Hello everybody! I'm really excited to be posting the first chapter to "By my side". This is my fourth fanfic, but my first Law & Order : SVU one. The story takes place around season 12, but is completely AU. Elliot still works for SVU, so do John and Cragen. No Amanda, no Nick. I started writing this years ago and just finished it today. For those who have read my profile, you'll know that I tend to like finishing stories before posting them, that way the updates are pretty quick and I never get stuck in a rut where you guys will suffer. Anyway, I hope you enjoy !

"You okay?"

Elliot looked up from his paperwork and was met by Olivia's worried gaze. Their friendship had sort of been on hold for the past few months, but that didn't mean Olivia had stopped worrying about him. She would always worry about him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered. Olivia didn't believe him.

They had been working together at the Special Victims Unit, the 16th precinct, for twelve years now. She had seen him nearly every day during those twelve years, minus a few here and there, and she had gotten to know him better than any other person she knew. She probably knew him better than anyone knew him for that matter. So she knew he wasn't fine. She knew something was bothering him.

"You sure you're okay El? You know you can –"

She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence.

"Benson! Stabler!" Cragen beckoned them to his office.

"Wonder what they did this time," Finn mumbled under his breath, but it didn't go unnoticed. Olivia gave him a good, yet friendly, punch in the arm as she passed him.

"I want to have a word with you two," Cragen said as they walked through the door and he motioned for Elliot to shut it closed.

"Cragen, whatever it is this time, I swear, we didn't do it," Olivia said in defense before Cragen even had a chance to put in a word.

Cragen looked back and forth between his two best detectives, his best team. Although lately, they seemed to be pulling away from each other. They weren't the team they used to be. Like something had gotten between them, and now there was a barrier, one that made them less of an amazing team. An amazing team still, of course, but there was just something…

That was why they were perfect for this job. And that this job would be perfect for them.

"You didn't do anything wrong detectives," he assured them, and then continued. "You've actually been asked for a special undercover op. It involves sex crimes, but unreported sex crimes. It is not being brought to our attention because of that and... other factors. However, the precinct working the case is looking for a good team for the job, and you were top of the list."

"Why us?" Olivia asked, curious now.

Cragen sighed. "The job requires a male/female partnership. You would need to go undercover as a newly engaged couple. Take a group couples therapy class with a certain Carlos Rodriguez. He's the man under the investigation. The men taking his classes have come to the police with complaints about him abusing and harassing their wives, yet the woman don't know what they're talking about."

"If the woman don't file complaints, then why is it even being investigated?" Elliot spoke up for the first time.

Cragen sighed. "There's been more than one man file the same complaints, and they have not been linked other than they all take the same classes, but at different times. So it seems suspicious that each of the men believes that something is going on."

"What's making them believe this?" Olivia inquired, wanting to know as much as possible before committing herself.

"They make comments about how he picks certain of the women to come do private therapy classes with them, suggests that they seem to be hiding something and that they should let it off their chests. The men don't bother fighting it, but don't really like the idea. Some of the men claim that their fiancés or girlfriends come back slightly delusional and have bruises in odd areas. We have reason to believe they are being drugged. But with no probable cause, and no complaint from a victim, we can't truly investigate. That's why we need to go undercover, truly view this thing inside and out."

"What will be our commitment?" Elliot inquired.

"It could be a full time commitment at times. For the beginning, it will just be for the classes. You guys will only be a couple in those classes. After it starts to fall into place, you'll need to be seen publicly, together casually. Planning your wedding might become another ordeal."

Olivia raised a questioning eye brow. "Our wedding?"

Cragen laughed at the expression on her face. "Of course, your wedding. We'll need a wedding for it to seem real."

Elliot laughed. "This could be interesting."

Olivia put the wedding to the back of her mind. "Don't you think we've been well enough broadcasted as cops in the last few years here in New York to then become a couple with different identities and then be seen in the public eye? I mean, when reports go about, and the media gets involved, our cover will be blown."

Cragen cringed. "That's where you're wrong Olivia. What if I were to tell you you wouldn't be in New York?"

That had caught both Olivia and Elliot's attention. "What do you mean?"

"The chief of police of the Philadelphia Police Department has made a request for you guys, and I wasn't going to decline it until I had asked your opinion."

Both seemed puzzled by this, so they just continued asking questions.

"Does this mean that we'd have to stay in Philadelphia for the length of the investigation?"Elliot asked first.

Cragen shook his head. "No, not if you don't want to. An apartment is at your disposition and will be used in your undercover portfolio. Any information you give while undercover goes to that address and phone number. It's a two bedroom apartment, so on days where the two of you don't feel like coming back to New York, it'll be at your disposition. The PPD will have transportation at their disposal to jet the two of you back and forth between here and there."

