Helpless

(Chapter Twelve: Trying To Unwind)

Elliot groaned as he slipped his arm around her in the bed and raised up to look at the clock on the nightstand.

"Who the hell is calling you at three o'clock in the morning?" He growled as Olivia picked up her cell phone.

"Well, we know it isn't Cragen, seeing how our little adventure in Seattle landed us both on a two week suspension."

"More like a paid vacation," Elliot remarked as a grin crossed his face. "Let's face it, Liv, it has been a pretty great couple of days on suspension. Sleeping in every morning and lounging around the apartment all day. Spending every night staying up late and making love. And we're getting paid for it! Throw in a couple of those daiquiris with the little umbrellas and a warm sandy beach and we have a real vacation."

"It is the closest I have had in years. I was using my vacation time for Kate's wedding in Seattle and you see how that turned out."

She looked down at her phone as it rang again.

"It's Porter," she said sitting up in the bed.

"So answer it and tell him we are busy having hot sweaty sex and lets go back to bed."

"Elliot," she said hitting his shoulder.

"What the hell is Porter doing calling you at three o'clock in the morning?"

"I don't know. But I am sure to be calling at this hour it must be important."

"Yeah, he didn't like eighties hair band music you gave him on that flash drive."

"Shit, I forgot about the flash drive."

"Give me that," Elliot said taking the phone from her hand and opening it. Olivia watched nervously as Elliot hit the ignore option and turned off the phone.

"What did you do that for?"

"I was tired of hearing it ring. Let it go to voice mail. If it is important he will either leave a message or call back at a decent hour when you are not sleeping. And this way we can kind of tell by the tone of his voice if he actually has information for us or if he is just pissy because my girlfriend outsmarted him once again."

Olivia laughed as she laid the phone back on the night stand and snuggled back in against Elliot. "You get so defensive about him."

"I can't help it, the guy is a prick. And it eats him up to think and not know for sure that I am with you."

Olivia smiled. "You're jealous of him."

"Whoa! I am not jealous of Agent Dean Dumbass Porter!"

She laughed. "It's not a competition, Elliot. If I wanted to be with Porter, I would be with Porter. I chose you. He never stood a chance."

"Yeah, because he's a dumbass!"

"Go to sleep, Stabler!" She raised up over him placing her nude body against his as she kissed him tenderly.

She laid back down and curled in against him as she closed her eyes. Elliot kissed the top of her head as he combed his fingers through her dark hair.

"I love you, Olivia."

"I love you, too."

She tipped her head back to stare up into his eyes as she leaned forward to kiss him again.

"And I am not going anywhere," she whispered. "Especially not with Porter. I am here with you and this is where I plan to stay. I know he deliberately pushes your buttons. Just try to ignore him. He is jealous of you."

"Because I have the one thing he wants," Elliot said softly cupping his hand against the side of her face.

"You have my heart," she whispered with a soft smile as she turned inward kissing the palm of his hand. "But the truth is Dean Porter never could have had a chance, even back in Portland. Because my heart already belonged to you."

"That's my girl," he said kissing her tenderly. "We should get some sleep," he said as he laid his head back against the pillow.

"Actually, I'm already awake now," she said with an insinuating smile as she winked at him.

"You are so bad. Ms. Benson," Elliot replied as he kissed her and pulled the blankets over their heads.

Olivia climbed out of the shower and dressed herself in a pair of running pants and one of Elliot's tee shirts for another lazy day around the apartment. She walked through her bedroom and smiled at him still sleeping there in her bed. A few minutes later she started a breakfast of coffee and omelets for the two of them.

Elliot awoke to the smell of sausage and made his way to the kitchen rubbing his tired eyes.

"Morning," she said with a bright smile.

"Morning," he replies raising one eyebrow to look at her. "You are awful cheerful this morning."

"I feel great. I ran three miles and have already had a shower and am working on my second cup of coffee. It is a beautiful day and I was thinking maybe we could take advantage of having this time off work."

She watched the look on his face as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Exactly what did you have in mind?"

"I don't know. Something outdoors. It is so nice out and we have not had much outside time lately. Maybe a walk in Central Park or a picnic lunch. Something."

"I am up for anything as long as I get to spend the time with you."

Olivia smiled as he kissed her tenderly. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

Elliot made his way across the room and opened the door to step out on the balcony. "It is nice out here. You know what this kind of weather is perfect for?"

"Picnics in the park?"

"Fishing."

"Fishing?"

"Nothing better than spending a beautiful day like this out on the lake."

"Fishing?"

"You have never been fishing? Ever caught a fish?"

"Not one that didn't require a little net and an aquarium."

