Part II

Prologue.

After a long grueling family meeting with lawyers and half the NYPD it was unanimous that they would bury Elliot next to Olivia and near Kathy. A decision none of them ever thought they'd need to make or think about when they celebrated this "long time coming" marriage less than a year ago.

The air was crisp, the sun was bright.

Lined up, dressed in black, the Stablers and Noah, climbed into the two limos behind the matching hearses.

Elizabeth, Maureen, their husbands, and Maureen's two boys were the first to pull out of the Manhattan Funeral home. Followed up by a second Limo where Noah, Eli, Bernie, and Kathleen sat in silence as Bernie uncomfortably sobbed and jabbered on about how wonderful her son was and how terrible the Lord was for taking him before her.

Thousands of NYPD officers followed the two hearse and the procession down Madison Avenue and then 110th St to Saint Anne's Catholic Church. The funerals made world wide news.

Every channel was focused on them. Noah's somber face was caught in a close up shot as he watched the white coffin slowly descend into the ground at the same time as the matching black coffin next to it. Then Noah, and each of the adult Stabler children along with Bernie and a line of their closest friends tossed roses into the ground behind them. Real tears soaked their cheeks and Kleenex, as this was a nightmare come to life.

Kathleen held Noah tightly and walked him back to their spot next to the Priest.

The rifle squad then positioned themselves for a final ceremony of arms and 14 blanks were fired followed by a trumpeter who played Taps and then a moment of silence.

Nobody, not even Anderson Cooper, would have questioned the validity of any of it.

"An NYPD Romeo and Juliet story," reported Anderson Cooper. "Last week newly wed, Detective Elliot Stabler and Captain Olivia Benson, decorated officers, and heroes, both served the NYPD for over 30 years, passed away hours apart from one another. Their story is both tragic, heart wrenching, and heroic. The two met in 1999 and were partners for 12 years with NYPD's elite squad known as the special victims unit. Later, Elliot Stabler moved to Organized Crime. Both kept our beloved city of New York safe from the worst of criminals. Sources say they were New Yorks most well known partners in crime, and that they had a love for each other that withstood the test of time. Married 3 months ago, but they were true soulmates. On Tuesday evening Elliot Stabler died from a head wound injury he acquired on September 5th during a shooting in Midtown. Captain Olivia Benson, who I'm understanding was working on his case, was targeted last night when Lawyer Rafeal Barba brought a bomb into the 42nd precinct. Barba is believed to be the perp for both homicides. Elliot leaves behind 5 children, 2 grandchildren, and a mother. Olivia Benson leaves behind her 12 year old son. We pray for the people they leave behind and can only hope they are with each other somewhere, looking down on us all."

"Ah shut up, Anderson," Elliot groaned from a folding chair in a windowless holding room that witness protection had them waiting in.

"For the love of god, turn it off," Olivia angrily paced around the tiny room. "Noah's going to be in therapy forever after this."

Elliot rubbed at his eyes, and tapped on the folding chair next to him. "Sweetheart, you gotta sit. You're stressing me out. My headache is back."

"I can't," she said as she stretched on the wall. "I feel like a rat in a cage."

"You are," he grabbed her hand as she walked past him and pulled her to the chair, where they both sat slumped back staring at a poster of Vincent Van Gogh's Wheat Field. A small square picture that was shotily tapped to the ugly blue cement wall. "Hey, the good news is that Anderson Cooper will never be able to report on our real deaths. We can go quietly in the night, and the only speech we have to worry about is Sonny's."

Olivia half laughed. "The bad news is that we just traumatized our kids forever, and this crazy idea might not even work."

"It will," he said confidently. "And the kids know we're safe. They'll be fine. I am worried this could kill my mother."

"You should have told her."

"My mother is a walking timebomb. She cannot handle keeping a secret like this. You think they could have at least framed that shitty poster," he said looking at the scotch tape over top of the swirling wheat field.

"Yes, because the decor in here was so well thought out," Olivia grumbled. "They pulled that from a calendar. What I'd like to know is, how many people had to lose their minds in here, before someone painted the walls blue and slapped a calendar Van Gogh on the wall." She stood up again. "Hard tax dollars at work. Do we trust that these people can place us safely?"

