At the precinct, Gunner DiMaggio had been in police custody in interrogation, for over an hour and not said a word.

Olivia was watching him from the other side of the glass, but not alone. She had Captain Charlotte Dansforth and her CO, Ernest Jeffers from Queens Narcotics for company, along with Elliot and Yardley (the latter of whom who had just returned from watching over Elizabeth), as well as Fin, Barba, Alex, and Casey. For obvious reasons, Amanda was already gone, and Carisi had already left to go be with her.

Those who remained were stumped about to move forward with Gunner since he was being mindbogglingly quiet and calm, and were having a powwow about it.

Dansforth took advantage of the quiet and made a comment, although it came off snidely.

"I get that Gunner hasn't asked for an attorney but why are they all here?"

By 'they,' she meant Barba, Casey, and Alex.

"We have names, captain." Barba said, slightly irritated. "What's your point?"

Dansforth rephrased her thoughts. "Everybody knows how elite this particular squad is, Barba, and everyone also knows of the longstanding history this unit has of 'coloring outside the lines.' Why are Cabot and Novak here if your squad already has you?"

"Because this is my last case with the SVU, and I couldn't imagine anyone better than Alex or Casey to replace me."

"Even though one left abruptly, and the other was disbarred?"

"Hey—Alex and I can hear you!" Casey cried. "I was reinstated years ago, thank you, and I have a higher closing rate now than I did back then!"

Alex interjected, "Excuse me, but I left because I got involved with something that was over my head, and it resulted in me getting shot in a drive-by shooting; I had to leave! Elliot and Olivia were there when it happened!"

Dansforth looked at the pair in question. "You were?"

Elliot nodded. "If we'd been standing any closer, one of us would have also been hit. Alex left and stayed away because she had to for her own safety,"

"Neither Alex leaving, nor Casey's temporary disbarment has affected their abilities to do their jobs—if anything, they are better now than when they first crossed my path." Olivia said authoritatively. "Back to the matter at hand, people: breaking Gunner DiMaggio and making him talk."

"Elliot and Jeffers both already had a run at him." Fin remarked, keeping track. "We all know I could break him, but I have an idea, lieutenant."

"No way are sending Yardley in, even if she is the closest to his age."

Yardley shivered. "And Rory wouldn't be too forgiving."

Olivia supposed that Rory was Yardley's wife.

"What's your idea, Fin?"

Dansforth realized it first. "He wants to send you or me in."

"Do you want to have a go, Charlotte?" Olivia asked.

Immediately, Dansforth shook her head and took a step back. "This one is all you, Lieutenant Benson."

"Because I'm Sophia's mother?"

"And because she looks just like you."

"It'll probably throw him for a loop." Fin chimed in, adding on an afterthought. "Look—he's pacing now."

They all turned to see that Gunner was pacing the interrogation room, bearing the attitude of a caged animal.

Olivia handed Elliot the file folder she was holding and headed towards the interrogation room door. "Well, here goes nothing."

They watched as Olivia entered the interrogation room and shut the door behind her. Gunner was on the other side of the room, still pacing, but he stopped when Olivia entered and stood with his back to a corner. Olivia immediately saw how Sophia must have once regarded Gunner as handsome, and the moment, he looked scared. But then Olivia remembered all of the horrible and reprehensible crimes that Gunner had committed, and she was all business.

She had to fight back a laugh when Gunner nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of her.

"Who the hell are you?" he cried.

Olivia sat at the table, pointed at the chair opposite her, and barked, "Sit!"

Gunner obeyed, but only because he saw the resemblance between his ex-wife and the woman before him, and he found it both startling and unnerving.

"Oh, so you found your voice again, have you?"

"Who are you, lady?" Gunner asked again.

"That's Lieutenant Benson, to you." Olivia said coolly. "What's the matter, though?"

"Y-you look like my ex-wife."

"Well, I should hope so because I'm Sophia's mother."

"How does that work? She found you?"

Olivia nodded. "Yes, and I know exactly what you did to her, and also to Elizabeth Stabler, the woman from the park."

At this point, Gunner just had a one-track mind. "You must be where Sophia gets her temper from… I am so not taking a bat to that beehive."

