Chapter 6 – 2005

The time following Myra's case was calmer, in a way. Sure, plenty of cases still came in, but it felt as if nothing significant happened - a lull in the drama, if you will - for which everyone was grateful.

That was until the blowout between Munch and Stabler in the beginning of '05…

Kathy had filed for legal separation from Elliot about 6 months ago. He was only seeing the kids on his days off and even then; she was monitoring the visits. Kathy was noticeably worried about Elliot, about his habit of keeping everything bottled up and his lack of desire to reach out for help or to talk to someone.

But Kathy didn't want to keep the children from him. She knew that would break him even more if she completely took that away from him, they were his whole world…. like she used to be.

However, when they did see each other, it was tense and usually ending in bickering. "Elliot, you need to see someone. If you can't talk to me and you can't talk to anyone at work - for fear they're going to get you fired or whatever the hell the problem is, then you need to talk to someone outside of it all."

"You want me to see a shrink?" He lets out a bitter laugh with a shake of his head. "No."

Every conversation goes like this with him. She's tried time and time again, thinking maybe she could wear him down, but her husband was nothing if not stubborn. "Elliot, even if you won't do it for me, do it for the kids." She sighs out, exhausted. She loves this man, but he can't seem to see what he's doing to her, to them, to their family.

When she receives nothing in response, she closes the front door and takes her leave.


The next day, Elliot was in a mood. He's done well all these years keeping his personal life out of work, because you have to in this line of work. He even almost made it through that day without blowing up… until Munch decided to ruin it.

It was nearing the end of the day when he vaguely heard an "You ok, Stabler?" come from across the face-to-face desks.

Elliot only kind of heard him, his mind having drifted away from the paperwork he was working on and was instead on what Kathy had said. He didn't even realize he was staring off into space, straight ahead of him, very easily confused for staring straight at John.

"Stabler!" Munch tried a little louder and waved a pale hand in front of his own face. "Hey man, you there?"

When Elliot finally snapped to, he was almost disoriented. His eyes narrowed in on his partner until they found their focus. "What!" He really hadn't intended it to be as aggressive as it came out.

John was usually a fair tempered guy, having been through enough in his many years on the force to get upset over the little things. "Woah there, calm down." He had brought his other hand up to meet the one previously waving, now making a surrender motion… he wasn't trying to rile Elliot up.

Elliot hated when people told him to calm down, it only served to make him angrier… before he knows what he was doing, something in his brain is firing and he's standing next to Munch's desk, towering down on the lankier man, and telling him to back the fuck off.

It didn't last long before John leveled himself to Elliot's stance, determined to show the younger detective how he had managed on this force all these years.

They were yelling by this point; John having said something about a temper tantrum and failing marriages. Elliot countered back with how John knows all about failed marriages. It had drawn the attention of all the other officers in the room, but no one wanted to step in… until it finally caught the captain's attention.

"Hey!" He stepped in authoritatively. "You two, in my office."

Cragen had noticed that the tension between the two men had been growing for the past couple months. He knew Elliot was struggling and the constant chatter from John and probably a few misplaced pep talks had gotten Elliot even more to the edge. However, until now, both men had been able to remain professional.

Nevertheless, when that aspect is removed, he cannot ethically keep them together, so this was the final straw.


Cragen ended Elliot and Munch's partnership that day and left them both working smaller cases solo for a while. He thought maybe that some time would go by and he would be able to put them back, after they had gotten a chance to come down. However, as the cases started to pick up in numbers and severity, he knew he needed teams working them, not solo agents.

The captain knew Elliot and Olivia hadn't always seen eye to eye, having heard them go at it a time or two, fighting over cases or, sheesh, a punching bag. But he knew for a fact that Fin and Elliot couldn't work together, and neither could Olivia and John, having already tried that pair.

It only left one solution.

"Alright, guys. Here's how it's going to go..." Cragen had called his 4 main detectives into his office just a few weeks after the fight. "With all that's going on right now, I have to do this. John, you'll be partnering with Fin and Olivia, you'll be with Elliot."

