Disclaimer: I do not own Law and Order: SVU. It belongs to a genius named Dick Wolf. No profit is being made from this story.

"For today, we will forget all college affiliations. For today, we are all Hokies."

From a proud Virginian and fellow student, may the victims and everyone at Virginia Tech be kept in our prayers and hearts. We are Hokies…we will prevail.

Author's Note: The character of Doctor Elizabeth Olivet will be more recognizable to those of you who have watched the original Law and Order series, however she did make a few cameo appearances in the early seasons of SVU. One episode where she was predominately featured was season two's "Baby Killers" and it was my love for her performance that drew me to use her for this story as opposed to another character.

For as long as he had been bracing himself for this inevitable news, the air still rushed from his stomach and he had to make an effort to breathe.

She was silent on the other end, the anxiousness having been more than obvious in her previous words. Don let out a breath slowly to get his control back and attempted to eject reassurance.

"How did Olivia react when you told her?" he asked.

Casey hesitated and he grimaced. That's never a good sign.

"I…actually haven't yet," the attorney admitted sheepishly. "I thought it would be better to call her once I got to my office…"

She trailed off uncertainly and went silent. Cragen winced sympathetically.

"I'll let you know what's going on as soon as I can," she continued. "But I'd recommend starting to get ready to go to Buffalo. Once things get going..."

She left the thought in the air again but the heaviness in her voice told of grim acceptance.

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He glanced up at his partner's arrival for a flitting second before looking back down. Fin didn't even glance his way as he went to his locker, so it didn't matter anyway. His face was drawn tighter than usual and the scowl appeared more prominent.

He looked exhausted and like he wanted to walk back out the door. John thought for perhaps the millionth time about the transport he hadn't been allowed to participate in as he got up to walk toward the coffee pot.

He filled a mug and doctored it with cream, picking up two sugar packets as he turned back. Fin rubbed his forehead and sighed as he sat down in his chair, turning on the computer.

The mug of coffee being held out in his direction made the black man look up, startled.

John stared at his partner silently as he offered the cup and didn't blink. He steadfastly watched the expression in his partner's eyes as he took it after a minute.

There was silence as they just stared at each other.

In a brief flash of panic, Munch wondered if his partner would throw the scalding liquid into his face. Maybe he would just dump it straight into the wastebasket and ignore him completely.

Fin's dark eyes narrowed slightly, making him swallow. He drew in a controlling breath inwardly and prepared to deal with the strain once more.

"Thanks," his partner finally said quietly.

He didn't smile. There wasn't a hint of camaraderie in his tone at all.

But for a moment…a brief almost nanosecond even….John saw his face soften slightly.

Then he sat down again and they began working silently.

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One week.

It had been exactly one week today since she had taken her "leave" from the morgue.

Her head was turned toward the bedside table when she awoke, providing her with a face full of neon yellow light from the insane new alarm clock that Mike had sworn up and down she would love. It was three times the size of their old one, had a peculiar "H'" shaped screen that displayed insanely huge digits for the time and date in a choice of three different neon colors, and doubled as an Ipod charger.

Like she ever used the damn Ipod.

It too had been a purchase of her husband for the purpose of "keeping up with technology", as he had so passionately put it that night at Target after he had found a variety of them on sale. She personally hadn't seen anything wrong with their CD player, but if he knew how to use the thing it didn't really make a difference to her.

Groaning, Melinda rolled over onto her back and stared sleepily up at the ceiling.

Seven days. It's only been seven days?

God….it felt like ten years.

Is seven days long enough to convince my staff that it would be in my best interest to get back to work as soon as humanly possible?

She already knew the answer to that. As soon as she walked in the door, Gary and one of the other male assistants would try to beefcake their way into forcing her back out. Over the years, she had found that the makes on her staff were worse mother hens than the females.

It was only because they cared about her….and she had been running herself ragged. And even though it had been a week, she still hadn't let herself fully relax.

And there was that pesky little promise she had made to Mike about taking at least two full weeks in order to give him peace of mind that she wasn't going to have a stress breakdown.

Melinda groaned again petulantly and turned her face, masking the sound with her pillow so as not to wake her husband.

Her Achilles Heel. She never could deny Mike Warner of anything.

Seven more days. Seven more days of relaxing and "me" time.