"This seems so odd…" Olivia mumbled. "I mean, why us? There are probably plenty of people out there who could do this. Why spend all these extra dollars to have someone shipped back and forth? Why not just get two cops from Philadelphia?"

Cragen leaned back in his chair. "Because you said it yourself Detective. Their best cops faces are too well known to the public eye. They needed someone from away, but not too far, so that they were unknown but still very promising. And the two of you were brought to attention because you guys are one of the longest lasting partnerships on the east coast. They needed two people with a strong partnership for this job."

They both nodded as they took all of this in.

"When would it all start?"

"As soon as possible," Cragen answered. "If the two of you were to decided to go ahead with this, your undercover portfolio would be made up with your input starting tomorrow. You would be working with Dr Huang for the next few weeks and when you've been judged ready, you would be shipped out to the PPD to go over what they want from you and for them to evaluate the two of you alone, and together. I understand it'll take some thought, but… do just that. Think about it."

They both nodded as they headed out the doorway.

"One more question Cap," Elliot said just before leaving the office. "What will happen here?"

Cragen sighed. "We'll find you guys replacements. Temporary, of course. But we'll manage without you guys for a few weeks. I hope," he added more quietly.

Elliot nodded and the two headed back to their desks.

"What did you guys do this time?" Finn asked as he leaned up against Olivia's desk.

"What makes you think we did anything?" Olivia asked, innocently.

Finn scoffed. "Come on Olivia, you and Elliot are always up to no good. It's only natural to think that you guys are in trouble."

Elliot spoke up this time. "Well believe it or not, but we aren't in trouble. We've been promoted."

This seemed to catch John's attention. "Promoted? To what? You can't get much better than SVU, not with us at least." Him and Finn exchanged a smirk.

"To Philadelphia," Elliot answered as he exchanged a look with Olivia. "The two of us are running away together to Philadelphia, sharing an apartment and starting a whole new life together. We're engaged, didn't you know?"

Both Elliot and Olivia would have claimed that the expressions on both Finn's and Munch's faces were absolutely priceless. It took everything Olivia had not to burst out laughing.

"Come on sweetheart, let's get out of here," Elliot said as he got up and helped Olivia into her jacket. Finn and John just stared, not caring if the others noticed, at the exchange between the partners. To make it even better, Elliot grabbed Olivia's hand and led her out the doors towards the elevator.

Once alone in the elevator, doors shut, both of them finally let out the hysteria they had been holding back. They were nearly on the ground they were laughing so hard.

"Did you see Finn's face? And John's expression. I mean, you were so convincing, it was perfect," Olivia said as the laughing subsided.

"We might not need those few weeks of portfolio designing after all. I think we could do just fine."

Olivia smiled sadly. "Elliot, you can say no if you want to. Sure it sounds great, but you have a family, you have other obligations."

Elliot shrugged. "I think it could be good on the family. I mean, they're not my number one fans to start with. A few extra days out won't change much. They'll get a break from all the arguing Kathy and I do. No, I think it could be quite the experience."

Olivia looked at him intently before speaking up. "That's what's bothering you, isn't it? It has to do with your family?"

Elliot shrugged. "It's a lot of things. I… it's hard to explain what you don't really understand, isn't it?"

Olivia nodded.

"So what do you think about this? I mean, about the undercover op?"

Olivia smiled. "I've always, or mostly always enjoyed my undercover work. I think it could be fun."

Elliot smiled as the elevator came to a halt. "You need a ride?"

Olivia walked out of the elevator behind Elliot. "No I'll pass. I think I'll just walk home."

Elliot laughed as he pushed open the door. "If you say so."

Olivia stopped when she noticed the sheets of rain before her.

"Okay, I take that back. I'd love a ride."

The two of them laughed as they strode down the sidewalk in the pouring rain heading towards Elliot's car. Little did they know they were being watched.

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"They're perfect," Officer Laurence Brunet reported back to his captain. "The dynamics, the friendship makes them close personally. And she's beautiful, so it'll definitely catch Carlos's attention."

"Good," Capt. Craig Whelan answered. "Don assured me there was no better team."

Captain Whelan was the head of the Rodriguez investigation. He had been head of his precinct in the PPD for twenty two years and knew how to handle undercover ops. He had done plenty during his years as a detective. And then his precinct had done plenty under his command. But this one… this one was going to be extra special.

This was real undercover work. Not just a few hours to get information out of an easy to crack shell. No, this guy was good and it would take more than just a few hours to get to the bottom of this one. But it couldn't go on much longer. That's why he had made that call to Don Cragen, to inquire about the partners that had always made the man so proud.

Craig and Don had been close since the beginning of their reigns as captains in their squads. They had had lots of discussions involving their cases, similar in some ways, completely different in others. Capt. Whelan's squad's focus was mostly on the same type of cases as Cragen's squad. Sex crimes was their thing, yet they hadn't gotten to the rank of the NY SVU. That's why Detectives Benson and Stabler always intrigued him.

