Helpless

(Chapter Thirteen: A Change Of Pace)

"I am bored out of my mind," Olivia said staring out the window at the unmarked police car on the street below.

"It is for your own good."

"We have been cooped up in here for two weeks with absolutely no connection to the outside world. I am going to go insane."

"Well, it isn't safe to go out."

She closed the curtain and walked across the room toward him.

"They have been watching my apartment for two weeks now with out a sign of anything out of the ordinary. We have been locked away in here with nothing to do. You have not been able to see your kids. This is ridiculous. Don't you think that if some bad men were after me they would have been to my place by now?"

"Liv, if these guys are any good at all, I am sure that they know the cops are watching your apartment. They are waiting for us to give up and let our guard down. They are not going to make a move while the cops are right outside the door."

"Still, I want to go home. I miss sleeping in my own bed."

"Home? You have got to be joking. Is it really worth losing your life to go back there and sleep in your own bed?"

"I have already lost my life. Life as I knew it anyway. I had to give up everything. I can't work, I can't run, we can't even go for a walk in the park or go out to lunch because some bad guy might try to get us. News flash Elliot, this is New York and we are cops, the bad guys are always out to get us."

"This is different and you know it."

"I'm just going stir crazy here. I want to be outside in the sunshine or do something, anything just to get out of the apartment. Can't you understand that?"

"I understand it," he said patting the sofa beside him as she made her way to his side. "And I feel it, too. But I am not willing to risk losing you over a walk in the park."

Elliot wrapped his arm around her as she leaned back against his chest.

"I know something that might help, though."

"I'm not really in the mood right now."

Elliot laughed.

"Not that. Why don't we talk to Porter about moving us?"

Olivia raised her eyes in interest.

"Where?"

"I don't know, anywhere. Just a change of scenery."

"That would be great. Do you think he would go for it?"

"Probably, if you asked him. He is not exactly a fan of mine."

"But where should we go?"

"Where would you like to go, sweetheart?"

"Somewhere we don't have to stay indoors all of the time. I want to be able to go out and run or enjoy an evening walk. Just get away from this mess for a while."

"Why don't you call Porter and ask him to come over here so we can discuss this? We can sit down to dinner or something."

"You seriously want me to call and invite Dean Porter over to your apartment for dinner?"

"Olivia, everything else aside….the only thing that matters to me is that you are safe and happy. You are miserable being kept all cooped up like this. I can act like a grown up long enough to get the guy over here and let you talk him into getting us away from here and someplace where we can actually have some kind of life. "

"Okay, if you are sure about this I will call Porter and invite him over for dinner."

TWO DAYS LATER….

"Can I get you another glass of wine?" Olivia asked filling Dean Porter's glass before he could refuse.

"She's quite the hostess, isn't she?" he joked looking over at Elliot.

"She is," Elliot agreed smiling at Olivia and hoping Agent Porter would notice.

"It is just nice to have someone to talk to. It has just been El and I for days. We're about to go stir crazy."

"I'm still trying to figure out how you managed to get the wine," Porter said looking in her direction. "The two of you are not allowed outside that door."

"I have my ways," Olivia replied crossing her long legs to show him a bit of flesh. "I have a friend on the outside," she said with a sly smile.

Porter laughed.

"So, what exactly is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked.

Elliot looked over at her as he moved to the kitchen to bring out dessert.

"I was just wondering if you had any idea how long we have to say in seclusion like this?"

"Until we catch these guys. You know this."

"You can't expect us to stay here in this little apartment forever. Do you have any leads at all?"

"I have men sitting on your apartment and scattered all over this city waiting for these men to make one wrong move. Just one."

"Meanwhile we are just stranded here like animals in a cage?"

"Anything you want or need will be brought to this door. I will make sure of that."

"Dean, isn't there something more you can do?" she asked.

"What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know, like move us maybe."

"Move you? Do you think someone made you?"

"No. I don't think so, we have been inside these four walls for the last two and a half weeks."

"Why do you need to move?"

"I don't guess we need anything. I am just asking for a favor."

"What do you want? I can probably pull a few strings and get you into a hotel. Maybe someplace with room service and a mini bar."

"I was thinking more like another city."

"Another city?"

"Someplace where we don't have to hide indoors all of the time."

"Olivia, it isn't safe."

"Dean, we're not civilians. But if you keep us locked up in here we are both liable to go postal. Isn't there something you can do?"

"Liv…."

"Dean…."

"You don't give up. Do you?"

"No she doesn't," Elliot replied handing Porter a saucer with a slice of Italian Cream cake and a cup of coffee.

"We just need a break," she said looking at him with tired eyes. "A few days even. Something, somewhere, where we can go for a walk or sit outside in the sunshine."

"Give me a few days to talk to some people…. I will see what I can do."

"Thank you," she said with a soft smile. "Would you like more coffee?"

