A/N: Just when they thought it was over…the last day of school proves to be a bit more exciting than either Olivia or Elliot had planned. Guess Tucker really liked his nose.
DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns the characters. TStabler© likes to play with them. A lot. She owns the story: plot, narrative, dialogue, and stuff. Thanks!
"So," a perky, blonde cheerleader began as she leaned perilously close to Elliot during study hall. "What are your plans for the summer?"
Elliot smirked. He once had a lot of plans for the summer, but they had been ripped out from under him like a cheap rug, replaced by three and a half hot, sweltering months at the police academy. Of course, that meant a hot, sweltering Olivia. His smirk grew evil and his eyes grew dark as he replied, "Uh, lots of exercise, and I'm taking my girlfriend camping." It wasn't exactly a lie. They would be outdoors a lot, in the mud, at night.
"I still don't get it," the blonde sighed. "I told you I needed space, Elliot. Just a little space, after that debacle with Kevin. I was ready to give you another chance. Now all of a sudden you're getting serious with this…"
"The next word out of your mouth better be, 'woman,' Kathy," Elliot spat. "No one insults her. Especially not in front of me. Especially not you."
Kathy, that was her name, opened her eyes wide and skirted her hand up Elliot's arm. "What the hell did she do to you? Is she a witch?"
"No," Elliot said, brushing her hand away. "She's not related to you, thank God."
Kathy rolled her eyes and ran her hand up Elliot's back. "It's the last day of school, we graduate tomorrow. I'm the mother of your child, Elliot. We should work things out before it's too late! Why don't we…"
"No," Elliot spat, interrupting as he practically threw her off of him. "I've got a girlfriend, and it's serious, and I think my favorite thing about her, Kathy, is that she's nothing like you."
Olivia, standing just outside the door, smirked and shook her head. God she loved his temper. She was about to stroll into the class, even though it wasn't hers, when she heard a loud crash. Her head snapped toward the direction from where the sound had come, and she took off, dropping her binder to the floor and resting her hand on her gun.
In seconds, Elliot had appeared at her side, running in complete sync with her. They turned the corner and heard the crashing sound again, like desks being hit, thrown or toppled over. They found the classroom it was coming from, but the door was locked. Elliot pulled out his gun and Olivia shot him a glare.
"Are you crazy?" Olivia asked, shaking her head. "Don't shoot the door!" she said backing up a bit and rearing back.
Elliot smirked and followed her lead, and with guns drawn they both kicked the door in, knocking it off its hinges. Elliot looked around, and didn't see anyone. "Fire window's open, Liv," he said, holstering his gun.
"El," Olivia called, trying to catch her breath as she stood over a pile of upturned desks. "Call this in," she spat hurriedly, kneeling down.
"Holy shit," Elliot gasped, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. "That's Misses Fisher. I'm calling a bus," he said, dialing Cragen's number.
Olivia shook her head as she craned her neck back to look up at him. "Don't," she said. "Call the medical examiner." She got to her feet, walked over to the window and said, "She's dead." Something moving outside caught her eye, and she bolted into action before Elliot could stop her. She leaped out of the open window, landing on her feet, and started chasing the hooded figure.
"Shit," Elliot hisses as someone answered the phone. "Captain Cragen? Stabler. I wasn't sure! Listen, we have a situation at school, Olivia took off running after a guy we think may have just raped and killed our Spanish teacher. Tucker? No, I haven't seen him. I'm in the classroom, I didn't think I should leave…fuck! I should never let my partner out of my sight!"
"That's right," a voice from behind Elliot said. "I'll stay here with this mess. You go find Olivia."
"What the hell are you doing here, Cassidy?" Elliot asked, wide-eyed.
Brian Cassidy, a fifth-year senior, who, if you asked anyone, still had no hope of graduating, held up a badge. "Same thing you are. Go!"
Not needing to be told again, Elliot hung up the phone and jumped out of the window, heading in the direction he'd just seen Olivia run.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Cragen asked, watching the EMT hand Olivia an ice pack.
