With clammy hands, she gripped tightly onto the folders that were held against her chest. She waited outside of the boardroom, feeling the urge to simply run away so she wouldn't have to face what was coming. Her leg bounced against her will, always the telltale sign that she was incredibly anxious. She had virtually no reason to be. Well... besides that one person who would be sitting at the long table loaded with men who looked at her like she was bait in shark-infested waters.

Elliot had talked her through this the entire night before, going over everything she was planning on saying in front of the board. He'd reminded her that whenever she were to feel like she couldn't handle the pressure, all she had to do was focus on him. He would be sitting in the chair closest to her, ready to step in if she needed him.

She wouldn't. She couldn't.

"Olivia?" Elliot broke her out of her racing thoughts, standing in the doorway to the boardroom. "We're ready for you."

"Okay," she exhaled nervously, walking in behind him. There they all sat, regal as ever. The most powerful businessmen in the city. The only thing that truly quelled her fear was the fact that the most powerful one at the table also happened to be the love of her life. He wouldn't let her fall.

She tried not to look on the right hand side of the table, but she couldn't help that her eyes had glanced in that direction. There he sat, poisonous as ever. The man who made her life a living hell.

Elliot cut the silence by speaking first. "You gentlemen remember Olivia Benson. My assistant and floor manager who also headed the Red Light project in its entirety," he said, sitting back down in his seat. "She's here to present the newest data on the project since its launch. Olivia, you have the floor."

"Thank you, Mr. Stabler." She tried her best to exhale her anxiety, refusing to allow them to see her nervous. She handed Elliot the stack of folders, keeping one for herself. "If you could each pass around a folder, inside you'll find the data from the span between the launch of Red Light and now."

"In your own words, how is the project progressing?" Elliot asked, just as they had rehearsed.

"It's been a month and a half since the launch of Red Light. Through the application, we have successfully permitted over 2.7 million women in New York City alone to be a part of the volunteer safety system of Red Light. According to the census, 53% of New York City is made up of women, which puts our statistics of the app at 61% of the female population in New York City have been approved to volunteer."

"Those are pretty decent numbers," Don Cragen, CTO of Stabler Enterprises said as he looked thoroughly through the folder. "How are the reviews so far?"

Olivia's head shot in his direction. "Very well, sir. We have a rating of 4.8 stars on the Apple App Store, as well as 4.7 on the Google Play Store. As for the website, we've received several testimonials from users saying that the app has not only made them feel safer on the streets, but has also been more than helpful with aiding those who felt as if they were in an unsafe situation by pairing them with a volunteer."

"How's it doing nationwide? We have rolled the app out across the country, correct?" William Dodds asked.

"Yes, sir. And in Canada. We are currently working on rolling it out in several European countries as well." Olivia nodded. "We have a slightly decreased demographic in Canada as well as less populated states. However, given that our advertisements were aimed in more heavily populated cities with higher rates of sexual assault, those numbers were to be expected. As you can see on page 5 in your folders, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Atlanta are showing similar statistics to those of New York City."

"What about the funding? The revenue being brought in?" Asked a voice that still gave her nightmares. She looked across the table, spotting Ed Tucker reading the booklet like it was homework that he didn't want to do.

Olivia flashed a rapid look at Elliot and back at Tucker, feeling the air leaving her lungs as if it were being sucked out. She knew this was coming, she had prepped for this. Calm and collected, that's all she had to be. Calm and collected.

"Well, given that the app is free to use and requires no in-app purchases or subscriptions, we rely mostly on advertisers." She tried to speak as smoothly as possible, but as soon as he looked up to meet her eyes, her blood went cold. "In the past month and a half, we've brought in around $50 million dollars - fairly standard and expected number. As the app usage rose, so did the revenue it brought in. We've also received approximately $2.5 billion in donations and outside investors. More than enough to keep the app up and running successfully."

Tucker let out a pathetic huff of a laugh.

"Is there a problem?" Elliot asked, trying not to allow his rage to get the best of him.

Tucker leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other as if it was casual to try to humiliate her. "Donors dry up eventually. Investors pull out. You're very over-confident that the money will keep coming in. There needs to be at least a basic subscription for the service if you expect to keep up."

