Set after Season 11, Episode 24 "Shattered"

The main characters of Law and Order SVU belong to Dick Wolf and NBC Universal. This is meant for entertainment, not profit.* There are several characters I have created. I am not sure how many chapters this fan fiction story will be. I hope you enjoy, and I welcome feedback.

"Stepping Time" Chapter 37 of ?

#-#

It was a beautiful late summer day in the nation's capital and after receiving the stress relieving phone call from Erin, Olivia quickly showered and walked from the hotel the short distance to the National Gallery of Art. She spent hours just inside the gallery's massive east building before discovering the six plus acre outdoor sculpture garden outside the gallery's west building. She thought of her trip to the MOMA with Alex a few months prior as she wandered the garden and wondered if she had ever visited where she was walking. Alex had told her of two visits to the National Gallery of Art, but as she walked Olivia had read the outdoor garden had opened in 1999, and with Alex's time in witness protection she reasoned she probably hadn't seen these marvelous sculptures that tastefully decorated the garden.

Knowing that Alex would so enjoy these sights she instinctively reached for her iPhone to call her, before first realizing that Alex was in Africa and second if she were to e-mail her she would have to explain the reason for her visit to Washington D.C.

"I won't give up my friendship with Alex," Liv murmured to herself. "That would be way too much to ask." She stopped mumbling her thoughts out loud, but fear swept over her body as the thoughts continued. "What if Alex says all or nothing? You're going to hurt her and then still ask her to be your friend, to grab lunch, drinks-what if she tells you to go to hell-She wouldn't say that-but she might decide to disappear from your life again-and could you really blame her?"

Consumed with the thoughts of Alex she was having in the sculpture garden Olivia decided to walk back to the hotel. It was nearly 2 and all she had eaten was the muffin from Starbuck's earlier that morning. She looked at the menu posted on an easel at the entrance to the main restaurant in the lobby.

Watching Olivia study the menu the hostess approached her.

"Not finding what you would like?" the hostess greeted her in a pleasant tone.

"I was thinking more like a cheeseburger and a beer," Olivia smiled. "I'm sure everything is great here, just not up for a full meal for lunch."

"Well our buffet has many options, but it closes in 10 minutes and it was ravaged by some conference attendees anyway," she smiled. "If you want a great burger, and the wings are awesome as well, and over 50 beers on tap or in bottle, I suggest Barney's on the third floor."

"That sounds great," Olivia smiled. "More my style."

The hostess smiled. "Lots of TV's too with a mixture of sports and news."

"Thank you," Olivia said gratefully as she stepped to walk towards the elevator.

Olivia saw the entrance to Barney's three steps off the elevator as she rounded the corner. "Definitely more my style," she thought. She took a quick glance around the pub and grill as she entered before pulling up a chair at the bar near the entrance. She ordered a draft beer and then thumbed through the menu. After ordering a mushroom burger and fries she turned in the chair looking at sports memorabilia and photos that adorned the walls near the bar. She could hear the buzz of laughter and conversation coming from tables separated from where she was sitting by a thick and long wood counter lined with stools.

"It is her," the striking dark-haired woman said to herself as Olivia turned her head to the right to take in more of Barney's décor.

"Once again," the dark-haired woman started as she grabbed the check on the table. "You two did great work. Enjoy your Friday off and I'll see you Monday morning."

"Thank you," they replied in unison. The woman grabbed her attaché and strode towards the bar smiling. She saw as she approached Olivia that her attention was focused on the plasma screen that hung behind the bar.

"So detective," she said slinking into the chair left of Olivia, "I think you need to buy me a beer."

"Holy Shit-Abbie Carmichael," Olivia exclaimed recognizing the former ADA's husky voice before she had even turned her head to see her.

"Normally, I would buy friends who visit my city and one of my favorite pubs a drink, but normally my friends let me know when they're in town," she said sarcastically but smiling.

"I'm sorry," Olivia said smiling, happy to see Abbie. "Kind of short notice trip and pretty full schedule."

