Chapter Text
“Good morning!” Olivia greeted as she walked into the bullpen.
Fin leaned back in his chair, “Morning Cap’n.”
She walked up to him and sipped her coffee, “any leads one the Mitchelson case?”
“Nothing solid yet. I’m waiting for Carisi to get the search warrant for the Professor’s apartment and office. I’m going to continue to call around and check his alibi.”
“Okay. Let me know if you come up with anything.” She glanced over to Amanda’s desk and then back at Fin. “Where’s Rollins?”
He sat up in his chair and stuttered as he thought of an excuse, “Uhh she told me she had to take Frannie to the vet this morning. She should be in shortly.”
Knowing that was a lie she nodded. “Let her know I wanna talk to her when she gets here.”
“Sure thing!” Olivia turned back to her office and set down her things.
She laughed to herself at Fin’s made-up alibi for his partner. She knew exactly where Amanda was. Little did he know, Rollins and she have been seeing one another over the past few months. It was one thing to be involved with a coworker but it was a little different for a subordinate to be involved with the commanding officer of her unit.
There is technically no rule that says it’s not allowed, but it is simply frowned upon for many reasons.
Olivia set up her laptop, got situated, and then walked over to close her blinds. Today was going to be a long day. Not only were they in the middle of a case but it had been over a week since the two had been able to spend more than a few minutes together. Thinking about her “situation” was not helping so she decided to drown herself in work.
Amanda strolled in about an hour later and dropped her things on her desk. “Hey. Anything I need to be caught up on?”
Fin leaned over his desk and glanced behind him towards Olivia’s office. “Where the hell have you been? I had to make up some excuse about you taking your dog to the vet.”
She unlocked her drawer and threw her belongings inside. “Sorry. It’s just been a long week and I had some things to take care of.”
“Don’t tell me. Liv wants you in her office.” He said, turning back to his screen.
Amanda walked towards her office and made a mental note that the blinds were closed. She approached the door and gently knocked, “you wanted to see me?”
Olivia looked up over her glasses and was in awe. She loved the way her hair fell against her shoulders and the way her slacks hugged every curve.
She took off her glasses and stood up. “Shut the door.” She walked to the front of her desk and sat on the edge. Amanda walked her way and stopped in front of her with a smile.
“How did it go?” Olivia asked. Referencing her late-night activities.
Amanda sat down in the chair and rubbed her eyes “I finally got a hold of her. I was out all night scouring motels and I finally found her at the Windsor Motel on 32nd. I checked her into the Kaleidoscope Clinic on 124th to detox and I’ll call to check up on her in the morning.”
“Was she in rough shape?”
Amanda nodded, “her arms were covered in track marks and she looked like she hadn’t showered in days. I just can’t believe she made it all the way here from Georgia and has been here for lord knows how long.”
Olivia knelt down and grabbed hold of her hand, “I’m here if you want me to help. I know you don’t want me involved and I get it but I can’t let something like this affect your job. Let me make a few phone calls and let me see what I can do.”
She shook her head, “Liv, you don’t have-“
“You don’t have to do this alone, Manda. Let me help. I can tell you're exhausted. It’s been almost 3 days and you look like you haven’t slept in 2 of those.”
“I got home at almost 3 am. Luckily Lucy was able to stay.”
Olivia could tell that the detective was exhausted. “Come over tonight. I’ll make us dinner. The kids can play and we can relax after this week we have had.”
“I’d like that.” She whispered, gently intertwining their fingers.
They shared seconds of silence until they were startled apart by a knock at the door. Liv quickly rose to her feet and saw Fin standing on the other side, “sorry to interrupt, but I found something I think you guys should see.”
Both women shared a look and walked out of her office. They approached the screen and watched as Fin explained his findings.
