From Hell To Heaven
A/N Thank you to AprilBaby95 and svuNrizzlesluvr4life for adding story alerts. Thank you to courtneylovejason, maerae93, lawandorderSVUismylife, spacekitten2700 and EOforevertogether for your feedback, made me smile. :)
Chapter 10- Critical Analysis
Olivia had to make do with Elliot's coat around her to shield her bare shoulders and low neckline, from the CSU guys, who were now trawling her apartment for evidence. It did little to conceal her legs, but at least it covered almost to her knee, compared to the higher than mid-thigh towel.
She sat in the bathroom, on the edge of the bathtub. In fact, she hadn't moved since Elliot had turned up. She vaguely remember lowering her gun. Or Elliot easing her gun from her vice-like grip. The only thing she did remember was him draping his coat around her shoulders. Well, more accurately, she remembered his fingers grazing her neck and him gently kissing the top of her head, assuring her "It'll all be over soon." And while she sat alone, ironically still trapped in her bathroom, all she could think of was Harris going through her drawers. Touching her panties, all of which she resolved to throw in the trash, no matter how much it would cost to replace them. But she also thought, with a smile, how sweetly satisfying it would be to put him in cuffs. Again. And this time she would get her ten minutes alone with him, to show him just how strong she was. And that she wasn't, isn't, and never will be his little fish. He can't...
"Liv?"
"Huh?" She snapped from her thoughts.
"I said 'I need to go talk with the CSU techs,' but I'll just be in the other room, ok?" Elliot assured, monitoring her expression for an answer.
She merely nodded once; she dreaded to think of him seeing her room, of her possessions that had been broken, sabotaged and destroyed. Elliot sighed and stood up from crouching in front of her. She pulled the coat closer as the cool air bit at her skin.
Elliot closed the bathroom door as he stepped out; Liv didn't need to see everything again. He stepped in to her bedroom, surveying the destruction once more and feeling anger boil in his chest.
"What've we got?" he called, as a lead CSU tech turned with a clipboard.
"Hardly anything; you've got yourself a smart criminal." he joked.
"There's no such thing." Elliot denied, with a glare. "They all slip up somehow."
"Not this one. Front door wasn't damaged, the lock was pristine, actually."
"Yeah, she had it replaced last week; she lost her key, had to change the locks." Elliot explained.
"Well, then the perpretrator had a spare key, there were no scratches or tool marks on the surface or the inner workings of the lock."
Elliot sighed. Liv can't stay here, not if the perp could get in and out when they want. "Ok. What else? Prints?"
"None." The 20-something CSU informed. "Must have been wearing gloves, we've dusted every flat surface in the apartment. Nothing."
"Yeah, but shouldn't gloves leave fibres?" Elliot frowned.
"Theoretically, unless they weren't made of fibres, per say."
Elliot thought for a second. "Latex?"
"Would be my first guess. And not the cheap kind either. See, cheap latex gloves are often thin, which still allows oils from the fingertips to seep through."
"Wait, you're telling me, that latex gloves can still leave prints?" Elliot asked skeptically.
"Yeah, but like I said, this perpetrator left no prints, suggesting they either had no fingertip," he joked. "Or they've got better financers than us, and they bought the expensive polymer gloves."
"In basic terms?" Elliot questioned in frustration.
"They had thick gloves." he said, obviously disappointed by the lack of confusing mumbo-jumbo.
Elliot sighed. Great. A smart and financed suspect. That's all we need. He looked up as the CSU turned back to the room. "Anyway, like I said, everything's clean. The only thing we did find were two hairs."
"Can you get DNA?" Elliot hurried to ask.
"Too soon to tell yet. One was on the floor, caught in some broken glass. Assuming the perpetrator smashed the light, the shattering glass could have caught on him as it fell to the ground, pulled a hair along with it. The other one, we found it on the bed, alongside Olivia's...erm, her...things."
