Bittersweet and Salty
By
Kelsey
Disclaimer: Not mine. Though as I've said before, you'd think with all the "Law and Order"s out there, they could spare one.
Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long. I promised myself I wouldn't post anything shorter than 5 pages, though, and the last page of this chapter was giving me a hell of a time.
Summary: Someone comes back into Olivia's life, but someone else is already there. Will old love prevail, or does new love run stronger? Femslash, O/A, O/C.
Rating: PG this chapter
Chapter Eight
The next stop is the lab-- if they can prove that the hairs are from an animal rare enough to the area, then they might have enough for their search warrant. And they really want that hairbrush-- if there's Tanya's blood on it, that's enough for an arrest.
The lab, however, is as backed up as always. Olivia and Elliot turn in their evidence, ask for an approximate time it will be ready and let the snapped-out answers roll off their backs as best as possible. Munch and Fin have headed back to the station to fill in Cragen and get together the paperwork as best as they can. There's really nothing to do but wait, though.
Elliot heads off to fill out the paperwork for a new cell phone, and Olivia decides to go back to the station. She decides to walk to try and clear her head, and takes off down the side streets of her city, habit having her watching her back carefully and constantly.
Of course, her mind instantly wanders to her most current problem, and she can do nothing but think about it. Going in circles, her thought patterns do nothing but frustrate the hell out of her, so she stops at a deli for lunch and tries to read the paper instead of think.
It's pretty much completely unsuccessful.
No one calls her, so she takes her time with lunch and walks back to the station at a more leisurely pace than necessary. She walks past an elementary school on her way, and slows to watch the children at lunch, playing. They look cheerful and good-natured, and Olivia hates that her job has her wondering how many of them are the victims of unreported abuse. Just once, she'd like to see some kids and not wonder if she's failed them somehow.
When Casey first came to SVU, Olivia had been ready to kick her ass back to the curb without a second thought. But then there was that case, and that kid, and Casey crying in her office, and Olivia had felt a sudden empathy for the woman. SVU wasn't for everyone, and even those who stuck it out suffered the inevitable side effects.
She hadn't been ready to make friends with Casey, but that little crying jag in the new ADA's office had gone farther towards making her tolerate Casey's presence than Casey would probably ever realize.
The station is full of bored cops when she arrives, and only Cragen appears to be working on something. Of course, the captain works less in the field because he has many more office-type responsibilities, and the fact is illustrated now by him being the only one with anything to do.
Fin is sitting, legs wide and elbows on his knees, watching Munch twirl a pencil and spin some wild conspiracy theory. Olivia plunks herself down at her desk and fishes into her inbox for something to write up. There's nothing there but the typical 'fill in the blanks' worksheets so typical of cop work, but she sighs and gets down to work filling them in.
Munch has apparently pushed as many of his theories as Fin can stand on him, and the dark detective turns to Olivia for escape. "Hey, Liv. Where's Elliot?"
She doesn't look up as she answers. "Filling out a request for a new cell."
"Damn, that's gonna take all day," he replies.
"Probably."
"The lab say anything?"
She glances up at this and gives him a slight smile. "Something about how they're backed up farther than we can imagine and we should be grateful if they get to it before next Friday."
Fin laughs. "They wouldn't last a day with our jobs."
"And we'd need ten more years of school to do theirs," Olivia points out.
"Yep. That's why we're cops and they're lab rats."
Munch gives a mock-shudder. "Advanced chemistry degrees… so much math and so many formulas…"
"I take it that was never on your list of career choices?" Olivia teases him.
"Hell, no."
"What did you want to do before you decided on being a cop?"
There's silence, and Olivia looks up to find that Munch and Fin are both focused on a spot behind her. She swivels the chair slowly and looks up. "Casey."
"Olivia."
There's more silence, and then Munch rises from where he's sitting on the edge of his desk and wanders over. "Can we do something for you, Counselor?"
She glances at him and shakes her head. "I need Olivia's signature on this form," she says, and drops a piece of paper in front of Olivia on the desk.
Olivia glances over it, decides it's lawyer-speak that she doesn't understand and that she trusts Casey anyway, and scrawls her signature on the line at the bottom. When she hands it back to the redhead, their fingers brush and Casey pulls back like something bit her.
Olivia drops her eyes, a little hurt, as the fast clicks of Casey's heels on the hallway floor tell her that the ADA is making as quick an exit as possible without running.
