CHAPTER TITLE: "Meltdown"

PAIRINGS: None specified

SEASON: Late Season Four. Alex Cabot is still around and the Stabler marriage is still, well, stable-ish.
RATING: M
WARNINGS: Language.

SUMMARY: Hot and cold don't mix, and when forced to collide under pressure the rebound can have catastrophic consequences.

DISCLAIMERS: See Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Shorter one than the others, I know, but I had to break the original Chap 4 up a bit because it was huge. Please review if you get a spare moment :)

"Meltdown"

Thursday Jan 16th
7:07 am
Precinct

"You're here bright and early." Olivia draped her coat on its hook by her locker and moved to her desk. "Thought you weren't coming in till seven-thirty." Elliot was at his desk, with his head on his arms. He didn't reply. Munch and Fin weren't going to be in until eight, so the two were alone at the moment.

Benson sat and looked across at him. Two minutes passed and he still hadn't said anything. "Good morning to you too," she murmured dryly and flipped on her computer.

"That's a matter of opinion."

She stole a glance to her left - his head had come off his desk and he had a sour expression on his face. It was going to be a long day if he was in this foul a mood this early. "You look like Cragen does when John makes the coffee," she quipped in an attempt to scatter the tension already present. She put her elbows on her desk as her monitor beeped at them and Windows booted up. "You wanna talk?"

Elliot sighed irritably and looked across at her. Then his forehead creased. "You're missing something."

"I'm what?"

"Something's different." He nodded at her chest.

Making a face, Olivia looked down...and then realized what he'd meant and flushed. "Oh. Yeah. My appointment was last night. I talked my doctor into cutting me loose a few days early," she explained with a smile. Her sling was gone and it was wonderful to be able to move both arms like a normal human being again. "Light duty's been upgraded to moderate," she went on. "As long as I don't fire anything with much kick, I'm good to go."

"Good," he said without the feeling behind it.

"Soooo," she prodded carefully.

"So what?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"I didn't want to," he replied petulantly. He so didn't want to go into it again. Not with her.

"Elliot," Olivia sighed in frustration. "We've got an entire work day ahead of us, I don't want to spend it bickering. Can you please pretend to at least be able to tolerate your partner and let us have a normal conversation?"

"Internal Affairs paid me another visit," he muttered. "I don't know what the hell it is with them this month," he groused. "They're still pushing for those damn evaluations. They're giving me the weekend to think it over before they talk to Cap." He looked to his left. Olivia was chewing on her lower lip, her head bent and her eyes studying her fingers.

"What?" Why did she get like this every time he'd brought it up? She looked like she'd just been caught going through someone else's desk drawers.

She looked up. "El, have you at least stopped to consider what they're suggesting?"

"I just told you what they're suggesting."

"A few extra sessions can't be a bad thing," she said gently. "It might even help things in the long run. Have you actually given any thought on why they're suggesting it?"

Elliot frowned, a dark grin on his lips. "So you do think I need counseling."

"God," Olivia sighed sharply and leaned back. "Y'know what, forget I even said anything. I'm just trying to see their side of it." She shook her head and turned to look at her monitor screen. "You're impossible."

A man clearing his voice made them both look up. "Problems detectives?" Cragen was standing in front of his office door looking at both of them with a raised eyebrow that creased his bald forehead.

Neither one answered him.

"Good. Now, if you can spare a few minutes out of this friendly discussion to concentrate on your jobs, there's a case we need to wrap."

Olivia at least had the grace to look abashed as she focused on her superior. "Did Raleigh's system come back up?"

"Their system's irrelevant to us now," he replied.

"Why?" Elliot asked. "Something happen overnight?"

"You could say that," Don nodded. "One of the names Cain gave us last night showed up at their station about eleven-thirty last night. Andrew Hedges just confessed to everything."

11:43 am
Precinct

Cragen and his four detectives either sat or stood in one of the back rooms upstairs watching the videotape made of Hedges' confession in Raleigh's precinct. They'd sent up the tape first thing this morning, and it had just arrived. They borrowed a small TV/VCR combination television set from Huang's office and had set up shop. Alexandra Cabot was also present, standing quietly in the back with her glasses off and in one hand. Where the criminal responsible had committed the crime in their state but had just been apprehended in another, issues regarding proper jurisdiction would be popping up left and right.

Andrew Hedges was a scrawny man of maybe twenty-three. Black hair was stringy over a high broad forehead and the goatee looked like it'd not been trimmed or otherwise groomed in days. Raleigh had already been looking for him. He was on parole after having served a manslaughter charge, but three days before the fire in Chaumont, failed to contact his parole officer and no one had seen him since. He'd told the detectives during his confession that he had not known the young woman in the house was Cain's daughter - and the guilt after learning this information once the press had released it had driven him into turning himself over.

"Let's start from the beginning," one of the investigators was saying, looking grainy and distorted through the television screen. He pulled out a chair and sat in front of the young man. "Tell us what happened after you got to the ranch."

Hedges coughed. "I uh...there was a guy leaving. Eighteen, nineteen maybe. I'd been watchin the house for a day or so, y'know, just scoping the place out. I saw the guy leave and figured the house was empty y'know? I used a tire iron to pry the back door off...there was no alarm going off, so I go in. There's this breakfast made. Only one plate was out..."

"Explains why doc found Angela's stomach empty even though Derick said they'd made breakfast after sex," John murmured.

"She never ate it," Benson mused alongside his train of thought.

