Disclaimer: I'm not Dick Wolf, I don't own anybody or anything except Jeanine and all other original characters, etc., etc., although that would be pretty damn cool… Just borrowing them. I'm planning to return them all in one piece.
Just to set things up--Olivia's on maternity leave, and her mildly attractive replacement comes through. Meanwhile, Elliot is in the throes of divorce court, and somewhat lonely. I know yall see where this is going.
A/N: This is my fantasy of how they'll handle Mariska Hargitay's pregnancy. Of course, I'm probably dead wrong, but I like to think of it as being more imaginative than the SVU writers. LOL. Reviews are appreciated, but please no rude ones from O/E fans. Thanks!
"Would you STOP IT!"
Elliot looked up, startled. "What'd I do?"
Olivia gestured violently. "That pen-tapping. It's driving me crazy."
Elliot smirked and looked back down at his paperwork. Olivia's maternity leave on desk duty was supposed to start today, as soon as her replacement got here, and he couldn't be happier. Her early hormones were driving him out of his mind.
A minute later, he was absentmindedly tapping his pen on the desk. Olivia threw an empty coffee cup at his head and he ducked just in time. At this point, he knew better than to throw anything back at her. She'd start yelling, or worse, crying. He was beginning to think he couldn't handle her for another second when in walked Cragen with a black woman whose head was covered in a million tiny braids. Elliot prayed... "Benson, this is Jeanine Wilson. She's your temporary replacement." Score! Olivia stood up, tossing her partner a dirty look, and shook hands with the new detective. Five minutes later, she was on desk duty and Elliot sat back satisfiedly in his chair.
"What do you look so happy about?" his new partner inquired from Olivia's desk. She was sorting through the mountain of paperwork that had made its home on the desk of every detective in the squad.
"Liv's been--hormonal lately," he replied after a pause. "We're good friends, but she hasn't been too much fun since she got pregnant."
Jeanine, as she'd told him to call her, nodded sympathetically. "My ex still has the scars from when I was pregnant with my first kid. It only gets worse from here, Stabler. Sorry to tell ya."
"Yeah, I know." He stretched. There wasn't a whole lot going on around the precinct today. "So where are you on loan from?"
"Brooklyn. Narcotics. I worked SVU for a while down in Washington, and apparently they desperately needed someone, so my captain tells me I'm going to Manhattan for a few months. The commute is an absolute bitch." She looked up from the file she was browsing through. "I get the feeling you need some coffee."
"I get the feeling you need some coffee," he returned.
"Yeah, that too. Now--you do have a coffee machine in this joint, right?"
"Uh huh. Over past Cragen's office." He pointed.
Jeanine paused, scanning a folded piece of paper in her hands. She smiled. "She left me a letter."
"Who?"
"Your last partner, Benson. Says I shouldn't to drink anything Munch gives me, along with--ooh. Some juicy workplace gossip." She looked up. "Since when was Fin working here?"
"Couple years ago," Elliot answered. "You know him?"
"Fin, yeah. We met a Cops of Color benefit or some such shit a few years back. Have you ever noticed how they're especially careful to reward black cops? 'Good doggie, you got a criminal! Now that bad, bad man is gonna go to jail.' It's ridiculous."
Elliot nodded, unsure of what else to say. He hoped she wouldn't turn out like Munch with a million crazy conspiracy theories about how the NYPD was inherently racist, even if kinda was. "Still up for that coffee?" he asked, changing the subject.
Jeanine smiled at him. She was pretty, he noticed for the first time. "Sure. You can even buy me lunch."
He laughed. Having a new partner might not actually be so bad.
A/N: So...more?