It was pointed out to me that the version of this chapter I posted first didn't go with what I'd written a long time ago. So I made a few minor changes to make it all make sense. Thank you ALMAC
Just as Olivia was walking in, Elliot was walking out. He caught her arm and pulled her into the elevator. "We got a case."
Olivia nodded, "Where?"
"Close to Central Park," Elliot opened his notepad, "A lady heard screaming downstairs so she called the police. While she was on the phone with the operator she saw a man run out of here. Responding officers found the vic, curled up on her couch crying. It happened about twenty minutes ago."
"Okay," Olivia replied.
They pulled up to an old, elegant building. They ran up the stairs to where the victim was still sitting on the couch in a speechless ball.
"What's her name?" Olivia asked a uniform, walking to her.
"The lady upstairs said her name is Victoria," the officer replied.
"Victoria," Olivia said gently, "My name's Olivia. Are you okay?"
She still didn't speak, just stared straight forward.
Olivia looked at Elliot, "Why don't you go talk to the witness? I'll be right up."
Elliot nodded and walked out. After getting the apartment number from a uniformed officer, he trotted up the stairs and down the hallway to the correct door. He knocked on the door.
The door was opened by an older woman. She was tall and regal looking with graying-blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Elliot was sure she'd seen her before, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"I'm Detective Elliot Stabler," Elliot replied, "Special Victims Unit."
The woman nodded, "Celine. C'min. Would you like something to drink?"
Elliot shook his head, "No thank you. I'm here to ask you about what you saw earlier."
Celine nodded, "Well, first I heard Victoria screaming. I would have gone down to see what was the matter, but I'm watching my grandkids." She gestured to a few kids sitting on the couch watching a movie in the living room, out of earshot. A few curious eyes were watching Elliot.
"Did you see the man's face?" Elliot asked.
Celine shrugged, "He looked back at the building, but I couldn't see his face clearly. He had dark hair and was wearing a black jacket. I did write down the license plate of his car though." She picked up a small piece of paper and handed it to Elliot.
"Thank you," Elliot nodded, "Did you hear him say anything to her?"
There was a knock on the open door and Olivia stepped in.
"I'm Detective Benson," Olivia introduced herself before looking up from her notepad to see the woman standing in front of her.
Celine opened her mouth to return an introduction, but was interrupted by a small boy walking over to Olivia. "Hi 'Livia."
"Blake?" Olivia looked down.
Blake smiled innocently up at her and raised his arms. Olivia picked him up as three other children trotted over.
Celine raised an eyebrow at Olivia and the children.
"Olivia!" Paige smiled while the twins hugged her legs.
"Hey guys," Olivia smiled at the bunch huddled around her.
Paige saw the confused look on her grandmother's face and explained, "This is Olivia. She babysitted us with Aunt Alex one time."
"Oooh," it all registered to Celine. She finally remembered meeting Olivia before and noticed the confused look on her partner's face. "I'm Celine Cabot."
"Alex's mother?" Elliot asked, "That's why you look familiar."
Celine smiled gracefully.
Olivia swallowed the lump in her throat. Alex's mom. She might not have felt so nervous seeing Celine Cabot again except for her naked, nighttime romp with Celine's daughter hours earlier. But Celine probably didn't know what happened and Olivia was definitely not going to tell her.
Olivia's thoughts were interrupted by a little girl's voice. "When can you come play with us again?" Spencer asked.
"Can we play police again?" Logan asked.
Olivia knelt down and set Blake on the ground, "Well, right now I have to work, but maybe later I can come over and play."
"You promise?" Paige crossed her arms in true Cabot fashion.
Olivia looked up at Celine, "Do you mind?"
Celine beamed and shook her head, "Of course not, we'll be here all day."
Olivia looked back at the group, "I'll be here at lunch time okay?"
The children got excited and jumped up and down. "Yay!"
"Okay," Olivia smiled, "Go watch your movie."
They all nodded and scampered back to their movie.
Olivia stood up, looking at the other two adults. She peered over at her partner's notepad and asked, "Have you ran the plates yet?"
Elliot shook his head, "I'll go do that now." He took the piece of paper Celine wrote on and handed Olivia his notepad before walking out the door.
"Did you hear him say anything?" Olivia asked carefully.
Celine shook her head, "I only heard Victoria yelling 'stop. Go away' and it sounded like she said Gary."
Olivia pulled the pencil out of the notepad's spiral and wrote. "Have you seen Victoria with any men lately?"
Celine shook her head again, "I never really saw her with anyone. She worked all the time. She's a CPA for some big firm."
Olivia wrote all of this down and took a deep breath thinking. "Um… I think that's it. Thank you for your time Mrs. Cabot."
Celine nodded, "I'll see you at lunchtime."
Olivia smiled, "Of course. Do I need to bring anything?"
