A/N: Okay, is everyone ready? This is my favorite chapter yet. Hopefully yinz/y'all/you all will like it too. Enjoy!

Chels, thank you.

Disclaimer: NBC and Dick Wolf own them. I'd argue for ownership rights, but since NBC moved SVU back to 10pm on Wednesdays (EST), I'll keep my mouth shut.

Revelations

Lizzie honks the horn from the passenger seat, impatient with her brother. Elliot shares the feeling.

He finishes buckling Eli into his car-seat—wiping spaghetti sauce from the toddler's mouth with the inside of his shirt sleeve—and gets behind the wheel. Dickie slides into the backseat a minute later, sulking like he has been all night, and they start driving.

Although he should talk to his kids, the ride to his old home is silent. He feels rushed, stressed out—Kathy wanted the kids home at eight o'clock, but there's no way they'll make that deadline. He's also distracted by the thick envelope in his lap, the one holding the signed divorce papers.

***

When they get to the house, Dickie takes Eli inside, barely mumbling a goodbye. But he does say something, which Elliot considers progress.

"Dad," Lizzie says, turning to him on the front porch. "Thanks for showing up. Tonight was nice."

"You didn't think I'd make it?"

She glances at her feet. "I did. Dick didn't."

She's always worried about other people, especially her brother.

"Give him time, Liz. He'll come around."

She nods, then hugs him tightly. "I love you, Dad."

"Love you too," he says, kissing her head. "Will you do something for me?"

"Sure."

"Give this to your mother." He hands her the envelope with the divorce papers. He'd do it himself, but he doesn't want to get into a fight with Kathy about being late. He just wants it to be over.

"Okay," Lizzie says. "I'll tell her you got called in for a case and had to run."

He smiles weakly in thanks, hating the fact that his daughter has to lie for him.

***

Over the next few hours, Elliot finishes a six-pack.

Instead of mellowing him out, the alcohol makes him restless. He can't seem to stay still inside of his apartment. The walls are too close and he sweats even though his apartment is freezing.

Finally, he can't stand it anymore and grabs his coat.

***

Half an hour later, he finds himself standing outside, staring up at Olivia's apartment building. His plan is to tell Olivia about the divorce. He's stalled this conversation long enough. Now that everything's signed, it's time.

But when he reaches her building's stairs, he's having doubts about his decision. As much as he wants to talk to Olivia, he knows he shouldn't be here. It's after midnight and he's drunk. She wouldn't want to see him like this.

He sits on the stairs, not caring about the cold.

Elliot's still debating how angry she'll be if he wakes her up when a man in his twenties walks up to the apartment building. He looks a little tipsy too.

"Lock yourself out, dude?"

"Uh. . ."

"C'mon. You'll freeze out here."

It has to be a sign. At least, that's what Elliot tells himself as he stands, legs shaking and ass numb.

Once they're in the building, the good Samaritan makes his way down the hall, not bothering to see what Elliot does. Elliot's going to have to have a chat with the building's supervisor about security.

Slowly climbing the stairs, he pulls out his cell-phone. He should call and warn Olivia that he's coming. Maybe she won't be as angry if he calls first.

He waits as the phone rings, and rings and rings.

"Elliot?" The voice is sleepy, but also annoyed.

"Kath? Shit." His finger must have hit the wrong speed-dial button.

"Elliot? What's wrong? It's after one."

"Go back to sleep. Wrong number."

"Have you been drink—"

He hangs up, cutting her off. Screw the phone call; he's already at Olivia's door anyway.

Elliot knocks loudly but no one answers. Olivia's home; she has to be. He needs to tell her about the divorce before he loses his nerve.

"Liv!" he calls, pounding on the door.

A few seconds tick by. The door is wrenched open so quickly that Elliot sways.

"What're you doin' here?" Elliot asks the shiny chest in front of him.

"You're drunk."

He's starting to doubt Reed's intelligence. Any idiot could tell that he's intoxicated.

"Where's she?"

"Olivia and I are busy."

Elliot realizes what that statement means. It's code for 'I've got a woman in bed.' Bile rises in the back of his throat at the very idea. Or that could be the alcohol he's ingested.

"I wanna talk—" Elliot begins but his phone cuts him off. It's Kathy's ringtone. Elliot ignores it.

Reed says, "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until the morning."

Elliot's not taking this shit. He shouts around the doctor, "Liv!"

"You need to leave." Reed's more forceful and steps into Elliot's space.

"Not 'til I see her."

Elliot tries to shoulder his way around the man in front of him, but Reed grabs onto his coat and pushes him back.

"Get your damn hands offa me."

"Henry? What's going on out there?" Olivia calls from the bedroom.

"Nothing." Reed frowns at Elliot, hands still gripping his coat. "Get lost, Detective."

