A/N: Disclosure: The act or instance of exposure or revelation

DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story

"You know why I'm letting you read that, right?" Elliot asks, his arms folded as he stares at her.

Olivia nods, biting her lip. "I though Cragen said I couldn't work..."

"You can't," he interrupts, leaning back against the high wall behind him. "You're not working it. Not this time. At least...not yet. I just...I need you to know what happened. You need to be careful, and you have to consider everyone in that room a suspect."

She blinks once, then takes a shaky breath. "She was restrained with her own cuffs...so she couldn't fight him off," she says softly, reading the file in her hands. "Traces of spermicide...powder from latex gloves..." She stops and looks at him. The way he leans against the ledge of the roof brings back memories, good and bad, and she misses the talks they used to have up here. "It's definitely a man, and it's definitely a cop. You were always afraid this would happen," she says, closing the folder and handing it back to him.

He takes the file, and he sighs. "Son of a bitch became a cop to learn how to get away with murder."

"Rape," she says gruffly, crossing her arms. "And murder."

"I thought you'd be out of here when it happened," he whispers. "Liv, if it's someone in your unit, I can't stand..."

She stops his speaking with a soft kiss; it shocks her more than him because she's not one for getting personal at work. Especially with him, when the risks are high and many. It's a bold move on her part, and it makes her realize just how much he's changing her. "Relax," she says quietly, her eyes still closed as she pulls away from him. "Please."

He nods and sighs as he pulls her into his arms. "I'm not leaving you alone. Not for a second. You know that, don't you?"

She laughs against his chest, and she says, "Yeah." She lets her eyes close, and for a moment all she can hear is the sound of his heartbeat, she can hear him breathing. She wraps her arms around him and she tries like hell to burn this into her memory, because she has never felt more loved and safe as she does now.

He kisses the top of her head, taking a deep breath of her, and then lets go of her. "We should...get down there. I've gotta start questioning people, running call logs, tracing...why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing," she shrugs. Then she smirks. "Special Agent Stabler," she teases.

"Very Special," he says with a wink.

She grins. "You're an arrogant bastard," she says, "But I love you."

"I love you, too," he whispers to her. "You never read this, hear me?"

She gives him a mock-salute and says, "Yes, Sir."

He growls, his ego and certain other body parts swelling at her words as he watches her turn and walk away. "I fucking love when you call me that," he says, under his breath.

"I know," she retorts, having heard him. They share a laugh as they make their way back into the building, down the stairs, to the squad room.

Elliot takes one last deep breath and lets it out slowly, regretting what he has to do. Tear what used to be his team, his family apart, right at the seams.

"So," Fin says, kicking back in the metal chair and plopping his feet on the cold table, "Are you going alphabetically, starting with the most likely suspect, or starting with people you have a serious grudge against?"

Elliot blinks. "You're the first one in here."

"Exactly why I'm askin'," Fin scoffs.

"Why would I have a grudge against you?" Elliot asks, taking off his jacket. He lays it over the back of his chair and walks a few feet toward Fin's side of the table.

"You took off, you knew Liv would need a shoulder to cry on with you gone," Fin starts. "You knew it would be me."

Elliot chuckles. "Knock it off, man," he says, shaking his head. "You didn't sleep with Olivia, can we get back to the real reason you're here?"

Fin blinks back at him. "How do you know I didn't..."

"She's my best friend," Elliot interrupts. "You think just because I don't work here anymore, that means I stopped talking to her? Stopped seeing her? We talk. I know all about Michael, I've met him, and...I'm not jealous. She's happy. Stop trying to piss me off, and answer the fucking question."

Fin clears his throat. "Ya got me," he says, rolling his eyes. "I was out. On a call. Alone."

"Alone?" Elliot asks. "According to your log, you were out with Munch, until someone called for backup." He throws the list of names and phone numbers down in front of Fin. "Amanda Rollins called your cell twice, three hours before she was found, raped, beaten, dead." He unbuttons the cuffs of his shirt and stares at Fin intently, rolling up his sleeves.

"She called," Fin says, shoving the papers away from him. "So what? She probably called Liv, too, man. And every other detective in the unit."

Elliot smacks Fin's left foot off of the table, and he sits in its vacated spot. "What did she want?"

"Like you said," Fin begins. "Backup. She said Amaro took off, she didn't wanna go into the warehouse alone. I left Munch to question the punk-ass clerk we were with and I went."

"Not looking good, here, Fin," Elliot says, his voice low. He drops his arms and grabs the edge of the table, and he leans closer to his former friend and colleague. "What happened when you got there?"

Fin rolls his eyes again, shoves himself backward, and stands. "Man, this ain't cool! You know me, Elliot! You know I didn't do this! Stop wastin' time askin' me stupid shit and go find the ass..."

"If you have nothing to hide, you wouldn't be getting so defensive," Elliot interjects, standing and moving closer to Fin. With fire in his eyes, he snarls and asks, "What happened when you got to the warehouse, Detective Tutuola."