Celine shook her head, "But cookies do make friends in the Cabot household."
"Will do," Olivia chuckled and walked to the door. She looked over at the couch where the kids were watching her. She waved, "Bye guys. I'll see you at lunch."
They all waved.
"So noonish?" Olivia asked.
Celine smiled, "See you then, dear."
Olivia nodded and walked down the hallway to the stairs. When she found Elliot, he had already had someone run the license plate and she walked over as someone was reading the address over the radio.
Olivia scribbled it down and they went to the car, driving to the suspects address.
"It seems like the whole Cabot family loves you," Elliot stated with a smile.
Olivia couldn't help, but smile, "They're great. Of course I've only met those four kids, Alex's brother and now her mom."
"Those kids definitely love you," Elliot added.
"They're so cute," Olivia replied, "And so well behaved. And so smart. They're great kids."
A few minutes later, Elliot pulled to a stop outside the suspect's building. There was a man sitting on the front steps with his head in his hands.
"Gary?" Olivia called out.
The man's head jerked up. After he saw the badges hanging on their belts he took off running.
"Hey!" Elliot yelled, "Stop! Police!"
Olivia just focused on running. She had just passed Elliot and was within feet of the man. She finally reached out and grabbed his collar, whirling him onto a parked car.
"Gary Mueller," Elliot pulled out his handcuff, "You're under arrest for disrupting an officer in the course of duty. You have the right to remain silent…"
Olivia and Elliot sat at their desks, filing paperwork and waiting for the lab results to get back on Mueller.
Elliot checked his watch, "You should leave soon."
Olivia glanced at the clock on the wall, "Yeah." She stood, "I have to get cookies on my way." She beamed, "Wish me luck."
"Good luck," Elliot smiled.
After picking up some cookies from a bakery on the way, Olivia stopped at the building. She unhooked her gun and put it in the glove compartment. After grabbing the cookies, she ran inside and up the stairs. She knocked on the door to where she would be dining with her favorite four people under the age of five.
She heard a few squeals of, "She's here!"
Olivia was flattered by the children's excitement. As far as she knew, no one had ever been that excited to see her.
The door slowly opened and Celine smiled. "Hello dear."
"Hi Mrs. Cabot," Olivia timidly said, suddenly nervous without the protection of work surrounding her presence.
"Please call me Celine," Celine ushered Olivia in.
Olivia offered the box of cookies to Celine, "I brought cookies."
"Cookies!" the children smiled and nearly tackled Olivia.
"Not until after lunch," Celine took the box. She looked at Olivia, "I'll leave you five to play. Lunch will be ready shortly."
"Thank you," Olivia smiled.
Soon the children had her hands, dragging her down the hallway to the playroom.
They all built a city with blocks and moved cars between the buildings. Somehow a cow ended up in the middle of the street and the yellow Power Ranger accidentally knocked over a car. Olivia laughed at the stories the children told about how the cow got in the middle of the street and how the cow was going to save the Power Rangers from Mr. Freeze.
Some how, Cow Saves the Power Rangers from Mr. Freeze became Who Can Build the Tallest Tower.
Blake made himself comfortable in Olivia's lap, helping her stack blocks. Soon Paige's tower fell and one of the twins knocked over their tower, although they both blamed each other.
Paige, Logan, and Spencer started helping with Olivia and Blake's tower which turned into Everyone's Pyramid with a secret escape route for the one armed Jessie Bannon and the legless Jonny Quest action figures.
But one block too many turned into a tunnel collapse.
"Get the cow!" Olivia smiled.
Spencer grabbed the cow, who tunneled his way in and saved Jessie and Jonny.
They all cheered when Spencer held up the triumphant cow.
Celine appeared in the doorway, but wasn't noticed by the celebrating children or the laughing detective. She smiled at the group, while studying Olivia. She was wonderful with the children and Alex wouldn't stop talking about her. She seemed to fit right in with her family. And whoever made them happy, made her happy.
"Lunch time," she called.
The kids ran out of the room and to the kitchen.
Olivia smiled and stood up. Celine was looking at her. "Do they run everywhere?"
"Everywhere but bed," Celine answered with a smile.
Olivia laughed as she and Celine walked to the kitchen.
The children were already sitting at the table eating their sandwiches. There were two empty places with sandwiches at them.
Celine motioned to the chair between Paige and Logan. Olivia smiled and sat down. "Thank you."
After they ate, Olivia checked her watch. "I have to go back to work."
"Awws" were heard from around the table.
Everyone followed Olivia to the front door. After all the children hugged her, Celine unexpectedly pulled Olivia into her arms. Olivia relaxed in the motherly hug and smiled.
"Be careful dear," Celine told Olivia as she walked out the door.
"Yes ma'am," Olivia replied. She was sure she was smiling like an idiot all the way back to the precinct, but that was exactly the kind of thing that merited an idiot-grin.