Elliot decided not to intimidate the young tech as he flushed bright red and looked anywhere except the bed. Elliot stepped forward the bed. He allowed his eyes to sweep across the selection of red, black, purple...lace, silk, cotton...blood?
"Hey, what's this?" Elliot pointed to the small, almost invisible drop of red on the exposed mattress.
"One second." The CSU quickly grabbed a swab, laced it in saline, and scooped up the spot of crimson. But after a few drops of solution the colour didn't change. "That's odd. It's not blood."
Elliot frowned but as he stepped back, he spotter another one. "There, look." He crouched down, and glimpsed the large smear of red on the wooden frame of Olivia's bed, slightly concealed by the mattress. "You photographed this?" Elliot checked.
"Yeah, everything's been documented."
Several CSU technicians looked up as Elliot tossed the mattress, causing it to flip away and fall against the wall. "Woah." was all the techie said as Elliot merely frowned down, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
Scrawled across the wooden panels of the bed, in red paint, were the words:
BITCH
NOW YOU DIE
And a crudely drawn fish that was more symbolic of Christianity. "How could you have missed this?" Elliot fumed at the young tech with the clipboard.
"I don't-I didn't-I-I was going to-" he fumbled in a fluster.
"Get this photographed and sampled!" Elliot demanded, his frown causing the young CSU to blush red and avert his eyes. Elliot stormed from the room as techs swarmed around the bed.
"Damn rookies." Elliot cursed under his breath.
xXx
"Come on Liv," Elliot soothed, placing his arm around her back and encouraging her to stand.
"What did you find?"
"Er- why don't we focus on getting you out of here first, ok?" he dodged; the last thing she needed was to know of the blood-like words that were now dripping crimson on to her bedroom carpet.
He pulled open the door and started to guide her down the hallway. Olivia was half thankful that he had shut the bedroom door, she didn't need to see that chaos again, but on the other hand, not seeing the mess only made her more paranoid about what they were finding. She knew from years as an SVU Detective that perps didn't lay out underwear just to look at them, and she didn't dare let her mind imagine the disgusting things Harris could have done with them. The thought alone would turn her stomach.
By the time she was in Elliot's car, that was roughly parked halfway on the curb, she was exhausted. She barely heard as Elliot stated "The week isn't even half gone yet and you've barely slept." She considered telling him, once again, that she slept in hospital, but then again a whack to the head wasn't usually used as a sleep aid.
She sat in the passanger seat, thankful the heating was on, with her head resting against the window. She watched the almost deserted streets pass by, and it wasn't long before she got annoyed with Elliot's eyes constantly glancing at her when he thought she couldn't see.
"I'm fine, Elliot." she said with a sigh. "You can stop worrying about me now."
"Really?" he muttered doubtfully.
"Yes, really." she said defiantly as she turned to him. "And you know what? I'm tired of crying over that disgusting animal! I hate that he can affect me this way! That he can scare me so easily and get to me the way he does!"
"Liv-"
"No, Elliot!" she interrupted as she angrily looked at him. "Look at me! I'm in a bath towel and my partner's coat! You won't even give me my gun or badge, do you realise how ridiculous all of this is?" she demanded rhetorically.
"Ok, first of all," he replied, raising his voice slightly and looking between her and the road. "I won't give you your gun or badge because you have nowhere to keep them. What, you gonna do, sew your gun to the towel?" he demanded doubtfully.
"Don't mock me Elliot, you-"
"I'm not mocking you, 'Livia, I'm just pointing out that none of this is at all ridiculous so long as you're safe! You did what you had to do; it's not your fault."
She spun in her seat incredulously. "You're damn right it's not! I can't help the way this is affecting me! I can't control the way it's making me feel, that's not my fault!"
"Liv, I didn't say it was!" he replied.
"You think I allow myself to be scared? And allow myself to hide away in my bathroom? I can't control fear, Elliot, in that situation, I don't think anyone could! If I hadn't locked myself in the bathroom, how do you know he wasn't there? Wasn't waiting for me to come home? How do you know-"
"Liv!" he interrupted, knowing he had sparked a potentially huge argument, and now was not the best time for her to be refusing his help. "Look, I didn't mean what I said the way it sounded. Ok?"