Munch whistles lightly. "What did you do to her?" he asks. "I don't think I've seen her that tight-assed in years."
Olivia glances at her coworker and declines to answer, choosing to simply ignore him. Munch doesn't get the message, though, and rattles on. "You steal her boyfriend or something?"
Olivia sees Fin put a hand on his partner's arm out of the corner of her eye. "C'mon, let's leave poor Liv alone," he says. "Angry ADA's are not to be messed with."
"Yeah, that's for sure. Damn, remember how Cabot used to go so cold it felt like there was frost on your balls?" He mock-shivers at the memory. "That woman sure could make you feel two feet tall."
"Remembering me fondly, are you?" a cheerful voice asks from the door. Munch looks up, then hastily moves himself behind his desk as if the barrier will save him from the wrath of Alex.
"We were just remembering how you used to freeze those slime-ball defense lawyers in their tracks and make them look like little kids in for a spanking," Fin replies. "Come to practice?"
Alex laughs. "Nope. Came in because I am currently unemployed, my mother is driving me crazy, and I have nothing else to do. Put me to work?"
Munch and Fin exchange glances. "Well, there's not really any lawyer-work to be done," Fin says.
"But we always figured you'd make a good detective," Munch continues. "If you'd like to join us in our mind-numbing phone record search, you're welcome to." He grabs a pile of papers from his desk, hands a stack to Fin and another to Alex. "We were just taking a break, trying to make sure we didn't see seven-digit numbers for the rest of our lives."
Olivia kicks out Elliot's chair and pushes it at Munch, who catches it. "Have a seat," he says, and Alex obeys.
"Thanks. What are we looking for?"
"Evidence that Turner called the Martins," Munch explains. "If we're thinking he raped Tanya two years ago and then went to clean up his mess, then maybe they talked before he killed her."
Alex gives a skeptical look to the papers in her hands, and then to the ones in Munch and Fin's. "And these are all phone records?"
"Two whole years' worth," Fin replies, sitting down in his own chair and paging through the papers. "We had to get her parents' records too, since she was living at home at least part of that time."
"So, we're looking for Tanya's number on Turner's records?" Alex asks.
"That, or vice-versa. Or a number that either of them called a lot-- other than take-out."
Olivia signs her name on the last of the forms with a flourish, and drops it in her 'completed' box. "Hey, guys, deal me in." She walks up behind Alex and leans down to kiss the top of her head. Alex leans her head back and catches the kiss on her lips.
"Hey, you. Paperwork done?"
"All done," Olivia confirms. Munch and Fin might have known about her former relationship with Alex, but in the past they were careful not to be too obvious inside the station or while on duty. Now, though, Alex doesn't really work here, even if she is volunteering her time, and apparently has decided to stop being discreet.
A glance passes between the partners. Fin returns to his paperwork. Munch, never one to leave anything alone, opens his mouth.
"It's true then?"
Alex responds without raising her head, apparently totally unaffected. Olivia raises her head, her expression wary, but doesn't say anything. "What's true?"
"The rumors. About the two of you."
The blonde raises her head slowly and meets Munch's gaze. "I suppose so."
He nods, his face speaking of his satisfaction. "I thought so."
"We never made a secret of it," Olivia says, thinking how much that was not true of her relationship with Casey. Casey had never wanted anyone to know. She had insisted that Olivia not kiss her or touch her unless they were inside, alone, and she'd refused anything that might look more like a date than a friendly coworkers' outing.
Alex was not nearly so shy. When she'd been here, the only rule they'd agreed on in terms of being discreet was 'nothing while on duty.' Because of that, Olivia knew several people had known the truth, and the rumors had run rampant.
Neither she nor Alex had ever done anything about them. They hadn't made a secret out of their relationship.
"I thought so," Munch repeated, pretty much ignoring Olivia's mild comment.
Fin, apparently having decided that the conversation wasn't going to blow up in his face, raises his head from behind his stack of paper. "Serena Southerlyn's aide told you," he says dryly.
"Don't listen to him," Munch says in a conspiratorial faux-whisper to the women. "I deduced that you were dating solely through my own powers of deduction."
"And Southerlyn's aide."
Munch nods, apparently unabashed. "And Southerlyn's aide."
Alex laughs. "Serena's aide did have a big mouth, didn't he?"
"Spread every piece of gossip he could get his hands on," Munch confirmed. "Best source of information in the DA's office."
