A/N: so, that last bit of information was a shocker, huh? Well, in this installment, we find out why. And the mystery of the iPod is one step closer to being solved! We also find out who the other bad guy is, but it isn't all that surprising. Or is it?
DISCALIMER: The only things that don't belong to me are the characters. They belong to Dick Wolf. Everything else is original TStabler©
It was a restless, sleepless night for Elliot. He peered over at the woman next to him, and was amazed to see her eyes, wide open, staring at the ceiling. "No, I'm not asleep, you dolt," she said in response to the question he had not yet asked. He chuckled and pulled her closer to him. Her naked body felt amazing against his, her warmth comforting him, her softness calming him.
"I'm sorry, El. I feel like this is all my fault." She traced little heart shaped on his chest with her finger, absentmindedly, and sighed.
He dropped a kiss to her head, and then pulled her up to his level so he could kiss her full on the mouth. "This is not your fault, Liv. I knew my mother had issues, but I never thought she'd try to kill me."
"I think it was me she was trying to kill, babe." Olivia said with a raised eyebrow. "You read Jacob's statement. She thinks I'm trying to replace Kathy. I'm screwing with her family, fucking up her normalcy and she's pissed."
"My mother is bat-shit crazy, Liv." He scooped Olivia up into his arms, pulling her on top of him, and looked up into her heavenly dark-chocolate eyes. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Livvy. Kathy gave me my kids, and I will always be grateful to her for that, but, as long as I was with her, I never felt anything as powerful and as deep as what I feel for you."
Looking down at him, into his oceanic eyes, she kissed him, hoping she could force him to feel her emotions, because she was always horrible with words, and after what he'd just said, anything that would come out of her mouth would sound pitiful. With a swivel of her hips, she took him inside of her, for the third time that night, and moaned softly into his mouth, moving gently in a steady, slow rhythm, sinking deeper onto him with every sweet-tempered movement.
Fin looked at the car-radio, with the iPod connected to it, blaring out the Bee Gee's "How Deep is Your Love" and smiled to himself, thinking about his plans with Casey for the following night. He was sitting in the unmarked van, Munch in the seat next to him, with three idiots from Major Case. Technically, they weren't supposed to be here, but the potential vics were members of their unit, their friends, their family, so the folks at the MCU let them sit-in on the stakeout. They hated the bastard they were waiting for anyway.
Cragen, Special Agent Dean Porter and Detective Waldman, from IAB, were in his office, trying to figure out who, exactly, you call when someone from IAB does something wrong. "I didn't think you could call Internal Affairs on Internal Affairs, especially since this is your Sergeant we're talking about," Porter said snidely to Waldman.
The IAB detective snorted and scoffed. "Why do you think you're here, Porter? No one in this unit likes you. You got away with murder, literally, and Benson and Stabler both have reasons to believe when God was handing out hearts he accidently gave you a brick."
Cragen stifled a laugh and silently wished he'd said it himself. Porter was actually a suspect, until he'd been cleared. The man Cragen had been using to tail Porter was now the one they were after, the man they believe had given Jacob the explosives and made sure that it was Joe Stabler's gun that ended up in Nick's hands. Of course, being an IAB guy, he would be welcome in Bernie Stabler's place. They would have stories to share about "good ol' Joe" and could talk for hours about Elliot.
"Okay," Porter said, snapping Cragen out of his thoughts. "Why would he want to hurt Olivia? What reason would he have for being angry that she's with Stabler?"
"He could still be pissed off that she beat that murder charge, ya know? She stood up to him, talked back, made him angry. Benson and Stabler have been driving IAB nuts for years, skirting around policies and bending rules, and now, thanks to me, they're going to stay partners even though they're involved. A deal I made a long time ago, because I knew this would happen."
Waldman agreed. "Cragen's right. I don't think he necessarily has a crush on Olivia, I think he just wants to crush her. He's always had it in for the dynamic duo. Letting them get away with, probably the most impossible rule to break in the NYPD, sent him over the edge."
"Nick didn't give us his name, just his badge number. It's only circumstantial. He could claim someone stole his old ID. We're sitting on his office, though, hoping he's taking a meeting with Bernie, or maybe he'll lead the guys to Elliot's place. They gotta get something on him."
Five in the morning came too soon. The alarm blared and Elliot whacked it, sending it flying off of the bedside table. It was lying on the floor in six pieces, but at least the incessant beeping had stopped. Olivia laughed as she pulled herself away from Elliot and getting out of the bed, unabashedly walking into the closet in all her naked glory. Elliot, who witnessed this happen through his one half-opened eye, smirked as he, too, got out of bed. Avoiding the broken clock, he walked toward the closet expecting to add it to the list of places they'd had amazing sex, but was disappointed to see that she had already chosen her outfit and was heading out of the closet and into the bathroom. He attempted to follow her in there, too, but Olivia slammed the door behind her, right in his face.
