Chapter 15

Episodes featured this chapter 7x18 Venom…and 7x19 Fault

"Move in with me." Elliot's hands roamed up her shirt brushing against the underside of her breast. He started this slow torture fifteen minutes ago and Olivia was writhing beneath him. Over the past months since they had begun dating he was learning to take his time with her but it was no easy feat. He loved how responsive she was to his voice and his touch. Her skin was flushed, her breaths short and his hands cupped her right breast.

"Did you hear me? Move in with me," he whispered in her ear while flicking her nipple. Distracting her while discussing such a serious topic was probably not the best idea but he couldn't help himself.

She moaned, tugging on the waistband of his pants. "Mhmmm."

"Is that a yes?" he chuckled.

His warm mouth lowered to suck on her breast and his hands traveled downwards to the drawstring on her pajama pants.

"Yesss," she hissed.

He released her nipple, his mouth making a popping sound. "Is that a yes to moving in together or to what I was doing?"

Her eyes remained closed trying to regain some of her composure and the ability to form a rational thought. There hadn't been too many nights they spent apart over the last few months except when they needed space after a tough case. Elliot had finally had the talk with Kathy about Olivia staying over while he had the kids for the weekend. So far it had only been three times when this occurred but everyone was adjusting nicely and he was ready to take the next step.

"I will move in with you on one condition," she proposed. "We tell Cragen tomorrow."

Elliot sighed but knew she was right. They had come close over the past month to telling him but every time something came up with a case or one of them got cold feet because they wanted to extend working together as long as possible. They had hoped that they could switch partners, her with Fin and him with Munch. They figured that would be the best case scenario and they worked hard to woo them both over the past few weeks to make sure they were on board with everything. It was no doubt that Fin saw it coming but they knew Munch would give them a hard time for no other reason than his personal enjoyment.

"You drive a hard bargain," he smirked pulling her nipple between his thumb and index finger. She tried to keep her eyes focused on him and not close them in pleasure but she lost the battle as she did so many times before. "Ok you have a deal."

"Good," she agreed. "Now finish what you were doing."

He rose to his knees removing his t-shirt and positioning himself between her thighs. His fingers played with the waistband of her pants and he slid them slowly down her legs revealing her bare core underneath. He gave her a predatory smile of approval.

"Very naughty Detective," he teased about her lack of underwear. She took off her own shirt and lifted her foot to graze across the erection bulging beneath his boxers.

"Shit," he cursed and stopped her foot from any further ministrations, spreading her legs and settling his face at the apex of her thighs. He licked the length of her once and she shuddered beneath him. He smiled to himself and began to really taste her, gripping her legs to hold her in place. She bunched the sheets between her fists, thrashing her head back and forth absorbing the pleasure spreading throughout her body. He had just started and she was already close. Her hips jerked, her toes curled…..and her phone rang.

"Ugh," Elliot groaned in disgust at the offending sound but didn't let up. He continued to lick, suck and nip at her feeling her begin to spasm beneath him. She released against his tongue and grasped her forehead while her heart rate returned to normal. Her voicemail tone kept going off and she reached for the phone to stop it. She figured it wasn't work because Elliot's phone hadn't rung. Whenever one didn't answer, the other would usually get called right away.

She saw the call was from an unknown number and put the phone back down while Elliot peppered kisses along her belly working his way up her torso. "Who is calling this time of night?"

"I don't know but they left a message. I'll check it later," she murmured pulling him up to her mouth. Her tongue had just collided with his when the phone rang again. "Shit."

"Just answer it."

"Benson," she huffed. "Ken?...what's going on?"

Elliot stopped kissing her and tried to listen to the conversation. She sat up and reached in the nightstand pulling out a pen and paper to write down some details.

"Ok, I'll be right there." She stood up and walked to the dresser to pull out some clothes.

"What's going on? Was that Fin's son?"

"Yeah he got arrested. I was his one phone call apparently."

"Why would he call you and not Fin?" he asked confused and stepped out of the bed to put his clothes back on.

"You know they have a complicated history. I'm going to go down there and—"

"Well give me a minute, I'll go with you," he interrupted.

She shook her head. "No let me handle this one by myself. He's scared to death and he doesn't sound like he wants anyone else there. I'll call you and let you know what's going on ok? Get some sleep."

She kissed him quickly on the lips and left. Elliot drifted off to sleep and was woken up the next morning by her phone call telling him to come down to the station to help interview Ken who was found digging up a body in an empty lot. By the time he and Olivia had Ken in interrogation and asked him a few questions he was convinced that Ken was guilty of something.

