheek.

"Probably," he yawned, cuddling her close. After a while, he didn't need his sight to know that she had fallen asleep in his arms. He finally let his mind wander.

He wanted desperately to be able to see again, but if he didn't, he knew that she would still be with him. Even if he never saw clearly again, she would be there to help him. She was his partner, at work and in life.

He would get through this, and it would be because of her.

He cuddled her closer, burying his fingers in her hair. Sometimes, he believed, the only reason he was still alive was because of his kids and her. And it wasn't far from the truth. The five of them had pulled him back from the edge so many times that he had lost count years ago.

He kissed her head again. She and his children really were his life, and without them, he'd be lost.

"I love you, Liv," he whispered, letting his head rest against hers.

She continued to sleep peacefully in his arms.

The End

A/N: Yay smut! Hope everyone enjoyed this, and please remember to review!