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The Mayor resigned on Monday morning, saying that he believed in his son's innocence and would support him in any way possible, but that he couldn't possibly give the job his full attention during such a difficult time for his family. There was the expected mea culpa press conference in front of City Hall, and he was blinking back tears that played well for the cameras. Alex suspected they were caused more by the cold air rather than by any real shame or sadness.

Alex went to the DA's office on Mondayat lunchtime, prepared to resign. He wasn't having it.

"Stick it out, Cabot," he said. "You're a damn good prosecutor, and with all that's happened lately, my chair might be open sooner rather than later."

"I'm not sure I want your chair, Colin. I've had my life threatened one too many times for this job," she said.

"You have had it rougher than most," he said. "And I owe you an apology. You told me there was something else going on in that precinct, and I ignored you."

"You couldn't have known it would end up like this," she said. Though she was gratified by the apology, she didn't see this coming herself.

"True, but I could've trusted you to do the job I hired you for, and given you the resources you needed to find out what was going on over there. I was too trusting of IAB, figured if it was anything serious, they'd have found it."

"My years in SVU disabused me of that notion," she said.

"Benson okay?"

"I don't know, to be honest," she said. "It's been a difficult time for us. I need to step back and re-evaluate. A lot of things, actually."

"Well, I'm not accepting your resignation," he said. "Especially not now. You've had a hard time, and you're in a bad spot to be making any important decisions. Would you agree?"

"Maybe," she allowed. "But..."

"But, nothing," he said. "You're taking this week off, get things back in order, buy a new Mercedes. When you come back—not if, Alex, when—we'll discuss your future. If not Major Case, then what? You want to go back to SVU? I can move Cutter to Major."

"Definitely not SVU," she laughed. "That would take something that's already complicated and make it damn near impossible."

"True," he laughed with her. "Okay, then, human trafficking? I know that's a particular interest of yours."

Alex saw an opening, and took it. "Actually, Colin, Atlanta/Fulton County has a bureau that only prosecutes crimes against women. And they're not the only ones, but they're the biggest one, and they're beating us to the punch. We need to be in the forefront of these issues."

He thought for a long moment. "I'm not saying no. Let's talk about it next week when you come back. We'll discuss the broad outlines of what something like that might look like here, and if it sounds like it's worth considering, I'll let you submit a formal proposal, give you an assistant to flesh out the details."

"Oh, I have an assistant," Alex said. "You're not getting Ellen away from me."

"I hear she's in demand, Cabot, you'd better watch out," he joked. "Cutter would poach her in a second."

She stood up to leave, and he walked around the desk to escort her out of the office.

"I"m serious about the week, Alex. Take it. I don't want to see your face in here until next Monday," he said. "And thank you, Cabot." She turned to him, and he offered his hand. She shook it.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said. "Now get out of here."

On Wednesday morning, Olivia attended her hearing at One Police Plaza. It was fairly informal, or at least, nothing really like testifying in court. Cragen attended as well, with Fin and Munch. Alex chose to cool her heels in the Major Case squadroom, with Eames keeping her company while the events unfolded two floors below in a conference room.

The hearing lasted nearly two hours, and Kate had been right to be confident: IAB had next to nothing to go on, and couldn't produce their complainant, since the allegations were made anonymously. The case against Olivia consisted primarily of old allegations that had already been examined at various times over the years, and found to be groundless. They were dressed up in fancy new clothes, to be sure, and made to seem new, and sordid, and seamy—but it was no better than putting lipstick on a pig.

Kate really put on a show when it was her turn to question the department's witnesses, but called only one of her own: Ed Tucker. She then systematically tore him apart. She had a raft of statistics to back up the pattern she presented: Tucker spent an inordinate amount of his time monitoring, harassing and interrogating the detectives of the 16th Precinct. Thought they made up far less than 1% of the entire NYPD detective squad, Cragen's squad endured nearly 11% of Tucker's formal investigations.

The attorney had somehow retrieved internal memos, and had sworn affidavits from other IAB officers who indicated that Tucker had repeatedly expressed animosity toward the SVU squad. He had, in fact, applied to join the squad on several occasions that predated Cragen, and had been turned down after psych evals indicated some instability. He had, it seemed, conspired with a police academy classmate in the records department to expunge that information from his record. Had it been known, he surely wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the 1-6.

The hearing wasn't about Tucker's own vendetta, so the presiding commissioner could only dismiss the charges against Olivia, but couldn't take any action against the IAB lieutenant. Olivia was thrilled, accepting hugs and congratulations from the Captain, Fin and Munch. Olivia had already arranged to take the rest of the week off—assuming she'd either need a break, and time to gather herself before resuming her regular duties, or she'd be looking for a new career. She was pleased it wasn't the latter, and as the three men left, she told them she'd see them on Monday.

"Seven o'clock, Benson," Fin called out. "None of this namby-pamby, desk-duty eight o'clock bullshit. Ya feelin' me?"

"I don't take orders from you," she laughed.

"Then take 'em from me," Cragen said. "If it's a minute past 7:30, there damn well better be donuts," he told her as they left the room.

When she turned back to Kate, there were tears in her eyes. "I can't really express what this means to me, Kate," she said.

"Good, because I don't much go for that touchy-feely crap," Kate told her. "But I know someone who does, and if you don't go upstairs and find her soon, she's going to be out of her mind wondering what the hell happened."

Olivia went upstairs to get Alex, greeting a few people she knew on the way up to Major Case. When she walked in, she found Alex sitting with Goren and Eames. They looked to be working, which would be just like Alex when she'd been ordered to take a week of vacation. Eames caught her eye first, and when Alex noticed, she looked up to see Liv in the doorway of the squadroom. She said her goodbyes to her two detectives and walked over to join her in the hallway.

"Well?"

Olivia just smiled. "Everything's just fine."

Alex hugged her. "Oh, baby, I'm so glad. Everything?"

"Everything," she nodded. "Kate eviscerated Tucker's case, and then Tucker himself. He'll be lucky if he still has a badge tomorrow."

"Who watches the watchers?" Alex asked rhetorically. "Oh, how I wish I'd been there."

"Don't worry, sweetie, if he goes down for this, I'm sure he'll hold you personally responsible despite your conspicuous absence today. Now, let me take you to lunch?"

"Absolutely," Alex said, and took Olivia's hand as they got into the elevator. "Where will it be?"

"I know a place, up near New Haven," Olivia said. "Great deck, view of the cove, boat rides in the summer, and the room feels just like home."

Alex smiled. "It does, doesn't it?"