Six weeks had passed since Olivia had made the big decision to quit SVU and become a lawyer full time. So far it had been perfect, the cases had been easy and minor and she'd found herself enjoying her job more and more every day.
"So how is it over in homicide?" Olivia asked Casey as they sat eating lunch together in Olivia's office.
"Straighter everything is black and white over there." Casey replied simply, it was what had bothered her most about working SVU, nothing was straight there.
"Good, so far the cases I've worked have all been black and white, I mean last week we had a flasher on the subway and he pled guilty without a deal so he was sentenced to eighteen months' probation." Olivia explained.
"You've worked twice the amount of cases in the past six weeks than I have." Casey noted.
"Well it shows there are more sexual deviants out there than murderers." Olivia laughed as did Casey it was nice to be able to relax together in the office like this.
When Olivia's office phone rang she groaned knowing it would be someone calling for a warrant or meeting or something.
"Ellis sex crimes." She answered rolling her eyes at the sniggering Casey. "Yeah? … Ok I'm on my way." Once she put the phone down Casey knew lunch was over.
"Case?" She asked.
"Yup DB in Central Park." Olivia replied grabbing her keys.
"Well I'll head back to my own office, catch you later Liv." Casey smiled and they left the office together Casey crossing the hall to her own office while Olivia locked her office door.
Just for a moment, as always she looked at the black lettering on her door.
ADA Olivia Ellis, Sex Crimes
Even though she'd been doing the job solid for six weeks there was always that pang inside her that asked if she'd done the right thing.
At the crime scene she flashed her ADA ID and crossed over to Elliot and what appeared to be one of the rookies Olivia had heard Don had hired but she had yet to meet.
"Hey Liv." Elliot smiled.
"Hey El what have we got?" Olivia asked and Elliot led her over to the body.
"Teenager between fourteen and seventeen years old, she's been raped but no fluids, TOD three to five hours ago, COD blunt force trauma to the head." Melinda said reading from the preliminary notes she'd taken.
"Lovely." Olivia sighed.
"Isn't it just." The rookie who'd joined Olivia and Elliot at the side of the body said. "CSU have found a condom wrapper but there's no saying if it's just a random one."
"I'd say it is, she wasn't killed here." Melinda informed them.
"So this is a dump job?" Olivia asked and Melinda nodded.
"Sorry who are you?" The rookie asked ruffling his black hair.
"ADA Olivia Ellis and you?" She asked bluntly.
"Oh the ex-partner it's good to finally meet you Counsellor, Detective Nick Amaro." He extended his hand and Olivia shook it politely.
"Nice to meet you too." Olivia replied before turning to Elliot who was sniggering softly.
"So uh Liv what do you think?" Elliot asked, he did this every time asked her for her 'detectives' opinion and often ignored Fin or Munch whoever he was out with.
"Well find out who the girl was." Olivia shrugged. "Seeing as I'm guessing CSU didn't find any ID?" She looked over at the rookie who shrugged nervously. "Well go and find out we need to know who she is."
Nick nodded and hurried off to find Ryan O'Halloran leaving Elliot laughing at Olivia's reaction.
"What? I can't stand rookies who don't know what they're doing." Olivia explained.
"Well try being partnered with them." Elliot replied snidely.
"Them?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah the second rookie Amanda Rollins started a couple of days ago." Elliot replied and Olivia felt her stomach drop, she didn't like the idea of another female at SVU, it had always been just her.
"Oh…"
"Yeah if you called by more often you'd have met her." Elliot snapped, he missed his partner and best friend.
"Oh El come on it's not easy for me…"
"Then why leave Liv?" Elliot hissed.
"You know why Elliot." Olivia replied snapping, she wasn't about to go through this again.
"You loved your job Liv, you loved being a cop…"
"And I love being a lawyer Elliot!" Olivia replied not understanding why he was being so irrational.
"No you miss this." Elliot replied. "You only quit because Bayard pressured you into it."
"No I didn't, it was my decision Bayard has never pressured me into anything." Olivia replied her hands on her seventeen week bump that was only obvious to those who knew she was pregnant. "I'm not even going to listen to this anymore Elliot, I'm your ADA now, get over it."
She walked off without looking back leaving Elliot to mentally kick himself for being an idiot, he didn't mean it, he was just fed up of rookies and wanted his partner back.