"You will love it. I know this place where we can rent a boat and spend a few hours out on the water. It is very relaxing."

"I don't skin things or touch anything gross, like worms or guts."

Elliot laughed. "It's alright, we'll fish with minnows. They are not as bad to touch. That is the only way I can get my girls to fish."

"Your girls fish?"

"Well, they did when they were little. Not in a few years. Dickie, Eli and I still go about once a year."

A couple hours later Olivia found herself standing on the floating dock of a bait shop. It smelled horrible and almost everything was green with the algae from the water.

"Are you coming?" Elliot asked as he reached out for her hand.

Olivia made a face in obvious protest to the fish smell and took his hand. She looked out at the ducks splashing on the water and smiled as she noticed a group of five baby ducklings playing together as well.

"Do you want to feed them?" Elliot asked as she looked back at him with a smile.

"What do they eat?"

"They sell bags inside. It is dried bread and feed and some other stuff. You just toss it out there and watch them, it is really cute."

"Okay," she said with a smile.

Elliot stepped inside for a few minutes and returned with a brown paper bag.

"Here you go. Just toss a little handful out and watch them."

They stood on the dock for a while laughing and talking as they fed the ducks. Elliot studied the smile on her face, he loved seeing her this happy. And with all of the horrible things that had gone on in her life lately, it had been a long time since she had smiled like this.

"Can I show you something else?" He asked as he wrapped her tight in his arms. "Look right down here in the water," he said as she looked over the rail into the murky water just below them.

Elliot dropped a handful of the food just off the rail and they watched as several huge fish appeared at the surface to fight for it.

"Oh my God!" Olivia squealed as she stumbled back into him.

"They're not gonna get you."

"They are huge! Where did they come from?"

"They are carp and catfish, mostly. They are bottom feeders and live on the bottom of the lake. They stay up here around the dock and eat the bits of bread and popcorn people toss in that the ducks miss."

"They got that big from eating bread?"

"Shows you what carbs can do, huh?" Elliot laughed. "No, some of them also eat smaller fish."

"Is that what we are going to catch today?"

"Well, were just here for the fishing, not necessarily the catching and eating part. So we will probably catch mostly black bass and crappie. Then we'll release them back into the water so they are unharmed."

"Oh, okay."

"You wanna go on inside and get our gear?"

"Gear?"

"You know, poles and bait. I am assuming you don't have a fishing license?"

She shook her head as she looked at him.

"Come on," Elliot said extending his hand to her, "I'll get you fixed up."

They walked around inside for a while as Olivia stared down into tanks with millions of tiny fish in them.

"What kind of fish are these?" She asked pointing down at them.

"Bait," the store owner replied as he began to scoop them up and pour them our into a Styrofoam bucket.

"Those are feeder fish," Elliot said as they watched the man fill their bucket. "They are raised to provide food for the bigger fish. That is what we fish with."

"Oh," she said as he showed her to the fishing poles.

There were not many to choose from, only about ten or twelve poles on a rack against the wall.

"What do you think?"

"I don't know anything about them. What is good?"

"Any of these will work well for what we want them for. So just pick one out, whatever you like."

"I like the green one," she said picking up a pole that was black with green glitter flecks through it."

"I figured you would like that one. Green is your favorite color." Olivia smiled at the thought of him remembering this fact. "I'll take the blue one," Elliot said as they carried their poles to the cash register. "We also need a license for her. Just a one day pass is fine for now." He turned and looked back at Olivia. "If you like this and think you might like to go again sometime, then I will buy you a one year license."

She smiled as they carried their purchases out to the boat they had rented for the afternoon.

"Life jackets and paddles are in the front if you need them. Gas tank if full. Fill it back up before you turn in the keys," the man said pointing to the fuel pumps at the end of one of the docks. All of our boats have a GPS and this is programmed as home, so you don't have to worry about getting lost. Here is a map that shows some popular fishing hot spots and the GPS also has sonar to tell you how deep the water is. Flares and a first aid kit up front as well as a working radio should you need to call for help. We can track the boats from the base, so there is no need to worry should you get lost. Stay with the boat and we will find you."

Olivia looked nervously back at Elliot.

"I'm not trying to scare you ma'am, I just have to say these things so that you can be prepared incase an emergency should arise. It's procedure. Mr. Stabler, you have rented our boats before, I assume you are familiar with driving one?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, here are your keys. Have a great time."

"Thank you," Elliot said shaking the man's hand.

They watched as the man walked back to the bait shop.

"You ready?" Elliot asked with a smile.

"Ready as I will ever be," she said as she took his hand and he helped her inside the boat.

