A/N: Cragen deals with what he heard above his head; A conversation with Tucker; Casey's proposal.
DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns this story. Every little piece of it.
Olivia and Elliot walked into the squadroom, on time, with coffee, and sat down, purposely ignoring Cragen's red faced stare. Elliot glanced at Olivia, smirked, and booted up his computer.
"Hey," Fin said, walking into the bullpen. "I think you guys are in a little bit of trouble."
"What?" Olivia asked, scared. "Why?"
Fin threw his jacket over the back of his chair and said, "I saw Tucker downstairs. He told me to tell you he wants to see you. His office. Now."
Elliot looked at Olivia, who returned his worry, and stood. Olivia got up, too, and sighed as they walked out.
Cragen watched them go, concerned, and trying hard not to hear the moaning and screaming replaying in his mind. Ten minutes later, they were at One, Police Plaza, searching for the IAB Sergeant.
"Ed?" Elliot called into Tucker's open office. "Hello?"
"He's not here," Olivia said. "Let's just..." she was cut off when Elliot spun her around and kissed her.
Olivia pushed him away gently and glared at him. "In Tucker's office, El? You are not a smart man," she said.
"Never said I was," Elliot said with a smirk, leaning in for another kiss. "Casey said he knows," he whispered, brushing his lips against hers. "What does it matter now?" He pressed his lips to hers and she was powerless to stop it.
"It doesn't," Tucker said, coming in nonchalantly, as if their kissing was a normal occurrence.
Olivia pulled away from Elliot, embarrassed. "Hi," she said quickly, wiping the corners of her lips.
"Relax," Tucker chuckled, "I didn't call you in here to reprimand you for whatever this is," he said, waving an arm at them.
Elliot glared, looking evilly at him, and said, "What the hell was that supposed to.."
"Stabler, calm the hell down, would ya?" Tucker asked harshly, "I was trying to just dismiss this. I don't wanna make either of you uncomfortable, and if we don't talk about it we can all pretend it is't happening. It hasn't affected your work, yet, but when it does, you know the rules, you know what'll happen."
"So why are we here?" Olivia asked, mildly relieved.
Tucker cleared his throat. "I called you down here to tell you that disciplinary still has to be taken, not against you, but against your A.D.A."
"Casey Novak? Why?" Olivia asked, slightly shocked that Tucker had let go the implications of their relationship and changed the subject so quickly.
"She's been watching you a little too closely," Tucker said. "She followed you yesterday, and I think..."
"Hold on," Elliot said, holding up a hand. "Followed us?"
Tucker nodded. "Yeah, Elliot, followed you. To your daughter's school, back to your apartment, she even followed you insiade, followed you out, and tailed you back here. I've got proof. I'm telling you because I'm not sure what she's capable of, and..."
"You think we're in some kind of danger?" Olivia interjected, folding her arms, choosing annoyance over fear. "You think she's trying to hurt us?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Tucker said. "Until I do, however, want you two to be careful. Watch your backs, and know that we're doing the same thing. I may hate your professional actions and decisions sometimes, but I don't hate you. I can't hate you." He looked at Olivia, his face telling her that he was hiding something. "I'm not gonna let her hurt you," he said, concern and determination dripping from his words.
Elliot nodded. "Thanks, Ed," he said, holding out his hand.
Tucker shook it and replied, "That's what family's for," he said, then he opened his eyes wide and stuttered, "Because...th-that's what w-we are, cops, brothers, family."
"Right," Elliot said, giving Tucker a curious look, then he took Olivia's hand and led her back out of the building, heading back to their own precinct. There was something odd about Tucker's behavior, and he was going to find out what it was.
They got back to the squadroom, and had a very awkward interaction with Cragen as he handed them their assignment. "Victim at Mercy," the aging captain said, not making eye-contact with either detective. "Go. Be careful," he said, turning and walking into his office.
Olivia looked at Elliot knowingly. "Maybe we should have been a bit quieter," she whispered to him as they walked out.
Elliot laughed. "Liv, I wouldn't have been able to stay quiet," he said. "Seeing you in my shirt, with the things you were doing and saying, the way you were moving, damn, just thinking about it..."
"Stop," Olivia warned, pushing him back as they stepped into the elevator. "Fin knows you have a girlfriend and he probably thinks it's me, Cragen obviously thinks we're going for some kind of sexual world record, Tucker was unusually nice to us because he's pretty sure we're sleeping together, I don't need to have the elevator security tape proving that everyone is right."
Elliot laughed and shook his head. A moment of silence passed between them, and then he laughed again.
"What now?" Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow.
Elliot chook his head and chuckled under his breath. "Cragen, avoiding us and blushing, stuttering, that was fucking funny." He looked at Olivia. "He couldn't even look at you, Liv!"
"This isn't funny," Olivia said, pressing her lips together, trying not to laugh. She had to admit, Cragen looked quite funny. "El, this is like...God, I feel like my father caught me having sex in his bed!"
"We weren't in his bed," Elliot said, pointing a corrective finger. "And he's not your father."
"You know what I...oh, nice, El, deflecting," Olivia chuckled. "I'll change the subject," she sighed, discreetly brushing her hand against his, needing the contact. "When do we have to take Maureen back to school?"
