Chapter Two

/SVU Precinct: Friday afternoon, 2:40pm/

"I didn't see who did it. All I know is, I was walking down the alley and I tripped over something. Looked down and there she was. Didn't know what to do so I just called 911..." the younger kid shifted in the chair beside Olivia's desk. As delinquent as he might have looked, there was a terror in his eyes that dissipated any belief that he was Erin's killer. Nevertheless, Olivia remained leaning against the corner of her desk with her arms folded against her chest.

"Where were you coming from, Mr...?" she asked, dark eyes shifting from the kid to Elliot, then back. Elliot sat across from where she stood, jotting down any information that they may receive from their witness.

"Stewart. James Stewart. I was coming back from the movies."

"James. Do you have anybody who can confirm this?" Olivia hated asking since he called the police, but one could never be too careful nowadays. Luckily, he seemed to be pretty cooperative which made her hopeful that he'd have an alibi to get him out of here quickly.

"Yeah. My girlfriend. I've got the movie tickets too," his hand immediately went into his pocket, retrieving the movie ticket stubs and tossing them onto the desk beside Olivia's body. Her eyes lowered to the tickets and then back over to Elliot, who nodded and spoke up for the first time in the past five minutes. About damn time. Olivia was getting tired of being the only one asking questions.

"All right, James. Thanks for your cooperation. We'll give you a call if we need anything else," Elliot chimed in, pushing himself up from the chair and prompting James to do the same. A couple handshakes later, James found himself walking out of the precinct hassle free. Glad as she was that James wasn't the suspect, she could feel her anxiety building each minute that went by with this unsolved case. With Erin's face haunting her, Olivia wasn't going to be able to do much until this freak had a needle in his arm. Anybody who was capable of hurting someone who was so innocent deserved to die slowly. Those green eyes were full of innocence that was apparent even after the light had been taken from them. It must have been so terrifying, suffering unimaginable pain and tribulations…

"Earth to Liv! Come in, Liv! You wanna get to the M.E.'s office to meet the parents or you plan on daydreaming all day?" Elliot's slightly raised voice was enough to pull her out of her thoughts and back into the precinct. Immediately, she pushed herself up off of the desk and straightened her form. Get it together, Liv, or Cragen will pull you off this case, she warned herself mentally before she nodded a little, reaching for her valuables to put in her pockets.

"Sorry. I was just thinking about something. I'm good. Let's head out," she replied in a distracted mumble, hoping that Elliot wouldn't pursue the reasons behind her odd behavior with this case. Fortunately, another voice distracted Elliot before he could question it. Not that the familiar voice brought any relief to Olivia's demeanor. If anything, she only tensed up more at the sound of Alex's voice, mingling with the clicking of her heels that distinctly paced themselves to match Alex's quick and confident stride.

"Heading somewhere, detectives?" How could three words increase the speed of one's heartbeat? If Olivia could answer that question, she certainly wouldn't have to work for the rest of her life. For now, all she could hope was that any feelings regarding this case or on her present company would remain filed inside of her under "Confidential". Turning her head, she saw the bounce of blonde hair on the shoulders of the gorgeous Assistant District Attorney dressed in a stunning blue skirt suit. The entire vision brought her first genuine smile since 4:27 this morning.

"Morning to you too, Counselor. Caught a case early this morning. Elliot and I are going to meet the parents at the Medical Examiner's office. Should be back by this afternoon if you'd like for me to brief you on it when we return." Elliot had to smile a little to himself. Olivia always volunteered to "brief" Alex on cases, usually in her office...alone. Alex never seemed to mind it either. Would there ever come a time that these two saw what everybody else did? If only. Typically, Alex was all too willing to have Olivia in her office to discuss a case, but the bite of her bottom lip and shift of her gaze from Olivia to the floor was the first clue that this wasn't going to go as typically planned. Oh boy.

"That'd be great, as long as I'm out of the office no later than 7:30. I have a date later," Alex gave a sheepish smile and turned in the other direction to walk over to her office, leaving Olivia to stand there with her mouth open just a bit. Alex has a date? Olivia wasn't certain if the negative emotion rising in the pit of her stomach came from the case or Alex's love life actually being...active. Who was this mystery date? Were they as smart as her? Were they as attractive as her? Let's not go there, she thought to herself when she saw Elliot standing there with his eyebrows practically as high as his receding hairline. He read every emotion on her face and it irritated her to the core.

"Well. Good for her then. Let's go," she said as she reached for her coat hanging on the back of her chair. Elliot remained still, watching her with that cynical smile he had when he knew she was full of shit. Usually, it was endearing. Today, it was irritating every fiber of her being.

"Are you coming or what? I'm not interviewing the parents alone, partner. Grab your stuff and let's go!" she snapped, her voice irritable as she walked toward the exit.

