Back the Hard Way

*Title: Back the Hard Way

*Author: Farwalk

*Fandom: Law & Order: SVU

*Pairing: Eventually Olivia and Alex

Disclaimer: Don't own them. Law and Order SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf.

THIRTY-FIVE

"Just over the hill on the right hand side. " Arizona directed Olivia towards the bungalow. At the crest of the hill, Olivia scanned the area. She tried looking through the heavy treed lots for houses. For the house. The one that held Alex's other life. The one she made a home with someone else.

"There it is." Arizona pointed to the white house with the green shutters. "You have to pull into the second driveway. It has a common drive with the house next door." Olivia glanced at the house that sat next door. It was not directly next door. Back in New York they would have sandwiched two other brownstones and maybe an alley between them.

"That's a lot of lawn to mow." Was all Olivia could say has she pulled the SUV in the drive and came to a stop.

"If you think it's pretty from here, wait till you see the back." Arizona said has she exited the car. She began to walk up the front walk; she paused when she realized that Olivia had not exited the SUV. She turned and looked back.

"This may be harder than I thought for her." Arizona said walking back to the vehicle.

"Stay there I'm coming." Olivia shouted opening the driver's door. She went to the back of the SUV and opened the tailgate. Inside she removed a small black bag from her suit case. She took her gun from it holster. She checked the clip and placed it back in the gun. She engaged the safety. Next she checked the black bag to make sure all that she needed was inside. Hammer, flashlight, lock pick and camera. Satisfied, she zipped the bag and closed the tailgate. She walked toward Arizona who seemed frozen in place.

"Ready?" Olivia said reaching the doctor.

"There's a problem." Arizona said not taking her eyes off the house. "All of this yesterday was in ruin. There was no front door, the bushes were trampled, the windows were all broken. It looked like a shack."

"Yes, well that would be the magic of the federal government." Olivia said grabbing Arizona by the elbow and leading her to the front door. "Let's just hope they did not find everything. "

When they reached the entry, Olivia unzipped the black bag and took out the lock pick. In a matter of seconds, the pair were standing in the front hall of the house. Arizona walked straight through the hallway to the kitchen. She opened cabinets, looked in the refrigerator and in the pantry. Everything was empty. The kitchen table was still there. The furniture on the porch was still there. She went back down the hall only to find Olivia still standing there.

"You okay?"

"Um, yeah." Olivia tried to sound okay. "It's just a little weird."

"Tell me about it. There is not one ounce of food here. The pictures of Beth and Sam… Alex are nowhere to be found. The place is spotless." Arizona was trying to cover for mentioning Alex and Beth. "Do you think the feds would come to my place and clean? Callie is so not a neat person."

Olivia laughed. It helped. "These kind of cleaners you don't want at your place. Come on what I need is upstairs according to Alex." Olivia started walking up the stairs. Arizona was not far behind. At the top of the stairs Olivia paused, she scanned the hallway and counted the doors. She headed for the third door on the right. Opening the door, Olivia dropped to her knees. It helped that the once full closet was not empty. She took out the hammer from her bag and began pulling the carpet from the base of closet. It was not hard; Beth never tacked it firmly into place. She pulled the piece of carpet out of the closet and handed it the best she could to Arizona who in turn throw it aside. Arizona moved closer into the closet to see what Olivia was looking for.

"Ari, could you back up a little. You're blocking the light." Olivia said.

"Oh sorry. This okay?" She said standing up.

Olivia did not answer. She pushed firmly on each floor board looking for the loose on. After the fourth board she found what she was looking for. Using the hammer again, she pried the board from its place and handed it to Arizona. Who again throw it aside. Olivia again opened her bag and pulled out the flashlight. She crouched even further into the closet. Reaching her hand through the small hole, she felt for anything she could possibly expect.

"Hope there isn't any rats in there." Arizona said matter of factly.

Olivia ignored her. Her hand had hit pay dirt. She pulled out a large grey envelop. She placed her hand in the hole again and pulled out a gun, an extra clip and a small box. A small jewelry box. It had a bow and a tag with "SAM" written in bold letters. Olivia reached her hand in one last time. She pulled out a letter size envelope. It too had "SAM" boldly written on it. She handed both to Arizona to hold. She wanted no part of those items. They were Alex's. Olivia carefully opened the large grey envelope. It was quite full, so she had difficultly pulling out the two large files. She looked inside of the envelope to make sure she had extracted all of its contents. A folded paper was all that was left. She opened it.

'Dearest Elizabeth,

I hope you are well. I thought you would find these items of interest to you. I find them very curious. It warms my heart to know you have not turned your back. Especially in times family is most important.

Be well with God.

V'

"Who the hell is 'V'?" Arizona asked.

"Not a nice person." Olivia responded. She placed the note back into the envelope. She hesitated before opening the first file.

"Olivia should be at your house by now." Abbie said to Alex. "She and Dr. Arizona Robbins."

"Arizona. As in Callie and Arizona?" Alex's eyes grew wide. The last thing she wanted was to involve them in any of her life. Let alone have Liv speak to them and here stories about her and Beth.

"Yeah. Small world." Abbie said trying to be off handed about it. "Turns out Arizona and Olivia used to be an item back in college. Of course Arizona was at Columbia while Olivia was at Hudson. But they were quite close." Abbie watched the blonde closely. She wanted to put just a little sting into her. Not out of being malicious, but to see if there was a hint of jealousy and therefore real feelings for Olivia. There were. It was written all over the blonde's body. She sat down on the couch like the wind was taken from her sails. Abbey crossed the room and sat next to Alex.

"Look. I know what Hammond and the rest of the DEA did was not right, But you have to trust all of us now to make it right." Abbie reached out and touched Alex on the chin, turning Alex's head so that they were looking face to face. "Olivia has one agenda, getting you back 100%. That means she has to do this her way. You trust her right?"

"With my heart." Alex replied.

"Then that's a start." Abbey replied.

"Real question is will she ever trust me with hers?" Alex turned her head from the brunette's view. She needed a bit of distance. She needed to walk. She stood from the couch and walked silently out of the room. As she walked down the hall towards the kitchen she picked up speed. Passing the group of men sitting at the table, she yanked open the back door and was down the stairs before any of them could catch her. The agents scrambled to their feet. Elliot was the first to reach the door.

"Let her be." The voice said from behind them. Liz Donnelly stood at the entrance to the kitchen. "She's got a 12'x12' patch of grass to walk on. That's less then what criminals get in the pen. Let her be."

Elliot let go of the door. He stepped to his right and looked out the window at the blonde. Her arms wrapped tightly around herself, pacing back and forth. He was joined by Liz and Abbie. They watched in silence for a few moments more.

"I suggest we get Detective Benson back here soon or were going to have some trouble." Liz said.

"Already made the call." Abbie replied tucking her phone back into her pocket.

"Hurry Liv." Elliot said.

Okay next chapter is almost here.