"Tomorrow," Elliot sighed. "It was nice, ya know? Having her home," he said, twirling the car keys around his finger as they walked off the elevator.
"Yeah," Olivia said. "She doesn't hate me," she scoffed.
Elliot opened the car door for her and said, "Katie doesn't hate you! Liv, after what you did..."
"El," Olivia interrupted, getting in, "You'll see. When she comes back home, after spending time with her mother who's only been bad-mouthing me to your kids, she's going to..."
"She's not," Elliot said, getting in on his side, handing her his cell phone. "Listen to the third message on my voicemail."
Olivia cocked an eyebrow and chuckled. "I love that you gave me your password before we were even together."
"You have the PIN number to my ATM card, too, baby," Elliot said, starting the car. "I trust you. Completely. And doing those things, I was trying to prove you can trust me."
"I do trust you," Olivia said, smiling.
Elliot took her hand and looked into her eyes. "Then trust me on this," he begged. "She's not going to treat you like shit anymore. Just listen to the message." He kissed her lips quickly, then pulled out of the lot heading toward Mercy General Hospital.
Olivia listened to the message as Elliot drove, and what Kathleen was saying nearly moved her to tears. The girl had been raving about how wrong she was about Olivia, and to send Olivia her love, and that she missed both of them and couldn't wait to come home.
"See?" Elliot mouthed to her, smiling.
Olivia nodded. She flipped the phone closed and handed it back to him.
"They love you, baby," Elliot said, referring to his kids. "All of them."
"It is so good to be home," Dickie said, barreling through the apartment, into his room.
Elliot yawned and nodded. "You can say that again," he said, rubbing his eyes. "I'm exhausted."
"I wonder why," Olivia quipped. "We didn't get a lot of...any sleep." She laughed at the look on his face and headed into Maureen's room. "You all packed?" she asked, smoothing the tall blonde's hair back.
Maureen nodded. "Yeah, but I'm only going back to take my finals. I'm...I have to talk to Dad, but...I wanna transfer to NYU."
"What? Why?" Olivia asked, stunned. Maureen was proud of herself, getting into Penn State was huge for her.
Maureen sighed. "Liv, I only went away to school to get away from my parents. The fighting, the tension, the fact that he was denying...I knew he was in love with you, and you with him, and the fact that neither of you could admit it, it made him impossible to live with. I didn't want to be around any of it anymore. Now that things are...things are right, I wanna stay home. With you and Dad."
"Oh, Mo, I don't...that's so..." Olivia tried to find the words, but couldn't.
Maureen simply gave Olivia a hard hug. "Thank you for being who you are, Liv," she said.
"I'll second that," Kathleen said from Maureen's bedroom door.
"Third," Elliot's voice called into the room.
Maureen and Olivia pulled apart, looked at the door, and laughed. Olivia moved toward Elliot, but before she could kiss him, there was a knock on their door. Elliot grabbed Olivia's hand and pulled her into the living room, opening the door. He instinctively moved in front of Olivia, heeding Tucker's warning, and closed the door, leaving it only open enough to speak through. "What is it, Casey?" he asked.
"I was wondering if you two wanted to come over for dinner, some drinks," Casey said, trying to edge her way into the apartment.
"It's almost midnight, Casey," Elliot said, irritated. "We ate."
"So just drinks then," Casey said. She put her palm on the door and pushed, opening it further. "I would like to talk to you both about something...rather personal."
"We can't leave the kids, I'm tired, Liv's tired, and we have to take a pretty long drive tomorrow. So just...what is it?" Elliot asked, signaling, behind his back, for Olivia to hand him his gun. He felt the cold metal slip into his hand and he let out a sigh of relief.
Until Casey spoke.
"I'd like to...well this is really not something I wanted to just come out and ask you," Casey said. "But...I'd like to know if...one night, when your kids are all out of the house, and you weren't busy...if you'd let me watch."
"Watch?" Olivia asked, hoping that it wasn't what she'd been thinking.
"Watch what, Novak?" Elliot asked, fingering the Glock in his hand. Just in case.
Casey's eyes sparkled as the thought came to complete fruition in her mind. "I think you know. I want to watch. Watch you two. I hear you, I think the whole building does, but it, uh...wasn't enough. Think about it. I promise, you'll enjoy it almost as much as I will."
Olivia looked at Elliot, feeling nauseous. Elliot looked back at her, grim amusement on his face. They both looked at Casey, as if she was nuts.
"Really, just...think about it. Let me know. I'll see you in court on Monday. You both had better be prepared. For everything." She smirked at them and walked away.
Elliot closed the door, locking it, and pulled out his cell phone.
"Who are you calling at this time of night?" Olivia asked, trying to tug him toward the bedroom.
Elliot kissed her quickly and said, "Tucker."
A/N: Something happens on the way to Penn State, but what? Will Tucker ever tell Olivia the truth about his relationship with her and Simon? Will Cragen get over what he heard, or will he need to take action against it to stop it? Click that lil' button, and lemme know if you want it or not! Or follow TMG212 on Twitter.