Genesis 4/?

Author: CSIphile/Hipinapple

Disclaimers: Blah, blah, woof, woof, I don't own them.

Summary: They are separated, but is it forever?

Thanks: To everyone who gave me a review. Thank you, I appreciate it, this is a lovely fandom to write for! If complicated.

AN1: Shannon…ohh that's just embarrassing, I cant believe neither my beta or I noticed those mistakes. Ill have to fix them.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Eight Weeks Later

Donald Cragen's Office

"NO! Don, absolutely not! I've HAD it with him."

Don Cragen looks at his detective and cringes slightly, Olivia is pissed, and angrier than he has ever seen her before. Her eyes are a dangerous black, the pupils and iris indistinguishable from each other. He raises his hands in what should be a calming gesture, but it only manages to infuriate her further.

Olivia...cut him a break."

She had been facing the door and at that statement, she spins around, an indescribable look on her face.

"No…I'm not cutting him ANY break. He fucking YELLED at our victim. YELLED, Don. A woman who has already been violated enough – she didn't need that. We'll be lucky if she ever comes back to finish her statement. He cost us a collar."

"Olivia, he hasn't been in the unit long enough…"

"Jesus, Don! Common sense should tell you that you don't accuse a
rape victim of making it up, even if you think she is!"

He watches as her eyes narrow suspiciously at him. "Why are you going to bat for him?"

"Why? Because if I recall, Olivia, I gave you more than one free pass when you got emotional."

"Nooooo," she draws out and stalks closer to him. "There's something else; there's a difference between being emotional and being an asshole. What's going on?"

He sighs and sits down, motioning for her to do the same, which, thankfully, she does. "He's the mayor's nephew."

A shocked expression covers her face. "I'm sorry…I thought you just said he was the mayor's nephew."

"I did. It's his sister's boy. He wanted to get here on his own merit, which he did, but the mayor is insistent that he stays."

"I…don't believe this. How could you let them do this? This isn't a unit that has time to babysit the mayor's nephew, or anyone's for that matter." With a frustrated groan, she gets out of the chair and starts pacing, thinking. "He didn't get here on merit alone, Don – I don't care what you think. I bet he's only here to pad his resume too. JESUS!"

As she talks and thinks it out Don can see her anger increasing by the step. "Olivia, why don't you take a break…"

She cuts him off sharply, her voice terse. "Yeah, I will. I'm going for a walk. Get some air…"

"Good. Good," he says to her retreating back.

*~*~*~*

She has walked pretty mindlessly for a while, unobserving of the people around her, the weather, hell, even the direction she is taking. Olivia could step into the Hudson River right now and her only thought would probably be, `Well now I'm wet'.

The thoughts are flying through her head, only causing her to become more angry and walk faster to her as-yet-undetermined destination. The mayor's nephew…the fucking mayor's nephew. It felt like a slap in the face to her in particular; she had worked damn hard to get into this position, while it was just handed to him. Elliot's words ran through her head.

"Good record, couple commendations, justified shoot a while back. He was cleared of liability."

She wondered if maybe uncle hadn't cleared that shoot for him. Which again sent her blood boiling. If the mayor had cleared it, then what else had he done to ensure his nephew's acceptance into the unit. Finally stopping, she looks up and realizes where she is.

"Figures," she mutters.

She is two blocks from Elliot's new station house. They hadn't really spoken since the night of his party. Elliot too busy trying to create a new job and organize it, and she herself has been busy training the new guy. She snorts lightly at the thought of her partner and makes a decision, walking toward the building.

Entering the building, she stops at the desk sergeant and flashes her badge.

"Elliot Stabler?"

"Down the hall, first right. He's at the back."

She thanks the officer and makes her way down the hall, taking in the surroundings around her. If possible, this station is louder than hers. She easily finds the bullpen and a quick look around the room finds it very similar to her own: partners' desks in the middle with a few offices lining the back wall. Heading to the back, she is surprised to find that Elliot has his own office. Smirking, she approaches to find him facing the other way, talking on the phone. Pausing in the doorframe, she leans one hip against it as she watches him twirl a pen in one hand while listening to the other person.

While waiting, she looks around his office; smaller than Cragen's, but warmer somehow. Leaning in slightly, she looks at the cabinets that line the wall she is currently resting against. There are one or two pictures setting on the tops of the standard beige cabinets. Looking closely she recognizes one of his family and one of just him and Maureen. She smiles slightly as he starts to talk and immediately she recognizes the tone in his voice. She's heard it enough before; Kathy is on the phone.

"No, no…Kath, I…look we'll talk when I get home, ok? Yes, 6, not a problem. Bye." With that he puts the phone down and sighs, still unaware of her presence. She hadn't considered he might be on a private call.

Unsure how to announce herself, the problem solves itself when he turns in the chair and freezes momentarily at the sight of her. "Liv!" he says brightly, a 180 from his tone on the phone.

Jerking her thumb up and indicating retreat, she says, "I'm sorry. I should go."

"No, no. Please. Not a problem. Come in." He waves her in and gets up from behind the desk, approaching her almost cautiously before pulling her into a brief hug.

As they pull away, she smiles and teases him. "Fancy office you got here. I'm jealous."

"Don't be. The fancy office means too much responsibility."

She shrugs slightly before following his lead and sitting in one of the two chairs in front of his desk. Elliot sits in the other, watching her carefully.

"What's going on?" he asks.

"Nothing. Just thought I'd pay my former partner a visit." She gives him her best forced smile but instantly knows he isn't buying it.

"At 2 on a Wednesday? Looking like you are ready to go 12 rounds with Tyson? Try again."

"You are too good a detective for your own good." This time her smile is genuine.

"No, I just know you too well for my own good." He pauses a moment before continuing. "What's going on?"

