"She loves him?" Cragen said with disbelief.

Olivia nodded her head firmly. "Yes, Captain. It was pretty obvious to me."

Yet Cragen didn't look convinced. "You're saying Claire Stephenson sets up this advocacy group so she can meet ex-convicts who will carry out her plans to get Charles Beauchamp off the hook, and she does all of this because she loves Beauchamp?"

"You didn't see the look in her eyes every time she spoke about him," Olivia said. "Or hear the way her voice was almost breathless at the very mention of Beauchamp's name. Trust me, Captain, that crazy bitch is head over heels for Beauchamp."

They were gathered in the squad room, along with Casey, Elliot, Munch, Fin, and George Huang--as well as Detective Alex Eames from the Major Case Squad, who stopped by the One Six on her way home from work to pay a visit to Munch. She sat next to Munch, attentively listening to their bull session, while respectfully remaining out of it, since it wasn't her case.

Eames leaned forward and grabbed Munch's hand, and Munch rubbed the back of her palm with his thumb. This sweet display of affection was very discreet--yet Olivia caught it, and she smiled slightly. At first she had thought Munch and Eames were a pretty odd match up, until she realized that they were very good for each other. Eames was one of the few people who actually loved listening to Munch's wild conspiracy theories, and she had a calming effect on the usually hyper-active Munch.

As happy as Olivia felt for these two, she also couldn't help but feel a little envious of their relationship, as well. 'I don't know why I'm so jealous,' Olivia thought, 'because Eric and I have a great rapport.'

She focused her thoughts back on the present when Cragen asked Elliot, "What did you notice with Stephenson?"

"I agree with Liv," he replied. "I got a pretty bad vibe from Stephenson overall, Cap. When she wasn't acting dodgy, she was trying to dominate the conversation."

"That makes sense," Huang spoke up. "Because from what I've been hearing about her so far, Claire Stephenson really sounds like a woman who is used to getting things her way. The dragon lady statute that Olivia mentioned only confirms this for me."

"She not only knows of her dragon lady rep, but she enjoys it," Elliot said.

Huang pointed at him. "Exactly! This is a very arrogant person who is not afraid to flaunt her wealth, along with the power that it buys. If she's in love with Charles Beauchamp--and I believe she is--then Stephenson will stop at nothing to help him."

"Even to the point of hiring ex-cons to do her dirty work for her," Casey said, sounding disgusted. "All right, we have our likely suspect, but how can we prove it? Where's the evidence linking Stephenson to this plot?"

"Other than the fact that she knows Samuel Childs?" Olivia asked.

"She can still deny knowing anything that Childs was involved in," Casey said. "We still have no concrete evidence. Speaking of which, did we get the results from the test on Eugene Foreman's gun?"

"Yeah, his gun doesn't match the bullet that killed Marcus Sewell," Fin told her.

Casey shook her head in irritation. "And when the hell were you planning on telling me this!"

"Sorry," Fin muttered, taken aback by her outburst.

"No, wait," Casey quickly said. She stood pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. She let out a heavy sigh and added, "It just seems like whatever evidence we have in this damn case always evaporates. I apologize for ripping your head off, Fin."

"Already forgotten," Fin assured her.

"Since we surmise that Stephenson's in love with Beauchamp, a good starting place would be trying to prove that," Cragen said. "Because that will prove motive, and hopefully turn up some more concrete evidence as well."

"Stephenson claims she doesn't know Beauchamp personally," Elliot said. "If we can at least prove that they did meet--that they do know each other--then we've caught her in a lie, and that'll be enough to tighten the noose around her neck."

"It'll be enough to grant you a subpoena for the records of The Friends Of Justice," Casey promised. "Along with a search warrant of her place."

Olivia cringed when she realized that Stephenson could have been holding Lilly hostage in her home. 'And we were just there! Oh God!' She glanced at her watch. 'Lilly's been abducted for almost eight hours now!'

"But how do we go about proving an affair between the psycho socialite and the crazed college professor?" Munch asked. "Where do you even begin?"

'College professor?' Olivia realized, as her mouth dropped open with shock. "Oh, sweet Jesus," she excitedly said aloud, "that's it!"

When everybody stared at her just then, Olivia said, "Beauchamp was a college professor, right? So maybe Stephenson met him when she took one of his classes."

"Oh man, could it be that easy?" Fin said with a smile.

"Let's find out," Cragen said. "Olivia, you and Elliot track down Beauchamp's college records and see if Stephenson was ever a student. Fin, Munch, I want you two on Samuel Child's trail. He's a key player in all of this, and the sooner we get him, the better."

Olivia got up and was about to grab her coat when Cragen said, "Olivia, you have a visitor."

