Close Calls

Disclaimer: All characters (with an exception of a few) belong to Dick Wolfe, as does the entire show

Summary: Elliot and Olivia both have their secrets, but will they be able to tell each other before it's too late, or will they take their secrets to the grave? Just a warning, this story takes a lot of twists and turns! So hold on for the ride! EO of course! What else would you expect from me!

A/N: Wow, it's been a while since I've posted! I have been so busy this summer, that this story took me almost all of it! I'm moving off to college next week, so the first few updates may be few and far between since things are so caotic around here!

I hope that you all like this story as much as you've liked the last ones. I also hope my same loyal readers stick with me and read this one!

Jealousy

"Special Victim's Unit, Detective Benson speaking." Olivia said into her desk phone methodically.

It had been a slow day at the office, and Elliot and Olivia had been shanghaied into running lugs for Munch and Fin while they were out in the field.

"Oh, hi." Olivia said into the receiver with a smile. Her voice had changed from being professional to being light, and cheery. She turned her chair slightly to allow for a little more privacy.

Elliot looked up from his papers when he noticed the change in Olivia's voice, and strained to hear her end of the conversation when she turned and lowered her voice. He was sure it was her most current boyfriend calling to see how her day was going.

Elliot had been right. On the phone was Kevin, Olivia's newest boyfriend. He was a Lieutenant in the Computer Crime Division of the NYPD. He and Olivia had met while she was stationed there. She thought he was attractive, but having a relationship with him was strictly off limits. Within a few weeks of her leaving the unit he had called her to see how she was doing. He invited her out for drinks, and within a few days, they were dating. Currently, they had been together for a total of three months, long term for Olivia's standards.

Elliot hated it when he called. It wasn't that he didn't want to see his partner happy, it was just that he would have preferred it if she had been happy with him.

"Well, to tell the truth, today has been pretty boring." Elliot heard Olivia say into the phone. "How bout your day?" She asked. "Oh really? Well, that must have been interesting." She laughed.

Elliot envied the way Kevin could make her light up.

"No, I can't say that's ever happened to me." She laughed again. Elliot could only imagine what they were discussing. "No, of course not, I understand." She said, her demeanor changing back to serious. "Go tend to what ever that person is screaming about in the background." She smiled and then paused. "Yes, dinner sounds wonderful. Pick me up around eight." She answered. "See you then." She concluded with a smile.

With that, Olivia hung up her phone, and returned to her task, ignoring the questioning eyes of her partner. She had the feeling that he was jealous of her relationship, but tried to ignore it. Besides, the thought of Elliot liking her were crazy. They were partners after all.

After a moment of silence Elliot finally spoke. "So, you have another hot date tonight?" He questioned.

"Well, I don't know about hot, but yes, Kevin and I are going out tonight." Olivia answered biting on a pen and not looking up from her lugs.

"What's that, the third time this week?" Elliot asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Olivia looked up at that. "Yeah, I guess. Why?" She asked suspiciously.

"Just wondering." Elliot answered quickly. He looked back down at his papers, but didn't read anything. He just stared at them. It wasn't until recently that he had discovered his feelings for Olivia were deeper than partner and friend. After his divorce he pushed her away, but she fought her way back in. He tried dating, and even had a few successful relationships before realizing what he felt for her.

Once they began getting comfortable with each other again, he found himself stealing glances at her, and admiring her beauty. He soon realized that when she was with him, he felt happier, and when she wasn't he wished she was. The day he found himself searching the bullpen for her when he first walked in, he knew he had it bad.

He kept his feelings hidden. He couldn't risk breaking up their partnership, and possibly friendship, by admitting something like that.

When Kevin and Olivia had first started dating, Elliot figured it would only last a few days; weeks at the most. But as the days dragged on, and Olivia only seemed to be getting happier in the relationship, Elliot knew that he was in trouble. Every time he heard the two on the phone, or when Kevin came to pick Olivia up at the precinct, Elliot felt a little piece of himself die. He hated it, but there was really nothing he could do about it.

As Olivia searched her partner's face silently, she could tell something was bothering him.

"El, if there's something wrong you can tell m…" Olivia began, only to be interrupted by Cragen.

"Benson, Stabler, my office." He called from his door.

The two exchanged quick glances before rising from their chairs, almost in unison, and making their way to their Captain's office.

"What's up Cap?" Elliot asked upon entering. Neither Elliot nor Olivia sat, instead they remained standing.

"Are either of you familiar with the Anne Keller case?" Cragen asked from his seat behind his desk.

