Disclaimer: Dick Wolf and NBC own SVU and all its characters. I only own this story idea.

AU. Mature. Takes places after Olivia comes back from Oregon while Elliot is still newly divorced.

Happy Trails….

The sun bore down on Olivia's shoulders exposed in her razor back black tank top as she stood on the graveled make shift parking lot studying her friend Casey Novak lining up their gear. Olivia shielded her eyes from the oncoming morning sun. "Casey, how many times are we going to do this?"

Casey looked up her strawberry blonde ponytail bouncing up and down as she straddled one of the backpacks. "Benson, you will be thanking me profusely after we get up there and you have all your stuff."

"You've counted it five times, Case." Olivia said giving her friend a look of incredulous usually reserved for the perps who tried to pass off some lame excuse to her and her partner. A car pulling in caught Olivia's gaze and her eyebrows rose as she looked over to Case. "Who did you invite?"

"Chester," Casey answered softly diverting her eyes from Olivia's.

"I thought this was a girl's weekend?" Olivia started.

"It is but Chester is going to be flying out next week and I wanted to see him, too." Casey said arguing her point. "We did say we could each invite someone."

"Yeah, I invited Monique, a girl." Olivia gestured over to the former SVU detective who was doing some morning stretches preparing for their trudge up the mountain.

Casey gave her a pointed look. "Yeah, super girl. That is a winner."

"Did you tell Chester that he could invite someone?" Olivia asked.

Casey pretended to be busy bending over her backpack as she ignored Olivia's question.

"Casey," Olivia hissed. "Is that Stabler?" Olivia didn't even know why she asked as watched Elliot's frame emerge from Chester Lake's 1980's Honda. Fin and John popped out of the backseat talking animatedly.

Casey shot her an apologetic look. "Maybe this will be a chance to reconnect?" Casey suggested.

Olivia gave her another look. Reconnect? The last thing she and Elliot needed to do was connect anymore on any level. Since returning from Oregon and acclimating back to SVU, she had been fighting with Elliot constantly. She was seriously considering asking Cragen to transfer her back to computer crimes. Nothing she did seemed to be right at least where Elliot was concerned. She knew the divorce was taking a toll on him but she didn't know how much more of his anger that she could stand not when it seemed so directed at her.

Monique stopped stretching; walking over to join them she gave Olivia's shoulder a supportive squeeze. "You've got back-up, Benson." Monique grinned as the guys approached. "Hey boys, you sure you can handle this?"

Fin scoffed at the dig. "I got it covered."

John grinned at Jeffries. "I might need your help," He winked at her.

"You're not getting that kind of help, Munch." Jeffries dead panned which made the whole group laugh.

Elliot studied Olivia from behind his dark Ray Bans. He saw her immediately tense as they approached, correction as he approached. Their relationship as of late had been distant and shaky. Elliot found himself wanting to reconnect only to hit by a wave of anger each time he tried. He knew they needed to talk. He needed to share with her how he felt about her leaving before it tore their friendship and partnership apart by the seams. "Hey," Elliot nodded in her direction.

"Hi, El." Olivia gave him a smile wary smile.

Chester kissed Casey on the nose. "Hey, Novak."

"Hey, Lake." Casey shot back grinning. "You guys got all your gear?"

"Yeah, we're good." Elliot said balancing his backpack on his broad shoulders.

Olivia reached down swing her own backpack onto her shoulders. "We should probably get started,"

Olivia started for the trail. Chester slipped Casey's pack onto her shoulders. Monique did a little jog reaching Olivia's side in a couple strides. Fin and Elliot were directly behind Monique and Olivia with John, Casey, and Chester bringing up the rear.

The morning sun was out in its full glory beaming rays of light creating a dazzling spectacle of illumination and shadows through the trees. Monique always one to show off had quickly pulled ahead walking at a nice clip challenging Fin to keep up with her which left Olivia with Elliot. So much for having back-up, Olivia thought drily. She stared at the trail curving ahead it was really beautiful the trees at their fullest and greenest surrounding the trail. Olivia glanced at Elliot out of the corner of her eye.

Elliot caught her glance. He smiled at her. "It's really beautiful, isn't it?"

Olivia smiled nodding. "Peaceful,"

"We haven't had much of that, lately." Elliot said staring straight ahead.

"No, we haven't." Olivia quietly acknowledged brushing her long brown bangs now slightly damp off her forehead.

Elliot continued staring ahead. "I am sorry about that,"

Olivia bit her lower lip at his confession. "Me, too." She quickly added.

Elliot looked over at her again. The sun was shining down full force on them now. Her hair glinted gold and red in the sunlight. Elliot swallowed hard reading the pain and confusion shining full force in her big dark eyes. "Maybe, we can talk about it?"

"Yeah, that would be good." Olivia said. "I miss talking."

"Me, too." Elliot said copying her earlier sentiment.

Olivia's smile spread across her face as she glanced over at Elliot who wore a similar smile. She giggled as he slightly bumped her hip with his as they continued on the trail. Maybe this trip could be a good thing maybe Casey had been right. They reached a fork in the trail where Monique and Fin waited for the rest of the group to catch up.

Casey pulled the map out of her pocket trailing her finger along a path as she studied it. "Gimme just one second,"

"You need some help?"

Olivia looked up at the unknown baritone voice who had asked the question. A group of six men dressed in hunting gear had stepped onto the trail. Their leader who had apparently asked the question standing slightly in front of the other men, a rifle slung in front of him. Olivia felt one of the men's gaze rake over her slowly.

Elliot stepped slightly in front of Olivia blocking the man's view as he slipped his arm across Olivia's shoulder, possessively. "No, thanks. We're good."

The guy smirked at Elliot. "Weekend with your girlfriends, huh?"

Elliot said nothing simply nodding never breaking eye contact with the man.

Olivia noticed that one of the other men was now eyeing Casey. She watched her friend shift somewhat uneasily.

"Is your group going up the Penshaw trail?" The man asked.

Elliot shook his head. "We are taking the Reed Trail," Elliot said the lie slipping easily from his mouth. He did not want these men to have any inkling of what trail they would be on.

The guy nodded and led his men around them. "Happy trails," He smirked over his shoulder.

Once they disappeared around the bend. Munch sighed looking at the group over his wire glasses. "Are we still in New York or did we disappear into a backwoods West Virginia movie?"

Fin groaned. "Shut up, Munch."

"Assholes," Casey muttered under her breath.

Jeffries shrugged reaching into her sneaker and pulling out a switch blade knife. "Always bring back up," she quipped.

Elliot looked over at Olivia; his hand squeezed her shoulder, as he whispered low. "You okay?"

Olivia nodded taking a deep breath. The men were a little unnerving. She was used to their type of behavior in the squad room with her gun but being there was a hell of a lot different than out in the woods with her backpack. "I'm fine, El."

"So which trail?" Casey asked.

"Neither one that we mentioned," Fin said catching Elliot's eyes for confirmation as he pointed to an alternate trail.

"Okay, let's hit it." Jeffries said starting down the new pathway.

Olivia felt the sudden loss of warmth as Elliot dropped his hand and started down the trail behind the rest of the group.

"Liv?" Elliot stopped waiting for her.

Olivia jogged over to him shaking off the sense of uneasiness that was now plaguing her.

A/N: Personally, things are a little hectic for me right now so I am sorry for the lack of updates. I have been a little uninspired. I decided to try something more adventurous with a new story so let me know if you want more or not. This one should be one wild ride.