"...so I'm still thinkin the guy was the only one there," Hedges went on. "I go upstairs thinking, y'know, maybe I can take a few things while I'm there. See if there's any cash, jewelry, whatever - make a few bucks from a pawn or something. And she's in the bathroom in the master bedroom, doin her hair. She screamed. I hit her, just to shut her up...but it knocks her out, y'know? And her head's bleeding. I panicked. I ripped her shirt, took her pants off, figured I could make it look like the other guy'd done her before killing her. Blame the whole thing on him, y'know? I just wanted to burn the house, okay? I swear to God, I never knew she was his kid! I just wanted to torch the joint..."

He sniffed as he began to cry; an angry vindictive punk Angela had just happened to get in the way of during his petulant and impulsive spree for vengeance.

There was a sigh and then the other detective in the room stood and went behind Hedges. "Andrew Hedges," he began as he pulled the kid's arms behind him. "You are under arrest for the murder of Angela Elise Cain. You have the right to remai--"

Cragen reached out and switched off the television. "Raleigh CSU found carbon disulfide residue on the cuffs of a pair of jeans in his closet and a bloody tire iron under the bed. The DNA matches Angela's. Hedges signed his confession an hour ago."

"Now what?" Elliot asked after a pause, arms still crossed.

Eyes turned to Alex, who shrugged. "Legally, we have jurisdiction. Raleigh's been looking for this kid for a while now, but the actual crime was committed here in New York and the was case turned over to us when Watertown PD gave us rights to Angela's body."

"You have 'but' face," Munch said.

Alex inclined her head in his direction. "Cain is from Raleigh. He's got ties, and considering Hedges confessed and was arrested in their precinct, they're going to want justice served there. The fight over whether to leave him there and let North Carolina try him or have him extradited here is going to be hell. NC state prosecutors have already been calling our office."

There was a pause and then Cragen spoke up. "Ethics is where jurisdiction gets its lines blurred. Cain's a cop. Or was. I'm inclined to consider how we would feel if situations were reversed."

"I can tell you now if some perp we'd been after killed my kid in another state, I'd want his punk ass tried here," Fin spoke up. "Professional courtesy or whatever the hell you lawyers call it," he added with a jerk of his head at Cabot.

"I agree with Fin," Olivia stated simply. "We might have legal jurisdiction here, Alex, but Cain's one of their own. The case should be theirs."

Cragen spoke again. "Okay. Let's get everything we have on the Chaumont fire together and ready to send down. I'll call Raleigh PD. John, call Warner and have her prep Angela's body and autopsy records for transfer. Elliot, Olivia, I want you to coordinate with the detectives that interviewed Hedges, give them everything you got when you interviewed Derick Allen. Fin, let's make sure our CSU here has everything Raleigh's going to need to prosecute this asshole."

Alex put her glasses back on as Cragen held open the door for her. "I'll talk to Donnelly," she said of her superior in a tone betraying she wasn't looking forward to the conversation with the bureau chief.

"Elliot.." Olivia stopped her partner once everyone but them had filed out and left the room. "Listen, can I talk to you for a second?"

Stabler rubbed the end of his nose with two fingers before turning back around to look at her. "Yeah, Liv. What is it?" He sounded impatient.

She rested nervous hands on her hips. "Look, about these evaluations IAB's pushing on you.."

"Liv, I don't wanna go through this again," he cut her off shortly and curtly.

"Elliot, damnit, would you just drop this defensive attitude bullshit, I'm trying to talk to you," she exclaimed in exasperation.

"Olivia." He took a breath obviously trying to keep himself calm. "I don't wanna talk about it," he repeated firmly. "Now let's just do our jobs and get this shit wrapped up." He strode from the room without another word, leaving his partner staring after.

Olivia sighed heavily, crossed her arms, and left the room shortly after. She tried to ignore the knowing glance Cragen was given them both as they passed him down the stairs and made for their desks without looking at each other.

6:35 pm
Precinct

Hinges that needed to be oiled squeaked as Elliot plopped into his seat and leaned back. Olivia had been right about one thing that day - it had been long as hell. She was already gone, as were Munch and Fin. By all rights, Elliot should have left at six like them, but a casual 'hi' in the break room thirty minutes ago had turned into a dissertation on the meaning of the word 'fair' and Elliot was mentally drained.

"What're you still doing here, Stabler?" Cragen asked as he came into headquarters having just left Warner's building.

"Uuugh," Elliot groaned and snapped back forward to rest on his desk like a rubber band whose tension had just been released. He let his hands hang limp off the edge as his forearms crossed on the fake wood top. "Y'know I just got out of a discussion with Jay Wheylan?"

"Wheylan?" Cragen looked baffled. Elliot wasn't the type to just randomly socialize with the rest of the station.

"He's still goin off about how pissed he is that Hedges went for the cop who locked him up rather than the prosecutors or something." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Anyone talked to him since he was in here watching the news the day of the fire?"

"I wasn't aware he needed talking to," Cragen said with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

"It's not normal Cap, I'm telling you."

Don smiled. "Not everyone reacts the way we think they should. We can't begrudge a man vocalizing thoughts the rest of us might just keep to ourselves." He nodded at his detective. "It's going to be a tedious next few days, Elliot. Go home."

Elliot rubbed his hands down his face. "Yeah," he agreed. 'Next few days?' He thought. The last few days had already pulled his nerves and his patience to the extreme edges of their thresholds, how was he going to stretch their reserves another four?

Cragen watched his man and came to the same decision he'd broached to Olivia before she'd gone home for the night. "Actually, Elliot, let's talk for a minute before you leave." His tone left no room for argument and Stabler followed him into his office without a word.

End Part 4