/Mr. and Mrs. McCaffe's Residence: Friday afternoon, 3:45pm/

"You're here to question us about Erin?" Olivia could hear the annoyance in the mother's tone as they sat down in the living room of their very expensive house. Between the multi-million dollar home, Erin's mother's massive diamonds and her father's perfectly tailored Armani suit, it was apparent that Erin lived a charmed life. Based on the lack of emotion in her mother's voice, or on the fact that her father could barely look up from his cell phone, Olivia could tell that the only comforting part of Erin's life would have come from Daddy's wallet. It was sad to think that a little girl was so poorly mistreated and even her parents hardly mourned it. The thought alone caused Olivia's jaw to clench, looking over to Elliot and finding solace in his expression. Clearly, they shared the same disgust with the parents.

"Yes ma'am. We're just trying to figure out Erin's whereabouts when she was taken. Can you tell us what her schedule looked like after school?" Olivia forced a small smile on her face, looking back to the mother who let out a long sigh, as if their presence was the bane of her existence. Poor Erin.

"She should have been with her nanny, Heather. That lazy, sorry excuse of a woman. Called and told me that she was at the school for hours. She never saw Erin. Filed a missing child report with the school. I was so angry with her, I fired her on the spot," she answered, hand waving as though dismissing the woman from her memory.

"And do you know where Heather lives?" Elliot asked, pulling out his notebook to write down the address.

"9th and 23rd. I'll get you her address. Viola!" the mother shouted, standing up from the couch to find their housekeeper, the older woman who answered the door only a few minutes prior. Throughout this entire process, Erin's father never looked up from his phone. What a shame.

/Heather Crestman's Residence: Friday afternoon, 5:00pm/

Knock knock! This was the fourth time that Olivia and Elliot attempted to knock on Heather's door with no success. Were they going to catch a break on this case? The longer they went with no leads, the colder the case was going to get. That wasn't acceptable.

"We'll try again tomorrow. Check with the school in the morning and see if we can't locate Heather. I know we've gotta get back to the precinct and fill Alex in on everything. Ready?" Elliot reached up and let the back of his hand lightly hit against Olivia's shoulder while turning to head down the stairs from Heather's front door.

"You know what? The crime scene's not too far from here. I think I'm just going to head there for a little bit, see if I can't gather any extra clues. You can fill Alex in, right?" Olivia tried to sound lighthearted with it, but Elliot knew exactly why Olivia had no desire to head back to Alex's office. It had nothing to do with clues. They would have found it already. He knew that the thought of being cut off early so that Alex could leave to prepare for her date only made Olivia seethe with jealousy and irritation. Add that to the emotional instability she felt throughout this case, it was a recipe for disaster.

"It'd really help you to consider telling her how you feel sometime. It's not healthy to keep all of that inside of you." Elliot lingered a few minutes after his words, watching the emotions transition over Olivia's expression. He was, by no means, qualified to give love advice when his own marriage was rocky at best, but this was Olivia they were talking about. She was married to the job for too long and Alex was the first woman that ever caught her eye...who wasn't victimized or dead, that is. She deserved happiness, and Alex was one of the only people he'd ever met who would come close to deserving her. The silence lingered before he nodded and headed out the door.

"See you tomorrow." His three words dismissed the situation and gave Olivia the out she needed to get out of seeing Alex that afternoon. This gave Olivia the opportunity to check out the crime scene once more. Maybe there wouldn't be anything else to discover, but if there was, Olivia was determined to catch it.

/SVU Precinct: Saturday morning, 1:35am/

The precinct was especially quiet this time of night. Hardly anybody worked in the office late on a Friday night. Why would they? After a full week of non-stop work, Friday night was the night to relax and have a good time. If that was the case, why was Olivia sitting there at her desk? The simple answer: frustration. The complicated answer: Two pairs of eyes haunted her for two entirely different reasons. Green ones begging her for justice, blue ones that caused an ache in her heart. She stared at the paperwork scattered over her desk, but her thoughts were elsewhere. It was dark, with the exception of her desk lamp illuminating only a small perimeter around her area. At the moment, she was the only one in the office, pen tapping echoing throughout the silence. Munch wasn't there to lecture her on the negative effects pen tapping could do to one's mental health, so she tapped that pen without a second thought to it.

"Anybody ever tell you that pen tapping is a bad habit?" that voice trailed throughout the office and pulled Olivia out of her head. She immediately dropped the pen on the desk and lifted her gaze to the shadowed figure leaning against the door that led into the office. Her heart jumped into her throat the moment she heard the question, but it seemed to remain there when the figure came into view. Alex. What on earth was she doing here this late in the evening?

"...I thought you had a date..." that was the only thing that Olivia could think to say at the moment. The little red dress and black heels confirmed the date, but why would she be here?

