HEIR APPARENT

BY: LOREAL

I own nothing of Law And Order Special Victims Unit. Show Creator Dick Wolf and others have the exclusive rights; I'm only borrowing the characters for a bit of fun… This story takes place in the present, but Declan Murphy needed his own story… Others will make appearances later, but this is mainly Declan's story. References to "Wednesday's Child," "Gambler's Fallacy," "Spring Awakening," "Girls Disappeared," "Undercover Mother," and several other episodes will be made. If you have not seen these episodes, you will still be able to follow the story, although seeing these episodes will help things to make a little more sense.

Chapter One:

Nine months… Nine long, slow, damned months…

This was the thought running through the mind of the Irish-born NYPD undercover Lieutenant Declan Murphy. He'd been working his ass off for the past nine months, painfully making connections and working his way up the ladder from the lower level traffickers, to Theodoro Juarez aka Angel Perez busted for the murder of a hooker last May, eventually to working with Timmer, finally to working with Johnny Drake, AKA Johnny D one of the most prolific sex traffickers in the last two, maybe three decades. Although Johnny D was infamous when it came to the trafficking circles he ran both in and with, he was far less known to law enforcement both local and federal. Nine months prior however, when the Ellie Porter case had gone horribly wrong and the girl green lit, a comment his number two Olivia Benson had made to him struck close to home for him. Benson had said they should've done a better job, that they'd not done enough to keep Ellie Porter safe from her pimp she was to testify against. Using some connections he'd made over the years, he reached out to gather as much information as he could before he made the call. Benson had been right, but Manhattan SVU just didn't have the resources to go after something on this grand a scale, not without ample resources and backing from 1PP. When he took his leave of absence at SVU, recommending Olivia take his place as acting C.O., he had decided to take the initiative, think big picture as he always liked to say, and decided to take this trafficking ring apart piece by piece. He always took a personal interest in the cases he worked, putting 1,000% of himself into them from start to finish. This one, however, struck a deeper chord with him than most. He wasn't sure why it was exactly. He couldn't pin point just one reason why…... Maybe it was something to do with the fact that Ellie Porter had been used, abused, and trafficked from the time she was maybe 15, 16-years-old; or maybe it was the fact that she'd wanted so much better for her son's life, she was willing to put herself in the path of the lion to try and make a better life for the two of them; but then again, maybe it was now that this child would grow up, never knowing the young woman who'd loved him enough and who had suffered so greatly as a result.

Murphy had been embedded for the past nine months, and in that length of time he'd seen every kind of depravity these inhumane pieces of scum did to the women, girls, and sometimes even boys they specialized in. These were in most cases, nothing more than children who had lived or learned to live very hard lives. It had taken him what felt like forever at times to get to where he was at the moment. Now he was momentarily at the top of the ladder as it were; yet, he knew things could, and likely would, change in the blink of an eye. His goal for the longest time had been to find out who was at the next rung up on the trafficking ladder, then once he got there, learn about every weakness that individual or group had and use it to his advantage, to his endgame of destroying the trafficking ring and rescuing as many of the hundreds of victims as was humanly possible.

In his nearly ten years of working as an effective U.C., Declan had learned to trust his instincts, to take nothing for granted, leave nothing to chance. Declan Murphy – otherwise known in this instance as Bishop, smiled. In this incarnation of his U.C. work, he was now at one of the highest levels of a nation-wide, but more likely international sex trafficking ring. They specialized in everything under the sun and then some. He knew that with Johnny D currently in Rikers awaiting trial, he was now the heir-apparent. He also knew however, even with Johnny D being held without bail, he couldn't simply disband the ring today. Being at the top, he needed to make it look good, play by the illegal book as it were, making things appear as normal as was possible in the current situation.

