Just a bit of explanation for anyone that hasn't read my stories before. Although this story starts out with its focus on SVU character Judge Elizabeth Donnelly and events from the SVU episode Persona, rest assured it won't be long before the focus shifts to DA Jack McCoy and events from the Mothership's current season. There are also references to events from my last LandO story (Redemption) and a few original characters play important roles in this story (the like Suffolk County EADA I married Jack off to in a previous story). Hope you enjoy and, as always, everything L and O belongs to Dick. This story is for fun, not profit of any kind.
Once the elevator doors opened, Judge Elizabeth Donnelly purposefully strode towards the hallway that led to the office of the District Attorney for New York county.
Over the years, Donnelly had found it to be a rare Saturday morning that her former husband couldn't be found working out the kinks of one case or another in his office at One Hogan Place. As she walked past the reception desk Donnelly abruptly stopped. Although the tenth floor had appeared to be deserted, the sudden sound of voices that came from behind the door that stood slightly ajar, assured the Judge that her instincts hadn't been wrong.
"You know, you wouldn't be committing a crime if you just didn't show up. In fact, after what that man did to you, you might just be avoiding committing one."
"I'm not about to let Donald Shalvoy think he's intimidated me into hiding," Donnelly heard McCoy's raspy voice impatiently respond, as she gently tapped on the door before joining her ex-husband and his current wife standing, who were face to face as they verbally went toe to toe in a conflict Donnelly was all too familiar with.
"Jack, this isn't about showing that scumbag how tough you are. This is about choosing your battles and avoiding conflict until the time is right for you to nail that son of a bitch."
"Actually your daughter would second that opinion, for all the good it would do," Donnelly remarked as the pair turned towards her. "Let's face it Brooke, Jack McCoy isn't exactly known for walking softly and carrying a big stick."
"All three of you are over thinking the whole thing," McCoy impatiently retorted as he moved towards on the clothing rack at the back of his office. "They'll be thousands of people at this ground breaking. I doubt Shalvoy and I will even lay eyes on each other."
"God you're a stubborn man," the auburned haired woman beside him murmured under before reaching for the brown shoulder bag on the end of his desk. "If I didn't have work to do in Islip this morning, I'd be equally as stubborn and go out Westchester County with you," she continued after picking up the bag and turning to Donnelly. "I tried the guilt card...you know… I told Jack now that he's a grandfather, he's a role model all over again, so he should skip this macho bullshit in White Plains and spend the day with his grandson. Maybe as Grandma you'll get further with that argument than I did."
"If he listens to me as much as he did when we were married, I wouldn't count on anything changing Brooke," Donnelly shrewdly remarked as McCoy and his wife exchanged quick pecks, while McCoy shot Donnelly a sardonic smirk. "But I'm willing to try."
"I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed if you came all the way across town just to see me about Shalvoy," McCoy began after the door closed and reached for one of several striped ties resting on the rack.
Instead of firing off another retort, Donnelly chose to turn her back on him and move to study the small collection of mementos and photographs that sat on the cluttered credenza across the room. His ex-wife's uncharacteristic silence told McCoy there was more to this unexpected visit from this first wife than met the eye.
By the time he finished with his tie and moved across the room to join her, Donnelly had picked the smallest item on the work space; a 2x3 photo of a startled newborn with a patch of hair as dark as the curious eyes that peeked out from the simple silver frame.
"Brooke's handiwork, no doubt," Donnelly commented before returning the photo to its place at the back. "I remember how you feel about having anything personal out in plain sight around here."
"I feel even stronger about it now that I've decided to run for re-election," McCoy remarked as he picked up the tiny frame and moved towards his desk. "Brooke knows that but when Becky sent us the pictures, Brooke figured I could keep it in the bottom drawer for those times when I needed reminding of why I haven't quit yet."
"That picture's going to get a lot of mileage then, at least until Shalvoy's term expires," Donnelly mused as she watched him deposit the picture into the deep drawer of his desk. "A lot of responsibility to put on those little shoulders… keeping Grandpa's morale up. But, he already has your stubborn streak, so… The last time I saw Becky she told me-"
"Liz, as much as I'd love to stand here and swap stories about our perfect grandchild with you, I have to catch a train. Besides," he continued with a knowing smile. "I suspect you have another reason for wasting a Saturday morning in the company of your ex-husband."
Donnelly returned the smile as she lowered herself into one of the seats in front of the desk. She knew he wasn't going to like the reason she had come. The current man in her life was less than thrilled, as well. But Donnelly knew, even after so many years, there was no way she could ignore the information that had come to her attention; information that had led her to the office of the sitting District Attorney for New York County.
The information had come to her almost accidently. Rushing around Donald Cragen's 'informally' kept apartment in a futile effort to avoid being late for court after both of them had slept through the alarm. That morning, the last thing the judge planned on doing was taking time to read the morning paper.
But as the couple irritably ranted at one another between quick sips of cold coffee and jockeying for the front of the bathroom mirror, Cragen's remarks about the almost obsessive concern one of his lead detectives had for a key witness turned suspect in a recent case, something clicked in the back of the former prosecutors mind.
Something about the way Cragen described the soft spoken middle aged woman Olivia Benson had made her pet project, sounded an alarm in the back of Donnelly's mind, as she recalled similar feelings for a suspect she had naively allowed to play her. A move she paid dearly for professionally, for more years than she cared to remember.
When Cragen mentioned the detials of the high profile case would no doubt be in thatr morning's paper, Donnelly abandoned the bathroom for Cragen's front door and found the face of the woman she'd last seen more than twenty years before staring back at her from the front page of The Post.
"Liz, we can't fight about it, if I don't know what's on your mind," McCoy gently teased, before his playful smile disappeared and concern began to cloud his eyes. "The only time you usually come to me about anything when our daughter's in trouble, so if there are problems I don't know about with Becky just-"
"No, I didn't mean to alarm you," Donnelly quickly reassured him. "This is a professional visit, not a personal one."
"A professional visit? Something going on with one of my ADA's that I don't know about? If this is anything like that incident with Novak a few months ago-"
"Jack this is about me, nobody else. At least, not the way you mean," she self-consciously continued, before the survival strategies she'd clung to as a ground breaker in the legal world kicked in and she met his confused gaze with a look of cool determination. "I want to come back to the DA's office."