"Yeah, didn't she go missing from her college a few weeks ago?" Olivia asked as she folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Three weeks ago to be exact." Cragen clarified. "Her roommate last saw her leaving a party thrown by a local fraternity. According to the security guard at her dorm, she never made it home." He added. "They questioned everyone at the party that night, but no one saw anything they considered suspicious. There are currently no suspects; anyone that may have been, have been cleared." He explained further.

"With all do respect Cap, what's that got to do with us? It sounds like a missing persons." Elliot asked, sitting on the arms of one of Cragen's chairs. He too folded his arms in front of his chest.

"Correction, it was a missing persons." Cragen sighed, standing and handing both Elliot and Olivia a file. They each opened their files and glanced at them.

"It seems that this morning a video surfaced on the internet of Anne being attacked by a group of masked men." He said with an exasperated sigh. "People over in missing persons felt we were better apt to handle cases like this, and kicked it over to us. So now, it's your case." He finished.

"Could anyone make out the men in the video?" Olivia asked.

"It's being looked over by computer crimes as we speak." Cragen answered. "I want you two to start there and see if you can get anything."

Over at the Computer Crime unit Olivia and Elliot sat staring over the shoulder of a Detective Sturno. He was looking the video over gruesome frame by gruesome frame.

"So, were you able to get anything from this?" Olivia finally asked.

"You mean besides sick to my stomach?" Sturno asked. "Unfortunately, no." He answered. "Whoever made this video didn't use very high grade equipment. It looks like the camera was out of focus when they made the video, and then it only got worse when the uploaded it to the computer. Sorry Detectives, but it's why too fuzzy and pixilated to even attempt to run the face identification software, and that would be if they weren't wearing masks." He sighed.

"Alright. Well thanks anyway Sturno." Olivia answered, disappointment dripping from her voice.

"Why so glum?" A friendly voice came from behind her. While it made her light up, it made Elliot cringe. It was the voice of Kevin.

Olivia turned and simply smiled at him. She preferred to keep her private life private from the rest of the crowd in the room.

"Didn't get the answer I was hoping for." Olivia answered honestly.

"Anything I can do to help?" Kevin asked, happy to see his girlfriend.

"Unless you can magically make this picture clear enough for us to get an ID from it, no." Elliot answered for her. Olivia may have been dating this clown, but Elliot would have preferred it if she kept it out of work.

"Well, unfortunately I can't do that." Kevin smiled. "But, I'll bet I can tell you where the server that produced this video was based." He said with a cocky grin as he held up a manila file folder.

When Sturno left the room, Olivia let her guard down.

"Kevin, you are amazing." Olivia smiled as she reached for the file.

Kevin pulled it away playfully. "Not so fast." He smiled. "What'll ya give me for it?"

Elliot just rolled his eyes.

"Will you just give it to me?" Olivia smiled.

"How bout a kiss?" The Lieutenant pushed as he waggled his eyebrows.

Olivia blushed intensely. "Kevin!" She scolded.

"Fine, but you owe me later tonight." He teased, handing Olivia the file. He pecked her quickly on the cheek before she could object. "Good luck on the case." He said to both detectives. "And Liv, I'll pick you up at eight." He added over his shoulder as he left the room.

Olivia flipped through the newly acquired file as if nothing out of the ordinary had just transpired. But Elliot was annoyed.

"'How bout a kiss'?" He asked, repeating what Kevin had said to Olivia in a childish, mocking tone.

"What?" Olivia asked, not even looking up at him. "He was just joking."

"Oh come on. He's supposed to be a Lieutenant. Shouldn't he at least pretend to be professional while on the job?" He asked.

Olivia looked at him. "Why the hell are you so jealous Stabler?" She asked point blank. "Is it really that hard for you to see me happy? I mean, I know it's weird that I'm the one in the relationship, and you're the one alone for a change, but really, this is getting ridiculous." She defended, growing annoyed at Elliot's behavior.

Elliot could feel his anger rising. "You think I'm jealous of your happiness?" He scoffed.

"Yes Elliot, I do." Olivia answered, closing the file. She had wanted to talk to Elliot about this lately, and although the Computer Crimes precinct wasn't exactly where she would have preferred doing it, here she was. "And to be honest with you, I'm getting sick of it." She said, annoyance now evident in her tone.

"Well I'm getting sick of having to hear your little mid day chats with the man on the phone every day, and having to avert my eyes while you two flirt and tease while we're supposed to be working." He shot back.

Olivia shook her head in disgust. "You really can't bare to see my happy, can you?" She accused.

"It's not the happiness that bothers me, it's the public displays of affection I have to witness that make me a little queasy." He defended.

"Umm, excuse me, Detectives?" A man called from the door way. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we have a location for that server. You might want to head over there now."

With that both Elliot and Olivia ended their dispute for the time being, and headed out to find a missing girl.

TBC... so stay tuned, we're just gettin started kiddies!

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