Chapter Text
Olivia squared her shoulders as she walked through the doors of the 16th precinct for her first day with Manhattan’s Special Victims Unit. She’d been vying for this position since the day she joined the academy and it was finally becoming a reality.
But the appeal wore off quickly the second she met her new partner.
“Stabler,” he said, in a gruff voice, barely looking up from the case file and the half-eaten bagel on his desk.
“Benson,” she replied, kicking her bag under the desk across from his and dropping into her seat.
“You’re late,” Stabler said, tearing another angry bite out of his bagel.
Olivia looked down at her watch. Two minutes past eight. Her shift started at 8 a.m. and that was exactly the time she boarded the elevator downstairs.
“Uh, not technically, no,” she said.
“8 a.m. doesn’t mean 8:02,” he said again, finally looking up at her. His blue eyes were icy and cold.
“I don’t control the subway,” she said, knowing she had a bite in her voice. “I walked into the building at 8. Is Captain Cragen really that big of a stickler for the rules?”
Stabler just grumbled something unintelligible under his breath.
They sat in silence for a few moments until his phone rang. He grunted a few syllables to whoever was on the other end before slamming the receiver down, pushing back from his desk, and stomping up the stairs to what Olivia remembered was the bunk room from her tour last week.
Luckily Stabler had been out on assignment or she might have reconsidered accepting the placement right then and there.
“Don’t let cranky balls get you down,” one of the other detectives said as he approached her desk, a man in a smart suit with a braided ponytail who was sticking out his hand to shake. “I’m Fin Tutuola. That over there is John Munch.”
An older man with greying hair and dark glasses gave a wave from across the squad room.
“Olivia Benson,” she said, shaking Fin’s hand and waving back to Munch.
“Don’t take that attitude personal, because Stabler don’t like anyone,” Fin said. “He’s chased off his last four partners and rumor has it he’s about to flame outta the unit.”
Olivia wasn’t exactly surprised, given their introduction.
“What did he do?” she asked.
“He got too rough with a pedo in interrogation,” Fin said. “Almost put him through the two-way mirror. Lieutenant Tucker at IAB is crawling up his ass about anger management and he don’t wanna hear about it.”
Olivia nodded, filing all this information away for later.
“Benson,” Stabler shouted, coming back into the squad room. “We got a case. Time to get going.”
As much as she didn’t want to, Olivia stood from her seat, following Stabler to the elevator and out to the squad car.
“I’ll drive,” she said, sticking her hand out for the keys.
“You don’t even know where we’re going,” Stabler said.
“If you tell me the address I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to figure it out,” she said.
“I’d like to get there on time, thanks,” Stabler said, yanking the driver’s door open.
Olivia had no choice but to get in the passenger side or risk getting left behind at the precinct on her first day.
Stabler yelled at all the other drivers on the road on the way to the scene and cursed traffic. Olivia knew a lot of male cops had tempers, but this was just ridiculous.
“What is your problem?” she asked, turning to him while they were gridlocked at a red light.
“What do you mean ‘what’s my problem?’” he asked.
“Is this whole dickhead thing something you do just to screw with newbies or are you really this miserable?” she asked.
“I’m not miserable,” Stabler said. “This is just a shit job in a shit unit. Doesn’t matter what we do. There’s always another rapist or pedophile lurking around every corner. SVU is dark, Benson. I’ve been here six years and a lot of people don’t have the stomach for it. I give you five months at the most.”
That was the last thing he said to her before finally pulling up to the crime scene, cutting the engine, and getting out with a slam of the door.
Six months later, Olivia was still a proud member of Manhattan SVU, and Elliot Stabler had flamed out, just like Fin said he would.