She pushed her head far against the pillow to squish it flat and sighed.

I'm going to be climbing the walls.

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"You talked to Casey?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," she sighed, blowing through her cheeks. "Yeah, she just called."

His silence was meant to be a comfort, but the sound of it made the emotions she was barely holding on to surface again. She swallowed and closed her eyes, shaking her head.

"That's only seven days from now, Captain," Olivia said weakly. She sighed and shook her head again. "I don't….I don't know if he's going to be able to do it."

Don took his time responding, sensing that he had to tread carefully. "Maybe it's time you gave Doctor Olivet a call, Olivia," he said gently. "I can come by…help you talk to him about it."

She felt searing pain in her heart. He seemed to sense it, as his voice trailed off and he went silent.

She exhaled tearfully, trying to keep the tears at bay and feeling herself failing.

"I did call," she said shakily. "Yesterday." She swallowed. "She wants to come over here…try to make him comfortable with her before we do anything."

"Oh," he said quietly. "Well….that's good, Olivia. It's a step in the right direction."

The words undid her control. She let the tears spill down her cheeks and cried quietly into the phone. Cragen swallowed nervously, letting the silence fall between them for a moment.

"You haven't told him yet?" he asked gently.

"I can't," she burst out in agony. "How are we going to put him through this?" She shook her head in despair. "He's so unsure, Captain….so afraid of who to trust. I can't bear to think about him losing the little bit of safety he's been trying so hard to hold on to by making him relive everything again."

Cragen sighed sympathetically, nodding on his end of the phone.

"That's why I think you should go ahead with the doctor, Olivia," he said softly. "Before we can expect him to feel safe again, we have to help him get back that understanding that there are people out there who don't want to hurt him."

She inhaled, biting her lip. "What if he won't talk to her?"

The captain came back with an easy tone, as if it were the most natural suggestion in the world.

"Then we'll keep trying until we find someone he can talk to," he replied kindly. He paused a moment, gauging her reaction before continuing. "He knows Doctor Olivet…you don't have to push anything with this, Olivia. Just let him see a friendly face."

Olivia was silent as she took in the truth of his words and then blew out a resigned breath. But when she finally spoke again, Don heard less heaviness in her voice and it gave him hope.

"Speaking of friendly faces," she said quietly, pausing. "His kids came over last night…showed him the video you guys made."

She heard the captain blow out a surprised puff of air, as if he had almost forgotten about it, before chuckling lightly.

"Those kids, I tell you…" She could hear the smile in his voice now. "That was really a great idea. I was shocked when they told me about it."

A tearful laugh escaped her lips. "Yeah, we were pretty shocked to see it," she agreed lightly. She swallowed, her voice becoming quiet suddenly. "It was good of you guys to do that."

"It didn't take any persuading," Cragen came back warmly. "We miss you guys, Olivia…don't ever let yourselves forget that. No matter what happens, we're family and we'll do whatever we can to help."

There was silence on the other end for a moment and when she spoke again, it sounded like she was holding back tears.

"Thank you, Captain," she said shakily. She sniffled and glanced up at the clock on the microwave. "Listen…I need to get Elliot up and ready to take his medicine. I'll call you tonight and let you know how the day goes."

"Sure," he said. "No problem." He paused slightly. "Olivia, listen…you've done so much for him. Don't forget to take care of yourself, too."

A lump formed in her throat but she pushed it aside.

"Don't worry about me," she said dismissively. "As far as I'm concerned, the only thing that matters is out there sleeping on my couch."

They hung up and she leaned back in the chair, covering her face and just forcing herself to breathe to keep the sobs from breaking free. After a few moments, she finally stood and walked over to the cabinet to get the pills.

Her eyes traveled into the living room as she closed the door and for a moment she just stared at her partner.

She thanked God again for the fact that he was there.

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Sergeant Carl Brooks was halfway down the stairs when he heard crackling from his radio. He reached for his hip and lifted the walkie-talkie to his face, turning up the volume.

"Copy that?" he asked into it, stopping so that he could concentrate on what was being said.

Deputy William "Billy" Blanks came back almost instantly, firing words rapidly into his radio as he jogged down the corridor quickly.

"Get some help down here," he said breathlessly as he hurried to lift his keys from his holster. "Someone's getting the hell beat out of them in cellblock 26."

