A/N: Fin joined the team. The case they're on now makes them prove their worth, and a day at the academy pushes Elliot too far, leading to one hell of a night.

DISCLAIMER: SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf. Story belongs to TStabler© Read it? Love it? Review it!

"The D.A's daughter," Olivia mumbled, walking into the squadroom. "Don't you think this should be handled by actual…"

"You are an actual detective, Benson," Cragen snapped, "And if I hear you deny it one more goddamned time, you'll have more paperwork to file than you can possibly imagine!"

Olivia raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, because being eighteen and only slightly familiar with this shit is really…"

"You," Cragen interrupted, pointing at her, "And him," he said, jutting his finger toward Elliot, "Are the most talented detectives I've ever had. With or without extensive training, you're the best I've got. Get a suspect, get a lead, get this over with before the shit hits the fan. When it does, duck." He stormed into his office and slammed the door behind him.

Olivia flinched when the door boomed closed. She was still trying to get used to the fact that her mother wouldn't be behind it, or in front of it. "Okay, then," she said, sipping a cup of coffee as she sat at one of the empty desks, "How the hell do we do this?"

Fin chuckled. "Start with the usual suspects. Boyfriend?"

"She was a lesbian," Olivia said. "A big one. Huge controversy when the D.A. was up for re-election."

"Girlfriend, then?" Fin asked, slowly walking passed Olivia's desk with a smirk on his face.

Elliot shook his head, drinking his own coffee. "Last known girlfriend lives in Boston," he said. "They broke up when she moved into her dorm at Harvard, hasn't been back in a year."

"Okay," Fin said, nodding at Elliot. "What about…"

"What if the girl wasn't the real vic?" Olivia asked, interrupting, furrowing her brow.

"Uh, Liv, honey, she's dead. Raped and killed. She's the vic," Elliot said, looking at her, confused.

Olivia shook her head. "No, what I mean, is that maybe someone assaulted her, killed her, to hurt her father. Hurting the most important thing in someone's life, usually their child, is more effective than actually hurting them. Most parents would rather die than see their kid hurt." Her eyes got foggy, and her head tilted a bit. "Doesn't work, though, when she doesn't give a shit about what happens to her daughter."

"Her?" Fin asked, furrowing his brow.

Olivia's head popped up, her eyes suddenly clear. "Huh? What? No, his. His daughter. We should talk to him, see if he had any enemies. Someone with a grudge."

"Good call, Benson," Fin said, nodding, looking at her warily.

Elliot rose from the chair he was in, looking worriedly at Olivia. Something happened to her, he assumed. The words she said, the look in her eyes, that was all too personal.

Yawning, Olivia, in blue sweats and a blue, long-sleeved, NYPD shirt, walked into the combat room, with Elliot behind her. The instructor nodded at them, though he didn't exactly approve of why they were late. They took their spots, as Olivia yawned again, and Elliot screwed his eyes shut, squeezing the bridge of his nose. It had been a long, sleepless, rough night, and they were nowhere near solving their case. McCoy had a list of people a mile long that may have wanted to hurt him, and they had only just begun crossing names off of the top.

Olivia jutted her chin toward the corner of the room, and Elliot looked over. Fin was standing in his spot, looking well-rested and chipper.

Yawning, Elliot turned back to her and said, "Yeah, well, he didn't really do much last night."

"He left, El," Olivia said, rubbing her eyes. "He left at midnight, leaving us to do it all by ourselves until five in the goddamned morning. We got nowhere, and he got his beauty sleep."

Elliot chuckled at his partner-slash-girlfriend's cranky attitude, and turned to face the instructor.

"Stabler," the man in a full NYPD gymsuit said, smirking smugly. "And Cassidy. Center, please!"

Elliot shot Olivia a look. "Fucking kidding," he muttered. "I'm half asleep, already pissed off, and he's gonna make me fight with that assbag?"

Olivia smirked. "Looks like it," she said. "Go get him, tiger," she quipped, slapping his ass as he walked toward the floor.

Cassidy had a flicker of fear in his eyes as he walked up to meet Elliot. "Stabler," he said, nodding.

