1. Chapter 1

**So since SVUfiction is down and possibly not coming back which makes me sooooo sad because I had a few of my stories over there, I'm going to post something new for the time being. I know I have other things in progress but I can't get my head around anything old at the moment. So here this is. This is sort of a pre-ep. I'm not sure if it's going to be romance or not. We'll see, I have to write the rest out which isn't going to much more. Anyways. Gah, I'm going to work on IWCT next since I can't upate Cruz. Thanks. :)**

* * *

She rides the elevator up to her apartment riddled with fatigue. All she wants to do is rip her clothes off and soak in her tub for hours.

The day had been the usual. If you call the trial of one of your former colleagues accused of rape the usual. In her line of work, it's more than usual, it's a sick freakin' circus that never seems to leave town.

After she'd finished her paperwork, she had pushed herself away from her desk slowly, tepidly, almost expecting her moment of reprieve to be immediately shot down by another case.

But that hadn't happened and she'd casually told her coworkers goodnight and here she was, moments way from that hot bubble bath she'd been daydreaming about all day long.

As she pushes her apartment door shut behind her, her mind immediately goes back to the trial from earlier that day. She thinks about the accusations there had been against Brian and how Ganzel was such a sleazebag. None of it could be true. None of it.

Those things about Brian made her physically sick to think about. Of course she'd only had a one night stand with him before, never really got to know him closely, but she just felt she would've known if he was capable of raping someone while undercover.

But no, it still didn't seem possible to her. After visiting him in the hospital after he had been shot, she had realized he'd become a different person, albeit a darker one. He had grown profusely since his days in the SVU, but she had immediately felt guilty for the way she had shot him down when they had worked together years earlier.

That's why she had kissed him. Twice. She had kissed him twice in that hospital room because something told her, that if she kept letting people go without letting them know she was sorry, she'd have absolutely no one left.

Cassidy understood. He realized right then and there it was her form of closure, apology, remorse for being so boxed in emotionally, that maybe they could start over new and be friends finally. So, when he'd called her a week earlier to ask for her help on the Ganzel crap that she just wanted to forget about now, she only thought it was the least she could do.

She had sat with him, talked him through it all over again as if he had never experienced court before because he needed reassurance this wasn't going to all lead to him to spending ten years minimum in prison for what he claimed was a set up.

She believed him wholeheartedly at first but while helping him and offering advice and support, she, for the first time, let herself wonder if he truly were guilty. And in that moment in his apartment, with her sitting with him on his couch, she felt reckless. Even when he leaned in to kiss her, she'd felt reckless for going there again.

It' hadn't been that long ago since she'd gotten involved with someone she shouldn't have and here she was again, about to let Brian kiss her again, the first time since his hospital stay. And as he brushed his lips against hers, all those flashbacks from her first year came flooding back and immediately, what they were letting transpire felt completely wrong.

He was a friend. He was someone she had just gotten to know again and this wasn't the way she wanted to go about it. Letting themselves fall into the trap they had let happen fourteen years ago, wasn't the answer and she knew it and he knew because when she had put her palm against his chest, he had immediately lifted his hands backed away. As he stood up and paced around the couch, she could tell things weren't like before.

"I know, I know, Olivia. It's the pressure. I'm sorry for putting this on you. It wasn't my intention."

Sighing, she had run a palm through her longer, brunette waves and stood up. "I know. I understand. I'm here if you need support, but I don't think this is a good idea. Honestly. Let's just get back on track and we'll be fine. How about you call me tomorrow if you need anything."

Even as she offered him support she knew it wasn't a good idea to get this close but she couldn't help it as he nodded in defeat, his left thumb and index finger rubbing at the rough gray and black stubble lining his jaw. "Yea, thanks, Liv."

She smiled softly and turned to leave his apartment and on her way out, she couldn't help but realize what her life had become. And she had no one to blame but herself. She should have never relied so much on having someone always there but not really there.

Maybe then she wouldn't feel so hellbent on trying to figure out who the hell she was. She didn't even feel like herself anymore.

tbc.

**Probably going to be a short 3ish chapter story. I'm not a Bensidy shipper so ... yea, hope you figure that one out. lol. Thanks for reading. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Shades of Sapphire Part II

The water's running in the tub as she brushes out her longer, thick dark hair in front of the bathroom mirror.

As the day replays over and over in her mind, she can't help thinking about the circus this trial involving Cassidy is going to be in the oncoming days.

She had trusted him years ago when he was trying to just make it by in the unit, but now, she just isn't sure.

She wants to believe him but there's this niggling in the back of her mind that tells her something just isn't as it seems.

With the thoughts still floating around her mind, she pulls off her robe and starts to get into the shower just as she hears her cell phone ringing from the living room table.

Sighing exasperatedly, she grabs her robe and pulls it back on while at the same time thinking about just letting it ring.

But work quickly enters her mind and she realizes even after her mentally exhausting day, she's still on call as usual.

Before she gets to the phone, it stops ringing and as she trudges toward the device on the table, the voice-mail chime goes off.

She picks up the phone and presses the key for the voice-mail and sure enough it's her boss's voice on the other end.

