Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN SVU. I wish that I did, but I don't. However, I love the show, and I love Elliot and Olivia. BTW, I don't really hate Dani, but I don't like her with Elliot, and I also figured that if something happened to Elliot, she'd be the most likely one to come back. The story begins about 8 months after Olivia comes back from working for the feds.
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The lights were glimmering through the ice-frosted glass. A winter storm had just passed through the city, leaving the surrounding area white with the pure snow. Hardly any cars were out, and the high rises were dark and covered in snow. Trees resembled tall, tiered, frosted cakes, the kind you might find at a wedding. Stars were beginning to break through the fading clouds, and the full moon illuminated the tranquil sight. To anyone walking down the avenue, nothing was amiss. The lights from the apartments cast a soft glow on the lawns, and the street lamps lit up the icy streets. It seemed to be a normal, December sight, save for one dark window that seemed to stand out against the colorful windows, most decorated for the Christmas season. Inside this apartment lived one single person, all alone.
SVU detective Olivia Benson sat in the window seat of her room, her short brown hair feathered around her face. Dark blond streaks colored her locks of hair. Her brown eyes held all the hurt she had dealt with the past few years, and seemed to hold a haunted look of resentment. She was wrapped up in a soft gray robe, and her arms were looped over her drawn-up knees, hugging her legs to her chest. Her hands and her feet were growing numb, but she ignored them both. The spark of life had left, leaving her cold inside and out. Oh Elliot. She fought the tears back, and closed her eyes briefly. You promised that we would spend Thanksgiving and Christmas together this year to make up the past year. After a while of sitting and watching the storm pass, she got up and wiped her eyes. She changed into a pair of Elliot's flannel pants and her grey NYPD shirt before climbing under the covers. She had to be up in four hours for work.
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The 16th precinct was busy with activity. Olivia walked out of the elevator and was greeted by Munch and Fin. "Liv! Happy Thanksgiving!" The duo encircled her in a huge hug. Dani glanced up briefly before handing Olivia a folder. "It's our next case. Don wants to see you in his office to brief you on it." Olivia waited until her partner turned around before making a face at her turned back. Munch and Fin snorted trying to keep the laugher in as she walked off towards Don Cragen's office. She smiled when she heard Dani asking what was so funny. Scanning the folder, she frowned. She didn't know why Don wanted to see her; it was a typical, basic case. A teenage girl was beaten, raped and left to die, but the parent's came home two hours early and found her bleeding on the living room floor.
"The door is open." Olivia heard Don's voice before she could knock on the door. Opening the wood door, she stepped into her boss's office and waited.
"Dani said you wanted to see me about our case." The said case folder was gripped in her left hand and the right toyed with her jacket.
Don gave her a sad smile. "Have a seat, Liv." When she shook her head no, he nodded and continued. "I suppose you know that I didn't call you in here to talk about the case. I'm sure you looked at it and you know that the case is a basic one." He sighed, dreading what he had to say next. "Huang wants to talk to you, Olivia. About Elliot."
Olivia was livid, but she didn't show it. "He wants me to talk about Elliot?" She leaned on Don's desk, looking him into his eyes as if she were interrogating a suspect, her voice calm and even. "Tell me, Don, what is there to talk about? He was my partner for 8 years! We knew each other better than anyone else did. Hell, I knew him better than his wife did, Don." Her eyes were sad as she continued softly. "I know Huang thinks that talking about this will help, but I fail to see how it can."
She turned to stalk out of the office when Don spoke again. "It's mandatory. If you don't go, I'll have to put you on desk duty." He sighed when she whirled around angrily. "Liv, I know you don't want to go. But for the sake of your partner…" He ignored the muttered Elliot was my partner. "…you need to go. I cannot have you distracted. I need you on top of the game. You are my best detective. I cannot lose you as well."
The fire went out of the fight in Olivia when he said that. She sighed and reluctantly nodded her acceptance. "When?" She nodded when he swallowed and said "this afternoon."
