Casey walked into her office and dropped her briefcase on her desk, she was exhausted from the night before. She and Liv had gone out, three bars and a night cap at her place. Liv smiled at her from the door of her office, "Hey sunshine. How'd you sleep?"

"Like a drunken rock, and you?"

"About the same," Liv laughed and sat down in one of Casey's office chairs. "So, we need to prep the Carson girl for court, she's here already, I just need to finish some paperwork and then she's all yours."

"Alright, thanks." Casey smiled and sat down, she watched Liv walk out of the office and sighed. She shook her head, thinking about Liv and Alex having problems lately, again. It seemed that there was always something wrong between them, they were always bickering, fighting over something, but they loved eachother and the fights always ended in passionate reconsiliation. It always put a slight damper on her mood to think about the past that Alex and Liv had, it always made her think of Elliot. She shook the thougth out of her head, knowing that what she had done was truly for the better. She knew that she wouldnt be where she was that day if she hadn't filed those papers. They would have been bitter and resentful, ending things years later with more bad things to say about one another than good. She sighed and turned in her desk chair, hit the power button on her computer and took a file out of the basket by her desk.

Olivia picked up the phone on her desk and answered it, distractedly. "Benson." She stopped everything and sat up in her chair, "What are you talking about?...Why is he transferring here?" She looked up at Cragen's office, he was standing in the doorway talking to Fin. "He does know that this is her unit, right?" She laughed disbelievingly, "And has he talked to her about this?...Of course, I shouldnt have to ask..Alright, well I need to get back to work, I'll call you later." She dropped the phone back to it's home and stood up, she went to Cragen and knocked on his open office door. "Hey, can I talk to you?"

Cragen looked up at her and smiled, he waved her inside and she shut the door behind her. "What is it Olivia?"

"I hear you approved a transfer for Elliot Stabler."

He looked at her, eyes narrowed in an effort to discern exactly what she was getting at. "Yes, I did. Why?"

"I've known him for a very long time, we went to high school together."

"Alright, so what exactly are you asking me here?"

She sighed and took another step closer to him and then sat down on the edge of the desk, "Can I have him as my partner? I know Fin and Munch and I work well with them, but in all honesty I want Elliot for my partner."

"Any reason for this?"

"I'm not sure exactly what reason I have, other than the fact that I trust him."

"Nothing sexual, romantic?"

"No, nothing," She said with a laugh. She shook her head at the suggestion, and stood. "I just think it would be best if he were my partner. In all honesty, I'm sick of my guys deciding they cant take it and transferring back out. Make sense cap?"

He nodded, "I'll see what I can do. Now get back to work."

Elliot let her tighten his tie, but didnt look at her. It had always been like this with Kathy, silence and discomfort, but he couldnt abandon her. She had gotten pregnant with his child while he was in the academy, he was responsible for her, and the ten year old son that they had. She was just glad that he hadn't married her. He respected her and cared for her, but he had never been able to tell her that he loved her, not even after ten years together. He still regretted what had happened, one drunken mistake had turned into this. She stood up on her tip toes to give him a kiss but he simply shook his head, "Not now Kathy." She sighed and shook her head. She walked away from him, mumbling under her breath, he assumed she was going to make breakfast for Alex, his son, but honestly didnt care enough to ask. He glanced at the clock, seven forty, he needed to leave if he was going to make it on time for his first day. He was nervous, he hadn't planned to end up working SVU and he wasn't sure that he could handle it. But he was confident in his ability to adjust, it was nothing more than a new unit, dealing with kids couldn't be that hard.

He shrugged on his suit jacket and then another, leather jacket on over that and walked out to the living room of the small, two bedroom apartment. He stared fondly at his son for a moment, he looked just like him, dark hair and ice blue eyes, he even gave Kathy the same looks that Elliot did. He smiled and said a quick goodbye, then walked out the door without a second glance at Kathy, but with the image of his son burned into his brain.

It didnt take him as long to get the precinct as he had thought, traffic was relatively light for a New York morning. He walked confidently to Cragen's office, not bothering to look at his fellow detectives. Cragen closed the door behind him and told him to sit. Elliot followed instructions, sitting timidly in the chair across from the Captain.

"Stabler, welcome to SVU."

"Thank you sir."

"Good to have you here, think you'll last on this unit?"

Elliot frowned at the tone in Cragen's voice, it bothered him that this man, who didnt even know him, already had doubts about his ability. "Yes sir, I do."

Cragen nodded and stood up, he opened the door and stood looking at the other detectives for a moment. "Benson!" He barked at one of them, Elliot's senses kicked into high gear. He could never forget that name, the face that walked into the office and stared down at him. He stood and shook the hand she offered him. "Stabler, this is your partner, Olivia Benson."

"Hey El."

"Liv, I-"

"Not here, get out there, pick up your cases and get going. You two can do the sentimental shit when you get off work. Go."

Elliot and Olivia walked out to their desks, she tossed a few files on the desk in front of him and said, without looking up, "You need to brief yourself on these, were leaving in an hour."

He nodded but she was already walking the other way, towards on of the smaller offices, she disappeared into the one nearest the door. He looked down and began reading, silently absorbing the information she had thrown at him without even a smile.

"What the hell do you mean Elliot is your new partner?"

Liv shrugged and gave her a small smile, "I just thought I should warn you before you had to find out the hard way."

"Well, thanks but a warning doesnt really make me feel any better about it."

"Are you going to talk to him?"

Casey looked down at the desk, "Well, I have to talk to sometime, dont I? I'm not going to quit my job to avoid him." She ran her fingers lightly along the gold chain on her neck. Olivia followed the line of it down her throat, knowing that the pendant that disappeared under her top was a small, engraved gold heart with their wedding rings. "I'll just keep it professional. I cant let anything get in the way of my job, especially not him."

