Disclaimer: Nothing's mine. It all belongs to Dick Wolf.

Elliot goes up to the crib where Olivia is taking a quick nap; they've been working for thirty hours straight and the Captain has ordered her to. She's curled up on her side, above the covers, her hands cupped beneath her cheek as she tosses and turns with what appears to be a nightmare. "Alex," she murmurs. "Alex, please – wake up – say something, baby, please –"

He stands awkwardly in the doorway for a moment, knowing that he should wake her but also realizing how much Olivia will resent it, will resent him, will resent herself for allowing him to see her in such a vulnerable position.

Finally, he makes up his mind and goes to her, gently shaking Olivia awake. "Liv," he whispers, so as not to startle her. "We got a break in the case."

Olivia's eyes fly open and she whimpers, instinctively clutching her pillow to her chest, still half-asleep; as if the pillow is Alex, as if she can hold it close to her heart and it will bring back the one who shattered it into pieces.

"She'll be back," Elliot says softly, measuring each word, offering them to her as if each is a treasure, and they are.

Olivia sits up and shakes her head. "No." And the flash of vulnerability is gone as suddenly as it appeared to begin with.

"She will be, Liv," repeats Elliot. "Someday Velez will be dead and it'll be safe and she'll come back to you. She loves you, Liv."

"Not my Alex," she says, and it takes Elliot a moment before he understands why she's emphasized the my.

She's right, of course. Alex won't be the same, and he knows that, and so does she. It would be foolish to expect otherwise. "She'll love you still," he says, even though in that moment he isn't sure, because he's her partner and it's his job to reassure Olivia when she needs it, and to be there for her when Alex can't be.

Olivia finally meets Elliot's eyes. There it is again, that insecurity ghosting across her features, and her words tug at his heart strings. "Will she?"

Review if you enjoyed this oneshot!