Title: Genesis

Author: csiphile/redwing

Rating: Strong PG for language

Category: Drama/Angst (E/O)

Disclaimer: Yeah, here is a surprise, I don't own them. I just borrowed em for a bit, I'll return them none the worse for wear…well except maybe Elliot.

Summary: Its all about choices.

AN: This would be my first L&O fic and lemme tell you this is one TOUGH fandom. I have never struggled with a fic so much. Big props to all the writers before me, who inspired me to give it a shot, I hope it doesn't suck. Reviews are, of course, greatly appreciated.

Big thanks to my beta M, she isn't in this fandom, but watches the show and assisted me greatly. Tense, grammar, the whole bit. Thank you.

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Chapter 1: Ultimatiums

Olivia Benson is pissed. Actually pissed doesn't accurately describe her current emotional state. Furious, livid, enraged are better words. Their suspect had the nerve to run- RUN!- of all things as soon as the word "Detective" came out of her mouth. So here she is, running down a wet, dark alley after the guy. This is not what she had planned for the evening. A hot bath had been at the top of her agenda until two minutes before she was ready to leave and a tip came in regarding their suspect's whereabouts. They couldn't let it go; it was a tip from a reliable source, so she and her partner had trudged out to the edge of civility, into one of the poorer neighborhoods in Manhattan. And that's what brought her to where she is now, running steadily, making some ground on her suspect that she is now determined to catch; and he better hope to god Stabler catches up quick before she puts the suspect in a world of hurt for this maneuver.

She knows her partner is right behind her, so she doesn't hesitate when the suspect makes a sharp left into an abandoned warehouse. She follows, coming to a stop just inside the door and moves more hesitantly now. The warehouse is massive and dark, dead of night dark. The only light is filtering in through plywood haphazardly screwed over broken in windows.

"Shit," she thinks and looks to see Elliot on the phone, stepping into the warehouse behind her. Backup. What should have been an easy collar is turning into a SNAFU of the worst kind that requires beat cops to help them. Christ. Now she is angrier and more determined. There is NO way she is allowing a suspect to escape her after all this.

Gun drawn she moves forward slowly, she sees movement on her left side and quickly bolts in that direction. The suspect wasn't armed when he took off, of that she is confident. Getting to the position she last saw him, Olivia stops again; she lost him.

Squinting, she looks around carefully. Her eyes have adjusted to the dark somewhat but it doesn't help when she is surrounded by stacks of pallets obstructing her view. Again she hears Elliot approaching her position. She's had enough of this game.

"Billy Marsters! You are under arrest, make yourself known."

Her call is greeted by silence.

She tries again, this time letting her anger come through her words. "Billy, you DO NOT want me coming after you. Trust me." Under her breath she mutters several curses-most directed at the suspect- and sighs when she hears Elliot snicker lightly. A nice hot bath, that's where she should be, not cold, pissed and chasing some asshole that is already wanted for rape and now evading the police.

Again she sees movement; again on her left, but this time she slowly approaches. It's darker back where they are, with no windows at all to let light in. Moving behind a stack of said pallets, and probably out of Elliot's line of sight, she opens her mouth to shout again, but before one word comes out she feels a crack of pain before blackness overtakes her.

The next thing she is aware of is a dull throbbing at the base of her skull… being very cold…and horizontal. Her mind whirs. `What the he—that little shit! When I get my hands on him…' Blinking quickly, she opens her eyes to Elliot Stabler hovering over her with an expression of concern on his face.

"Liv?"

"I'm alright," she says and sits up with some assistance from her partner. Now Elliot is hunched down in front of her, staring at her intently. "Stop staring at me, I'm fine. Really."

He doesn't look convinced so she shifts the conversation. "Where's the suspect? Did you get him?"

He doesn't say anything, but moves slightly, giving her a clear view of the sight behind him: their suspect, handcuffed to a support beam, not looking very conscious himself. Olivia grins and looks at Elliot, who shrugs lightly.

"Nice. Help me up, would you?" she asks, and holds out an arm.

"Liv…."

Cutting him off, she waves her arm and simultaneously speaks. "Just
do it."

She smiles slightly when he stands and holds out his hand to her. Using him for support, she pulls herself up off the floor and is surprised when a wave of dizziness hits, causing her to sway slightly and grip Elliot's forearm for balance. She looks down to try and regain her balance and feels his other arm grabbing her lightly, leading her somewhere. Without speaking, he guides her to sit on a smaller stack of the pallets and stands protectively in front of her, seemingly waiting to see if she will faint so he can keep her from falling too far. Now in the background she can hear their backup and what sounds like an ambulance, very close.

