As the taxi drove along the familiar streets, Elliot sat with his arm around her in the back seat, her head leaning slightly on his shoulder, his hand holding hers. She felt relaxed as she leaned into him, his arm warm and loving around her.

Elliot glanced at Oliva's reflection in the window - she didn't look the same, but not in the way she had when he found her in Arizona. She looked the same beautiful, strong, passionate woman that she had always been, but she had an air of happiness about her which he knew he wore too. Wondering for a moment how they could ever hope that no one else would notice the shift in their relationship, he pushed the thought away. Certainly when they were working they were dedicated and focused just as they always had been - but in downtime, he wondered how he could restrain himself from looking at her this way - wanting to hold her, wanting to kiss her.

Elliot's phone suddenly rang, startling him from his thoughts, as he shifted slightly to pull it from his pocket and glanced at the display.

"It's Cragen," he said.

Olivia shifted slightly, as Elliot's arm loosened his hold on her as he answered his phone.

-Stabler. Yeah cap - we're heading home now - flight was fine...yep, we'll be in tomorrow, see you then.

Elliot pulled her close to him again, "you wanna stop at your place for anything?"

"No, It feels a bit surreal being back, I just want to go to your place tonight," she said.

Elliot kissed her on her head and smiled, "So tonight I get to have Olivia Benson in my bed - I must have done something really right."

Olivia glanced at him briefly, he had gone to great lengths to find her, he had shown her just how much he loved her and brought her home. She loved him even more for that.

Olivia smiled, "Oh you have El."

That night, Elliot smiled as Olivia slipped under the sheets, joining him as he took her in his arms. He kissed her softly before running his hand down her side and resting it on her hip as he looked at her.

"Gotta say, this is not how I thought this was gonna turn out, Liv….you've made me very happy sweetheart," he whispered, as he watched her reaction.

He loved watching the way she reacted to his endearments - her eyes softened and her smile lit her up. He had missed that so much - her smile. To know that he was the reason that she was smiling; that she loved him, that his feelings were reciprocated, it gave him an inner peace that he didn't even know he was missing until she had said those words, and let him know that she felt the same.

That night as they made love, in Elliot's bed, the reality of their relationship seemed so much clearer. Olivia wrapped her legs around his back, urging him deeper as her hands roamed his back and chest. She didn't feel any doubt, or any fear about how it would all turn out - she just knew she was making love to Elliot - her best friend, her partner; but so much more:

He had not let her walk away. He had done everything he could to find her and bring her home; to her life, to his arms, to his heart...

PRECINCT

"You ready, Liv?" Elliot asked as he stood alongside her in the elevator.

Olivia took a deep breath and looked at him, "As i'll ever be," she said with a hesitant smile.

Elliot reached over and gently squeezed her hand before dropping his arm back to his side before the elevator doors opened.

Stepping out into the squad room Olivia felt instantly at home - her hesitation rapidly diminishing as she took in the familiarity of the place which was at times her second home. Moving straight over to her desk she paused, and smiled as Fin approached her placing a hand affectionately on her arm.

"It's good to have you back, Liv," he smiled.

"Thanks Fin," she said returning his smile, "I didn't realise how much I missed this place."

Noticing their arrival, Cragen came to his door and smiled, gesturing for them to come in.

Olivia smiled at Munch who was leaning against the wall next to the captain's desk.

"Sit down," Cragen said, gesturing to the empty chairs in front of his desk.

"Well, you two are the talk of the Arizona PD - you cleared seven cold cases and an active abduction as soon as you had a bit of downtime. When I explained that you were both on vacation and not even armed, the brass up there were more than a little impressed with your dedication."

"A lot of the credit goes to Munch, he did the groundwork and the mapping," Olivia said, turning to Munch, "how did you find it though? Do you have a stack of cold cases that you're looking through?"

"Huh..well, disappearances are sometimes worth studying - I have some other patterns across two other states that you might want to take a look at Liv," Munch said, before glancing at Cragen, "my new theory is that if these two can't solve it then it might well be something worthy of some extra curricula investigation - I have a group of friends who are very interested in some events in Iowa…"

"Munch, I think Iowa will have to look into that themselves, I need these two here," Cragen said with an amused smile.

Munch headed toward the door and turned to Olivia, "Liv, let me know if you wanna help me take a look into some of these - you'd be surprised at the numbers of people who disappear, some even in groups - we are not as safe as we think we are…"

Olivia laughed, "Well...you were on to something the last time.."

