Olivia walked through her apartment, her high heels clicking on the floor. Her dark jeans fit snuggly on her thighs, and fell to the floor, almost covering her brown, pointed toe heels. She grabbed the red clutch off of the couch before walking back toward the bathroom. She adjusted her hair in the mirror which was straight, and flipped outward at the ends. Her plain white long sleeve shirt hung to every curve of her body, and came to rest just above her thick brown belt.
The buzzer on the wall sounded, echoing through the apartment. Olivia took one last glance in the mirror before walking out of the bathroom and down the hall. "I'll be down in a minute," she said into the speaker before grabbing her brown jacket and walking out of her apartment. She walked out of the doors of her apartment building to find Mark standing in the middle of the sidewalk, holding a single red rose. His strong facial features were tanned and attractive. His dark brown hair was gelled up in the front, and his black button up shirt was tucked into his black dress pants.
"Don't you look handsome," Olivia said walking toward Mark.
"Yeah well, I have to try extra hard when I'm seen in public with you," he said with a smile handing her the single red rose. Olivia smiled taking the rose from him before kissing him lightly. He took her hand in his as they walked down the sidewalk toward the SUV parked on the street. He helped her into the car before walking around toward the driver's seat.
Olivia sipped her wine as she sat across from Mark in the restaurant. "So what are your plans next weekend?" he asked.
"I'm off on Saturday but on Sunday I'm on call all day," she told him. "Why?"
"Because I wanted to see if you wanted to come to Buffalo with me to see my parents," he said as the waiter set their dinners in front of them. Olivia pulled her napkin off of the table and laid it on her lap. "Considering that we've been dating for going on six months now, I thought that I would finally introduce you." Olivia smiled lightly, feeling slightly nervous about possibly meeting his parents. "My mom has been asking me about when she is going to meet you."
"Ok," Olivia said nervously taking another sip of her wine.
"You're nervous," he observed twirling pasta onto his fork. Olivia nodded a little as she took a bite of her salad. "Why?"
"Mark, you know my history with relationships. I don't usually get to the 'meet the parents' stage," she explained.
"And I told you long ago that I didn't care about anything that happened in your past. I care about you, and right now," he said leaning over his plate slightly. Olivia smiled, before taking another bite.
"How did I get so lucky to find you?" she asked.
Olivia sat on the edge of the bed, as she slipped her shoes off. Mark walked into the bedroom, carrying a glass of wine. He walked over in front of her, handing her the glass. She smiled as she took it from him. He leaned down and kissed her lightly. She set the wine glass on the bedside table, before standing up. "Do you have any idea how amazing you are?" she said kissing him lightly. She felt his hand on her jaw as he kiss deepened. He smiled as they parted.
"I think I'm falling in love with you Olivia Benson," he whispered. Olivia's eyes widened, surprised at what she was hearing. She watched as a small smile came across Mark's face before he leaned in and kissed her again.
Olivia walked into the squad room a few days later to find Elliot and John talking by the coffee station. "Morning," Olivia said as she made her way to her desk. She hung her jacket on the back of her chair before walking over to the guys.
"Good morning, Olivia," John said handing her a cup.
"Hey," she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Cragen wants us to go and talk to Erica Johnson's boss at the business firm," Elliot said as he walked passed Olivia toward his desk.
"Ok," Olivia responded as she grabbed a lid off of the stack before walking back to her desk. "Which firm is it?"
"Uh, hold on a minute," Elliot said flipping through his notes. "CLG Marketing Management." Olivia felt her stomach jump, realizing that CLG Marketing Management was where Mark worked. She had yet to tell her colleagues about Mark because she was unsure of how they'd react. "Something wrong?" he asked, as he noticed Olivia's expression change.
"No," Olivia said with a smile. "You ready?" she asked grabbing her jacket off of the back of her chair. Elliot nodded before following her out of the squad room.
