Don't know what was going on, but I could not get my chapters to download to the document manager on here...but finally it is working again. Thank you so very much for all the awesome response to this story...I really hope to have it finished before the premiere...I'd hate to have compete with that...lol. Anyway, let me know what you think. " ) Bensler

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Chapter 7 ~ Underlying

Office of Captain Cragen – Sunday, September 27 – 3:15 p.m.

Cragen was left with no choice. He had called One Police Plaza and left a message that he needed to to talk with the Chief of Detectives. Knowing that the Chief would, in turn, involve the Internal Affairs Board, wished there had been another way. Presently his office was filled with an array of people. With the Chief and Cragen looking on, Tucker had questioned Elliot. And Olivia, since she was his partner. Cragen now looked around his office at Elliot, Olivia, the Chief and Sergeant Tucker from IAB. He wished someone would wake him up from what had become a nightmare.

Though Elliot sat as still as could be, his head held high, a look of determination on his face, Cragen saw the underlying fear. The color had seeped from his features, a sickly pallor replacing it. He noticed how his hands clenched and unclenched, the nervous jumping of his jaw.

Olivia was quietly gnawing on her bottom lip as she distractedly played with the hem her shirt. It was though she were in another world, preoccupied, and Cragen knew she was trying to think of a way to get her partner of ten plus years off the hook. She looked like she could lose her lunch any minute.

"You know the drill, Captain Cragen." Tucker looked at Elliot and the slightest smirk turned his lips as he looked at him, thinking that Elliot finally completely screwed up. "Read him his rights and…" There was no love lost between Tucker and SVU, especially for Elliot and Olivia. He seemed to have some sort of vendetta against them.

"Now hold up. I know how this looks…"

"How this looks?" Tucker was incredulous. "Captain, this man fits the description the victim gave; it looks like he sat for the police sketch; his DNA was found at the scene and under her fingernails; an object with his fingerprint was found there, also. What more do you need?" Tucker bellowed inches from Cragen's face.

"I've known Detective Stabler for almost fourteen years. He is a fine man and good cop…" he said defensively.

"Good cop? His jacket says otherwise!" Tucker held up Elliot's file, thick with reprimands and suspensions, shaking it in Cragen's face.

"Sergeant Tucker, back off," the Chief demanded as he stood, his eyes daring Tucker to disobey.

Cragen sent Tucker a deadly stare then shifted his eyes to address the statement to the Chief rather than Tucker. "What I need is more time for my detectives to find out what is really going on."

The Chief looked around the room at each person before bringing his gaze back to Cragen.

"Don, we go way back. I trust you. I trust your judgment. Are you willing to put not only your reputation, but quite possibly your job, on the line for your detective?"

"Captain, no." Elliot fiercely shook his head. "I can't you let you that."

Olivia sat up straight in her chair, now completely in tune with what was going on in the room. Her eyes traveled from Elliot to Cragen to the Chief to Tucker and back again. She knew Captain Cragen was extremely protective of the squad, but she never dreamed he would risk his job for them.

Cragen stared at Elliot for a long moment then silently looked at each other person in the room before locking eyes with the Chief. "Elliot Stabler would never rape a woman."

The Chief's eyes narrowed before he gave a half nod. "How much time?"

Cragen couldn't believe he was even asking. He thought the Chief would nix the idea, leaving no option but to arrest and process Elliot as their perp as though he were a mere criminal.

Never wavering from the Chief's gaze, he replied, "Seventy-two hours."

"Forty-eight. After that, Stabler goes to central booking." The Chief turned to Elliot. "As for the next forty-eight hours, you are on administrative leave. With pay. I don't have to tell you to stay accessible."

Elliot nodded grimly.

The Chief turned to leave, Sergeant Tucker following closely behind. At the door, he stopped and looked back at Cragen as Tucker stepped out. "For both of your sakes, I hope you find something to exonerate Detective Stabler."

The office door closed as Cragen, Olivia and Elliot stared after it, each lost in their own thoughts.

Elliot broke the silence by standing as he spoke. "Captain… I don't know what's going on…but I did not do this."

Cragen came toward Elliot. "I know." Placing his right hand on Elliot's left shoulder, he told him, "You go on home and try to get some rest."

Elliot nodded. As he opened the door and started out, he glanced at Olivia.

"El…" Since he didn't stop, she started to follow him, but Cragen grabbed her by the arm.

"Let him go."

"Captain, I need…you don't understand…I…he…"

"He needs to work this out on his own, Olivia." Cragen released his hold on her. "Just give him some time."

"No. He needs me to tell the truth." She met Cragen's look of confusion dead-on.