"Case, can I ask you something?"

She looked up at Olivia and nodded, "Sure Liv."

Olivia sat down in one of the chairs that sat facing her desk, "Why did you dad push you so hard to divorce him?"

Casey sighed and sat back. Olivia could see her eyes clouding over with hidden emotions, buried thoughts, and gave her an encouraging nod. She tossed her pen down on the desk and answered in a strong voice. "He felt it was the best thing for me."

"But why?"

Her voice was a little quieter, and it shook slightly, but Casey showed no sign that she heard it revealing what she couldnt say. "He said I had too much potential to be tied down to a marine with a bad case of PTSD. He said he was afraid for me, that one day El would lose his temper and something bad would happen. He was just looking out for me."

Olivia frowned, "Case, you know El would never hurt you, he would never even put a hand on you."

"I know, I wasnt worried about that. I was worried about him losing it, lashing out at me, Elliot has a good handle on his words, he knows exactly what to say to hurt me. He knows me too well."

"Elliot would never have intentionally hurt you, you know that Case."

Casey looked back at Olivia, tears threatening to spill from her eyes and shook her head. "It was so different after I lost the baby. He didnt even look at me the same way. I wanted him to come find me, to try to make things better, but he didnt, he was just so quick to give up."

Olivia nodded and reached a hand across the desk, she rested it on Casey's and gave her a small smile. "It all happens for a reason, I'm sure it's for the better."

Casey nodded and wiped at her eyes, giving Liv a small smile she pulled in a deep breath. "It looks like he's ready for you to show him the ropes. Speaking of which, I need you to go up to the hospital. Suzy Calswert woke up this morning. You and Stabler are on that case, go get a statement, see what she remembers."

"How old is she?"

"Twenty three, its in the file sitting on your lap."

Elliot nodded, giving up on the attempts to start conversation, he looked to the file and began skimming through the information. Suzy was twenty three, blonde, about five foot, eight inches. She was an artist, she sold her paintings in some of the local art studios. She had been brutally raped and beaten, dumped in front of the hospital and left. She slipped into a coma and had been that way for four days. Elliot looked up at Olivia, who seemed to be concentrating very hard on the road. "Liv, your acting like you dont even know me."

She looked over at him, the sharp look in her eyes making him raise his brows and look to the window. "This is work Elliot, your my new partner, I'm not going to make this any easier on you. We need to see that you can handle this job, so I'm going to be distant until I know that you can do this alone, because you need to be able to handle what your going to see every day. Got it?"

He nodded and pushed the car door open as she parked. He followed her into the hospital and to the ward that Suzy was being kept on. Liv knocked gently on the door of the room and took a slow step inside. "Suzy, my name is Olivia Benson, I'm a detective with the Special Victims Unit, this is my partner, Elliot Stabler. Can we talk to you for a minute?"

She looked at Liv and nodded. "The doctor told me you were coming. I didnt think it would take so long though."

"We get here as soon as we can, sometimes it takes some time to get informed. Suzy, do you remember what happened to you?"

Suzy looked away but nodded. "Yes, he raped me, he beat me until he thought I was dead. Even I thought I was dead."

"Okay, we need to take your statement. I'm going to go speak to your doctors, will you be okay talking to Elliot?"

Suzy looked up at him, just staring at him for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I'll be fine."

Olivia nodded and stood up, the look she gave Elliot warned him that if he screwed this up, it would be hell to pay, then she walked out in search of the doctors who had worked with her. "Where do you want me to start?" Elliot looked at Suzy and sat down.

"Start with that night. What plans did you have, where you were going and with who, all of that."

"I had a show, some of my paintings were up for a charity auction, I had to be there. I took my best friend, Anna Markson. When it was over we went to get dinner and then we took a cab back."

"Did you take the cab to your house or to hers?"

"Neither, we live about six blocks from eachother, we split the cab and had the cabbie drop us between our places. We walked seperate ways."

"Did you make it home?"

"No," she shook her head, "I was walking and out of nowhere I just felt a hand on my throat and I was being dragged backwards into an alley. He dropped me on the ground and he just stood there for a second with his foot on my chest." Her words were broken with small sobs, gasps for air, straining to gain control of her emotions so that she could clearly communicate what had happened. "He said 'Dont scream or I'll kill you and then everyone will see the slut you really are.' I wont ever forget that he said that. It happened so fast, one minute he was standing over me and then the next he was hitting me with...I think it was a bat, like a baseball, but I'm not sure. I just remember closing my eyes and trying not to cry out, not to let him know how much it hurt, not to give him that power. But all of the sudden I could feel him, he was shoving my skirt up, over my head, and I could feel his fingers on me, in me, he ripped my panties off and I could hear him panting. It hurt so much, he was inside me, moving like he owned me, telling me how much I liked it, how much of a slut I was and how bad he wanted to teach me a lesson. Everything would go black and then when I came back he was still there, I could feel him throughout my entire body, just touching me and hurting me and taking everything from me. I dont remember when he finished, or how I got here. I just...Slipped into the blackness and I didnt want to come back." She looked at Elliot, clearly signalling to him that she was done. He nodded and stopped the small recording machine.

"Thank you Suzy," He pulled a few cards from his jacket pocket and passed them to her. "If you remember anything else, anything at all, or if you need anything you can call me or Detective Benson." She nodded and rolled over, facing the wall.

He walked out of the room quietly, immediately spotting Olivia at the other end of the corridor. He approached her cautiously, not wanting to startle her. "Liv, I got your statement, what do we need to do now?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "We go back to the precinct and start putting it all together."