Elliot and Olivia walked through the front doors of the building and up to a desk where a young woman was working. "Excuse me," Elliot said showing the woman his badge. "We are looking for whoever managed Erica Johnson."
"Uh, let me check for you," she said turning to her computer. "Miss Johnson worked in the Finance Department so her supervisor would have been Jason Waters," she read off of the computer screen. "Let me call him and let him know you are here." After a few moments the woman hung up the phone and looked up to the detectives. "Mr. Waters isn't in today, but our financial supervisor is available to talk to you. He would be able to answer your questions," she said.
"Thanks," Elliot said.
"His office is on the 5th floor, down the hall on the left," she told them. Elliot and Olivia made their way to the elevators. They walked down the hall and into the office of Mark James, the financial supervisor and Olivia's boyfriend. Mark looked up from his desk to find Elliot and Olivia standing in the doorway of his office.
"Olivia?" he said standing up, surprised to see her.
"You know this guy?" Elliot asked Olivia, confused. Olivia stood silent unsure of how to approach the situation. Seeing that Olivia felt a little uncomfortable Elliot turned back to Mark. "Uh, Detective Stabler, Manhattan Special Victims Unit," Elliot said, showing Mark his badge. "We have some questions about Erica Johnson."
Mark looked away from Olivia to Elliot, he too seeing that Olivia felt slightly uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah. We are all upset about what happened to her. She was a great asset to this company."
"Was she having any problems with coworkers, clients, anybody at all?" Elliot asked.
Mark shook his head. "Erica was dedicated to her job. She got along with everybody that worked alongside her. I don't know a lot about her personal life but I know that she didn't have any problems here." Elliot nodded. "Do you have any leads about who may have done this to her?" Mark asked.
"At this point we are just trying to piece together her life and try to figure out if anyone was out to get her. What were her responsibilities here as far as her job performance?"
"Uh, she dealt with the profit and revenue of certain investments of our clients. She went to different businesses with people from our marketing department t to back up their ideas with numbers. She and Simon McDaniels just signed a two million dollar deal with Phillips Enterprises last week," Mark explained.
"What about coworkers?" Elliot asked. "Did she work with anyone primarily?"
"Sharon Lesby. They usually traveled and did presentations together. I think they got together outside of the office occasionally. She may be able to tell you more," Mark answered. Elliot glanced at Olivia, satisfied with Mark's answers.
"Alright, I think we're good. Thank you for your time," Elliot said as he turned to walk out of the office. Olivia mouthed and 'I will call you later' to Mark before smiling and following Elliot out of the office.
Elliot and Olivia stood in silence as the elevator made their way to the first floor. The elevator doors opened and Elliot walked down the small hallway and outside into the cool, October air. He and Olivia climbed into the car, and Elliot started the ignition. "How do you know the finance guy?" he asked Olivia, looking over to her. Olivia glanced out the window before turning to Elliot.
"He's my boyfriend," she told him. Elliot raised his brow in surprise.
"Since when?" he asked.
"Six months ago," she answered plainly. Elliot's eyes widened as he turned to face the windshield. "I was going to tell you guys but I wasn't sure where this was going, especially since its never really gotten past the three week mark before," she added. Elliot smiled as he pulled away from the curb.
"You like him?" he asked.
"Of course, or I wouldn't be dating him," Olivia said sarcastically with a smile. Elliot laughed lightly as he turned the corner. "He actually wants to take me to meet his parents this weekend in Buffalo."
"And do you want to go?" Elliot asked before slowing the car down to a stop at the red light. He turned to face Olivia.
"I want to go, I'm just nervous about meeting them is all," she said looking over to him.
"It'll be fine. The first time I met Kathy's parents, I was making dinner and burnt the pasta to the bottom of the pot and had to find somewhere to take everyone to dinner in rural Pennsylvania," Elliot said. "Don't stress about it, Liv, you'll be fine." The car behind them honked, causing Elliot to turn back to the road. After realizing that the stop light had turned green, he began down the road again.