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.
Elliot looked through the small peephole, turned to Olivia, and backed away from the door. "Neighbors, I think," he whispered with a shrug. "They brought pie."
Olivia laughed. "Are you serious? Where the hell are we, Pleasantville?"
The doorbell rang and there was another knock on the door. "Clearly, they're not home, Margaret," they heard a man's voice declare, before the doorbell rang again.
Elliot raised a finger to his lips, gestured for Olivia to get up off of the couch, and jutted his chin toward the bedroom.
Olivia rolled her eyes and got up, moving quickly in front of Elliot. She scoffed over her shoulder as she felt Elliot nudge her, prodding her to move faster. "Why would they..."
"They probably saw us...maybe they think we moved in," he spat in a harsher whisper. He gave her a shove, forcing her onto the bed, and he moved toward the window. He pulled the blinds apart with two fingers and stared out toward the porch, biting his lip. "Or maybe they're trying to kill us. We can't take chances."
"I know," Olivia said to him with a sigh. She reached over to the table, picking up her cell phone, running her fingers along the screen for a moment before sliding one to unlock it. She tapped in her password and took another deep breath.
"Your password is my badge number?" he asked her, his brow furrowed. When she turned her head toward him, he caught her eyes and his heart thumped a bit harder in his chest. God, she was beautiful.
"Yeah," she said on a breath. There was no point denying it. She smirked then, and pointed back to the side table. "What would happen if I grabbed your phone and typed in mine?"
He laughed and shook his head, scratching at his chin. "Point well made." He smiled brightly at her and reached out a hand to brush the hair out of her eyes. He was silent as he let his hand linger, and then his knuckles grazed her cheek before falling away from her altogether. "They...they left," he mumbled, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the window.
She nodded, giving him an unsure smile, and as he sat beside her, she looked back down at her phone and swiped through her contacts. "Here," she said, tapping a name. "Talk to your kids." She held the phone out to him, the ringing filtering from the speaker.
He took the phone and lifted it to his ear as he bent lower and kissed her forehead. A silent thanks. "Kathy? No, no, it's...Liv is fine, I just don't have my phone handy, I...no, it's charging. Listen, I need to tell you...oh, he did? Good, I...I didn't want you to worry. Are the kids...can I talk to...oh, yeah, I did. Because...I told you I was going to sign them."
Olivia watched, seeing his body stiffen and his nostrils flare. She knew something harsh had been said on the other end.
He clenched his jaw and pulled himself away from Olivia. "Oh, I'm sorry, okay? Forgive me for filing for divorce and skipping town! Next time, I'll schedule to have my life threatened at a more convenient time for you!" he half-yelled. He closed his eyes, then, and took another deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Yeah, me, too. No, they can't call me back. Not while I'm...no, we're okay. Tell them I love them and I will call as soon as...as soon as I can. Bye." He hung up the phone in time to prevent Kathy from hearing him sniffle. "That was...not what was supposed to happen." He brought his free hand up to his face, squeezed the bridge of his nose, and tried not to cry.
Olivia shot up off of the bed and in an instant her arms were around him. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean..."
"Don't," he interrupted, his hands finding solace at the small of her back, her phone still clutched in one. He pulled her tight and buried his head into her neck, kissing the thin skin as he tried to calm himself down. "I'm okay. I just...I didn't realize how much I miss them."
"Well, this will all be over soon," she said, pushing him away slightly, "And you can go home to Kathy and the..."
"I wasn't even talking about Kathy," he said, cutting her off. "My kids. I miss my kids. It's only been a couple days and I'm just..." He took another breath, letting it out through rounded lips. "I'm okay."
She nodded and tried to smile, but when he pulled her into his arms again and pressed his lips to hers, she let the grin fully form against his lips. Her fingers curled as they found their way to his shoulders, and then around his neck. Part of her still couldn't believe that she was kissing him, but a much larger part of her didn't believe she belonged anywhere else.
He moaned and pulled her tighter against him, dropping her phone as his fingers seared their prints into the bare skin of her back, under her shirt. He was about to move them back toward the bed when the doorbell rang once again.
"God damn it," he spat, after prying his lips away from hers. He moved to the window again, pulling the blinds apart and looking through narrow eyes, the way he had before.
"Is it them again?" she asked, moving closer to him.
"No," he said, whispering. "Pick up your phone, keep your voice down, and call Cragen, we have a problem." He watched the people who'd been at the door pick the lock, making their way inside. He backed away from the window, pulling her into him and leading them toward the large closet. He opened the door as he watched her tapping buttons on her phone. He ushered her into the empty space, pulled her down to the floor with him, and pulled his gun out of his pocket.
"What the hell did you see out there?" she whispered to him, "And what do you want me to say to..."
He ripped the phone out of her hand and replaced it with his gun. "Cap? Yeah, listen, we have a slight problem here."
They both jumped slightly when they heard breaking glass in the living room, and they froze. Elliot wound his arms tighter around Olivia, whispering as quietly as he could into the phone. "Your protective detail isn't doing a very good job. Two guys, armed, I think...I think they're in the house now."
