Disclaimer: All Law And Order: Special Victims Unit characters and namesakes are the property of Dick Wolf / NBC.
Author's Note / Warning: This story contains an original character that plays the love interest of Casey Novak. The story deals with the relationship between Casey and my original character, and it is told from both of their perspectives. I had a very specific storyline in mind that I felt could not be realized by pairing Casey with an existing SVU character, thus the creation of Det. Seth Bauer. This is not intended to be a Mary Sue story, and I can only hope that from the writing and characterization, this proves to be true.
Chapter 2: Tension
September 2nd, 9:08 AM
"Yeah, well, we're going to look again, wonder boy," Elliot barked at Seth as he crouched over the dirty patch of grass littered with cigarette butts and other discarded debris. It had been almost a month since Cragen had first teamed him with Bauer, and they were right back to where they had started. The case was going cold and Elliot was sure that Roger Denby, their prime suspect in this whole mess, was going to flee the city if they didn't make the arrest stick this time. "I can't believe this crap," Elliot continued. "Weren't we just standing here three weeks ago re-canvassing? This is bull...we should be hauling Denby's ass in and getting a confession out of him."
Seth crossed his arms and frowned. Teaming up with Elliot on the Denby case hadn't been an especially pleasant experience thus far. He assumed it was Cragen's way of trying to make Elliot like him, and so far it wasn't working. "Look," Seth said, "you know as well as I do that he's got an alibi for the first two rapes and the rape / homicide. Sure, they're shaky, but how many more times do you want to go at him with the same questions? His mother's covering for him and she won't budge either..."
"So – what? You want to give up? Not me, pal...that may be how YOU do things, but that's not how I do MY job."
Seth could see that arguing with Elliot was getting them nowhere. "That's not what I meant, Elliot. I just think we're going about this the wrong way."
Elliot stood up, brushing off his pant legs. He squinted in the mid-morning sun and walked towards Seth. He put his hands on his hips, placing his face about three inches from Seth's nose. "Okay hotshot, what do you think we should do?"
Seth drew in a deep breath and gave Elliot a defeated look. "I don't know...maybe we should re-interview the first victim again. She was the most helpful of the two."
Elliot took a step back and looked at the ground. His brow wrinkled, deep in thought. After a moment, he looked back up at Seth, pointing and wagging his left index finger at him. "No. But I'll tell you what we are going to do. That first victim...she said something about 'Denby smelled like a litter box', remember?"
Seth gave Elliot a worried look. "Yeah? So...?"
"So, the M.E. found a few crystals of cat litter on the third victim, the one he killed. We'll get a warrant for Denby's apartment, see if he has a cat, and match the litter box crystals to the ones found on the third victim."
Stabler's eyes were wild and Seth could tell he was grasping at straws. "Elliot...we already considered that, remember? The cat litter was circumstantial – the third victim worked in a pet store where they sell the SAME kind of cat litter! Besides, we don't even know for sure if Denby even HAS a cat!"
"Yeah, but we only considered that angle for the THIRD, dead victim!" Elliot was shouting now, his face turning red. "We'll go back, talk to the FIRST victim again, get her to beef up her statement, then we'll get the warrant and search Denby's place. Even if the guy doesn't have a cat, it won't matter! We'll find something tying him to at least one of the rapes, and that'll be the end of it!"
"Are you nuts? Even if we can get the first victim to amend her statement by lying, Novak is never going to go for it!"
Elliot's breathing was becoming heavy. "Well, I don't hear you coming up with any better ideas." Again, he pointed his finger at Seth, heading for the car. "You're wrong. It'll work, you'll see. Let's go."
"Where are we going now? We really should run this by the boss first."
"Screw that, we've sat on our asses and done nothing long enough. We're going to talk to your girlfriend. She'll get us access to Denby's apartment."
Seth sighed and started after Elliot. He had seen Stabler like this before – hell-bent on closing the case. He understood how Elliot felt, but he was seriously starting to think the guy was losing it. Elliot looked liked he hadn't slept in days, and now he was talking about fabricating evidence. Seth got into the passenger seat of the car, slamming the door shut. "This isn't going to work, Elliot. Maybe we should just go back to the station house and see what Benson thinks about all of this."
Yeah, that's good, Seth thought. Mention his partner and see if that knocks some sense into him. He's always more rational when he's working with Olivia.
Stabler stared at Seth for a second, starting the engine up. Again he squinted his eyes as if deep in thought. Seth took the moment to reflect on something else Elliot had just said. My 'girlfriend'? What the hell was that all about? Obviously, Stabler was talking about Casey, someone Seth had become much closer to over the past month or so. Seth knew Casey liked him, but he couldn't be sure of how much. What had begun as a friendly work relationship had gradually turned into something more meaningful in the past several weeks. The focus of the conversations he and Casey were having lately had more to do with personal things, like where they had grown up and gone to school, what kinds of music they liked, what kinds of things they did for fun outside of work (basketball for him, softball for her), how they were the two "babies" of the unit. They were getting to know each other, and at the very least Seth thought they were becoming real friends. They could relate to one other in a number of different ways, and for several weeks now, whenever they made small talk, it was never about work. Seth was seeing a very different side of Casey, and that's what he liked the most about her. Sure, in her day-to-day job as an Assistant District Attorney she had a reputation for being notoriously headstrong, but there was a very gentle personal side to her that she didn't seem to share with most other people. Seth thought she had a great personality – she was smart, funny, and interesting to talk to. Not to mention the fact that he thought she was absolutely gorgeous. Seth was definitely forming feelings for her, and the idea scared the hell out of him. It felt too soon, and Seth wondered if he'd ever really be ready for a relationship again, least of all with Casey. How would he tell her about his past? How would he tell her about that night –
"Hey!" Elliot yelled from the driver's seat, snapping Seth back into the present. "Are you listening? I said forget it, we're going to see Novak now."
Seth sighed again and looked out the window as Elliot began backing the car up. "All right, man. But I'm telling you, she won't be able to get us the warrant."
"No. You'll see," Elliot said again. "You're wrong. She'll get us the warrant."
