A/N: Life is filled with little surprises. We are built to handle all of them.

DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf own SVU and the characters; TStabler© owns the story you're about to read.

"Are you sure?" Olivia asked, shaking her head. "This just...this doesn't make sense. What do you mean, they were watching us? Why?"
Cragen, looking down at a file, shook his head. "Some kind of promise," he mumbled. "It was his job to keep you safe, the feds...they think..."

"Someone's after us?" Elliot cut in, just as worried as Olivia.

Cragen handed the file to him. "Him," he said. "Agent Porter is convinced that this man is trying to get to you somehow, and was making sure that didn't happen."

"Why would he...I mean...we don't even know this guy," Olivia said, folding her arms.

Dean Porter, behind Elliot, said, "You should." He took a few more steps toward them and said, "That man, his name is Simon Marsden. Olivia, he's your brother."
"I don't have a brother," Olivia said, her head popping up to meet Dean's.

Dean, chuckling, said, "Yes, Olivia. You do."

Elliot narrowed his eyes, unsure of whether or not he still trusted Dean, or if he really ever had. "How the hell did you find that out, Porter?" he asked, glaring.

Dean smirked. He had secrets he wasn't prepared to give away. "Part of the case, Elliot," he said. He looked at Olivia and saw, behind the fear and confusion, just a hint of joy, and knew that he had done the right thing.


"Took you long enough," Munch spat over the yellow tape as he watched Fin walking toward him.

Fin gave him the finger and chuckled. "Traffic in this city's a bitch, man," he mumbled, stepping under the yellow plastic. "What have we got?"

Munch led him over to the body. "Young, female, Asian, pretty badly beaten. ME found her cell phone," he said, "Shoved down her throat."

Fin made a face. "Guess the fucker didn't like her ring tone," he said with a shudder.

The ME stood, then, and said, "Have a little respect, huh?"

Fin's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Melinda?"

Melinda Warner pulled off a latex glove and rolled it up in the palm of the other gloved hand. "Hi, Fin," she said, snapping off the other glove. She nodded once at Munch and then walked away.

Munch looked at Fin with shocked and amused eyes. "Is there anyone in this city you haven't slept with?"

"Yeah," Fin answered, looking after Melinda. "You."

Munch scoffed and the two went to work, sweeping the scene and looking for any clue that might lead them to the girl's killer.


"I don't like the way she looks at you," Olivia hissed over her desk, trying to concentrate on her paperwork.

Elliot chuckled. "She looks at me the was Cassidy used to look at you," he said. "Things have a funny way of evening out."

"Why didn't he tell us he was leaving?" she asked, dropping her pen and folding her hands.

Elliot shrugged. "Maybe he thought I'd give him shit for it, or maybe...maybe the reason he left...I mean, he's a man, Liv. Things like that, admitting weakness and failure, they're not...easy things for guys to do."

Olivia sighed and picked her pen back up. "Well, we'll see him later, anyway. And I swear, if that woman doesn't stop looking at you like that..."

"Aw, is wittle Owivia a wittle jeawous?" he teased, smiling at her.

She looked up with a furrowed brow, then reached over the desk and slapped him with the folder in her hands. "Ass," she snapped.

"You love my ass," he joked, looking down at a file of his own, the one Porter had given him about Simon Marsden.

The two shared a laugh and talked softly, oblivious to the odd and fire-filled looks coming from Dani Beck, sitting in Cassidy's vacant seat.

She narrowed her eyes as she chewed on her pen, and stared at the two as they laughed and shared sweet looks. "Stabler," she said to herself, grinning, "You can do so much better than Benson."

Fin and Munch walked in, then, and all eyes looked toward them. "Nothin," Fin said, answering their unspoken question. "Nothin' from the alley, nothin' from the apartment, nothin' from...Dani?"

Dani smirked. She looked form Fin to Elliot, then back. She was really going to like the Special Victims Unit.


"This is the address Benson found for me," Chester said, getting out of the car.

Alex got out of her side, and followed him toward the stairs. "You're not allowed to knock on that door!" she yelled. "You can't legally work this case, Chester!"

"I'm not knocking," he said, climbing the steps. "You are."

Alex shook her head and folded her arms. "Excuse me?"

Chester smiled. "Legally, I can't knock on the door. You can. " He pulled her up the stairs by her elbow and said, "Do it, Alex."

Alex raised her arm and prepared to knock. "Wait," she said, turning to him suddenly. "Is this the home of the people that adopted him or the ones that took him?"

"If it was the home of the people that took him," he said, rolling his eyes, "Do you think I would be alone with you?" he scoffed. "I'd have this entire street lined with squad cars, Alex. This isn't just some kid, this is my son."

"Our son," Alex snapped. "The child you wanted nothing to do with for years! What's changed, huh?"

Chester ran a hand down his face. "I changed," he mumbled. "I'm sorry, Alex. For everything. I want to find him,. I want him back. I want...I want us back."

Alex was so busy staring at Chester, that she didn't see the door open, and she didn't see the man in the doorway, and she didn't see the gun.

A/N: Gun? What? Sorry this chapter is so short. I'm sick and have a horrible headache, but I wanted to post this in a timely manner.