Author's Note: Okay, I think I've got a schedule worked out. Every day, I'll pick one WIP to update and see how it goes. If it works, I can go up to two a day. Just as a heads up, I may just go for broke and start my In Plain Sight fic so updates may falter a bit but no disappearing for ages.

I hate it when that happens with the authors I read.

Now, back to the story. One reviewer mentioned that Kathleen had actually kind of liked Liv during this time period but for the purpose of this fic, she doesn't. And another has mentioned that my formatting is wacky. My centered text is my trademark (other than twisted humor and smut) so I'll be sticking with it. Besides, the last time I tried to change my formatting I kept losing entire paragraphs of text because my Word program is a piece of crap. Centered is the only one that works.

As for this chapter, I'm going to put them back at work and let their tentative peace become more solid, causing the others to take notice. It's more of an introspective chapter than a dramatic one but we'll get back to that soon enough, leading to more EO moments.

Disclaimer: "Honestly, it's not mine!"

He noticed that her hair kept getting in her eyes as she filled out DD5s. Every couple of minutes, she'd brush it out of their way with an irritated gleam in her eyes before getting right back to work. Before, he'd just sit there and let her, too focused on himself to care about her discomfort. Things were different now. His night on her couch had given him time to think and he had inwardly sworn to mend the gap that he had put between them.

He wanted…needed to make things right between them again.

Pulling out a scrunchie had forgotten to give back to Lizzie after dropping her off at cheerleading; he slid it across their desks to her mouse pad, knowing she'd spot it.

Surprised eyes looked at him but then a small genuine smile curved her lips as she accepted it.

"Thanks, El. My hair's getting to be a pain in the ass." she said after she got her hair into a high ponytail.

"I wouldn't know anything about that." he replied wryly, making her look at his thinning buzz cut and chuckle before getting back to work.

It wasn't much but it was good.

It was a step in the right direction.

/////////////

"Well, hot damn. Did you see that?" he asked quietly after they settled back into paperwork.

"Yep. It seems like Stabler's finally taking his head out of his ass." John Munch said with a softer version of his bitter sarcasm.

Fin Tutuola nodded, agreeing for once with his partner. He was damn glad that those two were starting to get their shit together because he was tired of working in a war zone. Also, he was tired of feeling like he had to take sides. In his opinion, the both of them were in the wrong: Elliot for screwing up his marriage and taking it out on her and Olivia for running all the way to Oregon when things got heavy between them. Still when he thought about it, he was more on Liv's side than Elliot's because she was his baby girl, "his sister from another mister" as they joked….used to joke.

Fin knew that he had to fix things with her, too. Her working with the Feds had pissed him off, not because of her taking the job, but how she took it. She had just up and left with that incompetent bastard Porter as her only protection. No warning, no nothing. The 1-6 had gone into a tailspin without her. She was the glue that held it all together, the one thing that a bunch of completely different SOBs had in common. She was the reason that they all hadn't killed each other within the first month. Plus, her departure had caused more than a little guilt in him. Had he contributed somehow to her flight? Had he been too busy and selfish to realize she was hurting?

If he had, he wanted to know so he wouldn't do it again.

Getting back to work, he made a note to talk to her soon.

//////////////

John Munch was neither an optimist nor a realist.

No, he was a straight up pessimist. "Hope for the best, expect and embrace the worst" was his motto. He was too damned old and had seen too damned much to believe in anything else. Coupled with his batty ex wives and the depravity he saw every day in the name of a paycheck and he was a walking rain cloud.

Olivia Benson had become his companion in a way, providing him with a little faith in humanity. She didn't speak much about her childhood or past but John could fill in enough blanks to see that life hadn't been easy for her. Yet, she didn't let it get her down. She had taken her pain and worked through enough to be able to find an inner peace that Munch both admired and envied.

Before Oregon, she had lost it.

Stabler had damned near broken her. He may have been known as the old bastard with the conspiracy theories but he wasn't blind. He could see how every day, she had gotten just a little bit quieter, just a little angrier, just a little more desperate. Olivia loved Elliot and not in the big brother/little sister way. No, she loved him in the big stupid way, the way that had been immortalized in art, literature, and music.

