Disclaimer: See chapter one.

Firstly, apologies for the delay in posting this chapter - I've hit a busy time at the office so have been working overtime which has limited my chances to get anything written. Also, the chapter I had intended to write didn't materialise, or at least not in the way that I'd envisaged, so it took me a while to work through that frustration and accept this slightly different direction for the continuance. Hope it doesn't disappoint too much :)

Secondly, I appreciate all reviews - the good, the bad and the ugly - and I thank you all for taking the time to write anything. Everyone has a right to their own opinion and a right to voice it...all I would wish for is that opinions of any nature are voiced with respect for the opposite point of view too. We're all borrowing these characters for fun purposes therefore what is generated is merely one individual's interpretation of those characters outside the bounds of where we normally see them portrayed. As for what constitutes constructive criticism, for me that would be suggesting greater research into laws/locations/holiday dates to prevent future mistakes, a suggestion to beta-read a piece to cut down on spelling and grammatical errors etc, something which gives a writer a targeted means of improving what they write rather than simply saying you don't like something without further explanation. If you really feel the need to tell me that, in your opinion, any aspect of the story is ridiculous/pathetic/unbelievably stupid etc, please feel free to do so, preferably via PM, so that I can at least reply to any points raised and discuss why you feel that way. I won't use it to tell you you're wrong but I would be interested to know the grounds on which you've reached that decision. I'm not forcing anyone to read/like this, I'm writing it mainly for my own enjoyment but given that there are those reading who also enjoy it, I'd rather not have the reviews section become an area for heated debate unnecessarily. I'll never be churlish and threaten to pull the plug on the story should people disagree over its merits but I would like to hope that we can all remain civilised in respecting one another's rights to speak their minds and defend either side of the debate without recrimination.

Enough on that. Thank you to those of you still reading. Onwards...


Tuesday March 10th 2009

09.04

Manhattan Special Victims' Unit

"I should kick your ass into next week but, for reasons I don't quite understand, I'm giving you this one chance to tell me why you keep doing this, Elliot. One chance and one chance only. You're either honest with me, completely honest, right here, right now or we're done. For good. No more chances, no more taking you back as a partner when you decide you're a little bit tired or pissed or whatever you have going on that causes you to lash out like that at me. So talk." Liv stood in the corner of the interview room, arms folded across her chest in typical defensive stance, physically and emotionally distancing herself from the brawny detective she had been paired with for so many years.

Elliot had been surprised when the brunette had summoned him as soon as he arrived in the squad room, fearing she was gearing up to tell him he'd finally blown it completely. He took his time to formulate a response, leaning against a table at the edge of the room, arms braced against its surface, posture open in contrast to the woman glaring at him across the small room. "I've lain awake all night asking myself the same question. I'm not proud of it, of what I said and I know I have no right to expect you to forgive me for what I implied. I don't even know why I said it, I don't believe that's who you are, not for a second. I… The only thing that I keep coming back to is…God this makes me sound like a pathetic jerk… I'm jealous. We're partners, we've been partners for more years than either of us probably want to think about, and I always hoped that you'd talk to me if ever you found someone you wanted to spend your life with. When I found out Sam was your lover, that was the first slap in the face but to find out that Alex Cabot knew about it before I did…well my ego took that as a low blow. Rightly or wrongly, it hurt to know you talked to a woman you've known a fraction of the time I've known you about something, someone, so important to you. And then after it happened, you kept shutting me out, you and Alex between you, like she was the only one who could understand what you were feeling, what you were going through." He held a hand up to forestall her immediate objection. "Please, just hear me out? You can chew me a new one all you like once you hear it all but please, just let me get this out there, ok?" He waited to receive confirmation before continuing, "I realise that none of us can really know what it is that you're having to deal with because none of us have ever been in that position and as selfish as it sounds, I pray to God none of us ever are because I could never handle it as stoically as you have. If something like that happened to Kathy… I spent a good deal of last night thinking about that too, really thinking about it, not just in passing. If I had been faced with the decision you had to make…I can't honestly say I wouldn't have gone against every moral and ethical standard I have tried to live up to my entire life and done everything I could to save Kathy, regardless of the cost.

