Author's Note: One last update before the crossover frenzy tonight...waiting to see how much my planned storyline for this has in common with the show, not that that should really affect anything for this story. Enjoy!

Olivia's deposition went fine; nothing out of the ordinary at all. She was even actually able to leave the courthouse a little ahead of schedule, which should be classified as a lower-level miracle, especially since Fin had tipped her off that she was needed back at the precinct as soon as she could get there. Speaking of things that should be classified as miracles, though, she found herself wondering how likely it was that Elliot had listened to her advice. That one might take more divine intervention.

As if she'd conjured him from nowhere – and wouldn't that have been a skill to have in her back pocket, especially given everything that'd happened? – she felt her phone vibrate. "Hey," she said.

"How were you sure I wasn't the Chief?" His voice came across as a low rumble of a laugh and she missed this, the easy banter. Not much came easy with her job these days, but he was a tangible reminder of when things were – well, they were never truly easy, but easier, at least. Before he left and she broke and he came back, only to for him to break now too.

"Well, considering when you called, it said 'Stabler' on my screen, I took a wild chance." She walked through the doors to the sidewalk outside. It really was one of the first truly nice spring days they'd had, and she'd enjoy the short, brisk walk to where she'd parked her car. "I doubt Garland steals your phone to call me."

"I guess you're right, Cap."

And it made her heart flip just a little bit to hear him acknowledge her title, so casual like that. "Anything special going on, or are you lonely?"

"I went over ten years without hearing your voice once," he said, and she could hear him exhale softly, as if the words – or the thoughts behind them – were too painful to bear. "I can't keep doing that, okay?"

His words from that last night in the hospital with Kathy came back to her in a rush – "I was afraid if I heard your voice, I wouldn't have been able to leave" – and it left her almost breathless. Her former partner wasn't a man to mince words or tell her deliberate lies, so she knew that if he said it, he meant every word of it. She leaned against a building to catch her breath.

"Yeah, I don't know, I could have gone for another few, myself," and she hoped he understood the meaning behind the laugh that she'd punctuated it with – don't ever make me go through that again, or else, even God would have trouble finding fault in what I did next.

"I doubt that."

"Don't give yourself that much credit."

"I wanted to let you know I just got off the phone with Dr. Tolliver, a colleague of your Dr. Lindstrom's that he recommended for me," he said.

"Really?" She was impressed. She'd only left his apartment a few hours before, went home long enough to change clothes – she didn't feel like the clothes she'd worn to Elliot's the night before were quite appropriate for a court appearance – and freshen up a little, before meeting up with Carisi and subjecting herself to the deposition. She'd fully expected that if – and that was a big if – he took her advice seriously, he'd at least wait a while.

"Yeah, Thursday at 2. No big deal, I – I thought you might want to know," he said. "I know you gotta get back to work, Liv, but I – uh, thanks."

"You good over there?" She started up her car and eased it out of its space, before heading toward the precinct. "I could always send a detective over there on a welfare check. Anonymous tip and all that."

"You'd probably make sure it was Fin, just so he'd bust my ass."

"He'd keep you in line, El." She laughed. "No, but really –"

"Really, all I want right now is to find something to eat that isn't leftover Chinese from three nights ago."

"There's a pizzeria near your place that I heard a couple of the CSU techs raving about. Get you a slice of some greasy New York-style pizza and have a day to yourself. I'll send you the address."

"Thanks."

"Any time." She ended the call, quickly sent him the address, and rested her forehead against her steering wheel. Just when she thought she had him figured out, he did something to make her reconsider everything she thought she knew. Damn you, Elliot Stabler.

Walking through New York City after spending the last several years in Rome reminded Elliot of an old adage he'd never fully understood before his time there: "in America, 200 years is a long time; in Europe, 200 miles is a long distance."

Even though he'd always called New York his home, coming back to it after enough time away was to rediscover its hidden charms, even if the oldest buildings around were positively modern compared to the ones he'd gotten used to seeing. He'd immersed himself in the ancient when he was in Rome, because it was easier than dealing with his own recent past.

It was nice enough out today to forgo wearing a jacket, and the address for the pizzeria Olivia had texted him was far enough to be good exercise for him, but not far enough that he would have been tempted to drive. The fresh air of spring coursed through his lungs. Spring – the season of new possibilities, when anything could bloom and blossom, and he was in the city where anything could happen.

