Hi guys! Here's chapter 2, hope you all enjoy:)

Thank you!- Elliotcmolivia

2 hours earlier

Mondays are always the same. Olivia wakes up later than intended, making her morning with Noah even more stressful than normal. After getting Noah out of bed and dressed, they worked together to make his lunch and get out of the house.

Finally settled at her desk and most of her paperwork is stacked and organized, Fin softly raps on her door, "Liv, we got a case." Olivia nodded as she followed him out into the bullpen.

"Looks like we're investigating a homicide over on the Lower East, between Hester and East Broadway." Rollins informs Olivia.

"Who's the victim? Are we looking at any suspects?" Olivia could already feel the tension in her temple start, knowing she's about to have a killer headache and it's only 9:30am.

"The victim is 38 year old Aaron Kemper. He heard his neighbors screaming and went over to see what was wrong. Another neighbor informed us he's suspected somethings been up for a while now, he hears screaming every night. It seems like things got out of hand and Aaron was shot. Our prime, and only suspect, Is 34 year old Gavin Levine. His wife Kendra watched him shoot Aaron and flee. She claims he hasn't been back to the house since."

"So, domestic violence, and the good samaritan gets shot." Olivia sighs. It's always the good guys.

"According to the brief conversation the police who arrived on the scene had with Kendra, it seems like her husband was a deadbeat. Leaves after Kendra has a baby, no word for 9 years, then shows up out of the blue. He has multiple charges already for public intoxication, resisting arrest, misdomentiars, DUIs, you name it. He has it. Not to mention multiple calls a day from concerned neighbors. Seems like everyone else knew what was happening to Kendra and her son, yet no one but Aaron had stood up to him before." Rollins continues, smoothing a hand over her face.

"So this man came back after 9 years, loses his temper, pulls a gun on someone, then runs?" Olivia questions.

"Liv, I just looked into those charges and Stabler had responded to one of the domestic violence calls. The charges were dropped." Fin called from across the room where he was hunched over his desk looking at his computer.

Olivia sucked in sharp breath, as time went on, she pushed his memory further and further into the back of her mind. She no longer let herself dwell on him. She stopped thinking about him at their favorite deli, or when she saw they were making a sequel to their favorite movie. She no longer went to the same grocery stores they would stop in together after work. She forced herself to move on, for her own sake. She was never sure what her and Elliot were. What they could have been.

But that was 9 years ago. The past is the past. She thinks about him from time to time, and when she does, she never lets herself dwell too long. Never thinks about the what ifs.

"Cap, do you want Fin and I to take this one? If you have paperwork you need to catch up on." Rollins' voice pulled her Olivia out of the trance she put herself in momentarily.

"No I'll go. Fin, you coming?" Olivia asked as she stopped in her office to grab her jacket.

When they arrive at Kendra's house, she can see the look that Kendra has on her face. The look that every victim gets. "Kendra, I'm Captain Benson, and this is Sergeant Tutuola." Olivia introduced them.

"My son Jack is at school right now, you're thinking I am a bad mother, but he has a counselor there, she can help him more than I can."

"We aren't here to judge you. It can be hard to figure out how to recover after seeing something like that, but kids are adaptable." Olivia paused, "Kendra, can you walk me through what happened that night."

Kendra took a while to answer. She seemed to be contemplating a story. Olivia was worried she may be thinking of a lie to cover for him. "He can't hurt you or Jack anymore." Olivia continued.

"We were getting ready for dinner and Jack, he wouldn't stop playing his video games to come eat. That's when Gavin started yelling. Jack eventually came out of his room, but that didn't calm Gavin. He yelled and yelled, and started slamming drawers in the kitchen. Aaron must have heard that, because he knocked on the door. I answered the door, just a little bit, and told him it wasn't a great time. He told me he knew that, it seemed like it never was. What was I gonna say?" She took a deep breath and shivered a little bit, consciously rubbing her arms and pulling a blanket closer to her.