"It's no excuse and it makes me sound – and feel – like a whiny child vying for the cool kid's attention but every time I try to talk to you, whenever I try to be a supportive partner to you as best I can, Alex is always there. I know you two are friends and she has been good enough to give you a refuge since you came out of hospital but I've got to be honest, Liv, the way you two are with each other concerns me sometimes. She has more than friendship in mind from you and I just don't think you need that sort of thing around you to muddy the waters at the minute. If she was any kind of true friend to you, she wouldn't be trying to insinuate herself into every facet of your life and make herself invaluable to you in the hopes you'll give her what she wants in return. You can't possibly be in a position to pursue any kind of complex relationship right now. What you need is friends, who will be there looking out for your interests and your interests only, no one else's and certainly not their own. I think that was partly what prompted my bout of insanity-induced BS yesterday, powered by a shameful lack of sleep and lack of dignity which loosened my tongue far too much. I'm worried about you, about what happens to you once you leave Alex's and she's not there all the time. Not because I approve of the way she's seeming to encourage you to rely on her but because of that reliance I see growing. Have you spent much time alone – I mean really alone, sleeping alone without her in the apartment, over 24 hours without seeing her – since Sam's death? How do you know how you're really dealing with losing Sam if you've just substituted one domestic partner with another ready-made and more than willing replacement?

"You see me as this chauvinistic, bigoted ass and I understand why – because that's how I've let my concerns manifest themselves when you're around but it's not about the fact that Sam was a woman or that Alex is either. It's not about my religion and my beliefs telling me I should condemn you to Hell if you won't repent your evil ways. Of course, it's not what I would have chosen for you, if I had any kind of say in who you build a life with outside of work, but that's because of the struggles and the inequalities and the prejudice I know you'll face… and the increased risks living an openly gay life brings because of the narrow-minded hatred of others. But I wasn't completely blind to the changes in you this last year and even though you denied it, I figured there must be someone behind the secret smiles, the earlier than usual finishes and the phone calls you tried so hard to hide. She was good for you, even in the dark from the outside, I could tell that. I think, in all the years I've known you, that's the first time I could ever have described you as completely content. No matter what the Bible says, I know the God I believe in wouldn't condemn any kind of love that brings that amount of happiness. And neither can I. I just don't want to see you hurt by someone, anyone, taking advantage of you while you're down." Elliot's mind stalled momentarily, before he hastened to add, "I'm not trying to justify how I've behaved towards you but you asked for an explanation and that's the best I can give you, for now at least, while I work out the rest."

Liv remained motionless, face set in an impenetrable mask throughout Elliot's speech. She took her time, considering his words before choosing her own. She blinked slowly, arms reaching further around herself in an unconscious hugging motion. At length she asked, "so this is going to keep happening any time I confide in someone that isn't you? Any time Alex and I are in the same room because you can't handle the fact that I talk to her rather than talk to you?"

"Now that I recognise why I was acting that way, I'd hope not and if I show any signs of it, I give you full permission to ream my ass for it wherever we are when it happens. But my concerns regarding Alex's intentions towards you aren't going to go away overnight. Seriously, Olivia, have you spent much time without Alex there, hovering over you?" the swarthy detective pressed gingerly, knowing he was on very shaky ground.

"Alex hasn't been hovering," Liv snapped automatically leaping to the younger woman's defence. "She's been a damn good friend to me both before and since Sam's death. She accepted our relationship, right from the beginning, she never once told me I shouldn't be happy to have found that kind of love. And since…in the last month, she's been so supportive, so strong in helping me put one foot in front of the other every day, even when I thought I couldn't."

"And what does she get in return? What does she get from you for all this generosity and support?" Elliot argued, not unreasonably he thought, trying to cut through the… brainwashing, for wont of a better word, his partner seemed to have been subjected to.

"I'm not sure I follow? What makes you so certain Alex is after anything more than the knowledge that she helped me through this, like any friend worth their salt would, like I would if our situations were reversed? Are you seriously telling me that you think she's been, what grooming me, all this time just so she can get into my pants? Do you even know Alex at all? What put that ridiculous thought in your head in the first place?" Olivia exploded furiously. "This is unbelievable!"

"Is it? Why are you so defensive if there's no truth in it? I might not have spent time away from work with her like you have but I recognise lust, desire and infatuation when I see it," Elliot insisted.

