A/N: If I thought I was nervous for ya'll to read the Kathy perspective chapter, I'm even more nervous for ya'll to read this one. So there are actually 12 chapters after THIS one. I can't count. I write, I don't so much do the math. *Crawls in a hole and waits for the reaction.*


Olivia couldn't quite explain it but she felt lighter these days. She hadn't spoken to Mark in nearly a month, not since the party at the Stabler house. In the first few weeks after she did try to call him and text him, if nothing else, to warn him she was going to file for divorce. But he didn't pick up and he hadn't come home, at least not while she'd been there, if he came back at all.

She expected Chelsea to ask where he went. When Mark went on business trips he usually tried to call a few times, at least to say goodnight or check in, and she usually put Chelsea on the phone. On Monday of the third week Chelsea asked how long Mark was going to be away and Olivia told her the trip got extended. She didn't ask about it again.

Olivia had noticed a change in Chelsea, too. It was summer, so she was spending her days at Mrs. Cooper's apartment next door. They had a nice morning routine with breakfast and doing their hair together. Olivia had shifted her hours around so that she could do more of the administrative stuff the guys never wanted to do remotely so she could get home at a more reasonable hour. There was laughter in their home and impromptu dance parties and that was what Olivia had been chasing all her life. A mother daughter relationship like that.

Without Mark around to question her decisions and put her down, she felt more confident. One morning she'd been getting dressed and instead of reaching for a boxy, all black outfit like she had in the past, her eye caught a teal top with a V-neck she didn't remember the last time she wore. She pulled it and her brown leather jacket out of the closet and decided that's what she was going to wear for the day. Chelsea approved, telling her the color was pretty. Elliot apparently also approved, judging by the way his eyes almost rolled out of his head when she sat down at her desk that morning.

That confidence was spilling over into other areas of her life, and she wasn't sure it was the best idea. She could feel herself getting unintentionally closer to Elliot. She'd end up brushing his arm with hers when she walked past him, or letting her fingers linger on his when he passed her a cup of coffee. She wasn't quite sure what the deal was. She'd never been an overly affectionate person, especially not with men. Her primary love language wasn't physical touch, and she'd been fine with the fact that having that type of intimacy in her life was nearly nonexistent with Mark.

But these days, she was craving every little touch she could get from Elliot because it made her feel alive. Even though she knew it was wrong and he was married. When she thought about what she did in the cribs two weeks ago when she went up there to try to convince him to go home and get sleep, she blushed every time. It was selfish and stupid to kneel at his bedside and run her arms across his back and neck, but she wanted to soothe him, wanted to feel him. And when he smiled at her like that, like he was enjoying it, she knew she'd gone too far, so she'd dug her nails in to cause him pain and change where things were going.

She was thinking about what would have happened if she hadn't switched tactics, and the blush was rising to her cheeks again, when she was pulled from her thoughts by a young woman entering the squad room. Fin noticed her too and stood up.

"Can I help you?" Fin asked.

"I'm looking for the Special Victims Unit," the girl said in a small voice.

"That's us," Fin said. "How can we help?"

"I um…" the girl started. "I want to report an assault. Maybe a rape."

"Sure," Fin said, guiding her to the chair next to his desk. "Tell me your name."

"Anastasia Parker. I go by Stacy,' she said.

"Okay Stacy, and how old are you?' Fin asked.

"Seventeen," Stacy said.

"Where and when did this assault happen?" Fin asked.

"Um, a couple weeks ago, some friends and I went to a party," she said. "My friend Devon's older sister was throwing it for some people from her work. She said she'd pay us $12 bucks an hour to help, like, pass out appetizers and stuff and then we could hang out afterwards. It was like a bunch of rich professional people and this guy started talking to me. He asked me all about school and like my career goals and stuff and then asked for my number. I gave it to him and we went out a few times. He said he could help me write my college essay and maybe get an internship with his company. And last night, I went to meet him to talk about my essay in his hotel room, and we ended up sleeping together."

"Okay," Fin said. "Was it consensual?"

"When he first touched me and put my hair behind my ear, I told him I was uncomfortable and he apologized," Stacy said. "But then he reached for my hand on the couch and asked if that was okay, and I said it was. And then when he moved to put his arm around me he asked if that was okay, and I said it was. And when he put his hands and mouth on other places, I didn't tell him to stop, and by the time he was taking my clothes off I couldn't tell him no because we'd already gone too far."

Stacy was crying now, and Olivia wanted to go over and help but she knew Fin had it handled.

"Your first no should have been enough for him," Fin said. "So you said you knew him, went out with him a few times, what was his name?"

"That's the thing," Stacy said. "I don't actually know. Everybody at the party called him Mess, and that's how he introduced himself to me. I never got a real name or a last name from him."

"That's okay," Fin told her. "I'll tell you what. Have you washed your clothes from last night yet, or do you have any other evidence from the hotel?"

"In my room at home, yeah," Stacy said. "I hid it all in the closet last night when I got home so my parents wouldn't find it."

"How about I take you home, we'll get everything bagged up for evidence and then you can come back here and talk with a sketch artist so we can get a picture of the guy?" Fin asked.

"Okay," Stacy said, standing from her chair.

"I'll ride along," Munch said, reaching for his coat.

"Can we, um, take the stairs," Stacy said. "He kind of cornered me in the elevator last night too and I just don't want to be in one right now."

"Sure," Fin said, leading the way, followed by Stacy and Munch.

When they were out of sight, Elliot looked up at her from across the desk.

"That one sounds tricky," he said.

"It does," she said. She intended to say more, but the sound of heavy footfalls, like someone was stomping into the room, cut her off.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS," a voice she recognized yelled as the person rounded the corner.