“I was reviewing the crime scene photos. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were missing something with the way her body was found. The way that her hands were tied wasn’t just some everyday knots. I searched the database and it is known as the True Lovers knot. I checked to see if there were any related cases in the last 10 years and I got a hit for a case in Brooklyn. Vic’s name is Melinda Nelson. Reported she was assaulted while leaving a party at St. Francis college. She was drugged and left tied to a radiator pipe in an alley with the same knot.”
“Hold up.” Amanda turned and walked over to her desk. She picked up a file and found the file for their lead suspect Professor Jacobs. “I thought I remember seeing that school brought up in his file.” She quickly skimmed the file over and bingo. “Yep, here it is!. He has a daughter that graduated in 2012 from St. Francis College.”
“Great work! Let’s follow this lead. Go talk to Melinda and see if she recognizes him and get her statement. I have a meeting. Down at 1PP in an hour to see if we can get a replacement in Carisi’s position.”
—
Fin and Amanda geared up and headed down to the sedan. The drive there was quiet. He could tell that something was on her mind. She looked out the window and just watched the buildings pass by.
“Wanna talk about it?”
She turned his way confused, “about what?”
He shrugged, readjusting himself in his seat. “Whatever is bothering you. You have been off the last couple of days and then you were almost an hour late this morning. I don’t mind covering for you but you just have to fill me in so I don’t get us both in trouble.”
Amand sighed and dropped her head back against the headrest. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t keep you in the dark. My sister is back in town.”
“Kimberly? I thought she went back to Georgia to that rehab farm you found for her.”
She threw her hands in the air in defeat, “yeah me too. But I got a call from her 3 days ago and I could tell she was using again. She told me she was here and wanted to meet. All I got was that she was staying in a motel and then the line went dead. I spent last night searching almost 100 motels in the city until I found her passed out in a motel room surrounded by needles and covered in track marks.”
“Jesus!”
Amanda couldn’t help but laugh, “yeah but now she’s detoxing at a center until I figure out what needs to be done.”
The car pulled up to the apartment complex and Fin stopped her from getting out of the car. “I’m your partner. I’m here for you during things like this. I don’t just have your back at work you know.”
“Thanks, Fin, I appreciate that.”
The duo climbed out of the car and headed up to the 4th floor. They stopped in front of apartment 4G and knocked.
“Can I help you?” The redhead answered from behind the chain lock.
“I’m Detective Rollins, this is my partner Detective Tutuola. Do you have a minute to talk?”
—
Olivia walked into Chef Dodds office and took a seat.
“How’s everything at SVU going? Everyone getting along?”
“Yes, Sir! But you already knew that.” She joked.
“You’re right. You run a tight ship over there Benson. I knew when I recommended you for Captain, you would be the one I had to worry about least.”
“Thank you, Chief. I definitely learned from some of the best.”
Dodds leaned back in his chair and smiled, “that you did. That’s why I’m approving your request for 2 additional detectives.”
Olivia was shocked. It was hard enough to get approval to fill Nick's spot when he left let alone get approval for two.
He laughed to her surprise, “I’m very happy with your team's performance. Your division outranks any other SVU sector in the department.”
“I’m happy to hear that. I have to ask, what’s the catch? I’ve never been handed a budget for one detective so easily let alone two.”
He shook his head, ”Olivia, don’t question it. I got the sign-off yesterday from the board and it’s well deserved. No conditions or questions asked. Just continue what you are doing over there.” He stood and held out his hand, “tell everyone I said hi. I’ll stop in sometime and check out the place.”
She shook his hand, “anytime. We’d be happy to have you.”
Olivia turned and walked out of his office. Still, in disbelief, she shot Fin a text to see if there was an update on the interview and headed back to the precinct.
By the time she arrived back, Fin and Amanda had their findings laid out waiting to make a collar.
“After speaking to Melinda she brought up that he had a tattoo on his hand. She thought it was a flower but could be wrong. She also said that he kept whispering to her in French. Something about a thousand suns.”