"That's what you see when you see us together?" The fire faded instantly, replaced by tentative enquiry.

"In Alex? Yes, I do," Elliot replied simply.

"And in me? What do you see in me?" Liv asked, fearfully.

"Honestly? I see someone who's conflicted and susceptible to suggestion and who needs time and space to find out what it is she really wants from her life, her future. I see a woman who is still trying to make some kind of sense out of the brutal loss of a cherished loved one and not really knowing what to do with the hurt and the anger and the emptiness inside of her. I see someone who is phoning it in on a job that she used to live for because of the above and that is by no means a criticism of your professionalism. I've just known you long enough to know when you're not fully engaged. You came close with Theresa Gabbidon but there was still…a distance. It wouldn't be noticeable to anyone else I wouldn't have thought but I know you, Olivia, inside and out. Whether you like it or not, I know you and I know that you're not handling Sam's death as well as you lead us all to believe…as well as you want to believe you are yourself."

"What would you have me do, Elliot? Sit at home – my home, the apartment I shared with Sami, pining for her for months on end? Should I become a recluse and refuse to see anyone? How, in your expert opinion, am I supposed to be acting? What am I not doing, precisely, that you think I should be doing? I am doing the best I can to keep on living, to move on from what happened and whether you appreciate her methods or not, Alex has been instrumental in getting me this far. Whatever is between us is not something borne solely in the aftermath of Sam's death. It's complicated," Liv rambled, attempting to explain the complexities of her situation with Alex.

"Precisely…and it shouldn't be, at least not for the moment. I'm not saying never explore whatever attraction there is you and Alex, if once you're truly over Sam's death you still find you have those kinds of feelings for her but right now, can you honestly say that you want Alex and only Alex in your arms? In your bed? Can you really say you don't still have a large part of you that wishes it was Sam? If you can't, is it really fair, to either you or Alex to take it any further? There's no right or wrong way to grieve someone, Liv. You and only you can know what's best for you, I just don't want to see you being convinced something is right when it's not." Elliot risked taking a few steps towards his partner, testing the waters to see how willing she was to let him approach. When he felt no increased hostility, he continued to draw nearer, still with some caution and trepidation. Finally, as he came to stand beside her, mirroring her pose, he sighed, "I honestly do care about you, perhaps more than I should and perhaps I let that cloud my judgement and my actions, but it comes from not wanting to see you hurt any more than you already have been. All I've ever wanted was for you to be happy."

"I was. For the first time in my life, I was completely and wholly happy. Everything made sense, everything I'd ever questioned, suddenly I understood it – I had a family who weren't afraid to show their love for each other, I had a lover who seemed to know when I needed her without me even having to say a word, I had a reason to go home, someone that even after witnessing the worst aspects of humanity could make me smile and put it out of my mind for a few hours at least. I had a future I was looking forward to, not one I knew I simply had to get through." Olivia shook her head sadly. "But that's all gone now and I need to find a way to learn to live again. Before I had all that, I might have wanted it, I might have craved it but I didn't really know what I was missing, I didn't know how it all felt to be in that moment, in that place where you want for nothing more than you have already. Now that I do, I can't just go back to how I was, to who I was. The job alone isn't enough, not any more. I need more than this."

"It's not all gone. You still have Sam's family, her parents. They seem to be very keen to keep you in their lives…" Elliot protested.

"They were…until yesterday," Olivia admitted.

"What happened yesterday?" the ex-marine asked, offering to be a sounding board for his partner.

"I told them that I have feelings for another woman…for Alex. Gina couldn't accept it, she doesn't want to see me and I can understand why, as much as it hurts to think of not seeing them again. I've no desire to knowingly cause anyone pain but my being around seems to be doing that a lot just lately. If it wasn't for me, Sam wouldn't have been targeted, she wouldn't have been killed and Gina and Fausto wouldn't have had to lose their daughter."

"You can't know that, Liv, not for certain. We don't know the details of the investigation into Samia's death. There could be any number of reasons behind the bombing…" Elliot tried in an attempt to assuage his partner's guilt.

"I think it's perfectly clear from the messages I was sent that I am responsible for the anger and hatred which led to that bomb being strapped to my fiancée. I appreciate what you're trying to do but false platitudes are not what I need," the brunette replied wearily.