"No, thank you. Actually, I'd better be going. Dinner was wonderful and this cake is amazing."

"Thanks. Just a few things I could throw together from a list of ingredients I sent to the corner market with one of your men. I do better if I can shop around myself and get ideas, but I guess this will have to do for now."

"Sit tight. I will get back with you as soon as I can. I am not sure I can promise anything permanent, but maybe I can talk them into letting you take a small get away."

"At this point, anything would be wonderful. Thanks, Dean."

"Good night, Olivia."

"Agent Porter," Elliot said extending his hand to shake the man's.

That night as Elliot and Olivia laid in bed together things between them started to heat up. Elliot slipped his hand up her thigh and pulled off the boxer shorts she wore with one of his old tee shirts. They kissed and touched in the darkness, until Olivia stopped him.

"Wait," she whispered softly.

"I thought you wanted to?"

"I do. But first, you need one of these," she said handing him a condom.

Elliot stared at the little foil wrapper in his palm.

"We don't use condoms."

"We do now," she said closing his hand over it.

"Since when?

"Since I ran out of pills and the mere mention to that officer of picking up 'girl' products freaked him out. He thought I meant tampons and he still couldn't handle it."

"So, the man wouldn't buy you tampons but he bought condoms?"

"Not exactly. I told him that what I needed was very important, but he still refused to let me leave. He did, however, allow me to call Casey and have her pick me up a few things."

"She couldn't just pick up your prescription?"

"The pharmacy wouldn't let her. This was the best she could do."

"So, you told Casey we are sleeping together?"

"I didn't tell her," Olivia said with a shy smile, "but by the look on her face when she delivered the bag of things I asked for from the drugstore she figured it out."

"Casey knows," he mumbled aloud.

"Hey, it was call Casey for condoms or not have sex until whenever they get this mess figured out. I decided to give her a call."

"Good decision," Elliot said with a nod. "I just have to get used to the idea of Casey knowing we are having sex."

"Well, we are sort of dating, Elliot."

"Sort of? I thought we were."

"We are. I just mean that we cant exactly go out on dates right now, but we are a couple. And when all of this is over and we can return to our normal lives there will be a lot of people who have to get used to the idea of us dating."

"You don't sound too worried about it."

"I'm not ashamed of loving you. You are a wonderful man. You are my best friend and I am crazy about you. In our line of work we don't really have time for relationships. You an I just seem to have found a way to make one work."

"Yeah, lots of crazy hot sex with your partner. I mean yeah, I have been shot at more times than I would like to count in the last couple of weeks, but there is no one I would rather be stuck here with than you."

"Aww, that is sweet, El. Thank you for sticking through all of this with me. Most guys would have taken off a long time ago and I never would have heard from them again."

"I'm not most guys."

"No, you're not," she said kissing him tenderly. "You are my guy."

"Only yours. And you are the only one that I would go through something like this for. Well, not the only one. But you and the kids. I would do anything for you Olivia. And I would do anything to make you happy."

She smiled and kissed him again.

"I'm happy with you," she whispered as he kissed her tenderly. "Condom," she breathed against his ear as she smiled and pressed her forehead to his.

"Yes, dear."

It was just after sun up when the phone rang the next morning. Elliot opened his eyes and reached to the night stand beside the bed trying not to wake her.

"Stabler," he said softly as he cleared his throat. "Agent Porter," he said as Olivia opened her eyes.

She watched as Elliot listened to the voice on the other end of the line, but she couldn't tell what was being said.

"I understand. No, two weeks would be great. I think she just needs a break from all of this. I will talk to Liv and get back to you. Alright, thank you."

Elliot hung up the phone and laid it back on the night stand as she raised up to look at him.

"Well?"

"Well, he talked to….whomever it was he needed to talk to and they said the most they can do is give us two weeks."

"Two weeks is better than nothing."

"True. It would give us both a little time to try and relax and live a normal life again. Even if it is only for a short time."

"Did he say where they were sending us?"

"How do you feel about St. Louis?"

"St. Louis?" she asked giving him a strange look.

"As in a small city in the eastern part of Missouri."

"I don't know. I have never been there."

"Neither have I. But Porter says he can put us there for two weeks. There are agents there, people he trusts. He says we will be safe there. We will have a shadow of course, anytime we go out. But we will actually be able to go out and live a little. Kind of like a little mini vacation. And when things return to normal I will take you on a real vacation, I promise."

"So you think we should do this? You think we should go to St. Louis?"

"I think it would be a good idea," he said cupping his hand against her cheek and kissed her forehead. "I love you and I want you to be happy. I don't want to keep you cooped up like this."

"I love you, too."

"Alright, I will call Agent Porter and let him know that we would like to visit St. Louis."

"I think I'm gonna get up and fix us some breakfast," she said climbing from the bed and pulling on the tee shirt from the floor as she made her way across the room.