"Why didn't you tell me?" Elliot asked. She looked up at him with those big brown eyes.

Olivia answered him with some excuse about them being partners for seven years and they needed a change. It was bullshit and he knew it. From the look on her face she knew it too and looked at the floor. He continued to look at her and his expression softened. He knew as well as she did the real reason she left.

"I'm sorry, I should've talked to you. It's just... it was just too complicated." She pressed her perfectly glossed lips together as if she was trying to hold back tears. He too felt emotional and swallowed hard.

"Cragen's asked me to come back for a while until he sorts another replacement. Things obviously aren't working out with your new partner so.." she broke off as he turned away nodding.

"OK, well I guess you should be prepared to come back for the foreseeable, seeing as I'm so hard to work with" he smiled, then turned to walk away. "Thanks for dropping by." Her heart sank.

"Elliot please don't be like that" she shook her head and he laughed in a kind of sarcastic way.

"Well, how do you expect me to be Liv? You left without a word and we're supposed to what? Pretend like everything's normal?"

"I don't know what normal is for us anymore" she muttered, and walked toward the bench in the middle of the room. Elliot sat beside her and sighed. It was like deja vu to the conversation they'd had a few weeks ago at the hospital after their stand off with Gitano. He was the one who said they couldn't be partners anymore if they put each other before the job. She obviously knew that she would always put him first and that's why she left. He realised just now that she had been the brave one to take the leap and he felt like a selfish son of a bitch for putting her in that position in the first place.

"I want you to come back. Permanently." he said. "I'll speak to Cragen about moving me out. I know how much you love SVU Liv, and I don't think its fair that you be the one to go."

She looked up at him; "but you do too, I know how much you care about getting justice for victims."

"Not as much as I care about you" he said it without even thinking about it. She looked at him surprised. Of course he'd always had her back and showed that he cared about her in a friendship sort of way but he'd never actually said it. And this came out in a way with real meaning behind it.

"I've cared about you for all the time I've known you Liv. You..." He hesitated, then turned to face her. He couldn't keep it to himself any longer. He needed to tell her how he felt and finally get it off his chest. "You're smart and funny and beautiful and I miss you when you're not around." She swallowed hard as she listened to him, not knowing what to say. He continued;

"I love spending time with you. Kathy knew it and threw it in my face plenty of times."

"Elliot you can't put that on me. I love Kathy and the kids you know that."

"I know. That's not what I'm saying. I'm sorry I'm just not explaining myself very well." He looked down, frustrated that he was upsetting her. "I don't know what you feel for me Liv, but I know how I feel about you and it took a gun to my head to finally admit it to myself."

Olivia didn't know what to do. Of course she knew how she felt about Elliot. He was the longest relationship she'd had with a man. He protected her and made her feel safe and they were always so in sync. But this last few weeks had changed all of that. She'd always loved him deep down but could never act on it. And by the time his marriage had ended, they were already so familiar with the old them, that moving on to anything else was terrifying. She looked at him with watery eyes still threatening to spill over and her flight response kicked in.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry Elliot I just can't do this" and she stood to leave. She paused at the door with her back to him. Maybe she was thinking about turning around, but she carried on and left. He leaned forward and and rubbed his hands down his face, exhaling as though he'd been holding his breath the whole time.

It was the last day of March and it was a miserable rainy day in New York. Olivia walked out of the precinct elevator carrying two coffees. It was her first day back at SVU since Cragen had asked her to come back and she hadn't spoken to Elliot since their conversation in the locker room two days ago. She'd bought him coffee without even thinking about it, like she had done for years. As she approached the squad room doors he was already at his desk. If she didn't know any better she'd think he'd been there all night. His shirt was creased and he looked like he hadn't slept at all. After Olivia left the other night, he'd been called in to Cragen's office to talk about what happened with him and Blaine. Cragen wasn't happy and gave him an ear full about his unacceptable behaviour.

"You're a good cop, but god knows how Olivia put up with you for so long" the captain had said.

"Oh. Well, Olivia's a saint" he'd snapped back. Maybe Cragen would prefer it if he left and Olivia came back too he thought. He didn't know that it was Cragen who had tried to persuade Olivia to stay after she'd requested a new partner. He knew they had their problems but they were his best detectives and above all else, they were like a son and a daughter to him.

"Good morning" she said as she placed the coffee down in front of him. He glanced up with a smile.

"Thanks, just what I needed".

Olivia took a sip of her drink and sat at her own desk. It was strange to sit back there without any of her things. She still needed to unpack the box that she'd brought back from computer crimes. They didn't talk, just looked across at each other in silence. They looked at each other the way they had done for over seven years now. After they disagreed about a case and smirked at each other, calling a silent truce. Or after a difficult case, when just a glance told the other that they needed to go for a drink and talk about something other than the horrors they'd witnessed that day.

But today's look felt different for both of them. How could it not after all that was said a couple of days ago? Olivia walked over to her old locker. Elliot cleared his throat and fiddled with the pen in his hand. He stood and slowly approached her.

"I tried calling but I figured you needed some space". He lowered his voice and leaned forward slightly; "Can we talk? Obviously not here... I just... there are things I need to explain. And I'm sorry for how uncomfortable I made things the other night."

"Yeah" Olivia nodded.

"I'll be at the courthouse most of the day to testify about a case i've been working, but later?..."

"Sure" he nodded and she turned to grab some files from the locker. As she walked toward the door to leave, he picked up her coffee and gave it to her.

"Oh, thanks" she smiled. His fingers brushed hers and he noticed her hands were cold.

Elliot had an unusual ache in his chest as he watched her walk away, "See you".