"Well I hope, for all of you, that you can reconcile with Sam's parents. Families need to draw together at times like this, not let it drive them apart. I can't help but feel you were a bit premature in telling them about your feelings for Alex – I mean do you know what you feel for Alex is real? Can you be entirely certain that what happened to Sam hasn't driven you to mistake a deep, close friendship for something else? Don't you feel it is a little soon to be acting on an attraction even if it is there and real and available?" Elliot pressed gently.

"I don't know what to think about anything anymore. I thought I was ready, I thought I knew what I wanted but then… I… Alex and I… we almost slept together this morning but I couldn't… it… I… I just couldn't do it when it came to it. And Alex stopped, as soon as she realised it was… that I wasn't ready. She wouldn't have done that if she was just using me, would she? She'd have kept going regardless until she was satisfied if it was all about her needs, wouldn't she?"

"I don't think you want to hear what I believe," Elliot responded carefully.

"I do. I promise to try not to fly off the handle at you. Please, Elliot, you've been honest with me up to now today, don't stop now. I…I'm not sure I trust my own judgement at the minute. Be a friend to me. You say you care about me, prove it now by telling me what you think I need to hear, even if I might not like it," Liv instructed.

Elliot looked closely at the woman beside him, at her slumped posture, at her defeated expression and made his mind up. "Ok, you want my honest opinion. Here it is: I don't think anyone who cared about you as much as Alex claims to would put you in that position so soon after the brutal, unexpected death of your fiancée. If she loves you as much as she has led you to believe she does, she would realise that a new relationship is the last thing you need right now and she wouldn't initiate any kind of physical intimacy for a long, long time yet and if and when it gets to that stage between you two, she should allow you to be the instigator so you'll both know for certain that it is what you want. I don't doubt that she has genuine feelings for you – I'll admit I had my own suspicions about how close you two were before she was shot – but I do worry she's unconsciously taking advantage of where you're at right now to fulfil her own needs without stopping to really consider what damage it could do to both of you in the long run. I think that maybe it's time for you to move out of her place and learn to live by yourself again, to stand on your own two feet without any kind of crutch there constantly. That's not to say you should cut all ties with her, just that some distance might help both of you gain some perspective on what's going on between you and help you decide if it's really something you want as your future."

The door to the interview room burst open, revealing their captain with a deeply concerned expression on his face. "I told you, Stabler, you weren't to approach Detective Benson…" the fatherly man growled protectively.

"Captain, he didn't. I asked to speak with him. It's ok, we're ok…we're ok," Olivia repeated, as though it was a revelation to her also.

"We are?" Elliot questioned, not hiding his surprise.

"We are… as long as you don't ever pull anything like that again," Liv warned gravely. "But I do appreciate your honesty, Elliot and I'm not dismissing what you've said without giving it a lot of thought. Despite how it's seemed recently, I do honestly think that you care."

"That's all very touching but I still think a little distance is needed for the time being. I can't afford for either of you to behave like you did yesterday on the job. I spoke with Sergeant Munch and Detective Tutuola yesterday. I'm reassigning you to new partners for a temporary period, consider it probation until I'm satisfied you can be civil towards one another for longer than a few days. Olivia, you'll work with Fin. Elliot, you're with Munch. No arguments, no negotiations, no exceptions. Now get to it. We still have a rapist to catch before he snatches his next victim."


Tuesday March 10th 2009

12.32

Manhattan Special Victims' Unit

Abbie strolled into the squad room, gaze swiftly roaming around the bustling bullpen, finally landing on the attractive brunette she had come looking for. Olivia was leaning on Fin's desk, their heads bent together as they looked at something on the computer screen, the ex-narcotics detective pointing something out to his colleague.

"…could be some sort of warped pattern in all this. They almost seem too random to be random," Fin claimed.

"Ever a lover of backwards logic there, Detective," Abbie drawled, announcing her presence.

Olivia spun around, flashing a brief smile at her friend before striding closer and surprising the younger brunette with a quick, tight hug. "Alex said you were flying back in overnight. What can we do for you, Counsellor?" she asked, suspecting it was not a social call.

"I was actually wondering if I could borrow you for a few minutes, Liv. There's something I need to discuss with you, about Samia's case," Abbie requested softly, having more than just the case she wanted to talk about but not wanting anyone to know who needn't.

