CHAPTER TITLE: "Landfall"

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, implied violence.

SUMMARY: They'd turned a blind eye, the elements around them had destabilized... And then Murphy took the opening chaos presented to him and hit them all blindside.

DISCLAIMERS: See Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTES: The summary is a play off the adage of Murphy's Law, which states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. The "/" later down indicate a past event or memory.

P.S. - You said, 'cliffie' did ya? Not quite sure what that means… ;)

"Landfall"

(4 Days Later)
Monday Jan 20th
Noon
Cornelia Street Cafe

The cafe was small and in the summer the majority of the wicker tables were outside under the veranda. It was January, however, so they'd been moved inside creating a cozy if somewhat slightly cramped atmosphere. The sky outside was clear and sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows and made the room warm. Jesse Cook was playing pleasantly from speakers overhead as forks and other utensils clinked softly against fired stoneware laden with flat bread pizzas and sandwich wraps.

"Two days off in a row. What gods did you pray to last week?"

Olivia chuckled as Melinda Warner set her bag on the ground and pulled out the chair at the table the detective had gotten for them. "Any that would listen," she replied absently stirring the iced latte in front of her. She was comfortable in jeans and blue hooded pull-over. "I'd be getting my ass hauled through court on murder two otherwise."

Having witnessed the way she and Elliot had been continually grating against one another, before she had left the precinct last Thursday Cragen had suggested she actually use some of her leave and take this Monday off on top of Sunday, which she already had unscheduled. She'd called Warner and Cabot and the three friends had planned lunch. The assistant district attorney had not yet arrived.

"That bad?"

"God, Melinda," Olivia shook her head. "We've been impossible with each other. Everything he says irritates me, he takes everything I say as some personal attack. It's been non-stop since last Tuesday. We needed the break." Before Elliot had left last Thursday, Cragen had told him to take Friday and Saturday off, effectively keeping the two separated for the entire weekend and then some in the hopes their temperaments would reset themselves. When she was working, he wasn't, and vice versa. The captain had figured, correctly so, that since the four days following Hedges' confession would be filled mostly with paperwork and phone calls back and forth with Raleigh PD, the station could survive without both detectives there at the same time.

"This going to be okay?" Olivia asked of their dining arrangements.

Warner nodded and scooted her chair up after she sat. "Jack's covering while I'm gone." Jack Monroe was Warner's deputy chief; if an autopsy was not performed by her, it was done so by him. "We don't have any cases coming through today that I know of," she said carefully, because that could change the instant one human being felt it necessary to kill another. "Christine offered to do files so she could leave early tonight. I should have plenty of time. Have you ordered yet?"

"Mm-mm," Olivia shook her head in the negative and put her cup back down after a sip. "Alex is just getting out of court, she's going to be here at a quarter after. I figured we could wait."

"Good." Melinda lifted her bag onto her lap and pulled three white envelopes out. "I wanted to show you these before I decided whether or not to turn them over officially to anyone." She handed them across the glass-covered square table.

"Love letters?" Olivia quipped as she leaned forward and plucked the envelopes from her friend's fingers. Each was in its own little sandwich baggie. She leaned back in her chair as she bent the flap of one back and pulled out a 3x5 index card, also sealed in plastic. She read the words typed on it aloud. "They think they're so smart." She set it aside and opened the next. "It's not really them." She read the third, "It'll change." She looked across the table at Warner, then raised an eyebrow and shook her head slightly. "Bizarre." She flipped them over but there was no return address. "When did you get these?" She handed them back.

"Over the weekend," Melinda answered and put them back in her bag, which she returned to the floor at her feet.

"What can I start you off with, ma'am?" Asked the young waitress that'd come over to them.

"Coffee, black please," Warner said and the girl moved away. "The first two came on Friday. Together. The third on Saturday."

"No idea who sent them?"