Her directions – well, technically, her address and the phone's directions, but he was always more apt to give the credit to Olivia when he could – helped him find the place with ease. The Yankees were on the television in the corner – he couldn't tell who they were playing, but it didn't matter. He grabbed a stool and sat there with a cold, cheap, foamy beer, a giant slice of pizza, and the first stirrings of spring baseball on the screen. It didn't get much more American than this.

Even though, yes, he could have found a better-quality pizza with a dartboard, a few darts, and a map of Rome's restaurants, but there was something comfortable and therapeutic about the slice he held. He supposed it might be why his kids still asked him to make Kraft macaroni and cheese when they were down, even long after they could make it themselves with a recipe that'd be a thousand times better than whatever that powdered cheese concoction was supposed to be.

It was relaxing, and he felt the edges of the old Elliot – the one who remembered how to smile and laugh, the one who fought for everything he cared about and still had time to tease Olivia with an easy comeback – creeping around. He wondered what she did on these kinds of days. He couldn't imagine her sitting in some fancy French restaurant with unpronounceable dishes, but she'd never struck him as a woman of nature, either.

His phone chirped and snapped him out from where his thoughts had wandered to. "Stabler," he said, not looking at the caller's name, instead watching Stanton's latest hit fly over the field and become a home run.

"It's Bell," the female voice on the other end said. "I know you said in your message this morning you'd be late coming in, but can you make your presence known over here before I have to call Missing Persons on your ass? We have some things you need to look at."

"I'll be there shortly," he said, draining the rest of his beer in two gulps and turning to leave.

The day wasn't over; it was only on pause.

Thank God for AMBER Alerts and a very perceptive and brave gas station attendant out in Queens, or Olivia's day would have been a lot longer and more stressful. Two little girls were on their way to the hospital to be checked out before being released to their family, and they had the creep of a neighbor who'd tried to take them out of the city sweating it out in interrogation while they waited for his public defender. "We did well today," Olivia told her squad. "We have to take the victories where we can, and this went about as well as any of these ever can."

"I'm going to finish some paperwork, if y'all want to call out for dinner?" Rollins asked. "I'll pay, this time."

"Yeah, and I'm going to wait for the public defender," Fin said. "I want to make sure this guy isn't going anywhere tonight, or ever again."

While her squad hashed out the details of who was doing what and what kind of food was going to be delivered – it seemed like sandwiches were barely beating out Chinese - her thoughts went to the two young sisters, who would now surely face emotional trauma that would linger far beyond the cuts and scrapes they'd suffered physically. She didn't know what the perp had told them in the car, didn't know the thoughts that had been going through their minds – the only small, miniscule grain of comfort was they wouldn't have been alone. They would have had each other.

And sometimes, that was all anyone could ask for in this world.

"I'm actually going to head out early tonight," Olivia said. "Fin, let me know if he gives you too much trouble and I'll come back."

"I got it under control here, Captain, and if not, Tamin or Rollins over here can help me knock a head or two together. You go on to Noah and his math homework." Fin shared a quick grin with the detectives.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't. Have a good night."

It was nice having the option not to be the last one to leave the precinct every night and the first one there every morning. The stress that came attached to the option did make her wonder exactly how much grief her and Elliot had subjected Cragen to over the years.

Besides, if she got to leave early every now and then, she could let Lucy – poor, sweet, devoted Lucy – have a little bit of a life for herself. She was definitely going to give Lucy a little raise, because however much she was getting right now was not how much she was worth. And she desperately missed spending time with Noah, because he was growing so fast, and before she knew it, he'd be a teenager and then moving away to college. It was the trade-off for being a single mom though, and she hoped she was doing a better job with Noah than her mother had ever done with her.

She slid her phone out of her pocket as she drove away from the precinct, and saw one missed call with a corresponding voicemail, from only about ten minutes before. It must have been while she was in the elevator, else she didn't see why she would have missed hearing it.

"Hey, Liv, uh, it's me. I need you to call me as soon as you can. It's important." His voice was rough and it almost sounded like he was restraining himself from saying something.

Guess her night wasn't over. Not yet. Math homework with Noah would have to wait.

Not for the first time that day, she inwardly groaned and thought to herself, damn you, Elliot Stabler.

-to be continued-