"Relax. This is supposed to be fun. "

Olivia smiled as she sat down and looked out over the water as the boat began to move. Elliot pulled back around near the car and got the cooler of cold drinks and snacks from the car then they were off.

Elliot showed her how to bait her hook and cast a line.

"You have never been fishing or learned how to cast a line on a pole, what planet are you from?" He joked as he showed her how to hold the pole.

"Manhattan," she replied with a sly smile. "I'm a city girl, El. Besides, it isn't like I had a father to take me fishing when I was a kid."

"Baby, I didn't mean it like that."

"It's okay. I'm pretty girly, I know that. I don't know the first thing about fishing."

"Well, you cannot say that anymore." Elliot smiled and kissed her.

Twenty minutes later Olivia caught the first fish of the day. Elliot took it off the hook for her and held it up to look at it, but she refused to touch it.

"Really makes you hungry for sushi, doesn't it?"

"Eww," she laughed. "I don't think I will ever eat sushi again."

She watched as Elliot lowered the fish back into the water and released it.

"See, isn't this fun?"

"It is so peaceful out here. Like we are the only two people in the world. I mean it is a smelly, stinky world that reeks like fish. But still peaceful. And really pretty," she said looking out over the lake.

Before long they were laying back in the boat just relaxing and holding on to one another as they drifted around in the water. It was almost as if here, in this place, the rest of the world could not touch them.

When they had finished fishing for the day, Elliot watched as Olivia released the dozen or so minnows they hadn't used. Back at her apartment he placed the minnow bucket and poles into the closet then joined her in the shower to wash the fishy smell of the boat and the lake off of them.

"Did you have fun today?" He asked as he stepped into the water with her.

"I did. Thank you for such a wonderful day. And for teaching me to fish."

"You are very welcome. I had another idea," he said as he soaped up her hair for her. "For dinner."

"No trout or salmon or sushi."

Elliot laughed. "No, I was thinking about setting up the grill on the roof and making some barbeque chicken for dinner."

"That sounds really good. I could make a salad and whatever else to go with it."

"We still have a six pack of beer in the fridge."

"It's a date," she said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you, Elliot."

"I love you, too."

"I mean it. I really love you."

"Even when I smell like fish?"

She laughed. "Even when you smell like fish."

"I really love you, too."

That evening as they sat at the table together eating dinner the doorbell rang.

"I wonder who that could be," she said folding her napkin and laying it on the table.

"I wonder who let them in the building."

She walked across the room and combed her fingers through her hair as she opened the door. There staring her in the eye was Dean Porter.

"Agent Porter, what brings you here?" She asked as he brushed past her entering the apartment.

"I have been trying to reach you for days, Detective Benson. This is a serious matter. You never answer your phone or return calls. I had no other choice than to come by here in person."

She rubbed her hands over her face and looked back at him. "I told you I would give you the evidence and I fully intend to. But I need a little time and cooperation, first."

"Olivia, we have two more bodies."

"What? Are you sure?"

"We ran the prints from the two John Doe's that turned up in a river near Seattle a few days ago. They match perfectly to the prints we pulled from the personal items what were stolen from the crime scene and pawned. These two men were the men we suspected in the murders."

"So obviously they weren't in it alone," Elliot said as he stepped out of the dining room and into the living room where they were talking.

Porter stared at Elliot for a moment then looked back at Olivia. "Someone is tying up loose ends. Those men had your ID and knew you were in that house. Thank makes you a loose end," he said staring into Olivia's eyes. "Davis Parker hired those men to kill Kate's family. But I don't have enough evidence to prove it yet. I was just about to close in on the suspects and try to turn them. But before we could grab them they turned up dead. This man has your ID, so he knows where you live. You are not safe here. I have men watching Parker and they will let me know if he makes a move. But a man like him isn't going to do the dirty work himself. Is there somewhere else you can stay just until this all blows over?"

"She can stay at my place," Elliot said looking at the worried look in her eyes. "You'll be safe there," he brushed back some of her hair and kissed her forehead.

"These men mean business Detective Stabler and I am sure they wont hesitate to kill her if they think she knows anything at all. Don't let her out of your site. I'm going to have men watching your apartment, Olivia. If anyone makes a move, we'll have them. You should pack some things and be out of here in the next few hours. The sooner, the better. And leave your car. I have a car waiting downstairs that will transport the two of you anywhere you want to go. But I need to be able to reach you."

"I'll give you my address and cell number. I would rather leave hers here just incase they have a way to trace it."

"I have to get going. Give me a call at this number once the two of you are safe," he said handing Elliot a business card. "If you go out at all I want a shadow on you. The man behind this is already responsible for the deaths of six people. He wont hesitate to kill again."