Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.

Olivia was staring, still and silent, watching Elliot's mouth moving. She was trying to focus on what he was telling her, but her blood had begun to run cold already, and she wasn't sure hearing was a sense she still possessed.

"I knew," he shrugged. "A long time ago, but I just...I kept reassuring her that nothing was going on, that I loved her, and that I wanted to work on our marriage." He coughed, shifted in his seat, and twisted a bit to look at her. "It got...annoying. The constant questioning, the accusations...whenever I told her we had to work late, or we got hung up on a case and I couldn't come home...I knew what she was thinking."

"She was wrong," Olivia spoke, though the words came out like a scratched record, croaked and cracked.

"Didn't matter," Elliot said, frowning and shaking his head. "After a while, I told her we had to work late, even when we didn't...just so I wouldn't have to go home to a cold house and that...that look in her eyes that meant...she didn't trust me anymore." He licked his lips. "I never cheated on her, you know it and I know it, but I wanted to...so many times...with you, Liv." He blinked once. "There were moments...I almost kissed you a thousand times, it would have been so easy...it was so hard not to, and...as faithful as I was, Kathy had already made up her mind. So...I just...started to let her believe it."

"Are you out of your mind?" Olivia asked, his confession registering and causing panic to build in her system. "Do you have any idea what she could have done to you? To us, if she would have..."

"It's not too far from the truth," he interrupted, a sure calmness in his voice. "I was with you, wasn't I? We didn't have to be fucking, because, let's face it, emotionally I was yours. Some part of me feels like that...that's worse." He ran a hand down his face, taking a few extra moments to scrub along his chin. "The last few times she brought it up, I didn't deny it. I didn't say anything at all, I just looked at her and...she knows nothing happened, Liv, she's not stupid. She knows me. She just...she wanted me to fight her on it, and I didn't have that kind of fight left in me."

She eyed him for a while, picking at her cuticles with her fingernails and biting the inner corners of her bottom lip. "She hates me, doesn't she?"

"No," he said with a soft, somewhat sad smile. "She actually thinks very highly of you. She knows how good of a person you are, how selfless. She knows you tried to keep our marriage together, even when...well, now I know, you wanted me as much as I wanted you, the whole time." He sighed and said, "She's always been scared of you. For about a hundred reasons. When she finally realized that her absolute worst fear had become a reality, it wasn't hate, it was jealousy and resentment."

"So...hate, then," Olivia said with a short laugh. "I don't blame her. I'm not exactly her biggest fan, either." She saw the question dancing in his eyes. "You know I was always jealous of her, El. She had the parts of you that I...that I wanted but...couldn't have."

"Until now," he said, just above a whisper, smirking at her. "Liv?"

She turned her head slightly, and her eyes landed on his. The light in them mesmerized her, and she couldn't look away. Her heart raced and her breath quickened, she saw him moving, her mind screamed, a blood-curdling cry, begging her to move, to somehow avoid what was heading her way, but her body was carved stone, rooted to the spot and rigidly refusing to budge.

He slowly slid closer to her, his head tilting and angling, his neck bending just a bit, and the smile on his face grew as he inched closer and closer to her lips. Whispering, so close to her that his lips brushed against hers as he spoke, he asked her, "Is this...can I..."

She swallowed hard, another lump forming in her throat as soon as the first had gone away. She felt his breath, just as panting and ragged as hers, against her lips. She jumped slightly, feeling his hands slide over her knees, up her thighs. She could tell his fingers were trembling; he was just as scared, just as nervous as she was. She held her breath and nodded, and when his lips moved that final millimeter, her heart stopped.

Every nerve in his body ignited when he kissed her. His hands trailed up her body to her face, and he cupped her head in his hands. He darted his tongue out, tracing the seam of her lips, shaking and waiting for her to either kiss him back or push him away.

With a whimper, she let her mouth open slightly, welcoming him home. Her arms, quivering, wrapped around his shoulders and hooked behind his neck.

Grunting, he pulled her closer, deepened his kiss and moaned her name softly into her mouth. His body, filled with heat, began to tingle from the tips of his toes to the crown of his head, and he knew by the way his heart skipped and sputtered that this was, hands down, the most thrilling and sentiment-riddled kiss of his entire life. He felt his muscles tighten and twitch, his cock stiffen, despite his desire to keep things limited to just this one, monumentally momentous kiss.