When she didn't respond and merely turned back to the window, he sighed. "Liv, I'm sorry. Ok? I just...I just want to keep you safe and everytime I try I feel like I'm failing."
She turned to look at him, and noticed how he was adamently staring out the windshield, even though they had just pulled up at the traffic lights. "Elliot," she said, but he still didn't look. "Hey, El, look at me." After a moment he looked, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "The fact that we've been partners for so long, and I'm still here, shows that you do a damn good job of taking care of me."
As his eyes continued to monitor hers, one side of his face glowing slightly from the streetlights, she considered leaning in to hug him. A car horn blared. She jumped slightly as Elliot merely frowned at the jerk behind them. He pulled away from the lights and turned a corner, not far from the precinct now.
"Don't worry Liv, when we get to the precinct you can finally get a goodnight sleep."
"I guess." she half heartedly replied, deciding not to inform him that sleep was difficult to come by these days, especially with the things swirling around in her head.
xXx
As soon as they arrived at the precinct, Olivia headed straight for her locker. She always kept a whole set of clothes at hand. If it wasn't heavy rain or spilt coffee, or even the odd injury, she always needed a change of clothes. The aged metal groaned as she yanked open the door. She quickly grabbed the desired items from the bottom of her locker, her hairbrush and her spare holster. Elliot smirked as he saw this, deciding not to ask when she wanted her weapon back. He placed a protective hand on her back as they headed towards the cribs, but her independant stride stopped abruptly.
"I don't need a sitter Elliot; I know where the cribs are." she said with a sigh, obviously hinting for him to back off.
He looked at her for a second, and when she finally met his eyes, he nodded. "Ok." he dropped his hand, stuffing them deep in to his pockets. "Well, like you said you 'know where the cribs are.' I'll come check on you in a few minutes."
Olivia resisted the urge to argue. Instead she turned and walked away, ignorant of the hurt she'd just inflicted. Elliot sighed but headed to Cragen's office; Liv would be safe enough in the precinct.
He pushed open Cragen's door, and closing it, none-too-quietly, behind himself. He adopted a wide stance before the desk, as Don set down some papers he was looking over.
"Is knocking no longer customary?" When Elliot didn't respond, Cragen simply leaned back in his chair. "How is she?"
"Strong. Much stronger than she was this morning." Elliot sighed again, rubbing his eyes with his hands.
"When was the last time you slept?" Don asked with a concerned frown.
"'When was the last time Liv slept?' is what we should be concerned with." Elliot quipped.
"Elliot, you just said Olivia is doing fine. And as much as she might think so, she can't get through it by herself, no matter how determined she is. You can't support her if you can't even hold your eyes open."
"I'll sleep when she's safe."
Don sighed and stood from his chair. "Well," he said, as he moved around his desk. "It's not going to get any safer than a precinct." He patted Elliot on the shoulder and guided him from the office. "As much as you might object, there's not a lot we can do tonight; lab results won't be in till morning. And I got Melinda finalizing her report."
Elliot sensed his hesitation. His eyes tightened as he turned to face Don.
"Something else you're not telling me, Cap?"
Don sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "You should probably hear it from me...I sent Fin and Munch over to Liv's apartment to supervise and-"
"-take statements, yeah, Fin called. But that's not all is it?"
"No, it's not. After they're done there...they're going to arrange a prison transfer. On my instruction."
Elliot merely looked at him for a second. "Wait, what? Prisoner transfer? For who? To where? " he fumbled, dumbfounded in confusion.
"Lowell Harris. To here." He waited for a second for the tirade to begin.
"Have you lost your mind?"
"Elliot-"
"Have you completely gone insane? To even consider bringing him here-Do you have any idea what this could do to Olivia? Did you even think-!"
"Detective!"
Elliot fell silent, despite the acidic fury pumping through his veins.