Puzzled, she stared in the direction that Cragen gestured and saw Eric standing by the doorway of the squad room. Olivia was about to turn to Elliot and say that she won't be a minute, until she saw Elliot and Casey abruptly walk off to one of the interrogation rooms by themselves.

'Damn it,' Olivia thought, as she angrily stalked over to Eric. He was the very last person whom she wanted to see right now. Olivia was eager to get out and hunt down any incriminating evidence she could find on Claire Stephenson, but her boyfriend's presence had effectively killed the momentum of the investigation.

"Hey," Eric said, with a slight smile, as she walked up to him. He carried a paper bag in his hand.

"Hi," she said with an annoyed sigh.

"How's everything going?" Eric asked. He appeared to be very concerned.

"We were just about to leave," Olivia replied. "We got a lead in the investigation."

"What about you?" he asked, fretful. "Are you all right?"

Olivia stared at him strangely. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Eric gazed at the floor briefly. Then he glanced at her and said, "I heard somebody shot at you today, Liv. I first heard about it on the radio, where the talk show host kept referring to you as 'Dirty Harriet'. From what I could gather, you were unharmed--at least, physically."

Olivia let out a horrified gasp when she realized that she had been so caught up in this damn case that she never even made one phone call to Eric all day. "Eric, I'm so sorry," she said morosely.

He gave her a tight hug. "I'm just glad to see you're all right. You said you had a lead?"

"Yeah, El and I just met the bitch who may be behind this whole thing," Olivia said. "We're heading out now to try and see if we can scare up some evidence."

"Ok, I won't keep you any longer," Eric said. He gave her a lingering gaze before he handed over the paper bag. "Here, I got you and everybody else some bagels."

Olivia felt even more guilty as she accepted the bag. "Eric, again, I am so sorry that I never called you. God, you must have been worried sick!"

"I was," he admitted. Then Eric broke into a smile. "But I should have known that it would have taken a lot more than somebody shooting at you to slow you down, Olivia." He gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Now get back to work."

"Yes sir," she said, jokingly. Then, growing serious, she added, "I may be very late, in fact, I--"

"--might not be home," Eric said with a nod. "I know, and I understand. Just be careful, Liv."

"I will," she said, after they kissed. "I'll call you later."

When Olivia returned to her desk to drop off the bag of bagels, she found Elliot standing there. He stared at her strangely.

"What?" Olivia asked.

"Nothing," Elliot said, abruptly shaking his head. He gazed after Eric for a brief moment before retrieving his jacket.

"'night, Liv," Eames said as she walked out of the squad room.

"Goodnight, Alex," Olivia replied. "Maybe one of these nights we can all get a beer at Mulligan's."

"Sounds great to me," Eames said with a smile. "Now we'd just have to wait for a quiet night!"

Olivia laughed at Eames comment before she saw Casey walk by. The ADA had gazed at her with open concern, until she suddenly gave Olivia a forced smile. Before Olivia could ask what was up, Casey ducked into Cragen's office.

Olivia turned and saw Elliot was once more staring oddly at her. "Elliot," she said, losing patience, "what is it?"

Elliot let out a deep breath. "You're going to find out sooner or later anyway."

"Find out what?" Olivia asked.

-----------------------------------------------------

"Olivia," Cragen said, "you have a visitor."

When Elliot saw Eric standing by the doorway, he thought this would be the perfect time. He strode up to Casey and said, "May I speak with you in private?"

"Not now, Elliot," she said with a depressed sigh. "I've got to talk to Don about the--"

He gestured toward Olivia and Eric and said, "Liv's taking time out to talk to her better half, so why can't we do the same? C'mon, Case, just five minutes, that's all."

"All right," she agreed.

He led her to one of the unused interrogation rooms. Casey stood by the desk with her arms folded and stared at him expectantly. "What is it?"

Elliot pulled out a chair. "Have a seat." When she started to protest, he added, "Just indulge me, ok?"

Casey sat down in the chair with Elliot standing behind her.

"What are you…oh, GOD!" Casey said, as Elliot began to slowly and steadily massage the muscles in her neck.

Elliot started at just under the base of her skull, then worked his hands down her neck and across her shoulders, kneading Casey's taut muscles between his fingers all the while. He was pleased to feel Casey loosening up under his touch. He finished off the massage with a broad rub down across her upper back with his knuckles. Then he gave Casey a gentle hug from behind as he kissed her cheek.

"You're a lifesaver, Elliot," Casey whispered. "Christ, that felt so good!"

"You looked tense before, so I figured you could use it," he said, as he stepped away from the chair. "How are you holding up?"

