A/N: Authority: the power or right to control, judge, or prohibit the actions of others; a person or group of people having this power, such as a government, police force, etc ; control or manipulation
DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and the characters; TStabler© owns the story you're about to read.
Olivia takes a breath then looks over her shoulder, making sure Elliot is behind her, out of sight but there. She raises a hand and knocks on Bradshaw's door, then tugs on her blazer, a nervous habit she's always had.
Just before the door opens, she fiddles with the middle button of her shirt, the bug Elliot and Porter fixed her with, and she grins at Bradshaw as he appears. "Hello, Chief."
"Detective Benson," the man says with a welcoming smile, opening the door wider, please come in. He looks around a bit, ensuring she's alone, then closes and locks the door.
Olivia hears the click and she turns. "Chief." she points to the door, "Did you just lock..."
"Shut up," Bradshaw hisses. He draws closer to her, he leans over to her, and he narrows his eyes. "You like your job, yeah?"
"No," she says dryly. "I spent almost thirteen years on a voluntary squad because the benefits are great and the chairs are comfortable."
Bradshaw chuckles. "You always were a firecracker, Benson," he spits, sitting. "You wanna keep your job?"
"You are just full of hypothetical questions, today," she says. "I'll save you some time. The egg, it still makes a sound, the doctor is the boy's mother..."
"Benson!" Bradshaw yells. "I'm not fucking around! Your old partner is digging around where he shouldn't be, and if you want to keep your job, you get him to stop."
Olivia folds her arms and narrows her eyes. "Is that a threat?"
"Of course not," Bradshaw says, his lips curling. "You find a way to get him to back off, get him to look a little harder at Tutuola for Rollins' murder. I'm sure he'll find blood on the jacket she was wearing that will match..."
"Wait one minute, Chief," Olivia cuts in. "Elliot already went over every piece of evidence, there was nothing on..."
"Tell him to check again!" Bradshaw yells, making her jump. His face is stone white, he was shaking with anger. "Damn it, just do what you're told! I have never had to tell an inferior to do something more than once, Benson. You are the most insipid and defiant pain in the ass...no wonder Cragen and Tucker had their hands full with you and Stabler!"
Olivia holds in the urge to yell back, and instead she takes a step forward. "They know about the baby," she says. "They ran paternity tests. When no one in the squad matched, they used CODIS, and they got a hit. You. Agent Porter's coming here, soon, with a few agents. They're not just digging, Chief, they know you have a motive."
"I'm prepared to tell them Amanda and I had a fling," Bradshaw says, pulling at his tie. "Who would fault me? She was a beautiful woman."
Olivia chuckles as she leans a little closer. "And," she says with a slight lilt in her voice, "They talked to Cragen...and Alex Cabot." She whispers, "They know."
Bradshaw smirks, he brings both hands up to his chin and cracks his knuckles, one by one, hoping to intimidate her. "Well, then," he says, "Someone's just going to have to convince them Cabot and Cragen are lying to strike some kind of deal, or protect each other."
"Me?" Olivia asks. "You want me to tell Elliot..." she laughs, then. "No one's gonna believe Cragen and Alex are..."
"Cragen offered her a way back into the unit," Bradshaw interjects. "Why did Cragen choose Alex? There were a hundred attorneys he could have given the gun and the chance to. Why did Alex take the chance, knowing the damage it would do? It fits. You can make it fit." Bradshaw stands, then, and he lifts a hand to brush an errant hair behind her ear. "These people hurt you, Olivia," he whispers.
"What are you doing?" she bites, backing up.
Bradshaw follows, stepping forward. He smoothes a hand down her arm, back up, and looks into her eyes. "Cragen betrayed your trust, he used your friend to take down your partner, make him a killer. This is your change to take everything away from them, the way they took everything away from you."
"You're crazy," Olivia hissed, swatting his hand away from hers. "I'm a cop. A good one. I'm after the truth, I am not going to lie for you."
Bradshaw tightens his grip on her then and looks her in the eyes. "Benson," he says, "If you go after the truth, I swear, you'll end up just like Amanda Rollins. You will never meet that baby." He narrows his eyes and lets her go. "You tell Stabler and Porter what I told you to tell them, or you'll be their next his case."
Olivia holds her breath as Bradshaw lifts his hand again, and she exhales as she watches him twist the latch on the lock. She shakes her head at him as she leaves his office, and she wonders momentarily if Amanda had been threatened, if she had known what Bradshaw was going to do and ignored it.