"Go ahead, I got this. It'll take this hunk of junk a while to go through all the data we plugged into it anyway. If it's ready before you're back, I'll give you a shout," Fin promised before Olivia could object.

"Thanks, Fin," Abbie said, grateful to him for the lack of fuss he made.

The two women walked a short distance away from the detective's desk, Abbie looking around at the hive of activity.

"Is there somewhere quiet we can talk?" she asked a little doubtfully.

"There's the lounge upstairs, that's less crowded, fewer ears to overhear us," the athletic brunette suggested waiting for a confirmatory nod before taking off up the short flight of steps and flopping onto the well worn couch a little way away from the balcony overlooking the squad room. The noise was less of a roar up there but there was still a dull rumble of voices wafting up from below. Given that it appeared to be the only option Liv was planning on considering, Abbie accepted it would have to do. "So what can I do for you? Or is it that you have news for me? Are you ready to charge someone for Sam's murder?" Liv asked, getting straight to the point.

"Unfortunately not, not yet at least although we are making some headway on her case. How much do you know about Craig Jackson? Did Samia mention him much?" Abbie asked, settling herself into the sofa beside her friend, taking a moment to study her as the older woman formulated a response to the questions asked of her.

"She did talk about him, a fair bit. He was…he unnerved her. The attention he gave to her, some of the things he said and implied were bordering on outright harassment but never quite enough to report him and have the school's board take action against him – not that they were likely to have done even if she had reported his behaviour to them. As much as she loved that school and its kids, even she admitted that the people responsible for it were close-minded and none too liberal in their opinions. She doubted they would have seen Jackson suggesting she was promoting a lesbian agenda and asking her to refrain from doing so as a bad thing, that they'd have been likely to agree with him that any endorsement of anything other than traditional family values should be strongly discouraged, to protect the innocent, vulnerable minds of the children who attend the school." Liv's eyes became hard as she recalled some of the more heated debates she and Sam had had regarding the need to hide her sexuality from the school.

"Did she ever mention him having made advances towards her? Trying to persuade her to pursue a relationship with him?" the US Attorney enquired cautiously, really not wanting to upset her friend but having requested to be the one to speak with her about the matter rather than the detectives.

"Nothing serious. She told me of this one time when he had asked her to dance at one of the end of term proms. She turned him down, told him it wasn't appropriate because people – both the students and the staff – might get the wrong impression about them and that there were already enough rumours about them as it was. She did tell me that he seemed keen to fan the flames of those rumours, that he suggested they should prove whoever started them right and be honest about their feelings for one another. She promised me she told him that she felt nothing for him. Is he saying they were in a relationship? Is he claiming that she was cheating on me with him? It's BS if he is, Abbie. I may be confused about a lot of things right now but there is no way she'd do that. No way on earth, not with anyone but certainly not with him. She could barely stand to be in the same room as him, she'd never willingly go out of her way to be alone with him."

"It's just a line of enquiry. We have to pursue everything and prove which are truths and which are fallacies so we can build a case, you know that yourself. We're talking to everyone who knew Sam but I thought you'd appreciate me asking the difficult questions slightly more than Morientes or Sykes. As much as they're good detectives from what I've seen, occasionally their approach to dealing with interviewing innocent parties can be a little robust," Abbie stated with a shrug, mind replaying what Olivia had said during her vehement defence of Sam's loyalty. "What is it you're confused about, Olivia?" she asked, switching seamlessly from attorney to friend in the time it took her to draw breath.

"Too much to get into right now. You don't have time, neither do I." There was a finality to the statement which troubled the Texan but what concerned her more was the closed off expression and flat tone with which it was uttered, the detective's defences firmly in place.

"I can make time if you need someone to talk things through with? I have a feeling I might know at least part of what's troubling that big brain of yours," Abbie suggested, twisting around to more fully face her friend.

"Why would you?" Liv asked incredulously before a light of realisation spread over her exotic features. "Alex." It wasn't a question, not a request for confirmation, merely a statement of fact that she believed to be true.

"She was worried she'd overstepped the mark this morning," Abbie admitted quietly. Olivia's head snapped up, eyes boring into cagey brown orbs.

"She told you what happened?" Liv whispered ferociously, clearly less than impressed with the younger woman's willingness to share the details of their intimate close encounter with anyone else.

