Long one, but I think it's a goodie. It'll answer one question in particular. Enjoy.

Lyrics from "911" by Wyclef & Mary J. Blige

If death comes for me tonight, girl

I want you to know that I love you

And no matter how tough I wouldn't dare

Only to you I would reveal my tears

So tell the police I ain't home tonight

Messin' around with you is gonna get me life

But when I look into your eyes

You're worth that sacrifice

If this is the kind of love that my mom used to warn me about

Man, I'm in trouble

I'm in real big trouble

If this is the kind of love that the old folks used to warn me about

Man, I'm in trouble

I'm in real big trouble

I need y'all to do me a favor

Someone please call 911 (pick up the phone yo)

Tell them I just been shot down

and the bullet's, in my heart

And it's piercin through my soul (I'm losin blood yo)

Feel my body gettin cold

Someone please call 911 (pick up the phone yo)

The alleged assailant, is five foot one

and she shot me through my soul

Feel my body gettin cold

Mary J. Blige

So cold

Sometimes I feel like I'm a prisoner

I think I'm trapped here for a while

(but I'm always right here with you girl)

And every breath I fight to take

Is as hard as these four walls I wanna break

I told the cops you wasn't here tonight

Messin' around with me is gonna get you life

Oh yeah, yeah

But everytime I look into your eyes

Then it's worth the sacrifice

Wyclef

If this is the kind of love that your mom used to warn you about

Man, we are in trouble

You're in real big trouble

If this is the kind of love that the old folks used to warn me about

I'm in trouble

I'm in real big trouble

You got anything to say, girl?

Mary J. Blige

Someone please call 911, yeah yeah (pick up the phone yo)

Tell them I just got shot down

And it's piercin through my soul (I'm losin blood yo)

Feel my body gettin cold

And so it began. 24 hours after Byron Stabler failed to report back to duty or return home, an APB was issued in Lewiston and all surrounding towns for the missing police officer. Elliot played the shocked and concerned son as the situation called of him, but it wasn't really much of a stretch. He had been plagued with nightmares since that night. Guilt over his sin and fear over getting caught struggled for his consciousness, threatening to consume him.

72 hours after Byron's disappearance, the Stabler family got the call. A search team found Byron's body in an abandoned field about 40 miles outside of Lewiston. The Sheriff respectfully requested that his mother meet him down at the county morgue. Dora tearfully agreed and hung up the phone.

"I'll go…mom you stay here with Jimmy and Tonya."

Dora shook her head. "No, I have to do this. You stay here."

Elliot knew what his mother was in store for and he was damned if he was going to let those images stay in her head. Like they stayed in his. He finally convinced her to let him do it alone.

24 hours after Byron's body was found, search teams found the charred remains of a truck. Evidence showed that someone had, possibly the killer or a passerby, doused the truck to keep the fire from spreading into the woods. Miraculously, one of the license plates had been spared, and police officials had traced the truck back to a Cheryl Sunstone. Records showed Sunstone had died in late 1978 of cardiac arrest, so the police were sure someone had stolen her information to register the truck. Regardless of the obvious, they couldn't trace the truck back to a suspect or the victim.

48 hours after Byron's body was found, the real nightmare began. Elliot and James were on the top of the suspect list and each had spent hours in the interrogation room down at the station. James had skipped track practice that day and was refusing to divulge his whereabouts, afraid of admitting he was at a friend's house getting high, which the police subsequently discovered to be true. While James was indeed caught, his drug use gave him a rock solid alibi as the other kid's mother and a neighbor confirmed that they both had caught her son, James and two other friends in the garage and had raised holy hell. The youths had pleaded with them not to call the police so they wouldn't be kicked off their respective sports teams.

Elliot's alibi, on the other hand, was a much more shaky. He told police he was at his girlfriend's house for a study date. Olivia confirmed this, also offering up the assignments they had worked on. But the police couldn't find anyone else who saw him leave or enter the premises. Serena Benson could only testify that Olivia was the only one home before she had left that night, and was the only one home when she later returned. An independent witness did offer that he had seen Elliot's red Camaro parked outside of the residence, but couldn't remember exactly what time that was. It also didn't help Elliot's case that numerous witnesses, plus an ER doctor and nurse, remembered the fight between him and his father outside of Willie's diner only two weeks before.