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His face twisted and she almost lost it right then.

"You know her," she continued gently, trying to control her voice so the anxiousness wouldn't show. "She helped us with the P.S. 163 case, remember that?" He stared at her with glassy eyes that were becoming brighter by the second. Olivia reached up to brush over his hairline. "She just wants to come say hello, Elliot. That's all…just to say hello."

He swallowed.

"Are…you going to leave?" he asked timidly.

His tone made her eyes well again. She closed them quickly and scooted closer to his side, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"No," she breathed sadly, shaking her head. "No, sweetie." Her hand began stroking the back of his head. "I'm going to be right here with you the entire time. I promise."

He sniffled and then tears were dripping down his face. Pursing her lips sadly, Olivia nuzzled his face tenderly with her nose and continued stroking his hair.

"Elliot," she murmured. "Baby, I promise you….she's not going talk about anything bad that happened. I promise you." She swallowed, kissing his temple lovingly. "She only wants to come say hi…you think you might be able to just say hi?"

He closed his eyes, sniffling. Instead of replying, he clutched her back with his hand and buried his face in her sweatshirt.

She rubbed over his back and shoulders as her tears slipped free. She swallowed silently, murmuring soothing words of praise into his ear.

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Doctor Olivet finished up the last paragraph of the case file she was busily reading and looked at her watch. She had told Olivia she would be there within the hour. It was now ten after four.

She highlighted the edge of the page she was on so as not to lose her place and then closed the file, setting it at the front end of her desk.

Getting to her feet, she went over to the bookcase to retrieve a blank tablet and set it on the desk. She lifted her work bag onto the top and put the pad inside, along with her pen and tape recorder, although she wasn't planning on using it.

Once she had everything, she sucked on her lip and walked over to the other end of the office towards the large box she had against the window. After about a minute of looking down and considering, she reached in and withdrew her choice. She closed the box and set the item into the bag as well.

Checking her watch as she slipped on her coat, Elizabeth grabbed the bag and her purse and walked to the door.

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It seemed ironic now that the moment that she had been waiting for all this time had her so scared that she could hardly think straight.

Taking a deep breath, Casey hunched under the desk and grasped the cardboard box by the edges. She lifted it up and set it down.

In order to proceed with a grand jury trial, she would have to be familiar with what happened to Elliot.

In order to be familiar with what happened, she was going to have to make Elliot talk about it.

Before she made him talk about it, she would have to be familiar with what took place.

And to do that, she would have to examine each piece of evidence to the point of knowing it from memory.

She drew in a breath and let it out heavily. As she lifted the top off, she discovered that her hands were shaking.

Ironic indeed.

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"Have…have you gone to see Elliot yet?"

With the exception of the murmur of thanks that morning, those were the first words his partner had said to him all day and they sliced intrusively through the tense silence of the cramped room.

Cragen had sent the two of them looking when the latest suspect they wanted for the rape of a university freshman came up with a false identification in the police database. They had been sitting in an upstairs file room for almost two hours now, pouring through multitudes of unsolved cases from the past year in search of the modus operandi they suspected for their rapist.

They only spoke to each other when necessary for their task, occasionally trading files back and forth with minimal eye contact.

John lost his place in the report he was scanning and looked up, surprised to meet Fin's dark stare squarely from across the room. The file his partner had been reading was suddenly lying abandoned across his knees and his face was drawn tense again.

He looked at him silently for a moment, appraising him as his brain processed what he had said in a delayed response.

"No," he finally said. Their gazes remained locked. "I haven't."

Just as quickly, their eyes broke away and darted for opposite walls awkwardly. He tried to force the guilt down and could feel the fiery burn in his chest that he had been managing to avoid since he had come back on duty.

Fin spoke again a moment later, not looking at him without realizing that John was looking in the opposite direction. "Have you called him?"

The tears slammed into his chest and he had to inhale deeply to ward them off. He swallowed hard, setting his jaw.

"No," he replied, barely audible.

The silence returned then. John closed his eyes against the wetness and then risked a glance up at his partner. Fin had picked the file back up, resuming his task.

He swallowed again, taking another pained breath as he tried to push the thoughts from his head.

Pages turned quietly. Fin set his folder down, marking something in blue ink before resting it on the tedious pile of hopefuls they had been compiling. John set his file aside and reached in for another

"I haven't, either."