"She compared what happened between you to attempted rape. She was pretty distressed about the whole thing and blames herself entirely for what happened, for hurting you, for pushing you into something you weren't ready for." Abbie's tone was one of forced nonchalance even as her words cut Liv to the quick.

"What the hell…?" the brunette detective barked. "She can't think that's what I saw this morning as, does she? Please tell me she's not convinced herself I blame her for that? We were both there. We both admitted before it got that far that we shouldn't but we both let it continue. It shouldn't have happened but it is not just her fault. I need to make sure she knows that, I should talk to her later."

"So if that's not what's confusing you, what is?" Abbie questioned, a bemused expression adorning her attractive features.

"It is…partly at least…in a way. Elliot and I talked this morning. I think for the first time he was completely honest with me and some of the concerns he has…I can't dismiss them outright as being unjustified. As much as I've been telling myself and anyone else who'd listen that my feelings for Sam and Alex are entirely separate, when I stop to think about them I get less sure of that. What if I've jumped the gun and told Alex what she wanted to hear but it's not the truth? What if the feelings I used to have for her have faded and I'm only feeling the way I do now because I'm missing Sam? What if I get into a relationship with her only to hurt her because I can't return her feelings? What if I lost the closest thing to family I've known for nothing? And then I get to thinking about whether I really had as deep feelings for Sam as I thought I did or if I was just using her as a substitute for Alex. I've no idea what to believe any more. I don't trust myself to really know what's real and what's being generated as a result of losing Sami."

"No one can claim to know what will or won't happen in the future. In any relationship there are risks involved and even when you're certain of your feelings for someone else, that doesn't guarantee you'll live happily ever after. Even if you were a hundred percent sure that it was Alex you wanted to be in a committed relationship with, that wouldn't be a failsafe assurance that the reality of being with her lived up to your ideals. And if Gina and Fausto love you as much as it sounds like they do, they'll find their own way to make peace with you having to move on with your life – although you probably could have given them a while longer to get used to their daughter not being around before you sprung a new relationship on them." At the withering look she received, Abbie protested, "what? I'm just saying that from their point of view it must be shocking to hear you talking about making a life with someone else so soon after you were talking about doing the same with Sam. Rightly or wrongly, I can understand why Gina might have felt that undermined everything you claimed to feel about Samia but that doesn't make it true, doesn't necessarily mean you didn't love her as much as you think you did. And it's not, or at least it shouldn't be, an issue to anyone if it takes you weeks, months, hell even years more before you figure out if Sam really was the one for you or if Alex is it or if neither of them are but they were amazing lovers while it lasted. When you're ready, you'll know in your own mind what the truth is. Until then, why don't you just enjoy being good, close friends with Alex without putting either of you under pressure to take it further? I'll be honest with you, Liv, because in spite of everything you have going on, I think you can take it and I think you'd want to know. I'm worried about Alex. I'm worried about how much stress she's under right now and I'm seriously thinking of asking someone else to be second chair on the investigation – not because I don't think she's doing a good job, I do, but she has so many other cases she's trying to juggle as well. And with trying to be the best person she can for you too, in any context, I'm worried she's spreading herself too thinly and that at some point, something has to give. Just as you don't need added complications right now, neither does Alex."

"I worry about her too. I'm looking for a new apartment, in fact I've got an appointment to view one tomorrow evening after work. I think it's probably for the best if I move out as soon as I can and give her some space. If I'm not there, if she's not constantly having to worry about me, she might be less on edge and actually get some rest when she's at home. Less time around one another would also reduce the chances of either of us crossing that line again as well…and it will give me a chance to see how I'm really coping with not having Sam around. Elliot made a good point earlier when he said I'd just switched one domestic partnership for another. For myself and for any future that Alex and I have, I need to be sure I grieve Sam's loss fully, that I'm confident with who I am and what I want from life and any relationship I enter before I rush into something and end up hurting her. I'm not willing to risk that. I'm not willing to risk doing that, not to her. But I want her to feel involved, I don't want her to think it's a kneejerk reaction to this morning. Do you think, if I asked her, she'd come to view the apartment with me? Are you around? Would you come too? For both of us? I know Alex values your support and I…value your honesty. I know you'll tell me if you think the place is a rat-hole." Liv raised her eyes, fixing Abbie with a hopeful stare.

