Breakable SVU 2B

Elliiot came just short of plowing his fist into the mans nose and driving it straight back into his brain, killing him. He'd never come this close to killing someone outside of his stint in the Marines, but this son-of-a-bitch deserved it. Instead he slammed his hand into the wall right next to his head. "You are a worthless waste of skin and air. You deserve everything they'll do to you in the big house." He hissed.

"Elliot, let him go. Elliot!" Olivia she said urgently.

He backed off, breathing hard, trying to control his urge to kill the guy. The fact that this man was hunting co-eds on the same campus as his daughter attended made it hard to do. "Get him out of here." He told the uniforms.

He moved away from the man, Olivia to the other side of the room. He didn't want to hurt anyone else. He heard the door open, the man being hustled out and the door closed again.

"I want you both in my office in ten." Cragens voice cracked out at him.

"I guess he saw the interrogation." Olivia said mildly.

"I'm sorry, Liv. I didn't mean to get you into trouble, too."

"I can't imagine why he'd want me there, except that we're partners. And for that I'll stand up with you. In this case I agree with your sentiment. I can't believe the people who think this man is sane or safe. He showed such a good face to begin with then he changes. Are you okay? You hit your hand pretty hard on the wall."

Elliot realized he was rubbing his hand and it was smarting. "It's okay. I just figured it was better to hit that than him."

"I think you got your point across. Let's go see what Cragen wants."

"I guess we better."

They walked together to the captains office. He was sitting at his desk and leaned back when they came in. "Close the door." He said calmly.

Elliot was closer so he did. Cragen didn't ask them to sit down and he didn't address Olivia directly. His whole attention was focused on Elliot. "That was the closest I ever want to see you come to killing someone. I know the effort it costs you not to do it and I understand why. The time has come, Stabler, to get your head out of your ass. You cannot, I repeat, cannot spend your whole career charging from one anger management class to another and one disaster to another without trying to help yourself. So I'm giving you some help. Take this check and go to that new business. The one you received the certificate for and do your breaking there."

"In case you haven't read it I'll let you look at mine. " Cragen tossed his at Elliot. They're all the same. Read it."

"This Certificate entitles the below mentioned to one initial free hour at:

The Breakable

A new business dedicated to the piece(s) you need.

Rooms of furniture and items guaranteed breakable and you won't get into trouble for it. Kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms available. Specials rooms and items available by advanced orders only. A limited number of free certificates per week available. Make your reservations now. Please do not discuss this certificate with your co-workers. Let them be surprised too.

The Address is: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Phone : ( XXX) XXX-XXXX)

"I'll just use my certificate." Elliot said in surprise. He had expected to get chewed out royally for this escapade. Not the captains personal check.

Cragen shook his head. "It won't work. I talked to the woman there and she has no free openings for several weeks. This is the only way to get you in today. You have half an hour to get your ass over there. I told her to put whatever she had into the room and let you have at it."

"Captain, I don't need…." Elliot began.

Slowly, deliberately Cragen rose to his feet. "This is not a request, Detective. Until you have been to Breakable and that check has been cashed you are not to come back to work. I will call tomorrow and find out if you have been there. Olivia, you make sure he goes. That's an order. Get out of here, both of you."

Elliot felt like he'd been scolded by his father. "I'll pay for it, Captain." He tried to hand the check back to Cragen.

Cragen shook his head. "I'm running out of options here. You've put my back against the wall and I'm not loosing my pension for your lack of self control. Get yourself under control, or lose your position."

"Are you saying?"

"Yes. It's allor nothing. You're becoming a liability. The city is down on us for the amount of lawsuits being filed against the police department and you are a leading contributor. Do something before the situation is beyond your control. Dismissed."

Elliot jerked upright, looking to see if his captain was serious. He saw no indication that he wasn't. He closed his mouth in anger and left the office. Olivia was right behind him. He slammed his chair against his desk. "Well, that's it. I'm done. I can't see any way that one time at some place will make that much difference."

"Let's give it a chance." Olivia said with a little smile of anticipation.

Elliot stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "What is that look for?" he demanded.