Olivia had been back at her office reeling about the argument with Elliot when her phone rang.
"Ellis Sex Crimes." She answered sounding bored, which she was, she had no open cases but the one SVU was working and until they had something more for her she had nothing she could do. "Yeah I'm on my way."
After hanging up the phone she grabbed her keys and went through the routine of grabbing her coat leaving her office and locking the door behind her.
As she made her way from Hogan Place to the one six she couldn't help but think about how she missed being a Detective, maybe Elliot was right and she had been pushed into a decision but as she stroked her hand down her tiny bump she remembered that there was no way she could ever go back because the babies had to come first, her unborn child and her three babies were what mattered now and for them she sacrificed her job as a Detective.
Truth was she was earning more working as an ADA. Not much more but enough that it made a difference and it made Bayard and herself not worry too much about paying the kids school when they were old enough, Latisha was starting Preschool soon and Tyrell would be following a year later.
When she arrived at the one six she made her way up to the bullpen, the path she knew so well but had felt different in the last six weeks because she wasn't there as a cop anymore, she hadn't realised how much of a difference quitting her job had actually done.
When she walked into the bullpen she hesitated for a moment. It had changed, desks had been moved around so 'her' desk wasn't even there anymore.
"Olivia." Don called from the entrance of the corridor to the interrogation rooms. Olivia smiled and made her way over without thinking twice, it didn't matter that the place had been changed around, she'd made her bed and now she had to lie in it.
"What's going on?" Olivia asked.
"Suspect, Elliot and Amaro are about to take the interrogation." Don explained.
"Fill me in on the case." Olivia replied.
"Ok fifteen year old Miranda Emerson was reported missing an hour after she was found, we think the father killed her." Don explained.
"Why do you think that?" Olivia asked.
"A hair found on her jacket." Don replied.
"That's circumstantial I'm sure you'd find Latisha's hair on my clothes seeing as I comb her hair ever morning." Olivia replied shrugging.
"Yeah well it's the only lead we've got." Don said as they reached the Detectives.
"You've not got a time frame, you've not got any idea where she was, who she was with? Seriously you're playing fast and loose here and someone's going to get burned." Olivia snapped, she wasn't in the mood to watch an interrogation without evidence.
"We can't find anything, we haven't even got the official time of death yet!" Elliot snapped.
"Then press on the ME!" Olivia snapped right back. "Go to the morgue and ask her so that you can find out whether or not there's a chance she was killed by her father because until you have more evidence he's a grieving father, how did you get him to come down here?"
"Told him we needed help with the investigation." Elliot shrugged.
"And anything he tells you without being mirandized is inadmissible." Olivia replied. "Now find me more evidence or you don't question him."
"Counsellor that is not your decision to make." Don informed her.
"So you're going to go into chambers and argue that anything he gives should be admissible because he wasn't here as a suspect? I won't lie for you to a judge now find me more evidence and let him go." Olivia replied walking back to the squad room, she wasn't going to let them mess up the case leaving her unable to get a conviction.
Don rushed after her, she'd changed, before she would have argued with the ADA to allow the questioning to happen but it was obvious that she was on the other side of the fence now.
"Counsellor can I have a word in my office?" He snapped as she stared at the crime board.
Olivia sighed and followed him into the office knowing he was about to cut into her.
"What's your problem?" He asked as soon as she shut the door.
"The fact that if he confesses without being mirandized it will be thrown out, a first year law student could get it thrown out." Olivia snapped, she wasn't going to let him make it out that she was in the wrong.
"And you couldn't say that without going off the deep end?" Don asked seriously.
"What do you mean?" Olivia frowned, she hadn't done anything wrong.
"You let your temper get the better of you there even though you had no reason to be angry so do you wanna spill what is really bothering you?" Don explained and Olivia shrugged and took a seat.
"I just miss it you know? Seeing that Amaro guy at the crime scene this morning it made it so real that I've been replaced…"
"You could never be replaced Olivia." Don interrupted. "But I couldn't hold the space open in case you changed your mind."
"I know that, I don't regret leaving Don but I do miss it and then Elliot and I argued this morning about him thinking I just left because Bayard wanted me to and I didn't, I left because I wanted to and nothing else." Olivia explained and Don nodded his understanding.
"What have you been doing in Hogan Place today?" Don asked.
