Prologue
Kathy Stabler had always had a fascination and love of fairy tales. As a little girl – when her name was Kathy Lynch – her favorite books had been the complete collections of stories by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Her grandmother had passed that love down to her, and Kathy's earliest memories were of her reading those stories to her. Not only the popular fairy tales that everyone knew of from the movies and television, either, but the lesser known and more obscure ones, too.
It was one of the latter tales that was spinning in Kathy Stabler's mind right now. It was a Grimm's' tale called "Mary's Child." It was about a little girl from a poor family whom the Virgin Mary adopts and raises in heaven. One day, the little girl disobeys an instruction from the Holy Mother – she opens a door she'd been instructed not to open – and denies that she did it when confronted. As punishment, Mary takes away her voice and expels her from heaven. Eventually, a prince finds her, pities her and then marries her. Three children she bears him, but when each is born, the Virgin Mary visits her. She asks the girl to acknowledge what she did, but the girl is too proud and ashamed and refuses. As a result, Mary takes each baby away. By the time the third baby is taken away, the kingdom demands that the prince execute his wife for murdering their babies (for since she has no voice and won't admit her mistake anyway, what else can be believed?). Only when a fire begins at the stake she is tied to does the ice of her pride melt around her heart and her voice returns. She cries out to Mary and repents, and the Holy Mother returns all three of her children and everyone lives happily ever after.
One line from that story kept circling round and round in Kathy's brain: "The hard ice of pride melted, her heart was moved with remorse." Boy, could she relate to that line now. The only time that Kathy could remember feeling so terrified had been the day Eli was born. Then, Olivia had been her ally, her savior…her friend…
Now, today, Olivia was anything but, and Kathy had only herself to blame.
Kathy lifted her gaze from her hands resting on the small square table. The chair opposite her was empty. The café in which she sat wasn't very busy, the morning rush having past and a bit too early for lunch hours to begin. She turned her gaze to look out of the large, almost wall-sized, window beside her to look out for the person she was waiting for. Of course she half-hoped that they wouldn't show up, but that was her cowardly side. She and Elliot had followed that side of themselves for too long.
Then, Kathy spotted her, crossing the street towards the coffee shop. Captain Olivia Benson. Looking at her now, Kathy could easily see, not only how that title fit her like a glove, but how much she'd worked and sacrificed to earn it. She stood tall, walked with a purpose slightly ahead of the others crossing the street. Her clothes were simple, professional, dark and fit her perfectly; her long brown hair fell behind her in loose waves. Her face was neutral but foreboding, as if it were carved in stone. Only God knew how much horror Olivia had witnessed and experienced on this job and in her life, especially in these last ten years without her partner.
Kathy lowered her eyes to her large purse resting on the empty seat beside her. Her hands were shaking as she reached inside, making sure that what she'd brought for Olivia rested inside. As she did so, her eyes caught side of her left ring finger – which was now bare and had been bare for a week.
Ever since that horrible night when she and Elliot had seen Olivia again for the first time in a decade, and everything she had worked so hard to deny and bury had come to light.
The tinkling sound of a bell that announced a new arrival in the coffee shop caused Kathy to raise her head. Olivia walked in, and her eyes immediately found Kathy's. Those dark eyes that Kathy remembered being so full of empathy and warmth were now cold and shuttered. As Olivia – no, Captain Benson – walked towards her table, Kathy managed to stand despite her shaking legs.
And so the two women who knew Elliot Stabler so well faced each other, at last, ready to talk about what needed to be talked about. Both had no idea where the conversation would lead them, but it was too long overdue to turn away now.