A/N: Heresy: any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs, customs, etc. the willful and persistent rejection of any article of faith by a baptized member of the church.
DISCLAIMER: SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf. This story belongs to TStabler.
"What happened?" Elliot yells, his gun raised and aimed.
Munch, his own gun in the air, trained on one of the limp bodies on the cool tiled floor, answers. "Two unis came in," he says, one eye twitching behind his glasses. "Asked where Bradshaw was, then they just started shooting."
"Oh, my God," Olivia gasps, running toward her desk. She kneels, clutching the bleeding shoulder of the man propped up against the metal. "Nick," she whispers, "You're gonna be okay." She looks up and around, stunned. "Did anyone call a bus?"
Above the shouts and mumbles, Elliot's eyes are searching the room. It's a painfully familiar sight, Olivia clinging to a barely breathing colleague, shocked and scared faces surrounding him. And then he notices. "Where's Fin?"
"He ran," Munch says with a firm nod. "The second shooter took off, Fin ran after him. They're out there somewhere."
Elliot turns to look at Dean, then looks down at Olivia. "I'll be right back," he says firmly, looking into her eyes, then jerks his head, motioning to Dean to follow him.
Leaving Bradshaw in Tucker's hands, they leave the room in pursuit of the second shooter and Fin, hoping they're both alive, and ready to give up some serious answers.
Munch kicks the foot of the cop he'd shot, then kneels beside Olivia. "We called a bus, yeah," he says, finally answering her. He lifts a hand and wipes the tears that are falling from her eyes. "You okay?"
"No," she says as she sniffles. "None of this is okay." She looks down again. "You hang on, you hear me?"
Nick moans, dropping his head to the side. He turns his eyes, slowly and painfully, toward her. "Hey, Benson," he whispers, allowing his head to drop into her.
"You're gonna be okay," she says softly. She looks back up and shakes her head. "How did this happen?"
Munch sighs and stutters, trying to explain. "It happened so fast," he recalls. "These two rookies came in, looked around, asked Nick where Bradshaw was." He takes a breath as he sees Nick coughing as Olivia's clutching him. He shuts his eyes; Elliot isn't the only one that remembers. "He told them Bradshaw was in interrogation, and before anyone could so much as blink, one of 'em shot Nick, the other starts firing at the walls and the floor."
With a shiver and a sigh, Olivia looks up, relieved to see the EMTs rushing into the room with a stretcher and a bag. "Over here!" she shouts, getting their attention. She moves and stands, watching helplessly as they work with Nick, and she wraps her arms around herself, holding her stomach. "Why?"
"They knew," Munch says, shaking his head. "Bradshaw always has a plan B, and they were..."
"A distraction," Olivia says, realizing. She heads for the interrogation room, Munch follows closely, and she's again relieved to see Bradshaw still sitting, cuffed, staring at Tucker. Her hands go back to their place around her belly, and she blinks, letting more tears fall. "He didn't wanna believe any of this shit, ya know."
"Who?" Munch asks, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Elliot," she says, clearing her throat. "He told me that considering any of you guys a suspect in this...it felt, to him, like Heresy." She chuckles a bit and continues. "He believed in everyone in this unit, trusted every single person with everything he had, until that night...until Jenna..."
"We let him down," Munch shrugs, resting a hand on her shoulder.
She shakes her head and looks at him. "Not all of you," she says. "Just the ones that really hurt. Cragen, Alex...you."
"Me?" he asks, surprised.
She nods and sniffles again. "You've known, John," she says, "The whole time. You could have stopped this a long time ago. Nick's on his way to Mercy, barely breathing...Fin and Elliot are probably halfway to Brooklyn looking for a man who's long gone...and it could have all been avoided if you would have just said..."
"I'm a month away from retirement, Olivia," Munch interrupts. "Bradshaw could have severed my pension in seconds if I said anything." He struggles with his voice, verging on cracking and crying, and he takes off his glasses. "I didn't really believe it, at first, either, so..."
"You didn't want to take an innocent man down without proof," Olivia finishes, understanding. "We've all been there." She gives him an endearing look and she rubs a circle over her stomach. "You could say something now, though. You could..."
"Why?" Munch asks, cutting her off. "Bradshaw already told you, I mean, look! Tucker's making him write everything down!"
Olivia blinks. "Bradshaw gave up a name, but you...you owe it to Amanda, Munch."
"I do?" he questions. "Or you think I do because you do," he accuses. "You feel guilty, don't you? Well, ya know what? So do I. I found her and I...I panicked and...then it all hit me. Everything clicked, and I knew. I knew who, and I knew why, and I knew that I needed to stay the hell out of it. I knew Elliot would figure it all out anyway. Without me."
"Without you," she repeats, narrowing her eyes. "And you wonder why he doesn't call any of you anymore." She scoffs and looks back toward the glass. "He had the right idea."
"Not trusting us?" Munch asks, feeling worse now than ever.
"No," Olivia says. A sigh escapes as she closes her eyes. "Leaving."
Munch's eyes remain fixed on her as she backs away from the glass and heads out into the destroyed squad room. He closes his eyes and shouts her name, but she doesn't turn back, and he fears she's gone. For good.
The silence that permeates the room now, after the commotion is quieted and Nick is no longer bleeding out in front of Olivia's desk, is almost deafening. She has just hung up the phone after talking to an annoyed-sounding nurse at Mercy General, and the relief she feels at knowing Nick is going to be just fine doesn't calm her down at all. She's still shaking, she's still worried.
