So, I'm seriously in love with this. Today is my birthday, and I'm putting this out as a gift.
Thank you to my beta JDreamie

Smell : to perceive the odor or scent of through stimuli affecting the olfactory nerves.

He noticed it the first time they met, she smelled like peaches and oranges. It wasn't a normal perfume to him, the citric smell. And he associated that scent to her. When they entered the squad car, on the pillow in the cribs, when she leaned down to point out something on his computer, the scent always made its way up his nose, giving him a sense of comfort.

He knew how she smelled in the morning, after a shower, after 2 full nights with no sleep. He knew how she smelled going out for a date and when she got back hurriedly, without putting on her perfume. He knew how she smelled after working out. He knew Kurt (he didn't know at the time who he was) gave her a different perfume around three weeks into their relationship, and she changed right back after it was over. His olfactory memory of her was pretty strong.

It was different, it was her. His mother always smelled like freshly cut grass and a little bit of paint. Kathy always wore the same perfume, something that smelt strongly like cinnamon, and it was almost always associated with the scent of baby powder. Maureen and Katie smelt like strawberries and Lizzie like lavender. Dickie and Eli, well, those two were a whole other situation.

Sometime around the fourth year he was gone, Kathy brought home a fancy french perfume she bought at the boutique near their apartment. The first time she used it, he noticed it smelt like his partner's a little too much for his comfort. He told her he didn't like it and she kept it in the bottom of a drawer. From time to time he grabbed it, just so he wouldn't forget. One day he opened the drawer to find it gone. When he asked Kathy about it, she said it was expired, and she didn't understand why he was so sad about it since he didn't even like it. He didn't, not on her, it didn't fit.

But Liv, she had the most unique scent. And when he finally came back and his world was turned upside down. When the mother of his children and his wife of almost 40 years was gone, the first thing he noticed as he finally embraced his partner after 10 years of distance was: she still smells the same.

When he fell to his knees and told her he didn't write the letter, it even seemed like her smell got more citric. Maybe it was the drugs in his system. When she held his hand and told him everything would be alright, that they would find Eli, her smell got sweeter. It was like it changed with her mood. He knew it was ridiculous, but it was what he thought.

The first couple of weeks of their relationship, he found out that sometimes she smelled like soap from the laundry. Sometimes, she smelled like coffee and slightly burnt bread. When she was too tired to wait for him to come out of the bathroom (when her kid was home and she couldn't just join him), sometimes she used Noah's shampoo just to save time. And her bedroom often smelled like the aromatic candles she used to meditate. Everything was new to him.

So yes, her smell lingering on his pillow in the morning was a novelty he enjoyed a lot. Her body wash on his shower shelf made him feel ecstatic. Her perfume beside her makeup on the counter made him smile. Her smell was an aphrodisiac to him, he couldn't get enough. When he got home, the first thing he did was kiss her on the head and breathe her in.

When they made love, he liked to run his nose down her body, just because he could, he could smell her all he wanted now, because she was finally his. He loved her, he loved Olivia Benson. He loved Captain Benson, but most of all he loved Liv. The funny, confident, open woman she was with him and only him.

So to his surprise, when he woke up that morning - his limbs tangled in hers, her arm around his middle and her head tucked in his neck - she didn't smell like she usually did. No, actually, he was pretty sure this was new. He took offense to the change, how dare her, after all these years? But then, just for a moment he concentrated, burying his nose into her hair.

He felt her stirring, and her arms tightening around him.

"What are you doing?" she grumbled, sleepy.

"I'm just checking something," he answered her. She raised her arms, putting her hand between her hair and his nose and pushing his face away.

"Lemme sleep," she protested. He figured earlier on she valued her sleep a lot, and was not a morning person.

"But you smell different," he said.

"Elliot, shut up, I was having a really nice dream," she said. "For a detective you are pretty dumb, huh?"

"What?" He didn't understand what she meant.

"I smell like you, you idiot," she finally said, turning around but still tucked to his side. "Now stop. waking. me. up."

Finally, he figured out she was right, she did smell like him. He grinned like a fool. Breathing her in again- and receiving an elbow to his ribs- he settled down, and realized he didn't mind this change at all.