She arrived at the crime scene and pinned her shield to her dress and calling Nick over to her.
"Wow Benson …"
"I was at a Charity Gala dinner now can you find out if Warner has any safety pins on her because this is a very expensive dress and it's bad enough that as soon as I step over the tape my eight hundred dollar Jimmy Choos are going to get ruined." Olivia informed her partner as she held the train of her dress over one arm.
He looked down at her silver sandals and chuckled lightly, not only were the shoes going to get trashed but her feet were going to get filthy too.
"I'll go ask her." He chuckled before walking off leaving Olivia to face her Captain who had just walked up behind her.
"Ms Benson might I say you look beautiful." He teased and Olivia rolled her eyes in reply.
"It's not funny." She warned him as he laughed heartily.
"Of course it is, I never thought I'd see you in a dress like that." He explained and she nodded and sighed.
"I never thought I'd wear a dress like this and I definitely didn't think I'd be called to a crime scene in one either." She replied just as Nick came back showing a silver pin in her hand.
"There you go Ma'am." He smiled.
"Call me Ma'am again and you'll need reconstructive surgery now hold this." She said handing over the train over her dress too him.
He held it uncomfortably as she hitched it up above her knees and began wrapping it awkwardly. By the time she was done no one would be any the wiser that the dress should have been full length except for the awkward section at her hip where it was pinned.
"That will do." She sighed as Nick extended her his hand.
"What?" She asked.
"You're in stilettoes and the crimes scene is just mud and it rained yesterday." He explained and Olivia groaned and hooked her arm around his.
"Let's just get this over with." She groaned as he led her over to Melinda Warner the mud making her sink and she felt the disgusting substance seeping over the edge and in between her toes. "What have we got?"
"Wow Olivia!" Warner gasped and Olivia rolled her eyes.
"Thanks." She said. "Now what have we got?" She just wanted to do her job.
"Ok we have two kids around ten years old, no ID's, both well kept, they're clean so they were looked after before they were raped and killed. Both have bruising and severe vaginal trauma but no fluids." Warner said as Olivia slipped on a pair of latex gloves.
"Hold me." Olivia warned Nick and he nodded as she knelt down awkwardly beside the body. "What's this?" She asked tugging on a chain around the victim's neck. "Love. N.S" She read.
"There's one here the same. Love N.S." Warner said signalling to a chain on the second vic.
Olivia shook her head and sighed heavily.
"Help me up Nick. How did they die?"
"Asphyxiation, I can't be certain yet but I think someone suffocated them. Maybe with a pillow, I'll know more when I get them on the table." Warner replied and Olivia nodded.
"We should get back to the house and see where to go from there." Nick said and Olivia nodded again in agreement.
Nick then suddenly scooped Olivia up into his arms making her squeal.
"Nick put me down!" Olivia yelled catching the attention of the nearby CSU techs.
"Not till you're safely over the barrier because it takes way to long for me to guide you through this mud in those shoes." Nick laughed and Olivia held tight around his neck as he carried her to the car.
Once back at the precinct Olivia kicked off her shoes and wiped her blackened toes with some wipes she had in her drawer.
"That's disgusting." She groaned as she threw a dirt covered wipe into the trashcan.
"Well you should carry some spare shoes with you next time you're out and on call." Nick suggested gaining him a dirty look from Olivia.
"Where exactly did you expect me to keep them in my bra?" Olivia replied sarcastically and Nick just laughed in reply, he thought the situation was hilarious.
"So where were you?" Nick questioned.
"The Creswell Foundation Gala" Olivia replied standing up from her desk just as the pin on her dress popped open. "Shit." She hissed as she removed the pin and put it on her desk her dress falling back down to the floor. "Now this is just great."
"Why don't you go change?" Nick suggested knowing all cops kept a spare set of clothing in their locker.
"Can't because someone tripped and spilt coffee over me yesterday and I had to change, I was going to bring a fresh set on Monday." Olivia replied and Nick stared at her apologetically, he hadn't meant to trip over the side of their conjoined desks.
"Ok Olivia, Nick." Cragen said coming into the bullpen and passing them both a coffee.
"Thank you!" She replied relieved.
"You're welcome, now I want you to go down to missing persons with our pictures and see if anyone has reported our Jane and Janice missing." Cragen said.
"Janice?" Olivia asked with a raised eyebrow.
Cragen shrugged, they couldn't call both their victims Jane at the same time and Janice had just been the first thing to come into his head.
"Now Missing Persons?" Cragen looked from one Detective to the other.
"Can't I go home and change?" Olivia asked signalling to the ball gown.
"Not yet, you should have a set in your locker…"
"No my partner thought I looked good wearing coffee yesterday." Olivia replied sarcastically.