"That story was too soft, he didn't think it through," he told Cragen, Munch and an angry Fin who accused him of treating his son like a perp off the street.

Munch naturally took his partner's side and for a passing moment Elliot felt guilty again about the conversation they were planning on having with them today.

"So wait not only is my son a liar he's a murder too?" Fin growled.

"I don't know but you're the first to admit you really don't know him."

"And you know yours right?" Fin shot back. "Tell me is your daughter still driving drunk or has she moved on to something stronger?"

Cragen immediately stepped between them but not before Fin's parting shot. "Next thing she'll be swinging off poles."

Munch grabbed Fin and Cragen yelled at Elliot to walk it off. He went to the roof for twenty minutes and came back down to his desk when he was sure the coast was clear.

"You came at Fin pretty hard," Olivia said sitting down at her desk.

"I call 'em like I see 'em. Did you know Ken Randall had a file in the juvenile system?"

"No."

"There's something off with that kid. Either Fin's covering for him or he doesn't know."

"What are the charges?"

"It's sealed. I have to request them. Ken lied to us Olivia. You and I both know that," he told her and she turned her face away trying to hide her annoyance. Sometimes Elliot was just a little insensitive when it came to certain situations and it bothered her.

"Kids lie, even yours whether you live with them full time or not."

She hadn't meant for the comment to insult him but she knew the second it left her mouth that he was angry. He was about to say something when Cragen walked up asking for the status of the case.

They worked everything as normal for the rest of the day and kept the conversation strictly to the case. When it was time to leave for the day and they were walking to the car she wasn't sure if she should ask which apartment they would be sleeping at so she opted for small talk instead. "So I guess we didn't get a chance to tell Cragen today. Maybe we should wait until everything cools down with Fin's son first."

Elliot was silent and brooding, the part of his personality that always led to some type of argument. When they reached the car and he still hadn't responded she decided to open Pandora's box. She was not going to spend the night with him having an attitude especially when he was the one wrong in her opinion.

"What's the problem Elliot?"

He stood in between the open car door and took a deep breath thinking about his words.

"What is it? I'm not going home with you like this," she nudged.

"Why didn't you have my back in this? With Fin?"

She was genuinely stunned by the accusation, her eyes wide and assessing just how serious he was. "I always have your back but I'm not agreeing with you when I think you are wrong. I've never done that and I'm certainly not going to start doing it now just because-," she looked around to make sure no one was around but decided to play it safe anyway. "Because of our situation."

"How was I wrong? I was doing my job."

"This is Fin, Elliot!" she raised her voice. "He deserved better than that in there and so does his kid. Would you want us to treat Kathleen like that?"

He visibly flinched, Fin's words from earlier in the day fresh on his mind. "This isn't about Kathleen or any of my children and that's not the point," he countered weakly.

"Then what is the point?"

He was the one to survey their surroundings this time before continuing. There weren't many people around except a few officers hanging in front of the building. "Get in the car."

They both got in and shut the door. She anxiously tapped her fingers on the door and he braced the steering wheel. He didn't like fighting with Olivia when they were partners but now that there was more at stake he wrestled to make sure he didn't make the same mistakes he did in his marriage.

He loosened his tie to try and relieve some of the pressure on his neck and raging through his mind. He set the grey and blue striped material in the middle of the seat and his hand accidentally brushed against hers. He stroked her hand back and forth and sighed heavily. The contact with her soft skin instantly calmed him and he felt her relax too. He interlocked her fingers with his and laid his head on the back of the seat.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"For what?" she whipped her head around to face him, a mix of confusion and frustration covering her features. "Elliot I don't even know what's wrong. Do you really think I don't have your back?"

"No." He rubbed his eyes, suddenly exhausted. "When you made that comment about kids lying and not knowing things even when they don't live with you full time it just kind of got to me."

She let go of his hand and began to stroke the side of his face. Some of his stubble was beginning to show and was prickly beneath her fingers. The contact was welcoming and becoming so familiar. His eyes closed and he relaxed into her touch. This wasn't the life he chose and sometimes she forgot that. She forgot that despite how happy they were in their relationship, he was married for over twenty years and was living what some considered to be the American dream. He managed the wife, kids and picket fence, the only thing missing was the dog. Now he was living the life of a twenty something, shuffling his clothes back and forth between his apartment and his girlfriend's.

