Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.

"Well," Olivia's shaking breath almost stopped the word from being audible. She tossed a photograph and a folder down onto the shoddy wooden table in front of her and dragged both hands down her face before letting them fall into her lap. "At least...now, we know."

Elliot drapes one arm over her shoulders as the other hand stroked over her blue suit jacket. "Yeah," he whispered.

"Munch text you yet? I want to go home," she said with exhaustion lacing her words.

Munch had taken Serena down to the lobby for a cup of coffee and fresh air after the painful conversation he'd forced her to have. A conversation that had ended with finally finding closure and getting the name of the man that raped her, fathered her child, and caused years of grief and pain for her and Olivia.

"Not yet," Elliot whispered, kissing her sweetly. He waited a moment and then brought up the one thing they'd been avoiding. "I know...the statute of limitations has been up for decades, but...there's a million other reasons to bring him in if...if you want to talk…"

"Talk to him?" She scoffed and shook her head, her eyes dropping back to the eight by ten glossy staring up at her from the table. "I don't want to talk to him," she whispered. She rubbed her lips together as she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "He came to your...our…" and her eyes narrowed. "Why?" The question was a bare breath.

She reached for the file again, confused, her mind racing as fast as her heart as she flipped through its pages. "Why the hell...I wasn't…" she bit her lip. "This doesn't make any sense. He was there for...a lot of things he had no reason to be..." she broke off and shook her head.

"He knew about you," he said softly, kissing her temple. He pulled the folder out of her hands and threw it as far down the table as he could. He shifted closer to her on the lumpy couch, heaving a heavy sigh, and he dropped his head to hers. "Baby, he was following you. Us. Bugged the old apartment after we got married…" he inhaled sharply. "That's how he knew about christenings and birthday parties and why…" he closed his eyes and pulled her tighter to him. "Why he has always just fucking shown up in places he shouldn't have been."

Olivia exhaled, the tightening in her chest causing her lungs to burn as she fell further into him. "He knew where I was going to be, when, who I was with…" she turned, her fingers curling around the lapels of his blue suit jacket. "He knew...he knew about you...how I felt about you...the whole time."

Elliot nodded, twisting to kiss her. "He's known everything, from the moment we met, and he…" he expelled a scoffing laugh and rubbed her arm. "He told Tucker that...he never wanted to get personally involved, he just wanted to make sure you were safe. That you were happy."

Olivia took a deep breath, staying still and quiet for the briefest of moments. The electric hum of the neon lights in the staff lounge was the only noise, the sage green walls closing in around them. Suddenly something registered, a realization struck her like lightning and she shot up off of Elliot with a deep gasp and wide eyes.

"Baby?" He asked worriedly, standing. He watched, puzzled, as she practically flew down the stairs. He ran after her and kept her in his sight as she burst into Cragen's office without knocking. He stepped into the small room, panting, his eyes wide, and then he heard her.

"It wasn't you!" She practically yelled. "That bank account...it was inactive for six years! He retired six years ago!" She clawed through her hair as she spouted, "It was him, wasn't it! He knew...he fucking knew how much I loved Elliot! He had my place bugged! He paid Cassidy to hit Elliot, knowing...or hoping that he'd end up forgetting his entire fucking life!" She laughed, it was a bitter and vengeful chuckle, and the hot tears that spilled out of her eyes landed on the shoulders of her blazer. "Fuck, I'm right, aren't I? That's why you were so quick to take the blame! Why you had my apartment searched the minute you got those account records back from…" she shook her head. "You knew."

Cragen's eyes, wide and glossy, bounced from her to Elliot's flummoxed face in the doorway and back again. "Listen to me, I never meant for you to…"

"You were going to keep it from me?" Her eyes narrowed. "You would rather have me believe that you were part of some fucked up scheme to take Elliot down, you'd rather have me lose complete faith in you...than tell me that the man who raped my mother is the one who's responsible for the last…almost a year?"

"Damn it, Olivia, yes!" Cragen shouted.

"Oh, don't you dare fucking yell at her!" Elliot snapped, proving he was paying full attention to the conversation. He stepped up in front of Olivia protectively, raised a threatening finger, and his nostrils flared as he said through a tightly clenched jaw, "She has been through enough tonight, she has every right to be confused and upset!"

Cragen smirked vindictively at Elliot. "She's not confused," he said, and his face fell into his hands as a burdensome weight seemed to fall on his shoulders. He hunched over and said, "She's right. There was no plot to get you out of the station, and there was never any deal between me and...anyone else." He looked toward Olivia, his entire soul cracking at the sight of her emotion battled face and tear stained cheeks. "It was him. He's been doing everything in his power to make up for...how you...um, got here." He shrugged once. "He's actually…" his hand shook rapidly as he pulled open a side drawer of his desk. He pulled out a thick file, opened it up, and shuffled through what seemed like a thousand pages. He gulped as he lifted one single sheet of paper out of the stack and his fingers trembled as he held it out to her. "He's the reason you're in this unit."