He had been following their traces, reading up on their cases, watching news reports of their heroic actions for several years now, trying to figure out what it was about them that made them so special. He had only recently discovered that it wasn't what made them special individually, but what made them extraordinary as a team that had SVU on top. Together, they were the glue that kept that squad high above every other sex crime squad on the east coast.

And that's why he needed them for this case.

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"Have the two of you decided?"

It was early the next morning, and Cragen didn't want to waste any time on this. If his best team was about to take on this job, he needed to get their training started. And he also needed to find them their replacements. So as soon as the two of them had walked through those doors just a few minutes before eight, he knew that he had to get them into his office.

Olivia first glanced towards Elliot. He didn't look too good. She could tell by the way he was slumped over slightly, and by the dark circles under his eyes that he hadn't had much sleep the night before. She didn't know whether it was because of his family, or because of the job, or even something else, but she knew something was bothering him. And big time.

But she pushed that to the back of her mind as she looked back over to Cragen.

"I'm in if Elliot's in," she answered, completely sure of her answer. This was an experience she wasn't letting slip through her fingers. She could definitely use a break from these cases that all seemed so familiar. Everyone seemed more and more like the one before. It's as if people were taking notes and reusing them once their initial perp was locked away. Sure, they were making New York a better place, but she had to admit it got dull after a little while.

"I'm in too," Elliot added, without hesitation. This seemed to shock Olivia. She hadn't believe him yesterday, his comment about how this might make it easier on his family. She had figured he would go home and have to deal with Kathy's rage for even thinking about it. Olivia couldn't register the fact that she would let him take on even more than usual. Something smelt fishy…

"I… I can't believe this!" Cragen exclaimed, and Olivia saw the smile build on his lips. "I had hoped… but I really didn't think it would happen… I'm… You guys are going to be incredible, you know that?"

Elliot let a small smile grace his lips as he glanced over to Olivia. "I think we discovered that yesterday."

Olivia let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I think we did."

Cragen didn't bother asking. He didn't really care. There was so much to do.

"Okay, I want the two of you to go straight to Huang's office. Tell him what it's about. I talked to him yesterday, so you won't need to fill him in. He's already in the process of creating your identities. You guys will have some input as to how you want it to go, but Huang knows what he's doing. And Benson?"

Olivia looked at him cautiously. "Yeah Cragen?"

"Be careful and take care of yourself. You too Stabler."

Both nodded and left their captain's office.

"What was that about?" Elliot asked as they made their way up to George's office.

Olivia figured she knew. Cragen didn't know exactly what had happened all those years ago at Sealview, but like the others, he had a pretty good feeling that whatever it was, it wasn't good. He wanted her to make sure there would be no repeat of that this time around.

"I'm not quite sure," she lied. Elliot took that as a reasonable response and entered the psychiatrist's office.

"Olivia, Elliot," he greeted them. "I expected to see the two of you in my office within the next few days. I just hadn't expected it so soon."

"Figured we might as well get this thing started up as soon as possible," Elliot answered as the two of them took a seat across from George in his small casual feeling sitting area. "Now, let's see what we can really do here."

George smiled. "I've got to say, working these portfolio has brought me great pleasure. I know how the two of you work together, and I know there aren't two better detectives to play the roles of the people I am about to present you." He pulled two folders out from the small pile of sheets on his desk, ran through them quickly and passed them to Olivia and Elliot.

"Mr. Sean Livingston and Ms Kate Bradley, soon to be Mrs. Kate Livingston. You work as a fashion consultant for a local enterprise and your fiancé is the CEO of a small buisness in Vermont. He travels a lot, but your home is Philadelphia so whenever he can work from home, it's in your middle class downtown apartment that he resides."

"Fashion consultant," Olivia scoffed. "I don't know the first think about fashion."

George chuckled. "You'll learn. It'll be part of your training. The two of you met through an event put on by an organization both of you support."

"And that would be?" Elliot asked, looking over his more in depth profile.

"The American Cancer Society. Not too unknown for it to seem suspicious. Your mother died of breast cancer Kate and your best friend was just recently diagnosed Sean. The two of you participated in a relay in Philadelphia and you just so happened to kick it off. Sean had been in town for a few months due to work, so that made it easier for you to get to know each other. By the time he had to return to Vermont, your relationship was going steady, so you needed to come back. You've been travelling back and forth ever since."

They both nodded as they took in their story. It didn't seem too complicated. Build a past, start thinking about their future…

"Cragen mentioned something about a wedding yesterday?" Elliot asked with a laugh, remembering Olivia's reaction. "Why is that so important?"

