This story's set following Cutter's promotion to Bureau Chief, so all the gang from SVU are present in this chapter. Hope y'all like*^_^*
Disclaimer: I do not own Law & Order and its characters.
16th Precinct, Special Victims' Unit, Manhattan, NY
Tutuola lifted the empty doughnut box from the table, littering the floor with the measly crumbs that remained in the box.
"Okay, who's responsible?" he wanted to know, his tone outraged. He pointed his finger at Detectives Benson and Rollin's. "I saw you ladies hanging around here earlier. Did you have anything to do with this?" He held up the empty cardboard box, presenting it as evidence.
"Don't look at us. We didn't eat them," Rollins defended.
He turned towards Detective Amaro. "Well, how about you? As the new kid on the block, I don't expect you to understand the common rules of courtesy we uphold in this precinct."
Amaro flashed him an amused smile, lines forming at the creases of his eyes. "It wasn't me, I swear," he assured him. "Cross my heart."
"Yeah, well those pearly whites and that boyish charm of yours don't get you anywhere with me, pretty boy."
Startled by the commotion taking place in the squad room, ADA Alex Cabot and Bureau Chief Michael Cutter emerged from Captain Cragen's office.
"What's going on?" Cutter enquired, sliding a hand in his pants pocket coolly.
"I'll tell ye what's going on here Counsellor," Tutuola declared indignantly. "Some sanctimonious bastard doesn't realise that the doughnuts are for everybody."
Cutter stared down at the floor, a pang of guilt rising from his stomach.
"Are you sure it was just one person?" Cabot asked, exchanging a concerned glance with Cutter, startled by Tutuola's accusations.
Tutuola held his tongue for a moment, his expression transforming into stony glare. "Are you questioning my detective skills, Counsellor?"
"No, not at all . . . I was just . . . well, at this point in time, you can't be exactly sure how those doughnuts disappeared, now can you Detective?"
Benson became concerned by Cutter's odd silence, glancing his way. "Does it really matterhowthe doughnuts disappeared?" She announced to the group. "Amaro and I where just on out way out. It's not a problem for us to pick up some more."
"Oh, be sure to get some crullers this time," Munch mentioned to Benson.
"Just replacing the stolen doughnuts won't help us track down this thief," Tutuola ranted, still flustered by the issue.
"The doughnuts weren't stolen," Rollins protested to Tutuola, clearly on Benson's side. "Like you said yourself, the doughnuts were left out for everybody."
Cutter stood forward. "It was me," he confessed sheepishly, all eyes turning towards him. "I ate the doughnuts when I came in this morning."
"It was you? But you don't even work here!" Tutuola bristled.
"I do apologise for any inconvenience it may have caused," Cutter said sincerely to the group, sounding very embarrassed. "I'll be sure to replace them."
"No wonder everybody's been going around calling him Cutter-Butter," Rollins joked slyly with Benson. "I think some Jenny Craig pamphlets are in order."
Benson chuckled at her dry quip, Rollin's droll southern accent making the words all the more amusing.
"Lucky for him, I like my guys chunky," she continued, glancing back at Cutter. "Oh yeah, gotta-get-me a piece-a-that!"
"Can't argue with that," Benson agreed, staring back at Cutter. He glanced at her sternly, his cold blue eyes meeting hers with an air of disdain, forcing her to look away from him awkwardly.
Amaro spoke up amongst the crowd. "Oh, and by the way Counsellor, that three piece suit you're wearing doesn't do you justice," He shot back at Cutter. "If anything, it makes you look like a pimp!"
"Alright that's enough!" Cabot cut in. "Amaro, what's your problem? Mike has apologised for what he's done, and now you're throwing personal cracks at him, which may I add, have no place here."
Tutuola glowered down at Amaro. "He may have eaten our doughnuts, but he's still a human being . . ."
Cutter began to feel a light pain in the left side of his body.
Oh no, not again.
He had noticed he had been experiencing similar pains in the past few weeks.
It had had started off quite gradually with imperceptible twinges, before amounting in waves of intense pain over the next couple of minutes. The room began to spin before he found himself crouched onto the floor clutching a hand to his chest in agony.
And then there was silence.
The group of detectives watched in horror and despair.
"I can't breathe," Cutter forced through a pressured gasp, looking at them pleadingly.
"Oh my God, I think he's having a heart attack," Cabot exclaimed frantically, dropping her briefcase to the floor before kneeling next to Cutter to assist him. "Somebody call an ambulance."
What do you think so far? Feel free to comment:-)