Disclaimer: Congratulations to Mariska on her Emmy nomination! I saw the announcement this morning and thought it would be wrong if I didn't celebrate with a new chapter! Mr. Wolf is still the man in charge, but I told Elliot that I'd nominate him for an Emmy if he came to work for me and brought Olivia, so he's trying to talk her into it!

Olivia lay on Casey's couch for the second night in a row, cocooned in a soft quilt, allowing the occasional tear to run down her face. She stared silently at the floor where the moonlight created intricate patterns as it peaked through the blinds and danced through the room. For the first time in her life, Olivia was beyond hurt, she was something that didn't even have a name. The pain, the anger, the multiple emotions swirling throughout her body, only complicated it more.

"Liv, you awake?" Casey tiptoed into the living room, wrapped in a terrycloth robe.

"Yeah," she sighed, hoping that Casey wouldn't push the issue.

"Is there anything I can get you, some water? Kleenex?"

"If you could just stop hovering, that'd be great, thanks."

"Look, I know that you're upset, but you don't have to take it out on me, ok?" she said kneeling in front of the couch, "It hurts me to see you hurting. It pisses me off to see Elliot treat you the way he did...I just...I don't know how to help you, so I do the only think I know how, I hover," she whispered as she sat down on the far end of the couch near Olivia's feet.

"You can't help me, no one can help me, but me. I think I've decided to leave."

"You're leaving? Right now?"

"No, not right now, tomorrow, or as soon as possible. There's no way that I'm going to be able to continue to work at the 1-6, to look at that empty desk across from me, and still be ok. I need to start over, to become me again, without him."

"You'll still be around though, right, you're just taking a leave of absence or something?"

"No, I think I'm going to go somewhere different, Maine maybe. I had all day today to research it while you were at work, and it seems like a nice change."

"Do they even have a sex crimes unit in Maine?"

"Yeah, it's not as well defined as ours; they could use the help."

The two sat in the dark, in silence for a few minutes, until Casey spoke again, shaking her head.

"Don't run again."

"What?"

"Don't run again. Every time you're scared, upset, or don't know what to do, you run. For once, show some of that strength that you have inside of you and stay and fight. I know that you're too stubborn to let someone else control what you do with your life, so don't let him."

"You must not know me very well if you think that's what I'm doing. If I stay, it will kill me. I am controlling my own life. It's my decision."

"So that's it? I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this?"

"I'm sorry Case, really. As soon as I feel like I can come back, I will. New York's my home. Always has been, always will be. I won't stay gone forever."

Casey just nodded her head, trying to avoid the tears that would come eventually, "get some sleep, Liv."

The rest of the night, both friends tossed and turned, dreading the events of the next day.

Four months later, nothing had changed drastically. Olivia was still working for SVU in Maine, Elliot was still working for SVU in South Carolina with his ever-growing pregnant ex-wife. Maureen, Kathleen, Lizzie, and Dickie were spending two weeks with their cousins in Tennessee in hopes that Elliot and Kathy could have some much needed alone time before Stabler number 5 was born.

"Hey Kath, I'm home early," Elliot walked into the living room of their one story beach home. Although Elliot had slept on the couch every night since moving here with his family, he was trying to make himself love her again, and made every effort to improve their relationship, including being home in time for dinner. As Elliot walked into the kitchen, he heard his wife and a male voice talking on the back porch.

"Kathy, its not fair that you didn't tell me about the baby. I understand if you don't want to be with me, but I want to be here for this child."

"Kenneth, you don't understand..."

"Then make me understand. Tell me why you felt that you had to hide this from me. I love you Kathy. I wanted to marry you. I still do, but this will never work if we're not honest with each other."

"I love you too but I ...uh..it was...um...so confusing though. I went to New York and seeing Elliot again with the kids made me want to be a family again at the time, and then I slept with him, but I already told you all of that. About a week after you broke up with me for all of that, I found out I was about a month pregnant. I knew it was too soon to be Elliot's, but you were so furious with me and by that point had left, and I didn't feel like I could tell you," she said with tears rolling down her cheeks, "a couple of weeks later, Kathleen told me that Elliot was seeing Olivia, which just made me more upset. Here I was facing pregnancy alone, while he was dating his partner. I missed him and I just wanted stability. I wanted my baby to have a mother and a father, so I told Elliot that the baby was his. He moved back here with me, and the rest is history."

"My aunt was sick..."

By this point, Elliot was red, and his fists were clenched with anger. "Actually I think its mine turn to talk, Kenneth," Elliot interrupted as he stepped in between the two of them on the porch, "Kath, do you know how much I gave up for you? My job, my relationship, I moved to another fuckin' state! You knew that I would care for my kids and you used it against me!"

"El, I'm sorry, please understand why I did this. I wanted you to be here for the kids. I wanted a family again. I was tired of being alone, please."

"I'm going to go ahead and go now," Kenneth said making a thumb gesture toward the door.

"Stay" "No" Elliot and Kathy said at the same time.

"Ok... I'll just be over here then," he said heading for the edge of the porch.

"What are you going to tell our kids? Oh sorry guys, mom slept with another guy, but blamed it on dad? Is Kenneth really the father?" Elliot asked as he rubbed a hand over his head.

"Yeah, he is."

"How could you do this to me? How could you be so selfish?"

"Elliot, I...I'm sorry."

"So, what happens now, do I stay here while you and Kenneth play mom and dad to the baby? Do I go back to New York? Oh, I'm sure the guys would love to hear this. Hey, I broke Liv's heart, and abandoned all of you because my ex-wife was pregnant with another man's baby, but hell, I'm back now, so can we just forget about all of it? And you," he said turning to face Kenneth, "who do you think you are that you can just sleep with her and then leave her when she makes a mistake? She was pregnant with your baby!"

"I didn't know. I tried to e-mail her, to call her, but I never got a response. I couldn't leave my aunt, I was the only family she had. She needed constant care, but she passed a couple of weeks ago. As soon as I got things settled, I came home and came straight here, to find a pregnant Kathy," he said adjusting his glasses."

"I need some time to think this over, Kathy, Kenneth, you two decide whatever you need to, but I need some space to decide what's best for me right now," Elliot said as he turned and walked off the back porch and headed down the beach, along the water's edge.