"No," Warner shook her head. "I considered having Vander run them through the scanner," she said of her tech, Jeremy Vander who worked Fingerprints in the office above the morgue. The waitress came back with a pot and filled Warner's mug. "But if I did that with every prank mail I got, we'd never have enough time left to solve any cases." She smiled and took a drink. "I just wanted your opinion on them before I decided what to do with them."

Olivia thought for a minute while she finished off her drink, then shook her head. "They're pretty off the wall. Not really threatening though, are they? Just strange. No phone calls?"

"Strange, definitely," Warner agreed. "No phone calls."

"Even still, you'd probably ought to at least let Captain Cragen take a look."

A small smile tugged at the corners of Melinda's full lips. "Probably," she conceded, and then both women smiled somewhat knowingly - Cragen would never see those notes.

"Hey."

Olivia and Warner looked up as the blonde A.D.A strode up to the table, sliding the strap of her brown briefcase off her shoulder as she sat. "You guys ordered yet?"

"Just waiting on you." Olivia smiled and caught their server's eye.

"Not for too long I hope."

"Nope," Olivia shook her head. "You're going to have enough time?"

"Yes, thank God," Alex groaned in relief and pulled off her black sunglasses. "I'm not scheduled back in court until three."

The server had come up to the table and pulled pad and pen from the pockets of the black apron tied at her waist. "All right, what am I getting you ladies today?" She asked brightly and looked at Melinda.

7:13 pm
Apartment of Olivia Benson

There was only one light on in the entire apartment. A chrome standing lamp in the corner of the small living room threw a soft rich glow about the smartly furnished room, and provided just enough illumination for reading...which was what Olivia Benson was doing when the phone began ringing from the kitchen counter. Leaving John Crichton's "Sphere" lying on the coffee table spread open to the page she'd been on, she unfolded her legs from underneath her and padded sock-footed to the phone. She had a breadstick from the pizza she'd ordered that night in her hand.

"Benson," she said trying to make it sound like her mouth wasn't full as she'd picked up the cordless.

"Olivia."

"Captain." She took a quick drink of the now warm apple juice she'd forgotten was on the counter and swallowed hastily. "Hi."

"I hate to bother you at home on your night off, detective," Don began.

"No." She wiped pizza sauce on her fingers off on a dishtowel hanging from the stove handle behind her and licked her lips. "That's fine. What's up?" She looked at the time on the microwave display.

"An Internal Affairs psych rep just dropped by the station about twenty minutes ago. He wants to speak with you and Elliot."

Olivia's stomach twisted in anxiety; she should have known it was going to come to this eventually. "Why?" She asked anyway just to confirm was she was thinking.

"They're recommending to me that I agree to have Elliot pushed up to bi-monthly psychological evaluations." She grimaced - she was right. "He wouldn't tell me why he wanted you there. He just said he wanted to talk to you both before making anything official through his channels."

Benson nodded to herself and ran a hand through her hair. "Okay. Yeah, I can be there in ten."

Cragen apologized again for making her come to the station on her night off, thanked her for doing so, and then they both hung up. Olivia breathed heavily and shook her head, hand still in her hair, before going to her bedroom to change out of her pullover into at least a decent looking work shirt.

After tonight, she knew, it wouldn't be her that Alex would be dragging through court on those proverbial aggravated murder charges.

It would be Elliot.

8:00 pm
Precinct

Olivia watched the Internal Affairs psych rep leave and his footsteps sounded too loud and surrealistically distant as he closed the door and jogged down the metal stairs to the squad room below them. She looked at the rigid outline of her partner as he stood on the far side of the room by the lockers near the door, his back to her. They'd come up into the crib to get as much privacy as possible and the words the rep had spoken still rang through the thick air...

