A/N - And so a new pet project begins! As most of you probably know, we have a UK L&O franchise called L&O:Uk (which, if I'm honest, I don't like much) but this is my take on an SVU style equivalent. Lots of new original English peeps that I've created myself, but also, and more importantly, Elliot and Olivia are coming along for the ride!

Just a word about Operation Sapphire - it does exist and I'm sure it's detectives are a lot more dedicated than this little lot! Buuut there had to be something wrong with them to justify having E/O action! They'll get better, I can assure you!

Ooh, I've gone back to my very English roots for this one so if anyone needs definitions or even a full glossary I'm happy to do one!

Finally, feedback would be lovely - I'll accept all kinds, nasty and nice!

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LAW & ORDER

Operation Sapphire

In the criminal justice system sexually based offences are considered especially heinous. In London the dedicated detectives who investigate these crimes are members of an elite squad known as Operation Sapphire.

These are their stories.

Laura Jacobs took the station stairs two by two. She was on a five minute break from the CAD room, and she knew Inspector Harris would have her guts for garters if she were late back. When she reached the top floor she knocked but didn't bother waiting for a invitation to enter. The Sapphire boys were not known for their shining hospitality.

She glanced around the office, trying to ascertain quickly where she stood the best chance of getting some assistance. She quickly ruled out DS Derek Carpenter, who had his phone clamped to his ear and a copy of the Racing Times on his desk. The DCI was out, and so that left,

"Paul!" she smiled at the DC Paul Morris, giving it all the flirty action that she knew he loved. She knew him pretty well because he'd puppy walked her when she's joined the nick after passing out from Hendon 18 months previously, just before he'd moved up in the world, quite literally, to join the Sapphire team.

He looked up from his computer, looking at her questioningly, "What do you want Jacobs, I'm busy."

"So I can see." she replied, with a knowing nod in the direction of his monitor on which he seemed to be halfway through a game of solitaire. "Where's your guv?"

Paul clicked off of the card game, and had the decency to look slightly abashed, "He's with the brass. A meeting about something or other. What do you want him for?"

Lara glanced at her watch. 3 minutes left. "I took a call in CAD yesterday. Girl said she'd been drugged and raped. I was wondering what was happening with it?"

She watched as Paul shuffled some paperwork around on his desk until he eventually found what he was looking for, and then she nearly had a fit when she saw what it was. "That's the message I sent up about it. Haven't you called her yet?"

He glared at her, and she realised she'd gone too far, on account of her being a uniform and him being a high and mighty detective. It pissed her off though. She'd taken the bloody call, she'd reassured the poor girl that someone would get back to her and they hadn't. "She seemed upset." she said, wanting him to know why she was giving him grief. "Really upset, and genuine."

Paul snorted, "Yeah right. They're all really genuine. You know there was an article in the paper the other day. Reckoned drug rape is a myth, its all just about drunken slappers putting out and then feeling guilty. This one will be no different."

Nice. Really bloody nice. But she didn't exactly have time to argue with him, not if she was going to get back downstairs and go for a piss before she had to be back on shift. Instead she settled for giving him a withering look, "Look, just call her Paul. It is your job after all…"

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"What did that cocky little cow want?" Derek asked once he'd finished with his bookie and put the phone down.

Paul grinned, "What do all the ladies want mate? A piece of Morris charm, that's what!" He knew it was true. Oh yeah, Laura came up and tried to act all morally superior to him, banging on about the latest calls she'd had on CAD but the fact of the matter was that she was just looking for a reason to be around him. She'd been hot for him since the moment they'd met.

Not that it was going to happen. Sure, she was a good looking piece of skirt, blonde, the way he liked them and did a very nice job of filling out the uniform but he had rules about dipping his nib in the office ink; basically that he didn't. It would have been a convenient way to get laid of that he had no doubt but then there was the awkwardness after and there was no way he wanted her getting all silly and wanting to play footsie in the canteen at lunch times. No way. And she was that type; too intense for her own good. Hence all the banging on about the call he'd not made.

He glanced down at the piece of paper again, scanning the message although not really reading it. She had sexy handwriting did Laura. He picked up his phone and started dialling the number but after 3 digits thought better of it. He looked over at Derek, "Coming out for a fag?"

The call could wait.

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"And where have you been?"

Laura cursed inwardly as Harris jumped on her the minute she walked in. Truth was, she quite liked the Inspector. She was tough as old boots but she was bloody good at her job. Only problem was though she didn't take kindly to tardiness and time wasting.

"I'm sorry." she said apologetically, "I nipped to the lav and I had to go up to Sapphire too."

The Inspector rolled her eyes, "Have you been flirting with DC Morris again? Didn't I warn you about him?"

"I don't think so." Laura snorted, still seething from her run in with Paul, "You were right, he's a bastard. A misogynist bastard."

"A bit harsher than I'd have gone for." The Inspector replied, obviously amused "But I'll run with it if you insist." she looked at Laura curiously, "What's he done to you?"

Laura hesitated. She wasn't the kind to go around landing her colleagues in it. She appreciated the camaraderie of being on the force and knew people wouldn't take kindly to her going to the powers that be behind their back. But, she also wanted to make sure that the girl got called, and by somebody who had an open enough mind to think that she might actually be telling the truth. She sighed, "There was this girl, she rang in yesterday, said she'd had her drink spiked. I sent the message upstairs, cos you know what they're like at answering their phones. Anyway, I followed it up today and it turned out that he's not done anything about it."

