It was a boring day at the 16th precinct. No cases had come up and the detectives had spent the last few hours staring into space.
"I don't get why Cragen won't just let us go home. I bet he's conspiring with the government to keep us here!" Munch said.
"He'll have your bony ass if he hears you talking like that," Fin said.
"Will you just forget about conspiracies for one minute so that we can actually think of something to do!" Elliot said as his temper rose. Just as he said that, Casey walked into the room wearing yet another hideous outfit.
"Hey guys! Guess what I brought!" she said as she pulled a TV out from behind her back. "But I should war-" She was cut-off as Munch jumped from his desk and grabbed the TV from her hands.
"Finally! Something to do around here! I heard their having a special on conspiracies on the Discovery Channel!" he said as he plugged the TV into the wall.
"But guys," Casey started before she was cut off by Elliot.
"We are not watching some stupid conspiracy theory show! We get enough of that from you! Lets turn on ESPN," he suggested. Just then, Olivia walked out of Cragen's office.
"Still don't have any new cases. Oh! You guys got a TV! Lets watch Friends!" she said as she saw the TV.
"Since when do you watch sitcoms? Or TV at all?" Elliot said with a confused look on his face.
"Without so many cases lately, I've had a lot of time on my hands" she said defensively.
"Either way, nobody wants to watch Friends, right?" he asked as he looked around the room. No's chorused across the room.
"But I need to tell you-" Casey started before Fin cut her off.
"How about we watch MTV? I hear they got some new music videos airing today," he said.
"Seriously? MTV is for teenagers, Fin!" Olivia said.
"Will you people just listen for one minute!" Casey yelled. Everyone turned to look at her.
"You don't have to yell. I mean, we're right here," Munch said calmly.
"I was trying to tell you that the TV has no remote. Its stuck on one channel," she said.
"Well that's just great!" Elliot said before leaning back in his chair and linking his hands behind his head.
"Well, what channel is it on Casey?" Olivia asked.
" Do you guys know what the channel USA is?" Casey asked with a sigh.
"Isn't it that channel with all of those crime shows?" Fin asked.
"Just what we need! More crime!" Munch exclaimed. "As if we don't get enough of that at work," he mumbled.
"Well it's the only thing we got, so we should at least check it out," Fin said as he walked up to the TV and clicked the on switch. The TV's screen brightened to reveal a commercial.
"Oh great! If this whole channel is just commercials than Casey, your going to be needing a new TV!" Elliot said as he saw the commercial.
"Calm down! It's just a few commercials. What time is it?" Casey answered.
"It's about 2:30. Why?" Olivia said after she checked her watch.
"Let's see. It's 2:30 so…" Casey started to say. "So, Law and Order: SVU should be on right now," she concluded.
"You have the TV guide memorized? That's just sad girl." Fin said as he slowly shook his head.
"While Casey's personal life may be sad, what the heck is Law and Order: SVU?" Munch said with a confused look.
"Hold on a minute! SVU? I have a feeling I know what this is about," Olivia said with an annoyed look on her face.
"Well good. Because I've never heard of it," Elliot said.
"Hello! SVU! It's probably a TV show about some Special Victims Unit squad!" she responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world (which it was).
"I doubt it. Who would watch that?" Elliot replied.
"Actually, she's right. It is a show about a Special Victims Unit squad. Now shut up! The commercials are about to end!" Casey shushed as she walked towards the TV to get a better view of the screen.
"Think of it this way. If we don't like it, the next show on should be different." Elliot said as he turned to the TV.
Just then, the commercial ended and the TV said "And now welcome back to the marathon of Law and Order: SVU."
"Now that is just ironic," Elliot said. Then the episode was back on. The screen showed four people sitting in a precinct. Two men sat across from each other on one side of the room, and on the other side a man and a woman sat across from each other.
"Something about this seems strangely familiar," Munch started, but was shushed by Casey. The detectives started watching the show and instantly became hooked. Munch was still suspicious as to why this seemed so oddly familiar.
"Isn't it kind of weird that the characters have the same first names as us?" Munch asked as the first episode ended.