"What look?" she pretended innocence.

"Don't play that with me. You know something."

"We're going to be late. Let's go. I'm driving."

Elliot stared at her, but she took her jacket and headed for the elevators. He grabbed his and hurried after her. She wouldn't tell him what she knew though he tried everyway he could to convince her. He even threatened to stay in the car and not go in when they got there if she didn't tell him. She shrugged and got out, still smiling.

He followed her into the office. The woman working there greeted them amiably. "Good afternoon. I'm Jennifer. You must be Elliot Stabler. I'm sorry, I don't know your name." She greeted Olivia.

"Olivia Benson."

"Welcome. Captain Cragen called and said you would like to give our services a try. I'm pleased you could come on such short notice."

"It wasn't exactly my idea." Elliot said in a surly tone.

Jennifer lost her smile and faced him squarely. Her demeanor wasn't confrontational nor was it passive. It was a neutral stance. "I understand that. Perhaps if I explain a few things to you it might help. My husband used to be a deputy sheriff. Some days he'd come home so filled with rage over something at work that I didn't feel like his wife, more like his adversary. He got the idea one day to take one of the kids baseball bats and go out to the garage where we had some old furniture and beat the hell out of that instead of yelling at us. We learned to steer clear of that garage and keep the cars outside until he was done, I can tell you." She smiled briefly.

Elliot snorted with reluctant amusement. "If only I had a garage."

Jennifer nodded. "Many people don't so he started inviting his friends over for a beating session, as he called them. It got so we had to have a large dumpster delivered once a week. The neighbors weren't happy, but it was during the daytime and they were happy to have the extra police around. We eventually had to sell the business and moved here. My point, Detective, is that what I offer here is the chance for you to do what you cannot do at home or elsewhere. It's not intended to hurt anyone, the sessions are entirely private unless you give permission otherwise and you are welcome to break or not anything in the room except your own bones. I'm hoping you will give it a chance before you decide it isn't worth your time."

"What can it hurt?" he shrugged, uncomfortably.

"Exactly. Before we begin, you should know a few things. Your weapons should stay with your partner or if you come in alone I have a place that is locked that they stay until you leave. As a favor to Captain Cragen, I'm waving the usual documents you'd need to bring, but please gring them next time."

"You're assuming there will be a next time." He growled softly.

Jennifer gave him an amused look. "Next time it'll be free. How can you pass that up?" she teased. "I didn't have a lot of time to chose a room for you so I used what I had on hand. When you have a more time, I can set it up more to your specifications. That room back there is what I refer to as my weapons room, where I keep the things you can use. It stays locked unless I'm in there with you. I carry the weapon from there to the actual room. You have fifty five minutes to do you worst. At ten minutes to the hour, I'll give you a five minute warning that your time is running out, then when you're done there's five minutes with the weapon down for you to cool off both physically and mentally before you come out. That's a necessary safety precaution, though it's not usually necessary. I'll need you to sign some papers before you begin. Do you have any questions?"

"You have a lot of people who do this?"

Jennifer laughed with a bit of a sharp edge to her voice. "There's a lot of rage out there and not just people you'd expect. What I offer, I'd like to think, has helped a lot of people get a handle on their anger. Detective Benson, you are welcome to stay here or you can go and come back in an hour, if you'd prefer."

"I'll stay." Olivia said with a meeting of the gazes with Elliot.

Jennifer nodded. "I see you've been partners for awhile." She commented.

"What makes you say that?" Olivia asked.

"I was married to a cop. He didn't have a partner like you do but some of his friends used to give each other looks like that, it's a "you and me against the world" look. "You Watch my back and I'll watch yours" kind of look. It's sad, really, that it has to come to that in this world, that it has to be that way. I never got that look much, but it's a good feeling to have that kind of relationship. Sign these please."

Olivia hid her smile. She was quick to see, this woman. Elliot was glaring at the woman, but she could see he was beginning to get into the idea of it. Elliot scribbled his name hurriedly with a flourish. Jennifer didn't take the bait. She appeared to realize he was deliberately trying to get a rise out of her.

