Arriving back at her apartment, Olivia turned facing Elliot, looking up into his blue grey eyes, glinting on the low light of the apartment. Placing her bag on the sideboard in the hall she reached for the lamp when Elliot took her hand pulling her close.

"Elliot," she whispered as he teased her into a kiss, his arm snaking around her waist teasing the zip of her dress down.

Wrapping her own arms around his neck, she staggered back trying to keep her balance as he lifted her up carrying her through into the bedroom.

Resting against his bare chest, she traced the scars that littered his upper body, some she clearly remembered how he got. Some were from his time as a marine somewhere new ones he had got in organised crime or in Rome.

There was one just above his left elbow he got that from being shot in court by the kid of a white supremacist on trial for murder, there was another scar further up his left arm in his bicep where he was shot by a animal smuggler when he had gone undercover he had also been shot in the chest and by some miracle it had passed straight through missing anything vital. There were 2 long jagged ones along his abdomen where he had been sliced by a psycho crime scene tech who thought he was better than everyone else. There was also a scar on his left shoulder where once again he was shot whilst in the presence of a FBI agent Dana that they had worked with on multiple occasions.

Catching her hand as she ran it across his shoulder he pulled her closer teasing her into a kiss.

"You know you have not told me what the charms mean" she sighed pushing her self up on to her elbow deepening the kiss

"What do you mean"

"Well when you give a charm bracelet the charms have to have a meaning to the receiver"

"Okay then," he said, pulling her towards him so she lay wrapped up in his arms. "Well this one," he said softly, lifting a tiny coffee cup and doughnut charm "is because I know how much you love your coffee and baked goods." he grinned as she playfully hit him

"Well I am not a fully functioning police officer till I have had my morning cup of coffee" she said

"This one," he said, running his fingers around her arm, lifting up a small tree charm with a pale purple stone at the base. "This is a rowan tree which according to Celtic mythology is your birth tree, it is said to ward off evil, provide courage and connection." he said softly "the stone is a amethyst , your birthstone, which is said to bring peace and serenity when it is near you and symbolises love and happiness"

Carefully unclipping the bracelet he eased it from her wrist doing the clasp back up so he could explain them better. "This blue butterfly is to remind you beauty is always around" he said, sliding it along the bracelet. "This is a Claddagh, it's an old Celtic symbol of love. I hold your heart in my hands and crown it with my love. The heart is for Love, the crown is loyalty and the hands are friendship" he said softly.

Lifting two together "The olive branch is for Olivia because it means peace and the pearl and oyster is because of your middle name Margaret and that means pearl" he said softly

"What about this one?" she said softly, lifting the last charm. It was a tiny police shield. On closer inspection she could see the numbers on the bottom were actually his detective number; 6313. On the back she could see engraved in tiny writing was the words 'Semper Fi'

"This one is so you can always have something of mine with you, and remind you that I will always be faithful and with you"

"It's beautiful" she forced a smile,taking the bracelet from him and placing it on her night stand.

Resting her head against his shoulder she could hear the rhythmic sound of his heart. Seeing the shield again was a reminder of when he sent her his mini shield just after he left along with the words Semper fi. A reminder of something she had worked so hard at burying and trying to put in the past

She woke tangled up in his arms, she could feel the sun against her face as it shone through the window.

"Good morning" she smiled looking up at Elliot.

"Morning" he whispered, teasing her into a kiss.

"What time is it?" she sighed

"Quarter to 8" he smiled

"Shit" she swore diving from under the covers, tripping over her shoes that were in the middle of the floor.

"Everything alright?" Elliot asked

"No!" she replied, cramming her hair up into a knot on top of her head "I am supposed to be meeting McGrath at 8:30" she said, turning the shower on.

After grabbing a quick shower to freshen up from the previous evening she pulled open the wardrobe grabbing a pair of navy pants and blouse, throwing them onto the bed.

"You could always call in sick" Elliot smiled from the bed

"I can't Mcgrath wants to talk about this case" she said pulling the zip on the side of her trousers up

As she went to do the buttons up on her blouse she noticed a mark on her neck, stepping closer to the mirror she looked at the mark.

" perfect" she sighed pulling the blouse off her shoulders and tossed it back in the wardrobe

"What's wrong" he asked

Turning at him she gave him one of her death stairs and pointed at the hickey that was on her neck

"And" Elliot grinned

"And!" Olivia said, grabbing one of the throw cushions from the end of the bed, throwing it at him. "El I am 56 not 16, how is it going to look if I turn up with a hickey on my neck?" she said, pulling open a drawer and pulling out a red turtle-neck from the draw.

Pulling it on she reached for a jacket.

"Like i said you could always pull a sicky and stay in bed" he said walking up behind her snaking his arms around her waist.

Leaning back into his arms she moaned as she felt his hands pull her top from her trousers. There was nothing more she wanted to do than stay snuggled up in his arms but she also needed to know what McGrath wanted and what thinking as regards the case.

Removing his arms she turned as he teased her into a kiss.

"I have to go," she whispered, pulling away. "See you later" she said hopeful

"Sure" he smiled

Grabbing her bag along with her gun and shield she made her way down to her car in the parking garage. With 20 minutes to make it across the city to 1PP she debated whether or not it would be ethical to use lights and sirens on account of her getting up late. Thankfully for her it was not needed and the traffic gods were looking out for her as the lights at every intersection were in her favour.

Walking into the building she signed in before making her way up to McGrath's office with two minutes to spare.

"Captain Benson you're cutting it fine" McGrath Smiled

"I am right on time" Olivia replied

"Of course you are" he said "so the reason I wanted to talk is i wanted to know where SVU were with the dance kids murders"

"They were not all 'dance kids'" Olivia sighed, it was clear he had not looked at the case notes he had demanded at 4pm the previous evening. "They were in different areas of performing arts. We have established a link between them all and we are chasing down leads…" she said

"But you have no suspects" he interrupted her

"Like I said we have several lines of enquire that we are following but no as of yet we have made no arrests" she said

"But you have had this case for 3 weeks and you have only added to the body count" he said

"This is not some NBC crime show where the cops catch a case, arrest and arraign a suspect and have them in court and sent to Rikers within the space of two weeks. It takes time to build a solid case and we are following several leads. TARU are working on all the victims' socials trying to find something."

Thankfully her phone rang at just the right time

"Benson," she said " okay I will be there soon" she said placing her phone back in her pocket "That was Detective Rollins, I have to go"

"Well keep me updated" McGrath said

"As you wish" Olivia said sarcastically as she walked out

Heading back across the city the traffic was much busier and it took her longer than she would like. She was annoyed at the fact that this meeting was a pointless 15 minute waste of time.