He turned to walk away, but the door opened and her delicate hand grabbed his brawny, rugged arm, pulling him backward into the bathroom and slamming the door again. By six o'clock, the entire Stabler clan had been washed, dressed, and fed and they were ready to move. Olivia made sure everyone had their bus passes and shooed them out the door. She had also called Maureen's school and told them she'd be out sick today. The girl had just found out her entire relationship had been a sham, a scheme cooked up by her evil, crazy grandmother and some bad cop, to keep an eye on her father. She deserved a day off to lie in bed with Ben and Jerry.
They walked into the squadroom at six-fifteen, managing to be early despite having a houseful of crazy kids and a car that wouldn't start until you asked it nicely. Olivia poured herself a cup of the mud Munch had prepared, because it was better than nothing. She glanced at Munch, who was happily bobbing his head to the country song blaring through the iPod. It was some little diddy about a large, happy family, and the married couple had to squeeze in sex in the shower in the morning because one kid was sick and two were fighting and they both worked…and there was something about a tractor and a dog. She laughed, because aside from the tractor and the dog, that was kind of like the morning she and Elliot had, only they weren't married. She turned around and was about to sit at her desk to start her paperwork when she saw him.
"What the fuck are you doing here? Tell me this was all your idea! If you had anything to do with trying to hurt Elliot, I swear I'll rip your balls off and sell them to stoned college kids as hackey sacks," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Very small hackey sacks."
Dean Porter was stunned. Not because she threatened him. Not because she insulted the size of his testicles. But, because she didn't say, "If you had anything to do with trying to hurt me and Elliot," she had just said Elliot. She really didn't care what happened to her, as long as he was safe. All of those IAB files they'd spent the night looking through weren't covering anything up, they were just carefully worded. "I didn't try to kill you, Olivia," he finally said. "But, we think we know who did."
Elliot leaped out of his seat and ran over to Olivia, putting an arm around her, more as a sign of ownership than protection this time, as he glared at Porter. "Who?"
"Ed Tucker. He went to see your mom, Stabler. Convinced her he could take Olivia out. She gave him the gun, Tucker made sure it was displayed at the fundraiser and made sure that Nick was the one that bought it. Even gave him his old badge so he could get it without a license. We're trying to find a paper trail on the explosives, but so far that's just sending us back to your mother."
"Jacob doesn't know a damn thing about putting bombs together or planting charges," Fin offered, "And I'm pretty sure your momma don't neither. It has to be Tucker. The man spent six years on the bomb squad before moving in to IAB."
Elliot pulled Olivia closer to him, not really caring where they were since everyone fucking knew they were a couple now, anyway. "Jesus Christ," he muttered into her hair. "My mother and the man whose job it is to protect our asses."
"It could be worse, El," Munch said as he scrolled through the songs on the iPod, trying to find one that would lighten the mood. "It really could have been Kathy."
As the unmistakable introductory notes to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" came through the speaker, Elliot realized how true that was. If Kathy had been behind this, he would have been in deep shit. His kids would be in danger and Olivia would have been hurt, or worse, already. He was thankful that the two people who had physically attempted anything were sitting in Rikers, and the two people who plotting their next moves were being watched very closely by several units of the NYPD and now, strangely thanks to Dean Porter, the FBI.
The music filled the room and the words did not fall on deaf ears. Olivia looked at Elliot, and he smirked, his eyes twinkling, mimicking the sparkle that had been shining in hers, and, without saying anything, they understood each other loud and clear. This was not a problem. Just a challenge. One that they could face and certainly overcome. They had the will to survive, for each other, and that was enough.
"Cap," Elliot said, a determination and anger in his voice that hadn't been there in a while.
"Yeah, Elliot?" Cragen asked, a bit apprehensively.
"When you bring Tucker in, when you find the smoking gun that's gonna nail his ass, I wanna be in the pit with him." Elliot's eyes flashed with anger, turning clear blue, almost white. "I wanna be the one that crack's the confession out of him."
He wasn't sure whether it was out of the fear of saying no to Elliot at the moment, the pride he felt for his team for staying together and sane through this ordeal or his own hatred for Tucker, but Cragen nodded. "He's all yours, Stabler."
A/N: Uh,oh! I think Elliot might kill him, unless there's a really fun song playing on the iPod…or is that all just a BIG coincidence? Click on the pretty green button and let me know what you think!