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Ding dong! The mother of the rape victim answered the door. "Hi, I'm Detective Benson and this is Detective Beck." Olivia's avoidance from using the term 'partner' didn't go unnoticed by Dani. "Do you mind if we come in and talk to you about your daughter?"
The woman motioned for the two of them to enter. "Please come in Detectives. Would you like anything to drink?" She nodded when the pair both declined, and studied Olivia. "You look familiar, Olivia, right?"
Olivia was shocked, but didn't show it. "Yes I am. And who are you?"
"8 years ago, my daughter was kidnapped. You and your partner Detective Stabler came and talked to me and eventually brought her back to me." ((AN, this is not based on any episode, just so you know, I figured it would be a good background.)) She looked at Beck confused, as if wondering where the male detective had gone.
Olivia nodded as she remembered the mother, ignoring the confused look directed at Beck. She was older, but still looked the same. "And now she's been kidnapped. Where were you that night?"
Dani broke in. "Your daughter's been kidnapped before? When, where?" The younger detective began to interrogate the mother. The mom seemed startled and disturbed by the sudden mood change from the other detective that she didn't know. She looked to Olivia for help.
Olivia sighed and shook her head at the other detective. "Dani, she is not a suspect. She is as much as a victim as her daughter. Save the interrogation for the perps."
Dani nearly growled at Olivia but refrained. With a curt nod of apology, she walked out to the car. "I'll be waiting." Olivia rolled her eyes and handed the woman her card. "Why don't you give us a call if anything changes?" The woman thanked her and showed her out the door.
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Dani was fuming the entire way back to the station. Finally, she exploded. "How dare you stop me from my job!" She wasn't yelling…yet.
Oliva just kept driving. She was used to verbal explosions from working with Elliot for almost 8 years, so she ignored the other detective. That didn't pacify the younger one. "Benson, I am talking to you!" Beck growled angrily. Olivia sighed; it seemed as if she were doing that a lot with Beck lately.
"Listen, Beck. I know now why Elliot hated to work with you. You have no compassion for the victims or their parents." Olivia's voice was slightly accusing.
Beck gave a short laugh. "Well you are too compassionate. You attach yourself to the vic's because you don't want them to end up like your mother. Yes, I was told about your background. Well let me tell you something, Detective. You need to not care." She paused, and then gave a victorious grin. "That's why I've asked for you to be transferred out of SVU."
Olivia somehow managed to keep the car from swerving off the road.
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"Cragen, did she actually ask to transfer me?" Olivia stood before the captain, staring at him incredulously.
He looked up from the file he was looking at and raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Why?"
"She told me that I was too compassionate and wasn't suited to special victims." Olivia laughed. "I wanted to tell her everything I've seen, done, how mean I've gotten, but I couldn't. It's as if I don't want her to know what I have been through in the past 8 years."
Don smiled at his top detective. "Well, if it gives any comfort, you're not going anywhere. If anyone leaves, it'll be her."
Olivia nodded, suddenly feeling drained, and she still had to face Huang. "Thanks, Cap."
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George Huang's office was immaculately clean for once. He sat in his comfortable chair and motioned for Olivia to sit down. She complied and sat wringing her hands nervously.
"So it's been…4 months since Elliot died." Huang spoke in his soft voice, watching Olivia intently.
"So it has." Olivia didn't want to talk about Elliot with anyone, nor did she want to be skrinked by Huang about how she was feeling. She looked around his office. It was clean and well kept, with little cluttering the walls. She looked at Huang. "I don't want to be here."
Huang smiled. "Most everyone says that, though many come to me voluntarily. Tell me, Olivia, how have you been? And I am not looking for your typical answers of I'm fine. I want the truth." He emphasized truth.
She sighed, knowing that there was no way around it. "Huang, I hurt. I hurt every time I walk into the precinct, every time I see Dani sitting at his desk instead of him. I break every time I see one of his kids when they come to see me, knowing that I'm the only link they have left to him."
Huang nodded, pleased that she was telling him this, but steering the conversation in a different direction. "What do you think about Dani?"