His appointment to the Manhattan Special Victims Unit was supposed to have ended his undercover career and take him higher up the ladder if he'd wanted to continue climbing. But the last case he'd worked with them didn't sit right with him. He'd come too close to something between the aftermath of taking down the gambling club with Detective Rollins' help at the end of March, and stepping in as C.O. of Manhattan SVU during William Lewis's escape and subsequently taking a 12-year-old girl hostage. Then, the Ellie Porter case had happened, and her pinp, one Augustino Aguilar aka Little 'Tino sent to prison claiming to have been responsible for green lighting the girl. Nobody, not even Murphy, believed Aguilar had the juice to green light one of his own girls. Someone more powerful than him was calling the shots, and Murphy had an overwhelming desire to find out who they were and se that justice was done. His leave of absence as acting c.o. of Manhattan Special Victims Unit and jump back into the world as a u.c. had been in the big picture plan all along. Benson knew some of it, but she definitely didn't have the whole story, not yet. More to the point, she wouldn't have the whole story until or unless it became necessary.

Shaking himself from his thoughts and deep contemplation as was beginning to be his habit of late, Bishop pulled his phone from his pocket. "Time to get to work," he thought to himself as he began dialing.

It took Declan twenty minutes to make the necessary calls and arrangements. Since Selena, Tracy, and Timmer had all been held in jail on trafficking charges, and the brothles they'd all been in charge of no longer operational, he needed to keep things running smooth as silk for Johnny D. Although bound over for trial, word had been leaked from jail that there were some very special shipments coming in over a period of the next two weeks. Johnny D wanted these shipments to be inspected from top to bottom, and any flaws or spillage dealt with appropriately. Even from his jail cell Johnny D was still the biggest shot caller, although it was his number two, Murphy/Bishop who was acting in his stead.

Among other things, Declan also had received word that Timmer needed to be removed from the equation, as Johnny D had accurately believed the fabricated conception he'd been outed by Timmer. Timmer was marked and would eventually be gotten to regardless of the fact he was currently in jail. Declan would've loved to have been done with the whole lot of them… Johnny D, Timmer, Tracy, Selena,… He'd made the statement to Benson that were he given the opportunity, he'd put a shiv in Johnny D and simply walk away. That, however, wasn't as easy to do as it had been for him to say. He needed to think big picture and be smart about the whole thing. There were still too many young girls and boys out there being trafficked; most of them children still.

Rollins' words kept coming back to him. "So can you come in from the cold now?" He missed the blond detective, more than he'd cared to admit to. Amanda Rollins had a hard path to walk, but she appeared to be maintaining the straight and narrow. Declan had a tremendous amount of respect for Rollins, ever since he first met her in the back room of the illegal underground gambling club he'd been trying to take down along with its owners for two plus years. He'd seen more than just a woman in debt to the club for $15,000.00; he'd seen a woman about to hit rock bottom. He'd told the truth later at the end of the case when he'd said one or two venal sins don't define you. He'd also told the truth when he'd told Rollins he believed in the power of redemption.

Letting out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, Declan Reached for his jacket and headed for the door. If he was going to keep up appearances, he may as well make it look damn good.

As he exited his building, he caughtsight of something very interesting… A woman, probably early to mid twenties Declan thought based on the look of her, was coming up the sidewalk holding the harness of what appeared to be a golden lab/golden retriever. That in and of itself didn't seem too strange; after all, this was New York City. People used harnesses all the time with their dogs, whether they were harnesses meant to signify the dog was a working service animal, or that the dog was simply a beloved family pet. The woman stood about five feet two inches tall, obviously bundled up for the bitter cold winter weather in a red wool jacket and matching hat and scarf. The dog seemed to be full of boundless energy as it tugged slightly on the harness. Its golden-brown coat gleamed in the sunlight, revealing the puppy still within the maturing adult body. Tail wagging and feet prancing just a bit, the dog's gaze fell on Declan standing on the front steps of the building. As the woman drew closer, Declan thought she looked familiar but couldn't place her. In his line of work, forgetting a face or a name was unacceptable and often times could get you killed. This woman seemed damned familiar though, and God only knew why. Deciding he needed to know more about who this woman was and why she seemed so familiar, Declan stepped back up to the door of the building he'd just exited and held it open as the woman and her dog approached.

"Here you go Ma'am," Declan said with his most charming smile. "Watch out for that little patch of ice at the top of the steps though." The Irish brogue spilled from his mouth as easily as cream into coffee. He'd been doing this a long time and could slip in and out of his u.c. identities as effortlessly as any master con man.