She snorts slightly before telling him what had happened earlier in interrogation, leaving out the mayor's nephew part.

"Cragen let him get away with that?"

"Oh yeah, and you'll never believe why." At his curious look she continues. "He's the mayor's nephew."

"You're kidding me."

"I wish I was."

"I guess I'm not as good a detective as you thought."

"Huh?"

"In all my digging, I never found that piece of information."

"Well it's a pretty well hidden secret, obviously. Cragen CLAIMS he got the position on his own, but I have my doubts now."

She watches as he leans back in his chair, contemplating what she has said. "Maybe he did get there on merit, Liv."

Again she snorts derisively at him. "I don't think so. He may have been fine in Homicide when you don't have to deal with live victims, but this is different. He has almost no compassion. It's been an ongoing problem, practically since day one. I was hoping he would soften up a bit, but then today happened." She doesn't even try to hide the frustration on her face.

Elliot shifts again and leans toward her, placing a calming hand on her knee.

She looks up at him and smiles slightly. "It just frustrates me, El. He's got all the empathy of a large rock and I don't know what to do. Obviously he isn't going anywhere anytime soon."

Leaving his hand on her knee, he speaks quietly. "You don't need to deal with this, Liv; I wish I had an answer for you. Try pressuring Cragen. How's your solve rate?"

"A little lower, but they expect that with a new guy. I mean, normally this behavior wouldn't be tolerated, but…." She lets the sentence hang; they both know why.

Silence reigns for a few minutes before a knock at his door makes them both jump slightly. Quickly Elliot answers the detective's question and turns back to her.

"I should head back," she states simply.

He nods silently. "Hey, you wanna get some dinner one night? Catch up a bit?"

That gets a genuine smile out of her. "Yeah, that would be great. Since I monopolized your time with my problems."

He waves off her apology. "No problem -- I'll call you. In the meantime, Liv… don't let him get away with it. Nephew or not, he's hurting the unit. SVU worked too hard to become what it is; you don't need one bad guy screwing it up. If you have to, keep him away from the victims."

"Yeah, I know. You're right."

"Aren't I always?"

She laughs and recalls a similar conversation they had. "Not really -- I just let you think that."

"Ohhhh you wound me, Benson."

Again she laughs before turning serious. "Thanks for listening. I
knew you would understand."

"Anytime, Liv, anytime."

Standing, she smiles at him one more time before heading out the door, feeling less angry and more determined to do something about her partner before he drags her down with him.

*~*~*~*~*

Walking into the station house, she spots Mike talking to one of the admins. Actually it doesn't look like he was talking so much as flirting, heavily. She swiftly turns into the bullpen and sits down heavily into her chair. During the walk back, she had considered Elliot's words and decided to give it a bit more time. At the same time, however, the next time he screwed up her case, she was going to have to do something more drastic, though she didn't quite know what. Olivia does know she sure as hell isn't leaving the unit, and he isn't either unless it's of his own accord. Sighing, she eyes her partner as he returns and sits at his desk. He had to know by now what happened in Cragen's office. Nothing is really private here; the quarters are too close.

"Mike."

"Olivia."

She doesn't continue the conversation. Just looking at him seems to anger her now, though not as much as before. Finally, he breaks the silence.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened in interrogation."

She just raises her head enough from the file she is reading to look at him, but remains silent.

"I…I shouldn't have pushed like that."

"You think?" Her tone is hard.

"I learned a lesson, ok?"

She looks at him full on now. "No, not ok. You don't `learn your lesson' on the clock here. You THINK before you open your mouth. It only takes one sentence to close a victim off, and if that happens, you're done. -- they probably wont be back."

"I know….I know."

"Obviously you don't."

"Look, I'm trying here. Cut me some slack, will you?"

That did it, Olivia is back at her boiling point now. "Are you kidding me? Slack? You've had nothing but since you GOT here." Her volume has increased dramatically, but he seems unaffected.

"I don't think this is the place," he says and gets up, heading for the crib and indicating for her to follow. She does without hesitation; she'd been willing to try and give him some benefit of the doubt, but his hollow apology put an end to that.

Fin watches as a very steamed Olivia follows her partner up the stairs. He's been watching her for the last couple weeks slowly lose whatever patience she may have had with McMahon. He looks over at his own partner and hisses to get his attention.

"Ten on Olivia chewing his ass off."

"Ten she throws him over the railing to his untimely death," he retorts with a head cock.

"Wouldn't put it past her," he snorts in response.

"You know, you haven't given me anything resembling a chance since I got here," he states as they come to a stop at the top of the stairs, facing each other.

"I don't think you are understanding here. There ARE no chances; you get it right the first time or you don't stay. That's why this unit is elite, and why people kill themselves to get here, unlike yourself."

He looks at her, surprised. "I wasn't given special treatment."

"My ass you weren't. Yeah, your service record is good, but nothing so outstanding as to warrant the position you are in. You got help."

"I worked HARD to get here, Olivia."

"Then act like it!"

"What?"

"You wanted to be here so bad, act like it. Don't act like the only reason you are here is because it looks good on your potential political resume!" At that, she steps around him, and he reaches out and grasps her upper arm.

She violently pulls away her arm and hisses at him. "Don't touch me, ever."

"Don't assume things about me, Olivia. Yeah, this will look good on my resume, but I'm also here because here you can save the victim sometimes. It's not just corpses."

She eyes him skeptically; there's something in his face that contradicts his words. Something not so honest. She lowers her voice slightly. "I have a hard time believing that, but since you are my partner, at least for the minute, I'll take it at face value."

"Don't you ever give up? Were you this hard on Stabler?"

"I didn't have to be," she states simply and heads down the stairs.

tbc……………….yeah, not much of a cliffhanger, but eh, it gets better, I promise.