Hey babies! This was originally going to be an extremely long update but I broke it up into two parts so my lovely readers wouldn't have to wait as long.

For the sake of the story, the whole Hank Abraham case happened between the first and second chapter.

Again, this chapter is a bit shorter than normal but hopefully it will hold you over until the next update!

Thus chapter picks up about two weeks after the last one. ENJOY!


Walking into the soon to be nursery, Olivia crossed her arms as she surveyed the newly painted walls courtesy of, none other than, Ed Tucker. He had his back to her and she grinned as she watched him. Dressed in faded jeans and a ratty NYPD shirt, he had a roller in his hand as his hips swayed slightly to the Bruce Springsteen coming from the blue tooth speaker.

She cleared her throat in an attempt to get his attention. When that did not work, she turned off the music which caused him to spin around in surprise, Surprise was soon replaced with delight. Placing the roller down in the paint, he approached her.

Wrapping one arm around her waist, he pulled her to him and placed a sure kiss on her lips. He smiled against her mouth as he felt her firm belly press against his. She was finally showing and he had never loved a sight more than pregnant Olivia.

"This looks great!" She said when they parted, observing the soft mint green walls. They had thrown around the idea of painting the nursery pink, but Olivia, never a girly girl, nipped that idea in the bud.

His hand, spotted with dry paint, came up to cup her cheek. "Thanks, but you really shouldn't be in here with the fumes."

She brought her hand up to hold his wrist. "A couple of minutes isn't gonna kill me."

He rolled his eyes playfully at her stubbornness, "So between you and me our little girl doesn't stand a chance when it comes to having a hard head, huh?"

Throwing her head back, she let out a hearty laugh. "I guess you're right."

With a smile and a wink, he let her go and moved to continue the task at hand. "I don't know what your thought process was when you bought this place but the third bedroom is definitely coming in handy now."

Sitting on the rocker that was moved into the middle of the floor, she began to sway slowly in the chair. "Well, I bought this place when I was with Cassidy and I guess i subconsciously wanted to fill these rooms with kids."

She noticed the muscles in his back tense and his movements cease at the mention of her ex. Fighting her way out of the rocking chair, she moved towards him and pressed a hand to the center of his back. "You wanted kids with Cassidy?" He asked, his back still towards her.

"No", she whispered and he turned around at that. His eyebrows knitted together as his eyes met hers. "That's why we ended it. I wanted to grow and start a family and he just didn't want to grow up." Taking his face in her hands, she pulled him close so his forehead was against hers. "The only person I want a family with is you. None of that matters anymore."

Nodding his head against hers, theirs noses brushed as their breaths mingled together. He brought his hands up to her waist, his thumbs slipping underneath her shirt to rub against her bump. They stayed like that for several moments, enjoying the feeling of skin against skin. Her eyes fell closed at the methodic rhythm of his breathing.

"Do you want to get married?" He asked, breaking the silence. Her eyes shot open and she pulled her head away from his at the unexpected question.

She blinked multiple times as his vulnerable blue eyes gazed into hers. "What?" She breathed.

As if her surprise slapped him in the face, he shook his head and turned away from her. "Never mind. It was just a stupid idea." he mumbled as he bent back down to absentmindedly stir the paint.

When the realization of what just transpired dawned on her, she quickly recovered from her silence. She walked over to him and gently took the paint stirrer from his hand. "Hey, it's not stupid." She grabbed his face between her hands, "Is this what you really want?" She asked, her eyes squinting as they peered into his. "I don't want you feeling that this is something that you have to do."

His hands wrapped around her waist, lacing together at the small of her back as he nudged his nose against hers. "You're making it sound like I haven't thought about this before."

Her eyes blinked several times while her brain processed his words. "Have you?" Her voice was small, tentative.

"All the time", he admitted. "I've wanted to marry you since I first convinced you to try bourbon that one night." She swiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye as she chuckled at his very typical response.

Looking away, she brought her thumbnail between her teeth as thought swirled around in her mind. "Don't you love me?" He teased, playfully wiggling her body in his arms.

Her eyes met his and the smirk on his face made her heart skip a beat. "Of course", she breathed, her hands moving up to his biceps. "My last engagement didn't end well."

"This isn't like that, Liv." He reassured, pulling her closer. "You have nothing to run from this time. You have me, Noah and our little girl. I want to see a ring on that finger. I want to hear the name Noah Tucker when our boy graduates high school. I want us to be a real, annoyingly normal family."

Unable to stop the tears that fell from her eyes at hearing Ed talk about their future, she brought her hands to her face to wipe them away. "Yes", she exhaled lowly.

Ed leaned his ear towards hers, pretending like he didn't hear her. The smile on his face told her that he heard exactly what she said.

"Yes!" She laughed loudly as his lips caught hers.

With his arms firmly around her waist, Ed lifted Olivia up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. He leaned back against the recently painted wall, not caring about the state of his shirt. Sinking down to the floor, he held her in his lap while her lips moved over his.

His hands came up to hold her face, pulling back to look at her. She smiled down at him, her fingertips running along his swollen lips. He pursed his lips, kissing her dainty digits before pulling her close and placing kisses along the expanse of her face.


Olivia had spent almost every day for the past four years in this office, sometimes for more than twelve hours. But today, she found being cooped up in this room unbearable. All she could think about was her conversation with Ed the day prior and she could not wipe the smile off of her face.

Looking down at her now bare left ring finger, she wiggled it, wondering what it would feel to finally have that finger adorned after all these years.