Two weeks after Byron's body had been found, the police started to lessen up off of James and Elliot Stabler. They couldn't find any concrete evidence that the two had been involved in their father's murder, plus the town and its police force didn't really want to believe that the star athlete really could have participated in something so heinous.

Not that it mattered. Elliot started spending every night at Olivia's house, too afraid to sleep in his own bed, in the house he shared with his family that carried the ghost of Byron. It was a puzzling state for Elliot. Before, during and even a short time after Byron's murder, he hadn't felt a shred of remorse for what he had done. He wasn't sure when his conscience came back to him, but it was rearing its ugly head. He wanted to talk to his priest about it, Father Michael, during confession, but he promised Olivia that he wouldn't. She wasn't Catholic, nor was she religious in any sense, and the thought of him confessing what they had done frightened her beyond belief and she begged him not to. They couldn't tell anyone, regardless if his priest was morally bound to keep his secret.

One night, Olivia watched as Elliot twisted and turned in his sleep. He had missed a lot of school and walked around with deep circles underneath his eyes and a stoop to his shoulders. Those who saw him attributed it to the grief over his father's death. She knew better of course. If Olivia had any regrets over the murder of Byron it was of involving Elliot. She had done this to him. She held on to him tightly as he twitched, silently praying that this awful time would just hurry up and pass.

XXXXXX

Four weeks after Byron's body was found, Dora Stabler stood outside of the Benson home. She had never stepped foot inside the yard, much less the house but the time had come. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders, smoothed down her perfectly creased slacks and headed up the walkway.

She raised her hand to knock but the door suddenly opened. Serena Stabler gazed back at her, her face unreadable. Dora was surprised to see that she was dressed rather conservatively in a long sleeved black cotton shirt and slacks that closely mirrored her own.

"I'm a professor at the community college," Serena said, answering Dora's thoughts.

Of course. It was so easy to forget things such as that. Dora thought that Serena should have been more surprised to see her. "Were you expecting a visit from me by any chance?"

"No, but I watched you from the window," Serena said matter-of-factly. "You stood outside the gate for almost five minutes."

"I'm sorry to bother you…is Olivia home?" Dora asked. "I was wondering if I could speak to the two of you."

"Sure, come in," Serena said stiffly. Dora wasn't sure what she had expected, but the Benson home was clean, orderly and cozy. She looked at the homey touches the two women had added and was shocked to see it wasn't any different than her own home. Serena, again reading her thoughts, smiled wryly.

"Please have a seat in the living room, I'll get Olivia."

Dora obeyed, sitting gently on the couch. She gazed around the room, oddly affected by the fact that her husband had spent so much time here, away from his family.

"Hi, Mrs. Stabler."

Dora turned to see Olivia enter, her mother close behind. Dora was again pleasantly surprised by Olivia's natural beauty, much like she was that night at the hospital. Women spent thousands of dollars on products every year to get that look, but Olivia was blessed. It was so easy to see why her son would be so taken by her. Enough to kill for her.

Unlike her mother, Olivia looked shocked by Dora's presence. She took a seat next to her mother on the opposite couch and clasped her hands together tightly. It didn't escape her that Dora was sitting on the same couch where Byron had…she couldn't finish the thought.

"I would like for the two of you to leave Lewiston."

Olivia and Serena stared at her. "Leave Lewiston…like for a vacation or something?" Serena asked, wrinkling her brow.

Dora took a deep breath. "No. I want the two of you to relocate. It would be best for my family if you two no longer lived here. I can give you $15,000 to help cover moving expenses and for compensation."

"You can't be serious," Serena said, her eyes narrowing.

"I couldn't be more serious Ms. Benson."

Olivia started to giggle. Bending over she grabbed her knees and starting laughing heartily. Serena looked at Olivia as if she had lost her mind.

After a minute, Olivia regained her composure. "Mrs. Stabler," she said, wiping the corner of her eye. "With all due respect, you can kiss my rosy pink ass."

Dora sighed. "Listen-"

"No, you listen," Olivia said, a half smile still on her face. "You have a lot of nerve walking into our home and demanding that we pick up and move. Who the fuck do you think you are? I know you like to pretend that you are better than everybody, but we" she paused, pointing to her and her mother "don't need your damn money and we aren't going anywhere."