"I think, if you explain it to her the way you just explained it to me, Alex will fully support your decision and be more than willing to come with you to look at a new apartment. I will too, of course I will if that's what you'd like. Just make sure she knows you're not running away from her, ok? I'm loathe to put any more pressure on either of you right now but I think you do need to be aware that she needs you to be a good friend to her just as much as you need her. I agree that some space is probably a wise thing right now, let you both gain some perspective on this attraction that's growing between you, so long as you both feel able and willing to call on each other any time you want company. And as long as you're careful – there's still someone out there who's bearing a grudge against you for whatever reason so I hope this place we're going to view has some pretty hefty security measures in place."

"You don't think it's Jackson that's behind it then?" Liv queried, allowing a little of her anxiety at the reference to the threat still being current to show.

"We're not entirely sure of the extent to which he's involved but no, we don't believe he built the bombs which means he's either the inspiration behind the attacks or a convenient scapegoat for the real perpetrator to hide behind. Until we've found the bomber, you really do need to take the ongoing threat seriously and be at least somewhat cautious," Abbie advised, realising it was tantamount to teaching her grandmother to suck eggs but needing to say it out loud for her own peace of mind, knowing that way she had done everything she could to help protect the detective.

"Seems I'm collecting crazies at the minute," Liv muttered mindlessly.

"What does that mean?" Abbie pounced on the dark statement with a frown.

"This rapist we're investigating at the minute, I put myself in his sights as a tactic to try and get him to trip himself up. We're waiting to see if he took the bait. Trouble is, he seemed a little too interested in Alex as well – she was in the squad room when he was brought in for questioning, I couldn't help but act protectively towards her. I need to know she's going to have someone looking out for her after I move out. I know it's a lot to ask and she wouldn't appreciate me suggesting she can't take care of herself but is there any way you could maybe stay with her while you're here in New York, once I'm out of the way and she has her spare room back? I don't even…I won't object if you and she pick up where you left off last time if it means she has some companionship and someone to know that she makes it home safely each night.…" Liv assured, ignoring the pang of jealousy images of Alex and Abbie together caused.

"Get those ideas out of your mind. I wouldn't do that to either of you, not now I understand what's at stake for you both. Yes, I find Alex attractive and if things were different I wouldn't turn down the opportunity to take her to my bed again but they're not. Things are as they are and I wouldn't knowingly continue to sleep with her when casual sex isn't what she needs or wants, certainly not from me. I was wrong to let it happen before and I won't be letting it happen again. If, and it will be entirely down to Alex, but if she wants company – of an entirely platonic nature – once you've moved out then I would be more than happy to crash in her spare room. Hell, her apartment is way more decadent than the motel I'm staying in on the crappy budget I've been set, I'd be mad to turn down the opportunity to sleep in a comfortable bed where I don't have to worry about how many DNA samples the mattress contains. But regardless, whether I end up staying with her or not, between us, I'm sure we can persuade her to check in with at least one of us every night. If for no other reason than to get some peace because if she doesn't agree to it, I will be constantly phoning her to see where she's at!" Abbie stated firmly, prepared to make a deal with the doormen at the apartment complex if needs be to monitor the younger attorney's comings and goings.

Liv nodded her agreement, vaguely hopeful that between them they could persuade Alex that they were simply looking out for her best interests. "I'll miss being with her," the brunette admitted quietly.

"I'm sure she'll miss you being there too but it's for the best, Olivia. You know it is," Abbie assured warmly, giving the detective's toned forearm a quick squeeze before retracting her hand when heavy footfalls sounded bounding up the stairs.

"Liv, we got something you're gonna want to check out," Fin exclaimed, almost bouncing on the spot in his excitement. "Sorry to bust in, but this could be the break we've been looking for."

"It's fine, I should get back anyway and let you get on. I'll see you tomorrow, Olivia," Abbie stated, rising from the couch with one final pointed look in the older woman's direction.

"Thanks Abbie, I'll let you know what time and where," Liv promised earnestly, dragging her own carcass to her feet and turning her attention to her excited temporary partner. "Lead on then and show me this miraculous discovery. I'll take great delight in throwing Markson's ass in jail."