/"We've been investigating these allegations for a couple of weeks now," he'd told them both as he'd closed his discussion. "Based on the statements given to us by Detective Benson regarding the incident involving Daniel Fenyak as well as numerous other reports of questionable conduct, we're going to move forward with our recommendation of bi-monthly evaluations. We feel it a necessary next step in assuring these physical displays of anger do not become grounds for suspension further on." He'd closed his briefcase, ending the meeting with a snap of the clasp. "Detectives." He'd looked at them both, thanked Olivia for her cooperation over the last two weeks, and then had left the two of them alone to deal with the fallout./

A full minute passed in silence and with every second that ticked by, Benson felt the tension in the room wind tighter and tighter, her nerves tightening with it. When it snapped, it would give hard and fast and she wasn't sure they'd be able to ride out the shockwave.

After nearly three minutes of nothing she couldn't stand it any longer and she finally spoke, her voice quiet. "Elliot I.." She sighed. Bending her head, she put her hands in her pockets and braced for impact.

"What was it, Liv." Elliot spoke quietly, his voice dangerously low, and turned around, his arms crossed over his chest. The look on his face could have cut granite and his tone was even sharper. He could not believe what he'd just learned. And from her? The very thought was ludicrous...and yet here he was. Now he knew why she'd get that odd look on her face every time last week that he'd brought up the IAB - they had her in their back pocket. "Not strong enough? Not emotional enough? Too emotional..."

"Elliot..." Olivia licked her lips and dropped her head slightly to the side, shaking it. "Please don't be like this."

He let out a sharp laugh. "Be like this?" His voice raised a pitch and his gaze hardened. "That comment in the car last week wasn't "just a comment", was it Olivia? You sold me out."

"If you want to word it like that, then yes, I did. I--"

"I can't believe you," Stabler interrupted her, shaking his head with an incredulous and cankerous grin on his face. "Daniel Fenyak," he mused. "You didn't even see it! You were in surgery while the docs tried to fish a slug out of your gut!"

Olivia shook her head. "It's not just Daniel, Elliot, and I didn't have to see it because I've seen others. He wasn't the first, and you and I both know he won't be the last."

He chuckled and leaned back against the wall, crossing his ankles. "So. The rat squad." He played his teeth along his bottom lip. His eyes never left hers. "How long you been squealing to 'em? Been friends for a while now?"

"Elliot.."

"Real cozy bedfellows now aren't you."

"Elliot that's not fair!" She was stung. "Would you just stop for a second and let me explain?"

Their tempers were escalating and the air around them was sizzling like late summer thunderclouds ready to merge and explode. All it would take was an ignition source, the proper imbalance of elements already present, and there would be no going back.

Olivia was getting desperate and rested her flailing hands on her hips to steady them. She took a slow deep breath to calm herself. "A couple of days before I was released from the hospital, Fin came to see me. We talked, and he told me about your eruption in the ER that night. If either officer there'd reported it, you would have found yourself slapped with a nice long admin leave. I couldn't just let it slide this time, Elliot, I had to say something. They started asking, and I told the truth. I'm not going to let you get yourself tossed because of some testosterone driven need to prove something. If this is what it takes--"

"It wasn't your place to tell them ANYthing Olivia!" Elliot pushed off the wall. "Cragen maybe--"

"They weren't asking Cragen!"

'''...but my own partner turning me over to the dogs? Do you have any idea what this is gonna look like on my record?"

"God," she laughed. "You're unbelievable." Olivia stared at him like he'd lost his mind and crossed her arms over her chest. "We're talking suspension and you're worried about saving face? You can't, for one minute, look past your own misaligned pride and consider that someone around here actually gives a rat's ass about your career, can you?"

"My career?" He repeated. "What the hell makes you think I've done anything I do for my sake?" He moved away from the wall and walked towards her; his face was reddening and that vein in his temple was going crazy. "I get rough, yeah. I also get confessions, and it keeps them from pounding your ass doesn't it."

Olivia was shaking her head and trying to get another word in through his tirade.

