Intruder

Ch. 9

The divorce had been finalized within a couple weeks actually, it usually was never that quick and easy, but since they both agreed on everything, and they were living in a smaller town, things got done relatively quickly. Elliot had been staying with Cragen and Olivia, but he slept in the room across from Liv’s. She still didn’t know what to make of the kiss, and Elliot professing his love to her. So she stayed quiet and dealt with it internally. She didn’t know if she was ready for a relationship, not after Dean, not after what happened to her. She really didn’t know what to say or expect or anything really.

He was Elliot for christs sake. Her sweet forbidden fruit. She wasn’t just going to date him, abruptly out of nowhere, no way! 

Olivia Benson had never had a stable relationship before. Of all the men she dated, she had never been able to hold down one single relationship for more than six months at a time. In all honesty she didn’t know how Munch even managed to get married once, let alone three times. She shook her head. No love had never been easy for Olivia. Now however, it seemed that the stars were aligned or… fate or god knows what, but things were looking a-okay in her love life, that is, if she could somehow get herself to be okay with dating again. 

In truth, she was afraid of dating, afraid of intimacy, handholding, cuddling, etc. She was terrified of it. She had flashbacks and moments where she just felt dirty, and then the panic would come back and she would find herself in a full blown panic attack. 

And that’s where she found herself, in the middle of the night. She was sweaty and hot and also cold at the same time, one would think she was going through withdrawal, but it was just a nightmare. 

A silly little nightmare that had Elliot racing into her room hearing her screams of “Stop!” and “Please, Don’t”. The same nightmare that had Cragen up and out of his bed running down the hall to help her, but he stopped, seeing Elliot was holding her, trying to wake her. He stayed close until she woke up, in case she needed him. 

When she did finally wake up, she realized where she was slowly, and who was holding her and calmed down slightly. Cragen saw her change in demeanor and let it be going back to bed. Elliot kept her close to his chest and softly stroked her hair, “You’re alright, I got you.” he whispered to her softly before realizing she was awake, “Hey sleepy head.” he whispered softly. “Sorry I woke you.” Olivia said softly and he shook his head, “It’s fine Liv, I wasn’t asleep anyway.” he said, it was a lie but a white lie never hurt anyone. She rolled her eyes “Oh really, is that why you have dried drool on your mouth?” she smirked and he raised a brow, “Someone’s observant.” he chuckled. “They don’t call me detective for nothing.” she smiled and he nodded rubbing her back slightly. She found that she enjoyed this more than she anticipated. She thought that she might actually like dating a bit as she cuddled closer to Stabler’s chest, breathing in his cologne and sighing contently as she was lulled back to sleep by the sound of his heart.