Someone Who Understands

Chapter 3

"All right what have we found out?" Olivia asked her team as they gathered back in the squad room.

"Well, Warner says it appears the official cause of death was suffocation due to strangulation but she was given a pretty good beating beforehand and definite signs of sexual trauma." Dodds informed them.

"Have we gotten any more information on the girl herself?" Olivia asked.

"Yes, it appears she was a senior at Hudson. She had been working for the catering company part time for about two years. She is originally from St. Louis, her parents are on their way." Carsis told them.

"Let me know when they get here. How is CSU doing processing the scene?"

"They are almost done and I have been going over the list of donors for any red flags. Other than being obnoxiously well connected so far everyone seems clean." Finn added

"Please let me know if you decide to question anyone from that list." Barba said, causing the team to look to Olivia for confirmation. She nodded in agreement earning a grateful smile from the ADA.

"Well then let's start with people who aren't on that list. Let's start with the help both the family's help and the catering company. I want some answers quickly. "

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Several hours later they had not gotten very far. They had learned that the last time anyone saw Elizabeth was around 9:00 as they were making rounds with dessert trays. She had not shown up with the crew to leave together.

"Is that typical for the crew to come and go together from the events." Olivia asked one of the other servers who was a friend of Elizabeth's.

"Yes, usually we ride together in one of the vans, but it's not required it's not unusual for girls to stay behind sometimes, you know to earn extra money, but Elizabeth never did." The girl named Kelly told them.

"Kelly, how did these girls earn extra money?" Finn asked,

"How do you think? By entertaining guest after the party, but again Elizabeth wasn't in on that scene." Kelly said adamantly.

"Kelly, did you notice anyone paying extra attention to Elizabeth? Maybe someone who didn't know she wasn't one of the girls who didn't provide extra services?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know we were pretty busy so I really didn't have much time to talk to her." Kelly started them paused, "There was this one guy who hit on me a couple of times but I told him to find someone else, I'm not into that either."

"Great Kelly, did you get his name? Could you describe him to us at all?" Olivia prompted him.

"Sure he said his name was Kevin, he was tall dark hair, dressed really well, of course everyone there was, he seemed a little older than Elizabeth and I but not too much, maybe thirty? Does that help?" Kelly asked.

Olivia took a deep breath, "Yes, Kelly, it really does. I'm going to have Detective Finn show you some pictures and see if you can recognize him."

As Kelly left Olivia's office with Finn Carisi stuck his head in, "Elizabeth's parents are here, Lieutenant. Dodds already took them to the morgue and they are on their way back up."

"Thank, Carisi. Please show them in as soon as they get back." She told him.

After he was gone she turned to Barba who had been unusually quiet, "What do you think?" She asked him.

"I think, we need to find out who was hitting on the girls and if the family that hosted the party knew that there were other services being offered. I think we probably have two different cases, neither of them are going to be pleasant. How are you holding up?" He asked her.

She sighed a little, "I'm OK, I could use some coffee though."

He nodded, "I will go get us some from the good cart after we finish with Elizabeth's parents. Unless you would rather have what Finn made?"

Olivia laughed, "No, good coffee would be nice." Olivia couldn't help but think for a second how it was nice to have him here today. He hadn't been in the way or tried to take over. She wondered if he had other work he needed to be doing and then she found herself wondering what he was doing after work. She shook her head. Where had that thought come from?

"Liv, you all right?: He asked interrupting her thoughts.

"Yes, sorry, I guess I need the coffee more than I realized." She said with a smile.

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"Liv, we have something" Finn told her as soon as they finished showing Elizabeth's parents out.

Barba looked at her and could see how tired she was and the emotional toll that talking with the girl's parents had on her. "I'm going to go get us that coffee, promise me you won't do anything before I get back?" He said both grinning and being serious at the same time.

Olivia nodded, "I promise, I won't arrest anyone in the next ten minutes."

Finn couldn't help but look between the two of them sensing something felt different but knowing better than to bring it up. He and Olivia headed back into the squad room while Barba left for the coffee.

"Meet Kevin Mitchell…"Dodds started to say.

"Mitchell as in Senator Mitchell? Olivia asked suddenly glad she had a moment without Barba there to collect her thoughts.

"His son." Dodds answered

"Did Kelly identify him as the man who was hitting on her?" She asked

"Yes, she said it was him but she couldn't say that she saw him talking to Elizabeth." Carisi added, "Do you want us to pick him up for questioning?"

"No, not yet, we need to proceed with caution all that we know for sure is that he hit on a waitress. "

"Caution is always a good thing." Barba said coming back in from his coffee run.

"You three keep working the evidence and talking to witnesses. You come to my office." She said to Barba.

He followed her to her office and handed her the coffee as she closed the door. Before she spoke she took a long sip noticing the taste of her favorite hazelnut cream. How did he know that?

"So what do you want to do?" He asked her.

"We need to at least talk to him today. He is the only lead we have at the moment. Do you have a suggestion as to the best way to do it?" She asked.

"Well, the Senator promised to help however he could, so let's see if he means it. I will call the office and say that we need to meet with he and his son as soon as possible and see where that gets us."

Olivia nodded, "Today if possible" she added.

Barba rolled his eyes, "You are so pushy."