"The dead have no choice," Elliot closed his eyes. "Just picture the porch swing and hope for the best."

The door opened and they both jumped.

"We're ready for you," Bell quickly said from the door in her funeral attire.

Chapter 12 The house of Hostas

The witness protection house wasn't their vintage dream house in the forest. It was just big enough for 4 people. They were surrounded by other small cracker jack box houses that looked exactly like theirs, chain link fences, senior citizens on motor scooters, dog and kid noise filled the streets, and instead of rose gardens, evergreen, and porch swings, the entire neighborhood had the same ratio of ugly green hosta plants and yard gnomes lining the tiny front porches that had zero space for a porch swing.

Elliot, Olivia, a pregnant Kathleen, and Noah sat in the old minivan for a solid 10 minutes taking it all in.

"How long do we have to live here," Kathleen asked.

Noah sighed heavily with disappointment.

"Long enough to pull all of those ugly plants out of the ground, and kill a few bad guys," Olivia sniped judgmentally from the driver's seat.

Elliot sat in the passenger seat of the minivan eating Red Twist liquorice. " Welcome to Pennsylvania. You got something against hostas," Elliot asked half heartedly as he crinkled the liquorice bag closed.

Olivia opened the car door and got out. "They remind me of my mother's house."

Elliot looked back at Kathleen and Noah and gave them a silly dad face. "Death to hostas. Noah, why don't you go pick your room. That could be fun."

He begrudgingly opened the sliding door. "Fine."

Olivia immediately started cleaning like she'd never cleaned before. And really Elliot was truly questioning if she had ever cleaned before.

"Hey, before you go through an entire roll of paper towels on that one toilet, we do have sponges and a bucket somewhere," he said as he limped into the master bedroom's bathroom.

"Why would you dirty a sponge on a toilet," she questioned. "This is good. You shouldn't be standing on that leg."

"I'm fine," he said as he limped back into the hallway.

She rolled her eyes and then responded with sarcasm. "Love you, sweety."

"Love you, sugar," he mimicked her sarcasm, and then gave Kathleen a frazzled look. "Can you find the sponges and a bucket?"

Kathleen laughed. "You guys…. was that a fight! Jesus Christ! My childhood was so fucked."

"Hey, language," Elliot yelled.

"Sorry, what," Olivia yelled from the bathroom.

"Nothing," Kathleen replied.

Elliot set up his gauze and medication on the sink next to Olivia who was still bent over the toilet scrubbing every inch of it and the floor in yellow gloves.

"Can you help me," he asked as he unwrapped his head wound.

"Oh, you're gonna do that now," She said standing and pulling off the rubber gloves.

"It's 3 hours past due," he said, confused by her question.

"Is it?"

"Yeah."

She washed her hands well and started going through all the steps that the nurse trained her before they left the medical facility. "You can't keep missing these cleanings. There's already green coloring on this wound."

"Honey, it was a little hard sticking to a schedule today. Can you just get in there and clean it, please?"

He leaned his head down and watched her chest peak out of the thin gray v-neck t-shirt she wore. Her cleavage teased him as she pulled the bandage off his bald head.

"You're so pretty."

"Stop," she slapped his arm. "Turn, please."

"What," he smiled and turned as she cleaned around the stitches. "You are, and so what if I think so."

"Mmmhhhmm," she responded vaguely, ignoring his advances.

"Ow, she's all business."

She pulled him back around to face him.

Kathleen's voice could be heard in the other room. "Found the bluetooth speakers."

Elliot placed his hands on her hips as she finished wrapping the gauze around his head. She then took the needle on the counter and filled it with the inflammation medication as he leaned his head on her shoulder, and the Foo Fighter's song Dear Lover sounded from the living room.

"Dear lover

Do you remember?

The sound of your laughter and demise

And that was all

I need to fall in love"

"Mmm," Elliot moaned as his fingers slid a little bit up the back of her shirt onto her warm skin. "It's our song."

She flicked the needle and turned to face him, still not allowing him to pull her into his lovey dovey mood. "Which arm do you want this in?"