"Cassidy," Elliot spat, like a curse.

The instructor picked up the whistle from around his neck and said, "This should be clean, but give it your all. Cassidy, approach Stabler like a perp. You're the aggressor."

"That should be easy," Elliot said under his breath, snorting.

"Stabler," the instructor said, "You need to defend yourself. I won't stop you unless I see this getting out of hand. Ready?"

The boys nodded.

The instructor blew the whistle. Olivia looked on, moving absently closer to Fin, and her hand shot to her mouth when Cassidy leaped for Elliot, grabbing him around the throat and knocking him to the floor.

Cassidy loomed closer to Elliot, squeezing his throat tighter, and he looked Elliot right in the eyes and said, "How is she in bed, Stabler?"

Elliot coughed, grabbed Cassidy's wrist, and flipped them over, sweeping Cassidy's feet for leverage. He twisted Cassidy's arm back and down, then leaned over, just as Cassidy had done. "You're a son of a bitch, you know that?"

Cassidy chuckled, kicked Elliot off of him, and sprang to his feet. "Just a friendly question," he said. He nailed a shot to Elliot's chin and said, "I do know I'm a son of a bitch. Olivia used to tell me that all the time when we together, when I was trying to get her out of those tight jeans she wears. How the fuck did you do it? Didn't take you that long."

Elliot growled, lowly, and shoved Cassidy back, nailing two solid punches to his face and one to the ribs. "I treated her like she deserves to be treated!" he said to Cassidy, kneeing him in the chest.

"Like a slut?" Cassidy asked, "Just like her mother?" He slugged Elliot and said, "At least with you, she's willing. She's a handful when she fights back. Ya know she bites? The bitch bites."

Elliot lost it. He hurled himself into Cassidy, pummeling him relentlessly. The instructor blew his whistle, but Elliot didn't stop. He kept hitting, feeling flesh tear and bones crack under his weight. "What did you do to her, huh?" he asked, yelling, hitting. "If you hurt her, I swear to God, I'll fucking kill you."

The instructor blew his whistle again, trying to stop him, but seeing Elliot's fists still flying he stormed over and pulled Elliiot off of Cassidy. "Enough, Stabler!" he yelled.

"Sir," Elliot said, struggling for freedom, "He deserved it! He was…"

The instructor leaned in and said, "Yeah, I heard him, Elliot, but you can't fly off the handle like this! You gotta learn to control it. Perps are gonna push your buttons, Stabler. Cassidy was doing that on purpose. Orders."

"Another fucking test," Elliot mumbled. "Who from?"

The instructor shook his head and said, "I can't tell you that. Just know that this is going in your jacket. You have a short fuse. Get out of here, Stabler. Take a cold shower." He shoved Elliot in the direction of the door.

Olivia saw him leaving and ran out after him.

Fin shook his head, chuckling, as he walked over to a bleeding, bruised Cassidy. He looked down and said, "I told you to rile him up, not ask him to kill you. You don't talk about her like that." He picked Cassidy up by the collar and said, "Next time you do, I'll kill you before Stabler does."

Cassidy nodded, though his neck hurt, and allowed Fin to lead him away toward the infirmary, passing a running Olivia on the way.

"Elliot!" Olivia called, running after him as he headed toward their cabin. "El, please, stop!"

Elliot turned around, still angry, and pointed at her. "You told me nothing happened between you and him. Liv, you said you never slept with him. Did you lie to me?"

"What?" Olivia gasped. "No! El, he tried like hell, but I never…"

"Did he hurt you, Liv?" Elliot asked, squinting at her. "You were speaking from experience when you said that people hurt the children of their enemies, so was it him? Did he hurt you to get even with your mother?"

Olivia sighed, almost painfully, and said, "No, Elliot, okay? No. It…it wasn't Cassidy. What the hell happened in there?"

"He called you a…" Elliot stopped, ran his hand down his face, Olivia caught a glimpse of his bloody knuckles. "It was a test, Liv. Another fucking test. Probably one of Cragen's. Cassidy was told to say whatever he could to make me…do exactly what I did." He turned and swiped his card, entering the cabin.