The woman, now that she was standing less than a foot away from Declan, smiled back. From this distance, he could see the glasses perched on the bridge of her nose weren't prescription as he'd first thought, but instead were very pretty, very stylish sunglasses. Declan stepped aside, holding the door wide as the pair entered the building.

"Thank you," the young woman said. Without another word, she continued on past him not even stopping to shake the snow from her hat or knock it from the toes of her obviously wel-worn boots. Declan kept gazing at her as she moved past him and headed for the stairs. She spoke nothing further as she and her furry companion disappeared up the first flight, then the next. Declan watched her go, still transfixed. He needed to know more about this woman, and he needed to know why in the hell she was so familiar to him.

Acting as though he realized he'd just forgotten something from his apartment, Declan headed for the stairs and began ascending them quickly but with purpose. His apartment was on the top floor, and even if anyone noticed him heading up after the woman and her dog, it wouldn't seem like anything more than his heading upstairs to retrieve something. He could've used the elevator, but then he'd have missed out on what floor this woman was headed to. Three flights into the climb, he began to make some very basic observations.

First, she obviously lived here. Visitors to this building had to be buzzed in or let in by someone. Even though he'd let her in by holding the door for her, she didn't glance at any of the names listed by the buzzers at the building's entrance, nor did she hesitate for a moment before heading straight for the stairs. She obviously knew this building well. Next, Declan noted the large bags of groceries she had dangling from her arms. No visitor would be bringing a dog plus this amount of groceries in one trip unless they lived here. Not in this weather… Then, there were the sunglasses. While they looked good on her and were apparently stylish, the sun wasn't bright enough to warrant the use of sunglasses, not even for anyone sensative to it. Finally, as the woman and her dog reached the top landing, his floor, Declan saw her reach down and disconnect a small key ring from a small pouch connected to the harness. He caught sight of the keys in her hand and the small dots on the one she selected and put into the door lock in front of her. Declan made an inference based on his observations, and in a moment, he knew he was dead on.

An hour later found Declan sipping a hot, large cup of coffee from Starbucks. He was particular about his coffee, and now was no exception. A lot was going through his head at the moment, and he didn't have the luxury of time for sorting it all out. He'd watched the mystery woman and her beautiful dog enter the apartment and disappear behind the heavy, oak door. He still couldn't shake the nagging feeling of how familiar this woman seemed to him or why, and it was driving him beyond crazy. He tried to shake her image from his mind. He had a job to do, and getting caught up in who she was, how or why she seemed familiar to him, and what the whole deal with her was to begin with shouldn't have been part of his big picture. He kept trying to tell himself to snap out of it, get with the program and take care of the job he was supposed to be taking care of… Shutting down Timmer, Selena, Johnny D, and everyone else. Just because Johnny D was behind bars and awaiting trial didn't mean he was out of the picture and completely out of play as of yet. Orders were still being given, messages passed discretely from Rikers to the outside, things Johnny D expected to be done in his absence whichMurphy/Bishop had to do in order to maintain his cover and keep working toward his end game. There was still work left to do. His phone rang. He answered it quickly. "Yes?"

The voice on the other end of the line was brief and to the point. "He knew immediately that his day just became more interesting with a very major change in plans. There was definitely more to this than met the eye, and now he knew he needed help. There was no question in his mind that this mystery woman was part of this somehow, but he didn't know all of it yet. He had to keep his ear to the ground, nose to the grindstone, and learn whatever he could and use it to his advantage. Declan needed help, that was certain. But who? He couldn't pull in any u.c.'s from vice, but there was someone he knew and trusted well enough to work with… But would it fly? He hoped like hell it would. The last time it had, but that had been under very different circumstances. Declan hit the disconnect on his phone and stared at it for only a moment before making a decision. If he couldn't focus on who this mystery woman was, then someone else could… He unlocked the phone with a quick swipe of his thumb over the sensor and opened his messaging app. This was risky he knew, but in the end, he knew she would neither let him down, nor betray him just as he hadn't betrayed her those many months ago.