Elliot steps out from the nook in the hall, meeting her as she walks. "You okay?" he asks, taking her in his arms.
"No," she admits, hugging him back. "I don't think I am." She sniffles, but her eyes are dry. She holds onto him, feels her arms pull him tighter, but doesn't remember making the conscious effort to make it happen. "Did you hear..."
"Every word," he nods. "We got it. We're gonna nail the bastard to the wall, baby. We got him." He kisses her forehead and one hands moves from around her back to her belly and he caresses the tiny swell. "You're both totally safe. No one's gonna hurt you. You know that."
She nods into the crook of his neck, but because someone she once trusted had just said the words she was most afraid to hear, a very small part of her doesn't believe him.
Olivia ignores the confused and worried glances from the rest of the squad when she returns to the bullpen. She sits at her desk and buries herself in paperwork, sipping her vegetable juice and keeping her head down. She can't bring herself to look at Cragen's office door, or at Amanda's empty desk. She refuses to look Fin in the eye, not after knowing she could have been a part of someone's pathetic attempt to frame him.
When the squad room door slams open, all heads pop up, and Bradshaw stands in the entryway in cuffs, held tight by Elliot, like a bull readying to charge. "You," he huffs, aiming it at Olivia. "You don't know what you've done."
"My job," her simple answer flies, her head bows again, and the file in her hand shakes just slightly enough to go unnoticed by everyone except herself.
Bradshaw snorts and looks around. "You people think you've won," he laughs as Elliot kicks at his knees, prodding him forward toward the interrogation room. "I want my lawyer!" he yells. "And my IAB rep!"
"Tucker's in the pit," Elliot says, "And he's already heard the tape."
"Tape?" Bradshaw questions.
Elliot chuckles as the voices fade, carrying off into the hallway.
"He's really full of himself, huh?" Nick quips, squeezing a stress ball that belonged to Amanda.
Without looking up from her file, Olivia says, "Most cops are." She hums as she flips the pages. "That kind of power? A badge and a gun, that gives a person a complex."
"Didn't give you one," Nick fires back, tossing the ball in the air and catching it.
"Yeah it did," Olivia answers, finally looking at him. "I just had a lot farther to climb than most people." She looks at the ball and she smiles. "You all got cocky and arrogant," she says, taking the purple, rubber ball from him.
"Hey!" Nick whines.
She squeezes it once and tosses it into the air. She catches it and says, "I just gained enough confidence to finally think I wasn't worthless. I got a long way to go before I reach cocky. I'm not like most cops."
"What does that mean?" Nick asks, folding his arms.
Olivia rolls the ball in her hand. "I'm here for a much different reason than you, Nick. That's all you need to know."
"What did he say to you?" Nick asks, leaning toward her. "Because this is as deep as you've gotten since we've met."
She laughs and throws the ball back to him. "He just made me realize that if left unchecked, power can go to your head." She narrows her eyes and shakes her head before turning back to her file. "Don't let it happen to you."
Nick watches as her pen glides effortlessly across her paper, and he tilts his head when her B looks more like an S. He shakes his head then looks at her face, and he sees a hint of a smile. "What's that about, Benson?"
"Huh?" she asks, her head popping up.
"You almost smiled, and I wanna know what's so funny," he says, poking her in the shoulder.
She drops her pen, and she looks at him. "Just thinking about...why I became a cop." She shrugs and shakes her head. "I'm pregnant, and it...for the longest time, I just didn't think...it was a big part of why I was such a fighter." Her smile grows a bit and she looks at Fin. "Speaking of babies," she sais, shifting in her seat, "Fin, I have to talk to you about something."
The phone on Fin's desk rings, then, and he holds up a finger.
At the same moment, Elliot walks out of the interrogation room, shaking out his fist with a vile look on his face. He hit something, or someone, very hard, and he seemed to be pleased with himself.
Olivia turns to him and tilts her head, her eyes low and her lips tighten. She looks like a mother, catching her son playing ball in the house after repeatedly being told he couldn't.
He can't help but laugh at the look on her face, and knowing it's safe, he mouths, "I love you."
Despite her annoyance at him, she chuckles and rolls her eyes.
"Yeah, hold on," Fin says into the phone. "Hey, Baby-Girl..." he pauses to hold the phone out to her. "It's Michael."
Olivia's face goes white, she turns to look at Elliot, and she swears she can hear every nerve in her body scream.
Because Michael doesn't exist, he's a cover, and the person he covers for is looking right at her.
A/N: who could possibly be on the phone?