A soft knock of her office door brought her out of her thoughts. Looking up, she saw Ed's long time partner Cole Draper. "Cole", she greeted with a smile. "Did Ed tell you already? I told him..."

"I'm sorry, lieutenant. I'm afraid this isn't a social call." He interrupted, causing her face to drop with worry.

Over the past year, Cole had spent a good deal of time with the couple. He had even watched Noah a time or two. Olivia considered him a friend and she could tell by the sympathy on his face that he was here doing IAB's work.

As she wracked her mind for what she could have possibly done, Chief William Dodds stepped into the room causing her to freeze. A chill ran down her spine as the tiny hairs at the back of her neck stood at attention.

After a moment of staring her down, Dodds spoke. "Since your involvement with Captain Tucker has come to light, I have taken it upon myself to look into the recent cases you two have worked on together in the past year. Just to make sure no one has suffered injustice due to your relationship." The last word rolled off of his tongue like it was poison.

Looking up from his feet, the expression of guilt was evident on Cole's face as his hands that were clasped together in front of him worried against each other. "We'll need you to come down to 1PP, lieutenant."

Olivia's eyes widened as she sighed incredulously, standing up front her desk. Dodds eyed her baby bump with distain as she crossed to the front of the desk while Cole's face held compassion.

The chief exited the office first leaving the Lieutenants to fall behind him. Her questioning eyes met her friends and the only response he could give her was closing his eyes with a shake of his head as his hand came up to rub her upper back soothingly.

With that, Olivia knew that this was all retaliation and most likely completely unfounded.


Adjusting herself in the stiff metal chair, Olivia cleared her throat as Cole pressed the record button on the camcorder that was positioned on the table between them. Chief Dodds was sitting next to Cole with his arms crossed over his chest, a very satisfied look on his face. "Can you let me know what this is all about now?" Olivia asked, frustration evident in her voice as she intertwined her hands in front of her on the metal table.

Opening the file in front of him, Cole began. "Lieutenant, do you recall the Hank Abraham case?"

She blinked away the confusion. "Of course I do."

"It says here that you informed IAB Captain Ed Tucker about the raid on Deputy Comissioner Abrahams house long before protocol states you should contact Internal Affairs." Lieutenant Draper dictated as his eyes scanned the file. "Why is that?"

"I knew that IAB would be getting involved eventually, with it being the Deputy Comissioner, so I took the initiative to contact them myself." She explained professionally. "I've known Captain Tucker for almost twenty years. I know he wants his investigations to be air tight. I wanted him to know that we were doing everything by the book so there wouldn't be accusations of wrong doing later on down the road."

Cole let out a small sigh, knowing that this line of question was reaching. "Is it true that Captain Tucker let you into the Abraham apartment alone before CSS?"

She sighed loudly before answering. "Hank's wife, Pippa Cox, is an advocate for children that has worked with SVU many times. I wanted her to have time to get her kids ready before CSS ransacked the house. It was strictly professional courtesy."

Before Cole could speak, Chief Dodds leaned forward. His eyes were stone cold as he spoke. "So it's possible that you could've planted those hard drives under Abraham's drawer?"

Olivia was taken aback by his accusation. She looked at Lieutenant Draper, not bothering to waste her attention on Dodds. "Abraham pleaded guilty, he admitted what he had done. Why is this coming up now?"

"Answer the question, Olivia." Dodds demanded harshly. She looked at him incredulously. She couldn't believe his audacity, to use her given name in such an unprofessional way as well as what he is accusing her of.

Ignoring Dodds once again, she turned to Cole. "I wasn't aware it was standard procedure to have the Chief is here for questioning..."

Draper, as well as Dodds, knew she was right. "Give us the room, Chief." Cole requested.

The chief stood from the table causing the metal of the chair to scrape against the floor. His cold eyes threw daggers at Olivia but her eyes never met his.

As soon as the door to the interview room shut, she turned to Cole. "It wasn't Abraham who wanted this case reopened, was it?" She asked, defeat written all over her face.

"I think you know the answer to that." He replyed, adverting his eyes to the two way mirror where the Chief was surely watching.

She sighed softly, "Cole, did Ed tell you what happened at the foundation gala?"

As soon as the words left her mouth there was a loud knock on the other side of the mirror. Cole excused himself and as soon as he opened the door she heard Ed's angry voice.

Not caring about protocol, Olivia jumped up from the table to follow Cole out. The first thing she saw was her fiancee chest to chest with her assailant. "I told you to stay away from her!" He growled, shoving his finger in the Chief's face.

Cole was behind him in a second, pulling him away from the superior officer. The gesture was one made as a friend more than a cop. "Relax, Ed." He tried soothingly.

That just caused Ed to fight against his restraint. "He attacked Olivia at the Astoria and now he's trying to intimidate her into keeping quiet."

All eyes found their way to Olivia at the admission. Her hands came to cover her stomach as if to protect to baby before nodding, confirming the words were true.

Draper let go of Ed before approaching Dodds, motioning for him towards the interrogation room. "You don't want to do this, lieutenant." The chief warned.

That caused Cole's face to set in a hard line. "Chief Dodds, you are no longer my superior but a suspect. Are you sure you want to threaten me?"

Chief Dodds fell silent as he trudged into the interrogation room. Ed was at Olivia's side, his forehead pressed against hers as his hands cradled her face in his.

"I'm okay, I promise." She muttered, her shaking hands finding their way to his sides.

Nodding his head against hers, he kissed her forehead. "Let's get you home."


Hope you guys enjoyed it! Up next: the trial! Reviews really inspire me so give me some inspiration!