Olivia readjusted her stance, feeling her voice drop low. "You want women to pay to feel safe?"

"We pay taxes to have a police department, do we not?" he countered, smirking at her just enough so that she could see it while nobody else besides Elliot could.

"That's different!" Olivia felt herself get flustered.

"How so?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Because it's a volunteer based program."

"Maybe you should take a refresher course on that MBA that you hold so tightly because last time I checked, volunteerism doesn't pay the bills." Tucker retorted, all too calmly.

She could see that Elliot was about to interject, trying his best to hold back and allow her to use the same skill that earned her the program to begin with.

Olivia took a moment to collect herself, dropping her folder down on the table in front of her before putting on her best, award-winning bitch face. Her eyes stayed on Tucker. "Would you all turn to page 16 in your folders? There's a highlighted passage I think everyone should take a look at. Mr. Tucker, why don't you read it aloud? You can still read, yes?"

Everyone tried to stifle their laughter as they flipped the pages. With a dark glare on her, he thumbed through the pages until he landed on the right one. He broke the staring contest, looking down to read off the review that Olivia had highlighted.

"For several weeks, I realized that I was being followed home each night from work. Given that I live alone in the city without many friends, there was nobody I could bring into the situation besides the police. They told me that I needed proof that I was being followed and there was nothing they could do. The super who owns my building just put cameras in, however the man following me never walked by them. He always stopped a few buildings away as I went into my home. As the days passed and the man got closer each time, I grew more concerned. One night, I requested a volunteer from the Red Light app. With my volunteer, we walked past my apartment this time to see if he would follow us further. He did. When the police reviewed the footage from the cameras that finally caught him, they recognized the man. He was a convict with a previous charge of stalking and rape. They'd found evidence in his apartment that he had been planning to harm me. This app saved my life." — Jill H.

Tucker read off the review, scowling with each passing sentence. Olivia flashed a quick smirk at Elliot who was already doing the same to her.

"Now, if you wanna read the other outstanding 25,000 reviews from this city alone that are exactly like that in one way or another, I would be happy to print each one off for you." Olivia cocked her head, staring directly at a clearly scorned Tucker. "Volunteering might not pay the bills, Mr. Tucker, however it saves lives. We do exactly what the police can not; we preemptively stop sexual assault. Stories like those that investors and users can read and apply to their own lives is what pays the bills."

"You killed it in there," Elliot grinned from ear to ear as he leaned against the front of his desk.

Olivia sat in the chair across from him, smiling up at him. "Couldn't have done it without you."

"Ah, yeah you could've," he laughed, his arms crossing over his chest. "We rehearsed every line in that report except for the part where you tore Tucker a new one." To say he was proud of her was an understatement. Even though he wanted to reach across the table and strangle Tucker with his own tie, it was quite a sight to see her do it with words instead.

"Well, I may not be able to get him out of here after what he did to me, but I can have my fun with him here I suppose." her shoulders bobbed as she laughed. "It's nice to see him doing the squirming for once."

Elliot didn't move a muscle other than the smile that seemed to grow bigger. "I would absolutely lean over and kiss you right now if I could." His body language was so casual that anyone passing by would only see a boss talking to an employee.

"Yeah?" she asked cheekily. "Well, you should've thought about that before you had the entire main wall of your office made out of glass windows."

He let out a laugh from deep in his stomach. "Yeah, well, I'm thinking about having them replace that entire wall with something soundproof and solid. That way I could do a lot worse than just kiss you in this office."

Her eyes widened as she blushed. "Shut up!" Olivia nearly squeaked. It had been a while since they had done anything more than PG in the office, and even she had to admit that she missed it. She missed the thrill of screwing him in the bathroom where anyone could hear. But they had gotten messy, overconfident that nothing bad would happen. They were paying the price for that now.

"You do live on the top floor so if you truly wanted to, you could just take me up there and have your way with me." she teased back, watching him step away from where he was leaning on his desk and instead sit down in the chair behind it. "And be back by lunch."

"Miss Benson!" he feigned shock. "How filthy of an idea! And during work hours? I could never."

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes with a giggle. "I can think of a lot of worse things we've done. Some of them right at that desk."

