Hey guys, Im SO sorry for leaving it this long to post this final chapter...I hope you'll forgive me? Anyway...for the last time in this fic, enjoy :)

x C

Olivia stood alone between the church and the graveyard watching as the small crowd of people all dressed in black dispersed and all went their own ways. There hadn't been as many people as she'd have thought, hardly anyone that she recognised and even less that she could put a name to. They had called Danielle's old foster parents in the hope they would come and be there for the girl they had 'brought up', but they weren't interested. It broke Livs heart hearing that they were too busy, but only made her more determined to be there.

The female detective must have stood there for a good 20 minutes after everyone else had left, just staring at the same spot and thinking about how she would move on from this. Her arms, that were hugging herself fell limp to her sides and that was when she felt a hand brush against hers. Without looking to see who it was she swiftly grabbed it and held on tight, she knew it could only be one person.

"You didn't have to stay El" she told him, finally turning her head to face him, feigning a smile. He tilted his head as if that was the most absurd thing he had ever heard her say.

"Yeah I did" he started, then followed his partners gaze back to that same spot she had been staring at; the gravestone. "How are you now?" he asked, stupid question, but what else could he say right now?

She didn't answer, she didn't really know how to, there wasn't an answer. Ever since she saw Danielle again for that first time in 18 years, Olivia knew that none of this was going to be easy, she never thought it was going to be this hard though. With her eyes firm on the spot she remembered hearing her voice for the first time, thinking that her New York accent wasn't as strong as it could have been having been brought up here. Seeing her face and wondering how she could have those bog blue eyes rather than her own chocolate colour and still not remind her of that horrible man. The first time Danielle hugged her and how that was the happiest she had ever been in her life! Then she remembered walking into her apartment and finding the place a mess, knowing there had been a struggle and seeing her lying in all of that blood. The gunshot, if she hadn't have gone to the apartment maybe things would have turned out differently. If she hadn't gone herself and let one of the guys go things could be completely different. "None of this is your fault Liv" he could sense what she was thinking; he was good at that by now. Olivia Benson thought a lot more than she spoke and a lot of the time her thoughts were beating herself up about something. That was one thing about Liv; she had been brought up constantly being convinced that things were her fault and that she was doing something wrong. He knew that was a load of bull though, of course. Everything she ever did was in an effort to help someone else and although most of her thoughts were about herself and how she could have done something differently, she rarely spared a second to think about how she was inside. "You know that don't you?" he pressed again after he got no reply.

She nodded reluctantly, she knew that if she let him know what she was really thinking that he would give her a lecture.

"I never wanted her to get hurt. If I hadn't been selfish and let her go about her life without me then maybe she wouldn't have gone through all this" she couldn't stop herself from saying it.

"No! Liv, these guys knew about her before you even knew she was in this city! You cannot let them win!" there it was, the lecture.

"Okay then, but if I had let them change her name when I had her...she wouldn't have suffered like this!" she beat herself up yet again."

"You can't change what has happened, you just need to do everything you can to make this better" he encouraged as he took her by the elbow and led her towards the grave. "Come on, I think it's time to wrap this up" he told her, she would have just stood there all day if she wasn't made to leave.

She walked slowly with him over the grass, she didn't know how to move on from this, all she knew is that she had to and that now she would have to commit to something she gave up all those years ago.

"You okay?" Liv asked, Elliot stepped back to let his partner take it from here.

The younger of them stood up from the grave and nodded, biting her lip to stop tears from falling.

"Yeah, I just needed to make sure he was dead" Danielle spoke strongly.

"He's gone now...and I'm here. For good." Liv let out an audible sigh and checked what her daughters facial expression was telling her. The teenager looked nervous. "Dani, baby...I love you" she spoke quietly, that was the first time she he said that with Danielle being able to here her. When her little girl was shot she had cradled her in her arms yelling how much she loved her and willing her to wake up. She meant it then and she meant it now, only now she had to look into her daughters eyes and see her reaction. The 18 year old looked up at Liv with wide, expectant eyes. "I'm not going anywhere this time" Olivia insisted.

"I know" she replied simply. Liv reached out and put her hand on the girls back to lead her away from the graveside.

"Let's go home" the detective suggested softly.

"Okay"