A/N: A lead
Tucker walked through the doors with accusing eyes, looking around suspiciously at everyone in the squad room until he found Amaro. "Okay," he said, sitting down at the empty chair at Olivia's old desk. "What do you have to tell me?"
Nick blinked, watching Tucker toy with the blanket draped over the edge of the baby carrier. "Well, um, I mean...I know you're probably gonna hear this sooner or later because Chief Stabler is..."
"Here?" Tucker questioned. He looked at the carrier, then he smiled. "That means Nathan is here." He chuckled and made a comment about the baby looking like a short, pudgy Elliot, then looked back at Amaro. "Sorry, what?"
Nick rolled his eyes, cleared his throat, and said, "I've been doing a little digging. The rumors flying around this place since Benson left are...well, let's just say they made a lot of sense to me, so I went back through a load of paperwork and..."
"You did what?" Tucker asked, interrupting. "Who gave you the authority to do that?"
"Captain Cragen, actually," Nick said, unlocking his bottom left drawer and pulling out a file. "I found this...it's from...a long time ago, and it's all copies so, I think..."
Tucker nearly ripped the file out of Amaro's hand and flipped it open in his own. "Okay..." he hummed, looking through the pages. "Where did you get this, exactly?"
"Fin's old files. From Narcotics." Nick raised an eyebrow at Tucker. "I don't think him transferring here was a coincidence."
Tucker shook his head in disbelief. "This is...or it used to be..."
"It's pretty detailed," Nick cut in. "Down to where and when she got her first tattoo. I didn't know she had one, let alone more than one. Didn't that guy...uh...White something...?"
"Yeah," Tucker nodded. "Exactly. Thanks for this," he said, tapping the file on the edge of Nick's desk. "I assume Stabler is in with Cragen?"
Nick nodded, then watched as Tucker pulled the blanket out of the carrier and headed for Cragen's door. He stared for a moment before turning his head toward the interrogation room, wondering how Olivia would feel when she found out the betrayal she was afraid of was very real.
Tucker didn't even knock, he simply opened the door and sat down. "Give," he demanded, looking at Cragen.
With a chortle, Cragen gently handed Nathan to Tucker, who wrapped his blanket around him and rested him in the crook of one arm. "You knew about this?" he asked, getting right to business and holding up the file Nick had given him.
"What is that?" Elliot asked, tilting his head.
"Oh, nothing," Tucker said. "Just a list of every place your wife went on a daily basis fourteen years ago, including her old apartment, your house...there are some pretty interesting pictures I'm sure you're glad didn't come out until after Kathy already left your sorry ass."
"What?" Elliot hissed, yanking the folder from him. He opened it and searched it fast, blinking, cursing under his breath. "Where did you get this?" he asked, gritting his teeth.
"Amaro," Tucker said with a nod. "Who says he found it in a box of Tutuola's old files downstairs." He nodded once at Elliot. "Looks like you were right."
Elliot scraped his teeth over his bottom lip and tossed the file down on Cragen's desk. "Fin wasn't even in this unit when that bastard started stalking her. He had it out for her from the beginning, and I need to know why."
Cragen picked up the folder and shrugged. "If I had known...at all...he never would have...Elliot, please, you have to believe I didn't know anything about this back then. When Olivia left, I...I had a lot of time to think, and things started adding up when..."
There was a knock on the door, the three men all turned to face it. "Come in," Cragen shouted, and the door opened with a whoosh. "A little birdie told me that my nephew was in the building."
"Hey, John!" Elliot laughed, genuinely smiling at someone for the first time since walking back into the squad room.
Tucker took a last look at Nathan, tapped his little nose, then handed him over to Munch. "We're playing pass the baby," he said.
"I figured," Munch said with a laugh. "Hey, little Stabler! You hungry?"
Elliot raised a finger. "Bottles are in the..."
"I know," Munch interrupted. "Something tells me he also needs a new diaper." He made a face and looked at Nathan. "You waited for Uncle Munch, didn't ya, pal?"
Nathan let out a squeak and gave Munch a big grin, and with another laugh, Munch took the sweet boy out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Tucker cleared his throat, bringing the mood back down to its serious tone, and he looked at Cragen. "You know what this means, don't you?"
Cragen nodded. "More of a reason for Elliot to do what he was going to do anyway."
Tucker folded his arms. "Now, he has my full support. Every case file, every report, and...I guess this means I need to apologize to Benson. Stabler. Olivia."
Elliot furrowed his brow. "For what?"
"Brady," Tucker said with a pout. "I was so ready to lay her on a hot grill for that one, pushed aside everything she said, every doubt I had, and..."
"You did your job," Elliot said, cutting him off. "You already said you were..."
"Elliot," Tucker held up a hand. "I should have caught this before. That never should have happened, and I should have been more determined to protect my detectives than sacrifice them. I was out of line, and I need to own up to that." He dropped his arms to his sides as he stood. "And I need to make it right." He took a step backward and turned toward the door, but turned back again. "You know...seeing that file...those pictures...I know why mortgaged your house to bail her out."
Elliot narrowed his eyes and smirked at Tucker. "I would have done it anyway. Regardless of our...history. She means..."