They don't speak; she's sitting on the pallets with her head down, willing the dizziness away, and he's standing close in front of her. Theirs is a partnership formed over almost 7 years of working together. It had started out rough; they were both stubborn-headed people. He was a veteran of the SVU, while she was a newcomer with impressive credentials. He was dubious of her abilities regardless of her solve percent in the two-two. SVU is an emotionally draining department; most detectives didn't last 6 months. It takes a special person to stay and make a difference. It didn't take too long for Elliot to realize that Olivia Benson was one of the special ones. As she had settled into the job, so had their partnership settled into one of mutual respect and understanding. They were at the point now where they completed each other's thoughts, frequently coming to the same conclusion or idea at the same time. Their interrogations were quite an event, and anyone watching was more like a spectator at a tennis game as the two of them went back and forth, grilling the suspect. Even so, they could fight about something voraciously, where each was convinced they were right; some of their better arguments were now precinct lore. Especially the one where she walked out and swore she would be requesting another partner the next morning. Neither is afraid to go at it right in the bullpen in front of a dozen other officers and detectives. In the end, she hadn't requested a new partner and they worked it out as usual (as it turns out she had been right) and they were stronger for it.

"How you feeling?" he finally asks as backup, namely Munch and Fin, come in slowly, approaching when Elliot waves them over.

"Fine, it's gone. No problem." She stands slowly, this time the dizziness gone.

"Ok." He knows better than to press, especially considering her mood earlier.

Elliot watches as the new members of the group look over at the suspect then turn toward them.

"Well, that certainly explains the ambulance request; they are right behind us. What happened?" Fin says and looks at Olivia who looks a little…off.

"Ass ran from us," is her only statement.

"So you handcuffed him unconscious to a pole?"

"You'd have to ask Elliot about that one," she says as she places one hand on her neck, stiffness starting to set in.

"You ok? You don't look right."

This time Elliot answers. "She took a two by four to the back of the head thanks to Billy here."

Fin nods in understanding of Marsters' condition. Partners watched each others backs, which sometimes required a bit of rough handling of the suspect. Fin gives her a questioning glance.

"Yeah, fine. I was only out a minute or two. I'll make it."

Just then the EMTs come in and are ushered back to the suspect's location. He is quickly checked out and loaded up into the ambulance.

Swiftly Olivia and Elliot give their statements to Fin before deciding that typing it all up can wait until morning. As it is, it's already midnight and they had all been up for days looking for Billy Marsters. Now that he is caught and being held overnight for observation, they could all go home and get a good night's sleep.

Getting into their department-issued sedan, Elliot realizes the timeand groans. This isn't going to be good.

"What?" his partner asks as she buckles her seatbelt.

"I didn't call home and tell Kathy I was going to be this late. Though I didn't figure that it would take that much time to haul him in," he comments and starts the vehicle.

"She'll understand. It's happened before."

"Yeah, I hope." What he fails to tell her is that Kathy has really been getting on him lately about working late. So in an effort to keep his marriage in one piece he has been trying to get home at a decent hour so they can at least see each other before Elliot drops into their bed, exhausted. The past week has been bad; every night at the station until 11 or 12, minimum. Since the leads were cold and the case stalled, he had promised an early night that night which, par for the course, hadn't worked out. Now he is wondering if this will start another fight. Elliot isn't sure if he can handle that right now. He's tired, almost as cranky as Olivia, and concerned about his partner who is sitting quietly watching the scenery go by as he drives uptown to her apartment.

The silence in the car isn't unusual; they can go hours without actually speaking to each other without it being tense. But something about this silence isn't right. For some reason he needs to hear his partner's distinctive voice, if only to make sure she hasn't slipped into a coma while he was crossing 7th Avenue.

"Jessica will be relieved," He comments, turning to face her as they come to a stop.

Slowly she turns toward him. "Huh? Oh, yeah, she will. I'll call her when I get home."

"Liv…" he says and accelerates through green.

She twists her head back to the window and takes a deep breath. "For the love of….Elliot, I'm fine. Exhausted and…"

"I was going to ask if you wanted to flip for the DD5," he deadpanned.

Heaving a large sigh, Olivia turns toward him, determined to call him on giving her a line. But one look at his blank expression and she breaks out into a laugh.

"Ahhhh, haven't heard that in a while," he comments.

Just then, he pulls up in front of her apartment complex.

"Thank you," she says honestly, and steps out of the car. But before shutting the door, she adds, "For everything. I hope Kathy isn't too pissed."

"Nah, it'll be fine. Good night, Liv."

"Night," she says and closes the door. He watches her access the outer door before driving away.

