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 had spent the last twenty minutes staring at the sketch artist's portrait of the man who was after them. He couldn't wrap his head around why, or how, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew this wasn't a surprise. It didn't shock him at all. What stunned him, what made him most afraid, was how close the bastard had come to succeeding; how close he'd been to losing Olivia, and losing his life. He closed his eyes tight and tried to breath deeply, an attempt to keep himself calm. He was thankful the kids had gone back home with Kathy. They didn't need to see him like this.

"You all right, man?" Fin asked, coming up behind him.

Elliot heard him, but he didn't turn around. He shrugged and his mind wandered to the woman asleep upstairs, for whom he would gladly lay down his life if it came down to it. He thought about the small moments, the brevity of them, that added up to his absolute certainty that he was in love with her. If someone were to ask him to pinpoint the exact instance he knew, he wouldn't be able to, but he would be able to give a long dissertation on why and how strongly he felt that way. He would defend Olivia, and their relationship, no matter what.

"El," Fin prodded, sitting next to him on a hard folding chair. "I'm talking to you. You okay?"

Looking at his friend, Elliot sighed and shoved the sketch away from him as he leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his face with both of his hands, and he let out a hard, heavy, audible sigh. "I don't know," he said with a shrug. He shook his head and bit his lip. "I just...I don't know. Physically, yeah, thank God, but Liv...when she found out it was him...I never want to see that look on her face, in her eyes, ever again. What...what the hell does this asshole have against me? What could he possibly gain from taking me out?"

Fin leaned closer to him, tapping on the sketch. "Think, man," he said, narrowing his eyes. "The son-of-a-bitch never liked you, you butted heads all the time...you cock-blocked him like it was your job."

"It was," Elliot scoffed.

Fin chuckled, but it was short-lived. He sighed and lowered his tone. "He hated you for it, and after that mess with Rojas, you know he's out for blood, but he can't bring himself to do it himself."

Elliot narrowed his eyes and stared at Fin for a moment. "You really think he..."

"He covered up murders before, made it so his name wasn't attached to it, until the case landed on you and Liv." Fin looked toward the stairs and then back at Elliot. "What's going on with you two anyway?"

Elliot couldn't hide the grin growing on his face, and he folded his arms as he said, "Everything. Nothing. We, uh, we just...it was time for us to..."

"Are you sleeping with her?" Fin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Both of Elliot's brows rose in response. "What the hell, man?" He looked around, lowered his voice, and said, "No, I'm not just...it's more than that, okay? What's happening with us, it's right, and it's..." he let out a hard breath. "I know everyone around here thinks we hooked up because we almost dies, but I was making a move before that car hit us. I've been in love with her for a long fucking time, and the minute I think I'm ready to make her mine, some asshole tries to rip it all away from me!" He slammed the palm of his hand down on his desk and grunted, his jaw tight. "I'm not losing her. Not now. Not ever." He looked back at Fin. "Over my dead body."

"Man," Fin said, nodding back at the pencil-drawn picture. "That's exactly what that asshole wants."

Elliot closed his eyes and shook his head. "He's not gonna get it," he said, pushing his chair back and standing. "When he gets here, you let me know. I've got a few things I'd like to..."

"You know you can't talk to him," Fin said, furrowing his brow. "You're the victim, here, and the only way Cragen could get him here was to tell him you were both dead! He thinks he's coming to run an investigation."

Elliot looked Fin dead in the eyes and smirked, and he said, "Well, it's gonna be a bit of a shock when I walk in on his interrogation, then, won't it?" He tugged on his tee-shirt and turned around, leaving Fin at his desk as he walked up the metal staircase to the bunk room. He opened the door quietly and closed it behind him, as softly as he could. He toed off his slippers and slipped into the bed beside Olivia.

As if she knew, she rolled over a bot and looped an arm around him, kissed his neck, and whispered, "Where have you been?"

"Down there," he said, kissing her forehead, "Thinking." He took a breath and found her lips in the dark, kissing her softly. "They're bringing him in," he whispered to her.

Her eyes popped open, her head shot up. "What? Are you serious? Here? Now?"

"Baby, calm down," he said, running his hands over her shoulders, trying to soothe her. "He's not going to hurt either of us, he thinks we're..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud, booming voice carried up the stairs, frantic and fierce.

"Shh," Elliot whispered to Olivia as he climbed out of the bed. He went over to the door and opened it on a crack, hoping to hear more clearly. What he heard scared him, pissed him off, and made him feel just a bit of pride.

"You got the guy, right?" the voice yelled. He sounded as if he was crying. "Tell me you got the guy! God, he killed them? Both of them? How?"

Fin's voice answered. "Broke into their safe-house, shot Liv, beat Elliot to death," he said stoically. "If you, uh, want to talk to the guy, he's in interrogation room two."

Elliot turned to look at Olivia, a crooked eyebrow and a matching grin. "He didn't want anything to happen to you," he said, holding out a hand.

She put her palm in his and let him pull her out of the bed. "Guess not," she said, curling herself inward and wrapping her arms around Elliot. "What are we gonna do?"

"Give them ten minutes," he told her, "Then go downstairs and rock Porter's world."

Peace and Love

Jo

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