The detectives didn't say anything for a few moments. Instead, Olivia's head snapped over to look at Fin, who's face contorted and then turned to look at Munch. The lanky man then shrugged and looked over to Elliot, who was surprisingly calm. Cragen can't say he expected this after the outburst the man had when he was given Brian Cassidy as a partner all those years ago.

Olivia spoke first, obviously irritated. "Captain! Why? Fin and are great partners, why are we getting punished because these two can't act like grownups!" Fin snickered and nodded in agreement from beside her.

"You all should be able to work with whomever I give you to work with, we are all one squad." Cragen said with as much definiteness as he could. "Listen, we need more brains on some of these cases, I need partners. We'll see how it goes until we get through this run and we can reevaluate." He left it open, to be safe.

With a roll of the eyes, Olivia stands and heads toward the door. She'll figure out how to get back with Fin, but in the meantime, she'll deal with Stabler.


It took a whole month of working with Stabler to get anywhere with him. They both went into the partnership cautiously, not putting much forward except working on the cases presented. Days went by where they wouldn't say a word to each other, just hand photos or files across the desk divide. It wasn't until a case from Elliot's past came back that the two finally started to click.

The case came across Elliot and Olivia's desk late one evening. Olivia was the first to grab the file, reading the details and scanning the photos. To her, it wasn't anything... until she handed the file over to Elliot.

"That son of a bitch!"

"What is it?" Olivia responded, the tone of her partner's voice alarming her.

Elliot waited a moment before responding. "I've arrested this guy before. '91, he got off because the jury didn't have enough and acquitted." He sighed heavily. "And now the fucker's done it again."

"Are you sure he did it before?" Olivia asked. She knew there were plenty of times that juries let guilty people go, but there was always the chance.

Elliot's whole head whipped up to her, his eyes intense. "I've never been more sure about anything in all my years on the force." He settled a bit. "He spent the whole time in interrogation riling me up, playing me. I let him get the best of me, threw him through a window."

In that moment, he let his eyes wander toward the door, then the file, then the coffee machine. He was trying to avoid Olivia's eyes, worried that his confession would only give her more reason to loathe him. But, when he couldn't avoid her gaze anymore without looking suspicious, he looked back at her. Her face didn't show any appall or disgust, nothing other than neutral. Then, to his surprise, she let forward one simple statement that instantly seemed to settle him.

"I get it."


Before

Gordon Rickett was brought in for questioning. This time, he was the prime suspect for kidnapping, assault, and murder of a young girl. By the time he made it in from the holding cell, everyone in the office had heard about Elliot's past with the guy.

Cragen wasn't sure if he should let Elliot interrogate the guy. He was around for the first go around with him, when Elliot let Rickett get the best of him. Honestly, he was worried something would happen, especially given Elliot's current instability. But even then, he knew Elliot's abilities as a detective and, in the years since, he has definitely come a long way.

Cragen was just thinking that he would let Elliot run the interrogation, convinced by that point that he knew what was best. But, before he gave the final word and in a strange turn of events, Olivia came to Elliot's defense.

"Captain, I think Elliot should handle the interrogation. We're going to have less than 24 hours and he already knows the suspect and the past cases so well. He can skip past a lot of the crap that Fin, Munch, or I would need to catch up. Plus, I'll be there… you'll be there… he can be pulled out at a moment's notice if it starts going to shit."

To say he was surprised by Olivia would be an understatement, having been under the impression that Olivia thought little of Elliot and his temper but, to see one of his best detectives give the okay, he made his final decision with ease... Elliot will be the lead on the case, once again.

Less than an hour into the interview.

Olivia enters the interrogation room way before Elliot, carrying two large boxes of evidence from the case some 20 years ago. Before she went in, Elliot had given her a rundown of his plan. To start, she's not supposed to say much, let the guy get anxious, antsy.

So, she doesn't say a word until Mr. Rickett speaks… which doesn't take long. "We gonna start now?"

"Just waiting for my partner." She fires off quickly… almost easily.

"Your partner is Detective Stabler?"

Olivia doesn't make a move, no outward expression on her face. She's interested where this guy's musing is going to go.

"Want my advice? Get yourself a new partner. Tell you the truth, I'm surprised he still has a job here, unless he's on medication or something. Whack job. Total lack of control… like an animal." He's almost snarling as he speaks. It's not even been an hour and the guy is already visibly annoyed.