"Carlos's clients are usually couples who are planning their weddings. He helps them get through the stress of the organizing by reminding them of the reason they are going through all of it to begin with."

Olivia tried taking this in without blushing too much. Organizing a wedding with her best friend, who just so happened to already be married, but if he wasn't, she would have trouble staying away from.

Can't think like that Benson, she reminded herself. She knew it would never happen. She knew it was nothing more than a distant dream. But he was Elliot, the greatest guy she ever knew, and that was saying something.

And she would be spending the next several weeks playing is bride to be.

This could be harder than she had planned.

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The week was spent reading up and informing themselves on what they were getting into. They had truly adopted their undercover personalities, and were getting used to living in their shoes. Word hadn't really gotten around the precinct that Olivia and Elliot were going undercover, and they found it quite entertaining just the way it was.

"Okay, seriously you two, you're starting to give me the creeps," Finn said when Elliot pulled Olivia into his lap. They had found the others reactions too good to pass up, and this way they were getting used to their relationship as a couple. Well Kate and Sean's relationship that is. Olivia had put any feelings that may have been developing over the last few days to the back of her mind, hiding it like a good detective knew how to hide things, and chastised herself for even letting it get this far. There was no way, never would be, after all these years together, anything more than friendship between them. And the thought made her heart sink a little bit more.

"Never in twelve years have you guys been like this, but then all of a sudden…"John was at a loss for words. He thought he knew them better than that. "Something's going on."

Elliot laughed. "Don't go looking too far then. You'll be disappointed."

The two of them took this with a questioning glance, but didn't ask. They didn't know if they wanted to know.

"I… I need to get home," Olivia made up an excuse and hoped off of Elliot's lap. "I'll… we'll see you in the morning."

With that, she left, seemingly in a hurry. This intrigued the men, even Elliot who had not seen that coming.

"What's up with your fiancé?" Finn asked, putting emphasis on the term fiancé while jabbing him playfully in the ribs with his elbow.

Elliot shook his head. "I… I don't know."

But Olivia did. She had needed to get out of there. The topic was too much. Sitting on Elliot's lap… was too much. And having to play his games, going along with every comment, every action, every wink, smirk and laugh… the weight of it all was beginning to be too much.

She took a breath as she reminded herself that this would be what it would be like for the next few weeks, if not months. She'd have to try to make it through it, without letting it show, without letting it go over the top. He was married. Married. Married. He should know better than to flirt with other women, even women he was engaged to as another person, or however you may explain that. He knew what to do to her to make her weak, to make her hard core melt away, tear at the edges, yet he seemed to take full advantage of that, playing with her feelings purposely.

Was he trying to piss her off?

Olivia wasn't quite sure, but she swore she would find out before he dug too deep.

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The missing blind in his window had never been fixed for one reason and one reason only: it had always been a great way to keep his eye on the things going on in his squad. He didn't feel like as much of an outsider, in his own little office all alone with that small window, his vision on his best detectives always there when he needed it. Although it hadn't always been easy to watch them and say nothing about the ways they handled things, he enjoyed keeping his eye on them altogether.

He walked back to his desk, needing to think about what he had gotten himself into. His best detectives would be out to Philadelphia the next morning and was he ever going to miss them. He had two detectives starting the next morning, but nothing compared to the team he would be losing.

Temporarily, he reminded himself. Or so he hoped.

One fear lingered in his mind however about this undercover op. Olivia and Elliot may have been strong on the outside, as hard as a stone wall to anyone trying to get in, but inside of them, deep inside of them was a weak point they shared. They shared a lot, and that was probably what made them such a great team.

Between their redemption for some kind of justice to their tactics and up and beyond their cunning and undermining ability to bypass all rules and regulations, they were more alike than any other pairing he had ever seen. But it wasn't just their similarities that had them working so well together.

Their differences were also a great part in the incredible partnership. Elliot's fierce ways in comparison with Olivia's delicate touch. Elliot's anger, Olivia's stubbornness. No, that was a bad example, Cragen realized. They were both as stubborn as could be.

But that didn't change the fact that they had a great deal of incredible positive aspects on their side. Their common ground in the more particular categories of emotional well being was the only worry Cragen had when it came to the Benson Stabler team. He knew that their emotions could get a little out of hand at times, but that they did a great job at hiding them on a day to day basis.

But Cragen knew them, could see through them. And as he thought earlier, their weak point, weakness involving an emotional side of things, gave him a little bit more to worry about, made him slightly doubt, very slightly doubt, their outcome in this case. He knew they'd be able to close the case, that wasn't the issue here. His worry was the destruction of New York's best cop team in the process.

Because Cragen knew, that that weak point the two of them shared, was the little weak spot they had for each other.

And that shared little weak spot could become the next biggest disaster.

Okay, so this was just a little bit of an introduction. It gets much more interesting. I hope you all keep reading!