"Why the fuck are we in the closet?" Olivia hissed, pulling her own gun out of the pocket of her flannel pants.
He wrapped a hand around her mouth, listening to Cragen, and he nodded at her as he removed his hand and lightly ran the pad of his thumb over her lips. He put the phone on speaker and put it down on the floor next to him. He took his gun from Olivia and raised one finger.
She eyed him carefully, watching as he raised a second finger. She readied her gun and steadied herself on the tips of her toes.
He reached up for the handle of the door, and when he mouthed, "Three," he opened the door.
The pair sprang out of the closet with aimed weapons, trained on the bedroom door. They heard shuffling feet, moving furniture, and muffled voices coming from the living room.
He moved in front of Olivia, reaching for the knob, and he looked at her with severity in his eyes.
She stepped up next to him, took a breath, and nodded.
Elliot opened the door and they stepped into the room. "NYPD," Elliot shouted, raising his gun. One of the men turned, his gun rising, and Elliot heard a gunshot. With wide eyes he watched the man in front of him fall to his knees and then keel over.
Olivia moved fast, shooting the second man in the shoulder and then the leg, disarming and disabling him. She ran to the first man and gave Elliot a stunned look.
Elliot bounded over to the second man, kicking his gun away. He looked around for a moment, and then, in lieu of handcuffs, he tugged the drawstring from his sweatpants out of the waistband, using it to tie the intruder's hands together, tightly, around his back. "Liv?" he called to her.
She licked her lips and combed her hair back with her fingers. "He'll live," she said, staring down at the bleeding, whimpering man.
It took five minutes for an ambulance and two police cruisers to arrive. Cragen and Tucker showed up in another ten. Leaving the sedan doors open and the engine running, they ran over to the nearest officer, who pointed them in the right direction. Tucker raised an eyebrow and chuckled at Cragen's befuddled expression as they saw Elliot and Olivia huddled together under a blanket, sitting on the edge of the back of an ambulance.
"Are you two hurt?" Cragen asked. "Either of you? Are you okay?"
"We're fine," Elliot said, holding up a hand. "Liv...shit, she's got excellent aim." He looked at her, and though he wanted like hell to kiss her, he knew he couldn't.
Tucker folded his arms. "So if you're okay, then what's with the..." he wagged a finger in a circle, indicating the ambulance.
Elliot looked back at Tucker. "We had to get out of the house. The crime scene unit is in there." He sighed and pulled the blanket more firmly around himself and Olivia.
Cragen pressed his lips together, refusing to believe it was anything more than a need for warmth and comfort. "Who the hell were those guys?"
"We, uh, we didn't get a straight answer from either of them," Olivia said. "We told the local PD you were on the way, that you'd handle the questioning. They're waiting for you at the hospital."
"I'm surprised they both lived," Tucker said, smirking. "Usually if someone raises a gun to him, you shoot to kill." He looked at Elliot. "And vice versa."
"Yeah, well, I didn't have a clear shot at his head." She bit her lip. "I just...shot the gun out of his hand."
"No, you practically shot his hand off," Elliot countered.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, I did not," she argued. "The EMT said they'd be able to reattach his fingers, he's gonna be just fine."
"Good," Cragen said. "He'll be able to button up his own orange jumpsuit." He pointed to Elliot. "As for you two..."
"Yeah, yeah," Elliot interrupted. "We have to move again." He closed his eyes for a moment, opened them slowly, and looked at his captain. "Thanks, by the way. For telling Kathy."
Cragen's eyes narrowed. "Telling her what?"
"The situation, where we were, that we were okay," Elliot listed. "It meant a lot. I don't want my kids to worry, and they don't need to..."
"Elliot," Cragen said, stopping him, "I didn't say anything to Kathy. Not about this. We have detail on them, they're safe, but I didn't tell her about any of this."
Elliot looked at Tucker, then at Olivia. A moment passed, unspoken words lingered between them, and he turned back to Cragen. "Then who the hell did?"
Tucker nodded and turned around. "I'm on it," he said, waking back to the sedan.
Cragen unfolded his arms and ran a hand down his face. "You two are gonna send me to an early grave." He shook his head and lowered his voice. "Someone is obviously watching every move you two make. I swear, the only people who knew, for sure, where you were are me and Ed, and we haven't spent much time apart since someone tried to make pancakes out of you."
"So what does that mean?" Olivia asked, inching closer still to Elliot. She was almost in his lap, and she felt his arms wrap tighter around her, telling her he didn't mind.
Cragen narrowed his eyes as he spoke. "I need your phones. Maybe they were hacked or bugged." He scratched his stubble-covered chin. "I'll get you burners. Go in, get your shit, and get in the car, now."
"Where are we going this time?" Elliot said, an air of disdain in his voice. He didn't let go of Olivia as they slid off the truck and walked toward the house.
Cragen didn't turn to look at them. "I have no fucking idea."
Peace and Love
Jo
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