Meanwhile across town, Sophia was getting settled into her new job at the flower shop with the Novaks and loving it already. It wasn't long before Junior borrowed her to help him with deliveries.
"Where's our first stop?" she asked as they rode along in the delivery truck. "There's a lot of things in the back."
Junior Novak pulled out of traffic and over to a big modern-looking building, and over to an area marked as 'DELIVERY TRUCKS ONLY.'
"We're at Mercy General Hospital—a place I'm sure you're not to keen on being at again so soon, I'm sure."
"You're not wrong." Sophia sighed as Junior parked the car and faced her. "Who is doing what?"
"I'm bringing flowers up to the children's wing, and the maternity wing, too." Junior told her. "You, my friend, are getting a special project first—the morgue."
Sophia shivered. "The morgue?"
Junior nodded. "Today is the chief medical examiner's birthday, and for the past six years, your mother and her colleagues have been using us to send flowers to her."
"So she's a friend of my mom?"
"Uh-huh. Come on."
Sophia ended up with a cart filled with quite a number of beautiful bouquets and fun arrangements, all for one person: a Doctor Melinda Warner.
Once she and Junior had their delivery items and record-keeping materials, she followed him through the delivery entrance to the elevators.
"Where's the medical examiner's office?"
"Four floors down, and don't forget to sign in at the reception desk. Give me a ring when you're done, and I'll come find you, okay?"
Sophia nodded. "Got it."
Eventually, Sophia made it down to the morgue and after checking in, as Junior had advised, she made it to the fifth door on the right and found it open. A very beautiful black woman with her hair done up fancy, and wearing a green dress, white lab coat and heels was working at her desk, typing at her computer. Everything about this woman screamed sophistication.
Sophia knocked on the open door. "Are you Doctor Melinda Warner?"
She looked up. "Yes, I am."
Sophia spread a hand over the cart. "I have birthday deliveries for you."
Melinda stood and held the door open wider so Sophia could push her cart in. The older woman got as far as clearing off space on a table opposite hers before she really saw Sophia.
"I'm sorry." Melinda laughed nervously as she watched Sophia start to unload everything. "It's just that you're the spitting image of one of my friends."
"Olivia Benson?"
Melinda nodded.
"She's my mom."
"I beg your pardon?"
"It's kind of a long story, but I'm around for good now because I'm interested in getting to know her and her family, and her friends." winked Sophia, putting out the items. "You should call her."
"I will. Have you met her squad?"
Sophia nodded. "Yes, and I love everyone."
She looked back at her cart to see if she had anything left, and indeed, there was a gift basket that she had put together herself: in a big wicker basket, there was a copious amount of white, pink, and orange Gerber daisies in a vase full of water, and also on a bed of red crinkle-cut confetti, she'd place per the request, a big brown teddy bear with a heart in its paws bearing the message 'I LOVE YOU,' along with two heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, chocolate roses, a bottle of red wine, various cake pops, festive mini foil balloons on sticks, and a few bags of assorted bags of gourmet popcorn and fruit. There was even a Breakfast At Tiffany's DVD. Finishing things off was a big fancy white bow.
"I put thus together myself." Sophia set the gift basket down on the table, in pride of place. "It's from Fin."
Curiously, Melinda turned red. "He and I go way back, and now, we are newly together, but we're keeping things on the DL."
"Got it." Sophia fetched her clipboard and pen, holding them out to Melinda. "Will you sign here?"
She indicated a spot on her clipboard. Melinda quickly signed for the packages and handed Sophia her things back before getting something from her purse for her.
"I'm glad we met, Sophia, and here's a tip for bringing everything all the way down here to me."
She held out a ten dollar bill. Sophia pocketed it.
"Thanks, Melinda, and happy birthday."
Melinda grinned. "Thanks. I'll see you around."
Sophia bobbed her head and left.
ONE HOUR LATER
COLUMBUS PARK, CHINATOWN
LOWER MANHATTAN
For old time's sake, Olivia took Elliot with her to the crime scene.
Where they bumped into Melinda.
"Hey, strangers." she greeted her friends as they crossed under the crime scene tape with her and into an alley. "I heard through the grapevine that Elliot was coming back to the SVU."
Elliot nodded. "And for good. Are you back doing crime scenes?"
"For now—I've missed it."
"Happy birthday, by the way. Did you get our flowers?"
"Yes, and they were a highlight because I was already spit on by my baby granddaughter before work. Another highlight," Melinda turned to look Olivia in the eyes. "Was meeting Sophia—she delivered everything to my office. When were you going to tell me that you have a twenty-something daughter?"
Olivia laughed nervously and coughed, looking around. "Which way to the dead body, Mel?"
"This way."
The detectives followed their friend through the alley, which was situated between a laundromat and a bodega. At the very end, it opened up to an area that led to a small, fenced in power plant. Sitting about fifteen feet in front of it was an old green Ford pick-up truck. Different members of CSU were milling about, processing the scene, but Melinda led Olivia and Elliot past them to the driver side door.
