Olivia's tummy growled and she glanced at her watch for the seventh time that minute. Tuesday meant that Elliot was going to appear at her desk and take her to lunch. They always went to the same place, Crumbs, a sandwich bar about a five minute drive from the precinct. This would be their third lunch together since she'd begun working Computer Crimes. While she appreciated catching up with him, and having that hour once a week to chat, she missed her partner. She missed her best friend, and she needed more than a Tuesday lunch over sandwiches.

She had so much to tell him today. Olivia was using her newfound cyber knowledge to investigate perps. She'd gone deep inside the dark net and learned a few new things about Father Shannon, the priest who had raped Tess Morgan. Her quest to seek justice for Diana, the baby born of rape and murdered, had never been quenched. And while Father Shannon was awaiting trial for rape, Olivia had some ideas about keeping him locked away even longer. She needed to discuss the facts with Elliot. He had to be the one to call Casey afterwards and do the legwork. She'd help him as much as she could, of course.

"Hi Liv, you ready for lunch?" The familiar voice brought an instant smile to her face. Olivia looked up and balked, for a strange man stood next to her partner, er, to her Elliot, her friend.

"Who's this?" she asked, as casually as she could. Olivia grabbed her purse out of her desk drawer and stood up, an inch taller than the pale man in black. A man wearing a leather jacket during a heatwave.

"Thought it was time you met my new partner. Liv, this is Vinnie Rocca. Vinnie meet Olivia Benson."

"Nice to meet you, Olivia," Vinnie said with puppy dog enthusiasm. He grabbed her hand and pumped it vigorously. "Finally, I get to meet the infamous Olivia Benson." He cracked a wide smile and continued holding her hand in his sweaty one.

Infamous? Olivia pulled her hand away and wiped it on her pants. "Hello Vinnie." She looked at Elliot with a silent question in her eyes. Is he joining us?

Yes.

I wish he wasn't.

Sorry, Liv.

Their entire conversation was spoken with their eyes only, but they understood each other too well to have to use words. Olivia forced a smile on her face but it didn't reach her eyes. Her people reading meter was instantaneous. She either took a liking to somebody or disliked them upon first sight. Vinnie had the latter effect on her. Probably not his fault, she thought, for she was upset that he got to be Elliot's new partner. She wanted her old job back and this person was now an obstacle.

"Where to?" she asked. She glanced up at Elliot and held his eyes for a few beats. Please don't take him to Crumbs. That's our spot.

Elliot nodded at her unspoken request. "How about Aroma Deli? They've got a decent pastrami on rye there."

"Best mustard ever, Stabler. Let's go." Olivia linked her arm into Elliot's, something she'd never done before. But screw it, she was feeling possessive of her partner, er, her Elliot, her friend. His muscled arm felt like granite in her hands and she squeezed it appreciatively. Liv smiled up at him, and this time her eyes lit up with it. "I need to talk to you … after," she told him, leaning in, her mouth close to his ear. She didn't want Vinnie to hear. Didn't want him near her. Didn't want to acknowledge the existence of her so-called replacement.

Twenty minutes later, after some inconsequential banter to pass the time, Vinnie spoke. "So, Olivia, I guess you don't miss SVU, huh?" A piece of pickle flew out of his mouth, narrowly missing Olivia's head. They were seated at the deli on red vinyl chairs, in a booth by the window.

"What do you mean?" she replied, eyes narrowing. She took a gulp of her iced tea and frowned at the too-pale man facing her.

"I mean the rape victims." Vinnie finished chewing and swallowed. "Ya know …" He looked at her, trying to convey his meaning.

"No, I don't know. Why don't you enlighten me, Vinnie?" Olivia kept a vigilant eye on his big mouth, checking for errant pieces of food that might be spat out while he spoke.

Vinnie looked at Elliot beseechingly but the detective just smirked as if to say, you're on your own pal.

"What about the rape victims?" Olivia pressed. She'd put her turkey sandwich down and eyed Vinnie with suspicion and more than a little judgement.

"Just that they're, um, ya know, so needy."

Liv's eyebrows shot up. "They're needy?"

"Uh Vinnie, maybe you should shut up now," Elliot advised. He looked across the table at the young man and shook his head slightly.

"I only mean that dead victims don't ask anything of you," Vinnie said, clarifying.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Olivia stood up, sandwich forgotten. "What the hell are you doing working SVU?" She leaned against the table, white knuckled, and lowered her voice. "Where's your damned compassion?"

"Liv?" Elliot stood up and grabbed her arm. "He's learning, Liv. We were all green." He stood right next to her, in her space.

"You're defending him?" Olivia pushed Elliot aside, then addressed Vinnie directly. "You've got a lot to learn about rape victims," she said. "If you're not able to help them when they're needy, then you shouldn't be in this unit."