The silence was broken again abruptly with the soft statement, the pain raw in the almost raspy words. He paused mid-stride and looked back at Fin again in surprise.

His partner was staring down at the file in his lap, his head bent low.

John felt the agony crush into his chest again.

They resumed working silently.

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His pen ran out of ink as he was signing the deposition for his newest case. Scowling, he tossed the black ballpoint into the trash can beside the desk and reached into the drawer, searching for another.

The phone beside his elbow rang and he raised his head.

"Hello," he answered, tucking the phone under his neck and stretching the cord as he continued his search.

"Is this Dwight Haskins?" a male voice said.

"Yes, it is," he answered absently, pawing through a mess of papers.

"Sir," the man continued, "This is Gary Owens, warden of the Erie County Holding Center. Am I correct in my information that you are currently working with a group of men we are holding in custody?"

His head came back up, his task forgotten.

"Yes," he repeated, wary now. "Is there a problem?"

Owens launched into the explanation for his call and Haskins sat back, stunned.

"Thank you for calling me," he said. "Tell them I'm on my way now."

They hung up. Dwight bristled in surprise again and immediately dialed his secretary.

"Glenda," he said into the phone. "Hold all my calls and appointments, please…something's come up. I have to go to Buffalo."

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Olivia's gaze floated up and across the room where Elizabeth remained standing patiently. Since her arms were occupied, she could only mouth a pained apology while pleading with her eyes for the woman not to be offended.

Doctor Olivet shook her head dismissively, indicating she didn't mind. She smiled gently and moved back to try and find a place to sit in the sparsely furnished apartment.

Blowing slightly through her cheeks, Olivia then returned her attention to her partner, huddled tightly against her with his face pressed into her neck. She stroked the back of his head in despair and bit her lip tearfully before glancing at the other woman once more.

The helplessness in her expression was clear. She felt horrible about it, but she just didn't know what to do.

But Doctor Olivet just smiled warmly and shook her head again to assure Olivia that everything was just fine.

She knew what to do. She wasn't offended and quite honestly had seen far worse displays of discomfort from her presence. Some of the children she had seen in the past had expressed it with raging tantrums and violent outbursts of temper against her office and whatever was close enough for them to throw.

She knew the fear associated with trauma and she knew how strong of a hold it had. The fact that the current subject happened to be at least thirty years older than her normal age range of patients was as irrelevant as finding out one of her young patients happened to be a Martian.

Her job was to help.

"Hello, Elliot," she said kindly from her spot across the room. Her bag was lying comfortably across her lap and her hands were folded over it. "It's good to see you…I'm terribly sorry I haven't kept in touch with you guys since the last time we worked together."

Though she kept her expression calm and her attention focused, Olivia couldn't help the wave of admiration from coursing through her. The doctor was talking to them like she would at any moment in the precinct and didn't sound the least bit awkward with them having not really had time to speak more than a passing word in nearly six years.

She snuck a look down. Elliot hadn't moved.

"Olivia." The conversational tone continued as Elizabeth addressed her then, making her look back over in slight surprise. Doctor Olivet's face was open and friendly. "I hope you don't mind…I recognized your car in the parking lot and parked in the space beside it…I wasn't really sure if it belonged to someone or if I had to park in a certain place…?"

Still surprised, Olivia blinked and had to shake herself mentally for a moment before she could respond.

"Oh," she said, nodding. "No, that's fine…that space does belong to a man on the next floor, but he usually doesn't get home from work until six or so. That's fine."

"Oh, good." Elizabeth sounded audibly relieved as she nodded back, an easy smile remaining on her face. She shifted slightly to the left, crossing her legs comfortably in the chair. "By the way, I'm sorry it took me a little longer to arrive."

She seemed to be addressing both of them again and Olivia still couldn't keep the shock at what was going on from her mind.

Right then and there, she thanked God for this woman. She was the one person she had seen in six weeks who was actually talking her partner like he was Elliot and not like he was a victim.

"I'm in the middle of an adoption process at the moment," she continued in a bubbly voice. "The office called me just as I was getting ready to get into my car and told me that another family was looking to adopt the same boy as me…I got a little crazy."