"I did. Elliot's briefing ran later than anticipated, so Michael picked me up here," she answered. Oh, so the mystery date had a name. Michael. How sweet. Olivia could barely contain herself from rolling her eyes, but she managed to hide her jealous just a little bit by nodding and looking back to the paperwork.

"That's good for you. I'm glad you had a nice time," she lied, a hand reaching down to a piece of paper, as if returning to work was a good way to dismiss Alex and, more importantly, this conversation. Unfortunately, the attempt failed.

"Missed seeing you at the briefing today," Alex's tone was soft, mingling with the clicking of her heels on the concrete floor as she made her way over to Olivia's desk to lean against it. The mere action made Olivia want to push those papers onto the floor and...whoa, snap out of it, Liv.

"Yeah, well. I had to check out the crime scene again." Bullshit. There was nothing there, but Alex didn't need to know that right? She didn't need to know that Olivia was avoiding seeing her this afternoon. The look on Alex's face held enough doubt that she wondered if her excuse was believed or not. If it wasn't, Alex didn't say anything to disprove it. Instead, she just nodded a little and clasped her hands onto her lap. Damn, that dress looked great on her.

"Did you find anything?" she asked, blue eyes piercing Olivia's once more. Olivia didn't speak. She only shook her head and dropped her eyes to the papers once more, swallowing hard. Clearly, there was something, perhaps more than one thing, bothering Olivia at the moment. It didn't take a genius to pick up on that. There were so many times that Alex had seen Olivia put on an entirely different persona as though she were putting on her pants in the morning. She could manipulate and fool almost any suspect into giving up the information she needed to get the case done. Yet, she was so transparent at the same time. Alex could read Olivia like a pop-up book with the way her emotions displayed so easily on that gorgeous face of hers.

"Olivia, I can tell something is bothering you. Elliot noticed it as well. Something about this case is getting to you. What is it? I'm your...friend. Talk to me," it pained Alex to call her that. Sure, she had always felt an attraction toward Olivia. That's all it was...right? No matter what it is, it's not something she could pursue. It was too dangerous for her to go with those feelings, not knowing whether Olivia shared them or not. Furthermore, she'd never dated a woman. She didn't know the first thing about it. Until she'd met Olivia, there was never anyone, man or woman, who could unnerve her. She fought rapists, murderers and plenty of psychopaths on a daily basis in the middle of a heavily populated courtroom. There were fellow colleagues with experience and intelligence that put hers to shame. Every day, she dealt with people questioning her abilities and yet, it was only Detective Benson who made her doubt herself and her actions. It was the most terrifying feeling she'd ever experienced and there was only one thing she was certain of: She wasn't ready for it.

"It's nothing," Olivia started, but it was the look over the top of Alex's glasses that said she wasn't buying anything that Olivia was selling. Maybe it was because she was tired. Maybe it was because Alex was her weakness. Maybe she just needed to confide in somebody. With a loud sigh, Olivia conceded.

"You're going to think I'm crazy."

"It's possible. Tell me anyway." Alex gave a smile with her side order of sarcasm in the hopes to relax Olivia just a bit. It worked. With a small laugh, Olivia leaned forward and rested her elbows on the desk.

"The other night, I had a dream. Nightmare, really. I was searching for someone. A little girl. I was fighting through crowds of people looking for her when I saw her. She was being held hostage and I had to save her. I didn't and the killer cut her throat..." she swallowed, feeling the tears forming. "The killer was me. I cut that little girl's throat and killed her. She bled to death and it was my fault. Then I woke up and went to the crime scene...and..."

"...and it was the little girl in your dream," Alex finished, knowing exactly where this was going. She saw the pictures of the crime scene and of the victim. They were upsetting in their own right, but to have that dream coincide with reality, it would have messed up anybody. Olivia pushed herself out of the chair and stood up to walk away, but Alex reached out to grab her arm. The moment her fingers curled around Olivia's arm, she felt electricity shoot through her. She didn't want to let go, but forced herself to.

Olivia froze the moment she felt the hand on her arm, the touch burning an imprint of Alex's hand into her arm. They stood so close that she could smell the sweet perfume that Alex was wearing. It was intoxicating, the mixture of roses, amaranth wood, musk and laundry. It was a fragrance she only associated with Alex and yet, it felt like home. It was a sobering feeling to realize that sense of home was meant for somebody else. For some mystery man named Michael. Her jaw clenched and she stepped back from Alex and shook her head.

"I...have to go..." she said, pulling away from Alex's grip. The break of her touch caused the brightening of her world to dim back to normal once again which only frightened her more.

"Olivia, wait..."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Alex," she interrupted, grabbing her jacket off of the back of her chair. Olivia moved so quickly that Alex could barely get over the shock of what just happened before Olivia walked out of the precinct. Alex watched her leave with a sense of confusion. What caused Olivia to close up that quickly? The bigger question was: why did she all of a sudden feel alone?

Guess there would be two people who weren't sleeping that night.