AN: I know, I know. This took me FOREVER to update. Well, forever for me anyway. My bad. I don't really have an excuse for the end of summer; I just got lazy and unmotivated. But, then school started and I didn't even have time to think my own thoughts that weren't fueled by or influenced by something to do with school work, let alone have the time to actually sit down and write something. So, forgive? Please? *Insert puppy dog face here*. And I promise, I'm working on my other stories, they should be updated soon too. Anyway, I beg for mercy, and I give you this chapter. It's kind of short…. I know. Think of it as a base chapter of sorts. Well, another one. This is it though. I promise. The good stuff, conversations, lots of dialog, raging emotions, some being let free, all comes in the next chapter. So, you know what to do. R&R and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Trust me, if I did, things would be VERY different. Then again, I probably wouldn't even know what to do with it if I did have it. I wouldn't be able to make up my mind. I'm indecisive like that.

4:30 a.m., and sleep was successfully avoiding her. The rat bastard. It had been hours since she read the letter, but yet it still haunted her. Still pissed her off, still made her feel like breaking down and crying every single tear she could find in her, again. It still made her smile, because he was still trying to put her first, and worrying about him own self later. She knew he'd done so since the begging. Even when he left, even after Jenna, it never changed. And maybe it started because she was his partner, and not his partner in their definition, but your standard issue, well as standard issue as an NYPD Special Victims Unit Det. could get, partner. Not someone you were this close with, not someone you had this kind of connection with. Not someone you loved the way they do now. Or, well did then. Or maybe, they were always this way. Destined for what they ended up with, destined to be this close, to care this much, to be this connected, to... Love each other this much. So maybe, it was natural. Maybe it never developed, maybe it was always there. God, she didn't know. And she didn't know if she really wanted to know. She did know though, that she really, really wanted to sleep. She was to be up at 6, and into the precinct by 8. Ok, on Olivia time, 7:30 at the latest. She never really did learn how to show up on time, not consistently anyway. She was always early. And from the first day, Elliot had always found a way to complain. Always. She kind of missed that. Sure, Fin teased her, and Munch messed with her, sometimes even a light jolt from captain... But it just wasn't the same. A lot wasn't the same anymore. That was contributing even more to her consideration of calling Elliot. She knew she wanted to. She knew she really wanted to. She just didn't know if she could.

7:28 on the dot, and she was two blocks and one corner from the precinct. Otherwise known as, two minutes from her desk. And 3 from another cup of morning coffee. No matter how awful Munch's coffee skills were, she just didn't feel like stopping for some. She felt like if she stopped, she'd never regain the momentum to get going again. Rounding the corner, she stopped. "Elliot..." she breathed, almost silently. He was there. He was right there in front of her, outside the precinct, talking to her captain. She felt the breath being sucked right out of her. She had to go, she had to get away. He hadn't seen her, and she still had a half an hour till she had to be at work, she still had time, maybe she'd get that coffee after all. She could be on time for once, she thought. Turning, she marched her way back around the corner and in the direction of the coffee shop. THEIR coffee shop, mind you. Ironic at its best, she thought.

8:05, and she had successfully made it into the precinct, to her desk, without any more Elliot sightings, and was now enjoying her 3rd cup of coffee. Munch's monstrosity of course. But, all the same. She felt stupid. Like a teenager trying desperately to avoid her ex-boyfriend in the hallways at school. She knew though, she was only avoiding him because she hadn't made her decision yet. She couldn't face a conversation with him undecided. It felt weird. She was never one to take long to make a decision. But with Elliot, things were always different. She still couldn't fathom what the hell he was doing here. Well, she had an idea. She didn't like it though.

10 hours later, and her day was done. Heading down stairs, she made the decision she'd walk a little, not all the way home, but just a little. She needed some fresh air, to clear her mind. But truthfully, who the hell was she kidding, she wasn't getting any "fresh" air, this was New York. Fresh air didn't exist here. As she walked though, she felt lighter, somehow less... Stressed? She wasn't sure, something just felt different. And then it hit her, she had made her decision. Turning on her heels, she made the 4 blocks back to the precinct. Once there, she made a pretty impressive march, fueled solely on adrenaline, to her Captain's office. But once she was there, standing outside his door, all the adrenaline slipped away. Of course it did, she thought, convenient. Now, she would have to run purely on want. Taking a deep breath, she turned the knob, and opened the door. And no, she didn't knock, she was Olivia, practically his daughter for Christ sakes, and she was on a mission goddamn it. Apparently though, she had opened the door with such urgency and force, her Captain rose quickly out of his chair, and stood alarmed. Ready to jump into action for whatever may be wrong with his detective.

"Liv?! What's wrong? What's going on?" He asked.

She slowed, then stilled. And softened her demeanor, not by much, but just enough because only seconds later, he settled back into his seat. She liked that he knew her that well. "I need something. And I'm pretty damn sure I'm not taking No for an answer." She said.

"Would never expect you to." He stated. "What can I get for you?"

She shifted, pausing for only a mere millisecond to take a breath, and the said "His home address."