"I have considered all possible ramifications from this, Detective. But you cannot deny, at this point, he is the only possible suspect-"
"There's nothing possible about it! He's been behind bars-"
"Enough with the dramatics, Detective Stabler! Yes, he has been in jail, but can't you entertain the idea for at least a moment, that maybe, maybe, he has help? Or perhaps an old cell mate is setting up the stage for Harris' grand finale?"
"'Grand finale' being Olivia dead on the floor!" Elliot yelled in a rage.
"Elliot?" His heart sank as he heard the smallest voice behind him. He dropped his head for the slightest second before turning to face her.
" 'Livia, we just-"
"No, I heard." she interrupted. He saw he was in her own clothes, sort of; her own jeans that followed her every curve, a thin black cotton beater and her own shoes, the comfty ones she preferred to use when she went running, he recalled. Yet she still wore an oversized sweatshirt hoodie. Had the situation not been so serious, he would have smiled, wondering just how many of his jackets she had swiped over the years.
"Liv-"
"He's coming here." she interrupted, with a finality that shattered her resolve. Another tear slid down her cheeks. "I know, I heard." she repeated, gazing wildly at Elliot. 'Why now? Everything was just getting better.' she deluded herself.
"Olivia, I-"
"No, no, it's fine, El, really." she fumbled, nodding hurriedly and trying to smile, despite the moisture pooled in her eyes. "Actually, you know what? I'm really tired, and you probably have more paperwork," her voice broke. "to file, to get this-that transfer going, so er- I'm gonna- you know, go lie down for a little while, 'cause I'm exhausted." She practically fled from the squadroom, pulling her sleeves down a little to wipe her eyes as she ran, her breathing erratic.
"Olivia!" Elliot called after her.
"Give her some time Elliot." Cragen encouraged.
Elliot spun to look at him with venom in his eyes. "I think I know what's best for her right now. You've done enough."
After a short pitstop to his locker, Elliot hurried straight to the cribs. 'How could Cragen even consider bringing that piece of crap here? Was it even necessary? Why couldn't they just go to the prison? To bring him here, in the same building, within 500 feet of Olivia...' He let out a deep, steady sigh as he tried to calm himself. Olivia would be worked up enough without him yelling about Cragen.
He pushed open the door, expecting to see Liv pacing the floor, or clutching at the window bars, running her fingers through her hair in panic, her eyes puffy and raw from wiping away tears. Darkness? He flicked the light switch, casting a dim glow around the room as the aged bulbs flickered alive. His heart softened at the sight as he approached her, the bunk furthest from the door.
Curled up in a ball, using his coat as a blanket, looking smaller than she ever had, was Olivia. Her hair was covering her eyes, that were still streaked, leading him to suspect she'd cried herself to sleep through her exhaustion. He let out a steady breath as he took his her appearance, slightly dishevelled, and yet still as beautiful as every other day he had known her. He eased himself on to the edge of bed, sitting behind her. He reached over and delicately pulled her hair from her eyes. 'Those beautiful brown eyes.' After a moment he stood up again and headed to the nearby cabinet. He pulled a few of the thin blankets from the shelf and returned to Olivia's side. She stirred a little as he lifted his coat from her, causing the cold air to swirl around her. Elliot draped the blankets across her body, tucking the fabric around her. He could hear her breath moving gracefully across her slightly-parted lips, her hands tucked beneath her cheek.
He leant down and placed the lightest of kisses on her cheek. He stood up, stretched, causing his muscles to ache from exhaustion. He looked around and eyed a particular bed, the one between Olivia and the door. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the under-stuffed pillow.
A/N Really enjoted writing this chapter, but the next one is my absolute favourite. Can't wait to post it for you x Ok, last chapter I mentioned Nickelback, this time it's Evanescence- Sweet Sacrific, Whisper, Haunted (Majorly) really remind me of Liv and help with the emotions for her character. Check them out if you like, not sure they're everyone's style of music though lol xx