Olivia's eyes met Elliot's and a puddle of fear settled in her stomach.

"What's what, Mark?" Olivia asked as he approached, throwing a packet of papers on her desk.

"I've been served for a divorce?" he said. "I'VE been served? Really? You didn't even bother to tell me. Just had some pimple-faced intern drop them on my desk, at work no less?"

Olivia felt the need to stand. It made her uncomfortable the way he was standing over her.

"I tried to call you more than once a few weeks ago and you never picked up the phone," she said. "And let's not do this out here. Let's go up to the cribs or something."

"Oh we're doing this right here and right now," Mark practically spit at her. "If you can embarrass me at my office then I can surely embarrass you right here just as easily."

"I wasn't trying to embarrass you, but I don't know where you've been staying," she said. "The only address I could give them was your work."

"After everything I've done for you," Mark said. "Gave you a place to live in college, got you that tuition discount, kept a stable job so you could go have this half-cocked fantasy of saving the world."

"It's not that I'm not grateful for what you did for me," Olivia started, though she didn't exactly feel grateful. They were married by that point. That's just what spouses did for each other, wasn't it? Support one another?

"Oh like hell you are," Mark said. "I saved your ass in so many ways. Wasted years on you and for what? For this? I saved you from having to go back with your mother. I saved you from becoming a single mother yourself. All this good you think you have in your life, it's because of me. Otherwise you'd just be some bastard child thinking about how her rapist daddy didn't love her, piss ass drunk somewhere just like your own mother."

His words were more effective than a slap to the face, and the rage was bubbling inside her but she didn't move quick enough. Before she could even utter another word, Elliot was out of his seat and had Mark shoved up against the evidence board.

"Don't you dare talk to her or about her like that ever again," Elliot said, pinning Mark's shoulders to the board with his forearm. "She's a better person than you'll ever be and none of it, you got that, NONE of it is because of anything you ever did for her."

"Oh well look who's going to play knight in shining armor," Mark said. "I'm not really surprised though. I've been out of the apartment for four weeks, so how long did you wait to hop into bed together? A day? Maybe two?"

"We haven't slept together," Olivia said, knowing it wasn't the full truth but she just wanted Mark gone and Elliot not to break his windpipe so she wouldn't have to purjor herself at his trial.

"No?" Mark said with a sneer. "So that little thing about a decade ago was just a one night stand?"

Olivia's eyes went wide and Elliot loosened his hold on Mark and backed up.

"Thought I didn't know, didn't you," Mark said. "Sorry, but the secret's out. And here's what we're going to do. You're going to rescind these divorce papers and I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Mark, I'm not canceling the divorce papers," Olivia said.

"Maybe not for me," he said. "But I'm sure your banging partner here would like it if you did so I don't go and tell his wife the truth."

Olivia couldn't believe Mark was giving her an ultimatum and that it was their marriage in exchange for Elliot's. If she didn't take it back Mark was going to blow up Elliot's whole life. Hurt his wife, his children, with what they'd done.

"Fine," Olivia said. "Fine. I'll call and have them canceled."

"Liv," Elliot said, putting a hand on her arm.

"It's not worth it, El," she said looking down as she grabbed the stack of paperwork. "It's not fair to you."

"You need to be free of him," Elliot said.

She looked into his eyes. And while he should be fuming or afraid or something, the only emotion she could see in his eyes was concern for her.

"I'm not going to let him ruin your life," Olivia said.

"He's not," Elliot said, taking the papers from her hand and shoving them back at Mark. "I'll call Kathy right now and tell her, because he doesn't get to decide how this goes. We do."

"Tell Kathy what?" a voice said from behind them and Olivia turned around and came face-to-face with nobody other than Kathy Stabler herself.

She had Elliot's wallet in her hand, and Olivia realized quickly he must have left it at home this morning and she was probably bringing it by, at the worst possible time.

"That Olivia's daughter isn't mine," Mark said, his lips curling into a malicious smile. "She belongs to your husband."

"What?" Kathy said, her mouth dropping as she swayed a bit on her feet.

"You son of a bitch," Elliot said, charging at Mark full force.

"Elliot, stop," Olivia yelled.

"ENOUGH," a voice boomed from across the room.

Cragen stepped from his office, walked between the two men and pushed them apart.

"I don't know what's going on out here, and I don't actually care," he said. "But until you all calm down and I get some answers, nobody's going anywhere."

Olivia looked around at the other three people, each one of them looking fearful and ashamed in their own way.

"You two," Cragen said, pointing to Kathy and Elliot. "Cribs. You two interrogation. And if any of you even remotely tries to leave this floor until I say so, I will make up an offense to charge you with and your stay is going to be a hell of a lot longer. Now get."

They all looked at one another again before Cragen interrupted.

"I said, MOVE," he yelled once more and that sent all four of them scattering.

Olivia felt like she might pass out. That was so much information, so much confrontation for just about five minutes. She was walking behind Mark to interrogation but she couldn't help look over her shoulder. Elliot and Kathy were climbing the stairs to the cribs, but Elliot was looking over his shoulder at her too. He stopped on the stairs for a second, curled his right hand into a fist and thumped it twice over his heart. She didn't know what it meant, or even if it meant anything at all. But it was his little signal to her. Everything would be okay. So she did the same, and he offered her a weak smile before continuing up the stairs.

She didn't know how she was going to explain the scene to Cragen. She didn't know if she could even be in the same room with Mark after what he just did. She didn't know what Elliot was going to say to Kathy. So many of her worst fears were coming true, but there was nothing to do now but put on a brave face and charge at them, head on.


A/N: *Pokes head out of hole* Is it safe out here?