A/N: Promotion

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

"How's the arm?" Ed Tucker, head of Internal Affairs, asked Olivia. He smirked when she looked at up at him. "Hurt?"

"Not anymore," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Thanks."

Tucker nodded at sat down. "You know why you're here, right?"

Olivia sighed. "Yeah," she said. "But nothing happened. We got the ass, the kid is safe, we did our jobs, nothing..."

"You two are in a lot of shit for this, Benson," Tucker said, leaning closer to her. "I might not be able to get you out of it."

Olivia tilted her head. "Why would you want to?"

Tucker smiled at her. "It's not you I hate, Benson. No, I think your partner's a dickhead, but you...you're not on my shit-list." He cleared his throat. "Now, we have a claim, an eyewitness report, that when Clivers swiped you with the knife and started running with the kid..."

"We ran after him," Olivia interrupted.

Tucker lowered his gaze, at attempt to look more severe. "Stabler didn't run for you, first? He didn't jeopardize the life of that little girl to see if you were okay, first?"

"Nope," Olivia said, stone faced. "He looked at me for a second, I told him I was fine, he ran after Clivers. I got myself up and followed him."

Tucker sat back and drummed his fingers along the edge of the table. "What reason does Doctor Warner have for lying?"

Olivia shrugged.

"Olivia," Tucker said, using her first name for the first time, "I'm only going to ask this question once." He leaned forward again. "I need an honest answer."

She looked up, bit her lip, and nodded. "What?"

"What, exactly, is your relationship with Stabler?" Tucker asked, the vein in his neck throbbing a bit.

"Partners," Elliot said, his arms crossed over his chest.

Kevin Bernard, a lower officer in the IAB, paced back and forth in front of the cold, silver table. "You've been partners for how many years?"

Elliot shifted in his seat. "Ten," he said, looking annoyed.

"Ten years, you spent, what, eighteen hours a day with her? Sometimes more?" Bernard mused. "And in all that time, you're just partners?"

Elliot rolled his eyes. "Friends," he said. "There's a level of trust there that...that you don't get with anyone else."

"Just trust?" Bernard said with a grin as he sat across from Elliot. "Nothing else you get from her that you don't get from anyone else?"

"What are you getting at?" Elliot asked, pissed off now.

Bernard kicked his feet up and leaned back. "She's a beautiful woman, Elliot. She is. And you are a hot-blooded male, so..."

"So, what, men and women can't just be friends?" Elliot asked, almost too quickly.

Bernard chuckled. "Not men and women like her, no. Especially not with all you do for each other at work, the trust and the bond you two share...and with your wife leaving you, it must make for some cold and lonely nights."

Elliot growled slightly. "Yeah," he said, "Very cold and very lonely, that doesn't mean I'm the type of guy who's gonna hop into bed with my partner!"

"No," Bernard said, "Just makes you the type of guy who'd rather sacrifice the life of a six year old then leave your partner alone for a few minutes."

"First of all," Elliot said, pointing, "I didn't sacrifice anything, the girl's alive and we got the prick. Second, I just asked if she was okay. I didn't..."

"Melinda Warner told Sergeant Tucker that you ran to her and held your hand to her shoulder for at least five minutes before going after Clivers."

Elliot scoffed. "Melinda Warner doesn't know what she saw, she was in the medical van waiting for us to bring her the girl."

Bernard frowned. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," Elliot said, huffing.

"So you're telling me you just asked her a question," Bernard queried. "Taking at most, what, three seconds, then ran after..."

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, yes." Elliot shook his head. "Why is this so complicated?"

Olivia ran a hand through her hair. "Complicated," she said. "That's a good word to describe it, but it's never been anything but professional at work."

"And outside of work?" Tucker asked, twirling a pen around in his fingers.

"Friendship," her answer came fast. "Albeit, a strong one. You don't spend the better part of ten years trusting someone with your life without getting close to them."

Tucker held his breath. "How close?"

"Oh, come on," Olivia yelled, frustrated. "I already answered that! The answer is not gonna change, Tucker! I am not sleeping with my partner!" She hit the table with an open palm and asked, "Can I go now?"

Tucker sighed deeply. "Yeah," he said. "I'll have to compare notes with Kevin, though, before you're off the hook, here."

Olivia chuckled bitterly. "You really have to see if our stories match? See if one of us is lying?"

"With an allegation like this, yes," Tucker said. "Your first priority is your victim, Olivia, not your partner. This is serious."