She has yet to take her eyes off of the main entrance, her fingers knot themselves over the gold pendant around her neck, the one that reminds her to be fearless. She scoffs, because she's terrified right now. "Oh, my God," she breathes, her lungs finally taking in the most air she's allowed herself to inhale, as she rises from her seat and runs over to Elliot.
He closes his eyes as he holds onto her, his arms wrap around her tightly and he buries his head in the crook of her neck, lifting her off of her feet just a bit. "We got him," he whispers into her ear.
She nods, but she doesn't really care about that. All she cares about is him, alive and unharmed, with her. She backs away from him and searches his eyes, then crashes her lips into his, disregarding the crowded squad room staring at them.
His hands move, fisting the waves in her hair, and he moans against her lips. Not a sexual moan, not a frustrated one, but something caught between pain and relief. He tries like hell to pull her closer, but she's as tight against him as she can get. "I love you," he says, brushing his nose against hers as he breaks their kiss.
She sniffles, the third time she's cried today, damn hormones, and she smiles. "I love you," she tells him. "So much." She tugs on his tie, straightening it, and asks, "Where's Fin? What happened out there?"
Elliot puts her down gently and bites his lip. "Fin…Fin took the asshole down to holding." He says, then raises both eyebrows. "This whole time, baby…we had him the whole time, we just never considered…" he shakes his head and looks down at her. "I knew, though. I knew he probably…"
"I know you did," she interrupts. "And I know it killed you." She runs her hand through his hair and tilts her head. "You should go down to…"
"Dean went to go get him," he cuts her off, kissing her cheek. "Cragen. Damn. He's really not who I thought…"
General mumbles from the unit rise to a higher pitch, and Munch interrupts Elliot's speaking. "What happened? The whole story. I think I have a right to know."
"Bradshaw found out Cragen was the one who set me up, the one who got Alex to give Jenna the gun," Elliot says, interjecting.
Olivia presses her lips together, hating hearing it all, but knowing it needed to be said. She links her fingers with Elliot's and pulls him toward her desk, waiting for him to continue.
Elliot sits, surprising Olivia, the crowded room, and even himself as he pulls Olivia into his lap. "Cragen gave Amanda the job, hoping it would be enough of a payoff to Bradshaw for him to keep his job, but then…Bradshaw figured he could use Cragen to really get rid of his problem. They agreed to keep their mouths shut, and both incidents were swept under the table."
Munch leans forward a bit and drops his head into his hands. "Why did he call you, though? I mean….I knew…I knew it was Cragen….he called you to make the case look legit, but…why you? He knew you'd go after your own case first, and he knew you'd figure it out and get him eventually."
He bites his lip and says, "Cragen was planning to use me…again…to work this case, thinking I would push hard enough to make the case against Nick or Fin." He nods at Olivia. "Because he knew I would do anything to protect her." He looks back at Munch. "That's what initially made me think he was hiding something. He told me to stay with her, never let her out of my sight, trying to make me believe she was next on the list of someone working with her."
"Amanda was the only vic," Munch says, "The only target. Man, nothing about this makes sense." He scratches his head and then he smiles. "Well, one thing does."
"What?" Elliot asks, cradling Olivia's head against his chest, his eyes closed.
"You two," Munch says with a clear firmness. "You're Michael, that's your kid in there. Right?"
Olivia's head pops up and her eyes widen, as if she is only now realizing what they've been doing for the last ten minutes. "Uh…"
"Case is closed, Liv," Elliot says with a smile.
She turns to Munch and says, "Yeah. It's been Elliot. The whole time."
Fin walks back into the room, then, getting their attention as his heavy steps clomp along the tile. He grunts, tossing his gun and badge on his desk, and he runs his hands over his face. "This day," he mumbles, "Is complete shit."
"Yeah," Elliot nods, kissing Olivia's forehead. "Couldn't agree more."
"How's Nick?" Fin asks, looking at Olivia, either ignoring or not caring about her position on Elliot's lap. "He okay?"
Olivia nods. "He's fine," she says. "Bullet missed his heart, but he'll be in a sling for a few weeks. He's…he's okay."
"Good," Fin says, sitting. Then his eyes glaze over and he shakes his head. "Who the hell was he, man?" he asks no one specifically. "Cragen…how could he…do all of this?"
"Jealousy, greed, fear," Elliot lists. "The usual motivators and stressers for this kinda thing."
"Stop talkin' like a fuckin' Fed, Elliot," Fin snaps. "This is Cragen! Our captain! The man responsible for keepin' all of us out of fuckin' trouble, the man who got himself in hot water tryin' to save our asses, I mean, fuck, he thought of you as his daughter!"
"I still do," a meek voice from the doorway says.
Heads turn, eyes drop. Cragen is nestled between Dean Porter and another armed agent, his wrists tightly bound behind him. "I do," he says with a nod. "Please, I…Elliot, I will tell you everything." He closes his eyes. "Everything."
Elliot looks at Fin, then Munch, then finally Olivia. He kisses her and nudges her up so he can move, and he rises out of the seat. He takes a few steps toward his partner and their suspect, but he turns around. "I can't stop thinking like an agent, Fin," he says. "If I do that, then…then the feelings get in the way, and I can't do my job."
"So, what, this case closes and you leave again?" Fin barks. "Just go right back to not even acknowledging we exist, nor trusting us?"
Elliot takes a deep breath. "Yeah," he says with a single nod.
"And what about her?" Fin snaps, pointing to Olivia. "You just gonna leave her here alone again?"
Elliot looks at Olivia, then back at Fin. "Of course not," he says, turning back toward the interrogation room. "She's coming with me this time."
A/N: GULP!
