I don't own anything.

Please note that English is not my first language.

The story happens as Olivia is returning to New York after the undercover work in Oregon, early season 8.

Rating is just for safety.

"Have a nice flight back to New York", said Dean Porter. And when things go wrong at 38000 feet up in the air, what would come across Olivia Benson's mind in the second before darkness? And how would the aftermath affect the Special Victims Unit?

"Why won't those engines fall off?"

"Cause they are properly attached to the wings."

"But what if the wings fall off?"

"That won't happen either."

"Why?"

"Because the wings are a part of this plane and the connections are real strong."

"So would the plane just break into pieces like a glass?"

"No! That's just not possible."

"What if there's a bomb?"

…

Olivia Benson could feel the headache worsening. And as she thinks about the events since last night, she sighed.

Agent Porter handed her another blue envelope, "have a nice flight back to New York." He said. This time, she knew she needs to get back as soon as possible unless she wanted to cause a mistrial. She opened the envelope to find the flight Porter had booked for her was an early morning one, . 'Probably the first plane to take off from Portland Airport', she thought.

Porter offered to give her a lift to the airport and he showed up at her hotel sharp. Olivia was half asleep at that time. And she hadn't exactly woken up when they arrived at the airport half an hour later.

Then something caused her to sober up fully, and it was not caffeine.

It was the lady behind the check-in counter. "Ms Benson, we have an unaccompanied child on this flight to New York. Is it possible if we arrange the seven-year-old in the seat next to you? No worries, our flight attendants will take him to the seat and take him to his family after the plane landed. All you need to do is pay very little attention during the flight as our flight attendants would also be there." Those were her exact words.

And Olivia said, which she later regretted, "sure."

An hour later as she had boarded the Boeing 737-800, a mid-aged cabin crew took the boy to the aisle seat beside Olivia's window seat.

And since then, the boy, whose name was Thomas, had kept asking questions.

Olivia thought she had caught a break when the plane began to push back at . she assumed Thomas would start focus on the flight itself instead of her, who is deprived of sleep and feeling both worried for the trial and anxious about going back to SVU, more specifically, going back to be the partner of Elliot Staler.

It had been somewhat haunting her, the fact that she was saying his name all night after being hit in the head and passing out, as Hope told her. She had asked herself why a million times in the past few days and got no conclusion. Or maybe she got no conclusion because she kept telling herself "no you cannot have feelings for your partner".

She tried to reason things. Elliot Stabler, her partner, was indeed a good-looking guy. And he sure cared about her, in a partner kind of way. And they trusted each other with their life, just like most partners did. But that was all it is supposed to be. Partners. Oh don't forget, he WAS still married.

No, wait. Elliot was separating with Kathy. So that meant things are OK to change.

The passenger announcement started at that moment.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome abroad United Airlines Flight 1149 from Portland to Newark. This flight would take about five hours and twenty minutes. We are scheduled to land at Newark EST. Right now we are waiting at the end of the runway for a Lufthansa to land before we are cleared to takeoff. Please make sure your seat belts are fastened and we recommend you to keep them that way the entire flight in case of turbulence. On behalf of the entire crew, I would like to thank you for flying with United."

And in that moment Olivia was thankful that the captain interrupted her thought. It was heading in a dangerous direction, she figured.

"What is turbulence?" Asked Thomas.

And Olivia's headache was back. So much for getting some more sleep during the flight.

Wait when was the headache gone in the first place? She tried to think back. Only to realize it was the moment she began thinking about Elliot.

"It's wind in the sky, which would cause the plane to rock a little bit." Still, Olivia Benson was always nice to kids.

"Would it turn the plane upside down?"

"No kiddo. It never gets that strong."

"What if it does?"

"Then the pilots would have known in advance because they have radar on the plane to tell them the weather. And the plane would go a different route to avoid the danger."

Right now the plane is racing down on the runway and they can hear the turbine engines roaring. Thomas asked something else but Olivia didn't hear it. Their seats are a few rows behind the wings, thus making the engine sound extra clear.

The noise didn't weaken as the jet climbs, allowing Olivia's mind to wander once again.