"I see." Inspector Harris pursed her lips, looking - Laura thought - like someone sucking a particularly sour lemon. "Well you keep chasing him, although preferably not when you're meant to be in here ok Jacobs? And between me and you, I wouldn't worry too much about the fine gentlemen of Operation Sapphire."

"Why?" Katie asked curiously.

The Inspector grinned, "Well I was in the Superintendents office earlier and I heard a bit of information that is really going to set the cat among the pigeons in that particular department."

"Like what?" She asked, really intrigued now. Much as Paul was a mate, she did like the idea of him getting a wake up call professionally. "What's happening?"

"Can't tell you." The Inspector said with an enigmatic smile, "But you'll find out soon enough."

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"What the fuck?" DCI Max Shaw shook his head disbelievingly, "With respect Sir, you've got to be fucking kidding? Americans? Here? Telling us what to do?"

Superintendent Kingsley shrugged, "I'm sorry Max. This came from the yard. They're not convinced that Operation Sapphire is going according to plan and they're bringing in the big guns."

Max grimaced. Scotland Yard did his bloody head in. It was alright for them in their shiny offices in their big swanky building. Christ, that was where he was meant to be; that had been the whole point in joining the force as a fast track graduate. Fair enough, he'd done the fast tracking bit quickly enough; he was one of the youngest DCI's in the Met but all the same, he wanted more than this. Somehow when he'd joined up with all his big dreams 'the tissue and issues squad' hadn't been quite what he had in mind. He glared at the Superintendent, "And what am I meant to do with these Americans when they arrive? Am I wining and dining them or what?"

He watched as Kingsley glanced through the memo in front of him, "No, it appears from this that they're basically on a month long secondment to your team. They'll work with you as a way of sharing experiences, blue sky thinking if you will, 360 degree appraisal.

Dear. God. Blue sky thinking. 360 degree appraisal. Someone at Scotland Yard had obviously been putting 'corporate buzz words' into google again. Deep fucking joy; as if he didn't have enough on his plate now he had to bloody babysit yanks. Fucking marvellous.

"We can't get out of this?"

Kingsley shook his head, "Apparently not, 3 line whip I'm afraid. I can't say I think it's a particularly good idea myself, but hey ho. What did they say about Americans in the war? Overpaid, oversexed and over here?" he chuckled, only increasing Max's urge to hit him further still. It was fine for him, sat on his arse, just keeping his chair warm until he retired. He wasn't the one who was going to have the yanks breathing down his neck. On which note…

"Where am I meant to put them?" He asked snippily, "Sapphire is operating out of an office big enough for two desks that holds three. I don't have room for two more bodies."

"Ah," Kingsley beamed, "that is the good news. The yard have suggested that you move into the annex. They feel that an almost stand alone premises would be more appropriate, and of course it'll make more room for your new colleagues.

The annex? Stand alone premises? Last time Max had been in there it had been a drafty collection of tiny rooms housing only a pool table, and somewhere in the region of a 1000 lever arch files. If that was good news, he was Kylie Minogue. Still at least his "new colleagues" would be as uncomfortable as he was. Despairing he got to his feet and headed towards the door, only stopping when he reached it,

"Where are they from?" he asked, "These Americans?"

The Superintendent glanced at his memo one last time, "They're from the NYPD. A department known as the Special Victims Unit."

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A Month Later

"I can't believe I've left behind regular sex with my wife for this." Elliot Stabler was sat on the rock hard mattress of his hotel bed looking mournfully around the room at the peeling wallpaper and filthy windows.

His partner, who was stood at the door, shook her head equally as mournfully, "Elliot, I don't even get regular sex and quite frankly I'm on the next flight home. My room is even worse than yours."

Elliot looked at her incredulously, "Not possible."

She nodded, "Very possibly. My curtains look like upchuck."

"Are they covered in actual vomit?" Elliot asked, because at that moment nothing would have surprised him. Olivia moved to sit beside him, looking every bit as miserable as he felt, "It may well be." she confirmed, "Scotland Yard really didn't put money into this project did they?"

He shook his head, "Nope. I mean, I wasn't expecting The Ritz, but I thought it might be better than this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a map of the London Underground, "Where are we again?"

Olivia looked at the coloured lines, until finally her gaze settled on their nearest tube station, "Kings Cross. Now I don't really know much about Kings Cross but it would appear…" she got to her feet again and went to peer out of the very dirty window, "that its famous for its working girls."

Elliot chuckled, "Well now I feel at home. What do you want to do tonight?"

"Cry." Olivia deadpanned.

"Well that's just defeatist." Elliot remarked, "Look, we're not meeting this Superintendent guy until lunchtime tomorrow, and I spotted an Irish Bar just down the block on the way here. Lets go get some drinks. My body's going to need some serious anesthetising if I'm going to sleep in this bed tonight anyway and its got to beat sitting here being miserable."

Olivia wasn't so sure, "We could just go home."

Elliot shook his head, "Absolutely not. Going home is for quitters. And remember what the Captain said. Operation Sapphire needs us."

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