It must have been torture to hear about Kathy and his screw ups constantly.

Unrequited love was an evil son of a bitch and John could understand why she was so eager to help the Feds.

Sometimes, distance was the only thing that could fix a problem and it seemed to have worked. Munch was the only one that had not been angry at her for leaving. In fact, he been grateful.

Someone had needed to rip the Band-Aid off and shake up the outdated status quo that had been established.

Her leaving made them all realize just how much they needed her around, especially Stabler. During the hellish time, Munch had gotten solid proof that Elliot loved Olivia. After all, no man would lose it so completely for anything but love. Now, they just needed to get their heads completely out of their asses and fucking tell each other before something else screwed up happened.

For Olivia's sake, he hoped they would.

///////////////

Donald Cragen was not a stupid man.

He hadn't survived so long in the NYPD just by luck.

It had been his wits and observation skills that got him through, especially after he put the bottle down.

So, contrary to popular belief, he was not oblivious to what was going on between Benson and Stabler.

Quite simply, the two of them were in love with each other and had been since day one.

Unfortunately, Elliot was married and Olivia was not going to be the other woman. Yet, she was. She was the person he spent the most time with, working or otherwise, and it was really easy to just make the leap that they were lovers.

In fact, that was the latest rumor. Olivia had gone to Oregon because of a lover's quarrel and Beck had been revenge. In a way, the rumor was true. The last few months had been like a lover's quarrel between the two of them and Olivia finally got sick of it, needing to put some distance between them. Elliot's reaction had been to kiss and do god knows what else with Dani in an effort to show that he was fine.

If anything, the exact opposite happened.

Beck was a disaster waiting to happen and Cragen was glad to be rid of her and Olivia's return had actually increased the tension between her and Elliot, especially with her new look. She had turned many heads but Elliot's had turned and lingered, leading to more of his infamous blow ups, his "Un-Stabler" moments.

An image Elliot damn near snapping Malcolm Royce's neck came to mind and he sighed, looking out from his office…just in time to see Stabler slide a scrunchie to her, showing some care towards her for the first time in ages.

Olivia looked surprised but then pleased, accepting his gift graciously.

They said something afterwards and he could see small but genuine smiles on their faces afterwards.

Apparently, something had happened between them after the case, something that changed things for the better.

Whatever it was, he hoped that it would last.

///////////////

"Hey, you want to get a drink with me?"

Looking up from her last form, she saw Elliot looking at her with hope and nerves.

"Okay.", she replied as she signed the last line and grabbed her things.

Olivia was inwardly smiling. Two displays of care in one shift. Whatever he had thought about after she left him must have been pretty potent. As they walked out, a tentative hand went to the small of her back, guiding her towards the elevator. Suppressing a shiver, she let it stay as they entered, heading downstairs and down the street to Sullivan's.

After settling into a booth and ordering their drinks, Olivia decided to breach the silence.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, making sure to sound normal and not coddling.

She had learned the hard way that outright concern got silence or a barb.

To her surprise, he answered, "Better. Not good but better than yesterday. I'm still at a loss as to how to deal with the kids, though."

He was asking for help.

"Have you tried talking to them?"

"Kathy blocks my calls and…I don't think I'd be welcome at home. At least not by Kathleen." he told her sadly.

"You can still go see the twins. I'm sure at least Lizzie would be happy to see you. Maybe you could go this weekend." she suggested.

He seemed to be considering it.

Their beers arrived and they drank in silence.

"You said that partners take care of each other. I…I guess I haven't been a very good partner, lately." he said after a while.

More like the last 2 years…

Olivia tamped down the bitterness, reminding herself that he was trying now and now was better than never. Plus, he looked too contrite to stay angry at.

"It's okay, El.", she dismissed.

"No, it isn't. I've been a complete prick to you and you didn't deserve that. The more that I think about it, the sicker I feel. No wonder you went to Oregon. The one person you trusted not to screw you over did. I'm sorry, Olivia. How can I make it up to you?"

By loving me…by being with me and letting me love you.

"You already are, Elliot. Believe me."