Here's another chapter! So happy people like it. Reveiws are welcome! Happy reading. :)

Dick Wolf owns everything...

A Slow Burn

Elliot felt light hitting his closed eyes. He took a deep breath in and opened them. What time was it he wondered? He was laying on his side and started to stretch his body a little. He felt… good. Really good. Better than he had in a very long time.

Just as he was realizing this, he felt Olivia's arm slide over his waist and she moved closer, pushing her body up against his from behind. His heart skipped in his chest a little. The memory of last night came flooding into his mind. Visions of Olivia, naked and screaming his name, her straddling him and coming on top of him were playing in his head. But the one that made top billing was the memory of her telling him she loved him, and she meant it.

His hand interlocked with hers for a moment before he rolled over to face her. Her eyes were still closed, and she was making little noises as she moved and stretched her body. He couldn't help the smile forming on his face. Every time he looked at her, she was more beautiful than the last time. Her eyes finally opened, and she smiled.

"Good morning beautiful." he said brushing her hair out of her face.

"Good morning." she said. He pulled her into him tangling his legs with hers as he kissed her. He was never going to get enough of this. Of her. Only her and always her. He could feel himself starting to become aroused. He felt her smile as they kissed, knowing she could feel it too. He groaned as he ended their kiss. He took a minute to just look in her eyes.

"What is it El?" she asked.

"I was just thinking about how many times I dreamed of saying that to you." he said.

"Saying what? Good morning?" she asked, her hand touching his face. He must have said a million good mornings to her. Why was this one different?

"Saying good morning to the love of my life, in my bed, after our first night together."

She bit her bottom lip and blushed, her eyes dropping to his lips. He was making her melt again. She knew being with Elliot was going to be intense and consuming, but every time he said things like that to her, she felt like a teenager again. He had always managed to make her feel this way, but it was never something she let him see. She would just bottle it up, hide it away, or when she couldn't… she'd run away. The feeling of being able to let him see it now was a freedom she had never known.

Here she was laying in his bed, his arms and legs tangled with hers looking at her like he had always looked at her. Except this time his whole body, his face, his mind… they were all showing it to her. Unlike in the past only his eyes showed it, and then he'd shut it down, shut himself down. He always had a way of making her feel like she was the only person he ever let see the real him, even for just a second. She knew there were things he never talked to Kathy about. Even though there were things he didn't want to talk to her about, he almost always ended up telling her over late nights at work, or on a stake out.

But this Elliot… This sweet and sentimental Elliot was someone she only saw glimpses of. And now he was more than willing to show her. It was making her fall in love with him even more than she thought was possible.

She looked back up at him. Nothing but love in his eyes.

"Say it again…" she whispered.

"I'll say it as many times as you want… I'll say it to you for the rest of my life…" he said his voice low and thick with emotion. Her heartbeat quickened at what that last statement meant.

"Good morning beautiful…"

Her smile widened.

"Good morning beautiful…" he said, sliding his hands down her back. She took a sharp breath in.

"Good morning beautiful…" he said a bigger smile spreading across his face.

She couldn't take it anymore. She needed to kiss him more than she needed anything… ever. Her lips met his as he rolled them, so he was cradled between her legs, his growing erection pushing into her hip.

Her hands went to his face smoothing over his jaw. His lips left hers as he opened his eyes to look at her. He sighed.

"Sex looks good on you…" he said smirking.

"Hmmm… you look good on me…" she said her voice low and full of want.

"I can't argue with that…" he said kissing down her neck. He made his way across her collar bone to the other side of her neck, and then back up to the mark he left. She felt him smile as he gently kissed the bruise he had made there.

"Hmmm…" she moaned, then said, "We're gonna have to talk about that Stabler…" and she slid her hands under his arms, moving them down to his lower back, pulling him closer to her.

He laughed in her ear, kissing the side of her face. "I know I shouldn't have, but I'm not gonna lie…" he said bringing his face back to hers, looking at her like he wanted to eat her alive.

"Knowing your gonna be walking around Manhattan with this on your neck… knowing I'm responsible for it…" he took a big breath, and she felt the goosebumps spread across his skin.

He didn't need to tell her how arousing it was because she secretly felt that way too. As much as she wanted to yell at him, she was just as turned on by it. Hopefully no one else would see it, she would just have to wear her hair down for a while.