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Barba had managed to get them a meeting with the Senator and his son that evening but not until nine. Olivia decided it best to send everyone home for the day. Telling them she would call them if anything urgent came from the meeting if not she would see them at seven the next morning. Barba had asked her if she wanted to grab dinner before they went but she wanted to go home and see Noah and put him to bed. As they were starting to head in different directions she stopped, "You are welcome to eat with us" she offered.

"I don't want to intrude on your time with Noah." He hesitated.

"It will be fine, he likes you."

So they ended up back at her place giving Lucy a chance to step out for a little while. Olivia had made up a chicken pot pie over the weekend and Lucy had heated it up.

"Ok, I have to confess I had no idea you could cook." He said as they finished eating.

"Before Noah I never did but, I've taught myself a few things so he's not constantly eating take out or boxed meals." She explained as she picked the boy up from his highchair. "Now if you will excuse us someone needs a bath."

Barba smiled as he watched her with the boy. There was no doubt how much either of them loved each other. He sat on her couch as found his eyes closing as he waited for her to get back. He didn't realize he had even fallen asleep until he heard her.

"If you keep sleeping on my couch I'm going to start charging you rent." She said with a laugh as he started and woke.

"Maybe you shouldn't have such a comfortable couch." He countered with a still sleepy smile and Olivia couldn't help but find the sight of him stretching and fumbling to straighten his suit somewhat adorable. "Is Noah asleep already?" He asked.

Olivia shook her head, "Lucy is putting him to bed. Sometimes it can take a while and we don't have time for that." She told him the disappointment evident on her face.

He was standing in front of her now and he couldn't stop himself from running around a hand down her shoulder and arm, "Tomorrow night, I promise." He said looking into her eyes.

"I hope so." She said enjoying the feel of the warmth of his hand that was now loosely holding hers and that same unsettling comfort began to wash over her. "We should probably go." She said still not moving her hand away from his.

She felt his thumb gently swipe over the back of her hand before he released it, "Let's go." He said picking her coat up off the back of the couch and helping her put it on.

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"Damn it!" Olivia yelled as they walked out of the Senator's office towards Barba's car. Kevin Mitchell had conveniently been called away on a business emergency out of the country that afternoon. 'We should have gone talked to him earlier."

Barba was seething too, "So much for the Senator's full corporation."

"I should start running through his background tonight. Get a head start on tomorrow." Olivia said.

"Would it do you any good if I suggested you go home and go to bed?" Barba asked and the look she shot him gave him his answer. "Can I at least come and help you?" he offered.

Olivia felt herself calming down a little, "Would it do any good if I said no?"

Barba grinned at her, "Not really" he said closing the car door as she got in.

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They worked on a list of things to cover the next day. Questions about Kevin Mitchell's past that might lead them to some answers. Also, they needed to go back over the rest of the guest list and staff to see if anyone had actually seen Elizabeth and Kevin together. Truthfully there wasn't much else they could do tonight but they were both frustrated and hated to give up.

"I feel like we've gotten nowhere today." Olivia said in frustration closing the file her laptop.

"Well Kevin Mitchell leaving the country certainly gives us a little more reason to look at him closely." Barba reminded her as he noticed she was rubbing her neck and he scooted over to her on the couch placing his hand on her sholders, "Can I?" he asked and smiled when all she did was let out a soft hum.

There were about a million reasons he should not be sitting on her couch at midnight rubbing her shoulders each of them with a glass of wine in front of them but somehow the boundaries between them were beginning to get fuzzy and neither of them seemed to mind.

They sat there for a few minutes both forgetting about the day and the dead girl, the political hoops they were going to have to jump through and just enjoyed each other's company. After several minutes Olivia finally spoke but Barba noticed she made no effort to move away from him.

"What are we doing?" She asked not turning to look at him.

He stopped rubbing her shoulders but left his hands on them not wanting to appear like he was running away but not wanting to scare her off either. "I am not really sure, Liv, but it feels nice to me. What about you?" he asked her not knowing what to expect.

She turned to face him still not moving away causing his hands to fall and down her arms, "I feels nice, but in my experience feeling nice doesn't always end well." She told him.

"Liv, we don't even know what this is, let's not talk about how it might end if we don't even know if it is beginning." He said as he rubbed his hand along her arm back to her hand the way he had earlier.

"You are sitting on my couch holding my hand for the second time this evening; I think we have to acknowledge something is beginning." She said with a smile.

"Does it bother you?" He asked worried he might have crossed a line.

"No, and that's what worries me." She told him honestly, "I like it"

He moved his hand from her hand to the side of her face, "Me too, and I wouldn't mind taking our time and seeing where it goes." She didn't answer him but she didn't move away either and so he leaned closer to her slowly in case she was uncomfortable but she must not have been because the next thing he knew her lips were on his. It was a soft slow kiss that didn't ask for anything more than that moment. When he was afraid it might start to ask more he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers.

"I will take that to mean you are ok with seeing where this goes?" He said slightly breathlessly

"Yes and long as it doesn't go to work and it goes slow." She said lacing her fingers around his.

He pulled back and smiled at her, "Of course and it that case, I should really go now. Good night Liv see you in the morning."

"Goodnight." Was all she could manage to say as she sat there on the couch trying to figure out exactly what had just happened.

TBC