Olivia took the paper, read it, and felt her whole world shift again, the way it did ten months ago when Elliot woke up in the hospital thinking she was his wife. She shook her head and fresh tears rolled like boulders out of her eyes and down her cheeks. "You knew...the whole...the whole time." Her head slowly pulled itself up and her pained gaze met Cragen's worried eyes. "You lied to me. To my mother. To Elliot. For almost six years."

"No, I didn't...I didn't know he was your father," Cragen professed. "Not until Elliot barged in here with that photo and his crazy theory last night."

"Wasn't so crazy, was it?" Elliot gritted out, his teeth still gnashing together. He had one arm tightly wrapped around Olivia's hips and the other looped over her shoulder, keeping her braced in front of him, against him.

Cragen let out a soft breath and let his elbows hit the surface of his hardwood desk. "Apparently not," he whispered.

Olivia felt Elliot's lips press to the throbbing pulse at her neck, and she closed her eyes and held in the sob attempting to break through. She swallowed hard again, and then reached down to her hip. Her fingers curled around her badge; it felt colder than it should have under her touch. She pulled it off of her belt, raised it slightly, and then dropped her heavy eyes to it. "My whole life…" she sniffled. "All I ever wanted was this job. This…" she felt an intense burn behind her nose, stinging at her eyes. "This life...a husband I can't and don't want to stop kissing, kids that are as much trouble as they are little angels, this…" her other hand dropped to her stomach and pressed into her swollen skin. "This baby."

Cragen didn't know what he was watching but every single moment of it broke his heart.

Elliot kissed her neck again and whispered, "Me, too, baby."

She let herself smile slightly at his words but she shook her head as the sob finally erupted and her body shook twice with her cries. "All I've ever wanted...I have it all and it's all…" she jerked with another cry. "It's all a fucking lie." She slammed her badge down onto Cragen's desk and ripped herself out of Elliot's hold.

Elliot turned faster than she'd expected, because she did expect him to try to stop her, and he grabbed her arms and yanked her back to him. "None of it is a lie!" he whisper-yelled at her. He found her eyes through the foggy tears and he shook his head firmly. "You are the most amazing woman...the best fucking cop I have ever worked with, and I've worked with a million of them! You are so fucking good at what you do!" He let his palms slide up and press into the sides of her face, his thumbs windshield-wiping away her falling tears. "I love you, more than...more than I think anyone has ever loved another person." His own tears formed and fell, and his voice wavered as he spoke. "Our kids...our amazingly beautiful, talented, angelic little monsters... are smart and funny, happy, healthy mini versions of us, and this baby…" one of his shivering hands trailed down her body and cane to a stop over her belly button. "This miracle... is only more proof that we are exactly where we are meant to be, with each other, and none of it is anything less than the most honest, genuine, pure fucking love in the fucking world."

She watched his lips quiver and felt his body undulating against hers. She sniffled and felt his hands dig deeper into her skin, gripping her even tighter.

"So he wrote a letter, baby, so what?" He swallowed, feeling his ears pop, and he said, "That letter doesn't change the fact that you were the fucking fastest, toughest, strongest rookie in your class...it doesn't change the fact that you rose to the fucking top of the department food chain in less time than anyone else, or that you could have walked into any damn unit in the city, pointed to a desk, and had your pick of any job you wanted. Baby, that letter was just another reason...SVU already wanted you, and I promise you...even if he never sent it to Cragen, you'd still be doing this job, I would still be right by your side, and you would still be the most incredible wife and mother and cop...and woman...in the entire fucking universe." He kissed her lips and whispered, "None of that is a fucking lie."

She nodded hard and fast as she threw herself into him, around him, and buried her head in his neck. "I love you, I love you, I love you so much." She sobbed as she repeated it over and over, telling him she believed him, promising him she knew.

Elliot held her and kissed the side of her head, and once his eyes opened he glared over at Cragen. He reached one hand out and grabbed Olivia's badge, and as he clutched it in his hand, he pointed again at Cragen. "We're going to get her mother, we're going home, and you…" he shook his head in heartfelt disappointment. "You think about what keeping this from her is going to cost you."

Cragen watched them leave and dropped his head into his hands, taking a few deep and solid breaths. He looked down at the letter Olivia had dropped back onto his desk, the transfer order from Sergeant Joe Costello, who they now knew was Joe Hollister. He cringed and he read it over again. "You son of a bitch," he said, realizing something, and he grabbed his phone and dialed fast. "Clara...fine, thank you, listen... I need the names of everyone who accessed or altered Elliot Stabler's records in the last…six years."

He listened, nodding when the names were read off to him. The list was expected: him, Elliot, Olivia, Ed Tucker, a judge and a lawyer, and one name he was only half-prepared to hear. "Wait, stop there. When was that? He what? When? I need exact dates, please." He listened and his eyes closed. Thanks, Clara." He hung up and rolled his hand down his face again, making a pained noise. Olivia's father had logged into the system on his last day in office and changed not only Elliot's files, but Olivia's as well, declaring them husband and wife and linking them in every possible space. No one ever caught it because, until recently, this particular facts never needed to be updated or changed. He let out a soft growl and rose to his feet.

Olivia may not have wanted to talk to Joe Hollister, but Cragen certainly did.

Peace and Love

Jo