That was news to Olivia, and startling at that. They weren't close, she actually probably wouldn't even consider them good friends, but she knew enough about the woman's profession to know that a child was a challenging feat considering the cases she worked with.

Deciding to take cues from her, Olivia added to the conversation in quiet intrigue while continuing to rub soothing circles on Elliot's back.

"Oh," she said in happy surprise. "I didn't know you were adopting…how old?"

Elizabeth's answering smile held indulgent pride. "Just turned two," she said. "I've already bought enough toys to spoil him rotten. He's so handsome and so sweet…I fell in love the moment I laid eyes on him."

Olivia smiled tenderly. "What's his name?"

"Panda," Doctor Olivet answered with a loving grin.

Olivia did a double take in shock and then chuckled in surprised affection.

"His last owner named him because of the big black ring around his left eye," she went on. "It's unusual to see on a Dalmatian but it really does make him look kind of like a panda bear."

The detective smiled again and then suddenly felt movement against her.

She was shocked and pleased to see him turning his head to rest sideways under her chin. Though still keeping a tight grip on her, he was now hesitantly gazing out at Doctor Olivet.

Elizabeth smiled warmly at him. "You have a dog?"

She could feel the intensity in his stare and recognized the look well from so many years in practice. He was gauging her…deciding if he could trust her. She waited a moment before continuing nonchalantly when he didn't respond.

"Do you like dogs?" she asked pleasantly.

Olivia tried to keep her gaze as unobtrusive as she could knowing that if he felt her looking he would retreat again. But she couldn't keep the awe out of her eyes as she watched the two of them looking at each other, like opposite team members hesitant over whether to combine forces.

There was silence. The doctor's soft, grey eyes were gazing openly at her partner with kindness radiating and Olivia somehow knew that this moment was going to determine the history of whether or not he would be able to accept help.

She felt her heart starting to pound anxiously but swallowed quickly to try and not make it obvious.

Elliot blinked and appeared to be weighing the decisions in his head. His eyes narrowed.

Then he slowly nodded his head in response.

She watched the doctor's smile widen slightly without changing her expression. Olivia felt a tiny rush of excitement flutter in her heart but forced herself not to get her hopes up.

"What's your favorite?" Elizabeth asked passionately.

Olivia watched him stare at her some more and could feel his fingers gripping tighter every so often across her back.

"Great Dane," he answered softly after a long moment.

Her smile almost broke her face as she rubbed deeper circles into his back for a moment, trying to convey how happy she was with him.

Elizabeth's eyes danced merrily. "Wow, Great Dane," she said, sounding surprised. "Those things are like horses!" Her eyebrows jumped slyly. "Could you imagine having two of them? Think about how much fun that would be walking down the street!"

It wasn't obvious. If she hadn't had her eyes trained on his face, Olivia doubted she would have ever known about it. It was only a flicker, a ghost compared to the past, and so quick that someone else might argue it didn't even matter at all.

But for her, the sight of his lips curling into a small smile for that brief moment made her so happy that her eyes welled before she could react.

Though she said nothing to indicate, Elizabeth saw it too.

Continuing to smile at him, she shifted the bag on her lap so that it was propped upright and saw his eyes watch her movements as she began digging inside the cloth canvas.

"I brought some cards," she said brightly, coming up with a standard deck in a small box. "What's your favorite game?"

Olivia closed her eyes, smiling in excitement and tearful joy.

Rummy, she answered right away silently.

She listened to the silence without opening her eyes. It stretched for a few long moments but she didn't want to open her eyes for fear of seeing the walls coming back.

Doctor Olivet smiled enticingly, cocking an eyebrow in invitation. She watched him bite his lip and look down, the bashful look that suddenly appeared on his face making her want to laugh and hug him at the same time.

"Rummy," he said shyly.

She nodded, holding out the box with a wide smile. "Would you like to play?"

His brow furrowed and he bit his lip, turning his face back against Olivia uncertainly. She hugged him warmly, smiling gently at Doctor Olivet.

"I'll play too," she murmured reassuringly. "If you want to, I can play too."

She felt him swallow and his face rested against her neck.

"It's okay," Elizabeth insisted softly, leaning forward. "Elliot…we don't have to." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "We can if you want but we don't have to."

He sighed shakily, swallowing again. After another minute he turned his face out again and nodded slowly.