Olivia nodded, swatting the man's hand away. "I'm fine. You should see the other guy," she quipped. When no one laughed, she added, "I took a shot to the face, at least twice, every day for eighteen years. My mother hit harder than this guy." She looked down, shutting down at the memory.
Elliot, who had taken the ice pack from the EMT, cupped Olivia's chin with one hand and held the pack over her eye, gently, as he looked at her. "Never take off like that without me again, Liv," he said softly, sliding his thum over her lips.
Olivia kissed his thumb, making his heart stop, then looked up into his eyes. "I'm a big girl, El. I knew what I was do…"
"Liv!" Elliot scolded. "Promise me," he demanded, the look in his eyes desperate, his voice pleading.
Olivia, not used to having someone care so much about her, couldn't bring herself to speak. She simply nodded.
Cragen was moved by the connection between the two, and hoped they'd find out why they were paired with each other before he had to tell them. He cleared his throat. "You both know by now that you've got a new teammate," he said, folding his arms. "He's not your partner, he'll be more of a third-wheel than anything, at least until we find a fourth. Brian Cassidy," he said, pausing to turn toward the slightly older, more arrogant kid, "This is Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson."
"I know," Cassidy said, giving Olivia a longing look. "I know who they are."
Olivia shut her eyes and looked away, reaching out for Elliot's hand. She hoped it would be enough for Cassidy to get the picture.
"Okay, Liv," Elliot whispered, "What's this about?"
"Ex-boyfriend," Olivia whispered back to him. "He was…I mean I didn't love him…I wasn't in love with him…he's wasn't like you…it's not like this," she stumbled over her words, caressing his hand with her thumb as he moved the ice pack a little lower over her bruising cheek.
Elliot bent his head to touch hers, and whispered, "Did you just tell me you're in love with me?"
Olivia backed away. Those are words that were not in her vocabulary. "Um, I tried to," she admitted. "But, El, I'm not good with emotions, and words like that won't just…"
Elliot stopped her talking with a kiss. A beautiful, heartbreaking, soul-reaching kiss. He pulled away slowly, keeping the eye-contact intense. "I love you," he said to her, not caring who heard him.
A shocked expression slowly drew into a smirk, then crept into a smile, and then Olivia laughed. "I love you, too," she whispered, still unable to believe she felt it, he felt it, too, and she could think and say it. She pulled him back toward her for another kiss, then they heard Cragen clear his throat again.
"Well," Cragen said with a smug grin, "Now that that's out of the way, can we get back to work? Munch just told me that you broke three of the guy's ribs, Benson. Am I correct in assuming it was in self defense?"
Olivia raised an eyebrow and lowered her head slightly. "No, we were playing a rousing game of kick the can, and took turns being the can."
"Wow," Cassidy chuckled. "Sarcasm and a gun, you're even more lethal than you were two years ago."
"And don't you forget it," Olivia said through gritted teeth, sounding like a warning. "Anyway, yes. He hit me, then I hit him. A few times. I guess I don't know my own strength."
Cragen chuckled. "You know damn well you meant to do it all, Benson. He's being taken down to the station, and you two have to handle the interrogation tonight. Cassidy's gonna watch. He's got a lot of catching up to do, and you two are the best example we've got."
"Oh, Cap?" Elliot asked, as he helped Olivia out of the back of the EMT van, "Did CSU ever find out who ransacked our apartment?"
Cragen nodded and sighed. "Yeah," he said. "We're handling it."
"Thanks," Elliot said, turning to plant a soft kiss on Olivia's head.
Cassidy cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable. "Should I, uh, be doing something? Tucker said I would be doing stuff."
"Where the hell is Tucker?" Olivia asked. "It's awfully quiet around here without him."
"He's been reassigned," Cragen said.
Munch, coming up to the group, nodded and said, "He's an officer with IAB, now."
"IAB? That's Internal Affairs?" Elliot surmised.
Cragen hummed. "I told him he needed to find another unit after he pulled that stunt with you, Stabler. Leave it to him to pick the one job in the city that keeps his ass covered."