"That's when Gavin approached the door. I didn't hear much of the early parts of the conversation. Aarons voice raised with Gavins. I had never heard someone match his volume. He said he had called the police. Said they were on the way, and that's when I heard the gun. I grabbed Jack and ran into his room with him. I never even heard Gavin leave the house. The next thing I knew the police were in my house, and Aaron was dead in the doorway." Kendra was now openly sobbing on the couch and Olivia moved closer to comfort her while Fin started looking through the house.

"Kendra, how long was Gavin gone? Why did he come back?" Olivia asked in a quiet voice when Kendras sobs died down to quiet sniffles.

"He left when I told him about Jack. That was 9 years ago. He came back once when Jack was two. He said he was ready to be a dad. He stayed for a week. I hadn't seen him since. That Gavin, the one who shot Aaron, that's not the one I fell in love with. 9 years is a long time. Things change. People do. I loved him. I really did. But time apart changes people. It changed the man I loved. He became drunk. A criminal. No life, no job. People change when you don't have any type of contact with them. You never expect it.

Olivia sat there and thought about what Kendra had said. People change. You never expect it to happen to your own loved ones, but they do. She tries to stop the chills that run down her spine. Hearing his name once today was enough.

Olivia stood up from the couch and was about to offer to help Kendra make some tea for herself, she heard the front door being kicked open and Gavin yelling "The asshole called the cops, where are you bitch?"

"Police! Put your weapon down!" Olivia and Fin had their guns drawn on Gavid but he had a shotgun aimed at Olivia.

"Move now or I'll shoot you both!" Gavin yelled. He waited 10 seconds. Every second lasts longer than the last.

When the 10th second was up, Olivia heard the shot before she felt it. She felt the shot before she heard Fin shoot Gavin and then scream her name as he radioed for a bus. "10-13, Officer Down! Send a bus, Now!" She heard as her eyes began to close. She sees Fin before she feels his hands press down on the bullet wound. Her eyes are starting to close but she's fighting so hard to keep them open.

"Elliot come here for a second." Cragen's voice echoed across the walls of the precinct.

She's standing in Cragen's office waiting for him to come through the door. To meet her, to meet his new partner.

"Elliot, this is Detective Olivia Benson. Your new partner." As Cragen introduced them Olivia couldn't help but take a good look at him. She couldn't wait to start learning the ropes and get comfortable with him, like she's heard partners are supposed to be like.

She remembers the first time she told him about Serena. He had listened to her as she replayed the details of her mother's case. He offered to help, go over the police report with a fresh pair of us, see if anything stands out that Olivia may have looked over.

He told her he's married and has four kids. Told her how he married his highschool girlfriend because he knocked her up. She listened as he tells her he loves his daughter in every aspect of life but he can't help but wonder sometimes. He thinks about the what ifs. Her heart drops at the realization that the growing feelings in her chest were never going to be let out into the open.

She thinks about the first time she had a bad case, one she could relate to. The victim was a product of a rape and her mother had abandoned her and chose the bottle over her. Olivia needed an out that night, she had asked Elliot if he wanted to go sit at the bar around the corner from the precinct. He had listened as she told him stories about her childhood and all of Serena's episodes.

"I'm your partner. For better or worse."

"Look how great you turned out."

"Blink your lights when you get inside."

"You can't pick the vic, Liv"

"I sure as hell wouldn't drive to Queens to save your ass." She chuckles. "Yeah you would."

All the nights spent in the car during stakeouts, all the nights hunched over their desks late at night rushing to finish paperwork so they could get at least two hours of sleep, and everytime they would glance at each other and she would feel a tingle in her stomach.

Gitano was the turning point in their relationship. "What about me?" She couldn't believe Elliot would think for a second she would shoot him, not when he has a family to live for. Not when she needs him as much as they do. Asking Cragen for a new partner hurt her more than she would let on. She couldn't stay with him though, not after what he had said. Not after what almost happened.

Computer Crimes.

Oregon.

Dani Beck.

"You're gonna leave without seeing Elliot?"

"Oh he's busy. I'll catch up with him later. ...Don't tell him I was here."

"Olivia!" She feels herself jerk her eyes open and they start to sting as soon as it happens. "Olivia you need to keep your eyes open. The bus is almost here." She barely hears Kendra standing over her sobbing as she holds onto Fin's shoulder.

