Aurora

Summery: This story takes place after the final episode of season nine. New Detective Jordan Aurora has come aboard to take to place of Det. Chester Lake. Captain Cragen is worried though, because she has spent her entire career in the Emergency Serves Unit, better known as SWAT. He don't know how Jordan will handle the victims who, often times, are reluctant to pursue their attackers. Instead of partnering her up with Fin, he decides to move Elliot to Fin and partner Jordan up with Olivia, who he hopes can teach her the ropes of SVU. Things are going fine in their investigation until they realize they may have a serial rapist on their hands who is targeting the gay community. More so than that, Olivia must deal with the fact that she is beginning to have feeling for her new partner that go way beyond professional.

Disclaimer: They only character I own is Jordan Aurora, all others are the creations of Dick Wolf and NBC.

Chapter 1: Welcome to The Special Victims Unit

"Olivia, can I see you in my office please." Captain Cragen said. Detective Olivia Benson looked up from the file she was reading and began to rise.

"Everything alright Capt.?" she asked. She stood in front of his desk while he closed the door then motioned her to sit.

"We're getting a new Detective, to replace Lake. Coming from ESU." he said.

"Emergency Serves Unit, isn't that SWAT? They don't usually just jump over to SVU." Olivia said, regarding her Capt.

"Your right it's not very common but she made a request and they asked me to take a shot with her. Her supervisor tells me she is one of the best cops he's got and that if a job can be done right, she'll do it. I asked you in here because I'm a little concerned with how she may handle the victims and the last thing we need around here are the victims saying we are to hard or have no sympathy. That's why I'm going to partner her up with you for a little while. Elliot is going to work with Fin."

"For how long?" Olivia asked. Her and Elliot had been partners for so long it felt strange to be told she was going to have to partner up with someone else. She didn't know if she altogether liked the idea, especially if it was with someone who could be cold and hostile toward the victims they were trying to protect. She looked up at Cragen, knowing any arguments she could make would likely change nothing.

"I'm not sure really, just until I see how she takes to how things work around here. I picked you Olivia because I trust you to help her if she needs it but not to belittle her if she does anything wrong. We all learn from our mistakes, just make sure she don't make them at the expense of victims."

"I will Capt." She gave him a small nod then headed back into the squad room and attempted to finish reading the file she had been working on.

Just great, I'm stuck teaching some hot head SWAT cop how to handle people who often times are so traumatized they can barely face their attackers. This is going to be just wonderful.

Detective Jordan Aurora walked swiftly down the hall toward the Special Victims squad room. She noticed how the people walked more calmly here then what she usually saw and thought how different this was going to be from her time spent in SWAT, or the Emergency Serves Unit, as it is properly called. Jordan paused at the door and straightened her shield and weapon holster and then pushed open the door.

"Excuse me I'm looking for Captain Cragen. I'm Detective Aurora." Jordan said to an African American man walking past her. He stopped from a moment pointing to a door on the other side of the room.

"His office is over there." he said, then turned his attention back to the file he was reading and walked away. Jordan nodded once to his retreating back then made her way over to the door and knocked twice.

"Come in" called a voice from inside. Jordan opened the door and preceded into the office.

"Hello Captain, I'm Detective Jordan Aurora reassigned from ESU. I was told to report to you today." Jordan said calmly, extending out her hand to him. He returned the shake and sat down, motioning for her to do the same. He shuffled some folders around on his desk before finally picking up a semi large file that she knew must be her own.

"Well Jordan you have quite the record here. Six years in the Marine's, says you joined right out of high school."

"Yes sir"

"Marine's had you pegged for career military but you left to join ESU. Spent eight years there and just recently went for your detective's badge. Say's you requested SVU. I've got to ask why." Captain Cragen said, meeting Jordan's dark grey eyes.

"I decided it was time for a change. They told me there was a spot in SVU, asked me if I wanted it and I said yes. I think I can really make a difference here." Jordan said in a calm voice that reveled almost no emotion. Cragen looked the young woman over, noting her hard stare and the fierce determination in her eyes. Her hair was cut short almost military style but just a little longer and black as night. Her skin was tan and suggested at a Caribbean origin. Well built and noticeably distant he wondered how she was going to handle dealing with their kind of victims.

"Well Detective, welcome to Special Victims. I'll introduce you around." Cragen said standing and walking toward the door. Jordan followed him out, standing by his side as he called the attention of the other detectives in the room.

"People this is our new detective, Jordan Aurora, she will be replacing Lake. Jordan this is Olivia Benson, Elliot Stabler, John Munch and Fin Tutuola."

Jordan nodded her hello's to everyone.

"For right now I'm going to par you up with Detective Benson. I know this line of work is a little different then what you are used to so I just want to see how you do out there." Cragen said motioning to the woman sitting at the desk just slightly to Jordan's right. She nodded again to the Captain and then regarded the woman who was to be her new partner.