"I get it," she said, walking out of the interrogation room. As soon as the door closed behind her, she nearly collapsed. She was shaking and her heart was pounding. She patted her body and felt the empty space where her badge and gun belonged.

"I feel naked without mine, too," his cool voice told her. He rested a hand on her shoulder and asked softly, "Still hurt?"

She shook her head. "You probably shouldn't touch me right now."

He withdrew his hand, but kept his smoky eyes on hers, letting a slightly seductive smirk cross his lips. "What'd you say in there?"

"Same thing you said," she replied. "I hope."

He laughed. "No worries, there." He walked, leading her, to the chairs against the wall in the waiting room. "What could Warner possibly gain from this?"

"I don't know," Olivia said. "I thought she understood, I thought she..."

"Was our friend?" Elliot assumed. "So did I." He shook his head and looked at her, a question dancing in his eyes, and around his tongue. He took a breath and took the jump. "Liv?"

"Yeah?" she said, staring at the door, behind which, she knew, the two IAB officials were comparing statements. Comparing lies.

He cleared his throat and leaned a bit closer to her. "I know this is a bad time..."

"El," she sighed, closing her eyes as her head hit the back of her chair. "Don't make things worse. Whatever it is, I think it can..."

"It can't wait," he said, his voice dropping and taking on an authoritative tone. "Listen to me."

She looked at him, and she twitched a bit. The wetness began to pool between her legs as she recalled the other times his voice sounded like that, and she stifled a moan. Then she swallowed hard, and she nodded.

"I need to be in court on Saturday," he said. "Finalizing some things with Kathy and the split of things." He took another breath. "I need you to stay with the kids."

She looked puzzled. "Without you? By myself?"

He nodded. "Yes," he said, firmness in his voice. "Please?"

"Of course," she said, smiling at him. Hearing the click of heels behind her, she said, "What are friends for?"

"Friends?" Melinda asked, stepping up to them with a scowl on her face. "You two almost blow a case for each other, you say you're just friends? Please."

Olivia tilted her chin up, looking at the woman standing before her. "What did you hope to accomplish here, tonight? You know damn well..."

"You know I'll always put her first," Elliot said, his eyes narrow. "I thought I got that through your head."

Melinda smirked. "Guess not," she said. "Not like anything happened. They believe you. I just came to retract my statement, because apparently two lies outweigh the truth." She sneered at Olivia and said, "You really should have stayed in Boston."

"Why?" Olivia asked, intrigued.

Melinda simply shook her head. "We'd all be better off," she mumbled as she walked away.

Olivia turned her head. "Explain," she said, crossing her legs.

Elliot bit his lip and grunted as his eyes traveled up her long limbs and tight body. "She came on to me," he told her. "A lot. At first I used my wife as an excuse, but when the divorce was filed, of course she found out, and I needed a new reason to stay away from her."

"Me?" Olivia asked.

He nodded dumbly. "I told her I couldn't...I couldn't sleep with one of your friends while you were gone. You might come back and..." he shook it off. "She said you might not come back, and then we wouldn't have to worry."

She scoffed. "Damn," she said. "I always thought Melinda had a thing for..."

"Fin?" he asked.

She chuckled. "I was gonna say Alex."

Elliot scrunched up his face, then laughed. His laughter was silenced, though, when Tucker came out of the large, oak door.

"Stabler? Benson?" Tucker said, crooking a finger at them.

The two stood and walked toward the sergeant, paling as they grew closer. Elliot took a breath. "Yeah?"

"Good news is your stories click," Tucker assured them. "You've both been cleared of any misconduct during this case, and the family of that little girl...they made a pretty hefty donation to the department in your honor."

"Wow," Olivia said, stunned. "So we can..."

"The bad news..." Tucker interrupted, "Is that your captain is definitely not coming back. Cragen handed in his official resignation this morning. Effective immediately, so that means these forms have to be signed by your new captain before you can return to active duty."

Elliot nodded. "Well, great, I can call Munch down here and..."

"Here," Tucker said, cutting him off yet again. He handed Olivia the files and clicked the end of a pen before holding it out to her as well. "Sign 'em."

Olivia's eyes widened and watered, her head slowly turned toward Elliot. Just when she thought things between them couldn't get any more risky, fate proved her wrong.

A/N: Well, then...what is Munch gonna say? And when Olivia tries to turn down the offer, she gets a surprise. And they talk to Cragen.