"What do you want from me, huh?" He went on, still bearing down on her. "What else is it you need me to do? I've done paperwork, case files, made phone calls. Gone to lunches in restaurants I hate. Offered my own damn house for a week. I--"

"I don't need your charity, Elliot!" Her angry exclamation cut him off, her voice strained and hoarse with emotion. "I need a partner! Your lack of self-control and your heavy hand's eventually going to send you to a place where I won't have your back and I can NOT do this job by myself."

"Uh huh." Elliot stopped right in front of her, his almost overbearing proximity making her lean back slightly as she stared up at him. "Partner," he mused sardonically, bitterly as if the word tasted bad in his mouth. He rubbed his jaw with one hand. "I never expected something so cowardly from you. You couldn't even come to me, you just had to slink off to the IAB when they come fishing?"

"I tried! But even if I had gotten through on Thursday, would you have listened to what I had to say!"

He ignored the question because, if he stopped long enough to push the anger aside, he knew he wouldn't have listened to a thing. "So what was it. Really. You get sick of the temper, figure if you rat to them they might just get you a new partner?" He shrugged casually. "Someone a little younger maybe. Someone a little less married, a little more accessible for the bedroo--"

SMACK.

Ignition. The slap echoed sharply off the shelves and cots in the barren room.

It happened so fast Stabler didn't even feel it at first. For a few seconds he left his stinging face turned the way Olivia's hand had propelled it before slowly turning it back to look down at her. He was momentarily stunned into silence.

"You self-absorbed, hateful son of a bitch." Olivia's eyes were brimming and her heart was pounding. "You have no right." Her voice was low and shaky and she was shaking right along with it. Hurt carried every word. "I'm just trying to protect a friend."

Elliot stared at her stonily for several seconds, still saying nothing, unable to feel past the anger. When he did finally reply, his voice was slow and his tone was heavy with the quiet arrogance Olivia had only heard him use with the perps he threw around the interrogation rooms. "What was it you once said to me...'If you can't trust your partner it's time to get a new one'..?"

The wind left Benson's lungs as if she'd just been kicked in the chest. Her lips trembled and tears she refused to give him the satisfaction of watching fall sparkled in her dark eyes. She looked at him in disbelief, blinking back shock. Her mouth was slightly open, but she couldn't speak. She could barely breathe.

Screw both of them trying to just ride out the shockwave - she hadn't survived the blast.

Seconds passed...and she never found her voice. Beaten, and knowing it, Olivia looked away and sidestepped around behind him to move to the door. She stopped there, her hand resting on the doorknob.

"Y'know, you're right." She nodded though he wasn't looking. "I am selfish." She swallowed hard and looked up and across the room at his back. Her voice was a clogged whisper, thick with tears and riddled with defeat. "But you have no idea what it's like to be alone." She opened the door and it clicked quietly behind her as she left the room.

Harsh light from streetlamps outside was filtering through the frosted windows. Dust stirred by the closing door shimmered like glitter in the shafts of light as it tried to resettle. As happened so many times in his life, rage evaporated and morphed into regret the moment the door shut and guilt ambushed Elliot Stabler with terrific force. The sudden silence in the room was close and oppressive, nearly overwhelming. He closed his eyes and let a long deep breath out through his nose; Jesus Christ. What had he done?

He'd never felt more dirty in his life.

8:30 pm

When Olivia had composed herself enough to come down the stairs John had left for the night and Fin was sitting at his desk. He was busying himself at his computer, looking like a person does when they're trying to behave like they hadn't just overheard a conversation they shouldn't have. Cragen was in his office, blissfully unaware of the collision that has just rocked the upper floor.

"Yo." Fin jerked his head in Benson's direction as she walked wearily to her desk.

"Hey." The smile was wan and forced and couldn't migrate to her eyes. She opened a desk drawer and pulled out her keys. "You're here late."

Fin watched her, noticed her hands were shaking as she reached across her desk to shut her own computer down. John had been using it while his own defragged and had forgotten to turn it off when he'd left. "Yeah," Tutuola murmured in reply, looking away before she caught him staring. "Don't be too impressed though. I'm just orderin a pizza so it'll be there when I get home." He tossed her a wry grin.

