Influenza

Chapter Twenty Four

Disclaimer: Nah, not my show, not my characters. My idea, though. If you want that, you're gonna have to ask, and pay.

XXXX

Friday went a lot like Thursday had, at least for Elliot and Olivia it did. A case came in, but Munch and Fin picked it up, since they had just finished court and had their plate empty. Olivia and Elliot, on the other hand, had one more day of court, Novak and the defense attorney still had to present their closing arguments, and hopefully the jury wouldn't take too long to deliberate, or, more so, they would see eye to eye, and not end up a hung jury. They had to be at the courthouse before noon, so they had been forced to eat an early lunch.

They had been lucky though, and the jury took two hours to come back with a guilty verdict. When they got back to the precinct, it was already 15 minutes until 5 o'clock, so the captain had let them both go home, letting them know that if a case came in, they would be the first ones he would call. Not surprised, Olivia and Elliot had left the station house, heading back for his apartment. Since Christmas fell on a Saturday that year, the kids would be spending the next weekend with their mother, and part of Friday night with their father, so that weekend they were staying over at his place. Kathleen had informed the couple that she was cooking dinner for everybody that night, and then taking the twins out to see a movie, allowing them some 'alone time'. Olivia had briefly wondered how far Kathleen thought she had gone with the girl's father. Perhaps she would have to talk to her one night.

The meal had been simple, hamburgers, potato chips, and baked beans. Kathleen ushered the twins out of the house around 7 o'clock, in order to catch their movie at 7:30. Left alone, with nothing else to do, Olivia began to clean up the kitchen. That was, until Elliot decided to distract her.

"Come on," he told her in-between kisses, "I'll do that later."

"Um-hmm," she replied, knowing full well either she would finish it or Kathleen will. "What else is there to do?"

His eyes darkened and he grinned at her, "Oh, I bet I can think of a few things..."

"With your hurt leg and my still-stitched up arm?" she questioned. "I don't think so, bud."

"Oh, you're no fun," he told her as he lead her into the living room. He sat down on the couch and pulled her into his lap, crushing his lips onto hers. She carefully snaked her arms around his neck, making sure she didn't hit the stitches, and deepened the kiss. Maybe they couldn't do that but kissing wasn't going to cause either of them any pain.

His hands slipped under her shirt, connecting with the bare skin of her lower back. She arched slightly at the touch, since his hands were cold, and he chuckled into the kiss. When she broke for air, he took the opportunity to gently pull her shirt over her head, and then throw it across the room. She grinned, then did the same with his. "Kathleen should take the twins to the movies more often," she told him, leaning in once more and capturing his lips with hers.

Only seconds later, the shrill ringing of Elliot's home phone filled the air, causing the owner of the device to groan. "Ignore it," he told her, his voice low and annoyed. She obeyed, running her nails up and down his back gently, smiling when she felt him shiver. The really should have done this a long time ago.

"Maybe we should–" the telephone cut him off, but this time it wasn't his home phone, or his cell phone. It was hers. She sighed, pulling away from him, to answer her phone. But, he kept his hold on her, shaking his head. "Just ignore it."

"What if it's Cragen?" she questioned, pulling back when his fingers went to remove her bra. "We told him that our relationship wasn't going to effect our work– don't make us hypocrites."

He scowled, knowing she was right. "Fine, but if it's not him, turn the damned thing off."

She had no objections to that, and got up from the couch to answer her phone, picking up her shirt along the way, just in case. Catching it right before the voice mail picked up, she tried to make her voice as calm as possible, "Benson?"

"Hey," she was right. It was Cragen. Looking over at Elliot, she frowned and pulled her shirt on over her head, "We got a case. A girl, fifteen years old, was at a friend's party, no supervision, alcohol, drugs, that kind of thing, and was just found by the girl who threw the party's parents. Apparently, they came home early. She was upstairs in the guest room, unconscious, badly beaten, and naked. The girl is at the hospital right now, but I want you and Elliot to head over to the scene." The was a pause from the Captain's end, "Only problem is, he's not answering his phone."

Cursing in her head, she replied, "Did you try his cell phone? I think the kids are at his house, he might be out with them."

"No, I just called his home phone. Your's, too, by the way. I got no answer there."

"Yeah," she said, "I'm out... grocery shopping. My fridge only had old Chinese food and some entire new species of mold growing on my cheese..." maybe the detail would fool him.

"Alright, we'll, I'll get a hold of Stabler, and tell him where to meet you at. The address is 354 Washington street. You know where that is?"

She was fairly certain that she did, "Yeah. I'm on my way right now."

The captain hung up and only seconds later, Elliot's cell phone rang. Already wearing his shirt, he picked it up immediately, "Stabler?"

There was a long pause, and then, "Sure thing, Cap." He then hung up the phone. Olivia wondered briefly why she got the third degree and he only said four words during the entire conversation. Throwing him a suspicious look, she grabbed her badge and gun from where she had left them. He grinned, doing the same.

"Captain told me to let you know that you're a terrible liar." he seemed amused by that.

"That's great, Elliot." she replied. "Now he knows you didn't answer your phone because you were with me."

"Yeah, but you did answer your phone," he reminded her.