Fin then took over, explaining what was next. “I pulled up the professor's rap sheet from his DUI and he has a 4 leaf clover on his right hand.”
“Alright! I think we got him. Rollins, Call Carisi, tell him to speed up that warrant, and let him know what we have. I’ll call the Chief and we can head over to pick him up.” Olivia said walking back into her office.
She sat down at the table and saw a text from a number that wasn’t saved in her phone.
“I need to talk to you. I need to explain everything.”
Olivia was confused and quickly responded, “ Who is this?”
Without giving it another thought she called up the Chief and let him know their findings.
2She watched through her office window as Amanda and Fin worked together in their interrogation. But something caught her attention was how exhausted Amanda looked. She watched her question the perp but finally stepped in when she had seen her yawn one too many times.
Turning to her left she swapped Kat in and watched Rollins walk right up to her not taking her eyes off of her.
The minute she shut the door the attitude started, “really Captain. Pull me out mid interrogation.”
“Rollins, you could barely keep your eyes open. I told you I wouldn’t interfere until it started affecting your job. Go get an hour or two of sleep in the cribs.” She ordered as she walked back to her desk.
Without argument, Amanda decided that it didn’t sound all that bad. She gave a simple nod and walked out of her office.
A few hours later the professor was headed down to Rikers after a full confession for both assaults. Fin walked into Olivia’s office to let her know he was headed out for the weekend.
“Great work on this case, Fin.”
“Thanks, Cap. Don’t stay too late. Go home and enjoy your weekend.”
She nodded with a grin. He turned and walked to the elevators. Liv dropped her glasses on the table and rubbed her eyes. Her body was tired. All she wanted to do was go home and open a bottle of wine while enjoying the evening with her love and kids. She packed up her things and smiled when she felt a gentle touch around her hips.
“Does your offer from this morning still stand?” Amanda whispered as she kissed the brunette's shoulder.
“Only if it involves more of that.”
The blonde took a step back and sat down in the chair. “I’m the last one. I'm going to run and pick Jessie up from daycare and then head home to feed Frannie and I’ll be over. Do you want me to get anything for dinner?”
Olivia shook her head, “Noah has wanted spaghetti all week and I promised I would make it for him tonight. If you’re okay with that then I can’t think of anything.”
Amanda stood up and stepped in Olivia’s direction. She grabbed onto each side of her suit jacket and pulled her in to whisper in her ear, “I know you don’t want to mix work and us, but I need you to know that I’ve pictured you spread out on this desk more times than I can count.”
Olivia couldn’t help but let out a subtle moan. Her words went straight between her legs. She ran her hand into the blonde’s hair and glanced in the direction of the door. “You said you’re the only one here?”
She nodded. Olivia gently pressed her lips against her lovers. It was soft and only lasted seconds and then she took one small step away. She shocked herself because she had NEVER done that with anyone she was involved with before. She always separated pleasure and business to ensure no lines were crossed. Today was different, the moment felt right and boy was she glad she did “Don’t be too long. Just let me know when you're close so I can start dinner.”
Amanda smiled, “I’ll see you soon.”
Olivia walked down the hall after locking up and couldn’t help but turn around and stare at the empty room in front of her. The last 22 years of her life had been spent in this same office and there isn’t a day that goes by where she wished she was anywhere else. As she waited for the elevator she noticed a familiar face in the cabinet that started it all.
Cragen was the one that helped her mother and worked the case when her assault happened. 26 years later, when she walked into the precinct asking for a job, he knew she would be a perfect fit.
She gave his photo a nod and smile as she stepped into the elevator. She hoped that the only man that she considered a father in her life was looking down at her and proud of her for filling his shoes.
As she rode the elevator down she felt her phone vibrate in her hand. When she looked down and saw the message pop up on her screen it was like her body fell 50 floors and hit the bottom. One simple name that had changed her life so many years ago and that she tried so hard to forget.
Elliot.