Apologies for the delay, I was off line for a few days, I only had my phone. I know some of you are waiting for more fluff. This is mainly a drama meant to honor EO's history on SVU, and reunite them 'in character' while explaining the lack of contact with any of the Stablers over the past few years. Still, there will be some fluff of course! What is an EO fic without it? Read on ...

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51. It was always going to happen

They were interrupted by the nurse, Elliot's doctor as well as Greg, and Olivia decided to step out of the room for a while to let them all work. They had gotten used to her presence by now but she needed some time alone to digest all that had happened over the past few hours. She walked down to the hospital restaurant and sat down with a club sandwich and some juice. She watched other people go by, a lot of them wheeling a loved one into or out of the restaurant, and she wondered when she would be allowed to wheel Elliot out of here. She knew it had hardly been a week since the accident, but Elliot's fever was gone and she couldn't imagine the doctors needing to keep him under constant surveillance anymore. The headaches were a little disturbing, but Olivia thought she and Elliot would be able to manage those together. Before his massive headache, the doctor had said Elliot might be going home tomorrow, so she was hopeful that this was still the doc's goal.

She smiled when she thought about how she'd fallen asleep in Elliot's arms. After checking the time, she'd concluded that she had slept for three hours straight! Who would have thought just a week ago that they'd be here like this today? They had reconnected so fast and so deeply, that it sometimes still felt like a dream to her. But Elliot's vulnerability, and his innocence not remembering anything, had disarmed her completely. He'd shown her his heart, and in return, she had opened her heart for him as well. The return of his memories of their complicated history didn't seem to make him retreat or slow down. On the contrary. It felt right to be with him now, so completely different from how they used to be. It would have been wrong then, but it wasn't now.

She wondered if Kathy would really stoop so low, that she'd sabotage Elliot's attempt to reach out to his partner by making a letter disappear. And even if she had back then, she could have reconsidered after her marriage had failed anyway. Surely, Kathy had seen the news about her abduction as well. She would have known Olivia needed her partner and friend then. Olivia shook her head. Part of her hoped that they were wrong about Kathy and that there was another explanation. But her gut told her that Kathy was definitely involved.

Olivia was relieved that Bernie hadn't kept her away from Elliot for personal reasons, and that she was so happy to see that they had found each other again. Her sadness was genuine, just like Kathleen's had been, finding out that there had been no goodbye and that Olivia had thought Elliot had abandoned her. She wondered why Kathleen hadn't mentioned a letter, but then again, each member of the family seemed to have played their own part without knowing what the others were doing at times. The only one who had known exactly what was going on, must have been Kathy. They kept coming back to Kathy and Olivia couldn't wait to confront the woman once and for all.

...

When Olivia returned to his room about an hour later, Elliot was dead on his feet, leaning against the bed before attempting to climb back in with Greg's help. The nurse and doctor had already left. Elliot had asked the doctor if he was still considering releasing him the next day, and the doc had stayed a while to see how mobile he was by now. The man hadn't seemed dissatisfied with his progress, albeit minor, and Elliot had done his best to prove to him that he could manage hobbling a few yards with crutches. He was used to ignoring pain and wouldn't let his cracked ribs slow him down. Greg said that he hoped the cast would be replaced by a smaller, lighter one, so he would be able to move his knee again. His leg had been broken just below the knee and his knee had been immobilized to protect the broken area from movements for the first few days. But Greg thought it might come off soon, and he'd be able to do more different exercises.

Elliot turned around to sit on the bed when Olivia walked up to him and held out his hand. Olivia smiled and he remembered how her smile had always lit up his days. When she moved close to him, ignoring Greg for the moment, he smirked. He couldn't wait to go home with her and have some more alone time with her soon. They had a lot to talk about and he hoped he'd be able to remember more of his life. But even if he didn't, he knew that remembering Olivia would be enough for him. She really was all he needed to know. His stomach clenched when Olivia draped her arms around his neck and moved between his knees. He held her close and his hands traveled down from her back to her perfect ass just when she kissed him softly. Elliot couldn't suppress a soft moan and Olivia smiled against his lips. He could feel his heart rate climbing again. Now that he remembered more of their rocky partnership slash friendship and the strained way they had kept a thin line between them, it felt almost surreal to just be able to hold and kiss her like this. But he was eager to get used to it and explore it some more.

He kissed her back slowly, sensually until she moaned as well and he felt more of his body parts starting to respond to her proximity, her taste and the feeling of her body against his. He could hardly believe this was the same fierce, independent Olivia he had worked with all these years. He moved his mouth close to her ear and whispered,

"I am so glad I told you that I love you right away and that you didn't run."

He felt Olivia shiver slightly and she tightened her hold on him a little.

"Me too," she whispered. "It was easier when you didn't remember."

He chuckled and kissed the skin beneath her ear.

"It was."

"Would you have told me if you'd remembered everything?" Olivia asked.

Elliot lifted his head to look into Olivia's eyes. He could get lost in those big brown eyes, that were looking at him questioningly now, but with a hint of a smile in them too.

"I'm not sure when," he replied truthfully. "But it had to come out some day, right?"

Olivia dropped her gaze to his chest, a smile still on her lips.

"I guess."

"I'm sure of it Liv," he said quietly. "No matter how tense we used to be around each other, and how much we fought, this was always there."

When Olivia looked up at him, he kissed her softly on the lips.

"You know this was always going to happen."

"No. I didn't," she whispered sadly, looking into his eyes. "I never knew it. I thought it was never going to happen. You weren't going to leave your family for me. And I never wanted you to."

Elliot swallowed and nodded, leaning his forehead against hers.

"I know. You were always a bigger person than me."

Olivia chuckled, saying she wasn't so sure.

"Yes you were," he repeated. "You never wanted me to leave my family for you, but I did want to."

"No, you didn't. Not really."

"Why do you say that?"

"If you did, you wouldn't have gotten Kathy pregnant again."

...

How about we talk about that some more? And are they even aware that Greg is still there?