Bonus chapter to celebrate 10 reviews to chapter one in just a few hours! Your kind words are appreciated!
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2. Opposite sides
Trevor gets the call around 10 PM. It's a cold February night and he isn't too eager to make the trip to the 1-6 for various reasons. While it's a murder case this time and not a rape, which is a relief for him, the odds against his new client aren't good. Technically, he's already guilty of statutory rape because his girlfriend is only fifteen, and now her mother, who had been strongly against her daughter's relationship, is dead. So he finds himself at the opposite side of the table at the Special Victims unit once again.
He does his job as always, of course.
"He's innocent until proven guilty," he states flatly after Elliot Stabler finally pauses his little bad cop rant.
The coat found in the girl's bedroom could have been left there weeks ago, they can't produce the kid's bloody clothes and the witness didn't see enough for a lineup. They have nothing substantial on Justin, no matter how hard Stabler rages. These are the facts. His gut tells him there is something his client isn't saying but it is not his job to get it out of him. It's their job. Stabler's and Benson's. Or Cragen's in this case. He wonders why Olivia isn't doing this interrogation with her partner but that, too, is not his job to find out.
And then Justin points them to Carrie's lawyer, stating she is the one who came up with 'the idea', whatever that meant. He's free to go after that. "For now," Cragen stresses, trying out his best stern stare as Trevor and his young client get up to leave. As they walk out, he wonders why he's feeling this slight sense of disappointment. She only gives him wary or disapproving looks anyway, so why had he hoped to see those big brown eyes again tonight? He knows their paths are bound to cross again soon and yet he is disappointed that his trip to Manhattan had been for naught this time.
He shakes his head at himself when he realizes what he's thinking. She loathes him. She'd walk right past him if they met outside of work. Hell, she walks right past him when they meet at work. Why would he look forward to that?
…
He is back at the station with Justin the next evening. The detectives have a recording of a video chat between Justin and Carrie, clearing his client of the murder completely. Apparently, it had been the daughter, not him. Justin still refuses to talk.
"This is when you should talk, Justin. They know you're innocent," Trevor urges, but the young man won't say one word to incriminate his girl.
It's obvious that he truly loves her. And then Benson and Stabler put the pressure on, together. They talk about love and jail time, trying to make him think he's going to jail for twenty-five years for something his girl did, and she's just going to let him get locked up. They're good at that sort of thing, these two. They crawl into a person's head and work on their emotions. He wonders if their work ethic is really so superior to his when it comes down to it. They look down at him for defending criminals but the way they work some people?
Still, it's fascinating to watch them work together, plan their moves and then execute them effortlessly, as if they have one mind instead of two. He envies that in a way. Only it doesn't work this time. Once he assures Justin that the tape isn't enough proof that Carrie killed her mother, the young man still refuses to talk. Trevor sees the two detectives exchange a look of understanding and then Olivia gets up and leaves, a determined look on her face. He can't help wondering what their next move will be, because they're clearly not done yet.
Het gets his answer just a short while later, when Olivia, Carrie and Carrie's lawyer Simone walk past the interrogation room just as he, Justin and Stabler exit it. The two lovebirds see each other and it becomes clear to him that Olivia has managed to get a full confession out of Carrie by making her believe Justin had already given her up. Another sample of their 'superior' work ethic, he thinks. They're not as different from him as they want to believe. Not at all.
Carrie freaks out when she realizes she's been lied to and starts yelling at Olivia. When she lunges forward to attack her, both Stabler and Trevor spring into action. Elliot grabs the young girl while Trevor steps forward to shield Olivia. Carrie continues to scream at Olivia, calling her a lying bitch and screaming that she's ruined her life. Trevor can tell that Olivia isn't unaffected, but when he asks her if she's alright, she brushes him off.
"Yeah. I'm fine," she says quickly but the look in her eyes tells him she isn't.
He needs to get Justin home but lingers a bit, not wanting to leave Olivia like this, alone in the hallway. She looks at him quizzically, probably wondering what he's still doing here. He scratches his jaw nervously and nods, although he's not sure why he's nodding. He is probably agreeing with himself that he should leave.
"Alright. Uhm. I have to go and get him home so …"
"Of course," Olivia says, not letting him finish. "Your client is free to go."
She turns around then and walks off and Trevor sighs before turning to Justin, who is also affected by the way his girlfriend has just been dragged off.
"Where are they taking her?" he asks.
"To central booking. She is now under arrest. She'll probably be arraigned first thing tomorrow."
"She has to spend the night in jail?"
"Yes. She is now the main suspect."
"Why aren't you with her?"
Trevor sighs and puts a hand on the young man's shoulder.
"I'm not her attorney, Justin. I'm yours."
"Well, I don't need you anymore, right? She needs you. You have to help her!"
Justin is getting agitated now, something he hasn't seen him do before, but he has to be honest with him.
"I'm sorry Justin. As much as I'd like to, Carrie already has a lawyer. Simone Bryce. Your parents only asked me to represent you."
"So who sent that Simone person to Carrie? Her mother sure didn't."
"I did," they suddenly hear a voice say and Trevor whips around to see Olivia walking back up to them.
"You?" both men asked simultaneously.
"Yes. But that was before she killed her mother."
Trevor wonders why Olivia has come back, and he wonders if she's been listening to his conversation with Justin.
"She has to pay for what she's done, Justin. You know that," Olivia continues.
"Was there something you needed?" Trevor asks and she chuckles humorlessly.
"All business as always, right counselor?" she says with a wry smile. "I just wanted to let you know that Elliot will let you know where they take Carrie, so Justin here will know where to visit her."
"Thank you, detective. I appreciate it," Trevor says quickly.
"Don't mention it," Olivia mumbles, already turning around to walk off again.
Trevor watches her leave, and actually feels like he's been caught staring at her ass when she suddenly turns around one more time and looks at him. She continues walking backwards slowly when she says,
"And uh ... thanks for … earlier. Stepping in the way you did."
Trevor's stomach clenches just a little. Olivia flashes the tiniest of smiles at him before turning around once more and rounding the corner. He can't believe she's actually thanked him. Her partner had been perfectly capable of immobilizing the handcuffed fifteen-year old and dragging her off. The man probably could have done it with one arm. He had wondered if she'd even seen him jump in front of her. And now she's thanking him for it.
After walking Justin out and parting ways with him, he realizes she may have come back specifically to thank him. He or Justin would have had no problem finding out where Carrie was taken. He actually feels a little bubbly at the thought that the stoic, closed-off, bordering on arrogant detective has bothered to say anything about it. She must have appreciated his concern then, despite her aversion to his job. He takes a deep breath and blows it out slowly, telling himself not to read too much into it. All this proves is that she's human and he's known that for a while now. He's seen emotions swirl in those deep brown orbs that tell him more than her cool words ever could. He knows he's the enemy as far as she's concerned, but she isn't the enemy to him. On the contrary. She may be on the opposite side of the chessboard but she isn't the enemy he wants to take down. She's the queen he'd like to conquer. If he could only figure out which moves could get him closer to her.
…
A/N: It hurts my heart to make Elliot this way but I have to in this story … I won't keep writing him like this, I promise. This is just how Trevor sees him at first.
Underlined print is from the actual show, which is episode 19 of season 6 in this case. A big thank you to BenoightLangson for directing me to this episode to find a starting point for this story!
Not promising to keep up this speed of writing. More as soon as I have written it! Reviews motivate me to write so ... ;)