"We aren't the only people with these first names, John," Olivia answered as she rolled her eyes. He could be such a conspiracy nut.
The next episode started after a few more commercials. After the first fifteen minutes, Casey said "Oh! I've seen this one before!"
"Is it good?" Elliot asked as he looked over at Casey. Even he had become addicted to this show.
"It's one of my favorite episodes! It starts out really slow, but about half way through it becomes like the best episode ever! I think it's called Fault," she answered excitedly.
About half way through, a commercial started after the detectives watched a really intense scene at a train terminal. "Wow! I can't believe he killed the kid!" Fin said with a look of shock on his face.
"But that really happened!" Munch exclaimed as he stared disbelievingly at the detectives around him. He could not believe that they had forgotten the Gitano case, where Olivia and Elliot had both nearly lost their lives.
"Munch! This is not the time for one of your 'the government is watching us' theories!" Casey yelled at him with an annoyed expression. How could he possibly believe that these characters were anything like them. Sure, they had the same names, and worked in the same type of unit, and had similar cases. That doesn't mean that it's just like their lives.
After the episode ended, the detectives sat around the TV in shock. All except Munch, that was sitting at his desk a mumbling something about government. "How could she ask for a new partner! I don't understand why she would do something like that?" Olivia yelled at the TV.
"I think your getting to into this show, Liv," Elliot said with a raised eyebrow. "Besides, their better off separated anyway. They'll just end up having another innocent person get killed."
This was how the whole marathon went. Every time a commercial came on, the detectives would sit and argue about what just happened until the commercials were over. Munch kept trying to convince every one that this was just like their lives, but they wouldn't believe him. After the marathon ended, they still wanted to watch more.
"Maybe we could Google it and see if they have any episodes online!" Olivia suggested.
"Isn't that illegal? We are the police you know. We're supposed to try to stop that kind of thing if we see it." Elliot said unconvincingly.
"Come on El, we're the Special Victims Unit. Computer Crimes can handle that. Lets just see if we can find any episodes online," Olivia responded.
"Fine, I guess it won't hurt." Elliot responded. Fin was the closest to a computer, so he went to Google and typed in Law and Order: SVU episodes. Hundreds of responses came up.
"This is gonna take a while," said Fin. As they scrolled down the list, Fin saw something weird.
"Hey! Take a look at this one. It says something about EO shipping. What the heck is that?" he asked.
"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out," Elliot said as he clicked the option. A website came up that said EO shipping at the top. On the home page, there was a small paragraph explaining what EO shipping was.
"Oh! Now I get it!" Casey exclaimed.
"Do you really have to say 'Oh!' every time you say something?" Fin said with an annoyed expression.
"Oh! Does it bother you?" Casey said with an innocent look on her face. Munch who had been moping around at the other end of the room came over to see Fin get pissed. "I'll have to thank Casey for that later." he thought. When he came over and read what was on the screen he looked at Elliot and Olivia in disbelief.
"What do you guys think about this?" he asked them, still staring in disbelief.
"I don't know. Maybe these people could have a point. Look, they have a link that shows the reasons why." Elliot said, his eyes still glued to the screen. He took the mouse and clicked on the link. He scrolled through the list and read it.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm convinced," Elliot said as he finished reading. "You should read this. It makes some really good points." Munch watched as the other detectives, and Casey, read over the list.
"Wow! Elliot's right. This is convincing!" Casey agreed.
"How can you people not understand that this is just like our lives!" Munch yelled at them, ready to leap at their throats.
"Maybe if you read the list you would understand that is nothing like our lives!" she said. She was starting to get really pissed at Munch. This was nothing like their lives, and he just couldn't accept that.
"Look! They have a become a member button. It says that your supposed to join if you are an EO shipper," Olivia pointed out. "I think I'll join, what about you guys?" All the detectives, and Casey, stood around the computer and joined the EO shipper website, while Munch stood back and watched his friends sign up to ship themselves as a couple.
"Life is weird," he said before he sat down at his desk and turned on his computer.
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Meanwhile, hundreds of EO shippers that were members of the website were wondering why people used the names Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson, Fin Tutuola, and Casey Novak when they joined.