He pulled his hands away from her body, begrudgingly and lifted his shirt off. His muscles were still incredible even after a month and a half of bed rest.

She held back an annoyed laugh. "Come on, not now," she whispered. "Put your shirt back on."

He peaked down the empty hall and could see that Kathleen was still in the kitchen cleaning and Noah was probably playing video games. He closed the bathroom door. "It's fine," he whispered. "They can't hear anything. Just kiss me a little bit."

She pursed her lips together and jabbed the needle into his arm.

"Ah, damn," he jolted and rubbed the side of his arm, as she tossed the needle.

He then pulled her back towards his body and leaned his face in for a kiss. "Thanks, for taking care of me."

"Mmmhmmm, you're welcome," she said without retaliating with a kiss.

"Can I kiss you," he sweetly asked as he rubbed her lower back.

She gave the look of death.

"I know, this has been hard, and the kids are in the next room, and we still have so much to do, but I just miss us being like this, so much."

She blinked at him softly this time, and inevitably gave in by pulling his lips into hers. The Foo Fighters song blared in the background.

"Did you find some happiness with me?

'Cause now I know the way true love should be"

It had been months since they had gotten a spare moment to themselves without mountains of stress weighing them down. Olivia had almost forgotten what it was like to feel him ready to take her or to even think about having a quick go before Noah got home from school. Those were simple joys they had taken advantage of once they had finally taken that leap of faith with each other, and even in the midst of all this chaos, it was hard to hold back something she truly longed for underneath it all.

The magnitude of his tongue spilling into her mouth and the sweet sound of the song that was playing when they fell for each now playing in the shitty kitchen they were trying to play house in, brought out wild thoughts for the both of them. Elliot immediately grew hard, and Olivia let him touch anything he needed to as they moved with the slow rock music.

He unbuttoned her jeans and they both awkwardly slipped their pants off. Elliot locked the door and then buried his face into her neck. His hand slipped a finger and then two inside of her as he kissed her soft neck line. She held back a moan and moved her hips with his, as they leaned against the ugly wallpapered bathroom wall. He was more than ready to feel her around him, and he turned her to face the wall. "Is this okay, I don't think I can hold us up," he desperately whispered, knowing that she wasn't always okay with being bent over.

"Yes," she whispered under fast, quick breaths. "Yes, it's good. It's...yes, now. Yes."

He bend her slightly and slid in easily. They both writhed against each other and the wall. He watched her bare breasts graze his hand and then he smashed his face against her hair as he left himself take every inch of her he could. He wouldn't last long, and she always took longer, so he whispered into her ear.

"Sometimes I wish we could go back in time to the days when our desks were facing each other and you would nibble on that pencil. Mmmm that drove me crazy. I just wanted your lips so all over me."

"Yes," she whispered with amusement. "What else?"

"Or you would tease me with those tight sweaters. Jesus, you didn't even know you were teasing me. You were just stretching or bending over to pick something up, and it took everything in me not to have dirty thoughts about you."

She moaned. "Tell me the dirty thoughts," she went along with it.

He could have come right then, but she was so close. He bit his lip and grabbed her clit from behind with one hand.

"Ah," she almost cried out with ecstasy.

"I would have taken you to the back room and let you interrogate me while I was cuffed. Let you tell me I was so bad, and then after you begged me for it, I would have bent you over that metal table and - eh god," was all he could get out between the grit of his teeth.

She rubbed against his hand and tensed up around him.

They both released.

The song had changed to "Show me how."

Breathlessly they turned to face each other smiling, relieved, and pantless.

There was a knock on the door.

They both reacted simultaneously. "Coming!" "Almost done!"

"I found the sponges," Kathleen said from behind the door as she dropped them and kept walking as she threw them a warning. "Noah's bringing in boxes," she yelled. "To correct rooms."

They laughed at each other and Olivia found herself remembering their first night with the Foo Fighters.

"For a couple of corpses trapped in a house of hostas, you sure know how to bring me back to life," she said as she zipped her jeans and kissed him on the cheek.

AN: Hope that gets you all through the week EO friends!