Chapter 8: Caught In the Crossfire

Notes: This chapter is rated M for... well you'll read about it.

"Dani!" Elliot called into the room. "You're making a big mistake!"

"The only mistake I ever made," Dani growled, "was letting the little princess here live."

There was a harsh slap, and Olivia let out a cry. Elliot panicked, took out his gun, and burst through the door sending it flying off its hinges. As Elliot observed the scene around him, he heart leapt in fear when he saw Dani had forced Olivia onto her knees and was holding a gun to the back of her head. How could he have been so blind? Dani had lost her mind!

"Please, Dani," he pleaded, "put down the gun. We don't need to make trouble."

"You put yours down," Dani ordered. Elliot hesitated, and Dani hit Olivia on the head again with the butt of her gun. "I SAID DROP YOUR GUN!"

Elliot quickly unloaded the gun and placed it on the floor. He held his hands in the air, looking from Dani to Olivia, and then back to Dani.

"Please, Dan," he pleaded. "Please don't do this."

"I have to!" she laughed wildly, a look of desperation masking her blue gaze. "How else do you think we're going to be together? With Livvy here holding you back, you can't see what you've had all along! You can't be with Benson, Elliot! Cragen will never let you two be together, because of your work! But I was going to quit again anyway, so it wouldn't matter! We could be together! You can be with me!"

Dani stared at him hopefully, but Elliot shook his head.

"We can't be together, Dani," he told her. "Look at the mess you've made! Even if I did feel like that for you, we can't be together now. You're going to go to jail for the rest of your life."

"I'm not going to jail," Dani frowned, a dark look coming over her face. "And if I can't have you, she certainly can't." She spun around, smiling evilly, and yelled to the bedroom. "Klaus! She's ready!"

To Elliot's pure dismay, a masked man came out of the bedroom, grinning broadly.

"Is da girl ready for a gud time?" the man asked in a thick russin accent. Or was it german? "Oh, ello Detective Stabler. Naice to see you agen."

Elliot gulped. This was the foreign drug dealer who had gotten away a couple months earlier during a warehouse raid. Elliot remembered this one particularly because he had taken a special interest in Olivia. Elliot had wanted to kick his ass.

"Klaus!" Dani snapped. "Focus! Take Ms. Benson back to the bedroom and give her a... good time. You know what to do after that."

"Dah," Klaus replied, grinning broadly. "Are you ready, Ms. Benson? You are about to have time of your life!"

Olivia, who had been silent this entire ordeal, suddenly began to scream and kick as Klaus leered over her.

"NO!" she screamed. "NO, PLEASE NO! PLEASE, NOOOO!"

Klaus just laughed and pulled her to her feet.

"You iz a feisty one, no?" he laughed, holding her wrists with his iron grasp. "You fight like lioness. And I will be the one to tame you."

Olivia continued to scream as Klaus began to drag her away, and a look of panic came over Elliot's face.

"Dani stop," Elliot ordered, watching painfully as Olivia was being dragged into the bedroom. He knew her PTSD must be killing her right now. "Dani STOP! Don't hurt her, please! It's me you want to hurt! I'm the one who betrayed you!"

Dani just laughed and watched as Olivia screamed and fought.

"Don't you see?" she laughed, facing Elliot once more. "I am hurting you. I know how much you love her. I can't imagine a better way to watch you suffer than to hear her screams as she goes through the very thing you have spent your whole life trying to prevent. Ha ha listen, El! Aren't her screams just earpiercing?"

By now, Klaus had closed the door to the bedroom and Elliot could hear him unzipping his pants.

"NO!" Olivia shreiked from behind the closed door. "PLEASE NO! NOOO-"

Her screams were suddenly muffled, and Elliot closed his eyes, trying to imagine he wasn't there. That this wasn't happening.

"Dani stop it, please," Elliot pleaded. "Please, make him stop! DANI!"

Dani wasn't paying attention, she was too busy laughing hysterically at her own cruel irony. Elliot saw this as his chance and tackled Dani to the floor, letting out a cry of anguish. Suddenly, as Dani hit the ground, the gun in her hand went off twice. The first bullet ricocheted off the door handle and came back, hitting Dani in the neck and instantly killing her.

The second bullet went strait through the bedroom door, and Elliot heard a faint grunt as someone hit the floor. Panicking, Elliot got up from Dani and rushed into the bedroom, sighing with relief. The bullet had killed Klaus, not Olivia... Olivia!

Olivia was curled into a fetal position in the corner, her blouse ripped open and missing two buttons, exposing her. She was sobbing hysterically, still murmuring "Stop. Please stop." Elliot touched her arm gently, and she flinched at is touch. Slowly and gently, Elliot wrapped his arms around her and sat down with her.

"It's okay," he soothed. "Olivia you're okay. You're okay."

"He-he tried to..." she sobbed into his shirt. "Not again!"

"Don't talk about it now, Liv," he told her, holding her close to comfort her. "It's okay. Help is on the way."

Olivia continued to sob, and Elliot in an attempt to comfort her, began to sing the song he had sang to her at the funeral.

"I'm ten miles from town, and I just broke down, spttin' out smoke on the side of the road. I'm out here alone, just tryin' to get home, to tell you I was wrong butchu already know..."

He sang softly in her ear until she stopped shivering and had closed her eyes. Her head against his muscular chest, he leaned his own head against hers, just enjoying being with her.

"...all that I'm after is a life full of laughter. As long as I'm laughin' with you. And I think that all that still matters is love ever after. After the life we go through. Cuz I know there's no life after you..."

Notes: SO HOWS THAT FOR A CLIMAX HUH? I personally hate Dani Beck... anyone who comes between Elliot and Olivia in my book must be punished. Nothing against AO or CE or CO, ect. shippers, I just can't imagine Elliot or Olivia with anyone else. So there's still one chapter left... the wrap-up I guess. Special surprise for Olivia in it though! Hint: It's big and sparkly! If you guessed it please don't ruin it for others! Thanks so much for reading! Hang tight for the final chapter!