He felt heat rising up his neck and towards his cheeks. "Do uh — do you miss it?" he asked, his tone falling into something more sad yet serious. "The fooling around in the office? I know we've pumped the brakes on anything too risky."

She mulled over his question for a moment, debating on whether or not to tell the truth. "Yes and no? I mean, how could I not miss the feeling of the private bathroom's porcelain sink jamming into my ribcage as you fucked me from behind?"

Elliot rolled his eyes playfully at her sarcasm.

"I think I miss being naïve. Thinking that we could get away with anything around here." she hummed in a disappointed tone. "I miss that rush, the thrill I'd get from knowing it was so wrong and it felt so right. I miss the risk. But y'know, after Santorini and the whole Tucker thing, I think that takes the fun out of it."

"We could always find a dirty alley in the middle of the night. Is that enough risk?" he joked.

She snorted at that. "Maybe someday. I'm fairly certain that it wasn't just the risk that makes our sex life great though. I think we could be in our 80's, living in a nursing home and still have our fair share of fun."

His eyes did that insufferably cute little sparkling thing that they always did when he was amazed. "You saying you wanna grow old with me, Benson?"

Her jaw dropped and it was her turn to start blushing. She sputtered to find the right response before diverting to her default settings of sarcasm that came out when she was caught off guard. "Well, given our age difference I think you'll be in a home a lot sooner than I am."

"Wow!" he belted out. His face scrunched up as he tried not to laugh too hard. "The claws are out today! It's 18 years between us, not 63 years like Anna Nicole Smith and J. Howard Marshall."

"Oh hush." she chuckled, aiming to change the conversation. "So, wanna do anything tonight?"

"Kathleen is coming over for dinner tonight. What about tomorrow?"

"So let me get this straight," Monique said, sitting beside Olivia on the couch as they folded their laundry. "You two were having sex in the office, now you aren't, and you're afraid the sex is gonna dry up because of that?"

Olivia scowled as she folded a shirt and placed it in the basket. "I didn't say that. I said that I don't want us to lose the spark. Y'know... the spark that came from being risky."

"So, do something risky!" Monique replied. "It doesn't have to be in the office. Just something that doesn't put your whole career in jeopardy. Adapt and overcome, young Jedi."

"Alex made you watch Star Wars, didn't she?" Olivia grumbled. As she was folding another piece of laundry, she tossed it aside and gave up. "What can I do that's risky but not risky to the point where it'll put my bare ass on the cover of Page Six?"

"You could always find a dirty alley in the middle of the night."

"What is it with people and dirty alley sex?" Olivia asked rather loudly as she raised her arms just to drop them. "I don't wanna get a brick-burn on my boobs. I just wanna do something that isn't in our normal routine before it's too late."

Monique moved the laundry basket off of the couch, giving up as well. "Fine. What's the one thing that's stopping you from screwing in the office?"

"I don't know? People finding us?"

"Exactly." her best friend pointed at her. "So get rid of the people."

"How?" Olivia laughed. "Get on the intercom and tell everyone to go home because I wanna go for a nooner with my boss?"

"No," Monique snorted from giggling too hard. "What time do the janitors leave the building? 10-ish?" Olivia nodded. "So, wait til the clock chimes and then drag him downstairs into a spot that's blind from the cameras and have at it. The place is built like a fortress but I'm sure you could find a place to play 'hide the cucumber' with him."

"It's not that I don't like the idea, but that sounds like something from the sex life of a married couple with kids." Olivia protested.

"Well, sometimes that's what it takes."

Olivia paused for a moment, the cogs turning in her brain before she became slightly mortified. "Wait... is that what you and Alex do to avoid lesbian bed death? Have you christened places in this apartment other than your bed?"

"Do you want a list of places or do you want to rewind this conversation and pretend you didn't just ask me that?" Monique asked in a deadpan tone.

Despite choosing the latter, Olivia shivered as she tried to get the image out of her mind. "Look, I'm not saying we've lost any spark. We still have satisfying, fantastic sex. Sure, we've slowed it down a little bit in terms of intensity, but I just wanna make sure it stays as good as it's always been."

"Well, if after-hours office sex isn't the answer, you two could always go on a little vacay. Hotels or even just different scenery seems to have the same effect of revitalizing the sex that risk does."