"I'm sorry," she kissed the side of his head. "I didn't mean that in the way it came out I just meant that—"

"I know," he interjected. "I didn't mean to be all sensitive about it, I just worry about them when I don't have them all the time. What Fin said about Kathleen—"

"And Kathleen is doing fine. She's learned her lesson and she's staying straight," she told him. "When you were napping last weekend her and I talked about some things."

"Like what?" he popped his head up.

She smiled and pushed his head back down against the headrest and continued to stroke the side of his face, a simple gesture that she learned relaxed him immediately. "Anyway we talked about some girl stuff that I won't be sharing with you and she mentioned the DUI. She said she hated that she let you and Kathy down but she was going to make it up to you because she wanted to make you proud."

"She said that?" he smiled suddenly looking like a little boy beaming with pride.

"Yes she did. They're all fine El. They really are."

He leaned in grazing his lips against hers. "Thank you."

She pulled back, her eyes heavy and focused on the crisp white crease in his shirt. "El I know this isn't the life you expected."

"No it's not," he picked up her chin. "It's better. It's different, it's not perfect and I never expected it would be but it's better than anything I could've hoped for. I love you Olivia. That hasn't changed and it won't change. Ok?"

She nodded her head, a small smile threatening the corner of her lips. "I love you too." She kissed him tenderly, sucking his top lip between hers and inhaling his scent of faint cologne.

"Can I ask you a question?" he brushed the hair out of her eyes.

"Yep."

"The girl talk you and Kathleen had, it wasn't anything like the girl talk you and Casey have because—"

She slapped him on the shoulder and tried to pull away but he held on to her arm to keep her near his lips.

"You're a jackass," she purred between kisses.

"I know." He then deepened the kiss and she moaned into his mouth.

"Let's go back to your place and pick up where we left off this morning," he suggested.

"I like that idea."

He turned his keys in the ignition and her hands traveled the length of his knee up to his semi erection. She leaned in to kiss him again when they heard three light taps on the window startling them both.

Olivia held her breath while the window slowly rolled down and to her dismay it was probably the second worst person that could've caught them.

"You know the inventor of glass will be glad to know they still operate the way he intended because just like you two can see outside, people can see inside," Munch warned looking over his glasses. "Amazing how that works isn't it?"

Elliot sighed. "Good to know."

"You know if you two really want to continue this secret romance," he used air quotes "that the two of you have going, you may want to do it at I don't know say somewhere different than in the front of the precinct."

Olivia shook her head but in actuality she couldn't be too surprised. Munch had been a detective a lot longer than any of them and if he hadn't figured anything out over the past six months then he needed to retire. "How long have you known?"

"Oh that's a conversation for another day lovebirds. Cragen is not too far behind me so I'll see you guys tomorrow," he tapped the hood of the car twice and walked off.

Elliot scrubbed his hand down his face. "Okay so…."

She turned to meet his eyes as the sedan pulled out onto the street. "As soon as this mess with Fin is over we talk to Cragen."

He picked up her hand and kissed it. "And then you will move in with me?"

"Yes. And then I will move in with you."

The alarm went off at 6am sharp and both Elliot and Olivia groaned simultaneously. She snoozed it and took a deep breath preparing herself to get out of bed. The bedroom was perfectly semi dark, quiet and she snuggled into his warmth. The thought of having to leave his grasp was nothing but pure torture. However, the room itself was a mess.

She brought some of her clothes and belongings over to his apartment over the past few weeks but a lot of it was still in boxes. They opted to move into his place because she didn't want to interrupt his children's sense of normalcy. They had just gotten used to the apartment and she didn't want to have to uproot them again right now. Her lease wasn't up for another two months and with their schedules they would just bring over her items whenever time permitted.

She threw the blanket back and when she made the first move to get out of bed he pulled her back in his arms.

"What are you doing? We have to get up," she snickered.

He buried his face in her hair, the faint scent of vanilla and jasmine tickling his nostrils. "Five more minutes."

"You always say that and it ends up being longer," she acquiesced letting his strong arms hold her close.

"Never."

He scooted closer to her and she felt his erection rubbing against the thin material of her shorts. "You're so warm," he mumbled.

Olivia nestled into him, soothed by the steady breaths he expelled in her ear. Her fingers stroked his that were around her torso and she sighed contently. "I love you Elliot."

He lifted his head up off the pillow with one eye opened squinting at her noticing the difference in her tone. "I love you too. You ok?"