"Nothing why?" Olivia asked confused at the question.
"Why don't you stay here, help with the investigation from here as long as you're not out questioning witnesses and suspects you can have an active role in the investigation." Don suggested and Olivia didn't think twice before nodding.
"Might relieve the boredom." She smiled. "If I study one more text book for court I will cry."
"Good now grab Fin and go and see the ME." Don said and Olivia smiled, this could really work in her favour.
Fin was pleased to have Olivia by his side even if Amanda Rollins was tagging along with them.
"So you miss us"? Fin asked teasingly.
"Yeah." Olivia replied. "When Don asked me to be involved with the investigation I thought why not. I mean I am so bored of sitting in my office waiting for the phone to ring."
Fin chuckled softly, it was hard to imagine Olivia sitting in an office.
"Well maybe with you on board we'll close this case faster." Fin smiled and Olivia grinned keeping her eyes on the road, that she could definitely deal with.
"So counsellor what made you quit being a cop?" Amanda asked nosily from the back seat.
"My family." Olivia replied. "Being a cop… there's always that chance the new day will be your last and I was fed up of saying bye to my kids like there was a chance I wouldn't come home from work, I was tired of pulling on my Kevlar and calling the kids to let them know one last time that I loved them just in case. When I finished my degree I only took the exam because Stabler and my lecturer persuaded me. I wouldn't have left if I didn't work with SVU though, I could never work with any other unit." Olivia explained turning into the parking lot outside the morgue.
The three walked into the morgue together and Olivia shivered inside her suit jacket, she'd forgotten how cold the place always was.
"Ok?" Fin asked.
"Yeah just cold." Olivia replied with a smile, this felt a little more real, it felt right to be walking into the morgue for information on the case.
"Hey guys." Melinda said as they walked in.
"Hey Mel what have you got for us so far?" Olivia asked knowing the ME hadn't finished the autopsy yet.
"Well I've barely started so what are you after?" Melinda asked.
"Mainly TOD so we can start putting the final few hours of her life together." Olivia explained as she looked down at the fifteen year old lying dead on the table, it never got any easier.
"Well that I have. I'd say closest I can get because of where she was found, she was killed between three and five this morning." Melinda said reading from her clipboard.
"Shit where was a fifteen year old at three in the morning?" Amanda replied in shock.
"At home in bed?" Olivia suggested.
"It's possible." Fin shrugged.
"We need to go back to the father, someone talk to him and find out where his kid was last night and why it took him till two in the afternoon to file a missing persons report." Olivia said. "Thanks Mel call when you're done." She added before following Amanda and Fin out into the corridor. "Guys I really need to pee I'll catch you up." Olivia said handing her Ferrari keys over to Fin before rushing off.
"Ok I think Olivia's great but did she need to say that?" Amanda chuckled looking at Fin who was twirling the keys around his fingers.
"She always gets gross when she's pregnant." Fin shrugged, he remembered three other pregnancies where she didn't mind saying that she needed to pee and more.
"She's pregnant?" Amanda asked in surprise.
"Seventeen weeks along." Fin smiled. "Fourth kid, I'm Tyrell's God Father." He added proudly.
"So she has three kids? Who's her husband?"
"Ha!" Fin chuckled. "Defence attorney Bayard Ellis notorious for working Drugs but that's how she became and ADA went up against him six weeks ago and won."
"Wow." Amanda replied as they arrived by the car.
"Yeah, she loves him though before Bayard she was … dating a lot." Fin chuckled, it may have been five years ago but he remembered it like it was yesterday. "When they started dating it was weird, he sent her flowers every morning, brought her breakfast, really treated her like a princess and was really there for her too, she went through some shit at the start of their relationship and he proved he loved her by sticking by her side."
"Wow." Amanda replied. "I hope if I ever find someone he's like that."
"Yeah." Fin smiled at the blonde in the back seat just as Olivia came back.
"Sorry Ellis number four was bouncing on my bladder." Olivia chuckled. "I can't wait to get the next five months done with."
"Oh yeah you said that the other three time and then the first time we see you after the baby is born you say you miss your bump!" Fin teased.
"Good point. Now come on I'm sure they're all waiting on us at SVU." Olivia said putting the car into drive, completely oblivious to the conversation the two Detectives had shared without her around.