"Then just cooperate—we have you dead to rights on attacking Sophia and Elizabeth, and that's just for this case, alone."

"If I cooperate, I'll go to jail!"

"You really should have thought of that before you raped my daughter, and before you raped Elizabeth, who just so happens to be the daughter of someone very close to me!" Olivia shot back. "You also should have thought of that before you killed Vincent Davis and Kathy Stabler!"

"How do you know about that? I got off!"

And there's the first nail in the coffin, Olivia thought as she leaned forward on her hands and glared at Gunner, speaking in a tone of deadly calm.

"There's no statute of limitations on murder, and like I said, we have you dead rights on everything else. Why did you do what you did?"

Realizing that there was no way out, Gunner sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I killed Vincent because he refused to pay the money he owed me over the coke he scored from me. As for Kahty, I didn't even know her name at the time, but I did know that I couldn't have any witnesses—at least I waited until she'd had that baby."

"But that still didn't stop you from going after Sophia, who is currently carrying your baby, Gunner! Why did you go after her and Elizabeth? What drove you to hurting them?"

"Elizabeth was an opportunity too good to pass up, and Sophia just had to be taught a lesson."

"Why?"

From the other side of the glass, the others watched as Gunner DiMaggio sang like a canary.

"Well," Barba said in a 'that's that' tone. "He's confessing to everything—there won't even be a need to bring this to trial. Where are we sending him?"

"Attica." said Alex and Casey in unison.

Barba gave a nod of approval. "Then I'll go to my office and start making the necessary arrangements."

He left, with Fin trailing behind him, saying he was going back to his desk to start the process for Gunner to be brought down to booking.

That just left Elliot with Dansforth, Jeffers, and Yardley, and Casey and Alex. They watched as Olivia pushed a notepad and pen across the table to Gunner. She didn't leave until he started writing out his confession.

"Where did Barba and Alex go?" Olivia asked when she rejoined the others.

"Fin went to start the booking process," Casey supplied. "And Rafael just left to his own office to start making the arrangements for Gunner being brought to Attica."

Beside her, Captain Dansforth turned to her second-in-command. "You ready to go back to Queens?"

Jeffers nodded and looked at Elliot. "You coming, Stabler?"

"No." he decided. "I want to stay for awhile—I'll find my own way back."

"Alright, then."

Elliot looked at Yardley. "You should probably go, too."

"Okay. I'll catch you later."

When they, too, were gone, it was just Elliot, Olivia, Alex, and Casey, and all four of them were suddenly beset with extreme nostalgia.

"Okay," Olivia blurted. "Is anyone else besides me remembering the the last time all four of us were together in an official capacity?"

"Oh, yes."

"That time is forever burned into my brain because it was about me."

Elliot and Alex had both given their answers, but Casey hadn't said anything because she was on her phone, texting. When she finished, she looked up to see the other three staring at her.

"What?"

"Texting, huh?" Elliot asked wryly. "Who?"

"Probably Sophia." Alex told him, just as wry.

Olivia pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "I did say she was off-limits until after this case, huh?"

Casey laughed. "Yes, you did, and yes, I did just text Sophia."

"Why?" asked the other three in unison.

"Because," the redhead sputtered. "I want to see her and talk to her!"

Amused, Elliot said, "What am I missing? Are Casey and Sophia a thing?"

Casey turned red and laughed nervously. "Technically, no, but I have a crush on her, and she's got one on me."

"It's more than that!" Alex and Olivia said in a singsong tone.

"Shut up!" Casey hissed.

DING!

Casey's phone had gone off, signaling the arrival of an answer from Sophia.

"And what's she saying now?" Elliot wanted to know.

"That she'll be along within the hour because she wants to check on Amanda. She's also hanging out with Amanda's aunt." Casey reported as she sent back a reply and stuck her phone in her pocket. "What?"

The other three were just looking at her with cheeky, devilish grins, prompting Casey to roll her eyes and give a dejected sigh.

"You all would get along very well with Junior, Ellington, and Tiffany—it's like you three have their exact personalities."

Elliot held his hands in a time-out position. "Who are they?"

