Chapter 3-First Date

*Elliot's POV*

I pulled up to her apartment building
and pressed the button next to her name. I was dressed in a suit and tie and I
couldn't wait to see her.

"Hello?", she said over the intercom.

"Hey.
It's me."

"Hey you," she responded. "Come on up."

She buzzed me in and I
walked down the hall, hopped on the elevator, and took it to her floor. When I
arrived at her door, I did that cliché knock just to be cute. She opened the
door and I had to stop my jaw from dropping to the floor. She had on a beautiful
red halter dress. It was tight at the top and flowing toward the bottom. It
stopped about two inches above her knees. Her hair was half up and half down,
curled loosely. Her makeup was on point, accentuating her natural beauty. Long
story short, she looked absolutely gorgeous.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," I
smiled back. "These are for you." I handed her a dozen red roses.

"Thank
you, El. They're beautiful. Let me put them in a vase before we go."

She
went to her cupboard, grabbed a vase, filled it with water, and put the flowers
into place.

She grabbed her jacket and my hand, leading me out the door. She
turned around to lock her door and a thought popped into my mind. I still hadn't
told her that Kathy and I were no longer together. Surely, she already knew but
not for sure. I wanted the night to be perfect so I figured I should tell her
now.

"Liv," I said, "as much as I hate talking about other women when I'm
with you, there's something you should know. Kathy and I filed for divorce the
summer after the shooting. She said she didn't trust me, having killed a young
girl. I just thought you should know. I mean if we're on the same page here,
what we're doing right now would require me to not be married. We are on the
same page, right?" I said

She heightened herself on her tip toes to level
her face with mine, kissed me on the cheek, and whispered the word "yes" into my
ear.
We both smiled and walked back toward the elevator, our fingers
intertwined.

*Olivia's POV*

We got to his car and he opened the door for
me. What a gentleman. We drove to the Upper West Side and pulled into a parking
lot lit by white lights. After parking the car, he got out and opened my door
again, offering his hand to lead me out of the vehicle.

We arrived at the
hostess. "Reservation for Stabler, please." "Right this way," she said.

She
led us toward the back to a table secluded from the rest, perfect for some quiet
and intimacy.

He pulled out my chair and allowed me to sit before taking his
place at the opposite side of the table. He grabbed my hand and said "I'm really
glad we're finally doing this."

"Me too," I said. "But there's a lot we need
to talk about before we can really be together."

"I know," he said. "That's
what tonight is for. We're gonna get all the answers for all the questions and
we'll sort out as much as we can. I know you must have tons of questions for me
so whenever you're ready, shoot."

"Okay," I said. "Why didn't you tell me
you were leaving? Or respond to my calls, texts, and emails?"

"Liv, I didn't
know what to do. I was leaving you. Leaving my partner, my best friend, and
quite honestly the love of my life. I regret not telling you or talking to you
about it more than you'll ever know. I am so sorry for what I must have put you
through. I just couldn't face you after what I'd done and my heart couldn't take
the look on your face when you learned I was leaving. It was one of my biggest
mistakes and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. I'm
so sorry." He grabbed my hand and kissed it.

I blushed at his touch and
smiled. "I forgive you," I said.

"So let's talk. I mean really talk. I know
we both think we know everything about the other but let's each state five
things we never would have known about each other. Deep things. Things that
formed us as a person. Ladies first." He winked.

"Okay," I said.

"Number
one...when you found out I was sleeping with Cassidy right after I was assigned
to SVU, you told me 'I'm your partner. For better or worse.' That was when I
fell in love with you.

Number two...when I found out you left, I went into
an interrogation room just so I could cry.

Number three...Noah's mom was a
rape victim who was later killed. That's why he's under my care. He became an
orphan and the judge suggested that I take him in.

Number four...when I
returned from my work undercover at Sealview, you asked me what happened in the
basement. I told you nothing happened. That was a lie. He sexually assaulted me.
He tried to force his penis into my mouth and he came extremely close. I was
absolutely terrified.

Number five...last year I was kidnapped, taken hostage,
beaten, tortured, and sexually abused for three days by a serial rapist named
William Lewis. I pressed charges and he walked. A few months later, I received a
call from him that he was holding a little girl hostage and the only way for me
to save her was to go there on my own. So I did. And he touched me...all
over...and we began a game of Russian Roulette. At one point I had a gun to my
head. In the end, he shot and killed himself, his blood splattering all over my
face."

Elliot was crying. Streams of tears were rolling down his face. He
tightened his grip on my hands and all he could muster was "I'm so sorry." After
gathering himself, he continued. "Liv, I am so sorry you had to go through all
of that. I should have been here. No one hurts you when I'm around. I swear to
you that I will spend the rest of my life taking care of you. I need you to
trust in me because I'm going to protect you, even if you think you can protect
yourself. I will never let anyone hurt you ever again. Do you understand me?" He
asked looking into my eyes.

"Yes," I replied. "And I trust you with
everything I am."

There were a few moment of pure silence. We were simply
content in each other's presence.

"Your turn," I said, breaking the
silence.

"Okay," he said.

"Number one...I have your badge number tattooed
on my bicep.

Number two...I haven't seen Eli in over two years because his
mother took custody of him and moved him to Arizona.

Number three...I kissed
Dani Beck while she was filling in for you.

Number four...whenever one of us
was hurt, we always held the other. The first time you held me, I fell in love
with you.

Number five...I was going to come to your place the night Kathy and
I first filed for divorce and I was going to tell you how much I love you and
how badly I want you. Then she told me she was pregnant."

"Wow," was all I
could say. Our hands gripped each other harder and our food came. We at in
silence, each thinking about the five things we'd just learned about each other.
We never dropped eye contact. We were lost in each other's gazes for the entire
meal. When we were finished, he helped me out my coat on and ushered me out of
the restaurant and into his car. We held hands for the entire car ride and he
parked right outside of Central Park.

"Care to go for a little moonlit
walk?", he asked.

"Nothing would make me happier," I replied.

We walked
around the park for about an hour, our hands never leaving each other's grip.
When the air became too cold, we went back to his car and he drove back to my
apartment. He walked me up the stairs and to my door.

"Wanna come in?", I
asked him.

"Sure," He said with a smile.

I went to my room and changed
into more comfortable clothes. I brought out some sweats that I'd kept that were
his. He always kept them at my place in case we had a late night case and he
didn't feel like driving all the way home to Queens. He'd crash on my couch
every now and then. He went into my bathroom and changed into them. I popped in
a movie and we watched it together on the couch.

When the movie was over, he
headed toward the door. I got up and walked over to him.

"Goodnight, Liv," he
said.

"Good night, El," I replied.

He grabbed each side of my face and
pulled me in for a tender and sweet kiss. Went we broke, he kissed my forehead
and whispered "I love you."

I looked up into his deep blue eyes and said "I
love you too. So much."

We embraced one another and he held me for a few
short moments before saying goodbye and heading out the door. Boy was I going to
have sweet dreams tonight.