North Star [A Bensler FanFiction]

{2}

Elliot woke up bright and early on Monday morning. He showered and shaved before heading downstairs to make himself breakfast. His morning started out like usual, but he arrived at the precinct later than normal because Lizzie and Dickie threw fits about having to attend school. When he walked through the marked SVU doors, Elliot noticed that Olivia's desk was empty. He assumed she was in the locker room, but after nearly half an hour, he grew worried.

"Does anyone know where Benson is?" Elliot asked loudly, his arms crossed over his chest. Everyone turned to look at the empty desk.

"I was just about to ask the same thing. What about Cassidy? Anyone hear from them this morning?" Cragen asked as he walked from his office. Glances were exchanged, but everyone was on the same page. Olivia and Brian hadn't contacted them over the weekend or called in this morning.

"So they just disappeared?" Elliot breathed, his voice shaking. He was worried that Brian had done something to Olivia. That maybe he hurt her and was now on the run.

"Don't jump to conclusions, Stabler. Why don't you go check out Olivia's apartment and Munch can look into Cassidy's? Okay?" Cragen spoke, trying to keep his squad from freaking out.

"If he hurt her, I will kill him. I can promise that," Elliot huffed. He quickly pulled his suit jacket on before stomping from the room, his face red with anger.

///

Elliot held his phone to his ear as he waited for Olivia to answer his call. Everything but her furniture was missing, and he was terrified. He had searched for a note but came up without one.

"Hey, this is Olivia Benson's phone. I'm sorry to have missed your call, but I'll get back to you soon. Leave your name, number, and a brief message," Olivia's prerecorded voice spoke. Elliot swallowed hard as he leaned against the wall of her living room and figured out what to say. He wanted to plead for his friend to come back, but he was certain that would be a waste of air.

"Hey Liv, it's Elliot. Uh, where did you go? You didn't show up to work and Cassidy didn't either. I'm kinda freaking out because you never ghost me like this. If he hurt you, just tell me. I'll come and get you and break his pretty boy face. Okay? Liv, I love you... Please come home," Elliot rambled as tears slipped down his cheeks.

He slowly hung up as he slipped down the wall and stared at his phone. He kept praying that Olivia would call him right back and tell him that this was all a misunderstanding. 

"Stabler?" John Munch's voice spoke as he tapped the door open with the toe of his shoe.

"Living room," Elliot mumbled, his fingers working overtime to clean the tears from his cheeks.

"She's not here, huh?"

"Nope, and she won't answer her damn phone... The furniture is all that is left," Elliot frowned as he looked up at the older detective.

"It's the same at Brian's apartment. I think they left together."

"No! Olivia isn't stupid enough to be with Cassidy! He isn't good enough for her!" Elliot exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. 

"Maybe he is-"

"Olivia is smart enough to see through Cassidy's fake-ass charm. She is probably just taking a break from work because she's overwhelmed or something. Call her cell and I'll ask someone to track where her phone has pinged. Okay?"

"Stabler, maybe she doesn't want to be found," John breathed as he squeezed Elliot's shoulder. The younger detective turned to face John as hot tears slipped down his cheeks.

"My person just ran away without telling me," Elliot choked out.

///

Olivia tucked her phone into the pocket of her rain jacket as she waited for her boyfriend to pull into the gas station. 

"Hey! Of course, we get the true Seattle weather the day we move here," Brian laughed, as he pulled to the pump in front of Olivia's car.

"The rain is nice. Calming," Olivia replied. She met Brian at the back of his car before hugging him tightly and exchanging a few kisses. As they parted, Olivia's phone vibrated in her pocket.

"Someone calling you?" Brian asked as he started to fill his car's gas tank.

"Uh, Elliot is. He called me, but I just ignored it," Olivia replied.

"You can answer it..." Brian trailed off. Olivia knew he didn't want her to answer the call, because she might change her mind and drive almost three days to Manhattan to be with her friends.

"N-no, I can't. I made the decision to leave and be with you. If I reach out to him, I'll want to go back."

"Do you want to go back?" Brian frowned.

"The hardest part was leaving, and I need to just not think about going back. If I do, I'll be hurting myself. This is my new life. Our new life! We are going to continue to get to know each other, get married, and have lots of babies! Manhattan will be waiting for us if we ever decide to go back," Olivia replied. She walked to where Brian stood before kissing him a handful of times.

He ran his fingers over Olivia's shoulder before smiling gently at her.

"It'll get easier, Liv. Once we get settled down, it'll be like this was our home from the start," Brian breathed.

"We just gotta find a home," Olivia sighed.

"Yes, we do. But a hotel will work for now. Why don't you head to the hotel and check-in? I'll be there soon and we can celebrate our move for a few hours," Brian said with a wink. He smacked Olivia's ass as she walked back to her car.

"If you insist. I love you, Bri," Olivia spoke as she climbed into her car.

"I love you too!"

Olivia drove to the hotel and sat in the parking lot for a few minutes. Now that she was alone, she pulled her phone from her jacket and listened to Elliot's message over and over again. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she doubted her choice to leave with Brian.