"You're an ass…" she said laughing at him. He laughed with her as he scooped her up and moved them, so they were sitting up, placing her in his lap, wrapping her legs around him. His eyes stilled as their laughter slowed, a sudden rush of deep emotion washed over him, and onto her. His eyes moved down her face slowly stopping at her lips and moving lower to where her breasts were up against his chest.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him slowly. He lifted her over him, and they both moaned as she slid down, taking all of him in. His strong muscular arms wrapped themselves around her, one sliding low onto her ass and the other up her back to her shoulder, pulling her as close to him as he could get her. He slowly rocked into her, taking his time. He wanted to go slow. He wanted to see her, all of her in the light of the morning. He wanted to memorize her face as he made her come. He wanted her to know it wasn't just pure lust and attraction that caused him to want her so much. He wanted to make love to her. It was gentle and soft and tender… a slow burn, until they went up in flames together.

EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

It was still early as they both laid in his bed, embraced by the afterglow. Elliot was tracing an infinity symbol into her hip again as her fingers trailed up and down his forearm.

"Hey…" she said. "What did you say to Fin in the receiving line?"

"Huh?" he said, too distracted by her in his arms, distracted by the softness of her skin.

"When we were in the receiving line at Fin's wedding… You leaned in and said something to Fin. I was just wondering what it was."

He smiled remembering what she was talking about.

"Ah… I told him… I told him I finally did it." he said, knowing she wasn't going to leave it at that.

"Did what?" she asked looking confused. She turned herself so she could see his face a little better.

"That I finally asked you to go to the wedding with me. We met up a few weeks ago. He hand delivered my invitation for obvious reasons, and he told me you only RSVPed for one. And when I looked at him, he told me I should ask you to go with me. He knew I wanted to, and just gave me a little push I guess." he said laughing at the last statement a little. He looked at her and could tell she was a little amused, and maybe annoyed the tiniest bit.

"So, you're telling me Fin is who I should thank for last night finally happening?"

He laughed loudly. "Ah… well, I suppose, but maybe we don't tell him that. We'd never hear the end of it."

She laughed and shook her head in agreement.

All of a sudden, they both stilled as his stomach growled, loud. They both let out another laugh.

"I think you need breakfast." she said.

"I'd starve if it meant having sex with you." he said gripping her hip.

"Listen, you're moody when you're hungry. I can't imagine how good you'd be in bed after not eating for a while." she said sarcastically.

He laughed at her, knowing she was absolutely right about that.

"Plus, you need to keep up your strength…" she said her eyes looking up at him seductively. "If I have my way, neither one of us will be getting a whole lot of sleep anymore."

She moved her hand down to his hand, bringing it to her lips, kissing his fingertips, and opening her mouth so her tongue slid across his index before her lips wrapped around the tip, and sucked just a little bit before intertwining them with hers.

Oh my God. His whole body reacted. Again, he didn't think she could be more beautiful or sexy and yet, here she was proving him wrong. He decided he would be fine with her proving him wrong the rest of his life if it meant more of this with her.

She laughed at his obvious response to her actions, and she kissed his lips and sat up untangling herself from the sheets.

"Come on El, let's get something to eat. Do you even have anything?"

He watched her stand up, taking her in, her beautiful body that he now knew every single inch of. That golden soft skin of hers, the way she held herself, every crevice, every curve of her devastatingly stunning figure. And that was just her physical beauty. What was on the inside, her sharp wit, her intelligence, her compassion for victims, her heart, her soul, her pain, her scars… that is what he fell in love with. And he was damn lucky the outside matched the inside.

She found his shirt she had put on earlier and slipped it on. She turned buttoning up a few of the buttons and he was still just laying there on his elbow watching her.

She smiled at him softly. "What El?"

He moved over to where she was standing, swinging his feet down to the ground and pulled her in between his legs. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her to him, his head on her chest. He hugged her, breathing her in as her arms went around him.

"El… you ok?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper, sensing his need for her.

He looked up at her. "In case I ever forget to tell you… thank you…" he said, pausing. "Thank you for being… you. Thank you for loving me… all of me… the good and the not so good. I don't deserve you after everything I've put you through, and yet here we are."

He reached up and moved a lock of hair from her face. The emotion was overwhelming her, and she needed to relieve it. She brought her right hand to his face, looking deep in those bright blue eyes.