Cragen had all kinds of things running through his head. The truth? Had she withheld evidence? What had these two done now, he wondered? Was there some way Olivia was involved in this? Or had she just been covering for Elliot? He knew they were close and he knew there was very little, if anything, they would not say or do to protect the other.

Cragen's eyes bored into hers. Brown on Brown. "I'm listening."

He leaned against the edge of his desk while she stood staring out into the squad room watching Elliot shut down his computer and gather things from his desk. Raking her hands through her hair, she turned back to the captain.

"Elliot was with me the night of the second rape." Upon her confession, a big whoosh of air escaped from her lips.

Cragen heard what she said but he had trouble wrapping his mind around the statement. It made no sense, unless…unless she meant he was with her the whole night. And that would lead to other questions and potential problems. So he asked.

"The whole night?" The look on his face was one of astonishment and disbelief.

The blush creeping from her chest up her neck to her face was really all the confirmation he needed. He had always suspected an underlying element to the tight bond they had, still, this caught him off guard. But still he waited for her answer.

Olivia felt the heat traveling to her face and she knew Cragen would notice it, but there was nothing she could do about it. She nodded her answer.

Sighing deeply, Cragen crossed his arms over his chest, tipped his head back slightly, and stared at her, waiting for an explanation.

"I…I had gone out…had too much to drink. Elliot…uh…he…uh…stopped by…and…and I was…well, he…uh…didn't think it was a…good idea…for me to be alone. He stayed over."

Fidgeting and unable to hold his gaze, Cragen was sure there was much more to this story than she was sharing.

"And he was there the whole night?" He had to be sure he understood what she had said.

Her eyes fell shut; the whispered response was barely audible, the nod of her head barely noticeable. "Yes."

"And neither of you saw the need to inform me of this earlier because…"

"Captain, he was with me all night. Can we just leave it at that? Please?"

Nodding, he pushed off from his desk and stood inches from her. "You know if this goes to trial this information will be made a matter of public record."

"It's not going to trial," Olivia assured him. She turned and left his office, leaving Cragen wondering just what was going on and how much more he did not know.

Office of Dr. Melinda Warner, Medical Examiner – Sunday, September 27 – 5:38 p.m.

"It's a mint. There are very minute traces of something else, but it's not enough to get a reliable reading. If I had the tin, maybe." Melinda handed the evidence bag with the remnants of the mint to Olivia.

"So, we have nothing…" She sighed as she shook her head slowly, staring at the small bag in her hand.

"I'm sorry." Melinda patted Olivia's shoulder.

Suddenly, Olivia's head snapped up, her eyes grew wide. "He spilled some wine on me…on my tee shirt…I didn't drink it because…" Her eyes caught Melinda's. "Could you tell from the stains if there was anything in the wine?"

"You haven't washed the shirt?"

Olivia laughed. "It was just last night and I only do laundry once a month, if I can away with it."

"I'll run home and get it. Be back in less than thirty."

Pacing back and forth, continually looking at her watch, Olivia anxiously waited for Melinda to finish the tests on the wine stains. After what seemed like forever, Melinda looked up from her computer and smiled.

"Rohypnol." She stood and went to the printer to retrieve the report. Offering it to Olivia, she held it tightly when her fingers reached for it. "You going to tell me who did this to you?"

"Mel…"

Olivia's unspoken request did not stop Melinda. The tug of war for the report continued.

"Liv…I'm putting a lot on the line here."

"I know and I will tell you…but not right now…I can't." Eyes pleading for acceptance, she was relieved when Melinda released the report and nodded.

"Thank you."

Stabler Residence - Sunday, September 27 – 7:25 p.m.

Propping his legs on the table near the empty bottle, the vibrations knocked it over and it rolled across the surface back and forth until it lost its momentum. Lifting the new bottle to his lips, he chugged nearly half of it before stopping. Leaning his head back he closed his eyes and replayed everything that had happened the last week and especially the last couple of days.

How did things get so screwed up? He probably should call Kathy and let her know what was going on because when he was arrested it would be all over the news. Unless they came up with something in the next forty-eight…he glanced as the clock on the wall…no, forty-three hours and fifty minutes…his career was over. His life as he knew it was over.

The shrill of his cell phone pulled him from his morose thoughts. Liv, the screen read. Inhaling a deep breath, he opened the phone. He did not want to deal with her right now. He just wanted to be left alone. Didn't he? He didn't know what he wanted. His life was imploding and he had no idea what to do about it.

"Stabler."

There was a pause. "Stabler?" she snorted. "You can see it's me, why'd you answer like that?"