"Who do we have?" Elliot asked as he and Olivia began taking notes.
"According to the driver's license, he came up here from Atlanta. His name is Floyd-William Enos."
Olivia tucked her notebook in her jacket pocket and moved on to see the victim.
That's when her life suddenly flashed before her eyes.
Before she could stop herself, she vomited on to the ground, something she hadn't done at a crime scene since her training days.
Elliot and Melinda immediately moved her away and cleaned her up.
"Olivia, what was that about?" Elliot asked when she was better. "You're not the type to get sick at crime scenes."
Olivia blew out a breath. "You're correct—I haven't vomited at a crime scene since before I knew you."
Melinda put a hand on Olivia's arm. "You know the man in the truck, huh?"
"I do, but I've only ever seen him one other time, and I didn't know his name back then."
"Who is he?"
Without turning, Olivia pointed to the truck. "That is my daughter's father."
Olivia's friends gaped at her and then looked back at Floyd-William Enos. It was easy to tell that he had had a drug problem at some point in his life, but right now, in death, he looked ordinary, just a trace of the handsome stranger Olivia had been mesmerized by twenty-five years ago. Today, it looked like he'd gotten on the wrong side of a trick because his pants were down and his goods were exposed, but there was a bullet hole in the center of his forehead. A single trail of blood, already a few hours old, lay dry, nearly reaching to his eyebrows. What made Olivia's skin crawl the most was that he had a smile on his face—he hadn't seen death coming.
"Are you going to be okay?" Elliot asked gently. "Do you want to go back?"
Olivia shook her head. "I'm fine—it was twenty-five years ago and he hasn't crossed my mind since, except to tell Sophia that I wasn't married to her father and that I never learned his name."
"Are you going to call her?"
"I will, but not yet." Olivia turned to Melinda. "Will you give us the rundown on Floyd-William Enos, please?"
"Of course. Come on."
16th PRECINCT
966 WEST 88th STREET
MANHATTAN
Alex hadn't been able to resist the pull of going to see her squad, especially when Casey texted her, saying that Elliot was officially back. Unfortunately, she was waylaid by Judge Donelley, who wanted to wish her luck on her first day of her new position, although it then turned into Alex listening to her teacher go down Memory Lane for awhile.
When she finally arrived at the SVU bullpen, Alex was met by an interesting sight: Fin was ambling over to the media center by himself, and Carisi was gazing at a picture of a man on a screen in front of him, a look of shock on his face. Meanwhile, Amanda was wheeling away as fast as she could, heading to Olivia's office. As she passed by, Alex heard her snarling that she would raise the dead if anyone bothered her before Olivia returned. In the thick of things was Casey, looking like a confused puppy.
Alex walked up to her. "Casey, what's happening, here?!"
Casey sighed. "Take your coat off and stay awhile—from what I gather, Elliot or Olivia called in with a name for Fin to look up."
"What was the name?"
"Floyd-William Enos."
Alex looked around at the detectives again.
"I get why Fin would fly solo, but what's going on with Amanda and Carisi? She's out for blood, and he's in shock."
"That's the part I'm still trying to figure out."
Luckily, Olivia and Elliot returned not long after that.
"Well, it's good to see some things never change, with the lawyers waiting for us, huh, Liv?" Elliot joked to Olivia before greeting his friends. "Hey, Casey. Hey, Alex."
They nodded to him and Alex said, "Good morning, Elliot."
Olivia sighed as she looked around at her people. "Why's Fin by himself, where's Amanda, and who broke Carisi?"
"Fin is being the only mature one, Amanda's in your office and won't come out until she talks to you, and Carisi just went blank when he saw the picture of Floyd-William Enos."
"This is going to be a long day."
Olivia stepped forward and snapped her fingers in front of Carisi's face. This broke him out of his reverie and he stood immediately, straightening up his appearance.
"I'm with it, lieutenant, I swear."
"You sure?"
He nodded. "One hundred percent."
"Do you know who that man is? Yes or no is all I need."
"Yes."
Olivia made a sweeping motion, sending him away. "Then please go to the media center."
"Yes, lieutenant."
He left.
"Where does that leave Casey and I, Liv?" Alex asked.
"Forgive me for sounding like a kindergarten teacher, but wait by my office, please. I'll talk to Amanda first."
When Olivia made it to her office, she closed the door behind her and set her things on her desk. Amanda was in the corner with her brooding face on.
"Okay, Rollins." Olivia said seriously. "What do you know?"
Amanda rolled her chair closer. "What do you know?"
"That man who has given you a scare used to be Sophia's father. I just haven't seen him in twenty-five years."
Amanda let out a single-noted high-pitched whistle. "Olivia, he was my father, too."