"You're just lucky I guess." she said smiling down at him.

"The luckiest…"

Just then his stomach growled again, causing them to laugh once more, and it eased the heightened emotion they were both feeling.

"Come on Romeo… let's get you something to eat." she said, and she kissed him, and started walking out into the living room.

He slipped on some black briefs and followed her. She was already getting out eggs and bacon from the fridge, and he went over to the coffee maker to start it. There was something so familiar about this. Her getting food for them started, him getting the coffee. Like they had done this before, except they hadn't. Sure, they ordered take out, or went out to eat and drank copious amounts of coffee and tea together, but never in a "home" like setting, and yet, it was like they had done this a million times. The way they just slipped into it like it was natural, normal, made his heart soar. It was clear in those ten years apart she never stopped being a part of him. And now she was all of him.

He couldn't stop touching her every chance he got as they worked in the kitchen together. It was filled with an easy silence, their soundless communication, perfect synchronicity never eroded by time apart. She touched the pictures on the fridge as she passed them, knowing he was watching her.

They sat across from each other at his table once everything was done and started eating. She was famished. He had given her quite a workout last night and this morning. She smiled at the visions in her head. Her mind and body ached from him, and for him.

He reached across the table and interlocked his fingers with hers as he kept eating. He just couldn't not be touching her. They had so much time to make up for. She started looking around his apartment as they ate. Seeing things she didn't see last night when they got here, and again when she woke up in need of water.

"This place looks… different than it did when I was here last. Did you do all this?" she asked.

He laughed. Ok, he thought. Let's see how she reacts to this.

"Well… no. I can't take all the credit. Kathleen helped. A lot." he said eyeing her.

"Oh…" she said, sounding a little surprised, and a touch curious.

"Yea, we went shopping yesterday morning and she helped me get things ready."

"Ready?" she said, her eyebrow raising.

He half smiled, here we go he thought. "Ready for the possibility of… this." he said motioning between the two of them.

"You told Kathleen…" she paused, swallowing hard, her eyes widening. "You told Kathleen about us?"

"Ok, hang on, don't freak out. I told her it was part of my therapy, you know to help me move on. Making this space for myself."

She looked shocked. "Therapy?" she asked.

He took a breath. "Yea… I told you I heard you Liv. And I decided I needed to talk to someone. There was so much going on, and you were right. I was having a hard time. Not dealing with anything, but I knew I wanted you in my life. I needed you. I've always needed you Liv, and I knew I had to grieve to be able to be the man you deserve. My therapist helped me realized that it was ok to feel this way, to keep living, to keep moving forward. It doesn't mean I don't love Kathy. But I know it's ok to love you. To feel this way. To want you. To be in love with you. I wasn't ready before Fin's wedding but asking you to go with me was my timeline to… well… finding happiness. I was prepared to be in your life in whatever capacity you would let me."

He took another deep breath, looking in her eyes. "And then you said yes, and everything fell into what I know is the right place. So, once you decided to go on a date with me, if we did end up here, I didn't want to bring you back to an empty apartment filled with remnants of my dark past down a rabbit hole. I wanted to show you I was ready. Ready for you, for us, for a future together…" he paused seeing her sharp intake of breath at that last statement adding, "Whatever that future may be."

She tightened her grip on his hand, reassuring him she too wanted a future with him, whatever that future maybe, and took a deep breath, trying to let everything sink in.

"And Kathleen?" she said after a moment of thought.

"Well, she's more perceptive than I thought. As she was leaving, she made the comment that you would love what we did to this place, for you, and that I shouldn't take all the credit."

She laughed, knowing that comment was true Stabler form, and sighed, feeling a slight bit of relief that one of his kids knew. She always felt close with Kathleen especially after her incidents and becoming aware of her bipolar disorder. If Kathleen was on board, maybe it wouldn't be so hard to get the other Stabler children to come around. But they would cross that bridge when they came to it, she thought.

He saw her settle back into her chair, knowing she had heard everything he said, and was accepting it. She pushed a few little remnants of egg around on her plate before she lowered her fork. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Would you like to come with me to pick up Noah this afternoon? You two haven't formally met yet. I think it's time you did." She said, her thumb rubbing his hand.

His eyes lit up. His heart swelled. A full grin came across his face.

"I'd love that…" he said.