"With no help from you," she retorted. "You remember? 'Just leave it'?"

He frowned, "Well, you can't blame a man for tryin'."

"Actually," she replied, "in this situation, I believe I can."

They headed out the door, and as he locked it behind them, he said, "You're just mad because you almost got yourself a spot on Santa's naughty list."

XXXX

It was after four in the morning, and Olivia was just then climbing into her bed. Their case had been open and shut. They processed the scene, collected everything that there was to collect, sent it off to the lab, then went to the hospital to see if the girl had woken up. She had, and when they talked with her, there had been no holding back. She knew who had raped her, and she had no problem telling them so. Richard Cooper, was his name. He was a senior, one of those guys every girl dreams of dating. Tall, good looking, sports-star, and in other words, popular.

She had thought they were going upstairs to do some harmless making out, nothing more, nothing less. When he tried to take things further, she said no. When he got mad, she tried to run, but he was a football player, and much stronger than she was. He pushed her onto the bed, and beat her until she passed out. Which was the most fortunate thing for her, she didn't have to remember everything he had done. It hurt the case a bit, but with the DNA from the rape kit, and the skin that had been found under her nails, it would be fine. The boy was brought in for questioning, made to give a DNA sample, which was rushed off to the lab. The results would be in the next morning, but until then, the 18 year old, semester away from graduating, football star was in central booking.

After all of that, the last thing she wanted to do was finish off what she and Elliot had started. Not only were neither in the mood any longer, the kids were home by then, and he couldn't just abandoned them to stay at her place. Taking their relationship that step further was put off for the night, and possibly many more.

She had shed her work clothes, not bothering to put on anything to wear to sleep, and crawled into her bed in her bra and panties, glad that her heater was working for a change. It wasn't too long after she closed her eyes that she was falling into a peaceful slumber. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to wake up the next morning.

Or, at least she thought so.

XXXX

It was 8:30, barely four hours after she had fallen asleep, when her home phone rang. She growled to herself, peeking up at the clock, then cursed out loud. Why was she being punished? They had gotten the bastard, shouldn't she be rewarded for that? Surely, this was not a reward. "Benson," she mumbled, when she finally willed herself to answer the device.

"Hey, Olivia?" it was Warner, which let Olivia know that the results were most likely in. "We have those comparisons that you ordered back."

"What do they say?" she questioned sleepily. It was too early for this.

"Both are a perfect match. I'm about to call over to Captain Cragen and let him know. I just thought you'd want to hear about it."

"Thank you," she told her. "I did. Do me a favor though, don't call Elliot. His kids are probably still asleep. I'll let him know later."

"Okay," the woman replied. "Goodnight, Olivia."

She laughed tiredly, then told the woman goodbye. Hanging up the phone, she sighed, then turned around in her bed, and went right back to sleep.

XXXX

It was almost half after ten when his phone rang that morning. He was already awake, having been woken by his son half an hour before, in order for him to make pancakes and eggs. When he looked at the Caller ID he was a bit surprised to see that it was Olivia. He had figured she would still be in bed at that time. "Hey," he greeted, when he answered.

"Hi," she replied. "Warner called me this morning."

"Oh yeah?" he questioned. "What did she have to say?"

"Both samples were a perfect match to the DNA found in Marissa and under her nails. He's probably already in jail, waiting for arraignment. Which, is going to be Monday morning at 7:45. Cragen just called, he wants us there, and then after that, we get to do more paperwork."

"Sounds like fun," he said sarcastically. "When do we get off for Christmas, again?"

"Thursday and Friday, plus the weekend."

He groaned, "That long away, huh?"

"Yup, looks like you've still got less than a week to get me on the Naughty List. You're not doing so hot, there, bud."

"Really now?" he questioned. "I thought I made quite a deal of progress yesterday..."

"You're lucky the phone rang," she told him, "I would have bruised your ego, when I made you stop."

He snorted, "Yeah. Sure. That was really going to happen."

She was grinning, he knew it. He could hear her do so through the phone, "Yup. But, you keep telling yourself what you want to think."

"Fine, then I will."

"Okay," she replied. "Will I see you later?"

"If you want to come last minute Christmas shopping with me and the kids, then sure."

"Sounds like a plan," she told him. "What time are you leaving?"

"Well, Kathleen just locked herself in the bathroom, so probably not for another hour and a half."

Olivia laughed, "Alright, I'll be over sometime before twelve, then?"

"That's fine with me."

"Good, I'll see you then," she paused. "I love you, you know? Even without the naughty list."

He grinned, "I love you, too, without the naughty list. Although, I think it'd be more fun, with it."

She snorted, "Goodbye, Stabler."

They hung up the phone, and Elliot left the kitchen, where he had been talking. Dickey was sitting on the couch, watching Saturday morning cartoons, and he plopped down next to his son. "A full day of shopping," he said with a sigh. "How did we let your sisters talk us into this?"

He shrugged, "You're the one that said we could go."

That was true. He had agreed with the girls when the suggested the idea. "Everywhere is going to be packed, you know?"

"Yeah," the boy frowned. "I know." He flipped through the channels, and the two men sighed in unison. It was going to be a long Saturday.

XXXX

A/N: Well... let me know what'cha think, of course!