Summary: Elliot and Liv's lives change forever
Disclaimer: nothing is mine; I'm just having a little fun
a/n: totally au. maybe.
Ring, ring
"Hey mister," some kid was poking him in the face, "mister! Your phone is ringing." Sleepily, he grabbed his phone out of his pocket
"Stabler."
"Elliot!" a voice hissed, "Go to room 512. Take the west elevator."
"Huh?" his sleep addled brain wouldn't process.
"West elevator, room 512, NOW!" now alert, he left the kid in the dust. He quickly found the elevator, stood impatiently in its muzac, and then finally got to room 512. A blond woman in a flower dress was sitting on the sole bed in the room. He stepped inside and pulled the privacy curtain around them. As he sat next to her he noticed there was no phone in the room.
Elliot wasn't surprised to see the tears streaming down her face. Overcome with grief, he grabbed her in a fierce hug. She clung to him with her good arm and began to sob. Her wig became dislodged and her sunglasses were digging into his chest, so he pulled them both away. Olivia looked up at him then, her big brown eyes full of sadness. He kissed her gently with all the love in his heart and she met him halfway. They quickly disrobed and made love for the last time. Neither could stop crying.
"Hey! You can't be in here!" Their peaceful slumber was interrupted. Olivia sat up quickly and began to dress.
"I am not going anywhere." Elliot said as he helped her put her sling back on. Liv seemed to go limp in his arms. He kissed her and she began to cry. As she started to cry harder, one of the men told the other,
"We can't take her out like this."
"I'll sedate her."
"What?" Elliot stammered, "You can't be serious." Olivia's nails were digging into his back.
"We can't have her blowing her cover." He paused, "anymore than she already has." He had a needle in his hand.
"No! No, wait, I don't want to leave! I've changed my mind." She said, succumbing to last-minute panic. She'd been so confident she could handle leaving, but now …She and Elliot had gotten so close, but she couldn't ask him to leave his children. But she wasn't sure right now if she could live without him.
"You already agreed to this, you know it's better for everyone involved if you're 'dead' for a while."
"What if it's not for a while? What if I never get to see him again?"
"You will. This is only temporary." The amount of determination in his voice surprised the room. "We've almost got this guy." Olivia sniffed the last of her tears, she kissed him again.
"I'm holding you to that, Elliot Stabler. I expect you to rescue me from Wisconsin or Idaho or wherever very shortly." She gave him a small smile, which he returned. Her eyes were shining, but no more tears fell. After that brief slip, she was back in control. Olivia Benson, or whatever her name was now, would walk out of here on her own two feet. She kissed him, and whispered "I love you," in his ear. His heart soared, and then crashed as the men reached for her. He kissed her one last time and told her,
"I love you too, more than you know." And he held her until they pulled her from his arms.
Later on, he was still sitting on the bed in her hospital room. He heard the door open, then a familiar voice sighing.
"Elliot, you need to go home." Kathy said as she sat down next to him.
"Thank you for calling me, letting me know where she was."
"She made me promise I'd do it. But there was no way I wouldn't." Elliot grasped his ex-wife's hand.
"It means a lot to me that you did."
"Come on, El, let's go get some coffee. It's time we caught up."
They sat in silence, sipping their coffees, lost in thought.
Elliot was more than a little surprised that his ex-wife had willingly led him to his girlfriend. The one she'd always, and none too quietly, suspected he was having an affair with. He'd seen Kathy a few times since this whole business started, but she'd always been busy. He'd been busy too, shuddering in grief for what he was about to lose.
Kathy had been surprised by his devotion to his partner. Really, she should have expected it. She tried to believe him that the two had held each other off until the divorce had been finalized, but she knew she'd lost his heart a long time ago. She wasn't entirely innocent either, she'd strayed a few times herself. She sighed. There was no way she could keep him from Olivia; no way she could live with herself if she knew she'd deprived him of his last moments with his love. She'd seen the look in his eyes when Olivia had been in intensive care.
"Thank you."
"I'm sorry."
They both spoke at the same time
"You go ahead." Again, both at the same time. This made each smile.
"I'll go. Elliot, I'm so sorry for your loss. I have no idea what you're going to do now, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be there." She laughed at herself, "that is, if you want to talk to me again. I'm the one who convinced her. She was so determined to stay here, to fight this." Kathy risked a glance at Elliot. His mouth was gaping, but he didn't look angry. He sighed.
"It's better this way. This way she's safe from him, he can't get her now."
"This way she's not putting everyone in danger. You were getting threatened too, weren't you?" He was a little shocked at how much Olivia had told her. "Don't worry El, she didn't tell me all these things. I have access."
"Do you do this often?"
"Elliot, you know I can't tell you that." He nodded.
"Yeah, I was getting threats, but nothing big. I wasn't getting kidnapped or having my car explode in my face. I-" Kathy silenced him with a glare. She scrawled something on a napkin and passed it to him. It said 'pq urgekhkeu' he blinked at her, trying to remember their old note code from college. When it's meaning, 'no specifics,' dawned on him, he squinted at his wife,
"Seriously, how long have you been doing this?" She laughed, and started telling him about something their kids had been up to.
The funeral had been the hardest part. His kids had gotten close to Olivia over the years, and he hated to see them hurting. He wanted so badly to tell them, but Kathy was always there to stop him.
He greatly appreciated all the sympathy, because he needed it. He had lost his love, even if she wasn't really dead.
Eventually, Cragen pulled him aside.
"Olivia wouldn't have wanted this, Elliot."
"Excuse me?"
"She wouldn't want you to be moping around like this. She would want you out there tracking this guy down and getting justice. Now, what's stopping you?"
"Nothing, sir" Elliot immediate straightened. Cragen then lifted a box onto his desk.
"Good, now go through this box of evidence and track this guy down." Elliot nodded sharply, took the box and left.
His attitude change was noticed immediately. Fin and Munch jumped in to help him on the investigation, giving him the pieces they'd already found.
Months later, Elliot was coping. He was getting by, he was doing his job. They were getting closer to catching the guy, but they still didn't have him. Elliot had already pissed off two prospective partners. The kids visited regularly, and Maureen and Kathy called several times a week. He put on his best face for them.
Like every morning he called the guys on the stakeout, but today they didn't answer. He called one of the cops who'd been involved.
"They called it off. Sorry Elliot." Everyone in the stakeout understood Elliot's involvement, even if they didn't know the whole story. "Check with the guys doing the wiretaps. Maybe they know why."
"Okay, thanks Pete." Elliot slumped in his chair. He dialed without much hope, and he got the answer he expected: an apology and no explanation.
He was out of leads.
"Hey dad, I found this by the door. Who's Rob Petrie?" Lizzie handed him an envelope. He recognized the handwriting instantly, even after all these years.
"I don't know, sweetie. I'll take it back to the post office today." He ruffled her hair, and she sighed and went off to the bathroom to fix it. He hid the envelope in his jacket. "Come on, kids. You're going to be late for school." He couldn't stop thinking about the letter, wondering what Alex Cabot had to say. He knew the letter was from her.
TBC :)