Thank you all for the wonderful comments on my first fanfic! You guys are awesome! Now here's Chapter 2. Enjoy!

Elliot laid on the ground, his head spinning, body searing with pain, and gasping for breath. His ears buzzed as he stared in anguish at his home being consumed by a raging fire. All he could think about was his family trapped inside. How frightened they must be. He had to save them. Somehow. Someway. He rolled over and tried to stand up, but the excruciating pain shot through his entire body, causing him to cry out.

His neighbor, Ruth McAllister, came running out of her home to help.

"Elliot!" she called his name as she knelt down beside him. "Can you hear me? Elliot! Help is on the way!"

"No...," he cried. "My family... Gotta...save them!"

"Elliot?" Her voice was different. It didn't sound like Mrs. McAllister. Yet it sounded it very familiar.

"Mmmm..." Elliot moaned. "Noooo..."

"Elliot?" the voice called again, softly. "El?"

"Is he waking up?" asked another familiar voice in a hushed tone.

"I think so," replied the first voice.

Elliot opened his eyes to find himself sitting in a hospital bed, machines attached to his arms and chest. Olivia sat in a chair next to him, holding his hand. Fin stood next to her.

"Hey man," said Fin. "How ya feeling?"

"Like shit," Elliot moaned. He inhaled deeply, which made his chest hurt. He tried to sit up, but the pain vibrated throughout his entire body, causing him to cry out.

"Easy, El," spoke Liv, softly, helping him lay back down. "The doctor said you've got a few broken ribs and some cuts and bruises, but you'll make a full recovery. You're lucky. You could've been killed."

Somehow, Elliot felt he was anything but lucky at the moment. Olivia took a wet cloth out of the bowl on the stand next to Elliot's and squeezed out some of the water. She then gently wiped the perspiration off of Elliot's face. Elliot closed his eyes, the coolness of the cloth felt good against his warm skin. He also noticed her other hand was still holding his.

"You were moaning and sweating in your sleep," she told him. "You were dreaming of the fire, weren't you?"

He nodded. "I tried to save them. But...I couldn't... Liv, ….I need to know. Where are they? Did they...? Are they...?"

It hurt to much to ask, but he had to know. Where was his family? Did they make it of the house? Somehow Olivia, knew what he was trying to ask. She and Fin exchanged looks, but didn't say a word. Fin, then, turned to leave.

"I'm gonna get some coffee," he said quietly. "Liv, you want some?"

"Sure," she answered. Once she was sure Fin had gone, Olivia turned to Elliot. She took a deep breath.

"El," she began, softly and as gently as possible, still holding his hand. "I'm so, so sorry. But they...didn't make it. They're...gone."

"No!" Elliot sobbed. "Noooo! Oh God! Why?"

"I don't know," she replied, cradling his head in her arms as he wept. "But we will find out. And we will find who did this and get justice for your family. Don't you worry."

Olivia wrapped her arms around Elliot and held him close. And she too, shed some tears for him and his family.

Location: SVU Squad Room. One week later.

Olivia sat at her desk, staring blankly at her computer screen. Their recent case had finally been solved. CSU got a match to the fingerprints. Then SVU followed the perp and caught him getting ready to abduct his sixth victim. Their latest case was the Stabler family fire. Even though it wasn't exactly a sex crime, Cragen fought hard to get this case assigned to SVU. If anyone was to catch this perp, it would be his team. Olivia was supposed to be hunting down leads with Fin and Munch, but she couldn't stop thinking about Elliot. The Stablers' funeral was three days ago, and Elliot was as distant as ever. Except for the hospital, he hadn't shed a single tear. He stared off into the distance during a beautiful eulogy delivered by Cragen. Olivia could see so much anger, and sadness, and guilt behind his eyes. She knew it all too well. For she had felt the same way when her mother had passed away. Olivia knew she had to get Elliot to open up before the pain ate him alive and he did something he would later seriously regret.

"You okay, Liv?" Munch asked.

"Huh?" Olivia looked around a little flustered. "Yea. I'm fine."

"How's Elliot?" he asked, reading her expressions. He sat down next to her. He knew how close she and Elliot are, and knew she was more worried about him than the rest of the unit.

"You were at the funeral too," she answered. "You saw him."

"I know," he said. "But I haven't seen or heard from Elliot since. Have you?"

"No," she said, clearing off her desk. "He's not answering his phone. Listen, would you mind if I left a little early?

"Go ahead," he responded. "Fin and I can take it from here."

"Thanks." said Olivia, as she threw on her jacket and left the precinct.

Munch got up and went back to his own desk across from Fin's desk. Fin was talking on his phone. Munch waited till he hung to speak.

"That was CSU," reported Fin. "The explosion was caused by a bomb in the basement. They're running the bomb signature now. Perp must've snuck in when no one was home, the snuck out the basement window and hopped the fence. There were footprints leading away from the window and fingerprints on the fence. CSU said there were no hits on the fingerprints. Perp must not be in the system."