"Made a lot of visits to him, did you?" Olivia asks blandly.
"I resent that. I am perfectly capable of finding information without a law student's help."
"But you didn't."
Munch shrugs. "Well, there is that."
Cragen's door swings open, and the boss enters the room. Everyone looks up in expectation, and he doesn't disappoint. "Found anything?" he asks.
"We just started going through the phone records," Olivia replies. She glances at Munch. "You guys finish the sexual assault case?"
Munch nods. "Guy was stupid enough to pull the same shit on an undercover narcotics officer," Fin says. "She hauled him in and he confessed to our case, too."
Olivia shakes her head. "Criminals are not the smartest characters, usually," she says.
"Yeah-- defense lawyers are sneaky little bastards, though," Alex says under her breath, and Fin laughs. Olivia stifles a grin. Cragen looks down at her with an odd expression on his face and then shakes his head and gets back to his questions.
"So, anything?"
Munch takes several pieces of paper from the top of his stack and puts them on his desk. "Nothing so far."
"Well, keep looking. The lab's backed up, and we want to get Turner before he bolts." Cragen turns and disappears into his office again. Olivia watches him go, then returns to her papers. Seven-digit figures are starting to dance before her eyes, and she suddenly understands Munch and Fin's need for a break.
She's only been at it for a few minutes, though, so she grits her teeth once and gets back to it.
Alex is the one who finally throws three pieces of paper triumphantly down on the desk beside her. "Found it!" she says.
Olivia, Munch and Fin lower their own stacks of paper. "Found what?" Olivia queries.
"Turner. Calling Tanya, day in and day out for about--" she glances down at the papers "two weeks in January, the year she was raped."
"Why didn't she change classes?" Munch wonders aloud.
Olivia shrugs. "January's the end of the semester some places. Maybe she just wanted to finish it out."
"With her rapist?" Fin looks highly skeptical.
"We've seen stranger," Alex says, handing the papers to Munch and standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's your lead to follow, and I'm going to get away from all these numbers before I go blind."
Munch opens his mouth to retort, undoubtedly something about the stamina of ex-ADA's when it comes to police work, but Olivia's phone rings and he closes it.
"Benson."
"Hey, Liv."
"Checking out your new phone, are you?"
Munch, Fin, and Alex return to their teasing banter as she takes a few steps away, knowing that Elliot is unlikely to have any information about the case. "Yeah. I think Cragen had to call in a few favors, but the requisition board seemed to see eye to eye with us about the need for detectives to have cells."
"Wow. Must be a first," Olivia responds.
"I know. Anyway, I'm on my way back. Find anything?"
"Munch and Fin are off the assault; he was caught by an undercover on another case. Alex is here. Turner called Tanya over and over right after her change in behavior two years back." Olivia hears a car turn over in the background. "Stabler, you're not thinking about driving while talking, are you?"
"I know the stats as well as you do," Elliot says. "Be back soon."
"See you then." She hangs up the phone and tucks it back into her pocket, wandering back over to Munch, Fin and Alex. "I'm going to go check on the lab," she says. "Alex, you want to come with me?"
Alex looks a little puzzled as to why she's being asked to go on a lab run, but nods, not about to waste time with Olivia. "Sure." She stands up from her chair and pushes it back behind Elliot's desk.
"Munch, Fin, someone needs to call Casey." Olivia knows she's being a little cowardly, but she really doesn't want to face another Alex-Casey standoff. Just being around Casey, without Alex, is bad enough these days. Day. God, has it really only been a day and a half since Casey walked out?
Munch already has the phone out of its cradle and is dialing. "On it," he says to Olivia as she grabs her coat. "Hey, Novak," he says into the phone as Olivia leaves the precinct at a fast clip, in case Casey is nearby. Alex is on her heels easily, grinning a little.
"What?" Olivia asks without slowing.
"Nothing."
"Yeah, right. Nothing."
"Nothing important, then." Alex reaches out to press the button for the elevator, which they are taking in deference to her heels. "I don't know why I bothered wearing these things when I'm not working."
Olivia looks at her with an expression of mock-disbelief. "Because you know they make your legs look even better than usual?" she says, and Alex laughs.
"Possibly."
"Egomaniac."
Alex wraps her arm around Olivia from behind and pulls the detective back against her chest. Olivia lets herself rest there, luxuriating in the feel of her embrace.
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