Jennifer stowed the forms away in her desk and took Elliot to the locked room. It held a large cabinet that she opened and it held rows of baseball bats from little league size to caveman club and a variety of golf clubs. In the back of the cabinet was a variety of sledgehammers of differing sizes. She backed off and let Elliot chose. He took a sledge hammer and hefted it, then put it back. He tried a couple others, swinging them experimentally, then went back to the sledgehammer. He grinned at Jennifer in anticipation.

She nodded and took it from him. "Good choice. Serious swingers, sorry, poor choice of words, use these. Massive damage." She carried the sledge from the room and relocked it. "Give your weapons and anything else you don't want to lose to your partner please."

After he did that, he followed her to the room. "Would you like to see the room before he begins? It makes a great before and after impression."

"Sure." Olivia shrugged. She could feel the excitement building in the place.

Elliot stepped into the room after Jennifer and looked around. There was miscellaneous tables, chairs, boxes, appliances, dishes, something of nearly everything. All here for him to smash. He grinned looking around choosing where he wanted to start.

"All of this is for him to break?" Olivia asked.

"Anything and everything that suits his fancy. All the cords and things have been removed, so you don't have to worry about being electrocuted. All I ask is that you give your partner and I a chance to get out of swinging range before you begin." She handed him the hammer and ushered Olivia before her out the door.

They didn't make it back to the front before there was a mighty crash. Olivia turned with the intention of going back in, but Jennifer was grinning and nodded with satisfaction. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the results."

She went around behind the desk and looked up at the monitor for a minute. Olivia was going to join her but Jennifer stopped her with a look and a smile. "It's private. I'm sorry."

Olivia nodded. She really wanted to see what was going on, but she understood the reason behind the rule. She moved back to the front of the room and sat down to look at the magazines there. At least they were new ones and a variety of different ones. The sounds of smashing and thumping were regularly coming from the back. Jennifer kept glancing at the monitor. At 35 minutes into the session there was a quiet space. Jennifer looked at the monitor for a minute nodding with satisfaction and kept working. Pretty soon the noise resumed.

Olivia watched her flip a switch on the wall and there was a ventilation fan that kicked on. Olivia checked her watch at about the time, Jennifer said "There's five minutes left. Finish what you need to."

Renewed furious sounds came from the room and Jennifer grinned at Olivia. "He's quite an energetic fellow, isn't he?"

Olivia grinned back at the woman. "He's in good shape."

"I noticed." Jennifer said embarrassed. At Olivias grin she shrugged. "I'm older, but I'm not dead." She waited a few moments and spoke again into the intercom. "Five minute cool down. Please put down your weapon." She watched seriously and kept watching. Then her eyes turned to Olivia with friendliness once again. "So do you want to see the after now?"

Olivia was on her feet in an instant. "I do."

Jennifer led the way, opening the door cautiously and stepped inside. It looked like a tornado had hit the place and Elliot stood inside, running water, and grinning with the widest grin Olivia had seen in months. There was wood splinters all over, glass shards, twisted metal and things that were no longer identifiable. The sledgehammer lay on the floor. Jennifer went over and picked it up, looking around. "I can honestly say I've never seen a more thoroughly trashed room. You can be proud of it, Detective."

Elliot grinned and his brilliant blue eyes turned to Olivia. She grinned at him. "That's my partner." She said proudly.

He accepted the accolade proudly, though he tried to hide his embarrassment. "Come on out, Detective. You did well." Jennifer said letting the two detectives have a moment to themselves before they joined her outside again.

Elliot stepped over his partner and pulled her roughly to him "You were right. I think I'm ready to go home now. I have a few things I want to show you." He kissed her deeply, passionately, urgently.

She lifted her head. "I'm ready to look at whatever you want to show me." She told him huskily.

They went out to the front where Jennifer was shutting down the computer. She looked at them. "Did you enjoy yourself?" she asked Elliot.

"I did. You were right."

"I'm glad. That's all that counts."

Olivia handed him back his equipment and while he put the stuff away, she looked from him to Jennifer. "So can I book an appointment?" she grinned.

TBC