Kissing him still, she pressed into him, leaning her whole body against his and forcing him down flatter on the sofa.

He took the fall gratefully, moaning when his head hit the arm of the couch. His hands slid down her back, cupping her ass, squeezing firmly. He laughed through his eager kiss, hearing her low, long moan, and feeling her grind further into him. This was going to escalate, they were both fueling the fire and fanning the flames.

"We...we need to...fuck," she panted, rolling her hips and moaning again, forgetting what she was protesting.

"Well, yeah, maybe we do," he said with a laugh, taking her broken and sputtered words at face value, though he knew it certainly wasn't what she meant. He couldn't resit teasing her. "But I don't...damn, baby, not on the couch...with Munch and Fin hanging out on the porch."

"That did it," she sighed, pulling her lips away from his and stopping her movements. She smoothed her hair back, clearing her throat, and sat up straight, keeping her legs around his body. "What...that was...wow."

He nodded fast, licking his lips. He reached up and toyed with the pieces of hair that had fallen into her face before cupping her cheeks again. "You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?"

Biting her lip, she backed up and slid off of him, taking a deep breath and sitting back on the couch. "El..."

"You are," he said, pushing himself up to sit next to her. "Come here," he said softly, wrapping one rough hand around the back of her neck. He pulled and watched her lips curl, and seeing her smile made his heart swell and burst. He smiled back at her, pulling her even closer, and pressed his lips to hers.

She moaned his name, muffled by the kiss, and lightly clutched the hem of his shirt. Being with him felt so right, and any worry about risk or uncertainty faded. She pulled away from him, took a deep breath, and said, "You make it really hard to...I can't control myself with you."

"Liv, you are watching every ounce of restraint I have, hard at work," he chuckled. "If we weren't..." A loud knock on the door interrupted what would have been a very suggestive remark. He kissed her quickly, got off of the couch, and ran to the front door. He looked through the peep-hole and his shoulders slumped. He turned the knob and opened the door, saying a low, "What's up, Fin?"

Fin handed him a paper bag and an envelope. "Food and a letter from Novak." He tried to peek around the door to see Olivia, but Elliot wouldn't move. "She okay?"

"She's great," Elliot said, smiling, "We both are." He nodded and said, "Thanks. You guys...you all right out here?"

Fin shrugged. "Dealing with his conspiracy babble is getting kinda old, but we're good. Making sure no one gets anywhere near you two." He coughed once and said, "If you need anything, you just give one of us a call. We're across the street in the Buick." He waved, turned, and headed back to the car parked across the road.

Once he was sure Fin had gotten in the car, Elliot turned to head back into the house. He brought the bag over to the couch and set it down on the coffee table, smiling at the familiarity of the simple action. He sat beside Olivia and shook the envelope at her. "Open it," he said, and then he folded his hand and wrung his fingers together. "I can't."

With a furrowed brow, Olivia turned the envelope over in her hands, and then tore the end off and pulled the letter out. She looked him, silently asking for permission. She watched him nod and then unfolded the paper. She scanned it, took a deep breath, closed it, and threw it on the coffee table next to the bag of takeout. "Casey sends her love," she said with a clenched jaw. "Literally. If I make it through this alive, I'm going to kill her."

"What does it say?" he said, taking her hand and calming her down. "Aside from whatever just got under your skin."

She yanked open the paper bag and fished around for an egg roll. "She said your lawyer handed the documents to the judge, and in six weeks, God willing, you will no longer be considered legally married." She looked at him. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

He sighed and scooted toward the edge of the sofa. He reached into the bag and took out the cartons of food. "That..." He paused and dropped his head into his hands, the built up guilt and emotion from the day finally bringing him to break. "Hearing it...so final...it just..." he looked up at her, tears in his eyes. "I'm not sorry it's over, I am...relieved, and I'm very much in love with you, but it just..."

"I know," she said, cutting him off, biting into her egg roll. "It's going to be painful, El. She was your wife; you've been married since you were eighteen. She's the mother of your children. I'd think less of you if you weren't upset. I know it doesn't mean you want to go running back to her." She swallowed and looked at him with a small smile. "Because, uh, that kiss...I could tell that you..."

He stopped her words with a swift peck on the lips. "I love you," he said, smiling.

She took a breath, opened her mouth, but the gunshots echoing through the room from the street outside kept her from saying anything at all.

Peace and Love

Jo

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