Captain Cragen stormed into his team's bull pen, the thunderous look on his face oddly out of place with the relaxed atmosphere he barged in upon.
His already intense glare intensified further as he saw Detectives Benson and Stabler lounging at their desks, drinking coffee and laughing amiably at some joke that Fin had just told.
Scowling, he slammed the squad room shut alerting them to his presence.
The three younger detectives had the grace to look abashed about being caught goofing off, whereas a more seasoned Munch merely twiddled his thumbs serenely.
Rolling his eyes at this, Cragen turned and levelled a glare at both Benson and Stabler, causing Fin to hightail it back to his own desk.
They all knew that look.
"You two" the elder man barked angrily, "my office, now!"
Without waiting to see would his order be obeyed because he knew it would be, the captain strode purposefully into his small office, leaving the door open behind him.
Olivia and Elliot exchanged resigned glances, and wearily heaved themselves to their feet.
"What do we do this time?" moaned Stabler, shooting a quizzical look at his partner, to be met with a blank look in response.
"No idea, probably some screw up of yours that I'm going to catch hell for as well."
Rolling his eyes, Elliot led the way into their boss' office and closed the door behind Olivia.
The elder man tended to yell, and no one else needed to hear about whatever had gotten Cragen so hot and bothered.
The Captain looked up from his desk as his two lead detectives entered, and sighed.
How could two talented and experienced people, still be so much work.
"Front and centre you two, now" he growled furiously, to Elliot's slight surprise.
The captain was gruff as hell with his team sure, but he usually reserved nicer tones for Olivia.
AKA, the favourite.
"Care to tell me why you think you're here?"
A silence descended over the office as both detectives racked their brains for the source of their boss' obvious irritation with them.
They come up blank and looked at each other in desolate confusion.
Elliot took the lead, as usual, to protectively deflect attention away from Olivia.
"No Captain" he murmured, still thinking furiously as to what they'd done wrong.
Cragen leaned back in his chair and glared up at the two standing before him.
"Really? No idea at all, is that right? Benson?"
Looking up, Olivia shook her head slowly in the negative, cringing as she saw the glare becoming even more ferociously glowering as a result.
"No Captain" she answered honestly, echoing her partner's sentiments.
Sighing, Cragen yanked open a drawer in his desk with much more force than was necessary and pulled out a garishly green accordion file.
Holding it up in front of the nonplussed detectives like it was a particularly dangerous explosive, he stared sternly at each one of them in turn.
"Know what this is?"
Two heads shook in the negative in unison as Olivia and Elliot stared in bewilderment at the file being brandished in front of them.
"This" Cragen snarled, shooting a firm glare at both of them, "is the deposition from the Hanford case from two months ago. This is the deposition that you both were supposed to condense and memorise, to be ready for your court appearance to give testimony. Your court appearance…that was two hours ago…that neither of you turned up to."
If a pin had dropped, it would have been heard in each of the partner's souls'.
The intense silence blanketed the office, but this time instead of a silence of confusion, it was a silence of sudden horror.
Elliot vaguely registered Olivia letting out a small gasp of surprise beside him, as he felt his heart plummet down to somewhere near his ankles.
Cragen did nothing to ease his detective's sudden emotional surges, merely opting for looking at them in stern disappointment.
He had known them to be reckless and impulsive.
He had known them disregard and endanger their lives by disobeying direct orders.
However, he had never known them to be simply…incompetent.
"Any explanation you'd care to give me?" he eventually asked, shattering the almost palpable silence.
Again, Elliot, taking one look at the paled Olivia, took the lead.
"Captain…we…we thought that was next week" he croaked out lamely, feeling guilt surge through him, "we…didn't-"
"Do your jobs properly, show due regard to the victim and uphold the integrity of this damned office?" the elder man angrily interjected, feeling his frustrations with the two reach the surface of his temper control once again.
It was a testament as to how guilty Elliot felt, that he dropped his head to the floor and nodded miserably.
Usually, the younger man would argue like hell and talk back vigorously before admitting he was wrong.
This time, any such arguments were painfully redundant.
Turning his attention to the muted Olivia, the Captain barked orders at her to look at him.
Reluctantly, she tore her eyes up from the carpet and he instantly noted the shocked and paled face that stared back at him.
"Anything to say for yourself Benson?"
Biting her lip anxiously, she felt guilt pool in a sickening knot at the bottom of her stomach and tentatively opened her mouth.
"I should have checked the schedule properly… I don't know how I could have let this happen" she whispered desolately, "I'm so sorry…"
Cragen fought back the urge to soften with her as the tortured words tumbled from her mouth.
He knew it wouldn't be in her best interests to let her off the hook on this one, no matter how much he might want to.
"The case has been rescheduled for next week, and you can thank Novak for that, who by the way, is less than impressed with you two right now. You got that?"
Two heads nodded instantly.
Sighing, Cragen forced himself to remain resolute.
No matter how often he did it, he still hated disciplining his team.
"I cannot believe how unprofessionally, irresponsibly and plain disrespectfully you two have acted. You are two of the most experienced detective's on this team, and yet you land me with this rookie mistake. A rookie mistake that would embarrass even the greenest of rookies. The victim ran out of that courtroom in tears after waiting an hour for you two to show up."
He paused to take a breath and to shoot another glare at the now squirming partners.
"Novak called you both countless times, care to tell me why neither of you picked up?"
The squirming instantly intensified at his words, and an anguished look was exchanged between the two.
This time, Olivia forced herself to answer the question, albeit with a pronounced stammer.
"We uhh…well, we…we went out to lunch and our cells must have been on silent" she all but whispered, wringing her hands anxiously in front of her.
Snarling at this , Cragen rose from his desk and planted two hands on his desk and glared furiously at both of his charges.
"Are you two telling me….that you disrespected a victim and a court of law….because you wanted a carefree lunch?"
Elliot blanched at this and Olivia's lip was beginning to protest against the intensified chewing of it.
Running a tired hand over his face, the Captain let out a wavering breath.
"I just can't believe you two" he muttered distractedly.
Looking up from the carpet of which he seemed to have some kind of fascination, Elliot grimaced at the weary look on his boss' face.
"We're sorry Captain" he said softly, never meaning an apology to the elder man as sincerely as he did right now.
Removing his hand from his face, Cragen looked at the two quietly for a moment before answering.
"Not half as sorry as you're going to be."
Taking in a deep breath, he resolved to do what clearly needed to be done.
"Stabler, go and wait for me in the conference room. Benson, you plant yourself in that chair and don't even think about moving a muscle until I come and get you, clear?"
Both detectives paled instantly, but the usual string of protests that generally greeted such an announcement did not come forth, which went some way in letting the elder detective know how sorry they really were.
Olivia, after some sort of internal battle, obediently sat herself down in the allocated chair, shooting Elliot a sad look as he forced his brain to send the necessary signals to make his legs move.
Grateful that their boss was indicating the second door of his office, that led out onto a corridor that wasn't in the view of the bull pen, Elliot got as far as placing his hand on the handle before the elder man's voice rang out behind him.
"Get the paddle on your way."
….
TBC
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