"Three of Casey's older siblings." Olivia supplied. "Siblings one, two, and five, if I'm remembering the order correctly."

"How many siblings does she have?!"

Casey grinned slyly. "There are eight of us, and I'm number six."

"You never said before that you have siblings."

"You just never asked."

Alex looked over to her girlfriend. "Liv, you and Elliot should go out for drinks later."

"Good idea." the lieutenant turned to her former partner and patted him on the shoulder. "Meet me for drinks at The Yellow Viper? Say, seven?"

"Okay."

"Good man." Olivia turned her attention to Casey. "Did you say Sophia's hanging out with Amanda's aunt?"

"Uh-huh. How big is that family?"

"I honestly don't know anymore. Why? Do you know them?"

"Maybe. There's a Rollins that runs the Penguin Books publishing house a few blocks from the hospital. My family's been doing business with Penguin Books for twenty-five years, and my little sisters hare read a lot their books."

Curious, Elliot worked his way into the conversation. "And what does your family do?"

Casey sighed. "Maybe you should sit. It's kind of a long story."


"Wait." Elliot said when Casey finished telling the story of how The Watering Can had gotten started. "I get the part about Junior and Ellington getting lost and then staying put in The Plaza until Senior and Violet found them, but what does Ellington tripping have to do with it, again?"

"And was this before or after what you said your parents refer to as 'The Daffodil Incident'?" queried Olivia.

"I'm still trying to figure out the part you mentioned that involves Woodstock." Alex murmured. "If your parents were there, they had to have been kids. How old are you, again?"

Casey had told her friends the story of how The Watering Can had gotten started, and Elliot, Olivia, and Alex were all sitting in a row on the sofa, facing her, each looking some shade of confused. She'd warned them that the story was long, but she'd neglected to mention the perplexities it had come with. At least Sophia had been able to follow it.

"I—"

Casey grew distracted when she spotted out in the bullpen a group of people headed their way.

True enough, Amanda had returned, accompanied by Carisi and Sophia, the latter of whom was pushing a wheelchair that was currently laden down with Amanda's things. Ahead of her, was Carisi nervously spotting Amanda, who was hobbling along determinedly on her new forearm crutches.

When she entered Olivia's office, the lieutenant and her companions immediately vacated the sofa and helped Amanda get settled on it, with Elliot taking extra care, having felt that it was his fault she'd gotten hurt in the first place.

Olivia spoke when Amanda was as settled as she could be, all things considered. "Amanda, you're here! How were you able to leave the hospital already?"

"Because I'm indestructible."

"You're not wrong—in five years, you've gone through so much, and yet, you always bounce back and surprise me."

"I consider it a talent." Amanda winked.

Noticing Sophia hanging back a ways from the office, watching the scene by herself, Olivia excused herself and headed over to her.

"How are you doing, Sophia Rose?" Olivia asked her daughter. "I bet even a week ago, you weren't thinking that your life would be this complex, huh?"

"Oh, I still have complexities left that I haven't told you and Alex about yet." Sophia let out a gusty breath. "Gunner's in jail?"

Olivia nodded. "Yes. He's on his way to Attica, as we speak, and he is never, ever getting out. You're safe, and so are Melissa and the baby."

Sophia couldn't help it, but she burst into tears, simply overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment.

"I'm free to be with who I want to be with…"

Olivia nodded, wiping Sophia's tears for her. "Yes, and speaking of whom, turn around."

Sophia did, and she saw Casey standing there, holding a hand out. Just behind her, everybody else was paying attention to Amanda; they hadn't noticed that she'd even left.

The redhead stepped closer, taking Sophia's hand in hers. Their fingers intertwined as effortlessly as if they were on their own accord, and Sophia immediately felt all of her worries ebb away.

"You ready to get out of here, Starshine?" Casey asked.

Sophia gave Casey's fingers a gentle squeeze and then smiled at her. "Yes."

They both bid Olivia goodbye, and after that, there were lost in their own world as they made plans to leave.

Olivia watched them leave, but her heart was filled with contentment—everyone close to her was happy now, and with a job like hers, she'd come to learn that happiness and love were two of the most important things anyone could have in their life… even if they had to take the long was around to figure it out.