Disclaimer: I do NOT own Law & Order:SVU. All that credit belongs to Dick Wolf and his crew…lucky people. Do they realize how lucky? Anyway, yeah…moral of the story: DOESN'T BELONG TO ME. grins

Summary: What happens when a perp's family member comes in search of his own form of justice?

I'm dedicating this story to Kelly of the midnight dawn because she has inspired me to write my very first SVU fanfic…and she's been oh so helpful. Thanks for helping me Kelly!

Chapter 1:

"Hey Liv," Elliot Stabler greeted as Olivia Benson plopped down at her desk.

She glanced up at him with a bored expression. She mumbled a reply and moved some files around.

Elliot smirked and leaned forward to rest his arms on the hard surface of his desk. "What's eating you?"

"Nothing," Olivia responded curtly, opening an old, random case file, to avoid looking into his beautiful blue eyes.

He shook his head. "Don't think you're gonna get out of this, Liv. I've known you too long for that." He studied the file she was glancing through. "We closed that case weeks ago," he told her softly.

Olivia slammed the folder shut and rose from her desk. "All right, Mr. Know-it-all, if you want to know what's wrong so bad just open your eyes!" she blurted out. Cringing, she realized she just opened a rather large can of worms. Escaping the room, she headed for the one place she knew she could think: the roof.

Why did I react like that? Olivia wondered as she sat on the ledge, staring down at the bustling city. He was just being nice.

Back in the squad room, Elliot tidied up his desk in order to give Olivia time to cool off. Deciding that ten minutes was enough, he glanced around the room before following his partner's path to the roof. Once there, he opened the roof door slowly so as not to startle her.

"Hey," she called out sheepishly. She looked over her shoulder and watched as he came to sit next to her. "Sorry for that outburst back there."

Elliot chuckled slightly. "No problem. Everything okay though?" he asked with concern. He reached out and ran his hand up and down her back in a comforting manner.

Olivia sighed. "Well…yeah…I guess I'm just sick of this current case. For some reason it's really getting to me." She tried not to let it show just how much she enjoyed him touching her. "No child should ever have to go through that."

Elliot nodded. He could understand completely because he thought of his own kids every time. This particular case was about a little five-year old girl who was the victim of child pornography and physical abuse. Every day, they got a little closer to solving it but at the end of the day, there was another roadblock to prevent them from continuing.

"I don't think it's just that though. There's more that's bothering you, isn't there?" he wondered. "I mean, you told me that I should 'just open my eyes.' What are you talking about?"

Olivia sighed, feeling embarrassed again. "I don't want to explain that right now." After a brief moment of silence, she asked softly, "How was your date the other night?"

Could that be what's bothering her? Does that mean she likes me too? He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts. Too? Where did that come from? He blushed slightly as he noticed her staring curiously. "Sorry. Umm, the date was okay," he answered, remembering her earlier question.

Olivia hid the small smile that threatened to spread across her face. He only said okay! He also sounds like he doubts even having the date in the first place. She nodded politely, not wanting to further that conversation. She glanced out across the city again, losing herself in her thoughts.

Elliot touched her shoulder. "Want to ask Cragen if we can call it a day? We could go hang out in Central Park, get some Chinese food…ya know, the good stuff."

She turned to him and grinned. "That sounds like a great idea."