"She's a bitch." Olivia said simply, not offering any more than that.
"How so?" Huang wanted her to keep talking.
Olivia gave a wry grin. "Her attitude towards the people we deal with everyday. She actually told Cragen that I should be transferred out of SVU. She thinks that she knew Elliot. She's always talking about how he was and who he was when she didn't know him. Not like I do." She paused, wincing. "Did." The detective corrected herself sadly.
"Is that it?" Huang's voice was calm, quiet.
"No. When I came back, it felt as if she had replaced me. And I didn't like that. So when she left, I rejoiced. And now, five months later, she's back, only this time as my new partner." Olivia leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms in an unconsciously defiant manner.
"What is working with her like?" His voice was still quiet, searching, wanting to smile at how much like Elliot she really was.
Olivia laughed softly. "It's like working with a female version of Elliot. You know, anger problems, stern, though she is harsher towards the vics. But she's moodier, if you can believe that. She's gone through more mood swings in the past two months than he did in all 8 years that I knew him." She paused. "I miss it, Huang. I miss his zealous anger towards the perps. I miss his compassion for the vics, and I miss how we worked together, how we could read each other so well. But most of all, I miss him. I miss his companionship. I miss talking with him after a hard case. I even miss hearing his wife yelling at him over the phone when I had to call him to pull him to yet another case. No one could ever replace him." She gave the psychologist a sad smile before standing and leaving the office.
"I want you to come again, Olivia. We're not done yet." Huang called after her. She made a motion that meant that she understood and she would come back, he knew that she would.
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With Olivia and Dani gone on their case, Fin and Munch were working in almost silence, with only the tap from their keyboards interrupted the
"Dani's a spy from Russia." Munch announced suddenly, slapping a hand on his desk.
Fin groaned and looked up from his paperwork. "Munch, ya never stop, do ya?"
"Stop what?" Munch asked, confused.
"Your conspiracy theories."
"How many times must I say, they are not conspiracies!"
"Yea, and I'm da queen of England!"
"I knew it! I knew something was strange about you!"
Fin buried his face in his hands to try and drown out Munch going on about how Fin was the queen of England and how he had suspected it all along. "Dis is gonna be a long day."
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Olivia sat in the driver's seat of the cop car and waited for the perp to show his face. She was thinking about her conversation with Huang earlier that afternoon. Dani was watching the right side of the street silently. The silence crept around the pair and both were feeling more and more uncomfortable. Dani couldn't handle the silence. "How long were you two partners, Liv?"
Olivia didn't need to know who she was talking about. "8 years." She looked over at Dani, who in turn looked at her. "He was my best friend. And don't call me Liv." She kept eye contact for a second before turning and scanning the street once more.
Dani sighed and tried again. "I'm sorry about what happened. He was a good cop." More silence from Olivia. "My time working with him was an experience. He's a high strung man."
Olivia clenched her jaw to keep from either screaming or crying. "He wasn't a 'good' cop. He was the best. And he wasn't high strung. He was Elliot. That's what made him who he was." She looked at Dani again. "You didn't know him like I did. So you worked with him for 6 weeks. Big deal. When you reach the 8 year mark, call me." She turned away again, hoping that Dani would get the hint.
Dani did, and continued to scan her side of the street. "There, that's him." Olivia nodded, and they both jumped out of the car, guns drawn. "Police! On the ground!"
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A/N: This will be a Christmas story. Incase you didn't catch it, the story starts around Thanksgiving. It will be EO, even if it doesn't seem like it now. I love my random plot lines!
Next on Christmas in New York:
Olivia opened her apartment door and was greeted with complete darkness. Tossing her keys on her counter, she flipped the lights on to find someone she never expected to see again sleeping on her couch. The figure sat up and rubbed its eyes and smiled when it saw Olivia. Olivia gasped and nearly fell in shock.
Someone returns to the 16th precinct family! Who will it be? Will it be Alex? Elliot? Richard White? Stay tuned to find out! Remember, lots of reviews mean faster updates. I need encouragement to update!