Sighing loudly, he ignored her question. "What do you want, Olivia?"

Apparently he was mad at her or something, she realized. Deciding to try and make light of the obviously tense situation, she retorted, "That's a loaded question."

Rolling his eyes, he repeated the question. "What do you want?"

"Open the door and maybe I'll tell you." As she spoke she knocked at his door.

"How'd you find me?" He did not recall telling her he was in same apartment he had lived in when he and Kathy split the first time.

"Detective skills come in quite handy at times." She chuckled.

Pulling his legs from the table, he closed the phone, tossed it on the lamp table then stood and made his way to the door. Swinging it open but blocking it, he stared down at her. She was shorter than usual and he noticed she had on tennis shoes instead of her three or four inch heeled boots she normally wore. Boots would not go with the light blue running shorts and gray NYPD tee shirt she had on.

Hands behind her back, she grinned up at him. "You gonna let me in?"

"You gonna tell me you want?"

Smiling as she brought her hands in front of her, she held up two white paper bags. Now Elliot grinned.

"My-lings?" He opened the door to let her in.

"Yep." She stepped inside and headed for the kitchen.

"I appreciate this and all, but I'm really not hungry."

Moving a pile of mail and magazines aside, she scooped up a paper plate with a half eaten piece of pizza and wadded up napkin and dumped it into the trash. She took note of the empty beer bottles and cans and turned to look up at Elliot.

"You need something on your stomach besides beer and I haven't eaten since the bagel I had this morning. And I don't want to eat alone." She opened a box and handed him a spoon and a paper plate.

Twenty minutes later they were cleaning up the leftovers. Elliot took a carton from her and put it in the refrigerator. He handed her a new bottle of water and they headed for the living room. She was about to sit down on the couch when he put his hand on her arm and turned her to face him. He was scraping first his bottom and then lower lip with his teeth and she knew he was nervous and upset and needed assurance from her.

"I didn't rape that woman, Liv," he said quietly, yet earnestly. The look on his face was serious, pleading and hopeful all at once.

Their eyes locked for a long moment as though trying to read each other. He was hoping to find that she trusted him, believe him; she was hoping to find that he knew she could never believe he was capable of such an egregious act.

"Do you think that if I believed it for even a split second I would have brought you dinner?"

She playfully poked at him, but suddenly the hand on her arm slid around her waist as his other hand grabbed hers pulling it around his waist and then went around her shoulder to draw her close to him, their faces inches apart. Stunned by this action, Olivia found herself frozen in place but strangely liking the feel of being in his arms.

"Liv…" he whispered gruffly as he leaned down and softly grazed her temple with his lips.

The ringing of his cell phone broke the spell of the moment and they both glanced down at the offender, its screen lit up. Olivia really was not trying to who was calling, but it was hard not to see the big blue block letters announcing the caller. Kathy. Olivia noticed Elliot grimaced before he closed his eyes as he picked up the phone. Meeting her stare he opened the phone.

"Kathy…"

Olivia put on her poker face and tried to seem anything but interested in his conversation with his wife. Ex-wife. Almost ex-wife. She didn't know what Kathy was anymore than she knew what she herself was to Elliot. And she never knew what she was to Elliot other than his partner, verbal sparring mate and punching bag. And, yes, sometimes best friend.

"Kath…wait…Kathy…come on…Kathy, Kathy!"

Forget the poker face, Olivia was now concerned because of the edge in Elliot's voice as well as the panic that was now written across features. All the color drained from his face, his eyes widened in what could only be described as dread and fear.

"Kathy…look…yeah, yeah…Kathy…okay…give me twenty minutes."

Slowly closing the phone, he held it in his hand that fell to his side. He looked everywhere except at Olivia. He seemed to shrink before her eyes. When his gaze found hers again, he sighed heavily, and scrubbed his free hand over his face.

"El?" She put a hand on his arm. "What is it? What's wrong?" Her own panic was getting the best of her.

"Kathy knows about the rape and the pending charges against me."

It took Olivia a minute to process not only what he was saying but what he wasn't saying. She had to figure out the underlying message in his tone and demeanor. Surely he had told her about all this. Hadn't he? She looked at him. No. He had not told Kathy. And if he had not told Kathy, but now she knew…someone had leaked the information. If this got out, Cragen would have to arrest Elliot long before the forty-eight hours was up.

Even if he were completely vindicated later, this could essentially be the end of Detective Elliot Stabler's career.

Someone wanted him arrested. Someone wanted to ruin his life. Who? And why?

~ ~ ~ eoeoeoeoeo ~ ~ ~