Elliot gave her an incredulous look, "Liv, his Iowa theory is about an underground military base for experimenting on people!"

Munch smiled as he put a hand on her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze, "You've been missed, Liv," he said, as he turned and left.

"Olivia," Cragen said, "you ready to have this back?"

Olivia looked up as he placed her shield on his desk and pushed it over to her.

"Yes, I am," she said, smiling as tears pricked behind her eyes.

Reaching over she took her shield and clipped it on to her belt. Elliot sat beside her looking nothing short of relieved.

"Elliot - I need a few minutes with your partner…" Cragen said.

"Sure, I'll go get some coffee," said Elliot as he stood up and resisted the urge to reach out and stroke her hair as she smiled at him.

"Sounds good, thanks El."

Once the door closed Cragen gave her a smile, "I can't give you your gun back until you've seen Huang, but he can see you today at eleven, so we can get you started on that. You need to be on desk until you're cleared though, okay Liv?"

"Yes, I understand. Look...captain..i'm sorry, I can't tell you what was going through my head because I couldn't even think straight."

"I'm relieved that you're home Liv, we were all concerned - this has been a hard few weeks. Elliot was deeply affected by you leaving - I wanted to respect your privacy but in truth we all did what we could to try to find you before it became official, you had us all worried Olivia," he sighed, watching her as she broke eye contact.

"Elliot took this pretty hard, the whole squad did. You're the heart of this squad Olivia - your absence was felt more than I think you realise."

Olivia raised her eyes to meet his, "I didn't want to hurt or worry anyone. I should have contacted one of you and I know that - it just got harder the longer I was gone. That sounds like a poor excuse - and it is," she said.

"I sat with her while she went through a rape kit, I held her while she broke, but I watched her rebuild herself and she had a future ahead of her. I was in shock...and I just ran," she said.

"Liv, the things we see here every day, it affects us all - sometimes more than others - if you're struggling at any point you need to talk to me - to Elliot, Huang...any of us. The times when it has hit me the hardest have surprised me over the years. Sometimes its not the cases you expect it to be. Not one of us can say that we don't have moments where this job gets too much. If any one of those guys out there deny that then they're lying."

"I know," she whispered, as she looked at him, "but I really am OK, and I'll see Huang for as long as necessary. I don't want everyone looking at me wondering if I'm coping. I am - I was in a bad place, but I'm not there now. I promise you that."

"I'm very happy to hear that," he smiled, "welcome home Olivia."

Olivia closed the door and paused, taking in the familarity of the squad room before walking over to her desk and sitting down opposite Elliot. He looked up and gave her a slight smile - the unspoken secret they shared passing between them briefly as Olivia felt a warmth fill her.

Olivia looked up and smiled as Fin walked past, dropping a case file onto her desk.

"We're going out to bring this guy in, gonna need us all on this one."

"Thanks Fin, i'll get up to speed," Olivia said as she opened the file and looked first at the photo of the victim before turning to the case details.

Elliot pick up his copy of the file and glanced up at Olivia briefly. Sensing his gaze she looked up, a question forming on her lips.

"Hey Liv, you coming for a drink when we get finished here later?" Fin said as he pulled on his jacket.

"Yes, count me in," Olivia said, with a smile before turning her gaze back to Elliot.

"El?" she said.

"Yeah that sounds good. You... wanna grab a bite to eat after?" Elliot asked, his tone neutral.

"Sure," Olivia said, matching his tone, before breaking their eye contact with a slight smile.

Elliot smiled as he looked down at the case file, taking a moment before he opened it to enjoy the peace he felt. These moments where everything in his life seemed to fit in place perfectly were rare - he glanced across his desk at his partner, who was now reading the case file. Once he opened his copy, he knew they would be Benson and Stabler - focused, switched on, unwavering in their drive to get justice for the victim whose photo would be in the file.

Stealing one more moment to think of her, he let his gaze leave her, not wanting to draw attention. He took comfort that later she would be in his arms, in his bed, and he would be loving her - they would simply be Elliot and Olivia.

Thank you so much for reading. It's great that there are still lots of EO fans - that we still love EO, shows what awesome characters they are and what a great job Chris did and Mariska still does, playing them. I just love writing these two. :-)

I have had a lot of fun researching theories for Munch too :-) I love Munch!

I always love chatting to fellow fans so drop me a review or a message, or check my profile for other ways I chat.

Thank you for coming with me on this journey :-) And do follow me if you would like to get an alert when I start a new story. I am working on one now which is a challenge, so once it gets some momentum I willl start posting.

:-)