Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.

Office of Sgt. Ed Tucker, Internal Affairs Bureau, One Police Plaza, Manhattan, New York

"Why the hell are we here?" Elliot fumed, his voice dripping with aggravation as his knee bounced nervously.

Olivia stifled a bitter laugh as she eyes him, smirking. "Three guesses." She sighed and turned to look at Tucker's door, dreading the moment it would open. "We lied to Cragen about us. A few times, actually. You were suspended for three..."

"The suspension was lifted," he interrupted. "We got a break in the case, Cragen called, practically begging us both to work..."

"Okay, okay," she said, cutting him off and holding up both hands. "Relax. I'm not the one you should be snapping at."

He sighed and slumped further down into his chair. "I know." He held out his hand, palm up, and gave her a pathetically pitiful puppy-eyed look.

Chuckling, she rested her hand in his, and the moment the knob turned, she said, "I love you."

"That's nice, unfortunately, you're not my type, Benson," Ed Tucker chided, walking into his office without looking up from the file in his hands. He dropped it to his desk, it landed with a slap, and he sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "What the hell am I supposed to do with you two?"

"Look, I can explain," Elliot began, stiffening. "This started a long time ago, and it's pretty serious. There aren't any actual regulations against it, so we thought there was no real harm in keeping it just between..."

"Stabler, what in the ever-loving fuck are you fucking talking about?" Tucker intruded, his eyebrows knitted and a look of pure bewilderment on his face.

Elliot balked, swallowed hard, and looked from Tucker to Olivia and back again. "I thought...I mean, you called us in here to..."

"I called you in here to talk about your records, not string you up because you're going heels-to-Jesus with your partner!" Tucker snapped, and then pointed a finger at him. "You keep that shit out of work and we don't have a problem. It's not my fault Captain Sensitive is pissed off, but I can't really do shit about fuck where your personal lives are concerned."

"Oh, thank God," Elliot breathed, pressing a hand to his pounding heart. "So, why are we here, exactly?"

"This," Tucker said, taking up the folder he'd had when he walked in, "Is your file, Stabler. I have Benson's, too, you're both up for review. Now, I may not have the world's greatest memory, and I sure as hell don't keep tabs on every fucking move you two assholes make, but I'm fairly certain these were a hell-of-lot thicker the last time I checked them!"

Olivia's head and ears had perked up at that. "Wait, what's missing? That could ruin us!"

"Why the hell do you think you're here?" Tucker shouted, frustrated. He tossed the folder to Elliot and then did the same with Olivia's file, throwing it to her. "You tell me. You figure out what those two novels have in common. I'll wait."

Elliot and Olivia were quiet for a few moments as they thumbed through their professional jackets. Simultaneously, they switched, and gave each other's file the same silent review. "I'm...what am I looking for, here, exactly?"

Tucker's eyes widened in awe of Elliot's sheer stupidity. "Benson, you want to tell him? Unless you, too, have gone completely fucking senseless."

Olivia snickered at the expression on Elliot's face, but she said, "Everything from Two-Thousand-Three is gone."

"Wait, what?" Elliot's voice cracked as he ripped his file back from Olivia. "A year? A whole goddamned year? How the hell..."

"Relax, Stabler," Tucker interjected, seeing Elliot's rage building. "I am not accusing either of you of doing this yourselves, I just need to know, what, if you can remember, happened in that time frame that someone would want stricken from the record? Maybe not to save your asses, because, face it, they don't really need saving at this point. If I was gonna fire either of you, I would have done it already."

Olivia looked at Elliot, fear evident in her eyes, the color draining from her face. "El?"

Elliot nodded. "I know," he said, biting his lip.

"Can the two of you share with the rest of the class?" Tucker griped, folding his arms.

Elliot grabbed and squeezed Olivia's hand and then looked at Tucker. "Alex."

Squad Room of the Special Victim's Unit, Sixteenth Precinct, Manhattan, New York

"Where are we on this?" Cragen asked, walking into the middle of the room, his eyes narrow.

Munch cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up. "This guy's in the wind, Cap," he said. "The nurse gave us the goods, though, we have records, files, patient logs, we even have dates and locations of what they refer to as 'stem-cell extraction and retrieval." He peered over his spectacles knowingly as he handed Cragen a thin folder. "This one...uh...this one bothers me."

Cragen scanned the file, made an odd grunting noise, and thrust it back in Munch's direction. "Where the hell are Benson and..."

"Stabler?" Elliot questioned, barreling into the room. He threw his coat off and made a beeline for the coffeepot.

"What the hell happened to you?" Fin asked, one brow arched as he took in the harrowed sight of Olivia and Elliot.

Olivia crossed her arms and leaned against the edge of her desk. "Tucker," she said. "Someone screwed with our files. Erased a whole year of write-ups and...any reference to Cesar Velez, Rafael Zapata, or..."

"We will deal with missing black-marks on your permanent record later," Cragen interfered, his tone severe. "This case just hit a sickening turn, and you two need to follow the yellow-brick-road to find this son-of-a-bitch."

After downing two cups of rather weak coffee, Elliot tossed his cup in the trash can and walked back toward his partner. "What turn? What happened?"

"The lab was getting a healthy supply of stem cells from free clinics and small, privatized hospitals," Munch explained. "The transactions were recorded like any sale or trade would be, but what bugged me, was this one," he said, holding out the file to Olivia.

Olivia took it, flipped it open, and held it so Elliot could read it along with her. "Oh, my God, El," she whispered. She looked up and her eyes darted to Fin, and then to Munch. "Did you guys verify this?"

Fin nodded glumly. "Yeah," he said, twirling a pen in between his fingers.

Cragen looked at Olivia harshly, and then shot Elliot a more glaring expression. "It happened, and it's gonna happen again if you two don't get down there and find out what the hell is going on."

"We're on it," Elliot said, nodding, moving to pick up his coat. He looked at Olivia. "Who the fuck would willingly sell their unborn child, for stem cells?"

Olivia cringed. "These people make Davison and Langley look like saints." She looked at Elliot. "At least, what they did...those mother's weren't aware of what was happening to them or the fetuses."

Elliot walked with her toward the door of the squad room and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah," he said, "It doesn't make it right, but it certainly puts it into perspective." He rounded the corner, smirking at Olivia's bemused expression. "Come on," he said, jerking his head. "Let's take the stairs."

She gave him a crooked eyebrow and half-smirk, but followed his lead, as she always did. And always would.

Peace and Love

Jo

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