"So, wait," Olivia said, folding her arms, "If we fuck up, Tucker doles out the punishment?"
Munch sighed and nodded. "If he fucks up, all he gets is a slap on the wrist," he said, disgusted. "Little worm. It's a conspiracy, I tell ya. He's working for the CIA or some shit, and they sent him here to keep tabs on this program, in hopes that…"
"Munch," Cragen said, stopping him, "No one cares. Ride back with Cassidy, sign him out of class, show him the ropes at the station. Elliot, take Olivia back to class. You can't get in trouble for ditching, but you shouldn't miss your last hour of your last day. Say goodbye to your friends."
"Where are you going?" Munch asked, annoyed, as he watched Cragen walk away.
"To talk to a man about a rat," Cragen said. "He was playing in someone else's hole and I wanna know why."
Elliot looked at Olivia, and the realization hit and passed between them. "Tucker," Elliot said.
"He trashed our apartment," Olivia concluded. Her eyes, then, widened, and she closed her eyes in defeat.
"What?" Elliot asked, as he took her hand to lead her back to the school. "What, baby?"
Olivia looked up at Elliot and said, "Whoever wrecked the place, El, probably found pictures, and yearbooks, and journals when they tossed the bookcase."
"Yeah, and?" Elliot asked, missing her point.
"If it was Tucker," Olivia continued, "Then he found out about Brian, he knew that Brian and I used to…"
"Tucker pulled Cassidy in to fuck with us?" Elliot interrupted, pissed off and flabbergasted.
Olivia sighed. "Seems like it," she said, squeezing his hand and getting into the waiting police-issue sedan.
As they walked back into the front doors of their high school, they were met with a very unexpected scene. "There they are," a voice shouted. Immediately, flash bulbs went off and they were being bombarded with questions.
"No comment," Elliot barked, pushing his way through the crowd of reporter's, keeping his hand firmly clutched around Olivia's.
"What the hell is going on, here?" Olivia asked as they reached the mail hall.
They turned, slowly, when they realized it had suddenly gotten way too quiet. They came to face the halls filled with students and faculty, people were stopped in the staircases, and Jen, the girl they'd saved from being raped in the bathroom, started clapping. Soon, the rest of the people who were watching were applauding, cheering, yelling, "Go, Benson!" they heard. "All right, Stabler!" someone shouted. Then they saw Kathy, pissed off with her arms folded.
Olivia and Elliot looked at each other, a bit nervous, a bit scared, and a bit pissed off. "Guess our secret's out," Elliot said with a shrug.
"Not really," Tucker said, smugly, striding up to them. "They don't know you're cops." He ran a finger lightly over Olivia's purpling cheek. She flinched and pulled back, and he narrowed his eyes. "They do know you're heroes, though. They know you ran after the guy that killed their beloved teacher, and they know you helped bring Hunter down. You want them to stay in the dark, you want to make sure you graduate tomorrow with them thinking you're normal kids, then you have to do me a favor."
Elliot narrowed his eyes, pulling on Olivia, wrapping her protectively in his arms. "No way," he spat.
Tucker laughed. "No, Stabler. As sweet as spending the night with your little firecracker would be, I'm not blackmailing you for it. This is something a little more personal, a little more dangerous, and it breaks every rule in the NYPD book. Well, our rules, not yours."
"Just tell us what the hell you want, Tucker," Olivia seethed.
Tucker chuckled. "Wait," he said. "After school, I'll show you." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a silver cross on a chain, and dangled it in front of Olivia. "And, I believe, this belongs to you, Benson?"
Elliot's eyes widened. He hadn't seen that in years, and seeing it now made him realize why he'd fallen for Olivia so fast, so hard, and so easily.
A/N: What is Tucker after? What is Cragen gonna try to do to him? What does that cross mean? Graduation doesn't go as smoothly as they imagined. And the first day at the academy causes Olivia and Elliot to have a drag out fight, will they make up? How?