"Last time we went on vacation it didn't end well," Olivia reminded her. The last thing she wanted was to step into another pile of trouble. She was already hanging on for dear life as it was, rocking the boat could make everything fall apart.

"At least now you know what to look out for." Monique shrugged. "No more creepy new security guards and stay lowkey. He's probably itching for another getaway with you."

By nightfall the following day, she was back in Elliot's apartment for the remainder of the weekend. She loved Friday nights with him more than any other day. No particular reason she could think of as to why, other than the fact that it meant there was a comforting weekend to look forward to.

On the couch in his living room, she breathed heavily in his ear as he attacked her throat with kisses. Her nails clawed up and down his clothed back, searching for purchase that never came. One thing she would never get tired of was their usual Friday night makeout sessions on the couch. It had a stress-relieving effect on her that she would never understand.

She released one of her hands from his back, moving it to his chin to guide him away from her neck and to bring him to her lips. Her thumb was on his lip as he came nose to nose with her. He sucked her thumb into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the digit as she moaned. Despite being fully clothed, he moved her leg over his hip so he could grind against her.

Her thumb slipped out from between his lips and he returned to attacking her lips with his own. "I wanna taste you," he whispered between sloppy kisses. She felt his clothed erection press against her center, eliciting a whimper from her. "Every inch."

She pulled away just enough to look into his heated eyes. "What's stopping you?" Before she even finished her sentence, she felt her shirt being lifted. Not enough to slip off of her body, rather just enough for him to get the full sight of her bare breasts. He groaned before dropping down to take one of her nipples into his mouth, one of his hands teasing the other one. She couldn't stop herself from writhing underneath him as his tongue lapped at the swollen bud.

She brought one hand up to rest against the back of his head as his tongue swirled around her nipple. She fought against the urge to grip his short hair for some sort of traction. "Elliot, please."

Sensing her impatience, his tongue traveled lower, trailing down to the waistband of her pants. Carefully, he slid his thumbs into the elastic band of her leggings, hooking her panties along with them as he slowly pulled them down. She hissed at the cold air against her wetness. He slipped off the couch, settling himself on the floor between her legs. "In case I don't say it enough, you are so fucking beautiful," he growled. She didn't often hear him do that.

His hands splayed across her inner thighs, pushing her legs apart so he could get a full view of her core. She was on the verge of hyperventilating from anticipation. He licked stripes up her thighs, purposely avoiding where she wanted him the most. Each time his teeth grazed and softly bit down on her skin, she felt a release of adrenaline pour into her. Her nerves were sparking like a livewire as she cradled his head between her legs.

Finally, finally, he slid his tongue through her soaked folds. Her hips rose against her will, meeting his mouth before he pushed her back down and did exactly what he wanted to do; tasted her. Every time he did, he did it because he enjoyed it. Nothing in their sex life was ever compulsory. It was always enjoyed. Valued, even.

She choked out a sob as he sucked on her clit, moving his tongue in directions that she could never predict. Her legs tried to close from the sudden over-sensitization, but his firm grip kept her exactly how he wanted her.

There was nothing she loved more than the moment everything felt as if it was suddenly moving in slow motion. It was always a random moment, always ready to surprise her. The moment when he made her body feel somehow hot and cold at the same time. It was only ever something he could manage to make her feel, and if she could feel it forever, she would.

He lapped at her wetness, seemingly unable to get enough of it. She cried out when she felt his tongue slip inside of her, taking her by welcomed surprise. The moment one of his hands released her thigh, it was similar to a rubber band snapping. Her leg rested against his face, trying to guide him closer. He used his now free hand to dip a finger in with where his tongue was.

The room filled with the sounds of both his mouth devouring her and her own whimpers and pleas. His name slipped out several times with her cries, begging him for more. For more and for harder and for whatever else came to the forefront of her mind. He dipped another finger into her, putting his tongue back to use on her clit.

"I can't," she gasped. "I need to cum. Please let me cum."

"Not yet, he mumbled against her, sending violent vibrations through her skin. Her head fell back against the couch cushion as she thrust her hips upward. "I love how wet you get, Olivia. I can't begin to explain what it does to me." There it was again, the growling. It was as if he was hungry for her and nothing else. A different kind of starvation.