"Then no, because I've already had a call off one pp who have been harassed by the media, until we know who these girls are you're not going anywhere now go and parade your beautiful dress down to Missing Persons." Don replied and Olivia sighed and walked off her bare feet slapping against the floor.
Nick chuckled and quickly followed his partner who was scooping her dress up into her arm showing off her dirty yet perfectly pedicured feet. Luckily for both of them, missing persons was at the same precinct.
Both Olivia and Nick walked into missing persons to a chorus of wolf whistles making Olivia roll her eyes and feel relieved her shield was still pinned to her dress or they wouldn't think she was a cop. They went straight to the Captain's office and asked about their dead girls.
"No we don't have any new cases and they don't look like anyone we've been looking at I'm sorry Detectives."
"Thank you." Olivia replied with a sigh before walking off, there was no point hanging around.
"Sorry about her, she was called in from a hot date." Nick chuckled and the Captain nodded in reply.
Back in the Special Victims squad room Olivia was sat in front of Bessie staring at the pictures of Jane and Janice.
"We're going to have to go to the press." Don said coming to stand behind Olivia. "Why don't you go and get changed…"
Before Don could finish Olivia's desk phone started to ring.
"Olivia Benson Special Victims." She answered tiredly. "Sure we're on our way."
"What is it?" Nick asked.
"Warner says she's got something we're going to want to see." Olivia explained slipping on her dirty shoes. "Come on." She said shivering.
Nick took off his jacket and handed it to her and she accepted it gratefully, he pulled on his thin trench coat before they headed off.
"What have you got for us?" Olivia asked as soon as she and Nick walked into the morgue.
"You haven't changed?" Melinda chuckled and Olivia shrugged she couldn't be bothered to explain again.
"Have you finished the autopsies?" Olivia asked.
"Not yet but I found fibres in the throat which prove my theory about them being suffocated, I also ran their DNA and you may be surprised to hear how they have the same mitochondrial DNA." Warner said.
"That means they have the same mother." Olivia replied and Melinda nodded firmly.
"So we have sisters who were both raped and killed, parents?" Olivia suggested.
"It's likely, the bodies were moved, they didn't die at the building site." Melinda explained and Olivia nodded.
"Well if you find anything else let us know." Olivia finally said after staring at the bodies.
"Of course, remember when you find these bastards throw in an extra hit from me." Melinda said.
"Of course." Olivia replied before walking out.
They got back to the precinct and Olivia filled Don Cragen in.
"Ok so where do we go now?" Cragen asked looking at the pictures of the girls.
"Warner is running a familial match but it's gonna take another few hours before the result is in." Olivia sighed.
"Ok well I am going to make a press appeal at one pp we can hit the morning papers. Run the MO see if anything hits." Cragen said before walking off and Olivia quickly got to work.
When Cragen walked into the bullpen after the press briefing he was surprised to see Olivia slumped over her desk asleep.
"Liv." He whispered shaking her shoulder and she jumped.
"Shit, sorry." She explained stretching a little.
"It's fine. I want you to co-ordinate everyone for the tip lines unis are on their way in as are Munch, Fin and Rollins." Cragen informed her and she nodded. "The techies are on their way to set up the phones hopefully we'll have tips flying in left right and centre, we've not said how the girls died, where they were found or that they were sisters hopefully that will help us."
"Sure thing Cap." Olivia said before yawning. "I'll get straight on it."
Olivia was in the middle of checking all the phones on the conference tables when Munch walked in.
"Ms Benson did you come into work from Prom?" He asked teasingly.
"Charity gala." She replied as she continued to work.
"Well Ms Benson the phones have already been checked, may I have this dance?" He asked extending his hand out to her.
"Munch!" She laughed as his hand found hers and he pulled her into him.
"Every princess should have a dance with the prince." He told her as he began to sway.
"So you're a prince now?" She asked laughing.
"Nope so you'll have to settle for the ugly frog now shh I'm concentrating!" He laughed before humming Blue Moon.
Olivia was giggling uncontrollably when Fin walked in.
"Ok?" He questioned.
"Benson's dressed up I thought she deserved a dance." Munch explained twirling her out before letting her go and bowing to her making her giggle worse.
"Liv have you been drinking?" Fin teased.
"I wish." She replied, she had drunk half a glass of champagne but that didn't count.
"You do look great though Liv." Fin smiled just as the unis walked in.