"But I do help them, Olivia. I do. I try to stay with them during their rape exams!" Vinnie's voice was too loud in the small deli and patrons turned to look at him, half masticated food hanging from their open jaws.

"Shhhhh!" Elliot hissed.

"You do what?" Olivia sat back down, no slumped really, into the vinyl seat.

"I do what you did. I stay with them. Well, the doc kicked me out last time," he whined.

Olivia gaped at Elliot. "What the fuck?" she whispered, aware of curious ears all around them.

"Isn't that my job?" Vinnie asked. "They said you were good at that stuff. I'm trying to follow in your footsteps, Olivia, but you have large shoes to fill."

Olivia pressed her hands against her forehead and covered her eyes. "You're a man. How stupid are you? No female rape victim wants a man in the exam room with her."

"It won't happen again, Liv. Cragen's aware," Elliot reassured her. Though right now, he wanted to smack his new partner for being such a moron.

She peered up at Elliot through her fingers. He needs to go. Her thoughts blared at Elliot as her dark eyes shimmered with anger.

I know.

After the remainder of their lunch was eaten in awkward silence, Elliot escorted Vinnie back to his desk and told him to wait there and keep his big mouth shut. Vinnie shrugged and dug into paperwork, oblivious to his imminent termination.

"Where are you going now?" the younger detective prodded when he saw Elliot heading toward the exit.

"None of your business."

"Back to your girlfriend? Man, she had a lot of nerve. She's harsh."

"Shut up, Vinnie. I mean it, shut your face." Elliot glared at him, blue eyes menacing.

"Yeah, whatever." Vinnie shrank back and pretended to busy himself. He caught Munch and Fin staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing," they both said in unison.

Elliot took the stairs to Olivia's new office space. It was hot in the stairwell and he was sweating even more by the time he reached her desk. He grabbed a tissue from a box on her desk and wiped his face and neck.

"Wow, two visits in one day. Is Goth guy with you?" She peered around the corner, relieved that Vinnie wasn't there.

"No. I'm gonna talk to Cragen about him. I mean I knew he was green but the things he said today …god, how did I end up with such an idiot for a partner?" Elliot perched his bum on the edge of Olivia's desk, like he used to do when they worked together. He missed having her desk facing his. Two floors up was too far away. "I guess he was right about one thing though."

"Oh?" She looked up at him and handed him another tissue to mop his sweaty brow.

"You left really large shoes to fill, Liv. I don't think anybody can fill them adequately."

"Oh El," she let out, eyes moistening with emotion. "I want to come back."

"I know. I want you. Er, back." Elliot flushed at his little slip.

"Can we go somewhere and talk?" he asked her, suddenly aware of her colleagues.

"Yeah. How about our old chat place?"

Elliot knew she meant the roof. "Maybe it'll be cooler up there," he said. They made their way to the elevators.

"One can hope. I can't wait to strip my clothes off."

Elliot's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"I mean, I mean, undress and take a cool shower later, when I get home," she stammered, and a warm blush like a rose blooming crept up her cheeks.

In the elevator, they avoided looking at each other. When they got to the roof, they both exhaled. "Feels a bit cooler up here," Elliot said. A warm breeze blew over the building but at least it wasn't stagnant, humid air. There was movement in the treetops and though the wind wasn't cool, it acted like a clothes dryer on their damp skin.

"Oh man, my sweat needs to evaporate!" Elliot exclaimed. "Sorry Liv, but I gotta do this." He loosened his tie and flipped it over his head, letting the material mop the sweat on his forehead.

"You're apologizing for looking like you're partying in the 80's?" she asked. Her mouth curled into a grin and she chuckled at the sight of him, wearing his tie around his head. "You are so 1984, Stabler."

"That's the year I got married. Trust me, I wasn't partying anymore."

"You were just a kid," she said.

"The day after my eighteenth birthday, with a pregnant wife, a brand new high school diploma and an enlistment in the army."

"Wow." Olivia thought back to 1984. She'd been sixteen years old, dating Mark, fighting with her mother, and obsessed with Duran Duran.

Elliot unbuttoned his shirt. "Just needed my tie out of the way so I could open my shirt and dry off. You don't mind, do you?" He opened his shirt wide and flapped the sides out. "Pit stains, ugh."

"Huh?" Olivia looked at him, unaware of any pit stains. His shirt was wide open and she couldn't help but stare. Elliot had been working out, that was clear. He must have amped up his weight lifting because he was ripped, strong, with defined pecs and killer abs. She licked her lips.

"Oh this feels good," he said. He closed his eyes and faced the wind, letting the warm gusts of air dry him off. Elliot took a deep breath. "So," he began, "you told me earlier that you needed to talk to me."

"Yes!" She turned to face him, trying to avoid glancing at his toned chest. "I found out some dirt on Father Shannon. Working in cyber-crimes can pay off."

"What did you learn?"

"He takes photos of girls, students at Sorrowful Virgin. Lots and lots of them. And he shares them on pedophile sites."

