A/N: A shout out to SVUSHIPPER4EVER. Hold that thought until you read below... ;) Glad you liked it.
Chapter 8
"You're the woman I love." Was what he wanted to say but he didn't. He only thought it, which was probably for the best given everything that was going on. What he said instead was,
"You're family. For God' sake Liv, you saved Kathy and Eli. Without you, my son might not be here right now. If you think I'm going to let you do this to yourself, you're mistaken." Olivia opened her mouth but then she closed it.
"Liv, please let me help you. Don't shut me out," he was pleading now, not something he was used to doing and she knew it. There was a side to Elliot that not everyone got to see, and it was on full display right now.
"Don't shut you out? There was a time that you wouldn't even let me in. Now, you want me to just collapse and tell you every little thought I've been having?" She asked.
"It's not about collapsing; it's about trusting me. I think after all these years that we trust each other, don't we?" Elliot wanted to know. Olivia heaved a sigh and nodded.
"Good. Now let me do what I can. We gave Tucker a lead while his goons were busy bothering you. We think Jenna had help bypassing the metal detector," Elliot said.
"Well she had to have planned something, but you really think someone agreed to get themselves arrested so she could enter the precinct?" Olivia gave him a look.
"This person just happened to come in while Martinez was on break. His replacement had to help with an unruly prisoner. The desk wasn't manned and Jenna slipped right through," he told her.
"So maybe no one got themselves arrested and she was waiting outside for the perfect moment?" she wondered.
"She would have had to have been loitering outside the precinct. I would hope in this day and age that someone would have noticed that," Elliot said.
"yeah well it only took her a moment to slip through. There were only three officers subduing the prisoner. I mean how many other officers didn't bother to stop her?" Olivia pointed out.
"True. The footage buys the Captain an excuse, but it doesn't exactly clear you. However, that doesn't mean we're giving up. We're wondering of the reason Jenna timed her approach so well was because the help she had was on the inside…" Elliot let the thought marinate.
"One of the cops in the precinct gave her a gun to use? It could offer another explanation for the distraction. She bypasses the metal detectors to make us think that she came in with the gun but picks it up where the cameras didn't see her," she nodded.
"Exactly. Either way it helps the Captain, but it does help you too," he said.
"How do you figure?" Olivia asked.
"Well if she had help then she was completely committed. She went in and didn't like what you told her, went out, came back in, and bam," Elliot told her.
"Cop assisted suicide," she shook her head.
"Exactly, which means you're off the hook. She refused to drop the weapon and Tucker already knows that. If we can cement that she had help and she never intended to walk out of the precinct…" he said.
"That does change things, if it can be cemented. But wouldn't the officer who hid the weapon know that Jenna was suicidal? I mean how could they rationalize doing something like this?" Olivia asked.
"I don't know. I'll pose the question to Tucker. Now get some sleep. You're meeting the department shrink tomorrow," Elliot told her.
"You better get home to Kathy and Eli," she said.
"And leave you alone? Yeah that's not happening. Munch has assigned me to make sure you make your appointment and I can't refuse my Sergeant's order," he winked as he stood up. Making sure she was comfy, Elliot headed for the door.
"You bring food with you?" she suddenly asked, the emptying of her stomach was catching up with her.
"Fin ran to the store. Come on, I'll make something," he smirked and headed out to the kitchen.
To Be Continued…