"Fin."

They both looked up and across the squad room as Cragen opened his door and leaned out it. "Warner just called. Narcotics had a tough one, she's starting the post now. She wants your opinion on something before she closes up shop, you got a few minutes to slip over there before you head out for the night?"

"You bet." Fin was always glad to help out his old squad. He shut his terminal off and slid his chair under his desk.

Hinges squealed as a door above them opened and Olivia was suddenly suffocating. "Want some company?" She asked without looking at Tutuola as they each reached to snag their coats off the wall.

"Nah, I'm good. It's gettin late, you don't have to tag along."

"You sure? I don't mind." Her voice was casual, but her eyes pled with him to just agree and let her come. Elliot had come out of the crib. She needed a flight path out before he came down those stairs, and Warner's request to Fin was it.

Fin glanced at Elliot, who was on the landing, and then stole a peek at Olivia ... who was doing her damndest not to look at Elliot. "Yeah," he nodded. "Okay." He clapped a hand once on her good shoulder - the other was still tender. "Coffee after's on me."

Olivia smiled gratefully. "That'd be great." She slid her coat and gloves on, flipped her desk lamp off, and then she and Fin left the squad room...and left Elliot Stabler staring after them looking as miserable as he felt.

Cragen glanced at him and then at where Olivia and Fin had disappeared through the wide doors. He prided himself on being a perceptive man, and he knew the stagnant chill of the air had nothing to do with the fact that it had begun snowing outside. He didn't have a chance to question his detective, however, because when he looked back Elliot had grabbed his coat from the wall and was storming for the stairwell to the lower parking terrace.

8:40 pm

Manhattan had become a snow globe and someone was upending it. Snow was falling in huge and lazy flakes, illuminated like yellow feathers in the lamps across the street, as the two detectives made their way to Warner's building. The damp cold felt good against Olivia's flushed skin.

Fin studied her from his peripheral vision as they walked across the darkened and sodden parking lot to the office's side entrance doors. He'd not heard words, phrases exactly, but he didn't need to have had to know that whatever was said during her and Elliot's blowout back in the crib had greatly upset the woman next to him.

"Olivia..." Fin began cautiously. He thought back to the look on Elliot's face. "Elliot. He--"

"Fin." Benson stopped before opening the door and looked at him. "Don't," she said quietly but sternly.

He nodded. "You need to talk about it?" He asked after a moment.

Olivia paused and watched cars pass on the street to her right. Whether the hesitation was to consider the question or compose herself before answering it, Fin wasn't sure. "Yeah." She nodded. "But I don't think I can," she added with a tight smile.

Fin laid a compassionate hand on the side of her neck. A moment later he tapped it once affectionately in standard subtle Tutuola fashion. The touch was enough emotional thread to pull a shredded psyche back together and, without another word needing to pass between them, Fin opened the door and they headed back past Warner's office to the elevator that led down to the morgue.

9:15 pm
Stabler household

"Dad."

Elliot jerked his head to the left. His eldest daughter Maureen was sitting on the couch next to him with an expectant look on her pretty features. The television was on, but he wasn't looking at the screen. For the last half hour his eyes had been on the phone and a mental debate over whether or not he was brave enough to pick it up and call her was still being waged. "Sorry." He rubbed his eyes and focused on his daughter. "What?"

Maureen put down the pad and pen she was holding and smiled. She'd been trying for twenty minutes now to get him to answer a few questions on a research questionnaire assignment she had due tomorrow...but he'd only get part way through an answer before zoning out again. She wasn't angry though, she understood he had a hard job. She crossed her arms and leaned into his shoulder. "Bad case?"