He typed a quick message and pressed "Send" before he could think too much about it. He hoped like hell Benson would get on board with this even if she didn't know the details. There wasn't time to go through proper channels, and the plan he was formulating needed to be put into action immediately. It was also apparent Benson wouldn't be extatic about what he was asking of her, but there was no other way out of a very tricky situation. Within seconds he had a reply.

"OK," was the single word in the message received.

Declan started up the black escalade and headed in the direction of the appointed rendezvous point. Rollins would be there he knew. He liked the pretty blond detective, and he knew she had her own path of the straight and narrow to try and maintain. When they'd seen each other briefly on Super Bowl Sunday only a few short weeks ago, he'd asked her in general about how things were going. She'd said she hit a rough patch, but Declan being Declan knew instinctively there was more to it than that. He knew full wel she'd hit more than a rough patch several weeks back with the outing of her former Deputy Chief Pattten of the Atlanta P.D. for rape. The complainant in that case, a detective Reese Taymore, had bravely stood up to the chief after she'd been raped by him while in New York for a conference. Rollins, Declan knew, had her own rocky past with the now former Deputy Chief of the Atlanta Police Department. He'd known there was something more to her when he'd been undercover at the gambling club and was trying to make it look for all intents and purposes to those who ran it that he'd subjugated Rollins to performing "below and beyond the call of duty" as he'd put it. When he'd beckoned her to him, telling her she wasn't calling the shots, she'd come to him all be it hesitantly. He knew something must have happened to her in order for her to make the move she'd begun to make up to the point where he'd stopped her cold. No self-respecting woman would have made that type of move unless she thought and felt it was her only way out; the only course of action she had left to take. He'd gone and done some very thorough digging after that and learned quite a bit about Amanda Rollins, formerly of the Atlanta P.D. He had learned things at the time not even Amanda's partner 'Fin or her sergeant knew about. But all those things had come to light during Chief Patten's trial even if Amanda wasn't allowed to testify in open court to speak to the man's abuse of power and past transgressions

He pulled into the parking space and kept the vehicle's engine idling. He wouldn't be sitting here long. In less than60 seconds, the passenger's side door opened and Amanda slipped in beside him.

"Hey Murphy," the smooth, southern accented voice was a welcome sound to Declan's ears. She wasn't hard on the eyes either Declan had to admit. "What's going on? You wouldn't call me out and risk your own cover unless something big was up."

"You're right Amanda," Declan said as he put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking spot. "I need to know something first. How is your case load with SVU right now? Do you have any leeway or are you guys severely short handed at present?"

"Well, you know how busy it gets with our unit, but with Carisi in the mix now as busy as we are he's another man in the field. Besides, 'Liv said it was important; that I was needed again. I'm sure she's not overly thrilled about being a man short, but she knows the deal. You'd never have pulled me in unless you really needed the assistance."

Declan smiled at her from his side of the car. Not only was Rollins pretty, but she was a damn smart detective. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he maneuvered through the busy, New York City traffic.

"That's right," he began, all business. "I do need you; for two things… First, I need your help with finishing what I started with my undercover work in taking down this damned trafficking ring. Unfortunately you'll have to be kept out of sight of some of the players, since Selena, Timmer, and Tracy already know you're a cop. Word travels fast among these guys, and as much as I'll keep you out of sight you are in fact a pretty important part of this now. I'll handle a lot of the face-to-face and other direct interaction with them. But there are a couple other people who don't know you're on the job who don't have anything to do with anyone from the Super Bowl Sunday busts. I've been earning trust for more than nine months here Amanda, and now I find out that there is a new girl, a child yet, aged 11, being brought up from out of state. She's being trafficked, and will be turned out here. You know I'm the heir apparent presently for Johnny D."

Amanda nodded. "Right. I know you've taken over since he's in jail awaiting trial on trafficking charges."