Stabler House- 1 am

He quietly enters the house. All the lights are off, save one in the kitchen that they always leave on. Slipping off shoes from his tired feet and shrugging out of his coat, Elliot enters the living room, surprised when a tired voice calls out from the couch.

"Elliot?"

He almost cringes at the sound of Kathy's voice; it's not angry -- concerned maybe, confused for sure. Walking around the furniture, he sees her lying there, clad in a t-shirt and track pants, obviously waiting for him.

"Hey. Come on, let's go to bed," he practically whispers and holds out a hand for her to grab, surprised when she doesn't.

"What time is it?"

"Almost one. Come on." Again he holds out the hand; again she sits and doesn't take it.

"So much for an early night." Her voice is bitter, almost angry, now.

"I'm sorry. We got a tip in at the last minute, but we caught the guy."

"I'm glad, I really am." She pauses and looks at him. "Elliot, we need to talk. This isn't working -- something HAS to give."

"What are you saying?"

"Elliot…sit down." She waits for him to perch on the edge of a chair before continuing. "I'm tired of doing this, Elliot. Of asking you to be home at a reasonable hour but knowing it won't happen. Of seeing you a total of one hour a day if I'm lucky, of raising these kids alone. Something needs to change."

"What do you want me to do, Kathy? I'm a cop, you knew that when you married me…"

"When I married you, you were a beat cop working 4 ten hour shifts plus a little bit of overtime. Nothing like it is now."

"Now I do more than write out speeding tickets and put away purse snatchers. I make a difference now…"

"It's not just the hours, Elliot. You never talk to me anymore. What kind of relationship are we having if we never talk to each other except about the kids? I don't know you anymore."

"You know I can't discuss work."

"Can't? Or won't?"

Elliot sighs. He really isn't in the mood for this discussion again, but he gets the feeling if they don't have it, it will be the end of their marriage. "Won't. Trust me, Kathy, you don't want to hear about what I see all day. I don't want to expose you to it. I've told you that."

"I know, I know….I just can't keep going like this. I'm at my limit, Elliot."

"What do you want me to do? Quit?" Quietly, she shakes her head. "Okay, what else is there besides transfer to another department?"

At that Kathy hangs her head and Elliot knows he has hit on what she wants. A transfer out of SVU. He slowly sits back in the chair, thinking. He can't imagine leaving the unit, his home for over ten years now.

"Kathy, I don't know if I can leave."

"Again…can't or won't? Elliot, I never wanted to do this, but I have to. You need to make a decision."

He knows what she is saying…the job or his family. And being honest with himself, he knows that she has every right. Kathy has been more than patient with this job, more understanding than most spouses would be.

She walks by him and places a light kiss on his forehead. "Think about it. You're a good man, Elliot, but you can't do everything and your family needs you. Night."

"Night," he says as he leans into the confines of the chair and thinks about his choice.

Reasonably he could find something in another division that was fewer hours and not so emotionally draining, especially considering his service record. It was so hard to break up a good team though; the core they had now had been together for 4 years. He couldn't ask for a better Captain in Cragen or a better partner…Olivia.

Elliot sighs loudly. That would be the truly hard part-leaving Olivia. They are as close as partners can be. Closer than most due to the nature of what they see. The thought of leaving her with someone else to watch her back did not appeal to him. He is her protector, and if she ever knew he was thinking that she would kick his ass. He didn't mean her physical protector; Elliot has seen her bring down a suspect twice her size and hopped up on drugs in no time flat. No, Elliot is her emotional guardian at the gate, so to speak. Not even Cragen is capable of seeing the tiniest hint that she is thinking with her heart and not her head. He's just concerned that in his absence, her next partner might not see things as clearly.

Plus, he'll miss her, probably more than he should. While Olivia can be emotional and hard to deal with sometimes, she is probably his best friend, more so than his own wife. She is vivacious, highly intelligent, and when not being so serious about work, an incredibly funny person. Half the crude jokes he's heard have come from her. Plus, she knows how to keep him in line. No partner before her had ever called Elliot on his behavior like she does. Put quite simply, she doesn't put up with his shit. Plus on more than one occasion, he has lost sight of what's important and she's been there to remind him.

On the other hand, he would get to spend more time with his kids, something he wants, but never seems to have, Until Kathy forced him into a decision, he probably never would have thought about changing things. He really can't blame her for essentially forcing an ultimatum on him. She never was given a fair choice about his job; he essentially forced her to comply with his job requirements.

Rubbing his hands on his face, Elliot looks at the clock. Two am. He needs to get to bed to be at work by 8 so they can interrogate their suspect. Slowly he stands, not sure if sleeping will be an option.

tbc…………….