Chapter 10

"Jennifer killed Brian, but it looks like Greg didn't kill Jennifer. There was definitely another man in the apartment and he's the one who got angry with Jennifer. We need to get CSU over there; one of them was stupid enough to have a glass of water before he left and I'm hoping it was our mystery man," Olivia filled everyone in on what Mia had said.

"Are we confident Mia's not in danger?" Cragen asked.

"Mystery man didn't know she was there. Sounds like Greg was drunk or high during the attack; I'd put my money on the drugs. He probably doesn't even remember what happened. And even if he does, I don't think we have to worry about Mia." The truth was Mia would be staying with her and Matt, so she already had protection. She was still worried, of course, but that would never go away.

"I'll get CSU back to the apartment," Cragen said.

"Good job, getting Mia to open up. So is Matt's girlfriend gonna stick with him to adopt Mia?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah. She's thrilled about it," Olivia said with a smile. She wasn't sure why she was still hiding her relationship with Matt, it just came naturally. It wasn't the right time to reveal the news to everyone. Besides, she had some big decisions to make.

Lately Olivia had considered leaving the unit. Nightmares still plagued her, contributing even more to her lack of sleep. She had almost not time for Matt and even less for Travis. It was a miracle she still had relationship at all, but Matt cared about her a lot and constantly made sacrifices to spend time with her. Mia, however, would be different. The little girl couldn't just change her sleeping habits at will to be with Olivia, she was only seven years old. Olivia considered lightening her case load, or even going on desk duty, but the cases would always get to her. She couldn't turn her back on victims that were right infront of her. She couldn't pause in the middle of an investigation because it was 6 o'clock, time to go home. Elliot had a family and Olivia didn't envy how difficult it was for him to find time for his children and his wife. She didn't think she could do what he did. But the one thing that always came back into her thoughts whenever she considered leaving; she couldn't leave. It was pure and simple, it hardly stood up against the stack of reasons why she should leave, but it continued to nag at her. She had tried to transfer before and it hadn't worked. She tried to tell herself it was because in computer crimes she had still been involved with SVU, and when she was in Oregon she just missed being a detective, but she didn't really believe that was it. She cared too much about the victims to abandon them. She tried to tell herself it was ridiculous, leaving the squad wasn't abandoning the victims, but she couldn't shake that feeling. In the end she was confused and frustrated.

"Olivia," Cragen waved his hand for Olivia to follow him into his office. Olivia glanced at Elliot with a 'what'd I do now?' look and then followed Cragen. She entered his office and closed the door behind her.

"What is it, captain?"

"When were you going to tell me about your conflict of interest?" Cragen asked. He was pissed.

"What conflict?" She asked, hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.

"Allison Cole contacted me, she wanted to know what kind of hours you work, whether or not you could cut back, things like that. You can imagine my surprise and delight when she told me your were adopting a child. Can you imagine my reaction when she told me your future daughter a witness in a murder case? And not only is she a witness, but you didn't agree to file the adoption papers until after she became a witness. What the hell were you thinking?"

"Matt wanted to adopt her," Olivia said, not really sure what Cragen planned to do to her.

"So you had to beat him to it?" Cragen said.

Olivia looked confused for a second, then shook his head. "Matt and I have been dating for almost a year. He wanted to adopt her and I agreed to it. If I didn't he probably wouldn't be able to. And…I wanted to do it."

"Olivia…" Cragen sighed. "I'm happy for you. But you're already on thin ice with IAB, if they get hold of this they're going to jump on it. You're not supposed to get personally involved with victims or witnesses; Mia happens to fall under both categories. I want you off the case."

Thoughts are arguing entered Olivia's mind, but she decided it was a small sacrifice if it meant cooling Cragen's anger and avoiding IAB. She nodded and turned to leave, then remembered her promise to Matt and Travis.

"I want to take some vacation time. I was going to wait for the case to close, but since I'm not working the case anymore…"

"Take a week, we can handle things without out. Don't take Mia far, though, we might need her again. And Olivia…I really am happy for you." Olivia smiled and left the captain's office.

"What was that about?" Elliot asked.

"Cragen pulled me off the case," she said.

"What, why?" Elliot looked confused.

"Don't worry about it, I'm taking some vacation time anyway. See you in a week." She put on her coat and left without another word, leaving Elliot looking confused and a little stunned.