"I'm not fucking leaving!"

Reed gives Elliot a shove, making him stumble into the wall behind him. As the doctor moves to close the door, Elliot launches himself forward, grabbing Reed around the waist and knocking him to the ground.

Elliot knows he could take Reed under normal circumstances, but he struggles to keep him pinned to the floor. The doctor has two advantages Elliot lacks: youth and sobriety. Reed's skin is also slippery, oily, and he manages to slip out of Elliot's grasp.

Reed's arms lift Elliot from the ground before wrapping around his head in a hold. Elliot swears loudly, twisting and trying to land a punch to the doctor's gut.

"Elliot!"

Both men freeze. Reed drops his arms at Olivia's glare. Elliot can't meet her eyes, can't look at her period because she's only wearing a satin robe. Getting a hard-on is the last thing he needs right now.

Reed speaks first. "Livie, you should go back to bed. Elliot was just leaving."

"No, Henry," she says, "I'll handle this. Just give me a few minutes."

"But. . ."

Olivia ignores Reed's weak protest. She walks past Elliot muttering, "Hallway. Now."

Elliot follows her without argument. He closes the door behind him.

***

"What the fuck is your problem?" she asks, but quickly holds up a hand to stop him from answering. She takes a deep breath, collecting herself. "How much have you had?"

"Enough. I came to tell you—"

"Whatever it is, I don't wanna hear it. Not until you're sober. You shouldn't be here."

"It's important."

"What could be so important it couldn't wait until eight o'clock?"

Kathy's ringtone sounds again. He wants to throw the phone off the roof. When Elliot ignores the ringing, Olivia begins to search his pockets.

"Honestly, El. She's probably worried about you," she says. She finds his phone in his back pocket and—though he tries to stop her—she answers. "Kathy?"

There is a pause on the other end of the phone. And then yelling, screaming. Elliot hears every word and the phone isn't even near him. Olivia holds the phone away from her ear but it doesn't take her long to understand why Kathy's screaming. The words 'home wrecker' make it pretty clear.

She snaps the phone shut and stares at him, mouth open. "What did you do?"

"Liv, Kathy and I. . . .We're through. S'over."

"That's why you're here? To tell me you got a divorce?" She's surprised, but still angry.

"Well, yeah. I thought. . ."

"You thought what?"

"Jesus, Liv. I thought you'd be happy."

Silence follows his statement.

Olivia looks at the ground, the walls, the ceiling; anywhere but at him. He sees the tears she won't let fall. He sees them and knows that he's really fucked up this time because Olivia Benson does not cry.

Flipping his phone open, she begins dialing a number.

"Who you calling?"

"A cab service. You're going home. Wherever home might be."

"Olivia, please. Let me 'splain."

She hangs up when she's done calling a cab. When she looks at him, it's not sadness or anger that he sees in her eyes. It's something far worse: disappointment. He wants to crawl away and die. He'd do anything to get that look off her face.

"Why didn't I know?" she asks quietly.

"I just signed the papers."

"You should've said something before papers were even involved."

"You would've tried to stop me. I wanted the divorce." Until he says it, he's not aware of how true that statement is. Now he realizes what he's wanted, what he's needed. And she's turning away from him, turning the doorknob to her apartment.

"Don't lie to me," she says and the sadness has returned to her voice. "You should go."

He has to say something to stop her from going inside. "Reed's not the one, Liv."

She pivots and her eyes flash. "Leave Henry outta this."

"He's a weakling."

"From what I could see, he was winning the fight."

Elliot ignores the blow to his ego. "He called you Livie. Who the hell calls you Livie?" The pet name leaves a bad taste in his mouth just repeating it. "He's not what you want."

She doesn't miss a beat. "We can't always have what we want."

They stare at each other and words aren't needed. They're both blown away by the implications of her response.

"Why not?"

Olivia wipes a hand over her face, exasperated with the conversation.

Elliot's eyes widen. "What's that?"

She hides her hand behind her back, but not before he sees the rock attached to her finger.

"That's why you should've told me about the divorce."

She opens the door.

"Olivia. . ."

"Go home, El. Just, go home."

He stares, pleading with her. "Don't do this. Not with him."

"I can't lose a good thing when I have it," she says, adding in a whisper, "Not again."

A/N: The end. Haha, just kidding. How evil would that have been? But I will say that this chapter should mark the halfway point in the story, meaning this should be a total of 18 chapters. Just a heads up. So do you like me now that Elliot told Olivia everything? Or are you coming after me with pitchforks for putting an engagement ring on her finger? ;)

Also, I'm taking a poll (which you can access through my profile) about what story I'll write next. I have a list of prompts up, and I'd be very happy if you helped me choose my next project. Thanks in advance to everyone who votes. :) The poll will remain open until the end of this story.