"I know what she means to you, Elliot," Tucker nodded. "I never said it was wrong, did I? Only that I understand now." He nodded at Elliot, then at Cragen, then walked out of the office.
Elliot turned back to Cragen and gave him a half-sympathetic look. "I'm sorry about this, you know that?"
Cragen sighed as he pulled a silver key off of his keychain and handed it to Elliot. "No," he said. "You're not."
"Well," Olivia sighed, carrying Nathan into the living room, "That was pure hell, how was your day?"
Elliot laughed and shook his head. "Baby, you know my days are always somewhere between excruciating and abominable." He strode up behind her and kissed the back of her head. "Ed wants to know what we're feeding him."
"Hey," Olivia chuckled, lifting the sleeping baby out of the carrier and resting him over her shoulder, "I blame you for that. You were a big baby, too. So was Dickie."
"Eli...he was small," Elliot mused, raising an eyebrow.
Olivia raised both eyebrows. "Eli was early and almost died!" she spat at him shaking her head. "Just admit you're part giant and we can move on."
Elliot rolled his eyes as he followed Olivia into the nursery. He watched her with soft eyes as she laid the boy in his crib and bundled him up. "Honey?"
She snapped her head up to look at him, her hands still clutching the blue blanket.
He smiled at her, grabbed both of her hands away from the soft, blue wool, and pulled her close to him. "Aside from the case, having to go back there..." he pulled her out of the nursery and backed himself into their bedroom across the hall.
Olivia smiled back. "I spent a lot of time cuddling with my son, my incredibly handsome husband tried to play hero, and for once i made it home without having to change my shirt or my pants three times. It's been a pretty good day."
He drew his hands up her arms, then back down, and held her gaze. "It's been a pretty good year." He kissed her softly, looped an arm around her, and pulled her closer.
"What are you doing?" she mumbled against his kiss.
He laughed as he pecked her lips, chin, then her neck. "I'm trying to seduce my wife," he said, giving the thin skin in the bend of her neck a light nip. "Is it working?"
"Oh, yeah," she moaned softly. She felt him working his hands into the waistband of her pants, pushing down, and she pulled his shirt open quickly and sunk her teeth into his shoulder.
"Damn, baby," he grunted, tugging on the fabric of her shirt. He grabbed her tightly around the waist, spun her around, and gave her a playfully hard shove onto the bed. When she laughed, his face lit up. He pulled his shirt off completely, then worked his pants open and down.
He moved over her slowly, kicking off his pants, then kissed her bare stomach slowly, softly. "So beautiful," he murmured, dipping his tongue into her navel. He rested a hand on her abdomen when she bucked up in response, and he shook his head at her. "Easy, baby," he teased.
She took a shaky breath and let her head drop back as she felt him sliding her panties down her legs. He unhooked her front-clasp bra and let it fall away, then wrapped his lips around one rosy nipple, making her eyes pop open and forcing a moan to escape her opened lips.
"El," she whispered, one hand working itself into his hair, scratching at his scalp and holding him where he was.
He grinned as he lightly pulled on her nipple with his teeth, looking at her, a gleam in his eyes. He kissed his way up her neck, then crashed his mouth into hers as he looped his hands behind her legs.
She made it easy for him to hike them up and locked them behind his back, then cupped his face with her hands. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you, too," he whispered back to her, then kissed her hard and gave a rough thrust of his hips, catching her moan in his mouth and grunting into hers.
The kiss deepened and slowed, his hips moved in time with his heartbeat, and he let his mind calm and quiet, being in the moment with Olivia.
Her nails dug into his back, scraped down and up and back again, and she held onto him tightly as he moved into and out of her, bringing her close to the edge then pushing her back over and over again.
He groaned and trembled, holding on until he felt her clenching, tightening. When she began to shake beneath him he bit and tugged her bottom lip. "Let go," he breathed against her lips.
Her eyes fluttered, her back arched, her nails dug deeper into his skin, her heart pounded and she kissed him feverishly, whimpering into his mouth.
He grunted, then, following her lead, letting it all take over. He kept kissing her as he thrust harder, slower, shooting into her, and when he stopped moving, the kiss eased, slowed, and lightened.
Spent, they nuzzled, light kisses, soft touches, small laughs. A rare moment of peaceful privacy that they longed for, ached for. He kissed her again and rolled to his side, pulling her close, and let his eyes drift shut as he buried himself in her neck.
Just as they let their easy smiles spread across their faces in bliss, though, Nathan began to wail and Elliot's phone bleeped and chirped.
"We knew," he whined.
Olivia worked out of his hold and kissed him one more time. "It never lasts," she said, shaking her head. She grabbed her robe off of the chair beside the bed, wrapped herself up, and headed into the nursery as Elliot fumbled for his phone in the pocket of his long-forgotten pants.
"Stabler," he spat. "What do you want?"" He listened, then he thought, then he agreed. "Yeah, fifteen minutes." He snapped his phone shut, and he looked Heavenward. he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he got redressed, letting his heartbeat steady. Finally, he'd be getting real answers, he would finally take down a long-hidden enemy, and he was ready to hand out consequences.
A/N: Olivia runs into another old friend, in the courtroom; Elliot and Fin have a chat; And a few old not-so-friendly faces show up.