"As well as could be, I suppose," Casey replied, as she got up from the chair. She hesitated for a moment, staring thoughtfully at the floor, until she said, "Elliot, if there was ever anything wrong, you'd tell me, right?"

He frowned at her. "You mean if there was anything wrong between us? Of course I would tell you! But there isn't. Why do you ask?"
"Do you know Kelly Gaffney?" Casey asked. "She works with me in the DA's office."

"Of course I do," Elliot replied.

"Well, she's been seeing this guy, a stockbroker, until he suddenly just dumped her without even saying why," Casey said. She sounded sheepish. "It's just that I've been thinking…oh, I don't know what I've been thinking! The whole thing seems so silly right now."

Elliot firmly held her by the arms and gazed levelly into her eyes. "I would never do that to you, Casey. You understand me? I love you."

"I know," she said, looking more at ease. "I love you too. I'm sorry for even bringing it up. It's been one wicked day so far, and I guess I was just freaking out over nothing."

"It's been a wicked day for all of us," he told her. "So don't worry about it. I'd better get back outside before Liv starts to wonder where I've ran off to."

"Oh, jeez, Liv…I'd almost forgotten," Casey said with a pained expression. "Something else happened today that you should know about, Elliot."

"What is it?"

"Alex Cabot," Casey said. "She's back."

-------------------------------------------------------

"Elliot," Olivia said, losing patience, "what is it?"

'This is ridiculous,' Elliot thought, as he let out a deep breath. He had been dancing around how he was going to tell Olivia that Alex Cabot--her former girlfriend--was back in New York City, yet there was only one simple way of telling her: just spit it out. "You're going to find out sooner or later anyway," he said.

"Find out what?" Olivia asked. She looked like she was ready to burst.

"Not here," Elliot told her. "C'mon, I'll tell you in the car."

Once they got to the garage, and got inside their car, Olivia leaned forward across the front seat and stared anxiously at Elliot. "What is it, El?"

"Alex is back," he said.

Olivia frowned at him. "No she isn't. I just saw Eames leave. What the hell are you talking about?"

"No, no," he said, shaking his head. "I mean Alex Cabot. She's back in New York City. Casey just told me."

Olivia sat back suddenly, as if having just received an electric shock. "What happened?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, grabbing hold of her arm. "There's nothing wrong, Liv. It's all over; Alex doesn't have to stay in Witness Protection anymore."

"That's crazy! What about the price on her head?"

"It's gone. The drug dealers who wanted her dead are themselves dead, now. Casey tells me they were killed when a bomb exploded in their compound. She seems to think it was the work of Spec-Op-For."

Olivia's eyes grew wide. "Was it?"

Elliot shrugged. "Who knows? The main thing is, it's over. Alex is free to live her life again."

"Is Alex already back in New York?"

"Yes. Casey saw Alex earlier today at the DA's office, when they gave her a big toast for her return. Branch has also promoted Alex; she'll supervise her own staff of ADAs from now on."

Olivia slowly nodded as she absorbed al of this news. At one point Alex had been the love of her life, and although she had seemingly moved on with Eric, Elliot figured that this still must be pretty heady stuff for Olivia to handle.

"She's been back in town and she still hasn't contacted me," Olivia said, her voice sounding very small and hurt. "I guess she's been pretty busy, huh?"

Elliot felt his heart break at the melancholy tone in her voice. Olivia had been his partner for almost eight years, now, and nobody was as close to him as she was. He hated to see her get hurt. Elliot reached over and grabbed her shoulder. "Alex's probably got a lot to deal with right now, Liv. But I'm sure she'll call you once things settle down."

"Yeah," Olivia said with a heavy sigh. "All right, look, we've got a job to do, so I guess we'd better get to it."

'She's back,' Elliot thought with a nod. Olivia had once more managed to bury her pain deep down somewhere inside of her so that she could concentrate on the task at hand. Still, Elliot felt bad for her. He almost wished they could drive straight over to the DA's office right now and speak with Alex--but Lilly Beauchamp was still missing, and she still needed them.

'Whatever lingering issues between Olivia and Alex that remained would have to be dealt with some other time,' Elliot thought, as he started up the car.

As he pulled the car out of the garage, Olivia's cell phone rang. No sooner did she say hello than Olivia began shouting into the phone. "Hold on! Just calm down and tell me what happened. What? They did? Ok, just hang on, sweetie, we'll be right there!" She turned to Elliot and added, "Forget the college; take us over to Linda Beauchamp's instead."

"No problem," he said, concerned. "What happened?"

"Lilly's kidnappers just contacted Linda," Olivia grimly said, "with a ransom demand."

To Be Continued...