"The two of you are a strain and embarrassment to my family," Dora objected. "It's bad enough…with Byron. But people are starting to talk…people are starting to talk about whether or not you were sleeping with my husband. My children shouldn't have to bear the brunt of your indiscretions Serena."

Serena opened her mouth to speak, but Olivia beat her to it. "We should have to uproot our lives so you can save face?" she asked incredulously. "Mrs. Stabler, you are unbelievable. Yes, my mother was in the wrong, but so was Byron. Whether you like it or not, people are going to talk. Tough shit as they say. And if you think I'm leaving Elliot at a time when he needs me the most, you can forget it."

"Well, you can certainly blame yourself for his suffering Olivia," Dora said icily.

Olivia froze. Serena piped up. "Are you serious? The poor boy has been accused of his father's murder, of course he is suffering. It's a shame, but it's not Olivia's fault. If anything she is helping him through it."

Dora looked straight into Olivia's eyes. "Is she?" she asked evenly.

Olivia felt like fainting, but she pulled her resolve together. Standing up, she walked towards the door. "I think it's time for you to leave Mrs. Stabler," she said, motioning to the door.

Dora made no move to obey. "$15,000 to move,"

"Get the-"

"…and you leave no later than next week-"

"-fuck out."

"or I turn you and Elliot in to the police."

Serena gasped and Olivia's vision blurred. She stumbled back to the couch and collapsed on to the arm.

"What…what the hell are you talking about Dora?" Serena's head whipped back and forth between her daughter and the older woman.

"Olivia knows exactly what I am talking about," she replied in the same icy tone.

"Well then someone fucking fill me in," Serena said hysterically. No…

Olivia looked up and saw the clear look in Dora's eyes. She knew.

"What…what did Elliot tell you?"

Dora shook her head quickly. "He didn't tell me anything."

Olivia saw a spark of hope. "Then…I have no clue what you are talking about."

Dora didn't want to do it this way, but Olivia and Serena had left her no choice. "You didn't see me, but I was there. You changed into black clothes in my family room…you rehearsed with Elliot about how you were going to pretend like you were me and call Byron at the station…you had to remember to burn the clothes inside the truck…you buried the gun and the knife-"

"STOP!" Serena jumped up and pulled a dazed Olivia into a protective hug. "Get out! Stay the hell away from my daughter! She didn't do anything wrong!"

Dora ignored her, feeling her own throat constrict. "The guilt is killing my son," she said, holding Olivia's vacant gaze. "You've done enough to him and Serena has done enough to my family. I want you out of this town."

Dora stood up. Serena hugged Olivia tighter. "Every day he sees you, he is reminded of what he believed he had to do for you. You seduced him into helping you kill his father. And that is killing him. If you love him like you say you do, you'll leave. Or I will be forced to turn you both in."

Serena shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense," she stressed. "You want to help him, but you'd put him in jail to punish Olivia? How exactly are you helping him?"

Dora felt her calm demeanor slipping. "I don't want to put my son in jail!" she exclaimed. "But I truly believe that if he went to jail, he would have some peace of mind that would assuage him of some of that guilt. But I don't want to send my son away to prison. The next best thing is to for Olivia to get out of his life forever."

Serena let go of Olivia and stood up, facing off with Dora Stabler. "My daughter had nothing to do with Byron's death, she is not like that. I don't know what you think you saw, or what you think you heard-"

"Did you bring the money?"

Olivia's quiet voice startled both women. Serena whipped around. "Olivia? We don't have to-"

Olivia stood up as well and cradled her mother's face. "Yes we do," she said. "We did it Mom. I couldn't let him…It had to stop."

Serena's face crumpled. Olivia guided her mother back to the couch. "Did you bring the money?" she repeated.

Dora clicked open her Prada purse and pulled out a folded manila envelope. "You can count it-"

"I don't need to count it," she snapped irritably. "Well, looks like you got your way Mrs. Stabler. Just do me a favor huh? Let me find a way to tell Elliot."

Dora paused. "You can never tell him that I know. You can never tell him-"

Olivia held up a silencing hand. "I know, I know…he'll never know about this…arrangement…he would try to stop us from leaving. I'll…figure out something to tell him."

Dora nodded shortly. "No later than next week," she replied. "No need to show me to the door."

Olivia nodded and watched her walk out. Sighing, she joined her sobbing mother on the couch.

XXXXXX