Elliot's confused greyish green eyes stared into Johanna's scared dark green ones. It was silent throughout his house, only their frantic breathing could be heard.

"You're what?" Elliot asked, as he stood frozen in his kitchen.

"I'm pregnant," Johanna repeated. The words left a foul taste behind as they escaped her mouth.

His face held a baffled expression; hers just remained scared.

"Are you sure?" He questioned.

"The pink line was pretty faint, but it was there," she explained. "Could be a false positive, I guess. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow at noon to make sure."

Elliot nodded, but he wasn't sure why.

"We never discussed what we would do if this happened," Johanna stated. "I never really even worried about it happening."

"Me either. Pretty irresponsible on our part," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess we were living too much in the moment."

He partially blamed Johanna for that. He didn't live like that until she came along. Though it takes two to make a baby, he couldn't help but blame their impulsive behaviors on her.

"Let's just wait and see what the doctor says tomorrow, okay?" He suggested. "And if you're not pregnant, we'll just have to make sure to keep condoms around."

"Elliot..." Johanna took a deep breath. "I don't want to have a baby. I don't want to have this baby."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you saying?"

"I can't be pregnant again," she continued.

"You can't be or you don't want to be?" He retorted.

She frowned. "You know why."

"You're not killing this baby," he told her plainly.

She swallowed hard when she felt a lump in her throat. "Elliot, I can't do this."

"No." He shook his head. "I'm not letting you kill this baby. This isn't some serious relationship you can run from. This is a child."

Tears began to well up in her eyes. Elliot's tense body relaxed when he realized how greatly he was upsetting her.

"Let's just see what happens tomorrow," he eased up.

She nodded as a stray tear fell down her cheek. "I have to go. I'll call you tomorrow when I find out."

She turned around and walked quickly to the door as tears began to fall down her face. She didn't want him to see her cry.

"Jo, wait," Elliot called after her.

Johanna shook her head as she opened his door and quickly shuffled down the stairs. "It's okay, I'll call you tomorrow," she yelled back at him.

He sighed and watched as she hurried down the icy sidewalk, away from his house. He could tell she was crying and trying to hide it.

It pained him to see her so upset. He prayed she wouldn't do anything drastic without talking to him first. He knew she didn't want to have a baby. Hell, he didn't want to have another baby either. But it was his child, his child he created with Johanna, and he certainly didn't want to get rid of it.

He thought for a moment about what they would do if they had a baby. Would they stay together and raise the child? Or would Johanna break up with him and run away from such a strong commitment like a family? He couldn't raise a baby on his own. Or could he?

He was angry that Johanna had bolted before helping him answer all the questions he had running through his mind. He knew she probably had the same questions running through hers.

For the rest of the night, he tried to independently find potential answers to all his frenzied questions.

Johanna sat on her couch in silence, clutching her cell phone tightly in her hand, waiting for the imminent phone call from the doctor with the results of her pregnancy test.

Dark circles lined her eyes due to the fact that she slept very little the night before after storming out of Elliot's house. She was up all night thinking about how much her life would change if she had a baby.

Initially, she had planned on making an appointment to terminate the pregnancy when the doctor called with her results, but now she didn't think she would. She couldn't do that to Elliot. And that made her angry. She would've never thought twice about getting an abortion before, but she couldn't fathom upsetting Elliot like that, and she was angry that she let him get close enough to sway her decisions like that.

This, right here, is why I don't get close to people, she thought to herself. She was prepared, regardless of the test results, to distance herself from Elliot for a while. She wasn't sure if she wanted to break up with him or not, but she knew she had to create some space between them.

A knock on her door snapped her out of her thoughts. She figured it was her landlord there to collect the rent, but when she opened the door, she was surprised to see Elliot standing in front of her.

"Stabler, wha-"

He cut her off by grabbing her by her arms and pressing his lips to hers firmly. The two stumbled through her door, which Elliot kicked shut behind him. Her entire body relaxed, as it often did when she was in Elliot's arms. He poured so much emotion into the kiss, letting every emotion he felt flow through, until he broke away from her.

"Johanna, listen to me," he demanded, dropping his hands from her arms. "I know you're scared to have this baby, okay? I know that last time you were pregnant, you were dating some asshole whose affair was disrupted because you found out you were having his baby. And I know it all ended badly and I know you're traumatized from it. I know that. But that's not me, okay? I'm not some asshole, I'm not having an affair, and I'm not bothered by this pregnancy."

She watched him intently as he rattled on, full of so much emotion. If she hadn't been scared out of her mind, she would've thought he was adorable.

"I want this baby. It's a part of me and a part of you, and we can make this work," he told her. "Even if we're not married, we can make this work. It goes against everything I grew up believing in, but we can make this work, no matter how unorthodox it is."

Johanna couldn't speak. If she opened her mouth, she knew she would cry. Elliot's words meant so much to her, but she had just convinced herself to stay away from him. And here he was, doing everything perfectly right, saying everything she secretly wanted to hear.

"And even if you end up leaving me, I want this child. I'll raise it on my own if I have to. If you really don't anything to do with it, that's fine," he stated. "Just please, please don't kill my baby."

He took a deep breath, trying to gauge Johanna's reaction, but she maintained a blank, scared stare with tears welling up in her red eyes.

The phone in her hand vibrated and rang loudly, making her jump a little. She glanced down at the caller ID, sniffling as a few tears escaped down her cheeks.

"It's the doctor," she told him.

He nodded and his stomach knotted up.

"Hello?" Johanna answered. "Yes, this is Johanna."

Elliot could hear the faint mumbling of the doctor on the other end of the phone.

"Okay, are you sure?" Johanna asked.

More mumbling.

"Okay, thank you, Dr. Griffin," she sighed as she pulled the phone away from her face and hung up.

She looked up at Elliot; more tears fell from her eyes freely.

"I'm not pregnant," she told him, sniffling.

A huge wave of relief washed over him. The weight that once rested on Johanna's shoulders heavily was gone. The rigid worried wrinkles in their faces relaxed smoothly.

"Why are you crying?" He wondered.

"Because I don't deserve you," she sobbed.

"What?" He pressed as he wrapped his arms around her. "What are you talking about?"

"What you just said was so sweet and so perfect, and you're so sweet and so perfect," Johanna cried as she nuzzled into his chest. "And I can't believe I wanted to kill our baby."

"Shh," Elliot cooed as he hugged her. "It's okay, sweetheart, you were just scared."

"I didn't even want a baby, but after you said all that, I felt like I actually wanted a baby," she continued. "You're just so great to me, and I'm such a childish mess."

He rubbed her back gently, trying to soothe her.

"I wasn't going to do it," she admitted. "I wasn't going to get an abortion. I wanted to, but I wasn't going to upset you like that."

He kissed the top of her head lovingly. "Thank you."

She looked up at him, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. He looked at her and softly smiled, and she realized she didn't want to distance herself from Elliot at all. She finally realized that she wanted him in her life; she needed him in her life. She realized that if she didn't stop thinking so selfishly and close-mindedly, that one day he might move on and find someone who fully appreciates him and who willingly takes his opinion and feelings into consideration – someone who wouldn't dare to even think about aborting his child.

She couldn't snap her fingers and open her heart like a book, but she promised herself, as Elliot's lips came crashing down onto hers, that she would try her damnedest to completely let him in. He deserved that from her.