A/N: Sorry for the delay on this chapter, it will get faster now… I was just working on another one until it was complete. I find it easier to do that, now, to work on one, and then I'll work on another… less pressure to upload faster, and I know that my chapters are short so I should be posting them faster than the average. Forgive me… and read on :)

During the course of one evening, Olivia and Elliot were cooking dinner together.

Olivia barely knew how to cook anything, her mother had never taken the time from one of her bottles to bother teaching her the necessities of life, and for as long as she could remember she had always ordered take out when she wasn't working. Elliot had laughed playfully when he realized that she knew almost next to nothing about cooking, and took the challenge upon himself to instruct her as far as cooking went.

They went down to the store to collect some ingredients when they decided what they had in mind to cook, and after that they walked along the beach there, for a whole, hand in hand as they discussed the events of the day and what they planned to do when they adopted. What child they were looking for… did it matter the nationality, gender, age… and when they decided that, they chatted animatedly about names.

"I like Mahaliah," Olivia smiled at the thought of having a child walking side by side between them.

He thought about it for a moment. "You know they probably have a name already," he pointed out.

"Not if we get the child a few weeks old."

"True," he nodded.

"I like Henry!"

"Henry? It's so plain!" she grinned.

It was nice to be debating the more mundane things of life.

"Well I ain't naming my kid something weird like Apple or Coco or… some month of the year…" he argued.

Olivia folded her arms across her chest. "What's wrong with the name August?" she challenged.

"It's not a name," he shrugged playfully. "It's the month before September and the one after July,"

Olivia shook her head and laughed.

He pulled her against him as they walked and she tripped over his feet, causing her balance to falter, and she felt herself falling, she grabbed his shirt forcefully, and the two of them landed on the sand with a THUD, some of the groceries falling out of the bag.

She looked up at him covered in sand. "I love you…" she said simply.

"Shut up!" he groaned brushing the sand from his clothes and standing up.

She bit her bottom lip, and tugged at his pants, and he collapsed a second time into the sand, right beside her. He laughed this time, and pinned her down by her arms and folded himself on top of her. Their eyes danced playfully, and then she lifted her head only slightly before he kissed her.

As they kissed passionately, a thought struck Olivia, and it gave her the chills… when time came for the subject of sex, was it going to end badly?

He helped her to her feet a moment later, and they picked up the scattered groceries and walked back to the boat.

Elliot was mocking her when he demonstrated how to hold a paring knife. She wasn't completely incompetent, he knew, but he loved playing with her nonetheless. She didn't like being mocked about cooking, and seemed to take it to heart, she used the knife with force, and the agony that sliced through her hand made her scream.

"What?" he stopped and looked up from peeling the carrots, a look of surprise on his face.

She clenched her hand closed, as the blood oozed from her palm in where she had cut herself.

He saw the red and stepped forward, but her instincts took over and she threw herself backwards, ordering him not to move.

"What the hell?" he snapped.

"DON'T COME NEAR ME!" she barked.

"Liv, it could be deep," he pointed out.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she panicked. "If you touch me you could contract HIV!"

He groaned loudly. "Stop being stupid," he took another step forward, cautious this time.

But it only made her panic more. The thought of him being sick the way she was, the thought of having been the one to make him that way, was too much. She would NOT put him in danger.

"Right now I don't care," he stated. "Let me help you."

"NO!" she demanded. "STAY there! It's not deep," she flinched as she looked down at the oozing blood. She felt sick. "I'll fix it… go into the other room, I'll clean myself up and call you when I'm done."

"OLIVIA BENSON!" he barked.

She shot him a look then, that meant business, and he stepped back, getting the picture. She would not compromise on this, and for a moment he admired her for it. But he was still worried. He still wanted to make her better. He still wanted to help. "I'll get the first aid kit, and then I'll leave you be…" he promised.

She nodded. "You can just leave it on the bench," she gestured.

Elliot agreed, and disappeared into the bathroom to retrieve it.

It was a touchy chapter there, but I felt that it was needed to stress the importance of this issue, and how easy it can come up in everyday life. Again, to anyone I offended, IM SORRY!

Reviews are wonderful… and so are whoever take the time to write one. I have a doozy of a chapter coming up, PURE gold… :)