"I can see that," Abbie smirked. "My kind of full schedule, sitting in a bar drinking and watching TV."

The bartender brought Abbie a beer and she handed him the check from her table and her credit card to close it out. Olivia blushed slightly, grateful when a waitress placed the plate with her mushroom burger and fries in front of her.

"I've got time Benson, -just wrapped a big case and I'm off 'til Monday," she smiled. "So what brings you to D.C.?"

"My girlfriend," Olivia said focusing her eyes on her French fries and blushing once more.

"About damn time Benson," Abbie squealed and then placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. "Serena owes me 100 bucks."

"I can't believe you two bet on me," Olivia said slapping Abbie on the arm and laughing. "So how is Serena?" Olivia asked sincerely. "How long has it been now?"

"She's pretty good. She's down in Florida this week with her brother. She'll be back Saturday early afternoon," Abbie said. "He just went through a divorce and this case I just finished, well it consumed most of my time the last four months." She took a drink of her beer. "Oh, October 10th will be three years together for us."

"Congratulations," Olivia said enthusiastically.

"Ok enough about me, you need to spill on the girlfriend," Abbie grinned. "Did you and Cabot finally hook up?" Abbie noticed immediately the smile fade from Olivia at the mention of Alex. "I'm sorry," she said.

"No it's complicated," Olivia said. "So you really do have some free time now?" she asked, hoping to have the objective ear and advice of the U.S. Attorney.

"I do. Why don't we go sit at that table over there after your finish your burger," she said pointing to the corner off the bar. "Little more private and quiet."

Olivia began recounting how she and Erin had met, how quickly they hit it off and how complicated things soon became. About an hour into their conversation Erin called Olivia to let her know she should be back at the hotel by 5:00, that the meetings were going well, but she was exhausted, the travel and the emotional roller coaster of the morning had worn her out. Olivia told her that she was having drinks with Abbie, and Erin after hearing about her resemblance to the attorney numerous times was eager to meet her.

"I would love to meet her too," Abbie had said smiling when Olivia told her while on the phone with Erin when Erin would be back at the hotel.

"So I want to see the picture on your phone of Erin," Abbie said. "I saw that there was one when you answered."

Olivia blushed slightly, knowing that Abbie would most likely tease her mercilessly after seeing her resemblance to Erin. Olivia pulled up one of four pictures of Erin she had stored on her iPhone and handed the phone to Abbie.

Abbie's jaw dropped slightly as she looked at the photo and she impulsively scanned through the other three.

"Damn fine looking woman," Abbie said in extended drawl and grinned. "Maybe we should take some blood samples."

#-#

Erin walked into Barney's still in uniform just before 5 p.m. The front area had already become somewhat crowded but Erin heard Olivia's laugh and walked directly to the table. Abbie stood up to greet her and both women stared at each other momentarily, struck by their physical similarities. Abbie sat back down and Erin reached for Olivia's beer and took a long, refreshing drink.

"I'm going to go back to the room and change into civilian clothes," she smiled. "Will you order me one of these please," she said putting Olivia's now nearly empty glass back down on the table.

"Sure," Olivia smiled. "We were going to order some wings, are you hungry?"

Erin turned her head towards Abbie. "Liv told me you're from Texas too. Do you know if this place serves a decent steak?"

"Well certainly not the quality you could get in Austin, but definitely good enough to appease an Aggie," Abbie smirked and then felt the playful smack of Erin's beret across her upper arm.

"Other than you being a UT grad, you seem all right Carmichael," Erin laughed.

When Erin returned a few minutes later dressed in a simple short sleeve white V-neck shirt and faded blue jeans Abbie and Olivia were laughing over one of Abbie's work stories from when she first started as an ADA under Jack McCoy.

Abbie ordered a round of shots causing a playful glare from Olivia who was already feeling no pain from all the beers she had downed in the past three plus hours.

"Oh c'mon Benson, you can hang," Abbie said wryly. "We have many reasons to toast."

