Fooling Ourselves

Chapter 18: Slipped Away

A/N: Remember way back when, when I said I was almost done with this story? I don't know where I stand with that anymore. I'm gonna try to finish this story before the new season starts. I may or may not accomplish that but even if I don't meet my deadline, I promise I will finish. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

"Elliot, get out of here now," Olivia said evenly. Her fate was not important. A head shot would be quick, painless, she'd be dead before Gitano decided to let go of her lifeless corpse.

"He won't leave," Gitano whispered in her ear "He doesn't want you to die anymore than you wanted him to die three years ago. He'll try everything he can to talk me down but it won't work," he chuckled.

"Elliot, leave, NOW!" Olivia commanded as the knot in the pit of her stomach tightened even further.

Elliot looked deep into her eyes with a meaningful gaze that didn't need to be accompanied by words though he spoke them just the same "No way in hell Olivia." He turned his gaze to Gitano "You know there's no way out of this for you, right? It'll end just like it did last time."

"You mean that after eight months of painful recovery, I'll start stalking you two until my moment and we'll be right back where we started?" Gitano asked.

"Not exactly," Elliot responded calmly "This time, I'll make sure you're dead."

"Hmm…" Gitano seemed to consider this for a moment. Of course Elliot would want him to pay for what he had done and after all of this time, the justice system would no longer suit his need for blood. If there was one thing Victor Gitano did not want to do again it was get shot. He looked past Elliot and through the window beside the front door of the cabin. The entire SWAT team hadn't moved closer since Elliot had first entered. Gitano smirked, they were fools. "I suppose you want me to let her go," he said, stalling for time.

"That'd be a gesture of good faith," Elliot shrugged, his hand creeping towards where he had concealed his holster beneath his jacket. The second he let Olivia go, Elliot was gonna turn him into a piece of Swiss cheese.

"Yeah," Gitano smirked, inching his way towards the back door of the cabin "But I don't have faith that you won't kill me once Olivia's not in the line of fire." Before Elliot could respond, Gitano had shoved Olivia hard towards him. "Here, take her," he snapped.

Olivia lost her balance and Elliot sprang forward to catch her. "Are you okay?" he asked quickly.

She nodded, turning around to stare at the back door of the cabin, it was wide open. There was a ten foot stretch of grass between the cabin and the river. Olivia cursed herself. Once more, Gitano had used her as a distraction so that he could escape, except this time he knew what he was doing. As they stared at the river, Olivia spotted something "Elliot," she pointed to the arm above the water and they both watched as it disappeared and the other arm surfaced.

Elliot, who had no other way of signaling the SWAT team, turned briefly and yelled at the top of his lungs "He's running! I'm going after him!" he ran out the door and was at the edge of the river. He ripped his shirt off and dove in, trying to catch up to that son of a bitch.

Olivia ran after him, lifting his shirt from the ground and holding it clenched in her fists. She hoped he knew what he was doing. The SWAT team members came one by one to stand with her.

"That man is nuts," the team leader murmured from just behind and to the left of Olivia.

Olivia wasn't listening. She was focused on the river. She could still see an arm breaking the surface every minute or so. Then, about fifty yards downstream, they both resurfaced. Olivia ran along the river bed to see if she could help.

"You son of a bitch," Elliot hissed as he tried to force Gitano's head under water and hold him there.

Gitano sunk his teeth into Elliot's hand and managed to resurface. He punched Elliot square in the face "Don't be such a sour loser Elliot," he chuckled "You've got the girl, for now," he delivered two hard kicks to Elliot's abdomen before swimming away again.

"Elliot!" Olivia cried from on shore, she began to kick her shoes off with the intention of going in after him.

Elliot floundered for a few seconds before he managed to right himself. His nose was gushing blood and he was almost positive that Gitano had fractured, if not broken, more than one of his ribs. Still, he could swim. "I'm okay," he called as he began, slowly, to swim for shore.

Olivia wrapped her arms around him and sobbed when he stood dripping wet before her "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

He ran his hand through her hair "I'm fine," he assured her "Don't worry."

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The hospital had been able to arrange it so that Zack and Rose shared a room. Both children were silent as mice. Olivia was standing over Zack's crib when Elliot walked in. She was whispering to him. He walked up behind her and encircled her waist with his strong arms, letting his head rest on her shoulder. She jumped at first but soon relaxed into his embrace.

"How's he doing?" he asked gently.

Olivia sniffled "The doctor said he'll be fine but he's gonna have to stay here for a week at least. I've been talking to him," she hung her head "I think he's angry at me."

Elliot suppressed a chuckle "He's five months old Liv. You're his mother there for you're his world. He's been through a lot."

"He knows I let him down," she whispered.

