A/N: "I will never become you. The only time I will raise a hand to my son is to give him the highest of fives. The only time I will grab my child is to hug them tight. I will not become you. " Paul Forthern, Age 13. Untitled Poem
DISCLAIMER: Credit for inspiration and original creation goes to Dick Wolf. This version of the characters, events, and written story belongs to me. ::Evil laugh::
Alex spent two days in the hospital after telling Joe Stabler what had happened to her at school. Two detectives dragged a fifth year senior out of the building in handcuffs on the very day the school shut its doors.
Elliot and Olivia took their finals at Queens Park High School and got all too excited about being able to wear jeans and tee shirts instead of their stuffy uniforms. After their last test, in the first minutes of what was officially summer, Elliot kissed Olivia and promised her that all of their problems were behind them.
He grabbed her hand and started walking with her, leading her home, and he chuckled as he said, "As amazing as you look in those jeans, I miss seeing you in that skirt."
She rolled her eyes. "I hope you kept copies of our school pictures, because I fully intend to never wear it again." She stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek, and she let him pull her closer to him. She sighed and looked around at the quiet street. The houses they strolled by were picturesque, the clumps of people scattered around the sidewalks were all just like them, eager to get home on the last day of school for three months of lazy freedom. It was the first time she found the beauty in the city, Queens finally living up to its name.
"What's got your gears turning," he asked, knowing what the look in her eyes meant.
"I spent most of the past few years...wishing I could just leave. Go. Get out of Queens and away from my mother." She bit her lip as her head angled toward his. "Now, the thought of having to be anywhere else..." she took a breath and swallowed, a sour taste in her mouth made her queasy. "Terrifies me. I can't even stand to be in another room without you, how would I handle it if…" she shook her head, the words tasting foul as they landed on her tongue. "If I ever had to leave you?"
"I would really like to see anything or anyone try to take you away from me," Elliot said with a severe look on his face. "You and me, nothing's gonna tear us apart." He kissed her lips softly. "Nothing. Ever." He kissed her again, one hand coming to the back of her neck making it deeper and more soulful.
"I love you," her voice broke into the kiss, her words came out on a tremble. She meant them with every fiber of her being, but a small and meek voice in the back of her mind told her she was too young, too damaged to love anyone. To be loved. She pushed that voice back down into the hole it rose from and told it to shut the fuck up. She blinked a few times and said it again. "I love you."
Elliot smiled at her. "I love you, too, babe." He kissed her forehead and pulled her along, heading toward his house. "You, uh, you were serious this morning? You really want…" he felt funny bringing it up outside in broad daylight, around other people, but he couldn't help the smirk on his lips or the throb in his groin as he thought about it. "You'd let me do that to you?"
She nodded slowly, gripping his hand tighter. "It wouldn't...be entirely one sided, El. I want to…" Her sentence failed as he kissed her again, his eager body rolling into hers.
He pulled back a bit and nuzzled her nose, and he said, "That's the thing. Ever since Alex... I mean, I've been so careful, watching where I put my hands, making sure I'm not pushing you too far. I don't ever want you to think I'm trying to…"
She whipped a finger onto his lips. "One, you wouldn't be, okay? You'd ask, you'd make sure, we both would! And two...you can put your hands...anywhere you want." She angled her gaze a bit to let him know that not only was she serious, she was honestly giving him permission.
They'd both agreed. Fifteen was too young to take certain large leaps, but they had to be honest with themselves. They had curiosities, desires to explore, share more of themselves with each other without crossing the carefully and firmly drawn line they'd set for themselves. They didn't have any insecurities when it came to each other, and they've always known and always said that they may be fifteen in years but they were so very much older.
He cleared his throat, tugged on his jeans, and checked his watch. He noticed the band twitching with his rapidly pounding pulse beneath it, and he let out a hard breath. "No one...no one will be home for a while, if you…" he looked into her eyes and his heart stopped. They glistened with the most pure love he'd ever known. His lips curled and he kissed her again, "If you're sure."
She silently pulled harder on his hand, leading the way to the end of the block, toward Elliot's street. When they rounded the corner of his block and their eyes landed on the house, they stopped short. "What the…"
They let go of each other and both ran fast, until finally making it to the front steps. "What's happening?" he asked, trying to push past the uniformed officers that were keeping them at bay. "That's my house! My family! What the hell happened?"
"Buck," Joe Stabler shouted, waving a hand at the youngest officer. He dropped his head and jerked it back, telling the cop to let Olivia and Elliot under the tape, across the line. He eagerly accepted the hugs he was given, and he took a sharp breath. "No one was hurt."
Elliot looked at the demolished steps and splintered front door. "What happened," he asked again, stunned.
Joe folded his arms and bit the inside of his cheek. "Low grade explosives, delivered with the mail. That's why...why it's just the front porch. It went off in the mailbox."
"A bomb?" Olivia gasped. "Why? Who would…" her eyes widened. "Oh, my God!" She looked at Elliot and then his father, shaking her head, conveying her fearful assumption.
"No, sweetheart," Joe held up a hand. "This wasn't about you, this has nothing to do with either of you or your mother." He rubbed his forehead with a balled up fist. "Donny and I...we pissed off the wrong hump, that's all. This was...a warning."
"Warning," Elliot huffed. "To do what?" He looked up at the remains of his front porch and his eyes moved to the left a bit. He exhaled in relief, seeing the ladder leaning up against his window, untouched and undisturbed. His eyes shifted back toward his father. "Dad?"
Joe cleared his throat. "A warning...to back off, drop the case. All this has done is make us more determined to nail the prick." He rested a hand on his son's shoulder. "No one was home, breathe. Your mother is at grandma's, everyone else was at school. It's…"
"Only two o'clock," Elliot finished with a nod. "Dad, what's this about. What…"
"Don't worry about it," Joe cut him off, and he looked down at Olivia. "The two of you...go down to the Cassidys, they know what happened, all of you kids are going to stay there until we clean this mess up." He kissed Olivia's cheek and hugged Elliot again, and gave them each an easy but prodding shove toward the other end of the street.
Elliot narrowed his eyes, but pulled Olivia by the hand as they walked down to Brian's house. "Shit," Elliot spat, shaking his head. "Just once...I'd like him to tell me the truth about what happens at work. I need to know what I'm getting myself into," he looked at are. "What we are."
"Olivia! Elliot!" Brian's father greeted them at the door and ushered them into the living room. "Thank goodness you're all right." He shook their hands and gestures to the couch, offering them a seat. When they made themselves comfortable, he said, "You're staying here...as long as you need to, okay? I'll be right back." He held up a finger and walked back out of the house, presumably to stand on the stoop and watch what was happening.
Elliot closed his eyes and pulled Olivia to him, dropping his chin to her head, and he sighed deeply. "Never a dull moment," he said.
Olivia snorted in agreement as she wrapped her arms around him, her eyes on the glass door, and she scratched lightly up and down his back, knowing it calmed him. "El?"
"I know," he dropped a kiss to the crown of her head. "We got time, baby."
She closed her eyes and pressed herself closer to him. They'd had plans, they'd spent the morning taking finals and looking forward to being able to spend some time together, alone. Now, it seemed it would all have to wait, because whatever happened at the house, whatever was going on with Joe Stabler and Don Cragen, was leading down a dangerous path. And it was apparently going to take Olivia and Elliot along for the ride.
A/N: What did Joe and Cragen get themselves wrapped up in? And why does it lead them to...Manhattan?