"I think we need to toast to all of them in just one or two shots," Erin smiled. "Except for a few beers yesterday, I haven't had a drink in over three months. You'll be carrying us both back up to our room."

"A few years ago that would have probably been my goal," Abbie quickly shot back.

"Did I ever tell you about Abbie's tremendous lack of self-confidence," Olivia said sarcastically looking at Erin and causing all three women to laugh.

"Okay," Abbie said, "we could do just this one shot tonight and then tomorrow evening if you want I can take you ladies to the club Serena and I like to go to. It's down by DuPont Circle."

"That sounds like fun," Olivia said. "What do you think?" she said patting Erin's leg.

"I think I'll have a lot more energy tomorrow night, and Saturday I only have meetings from 9:30 until 2," Erin agreed.

"So tonight's shot," Abbie smiled, "should be to you Erin for your military service-and for earning me 100 dollars."

"Shut up Carmichael," Olivia exclaimed.

"Do tell?" Erin laughed.

"My girlfriend Serena was an ADA in New York as well, and we had a wager going for over five years now on whether Benson would ever join our team. So glad a fine woman like you finally brought her over," Abbie laughed.

"I think I need to give you an assist," Erin smiled at Abbie. "I don't know if she would have checked me out so thoroughly at Casey's apartment if we didn't look so much alike."

"Hello," Olivia blushed. "I'm sitting right here. Can we just do the damn shot now?"

A few quenching beers later Erin finally ordered her steak. The easy and fun conversation and physically being away from the dangers of Afghanistan were refreshing and relaxing. By the time Erin got her T-bone, Olivia had switched to Dr. Pepper and Abbie nursed a small draft beer. Since Erin had another full day of meetings ahead Abbie suggested that she could take Olivia around the city then since she was off. After Erin finished her meal they left Barney's, Abbie grabbing a taxi to her and Serena's house in Alexandria, and Olivia and Erin to their room.

Erin took a quick shower, threw on a t-shirt and shorts, propped herself up against the headboard of the bed with two pillows and booted up her laptop to see if she had any new e-mails from her executive officer or NCOIC back at Camp Phoenix. When Olivia exited the restroom after showering and changing, she found Erin still partially sitting up, laptop delicately balanced on one leg and fast asleep. She placed the laptop on the desk in the corner of the room and nudged and whispered to Erin until she was able to guide her under the covers and lying down completely.

Olivia ordered a 6:30 wake-up call, turned off the lights in the room and climbed into bed next to Erin. It was just closing in on 9 p.m. and although Olivia was still a bit buzzed, she wasn't especially tired, so she lowered the volume on the TV and flipped through the channels. Erin snuggled up against her and murmured something Olivia couldn't make out. She wrapped an arm around Erin's back and stroked her hair and shoulders.

Olivia awoke around 2 a.m. to a now silent and dark room except for the dim rays of light escaping from under the bathroom door. She sat partially up in the bed and waited for Erin to return from the bathroom. After a few minutes she padded towards the bathroom and tapped lightly on the door.

"You okay babe?" she asked.

"I'm okay," Erin said softly, opening the door standing bare chested. "Do you have a sweatshirt or extra t-shirt I could borrow?"

Olivia walked purposefully to her travel bag and pulled out both a t-shirt and a sweatshirt. She appraised Erin further in the bathroom light and could see beads of sweat on her forehead, above her upper lip and between her breasts.

"Bad dream," Olivia said softly but knowingly having woken up many times herself over the years in a similar state.

"Yeah," Erin said simply, taking the sweatshirt from Olivia and quickly pulling it over her chilled torso.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Olivia asked as Erin stepped from the bathroom and grabbed a bottled water from the mini-bar.

"Would you just hold me?" Erin asked.

"Of course," Olivia said stepping into the bathroom towards the discarded t-shirt Erin had been wearing. She felt the sweat drenched shirt quickly with both hands. She sighed, turned off the bathroom light and climbed back in bed. She pulled Erin into her arms wanting to ease the pain and fear that caused it.