His chin was soaked and the couch would be too by the time they were done. He couldn't get enough of her, he never could. Her taste was addictive. His tongue continued to swirl around her clit, leaving her but an incoherent ball of tension. "Elliot, I'm gonna fucking cum whether you want me to or not!" she yelled, unaware she was even speaking until she heard herself.

His fingers thrust into her faster, picking up speed against the sweet spot inside of her. She knew from the moment she felt it that there was no stopping her body from climaxing.

"Cum for me," he spoke the words that felt like an answered prayer to her. Within seconds, her eyes were screwed shut and every muscle in her body had tensed up. He felt her core tighten around his fingers as he continued coaxing her orgasm out of her. She cried out as she involuntarily bent forward, whiteknuckling the couch cushion as she rode out the incredible high that he had given her.

"Fuck," she whimpered as her body turned to jelly, falling back against the couch. As soon as he started lifting himself up off of the floor, her hands ghosted over his ribcage, guiding him on top of her. Once he was face to face with her, he leaned into another deep kiss. She could taste herself on his lips - always a strangely erotic sensation that she enjoyed. Against her sensitive opening, she felt the hardness tenting in his pants. "Round two?" she asked, completely out of breath.

"Round two." he nodded, his lips still against hers as he smiled.

"Something's changed." Elliot interrupted the blissful silence. Her head was resting against his bare chest, both of them tangled between the satin sheets on his bed. "I'm not sure what, but I get the feeling that you're working through something in your head right now and it's like you can't figure it out."

Sometimes she loved that he could read her like an open book. Sometimes she hated it.

Olivia rolled over, her bare chest on top of his as she propped her head up on her arms. Her eyes met his as he looked down at her, running his fingers through her hair. "I'm just... concerned."

He noted the slow and careful way she spoke. "Okay," he nodded gently. "Wanna talk about why?"

She ran her tongue over her bottom lip in thought, trying to think of the best way to articulate her thoughts. "Our relationship is strained - it always has been from the start. That's just par for the course when you're keeping it a secret. I think we still handle that part fairly well. Now, add into the mix the fact that you're my boss. Then, top it off with a demon spawn board member who is hell bent on causing problems for us and potentially destroying our careers."

He pursed his lips as he nodded. "Yes, I see your point."

She ran her index finger over his left pec "I just don't want it to become too much for us. For a long time, it was just sex. At least, we thought it was just sex. Now we're actually trying to navigate a real relationship. Granted, it's still in secret, but I... I really wanna see this through. I don't want us to lose any of the good parts in the process because of how hard we're trying to balance everything else."

"I know," he pushed her hair back behind her ear. "It's hard to explore the aspects of an actual relationship when it feels like eyes are everywhere in this city."

"Yeah," she sighed. "Maybe it's selfish, but I don't want us to have to sacrifice any of the best personal parts of our relationship for the sake of other people in the business. I don't want the sex to fizzle out and I don't want to miss the chance to actually have the romance we both want."

'Well," he started, sitting up and pulling her naked form into his lap, "then let's remedy this."

Her arms crossed over his shoulders as she grinned. "What do you propose?"

"Well, obviously neither of us wants to come out of hiding with our relationship just yet." She nodded at his statement. "And we can't do much in New York since a few too many people recognize me. So, let's go somewhere else? Somewhere that we can spend some time focusing on just us. No work, no distractions, just you and I."

"Because that worked out so well in Santorini?" she laughed sarcastically.

"Santorini was..." he exhaled deeply, searching for the right words. "I didn't think that trip through. There was too much mixing of personal and professional. It was naïve of me to put us both in a situation like that and expect nothing to happen. This could be different. Purely personal. Skylar can tag along for security instead of bringing someone else in. No leaving during work hours; we have a three-day weekend coming up in a few weeks so we could leave Friday and be back by Tuesday morning. Just you and I on a romantic getaway."

She smirked as she stared into his bright and hopeful blue eyes. "You really think we could manage it? No drama or trauma?"

He chuckled. "Well, for us that might be a stretch. But we might as well try. I've been itching to get out of the city anyway. You know me, I can hardly sit still."

Her nose crinkled as she laughed. "So, where were you thinking?"

"Hmm.. Well, I've always loved Paris during the fall."