She turned around in his arms to face him her forehead against his. She didn't know how to verbalize what she was feeling but she didn't want him to worry. Her heart was so full and just like Elliot's life had become something he didn't expect, so had hers. She didn't think it was possible to love someone as much as she loved him, to miss someone as much as she missed him during the brief periods of time during the day when he wasn't around. She never believed in soulmates and wasn't sure if she did now but whatever this was with Elliot it was something close to all those things singers sing about, authors write about and people cry about.

She always got just close enough but not too close when it came to giving her heart away but with Elliot it was never a choice. She was his almost from the beginning, even when she wasn't supposed to be. The thought of not being with him made her chest ache and filled her with a pain that she never wanted to endure.

"I'm fine." And as long as he was with her she was.

She held him tight for several minutes and when the snooze from the alarm went off, his phone rang right after.

"Ugggh," he rolled over and picked up his phone. "Stabler….yeah..okay I'll call Liv we will be right there," he hung up and she smiled into his neck. They still hadn't told Cragen because Fin was still dealing with the fallout from Ken and Darius so he was keeping up the façade.

"What is it now?"

"Triple homicide uptown. We gotta be there in thirty minutes which means we won't have time to shower separately," he smirked and jumped out of bed coming around to her side but ran into one of her boxes in the middle of the floor.

"Shit!" he started limping on his right foot.

She giggled and turned on the lamp. "Oh you big baby, let me take a look."

He sat at the edge of the bed while she bent down to check on it. "Does this hurt?" she asked bending his toes.

He hissed but wasn't in a huge amount of pain. "You're fine. It will probably be sore but it isn't broken."

"Well you could kiss it and make it better," he teased and she walked away from him into the bathroom.

"Kiss your toe? You must be out of your mind, now get up we are now down to 26 minutes before we have to be at the crime scene."

Olivia turned on the water and shed her camisole and shorts. When she stepped in the shower she turned around to see a nude Elliot standing in front of her. "When I said kiss it I didn't mean my toe." His mischievous grin covered his face when he got in the shower.

"So what did you mean?" she flirted.

"Allow me to show you."

The warm water pelted their bodies while Elliot showed her exactly what he meant. She took him in her mouth stopping before bringing him to the edge. He balanced her against the shower wall, her legs around his waist and pushed into her slick insides. Their position mirrored the one from the locker room months before but this time was very different. There was no holding back. She screamed in ecstasy with every thrust and held his head against hers as they came down from their orgasms. They would be a little late but it was a small price to pay to enjoy the few minutes they had together before they gave themselves to the cruelty of the outside world.

They managed to arrive to the crime scene just a few minutes late to discover the bodies of Simon and Lila Clifford dead in the kitchen and their sixteen-year-old daughter Amy strangled in her bedroom. The two younger children had been kidnapped and the team worked around the clock trying to find Ryan and Rebecca Clifford before the perp killed them. They canvassed the kid's school and reviewed ATM surveillance footage, whatever they could find to lead them to the murderer. Elliot breathed a sigh of relief when TARU was able to see on the ATM footage that Ryan was at least still alive. Usually when they worked cases like this they rarely found living victims.

"Victor Paul Gitano," Elliot announced after getting off the phone with Fin who was able to pull the credit card receipt from an outdoor supply store.

Olivia pulled up Gitano's rapsheet on the computer and they both zoned out as Cragen went into the specifics of his crimes including raping and torturing children.

"We got the address for his apartment. You guys meet Fin and head over there now," Cragen ordered.

Olivia zoned out during the ride to Gitano's place. She had to search children countless times over the years but now the stakes were different. She actually had the real possibility of becoming a mother herself and her mind wandered to how she could handle this if it happened to her. The world was full of people like Gitano and as irrational as it sounded the overwhelming need she had to protect a child that wasn't even a reality yet overwhelmed her. "We're going to catch this guy Liv. We'll find Ryan and Rebecca," he told her rubbing the side of her arm to comfort her.

"Alive?"

He turned his eyes back to the road as they pulled up to the corner of Gitano's last known address. He was never an eternal optimist but something about their situation changed his view on things lately.

"Yeah. We will find them."

It was easy to get drawn into the negative but with Olivia at his side and the balance of bliss and reality blurring closer together over the past months, he needed to believe that things would turn out differently.

He was wrong.

Author's Note: Thank you guys for continuing to read this story. "Fault" has a lot of moving parts and my goal is not to relive all of it but instead fill in some missing pieces for the point of the story. I know that episode is stressful but I promise to get us all through in the next chapter. Please review and let me know if you guys are still enjoying the story or not.