"Are you pullin' rank with me?" Fin questions, offended. "Agent Stabler," he snorts, it sounds like an insult. "She was gone, okay? I showed up, and she was gone. Place was clear, car was gone. I guess Amaro went back, they checked it out, they left."

"She never called you to tell you that backup was no longer needed," Elliot states. "You're telling me she broke protocol, ignored standard..."

Fin throws his arms up, stopping Elliot. He chuckles bitterly and yells, "She was a rookie, man! She didn't know the protocol for anything! She had a lot to learn and wouldn't take the time to..."

"You're saying she didn't belong here, then?" Elliot asks, raising an eyebrow.

"The only woman who has the balls and the brains to make it in this unit is Liv," Fin spat. "I understand Cragen replacin' your ass after you quit. But Liv isn't even gone and he hired..."

Elliot holds up a hand. "You think Cragen was trying to replace Liv? With Rollins?"

Fin closes his eyes and sighs, slumping back into his chair. "Yeah," he breathes. "I thought Liv was gearin' up to leave, too. She's been sayin' for months how different it is without you, how much harder it is to work without you, it got fuckin' annoying. I thought she was transferrin' or somethin' and when Rollins showed up..." he shrugs again.

"You really don't want Liv to leave, huh?" Elliot asks, his teeth nipping at the inside of his cheek.

Fin looks up at Elliot, his eyes narrow. "Of course not," he says harshly. "If I knew...I knew for sure that she was, I'd do anything to convince her to stay."

Elliot runs a hand down his face and starts for the door. "Cool off a minute," he tells Fin. "I'll be right back." He walks through the door, meeting his partner and Ed Tucker on the other side of the two-way glass. "Motive," he says, raising a finger, "And opportunity."

Tucker shakes his head. "You don't really think he did this," he says, his tone questioning and convinced at once.

"He might have," Elliot shrugs. "We have eight other suspects in that room, though. They all need to be..."

"Seven," his partner corrects. "Olivia isn't a suspect, unless there's something she's not telling us."

Chuckling, Elliot shakes his head. "Trust me, she is all woman," he quips. "But it's still eight."

"Well," Tucker says, "In the morning, this unit needs to get back to work. Can you narrow it down before one of your eight magic reindeer skips town while they're out on a call?"

"They're free to do what they need to do, as long as they come right back here when they're done. And they're all being tailed by an agent," Elliot affirms. "They're not going anywhere, any of them. Including Olivia."

Elliot's partner, who has been mumbling and counting to himself, sputters for a second. "Man, it's seven! Who the hell am I missing?"

"The most obvious," Elliot says, turning. "He made the call, he knew where she was before they found her, he's the one pushing this investigation harder than anyone."

Tucker eyes Elliot for a moment. "Stabler," he starts, "Are you telling me you're considering Cragen a suspect?"

He prods the inside of his cheek with his tongue and rocks on his heels for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I am." He blinks. "He made me give Liv full disclosure on this."

"Like you weren't going to anyway," his partner laughs.

Elliot narrows his eyes. "That's not the point, Dean," he says, shaking his head. "He told me not to let her out of my sight, to protect her. He could be trying to pull my focus from the other women attached to the unit."

Tucker argues, "Benson is the only female lead..."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Elliot asks. "They have their own ADA, they work closely with Doctor Warner and Doctor Hendrix, and there are lower ranking detectives, female unis that park in that squad room."

"So what's the play?" Dean asks, folding his arms.

Elliot smirks, looks at his partner, then at Tucker. "I want Liv wired, she'll get more out of them than I will. I want every phone and internet connection in that squad room tapped. Including cells. I need to check security camera footage, and if we can do it, I want more cameras hooked up in there. One in Cragen's office, one on the other side of the door. I'll talk to Morales, get him down here to..."

"Hold on," Tucker stops him. "Slow the hell down, Agent Douchebag!" He lowers his voice and points a finger at him. "These people need you to help them, not treat them like criminals."

"One of them is a criminal, Eddie," Elliot says. "No pretense, no ranks, just me asking my friend...do this." He lowers his voice even more. "Please?"

Tucker bites his lip. "Elliot, these people trust you."

Elliot lets out a thick "hmph," and looks back at the glass, at Fin, who looks too calm to be innocent and too nervous to be guilty. "I stopped trusting them a long time ago," he confesses. "Why do you think we haven't told them about the..." he stops himself, just in time. "Ed," he says, his voice taking on more of an endearing quality. "This isn't just because Liv is involved, either. It's how I work."

Dean pipes up. "Yeah. He had an eighty-year-old lady's phone tapped last week because she was on his list of suspects in a ponzie scheme. Do you know how many conversations about cat food, incontinence, boils, gas and dentures I had to listen to before he cleared her?"

Tucker chuckles, the mood lightened just a bit. "If you can do it without them freaking out..."

"Ed," Elliot jumps in, "They will never even know."

A/N: Ohhhhh. Thoughts?