A/N: A shout out to SVUSHIPPER4EVER. You are much too kind. Thanks so much for reading. :)

Chapter 25

"So you felt it necessary to bring your partner along huh?" Tucker asked once the two had arrived at his office.

"Figured it couldn't hurt. What do you want?" Olivia wanted to know as she and Elliot took seats in the chairs across from the IAB Lieutenant's desk.

"Well we did some more digging on Russo and it seems that you were right. Something hinky is going on," Tucker said.

"What kind of hinky?" Elliot asked.

"We had TARU track the transactions. While they were indeed being made from a terminal that Russo had access to, none of the names trace back to Russo. With no link, we began to wonder if someone was using his login info, in an effort to hide their tracks. Problem is we don't know who. It would take months to run every name through the other officers' files," Tucker explained.

"So you want me to squeeze Russo?" Olivia didn't want to blow her cover.

"I want your opinion on his partner. That's the only other person I can figure that would know his login info," Ed said.

"His partner seemed like a good officer. We never asked her about the tickets though. She wasn't the focus of our investigation," Elliot spoke up.

"'Our' investigation huh?" Ed gave him a look.

"What? I'm not going to help my partner?" Elliot gave him a look right back.

"All right boys. We'll call Russo and Lewandowski into the precinct. We're having Jesse Müller come into the precinct tomorrow. It'll look like we're just nailing some stuff down," Olivia said.

"Sounds good. If we find anything on Lewandowski in the meantime, I'll let you know," Tucker told them.

"Thanks," Olivia smiled and then stood up. Elliot followed suit and they said goodbye to the Lieutenant. The drive toward Elliot's place was quiet, mostly because Olivia was deep in thought and he could tell that something was bothering her.

Once they were inside his place, the pizza ordered, Olivia plopped down on the couch. The kids were with Kathy tonight so things were quiet. Elliot handed her a beer before sitting himself down next to her. His hand went to her thigh and he moved it up and down from just above her knee to just below her hip, causing her skin to have goosebumps. They hadn't had a night together in a little while and tonight would be a good night to just feel – remind each other what the past years had meant to them.

"That's the pizza," the door buzzer rang and Elliot set his beer down. Olivia hadn't even realized that it had been over thirty minutes of her just staring off into space. She also realized that Elliot hadn't bothered her, just waited for her, not pushing her.

"Don't know about you but I'm starving," he said, placing the pizza box down on the coffee table. He then disappeared back into the kitchen, grabbing some napkins and paper plates.

"Sorry I zoned out there," Olivia said.

"Hey, no worries. There's a lot going on. I don't want to add more to it but the Müller house was released as a crime scene. Not sure if anyone would want to buy it now but the auctioneer left a message for me. I didn't want to call him back and tell him we're still game, if we weren't," Elliot told her as he doled out the pizza.

"There was so much pain in that house. We can't afford to knock it down and start over," Olivia said. He knew what she meant. The walls were haunted by everything that Jesse Müller had done and the family that was damaged because of it. Even the yard wasn't a place of happy memories. If they failed to nail Jesse to the wall, they'd forever be reminded of that failure, living in the house that once housed a murderer.

"We can change that image. We can fill that house with love," Elliot told her.

"I don't need a house to love you and the kids but we do need a house for them to have their own space in. Tell them we're still interested. Worst comes to worst, we lose the auction," Olivia said.

"You're sure? If you really don't want to, we can look for another place," he had to throw the idea out there, even though this was the only way they could afford a house in that neighborhood.

"Yes. Do it. Just promise me that we nail Jesse to the wall tomorrow," she gave him a look.

"You got it," Elliot pulled out his phone and made the call.

To Be Continued…