"Detective, this is your captain. Uh, not sure why you didn't pick up, but this is an important message so listen carefully."

She hears him take a deep breath before he continues in his authoritative voice and her demeanor towards the call changes instantly, causing her back to straighten.

He never calls her out for not picking up though he's chewed her out in person on occasion so hearing his voice in an urgent voice mail puts her on pins and needles.

"Olivia, I need you to be on alert. About a half an hour ago, we received an anonymous message informing us that a female detective could be in danger. We can only assume this means you since you've been talking to Cassidy. Obviously his covers been blown to these pimps escorting women from all over. This could be a hit on you by Ganzel or one of his men because of what went down with Cassidy and this impending trial or it could be totally unrelated. So, for the rest of the night Fin and Munch will be sitting with you until we figure out if it's a legitimate cause for concern. They're on their way as we sp-"

Before she hears the end of Cragen's message, a gloved hand wraps around Olivia's mouth and her back is pulled up against what almost feels like solid steel.

"Listen very closely," the male's voice reverberates in her ear. "You've gotta stay quiet. You hear me?"

Breathing heavily through her nose, she barely nods in fear as she tries to end the message and dial emergency 911 before he sees.

Realizing what's she's doing, the man quickly yanks the phone from her hand and ends the call before she presses send.

"What are you doing? You trying to kill us both?"

The strange voice sounds oddly familiar but the adrenaline running through her trembling body overpowers the familiarity.

As she thinks of a way to turn around the situation, she knows there's no easy way out of this.

Judging by Cragen's concern on the phone, Munch or Fin should be arriving any minute, or second.

But when silence pervades the dark apartment, save the silver glow bouncing off the shiny surfaces of her apartment, she prays that this isn't really happening and squeezes her eyes shut.

"Ok, you've gotta listen. First off, if I take my hand off your mouth, you promise not to scream?"

When she doesn't answer, his arm draped around her abdomen squeezes her tighter to his chest and the hand on her mouth tightens on her jaw.

"Promise, or you'll ruin everything and we'll be fucked."

Nodding quickly and urgently, Olivia mumbles against his hand, "Yes, please. Let go."

"Alright then."

When he lets go, Olivia flips around and tries to knee him in the crotch, but he's quick too and turns his hips just in time to catch her by the arm and turn her around again.

Pressing her back against his chest once more, his arms holding hers at her sides, he quickly subdues her with strength she isn't unaccustomed to.

There's something about the way he handles her that makes her think he's trained to subdue and it makes her blood run cold.

"Please, please don't do this." she pleads.

"Olivia," the man prods in a stern voice, the sound of her name coming from his mouth causing her back to tense.

"How do you know my name?" she asks as she stills in his arms.

His breath hits the side of her head in shallow paints as he easily restrains her against the hardness of his chest.

"Olivia please, you have to listen. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to take you away."

After a brief pause, her breathing escalates and before she can think twice, her head whips around and she gets a good look at the black ski mask covering his face.

"Who are you?" she pants out, desperate for this to be just a nightmare but having no luck as she feels the pressure of his chest rise and fall against her back with each baited breath of his.

"Someone who's going to help you," he breathes out.

"Help me with what?" she shoots back.

"I heard what they're planning and I'm never going to let it happen. Not on my watch."

Breathing heavily, she closes her eyes tight before slowly reopening them and turning her head toward the man behind her again.

Fearing he is just playing her and waiting for her to drop her guard so he can take advantage of her, she tries to keep him distracted by asking him the same questions over again.

"What are you going to do? How are you going to help me?"

"I'm going to do what I should've done a long time ago. I'm taking you away from here."

"Where?"

"Just... away. I've got everything figured out. Bart Ganzel and his men have backup all around the city, men who are much more into the underground world than Cassidy and the undercover op knew about. They want Cassidy because he saw something he shouldn't have. And once I heard your name in connection to him, I knew I had to do something."

"How do you know all this?"

"Because, I was one of them..."

Panic flashes in front of her eyes as she pulls his arms from around her and spins in front of him, their conversation having left him off guard.

"You're what? What? Who are you?" she stutters again. Backing away from him, she runs into the wall as he slowly inches forward.

"Look at me, Olivia," he demands. "Really look at me and stop running. I'm not leaving here without you."

Gulping hard, she watches as he tentatively reaches for the black ski mask and starts to pull it over his head.

As each line of his face is revealed, her mouth widens a little more in shock realizing that all this time, the thick material of the mask was distorting the real voice of the man behind it.

Once he's standing there in all his intensity and sincerity, he throws the mask on the couch and looks back at her with the piercing gaze she could never forget, let alone not trust.

"I've been under. I saw things I can never unsee and I've reacquainted with people I never thought I would. And believe me, I never thought I'd even work again, let alone get this far into something."

Suddenly everything makes sense from the past two years and before she can analyze it all too much, she remembers they're on borrowed time.

Still frozen from the face staring back at her, she breathes out a heavy breath before concentrating on his words, knowing now, there's no way that this isn't bad if after all this time, he's back here and ready to leave everything behind.

If he says she needs to get out, she believes him.

"You didn't answer my question. Where are we going... and when?"

tbc.


End file.