Olivia Benson wasn't afraid of flying. She had never been. And she was having a weird feeling about this flight at the back of her head. She closed her eyes for a bit just to hear the engines running and feel the sense of slightly losing gravity as the plane enters the thick cloud. It's normal. Just like all the other times she had flown.

It must be Thomas. He kept asking about how planes work and what would cause a plane to crash. Olivia was no aviation expert. But she knew that planes are safe.

But she still got a bad feeling.

She almost laughed at herself. The boy had got her paranoid.

But what if the plane was to crash?

Out of the blue Elliot's face popped up in her head. And she didn't know why it almost brought tears to her eyes. She hadn't talk to him in a while. According to Dana Lewis her partner was injured in a blast and she never said goodbye before leaving for Oregon. What if there won't be a goodbye?

In that split second, the plane began to drop.

It felt like slow motion, but Olivia Benson was shouting inside as she heard Thomas scream.

She looked left to the window but saw nothing other than pure white as they were in the clouds.

Then she turned her head to the right, across the young boy, only to find the old man on the other side of the aisle still reading his newspaper as if nothing had happened.

She looked left again, focusing on the wing this time.

And she almost laughed out loud, at her stupidity.

Indeed nothing had happened. Well to be specific, something completely normal took place. The pilots retracted the flaps. A step every plane would take after gaining some attitude. A step that would cause the plane to climb less steeply, but still climbing properly, only that a human being would feel like the aircraft had dropped a bit.

She comforted the terrified boy a bit, explaining to him that things are fine.

And once again thoughts about Elliot engulfed her.

Olivia missed Elliot, no doubt. She missed the feeling of having a partner by her side, fighting the darkest crime together, having each other's back. And she missed those late nights with only the two of them and Chinese takeout in the bullpen, those freezing cold nights they had to stake-out on a suspect in the middle of nowhere, and of course, those nights after a case is closed, them going out for drinks, beer for him and martini for her.

She never denied to herself that she sometimes fantasized about Elliot. Yet she categorized those steamy hot fantasies as partner sexual tension, as she suppose in most male/female partnership would exist.

But what regret would she have if she dies today? Probably it would be Elliot; simply because of the fact that she wanted to see him again.

And what if it's the other way around? How would she feel, if Elliot disappears or even dies suddenly?

She felt heart tighten so much that it almost hurt.

Deep down, Olivia knew that she can't live without him. The problem was, does the same apply for him?

Breakfast was served 45 minutes after takeoff.

Olivia fell asleep against the window even before the flight attendant removed the food tray after she finished her omelets.

When she woke up, lunch is being handed out. Olivia checked her watch, it not even ten o'clock. The plane must be using time at the east coast already, she figured.

Her mood is getting better. It would only take a little more than an hour for her to be home. Home as in NYC, the city she grew up in and the city she loved. And she would go straight to the courthouse after landing; hopefully she can be there before . And after helping Casey nail this rapist, Olivia would go out for drinks with the redhead. Besides celebrating the win at court and sharing the stories she wanted to tell her best friend, Olivia would also need some advice, relationship wise.

The plane began shaking and rocking a bit while everyone is eating. 'It's just turbulence." Olivia told Thomas.

"That's it? It's lame. I thought it would be like roller coaster."The boy laughed.

Olivia put a forkful of pasta in her mouth, not paying attention as the boy began talking about Disney World, Universal Studios and roller coasters.

That's when all hell broke loose.

AN: The flight number, the airline, the aircraft, take-off and landing time and the airports are all real. I just picked a flight from where Olivia was doing the undercover job to NYC, in the time of a day that I wanna it to be (early morning). Please please note that I have absolutely no disrespect toward this flight or this airline.

The most common economy seat plan for B738 would be 3-3 but it's not the case in this fic. It's just a fic.

You would feel as if you are dropping when flaps are retracted in every plane. But normally if you are flying in a large jet such as 737, it would be just a slight feeling, not enough to cause any panic. I exaggerated in the story.

Or maybe, there's problem with the engines of Olivia's plane, resulting in low thrust-weight ratio, thus making the drop feel more obvious. Wait til next chap to find out. (⊙v⊙)

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