A/N: I present you with the next chapter. =) Thank you for your response to the beginning. Without you guys egging me on, I wouldn't bother… xo

In the mirror, Olivia checked herself once more at the reflection before she stepped away and took her bag from the bed and wandered through the house to the lounge room. Her stomach felt like a wrestling pit for snakes. It took every ounce of courage she had not to call the Stabler house and cancel dinner. She had been a wreck for the last three hours. What was she supposed to say to Elliot when they came face to face? She couldn't be sure she wouldn't sucker-punch him, and she was sure that wouldn't go down well.

She looked at the clock on the wall, and groaned. It was time to go.

Olivia grabbed the bottle of wine from the cupboard, which she was taking with her. Her mother had always taught her not to visit someone empty-handed if you could help it. And besides, a drink or two might break the ice and take the edge off. She drove to Elliot's, listening to a light country station, Martina McBride's voice filling the car with the lyrics "Come on, now, everyone falls down everyone crawls now and then, then they get up again. You cry if you want to, that's what we all do, but if you think you'll never move on, your wrong baby wrong…" And despite her mood, she managed to smile. Maybe she could take a leaf out of her book, and hold her head up high.

As she pulled up along the curb, Olivia's stomach well surpassed the snake pit feeling, and shifted into a ball of unmanageable knots. She felt the vomit rise to her throat and she swallowed it back, wincing at the acid-like feeling on her tongue, and climbed out of the car and walked up the stairs to his apartment. She got up the courage to ring the doorbell and stepped back, waiting for someone to answer.

The door opened and Kathy's face appeared.

"Hi," she smiled, widening the door and stepping aside. "I thought you were going to cancel. I waited by the phone for the last three hours."

"Yeah, well…" I almost did, she thought.

"I'm glad you came. Thank you."

Olivia stepped passed her, handing her a bottle of wine.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that," she said. "Thank you, though. Come on, in… I'll grab some glasses. Elliot's in the living room." Kathy disappeared then, towards the kitchen, leaving Olivia to face Elliot on her own.

She stopped in the hallway for a moment to gather her thoughts and then took a brave step towards the living room. He was reading the paper when she walked in, his eyes peeled to an article. He glanced up when he heard her, and his face was etched with the element of surprise. Had Kathy told him she was coming?

"What are you-." He stood from his chair and took a step forward. "Why… is something wrong? What are you doing here?"

Olivia frowned. "Kathy invited me for dinner, I thought you knew." That was very sneaky.

"She said she was inviting someone but she- she didn't say who it was."

"It's me," she shrugged.

"I can see that. Olivia I-"

"I don't really want to talk to you, El. I don't know what I'm even doing here. I think this was a mistake. I'm going to go," she turned to leave.

"Wait!"

"What?" she barked, turning on him. "What do you want to say that took you six months to say it. You didn't call me, El. You quit without a word of warning, and you- you didn't even talk to me about it. You didn't even say goodbye. Do you think that whatever you have to say to me now is worth me sticking around for?"

His cheeks burned red. "I know that I have a lot of explaining to do, Liv, but-"

"But? But what? Don't you dare try and rectify this by coming up some excuse that you think works. I was your partner for twelve goddamn years, Elliot. I have never been so angry or so hurt by the way you handled this. I was your friend…"

"You are my friend."

"No, I'm not. What kind of friend does what you did? You walked out on me. I had to find out that you put your papers in from Cragen. The look on his face when-" Olivia took a few seconds to control her emotions. "I would never do to you what you did to me. I would never leave without at least telling you."

"I know," he nodded. "I was a jerk."

"That's one word for it," she agreed.

Elliot dropped his hands by his side. "I don't know how to make it up to you."

"You can't," she stressed. "You made a choice. You know, I at least expected a phone call or… something. You have no idea what that did to me. You were the only man in my life, and you knew that, and like everyone else in my life, you let me down. I don't know how to get passed that."

Elliot looked like a puppy that had been kicked, and he looked down, studying his hands, unable to look her in the face.

Kathy appeared in the room, three glasses in one hand and the bottle of wine, now-opened, in the other. "Does everyone want a glass of wine?"

"Sorry, I can't stay," Olivia announced.

"What? Why?" Kathy asked. "Elliot, what the hell did you say to her!"

Olivia shook her head and rushed for the door, eager to get as far away from Elliot as possible. She felt the tears sting her eyes, and she was desperate not to let him see how much he affected her. Kathy was quick to follow her and stopped her at the front door.

"Don't leave," she pleaded. "Please. You've come this far. I know that Elliot is stubborn but he wants you here. He does. I know he does… Olivia… please."

Olivia squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't think so."

"She's right," Elliot said, joining them in the hallway. "You should stay. There is a lot we need to say to each other. I think if you leave we won't talk again, and that sounds like another six months of hell."

Another, she thought, was the last six months hard for him? She sure hope so, considering what he had put her though.

"Please, stay," Elliot begged. "I don't want you to go."

Olivia shook her head, mad at herself that he still had even enough power to get her to stay, when all she wanted to do was crawl under the covers of her bed, and shut out the world, like she had every night when she came home from the precinct, to an empty house, and an empty heart.

"Will you stay?"

Olivia met his eyes and for the first time in six months, the hole that had expanded in her heart, suddenly closed over. And she felt like she was home again.

I know, I know… another cliff-hanger. Sort of… This is NOT the end tho. I promise. =))

Leave a review if you like… no pressure. *bats eyelashes*