"Hello Detective Benson it's nice to meet you." Jordan relied while extending her hand like she had done to the Captain earlier. She let her eyes linger probably a little bit to long on the detective then sat down on the desk butting up against Olivia's.

Olivia handed Jordan a file stating…

"Twenty-four year old female found in an alley off 27th, she was stabbed six times in the chest, raped and sodomized. We got DNA off the rape kit but didn't get a match in the system. Also found a broken beer bottle near the body, I'm thinking that's our murder weapon but I'm still waiting back for the Crime Lab to confirm it." Olivia watched Jordan's reaction as she relayed the details of the homicide to her. Her face remained stone the entire time. It was only her eyes that gave Jordan away. They began to burn brighter with each new detail and Olivia suspected that she was furious, but when Jordan spoke her voice betrayed none of the emotion that was so vivid in her eyes.

"Do was know was she was doing in the alley? Was she dumped or killed there?" Jordan asked. Olivia was taken aback by the calm tone of her voice, wondering how her eyes could look so furious and her voice show none of it.

"CSU says she was killed at the scene. As for why she was down there, we don't know. She was a college student, just finishing her last year over at NYU. Names Veronica Taylor."

"Find anything else at the scene?"

"No that's it. I'm about to go interview some of her friends, want to come?" Olivia asked, thinking now was the time to see what kind of detective Jordan Aurora was.

"Sure but you can drive, I suck at maneuvering in New York traffic." Jordan caught the small smile pull at the corner of Olivia's face and thought briefly wow she's beautiful. Then she shook the thought from her head and followed her out the door.

NYU Dorms

Washington Square Park

New York City.

"Hello Rachel I'm Detective Benson, this is my partner Detective Aurora, we wanted to talk to you about your friend Veronica. What can you tell us about her?"

"She was always nice to everyone, saying hi and trying to make the new girls feel welcome. She went to all of her classes and even started a study group." the girl said, wiping at the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Do you know if she had a boyfriend or someone she was dating?" Jordan asked, handing the girl a tissue.

"She never talked about anyone. Said she didn't want to think about dating till after she finished school."

"Did any boys take a special interest in her. Anyone following her, sending her letters?" Olivia asked.

"Just this one kid, Michel Jacobs. He asked her out a couple of times, she kept turning him down but he would ask again a few days later. Finally she told him that she was gay and he backed off."

"Was she really a lesbian or did she just say that to get this guy to leave her alone." Jordan asked. She was all to aware of straight girls who pretended to be gay just to get a guy to either leave them alone, or notice them.

"No she really was gay. That's why she joined the Reverses, so they would pay for college, her parents kicked her out when she told them."

"She was in the army?" Olivia asked. "Our medical examiner said that she most likely walked with a slight limp, was she still enlisted?"

"No, she told me when she was over in Iraq she got shot in the leg. They let her out on disability because she couldn't pass then physical."

"Did she ever get nightmares or act eradically for no reason?" Jordan asked. Olivia wondered where that question came from.

"Not that I saw. She was always focused and level headed."

"Just one more question. Did you happen to see Veronica the night that she died, did she say were she was going?" Olivia asked.

"Only first thing in the morning on my way to class, are first class building are next to each other. I waved high and asked if she wanted to study with me later. She said she did but wasn't sure if she would be finished with her report in time and would meet me at the library if she could. When she didn't show up I just figured she was still in her room working on her paper."

"Thank you Rachel you have been a big help." Olivia and Jordan both stood and made their way to the door. Once in the hall Olivia regarded Jordan and asked

"What was with the question about her acting eradically? You think maybe she had a wild side?"

"No, I was a Marine for six years, some of the people I served with couldn't handle being back home. They would be ok for a while then all of a sudden it was like they were bipolar, they would take drugs, drink, party for weeks straight and sleep with anyone who came their way. Figured if she was doing that maybe it could account for why she was in the alley, but she don't seem to have the signs I just wanted to double check."

"Oh" They continued walking and Olivia wondered just what made this woman decide that after all this time in the military and ESU to up and become a Special Victims Detective. She realized then that there were a lot of things about Jordan Aurora that she wanted to know, and she couldn't figure out why.

"So where to next Liv?" Jordan asked snapping Olivia out of her thoughts. She looked down at her notebook and then back up to Jordan noticing that her eyes seemed to sparkle with just a hint of blue beneath the grey. Her eyes seemed calmer down, almost tranquil and Olivia had to shake her head again to focus. Jesus what is wrong with me, why am I so mesmerized by her eyes?

"Over to the Library" she finally answered, "Jessica Milburns helps Veronica run their study group, her roommate told me we could find her there."

Jordan just nodded and continued walking. If she noticed Olivia tossing a quick glance at her every so often she made no sign of it.