"What kind of pictures?"

"Must have had cameras hidden in the change room because they're of girls changing and showering, naked. I think we need to get a warrant and check out the girls' bathrooms in that school."

"What a prick! But hey, great work! I'll call Novak. Thanks Liv, I think you just gave the defense a huge boost. That'll put the final nails in the asshole's coffin."

"I couldn't let it go," she said. "I needed to investigate him and I just knew something would turn up." She unbuttoned the top button of her blouse, then the second one. She felt almost giddy with delight. Father Shannon was going down. A warm breeze caressed the tops of her breasts and she shivered.

"What are you doing?" Elliot blinked hard and swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry.

"I need to cool off too. My office is a furnace. I'm just evaporating like you were."

"Yeah but …"he trailed off, gasping audibly with the pop of her third button. Her golden skin, slick with sweat shone in the afternoon sunlight. He could see the top of her lacy white bra, barely containing the heavy breasts that strained against it. Elliot gulped, unable to tear his eyes away.

Olivia made haste and quickly unfastened the remaining buttons. "If you can face the wind with an open shirt, so can I. I've got a bra on." She flapped out the sides of her shirt like she'd seen Elliot doing minutes earlier. Silence. She turned around and saw him gawking. Saw the moment his pupils dilated in the clear blue eyes, turning them dark with desire, and her heart pounded in response.

"El," she croaked.

They stared at each other, eyes dipping down to glistening, exposed skin. Olivia could feel her nipples harden despite the heat outside, because a new heat was asserting itself within. Ever since her horrible night-but not a rape-with Max, sex had been the furthest thing from her mind. She'd avoided it, even avoided thoughts about it. But right now with her open shirt, the warm wind stroked her bare cleavage and belly causing goosebumps to appear on her skin. Sensual need was like a living, breathing entity, blowing in a hot breeze through her very being. And Elliot was beautiful, perfect and strong. She pulsed with the need to touch him, to inhale his scent, and took a small step toward him.

He turned away first and cleared his throat loudly. "I'm, uh, gonna call Casey about that warrant." He hastily buttoned up his shirt and refastened his tie to its proper position. "Then, I've got to deal with, um deal with, um what's his name?"

"Vinnie." Olivia slowly buttoned her shirt, noting that Elliot was keeping his eyes from her.

"Right, Vinnie."

Max Nelligan thought of himself as a modern day Casanova. Ever since his seduction of the beautiful Olivia, and subsequent hasty retreat from New York City, he knew that he could get away with certain things, certain ways of seducing women. In the end, he'd decided not to press charges against the hot headed policemen because getting home was a priority and he didn't want his wife, Eleanor to learn of his infidelities.

The second time he seduced a beautiful woman was a couple of weeks after returning to Delaware. By then, the swelling and bruising around his nose had disappeared. He sat at a bar watching the women in the room with him. He observed how much they drank, who they were with, and which ones of them appeared to be lonely or distraught. It didn't take him long to zero in on a leggy brunette with tanned skin. He had a type now, though if circumstances dictated he seduce a petite blonde, he wouldn't turn her away. The brunette was lovely, though not as lovely as Olivia had been. This woman had long hair, clear hazel eyes, and had been nursing a drink for the past half hour while checking her watch repeatedly. He asked the bartender to send her a drink, and when she accepted it, he sidled up to her.

"I'm not going to use a line on you, because I can tell you're much too intelligent for that," he said, full of confidence. Max knew he was handsome and that women were suckers for his height, clear blue eyes and dimpled smile. He turned his charm up to the max, leading with those dimples.

"Thank you for the wine," the woman replied. "I'm Hannah."

"Hello Hannah, I'm Mark." He shook her hand and sat next to her. He'd only ever be Mark when seducing women, because it reminded him of his night with Olivia, and because he wasn't stupid enough to use his real name anymore.

After a few drinks loosened her tongue, Max learned that Hannah had been stood up by an internet date. He shook his head in disbelief. "It's his loss, Sweetheart. And my gain." He ordered her another drink. However, he did not want a repeat of what had happened in his hotel room in New York. He could do without the vomit and wouldn't push a woman to drink to excess. Instead, he slipped a few drops from a vial into Hannah's drink when she went to freshen up. When she returned from the Ladies', he chatted with her and charmed her while she drank from the tampered drink.

Max took note of the haze forming in Hannah's hazel eyes. She had trouble keeping them open. "Hey, you've had a few too many. You need to lie down." Acting concerned and gentlemanly, he gripped the young woman's bicep and forced her to a standing position. He knew he didn't have long before she wouldn't be able to walk at all. "I've got a room upstairs, babe."

TBC

A/N: Reviews are highly appreciated. Got lots of threads to tie up and tie together. It's coming. . it's coming. . .thing is, I also have an idea for a new story. . . but I need to finish this one first. Or, do I?