He turned her to face him "You didn't let anyone down Olivia," he said firmly.

"Gitano got away," she whispered.

"Yeah," Elliot shrugged "But we'll find him again. He'll never get within a mile of Zack or Rose or any of our children again."

Olivia looked up "'Our'?"

"Hmm…?" Elliot questioned.

"You said 'our children'," Olivia explained as she leaned closer to him "I just thought it was… nice."

Elliot cupped her cheek in his hand "Well," he began to explain "We're a family, not exactly the a conventional family but…"

Olivia put her finger to his lips "Shhh, don't spoil the moment by over analyzing it," she warned in a tone that would have been almost playful if she weren't so despondent.

"Okay," Elliot smiled, when he noticed the look on her face "What's wrong?"

"You have to ask?" she shot back, pulling away and sitting in a chair beside Zack's crib "I walked away from that whole mess with not so much as a scratch!" she shouted but when Zack started to fuss, she put her tone in check "It isn't fair that this happened to them."

Elliot took a seat beside her, being careful that the bandages that held his cracked ribs in place didn't slip. He put an arm around her shoulder "You can't let him do this to you Olivia," he said simply.

She turned to him, a mixture of shock and sadness on her face "How could even he be that cruel?" she whispered "I've seen a lot of things but…" she trailed off.

Elliot brushed a piece of hair behind her ear "No one should have to deal with this," he agreed "But the kids are safe now and I promise you, he will never ever hurt them again."

Olivia stood up suddenly "I need some water," she said before rushing out of the room.

Elliot was about to run after her when a soft voice from the other bed in the room piped up "Dada…?"

He stood up and walked over to Rose "Hi baby. How are you feeling?"

"Hurts," she replied sleepily "Where Livvie…?"

"She'll be right back honey," he said, stroking his daughter's hair.

"She sad," Rose observed.

Elliot nodded "Yes she is honey," he agreed.

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Olivia punched the vending machine with such force that she dented it.

"Whoa," Munch came up beside her "What did the good people at Pepsi ever do to you?"

"Nothing," Olivia sighed, her shoulders slumping as she walked away from the machine. She hadn't even put any money in the damn thing; she just wanted to hit something.

"Wanna talk about it?" Munch asked as he followed her to the row of chairs across from the bank of vending machines and sat down.

"Not particularly," she grumbled into her hands.

Munch laid a hand tentatively on her shoulder "I promise you that Fin and I are gonna kill this guy for what he did to you guys."

Olivia looked up "That's the point!" she said angrily "He didn't do anything to me! And because of me, he's still out there!"

Munch jumped involuntarily at her sudden outburst.

"Sorry," she said softly, turning away. She stood up and walked back to the hospital room.

Munch watched her leave with concern. He got up and went to go find his partner.

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"Livvie," Rose smiled and waved her one good arm at Olivia when she reentered the room.

"Hi honey," Olivia came over to her. She looked over at Elliot "How's she doing?" she asked.

"She's fine," Elliot smiled "She wanted to know where you were," he paused "I thought you were going to get some water?"

Olivia looked down at her empty hands "Well," she started "I got… sidetracked."

"Okay," Elliot said, not believing her.

Olivia bent over Rose's bed "How are you sweetie?"

Rose smiled and Olivia instantly felt warm all over "I good," she said. She reached up with her good hand and touched Olivia's face "No be sad okay?"

Olivia managed to smile for the first time since all of this had started as tears filled her eyes "I'll try baby, I'll try." She stood up and Elliot pulled her into a tight hug "I'm so sorry," she said as she tried to suppress a sob.

"You didn't do anything," he told her firmly, running his hand through her hair "None of this was your fault and you know it." She buried her face in his chest and clung to him tightly, not saying another word. Just at that moment, Zack started to cry. The two separated and Elliot crossed the room to the crib "What's wrong buddy?" he asked.

Zack continued to cry, even when Elliot picked him up and held him. Olivia slowly made her way over to them and took her son from Elliot's arms "Hi," she forced a small smile at the baby as more tears fell. She turned to Elliot "It's his hungry cry. Could you go ask the nurse for some formula?" Elliot nodded and started to walk out of the room. He turned back to see Olivia rocking Zack gently in her arms "It's okay baby boy, Mama's here. Don't cry. It's all gonna be okay," she started humming softly.

Elliot left the room. It was all going to be okay. He would make sure of that. He promised himself he would never let anything happen to any of them.

A/N: I feel I must explain myself. I toyed with many ideas in my head of how the standoff would end and somehow I came up with this little gem of an idea. Don't hate me for it please. Okay, I'll try to update again soon. I'd like to hear what all of you have to say about what I decided to do so please review.