"Thanks, help me onto the chair?" Olivia asked and Munch and Fin gave her a hand so she could get up onto the chair without falling. "Ok listen up everyone!" She called and the whole room fell silent. "Now we're looking for information that will help us find out what happened to Janice and Jane Doe. They're sisters." Olivia began as she showed the pictures to the crowd. "Now Cragen has recorded the report which goes out in one hour time, he held back the fact that they were sisters, that they were found on the building site and he also didn't tell them about how they were killed, any tip that seems reliable goes on the cork board, then there is a box for the colds and the crazies. You all know how this works, myself, Fin, Munch, Nick and Rollins will be checking out the reliable tips while the rest of you answer the phones. Take your seats and remember green for reliable, pink for cold and blue for crazy there are post it notes by each phone." Olivia gave her hand to Fin but he wrapped his arms around her waist and carried her down making her laugh.
"I'll make the coffee." Nick sighed knowing they were going to be busy for the next few hours as soon as the broadcast went out.
An hour later and Munch, Fin, Nick, Amanda, Cragen and Olivia were sat around the conference table running tips while every uniformed officer and spare Detective were sat around answering phones and rushing to and from the cork board and boxes with their tips.
"Ok one woman called said that the girls looked like her neighbours daughters, apparently their names are Amanda and Amelia and they're non-identical twins." Olivia said looking over the tip in her hand.
"Ok Olivia and Nick go and check it out." Cragen said and Olivia sighed, she was still in her ball gown and wanted to do nothing but go and change into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt but until this case ran out of leads she knew she was going nowhere.
Two hours passed before Olivia and Nick walked back into the precinct. Olivia's dress was pinned up again courtesy of Ms Henshaw the woman who gave them the tip about the twin girls. As she'd spoken to the Detectives she'd put a stich into the dress that she swore if Olivia cut in the right place it would not affect the dress at all but for now the dress stood just above her knees and looked like it had been made to be like that. Combined with Nick's jacket she was a little more comfortable now.
"Ok so what did you get?" Cragen asked coming to meet the Detectives.
"Ms Henshaw swears that the two girls are nine year olds Amanda and Amelia Forest. Apparently they lived next door to her up until about six weeks ago, their Mother is Patricia Forest and the man who lived with them at the time they left was an attorney by the name of Laurence Goodson." Olivia explained.
"Ok so she doesn't know where they went?" Cragen asked.
"Nope." Olivia said through a yawn.
"Ok run the names through the system and see if they pop then you and Nick can go catch a few hours in the crib." Cragen said and they quickly got to work.
Half an hour passed before Olivia went to her Captain's office.
"We've got no Patricia Forest or Lawrence Goodson in the system." Olivia told him as she shut the door and he nodded as she took a seat in front of his desk and rested her head in her hand.
"Something you want to talk about?" He questioned knowing that there was a reason for her not to have just poked her head around the door and left again, she nodded in reply.
He put down his pen and closed the file on his desk so she would have his full attention, he knew that she was struggling to tell him something and he wanted her to know that he was listening.
"Ok what is it?" He asked eventually.
"I saw Elizabeth again yesterday." She said and he nodded encouraging her to continue. "She uh, she recommended I talked to you about … about something."
"Ok." He said. "What about?" He pushed.
"My… my…" She didn't know how to say it out loud, in the confides of Olivet's office it was easier.
"Liv?" Cragen pushed.
"I've… I've been drinking." She admitted a red blush filling her cheeks. "Every night near enough."
"Ok." He nodded.
"Ever since… since the shooting, even when I was with David except when I was with David I just drank less." She explained. "Elizabeth said I should talk to you because… well because…"
"Because I've been where you are." Cragen finished for her and she nodded. "How much?" He asked but she frowned not understanding. "How much are you drinking?"
"Enough to dull out the pain." She said shamefully. "I… I don't black out… I mean I did at the start but now it's just enough for that buzz you know?"
"Let me guess it takes more and more for you to get that buzz now though right?" He asked and she nodded.
"When it started just one shot or one glass of wine was enough." She told him knowing he was understanding her. "Now it's three or four shots or three or four glasses of wine and sometimes it still seems like it isn't enough."
"I understand Liv. I have to ask though do you want to stop?" He asked and she nodded firmly.
"I don't want to turn into her Don… I won't let that happen." She said and Don understood that she meant her mother.
"I'll help you Liv if you'll let me." Don said and Olivia nodded.
"Thank you." She said as her eyes filled with tears and Don walked around his desk and pulled her into an embrace.
"I won't lie to you Olivia. It's not going to be easy." He warned.
"I know." She replied. "But it's gotta stop."
"Exactly. Six pm tonight meet me out front." He told her. "Until then, get some sleep we haven't got anything new to run with it yet."
"Thanks Don." She said getting to her feet.
He gave her a firm nod and watched her walk off before he let out a deep sigh, he hadn't seen how bad she was, he really thought she was ok after the shooting but he couldn't have been further from the truth.