"Fin, take Noah, okay? Don't let them take him away, he deserves to be with someone who loves him. Tell him I love him." How she managed to get all of that one in one breath, she has no idea. She can't feel the pain, she can hear the paramedics coming through the door and she hears Fin telling them what happened. She was shot. By Gavin.

'Fin." Olivia chokes out. "Fin please." She manages to get enough strength to reach for his hand as the paramedics load her into the ambulance and put an oxygen mask over her face.

"Olivia, nothing is going to happen to you. You're going to be fine." He's climbing into the ambulance with her, never letting go of her hand.

Olivia started to pull her hand away and bring it toward her face so she could take the mask off. Fin tried to fight her and grab her hand so she couldn't pull it off but knew she'd win. Once it was off Olivia rasped,

"I need him, Fin. I need him. Please." A tear escaped her right eye and Fin watched as it started its journey down her cheek in an attempt to drown out what was going on around them. He knew she wasn't talking about Noah anymore. She was talking about him. The paramedics switch between making sure Olivia stays awake, and counting down the minutes until they pull into the trauma bay.

As soon as they pulled in, Olivia's breathing got worse, and her eyes had closed again and they didn't open in the time they rushed her through the trauma ward and through the doors that Fin was restricted to, no matter what kind of power he had, he didn't have enough to go through those doors.

The first time he hugged her, it was unexpected. The way he went to walk away and then not even a split second later he was turned around and his arms were around her. With tears in her eyes she placed her arms under his and hugged him back, resting her cheek on his shoulder. He almost lost his wife and baby boy that day. But he also almost lost the one person other than his kids that he loves the most.

Buschido led them to the extreme. Nothing they ever thought they would have to face. Olivia pressed up against Elliot half naked. They couldn't hide the obvious arousal, when Olivia was pulled off of Elliot, he felt her squeeze his hand, ever so gently, but he knew. He felt the same.

When Rojas was holding the gun to Olivia's head the only thing she could focus on was Elliot and his gun trained on Rojas. The fear in his voice was so evident it caused Olivia to hear the slight tremble of it. She was the only one who picked up on it. They were good like that. When Porter took the shot sending Rojas and Olivia down, Elliots heart stopped beating. "Liv! Liv are you hit?" She curled her face into his jacket as he checked for a wound. "No, no. the blood is his." She shakes.

Undercover Ops.

"$100 to watch, $250 to join. Each."

"This is my wife, Olivia"

"Olivia can you hear me?" She sees bright lights and it hurts to open her eyes. "Olivia we just brought you into surgery. You were out for a couple minutes. We are getting you an anesthetic, you're going to feel drowsy and then you'll be out until the surgery is over." Her eyes closed once again letting the memories wash over her.

"You're the longest relationship I've ever had with a man."

"Who else would put up with me?"

"My old partner, he'd know what to do."

She was just talking to Carisi about him and Rollins' relationship. He wants to be there for her and his daughters, but she pushes him away and doesn't let him get close to her. Maybe she's scared. Olivia sat up from her desk and walked around to stand in front of Carisi, "I know better than anyone, how easy it is to get close to someone that you're working with." She fell in love with someone she worked with. To think that was one of her "personal rules". She laughs now.

Semper fi.

Elliots badge on the butt of her gun.

"You were mumbling the name 'Elliot' in your sleep."

"Elliot.."

Meanwhile, Fin stood in front of the closed doors waiting for someone to come tell him what the next steps are. Where does he wait? How long is it going to be before he gets an update? He wanders towards the nurses station at the end of the hallway and a brunette nurse directs him toward the trauma waiting room. He sat down in a hard, cold, uncomfortable chair, digging into his pocket for his cell phone.

He called Rollins, who told Kat and Carisi. Carisi told Barba and they are all rushing to get to Bellevue. Next on his list was Cragen. He knew he was with Marge but he's sure Cragen would want to be there as much as anyone else. After explaining to Cragen what happened, he was about to hang up when he remembered what Olivia said to him while in the ambulance. "Cap, she asked for him on the way here. She asked for him." He heard a sharp intake and then silence.

"I got it." Cragen answered softly, dropping the phone call.