Stabler draped his arm over her shoulders and hugged her. He sighed heavily, kissed the top of her head, and rested his cheek there. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah. This one..." He pictured for the hundredth time tonight the expression on Olivia's face and a hot shame blazed through his gut. "This one's really gotten to me," he finished.

"Wanna talk? I'm taking psychology this semester."

Father and daughter had a strong bond and sometimes he could talk more easily to her than he could with Kathy. He shook his head and smiled. "Naw, I'm all right." He gave her shoulder a squeeze. "There's just something I gotta do that I'm really not looking forward to doing. Kinda like your homework." He jostled her playfully. "Now let's get it done, huh? What was the question."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely." He clapped his hands once and shifted to face her. "I'm all yours. Hit me." He would call first thing tomorrow.

Maureen grinned and swiped up the pad. "You have to answer honestly." She looked at it and read, "What does the word 'recreation' mean to you?" from the top of the page. The phone began ringing as Elliot pursed his lips and thought.

"Okay. Recreation..."

"Hello." Kathy's voice was soft from the kitchen as she answered the phone. "Yeah just one second. Elliot!"

"Hold that thought babe." He pointed a finger at Maureen and popped off the sofa.

"Cragen," Kathy mouthed as he neared. She had a worried expression on her face as she handed him the receiver and stepped back. She was biting her lip. She hated it when the captain called after Elliot was already home for the night.

"Cap." Elliot rested a fist on his hip. "You're interrupting a very crucial interrogation." He winked down the hall at Maureen who was leaning over the back of the couch watching him.

"Elliot we need you down at the station ASAP," came Cragen's terse no pre-amble reply.

"It's almost nine-thirty," Stabler frowned somewhat irritated. "What's up?" He listened a little more closely and his frown of irritation turned to one of consternation as he heard the sounds of a busy station house rather than one that should be all but shutting down to its skeleton grave shift for the night. Phones were ringing, officers were talking loudly, furniture sounded like it was being moved around. Very faintly, he could hear sirens. "Cap'n what's going on down there?"

The noise faded as Elliot heard Cragen shut his office door. "Jay Wheylan and an anonymous accomplice just walked into Warner's building and started ordering people out," the captain said bluntly. "They forced everyone from the ground floor offices and then went down to the morgue. They've barricaded themselves in the autopsy suite. Shots were fired and one of the techs from upstairs said she heard screaming."

Pause. He blinked. "What...?" He couldn't process what he'd just heard. "What the hell for!" He exclaimed when he was able. This wasn't just out of left field, this was coming from another ballpark all together.

"We have no idea."

"Shit," Elliot swore. "I thought that prick was unstable. He's been going off the deep end since Chaumont. He wouldn't stop going on about it ..." He was rummaging around for his keys and Kathy, having taken his cue, was pulling his coat from the front closet.

"I've already called John, he's on his way," Don was saying. "Huang's coming in with HRT. How fast can you be here?"

"Uh..." Kathy helped Elliot shrug into his coat as he looked at the microwave. "Twenty minutes?" He put his hand over the mouthpiece and looked at his wife saying quickly, "Go start the car," before going back to the phone.

"...in there. Elliot?" Cragen had been trying to talk to him not knowing he'd pulled his ear away for a second.

"Yeah Kathy's starting the car up now." He rifled through papers on the bar counter top, pushing mail aside, looking for his wallet.

"Elliot," his superior said a little more forcefully.

"I'm out the door, Cap." He was talking loud into the cordless as he jogged to the garage. "Fin and Olivia already on their way down?"

Silence.

"Captain?" There was an unnatural tension leaking from the other end of the phone. A dark feeling swept through the garage and Elliot's hands were suddenly clammy. He hesitated before opening the car door. "Captain..."

A heavy breath sounded from Cragen.

And a moment later, Elliot's sense of reality disintegrated.

"Elliot, Fin and Olivia are still in the building. They were with Warner in the morgue when Jay opened fire."

End Part 4

A/N - ...Am I bad? ((bats eyelashes))