Olivia followed him in, closing the door behind her, and she sighed. "Don't," she said. "Don't do that again, El. I don't care what anyone says about me, just don't…I'm not worth it." She walked over to him and took his hand in hers. She led him to the bathroom, and eased him down onto the toilet seat. She found the peroxide and lifted his hand up over the sink.

"Yes, you are," Elliot finally said. "You're so worth it." He cringed when Olivia poured the peroxide over his knuckles, but he relaxed, and even got a bit turned-on, when she blew on his hand, soothing the burn. "Who hurt you, baby? And what did he do to you?"

Olivia dabbed his knuckles with a paper towel, and cleared her throat. "One of my mother's ex-boyfriends. He didn't…I mean, it's not what you're thinking, El."

"So what was it, Liv?" Elliot asked, softening as he watched Olivia wrap up his hand, the way they'd learned how to .

"He, uh, came into my room in the middle of the night, told me not to say anything, and led me outside," Olivia said, her eyes glazing over like they had done before. "He made me get into his truck, and he drove, God, maybe three hours?" She capped the bottle and put it away and sighed, looking back at Elliot. "When we stopped, he dragged me out of the car, led me to this old house, threw me down the basement steps and locked the door." She shrugged. "He never said a single word to me, and I was down there for, I think, maybe, three days. Could have been four, who the hell knows. There was a fully stocked fridge, so he wasn't trying to starve me. There was a bathroom down there, with soap, clean towels, even shampoo. He cleaned the room and he threw new clothes down to me every morning."

"That…that's really weird, Liv," Elliot said, grabbing her hand.

"He never wanted to hurt me, El," Olivia said, pulling him off of the toilet and out of the bathroom. "He just wanted to make my mother panic, make her suffer. He had no idea that she was too drunk to even realize I was gone. He didn't know that those three or four days were like Heaven for me. When he realized my mother really didn't care where I was, he gave up. He took me home, and my mother actually beat the shit out of me for leaving without telling her." She shrugged again and said, "Told you it wasn't that bad."

Elliot pulled Olivia into the bedroom, sliding his hands down her body, and said, "Liv, I'm never gonna let anyone hurt you. Even if they talk about it, like Cassidy did, even if he was lying, baby. Anyone hurts you, I'm gonna kill them."

"Why?" Olivia asked, honestly not sure of his reasons for loving her. "Why do you care so much?"

Elliot brushed her hair back off of her head, and kissed the end of her nose. "If I knew, Liv, I'd be able to control it. I've fallen completely and hopelessly in love with you. I've never felt this way about anybody, baby, but I'm pretty sure there are no reasons for anything I'm gonna do from now on, other than, well, I love you."

Olivia smoothed her hand over his chest, giving the both of them goosebumps, and she looked into his eyes. "I love you, too, and I love hearing you say that."

Elliot chuckled, pulled her closer, and lifted her shirt over her head. "You're gonna sick of hearing it," he told her.

"No," Olivia said, shaking her head as she pulled Elliot's shirt off, too. "I'm not."

She reached up and cupped his face, pulling him toward her, and just as Elliot laid her down on the bed, Cragen flicked off the monitor.

"Hey!" Fin yelped, "That's like turnin' off the Superbowl when there's five minutes left and the Giants have the ball!"

Cragen rolled his eyes. "They're entitled to some privacy, especially after that stunt you pulled today. They need each other, and theyneed to be alone right now." He sat behind his desk, and sighed. "You really took a chance, Fin. Elliot would have killed Cassidy."

"Scumbag deserved everything Elliot did to him, Cap," Fin said, smirking. "He needed to be put in his place, and you needed to prove your theory."

Cragen nodded. "Right. Stabler's right where we want him."

"What about Benson?" Fin asked, folding his arms.

"Good question," Cragen said, pursing his lips. "Would she do the same thing? React the same way? Save him if she had to?"

Fin smirked. "I think so," he said, "But there's really only one way to find out."

A/N: Ack! What's gonna happen? Is this their last test? Is this the only option, or is there an alternative? Review and see!