"Or he just hasn't gotten caught," Munch added. He sighed and turned to his computer to search for leads. The squad room just didn't feel the same anymore. Both he and Fin knew that it would not feel the same until they got justice for Elliot's family.

"You worried about Elliot too?" asked Fin.

"Yea," replied Munch. "Poor guy must be in agony."

"I know," Fin said. "I can't imagine what he's going through."

"At least he has Liv to help him," Munch said, reassuringly. "And he has us."

Munch suddenly had a thought and looked up from his computer.

"You said there were footprints in the backyard?"

"Yea?"

"He couldn't have very far on foot," Munch began. "He had to have had a car. Also, you'd think he'd wanna watch his handy work. Did any witnesses report seeing anyone suspicious driving around or parked nearby?"

"Nah," Fin answered. "Why don't we re-interview them and find out."

Location: Elliot's apartment.

Elliot sat alone in the living room of the apartment his colleagues helped him to obtain. His physically wounds were healing. His emotional wounds, however, would need more time. He had buried his family three days earlier. He stared into nothingness, the deafening silence was almost too much to bear. He longed to be back home in Queens, listening to the sounds of his wife and kids running through the house. Kathy cooking and cleaning, and tending to Eli while he babbled away. Dickie playing ball in the backyard. Kathleen and Lizzie getting into petty arguments. And Maureen, his first born. Why didn't he get there sooner? Why did he always let his work take first priority over his family. He replayed in his mind Lizzie's last words.

"Bye Daddy! Love you!"

"Love you too, Lizzie," Elliot said aloud to the empty apartment. "I love you all. So much."

If only he knew those would be the last words, the last moments with his family. His mind flashed back to the funeral. Six caskets laid before him, Cragen delivering a beautiful eulogy, yet Elliot was still too stunned, too grief-stricken to hear a word. Olivia stood next to him, her hand on his shoulder, giving him a small sense of comfort. His mother was seated on the other side of him, holding his hand, her face tearstained and distraught.

Elliot was so lost in the memories that he almost hear the door bell ring. He opened it to find Olivia standing there.

"Hey," she said, sympathetically. "How are you doing?"

"Crappy," he couldn't lie to her. He led her to the living room. "Look, you don't have to babysit me. I'm sure you've got a shitload cases-"

"Stop that!" she interrupted him. "I'm here as your friend, not a babysitter. And besides, Fin and Munch are taking care of things at the squad room."

"I'm sorry," he apologized and sat down on the couch. "I'm just... I can't..."

"I know," Olivia sat down next to Elliot and put her around him. She and Elliot always had a way of knowing what the other was thinking and feeling. "Talk to me El. You can't keep it inside of you. Don't let it eat you up."

He knew she was right. If he was ever gonna get his life back on track so he could find the son of a bitch who murdered his family, he needed to talk. And Olivia was the only person he could really talk to.

"I don't know if I can do this," Elliot began. "How am I supposed to live without them? If only I had gotten there sooner. Maybe they'd still be alive. Why didn't I try harder to save them?"

"It's not your fault," she comforted him. "There was nothing you could've done. You can't keep blaming yourself."

Elliot stood up and paced back and forth across the living room. Olivia watched as his emotions went from grief-stricken and guilt-ridden to vengeful and infuriated.

"I want to find that motherfucker!" Elliot roared angrily. "And I want to kill him!"

Elliot pounded the walls with his fists and began to weep. Olivia came up behind him and put one hand on his shoulder. He flinched at first. But when he realized it was her just trying to comfort him, he turned around and cried on her shoulder.

"I miss them all so much!" he sobbed.

"I know," Olivia whispered, stroking his hair ever so gently. "And it's okay. You'll get through this. It's gonna take some time, but you can do this. I know you can. And I'm here for you. That is, if you want me here."

Elliot lifted his head to look at Olivia. As he looked into her eyes, he realized she was all he had left. The only good thing he had left. He wanted to hold her and never let it go, for fear of losing her. But most of all, he wanted to feel good again. To feel something more than the pain and the agony that was eating him alive. He leaned in and gently kissed Olivia. Her soft lips tasted sweet like honey.

Olivia wrapped her arms around him as she kissed him back. It had been way too long since Olivia felt anything like this. She wanted to feel something more than the misery and loneliness stabbing away at her heart. She wanted to feel alive again.

"Wait," Olivia said, breathlessly, suddenly pulling away. "Elliot, should we really be doing this?" What was she doing? He had just lost his family. It's too soon for him. She couldn't do this. Could she? Should she?

Neither of them could take their eyes away from each other.

"I don't know," he replied, just as breathless.

What do you guys think? Should they? Or shouldn't they? Stay tuned for Chapter 3. Coming soon!