Declan continued. "Exactly. Every trafficker in the northeast is already kissing my ring, trying to suck up to me since I'm now the big boss in all their eyes. We need to get this new girl, make it look for all intents and purposes to everyone else that we, you and I, are working her in the life. But we're going to do it under the pretense that she'll only be used for extremely special requests. Didn't your unit work a case over a year ago where a couple… A heavyset guy in a wheelchair and a woman were promoting kiddy porn among other things? The same case that brought Sergeant Benson into Noah Porter's life?" She nodded and Declan went on. "I recently found out that among being at the highest level of this ring here in the northeast, Johnny D was also very much into the same racket as your couple with the rehomed kids. What we're going to do is appear to make it look like we are continuing this up and to a certain point without actually following through. The girl is key in this Amanda, and now so are you.

Amanda gave him a skeptical look. "What do you mean? Don't you think that's taking it a bit too far? I mean how…"

"No Detective, it's not taking it too far. We're not turning her out. But we can't turn her over to Social Services right away either. It needs to look like we're grooming her for the life, like she's being trained early on. It needs to appear to be something it isn't. This is why I need you. At least part of why I need you. I'll worry about making it look like I'm working her, but I need you to help me. I can't be multiple places at once, and I can't look after this new girl and still do what I need to do. To the trafficking ring it will look as though I'm continuing where my predecessor left off. And then there's something else. Where I'm living, in my building there's a woman… She's got a dog, I think she's blind or in some way visually impaired. And for some unknown reason she seems awfully familiar to me and I can't for the life of me place her. I had heard a while back when I was first earning trust in this game there was a young woman, a girl really, who had been turned out in the life but she wasn't a typical pro. I'd heard about this particular woman, that she had been a very special favorite of Johnny D; that he only used her on very special and extremely rare occasions. This one is completely different from the broken ones you found when you arrested him last month. Then I got a call right before I reached out to Sergeant Benson."

"And you want me to what… Get her out of the life, get information from her… What…" Rollins looked quizzically at him for a moment. She couldn't figure out where Murphy was going with this. Getting the little girl out was one thing, but where did this woman come into play? Why was she so important to him?

"I want you to find out everything you can about this young woman. I want to know everything about her, how much she knows about Johnny D and his business. There's a possibility that if she is indeed as special and important to him as I think she may be, she'll be the key to taking down this whole God-forsaken ring once and for all. In undercover work, there are times where you have to color outside the lines in order to achieve your end game. This is definitely one of those times."

Rollins thought on it for a moment before saying anything. There was a lot to consider here. Murphy was asking her to be, at least the way she understood it presently, little more than a glorified babysitter and care for a trafficked girl, essentially posing as a madame. On top of all this, she was being asked to tap a potential source to see what, if any, information she might have on Johnny D and how it may or may not help to bring the biggest nationwide trafficking ring crashing down to nothing. The idea of all these trafficked children, and yes that was indeed what so many of them were, disgusted her to no end. The thought of the children from that case little more than a year ago still haunted her. The three little girls Katie Lyn, Stella, and Maddison still had yet to be claimed and remained in the care of different foster families up state. Noah had finally found a permanent, loving home with 'Liv, and the special needs child, Nicky Moore, who had essentially been kidnapped had been returned to his adoptive parents. The couple, Roger and Alexa Pierson had been arrested on federal charges.

"All right," Amanda began slowly. "I know this is going to sound very trivial, but what do I do about Franny?"

"Your dog… Right?" Without missing a beat Murphy said, "We pick her up, along with any absolutely essential items you'll need to take with you. You won't be returning to your apartment after today, not until this case is over. You're moving in with me. To people in general, it'll look like you're my girlfriend. The girl stays out of sight, so no one will see her unless it's critical for our cover. To the trafficking world, you'll barely be visible." He slowed the car in front of Rollins' building and turned to look at her fully. "I'm in deep Amanda, you have no idea how hard I had to work to get to this point, and I'm not giving up damn near a year's worth of work just because Johnny D is temporarily in Rikers. Make no mistake. I told you and Benson this weeks ago. Don't underestimate him. He's not one you can turn your back on. The bastard's smart, very cautious, and as dangerous as they come. Now let's go."

Rollins reached for the door handle and moved to exit the car. "You're coming in with me?"

"Hell yes. While you get together only the essentials and your dog, I'm going to make it appear to everyone else that you've left for an extended period of time."