"You can tell him yourself when he gets there." Is all she offers before the man stands up violently.

He's irritated already… or maybe it's more an excitement to see Elliot that's causing him to act this way. He's made his way over to the one-way mirror, yelling… telling Elliot to come on in and play.

Olivia thinks quickly, getting to her feet and heading for the only door in the room. "No one is there, Mr. Rickett... Come see for yourself."

He doesn't.

4 hours after Mr. Ricket has been arrested.

Elliot wants Gordon to beg for his presence, so he lets Olivia go rounds with the guy for a long while. The guy gets antsy, trying to hurry this all along, asking questions about why his previous trial was in front of him. But this was phase two of the plan, get him going by using the previous case to fire him up.

She pulls photo after photo out of the box and shows him, using language definitely suggesting he was the culprit in all of it, no matter the lack of conviction. She had studied the case front to back relentlessly while they were preparing, trying to get all the details together so she could play her part in Elliot's game the best she could.

It was brutal really, the evidence all there. The witness, the ex-fiancé who accused this man of domestic violence multiple times, the little girl who was seen with him hours before she was killed.

She threw it all at him, her monologue getting faster, heavier; she notices the guy starts to squirm. He had claimed he was so smart, smarter than Elliot for damn sure. But she'll get him. She finishes dishing out the gory details before she leans over the table, leveling herself to look the man in the eye.

"Tell me Mr. Rickett, what kind of man does all that? A smart man or a sick man. Somebody intelligent or an animal. A man with no control!" Her voice is stern, her eyes focused.

"Shut up!" The man outbursts before standing up and heading to the window. There's a moment she thinks she gets him but, magically, he starts to whistle some sickly tune and suddenly he's calm and collected.

When the final notes come out of his puckered lips, he turns and winks at Olivia.

That's when Elliot comes through the door, almost in her defense… "Now we can start."

The meantime – going on fifteen hours of interrogation.

Elliot and Olivia interrogate together well, firing off question after question - almost in rhythm - for hours.

Olivia can tell Stabler is too invested in this guy, that his calm and collected demeanor is all an act. They haven't been partners for long, but she knows the guy is under his skin… It's like the two men are obsessed with each other and it's almost interesting to witness.

They rile Mr. Rickett up a few times during the interrogation but he's doing well to keep cool. There's one small outburst from him, but it was all a ploy. They guy's smart… but they're determined, hellbent even, to outsmart him.

Elliot and Olivia take leave after Gordon falls asleep. Elliot explains that the next plan is to let him have a few minutes to sleep before waking him up and then keep repeating the process, so Rickett gets deadass tired, worn down.

"Okay, I'll go in when you wake him." Olivia comments after the rundown.

"No." His voice is stern, already decided. "I'm changing up, nothing personal, just changing it up." He's huffy, amped up, the façade coming down for a split second.

"So, what you're gonna do this all by yourself, what are you a one-man squad now?" She fires back. She knows sometimes the only way to get somewhere with Elliot is to jack up just as much as him.

"Look, he called you my babysitter!"

"So what?" Men… always so offended at such little words.

"So, I want to use that! I want him to think when I go in there, I'm gonna throw him right through that window again… I know what I'm doing."

"Okay." She's tired, and there's a moment she is almost offended: having thought them in this together. But she knows when to back down… and so she does.

23 and a half hours into the interrogation.

Elliot's been going at Gordon for nearly 8 hours on his own and he's no closer to getting a confession. On the other hand, he has not caused any physical harm to the man, so we'll call that growth.

It's dark outside again, Elliot's not even sure what time it is anymore. He feels this man in his own mind, like a phantom in the back corner. He's been up so long, he's wondering if this is real anymore, or all a sick nightmare while he's sleeping, alone, on the couch in his own, empty, home.

He's looking at Mr. Ricket when he speaks, but in his mind, there's a part of him that feels like he's talking to himself. "Gordon, you're kidding yourself if you think you're controlling it. It's controlling you. Every lie you tell to cover your inadequacies… every perceived insult you think you're getting… just feeds it."

"You're lecturing me about rage? Are you kidding?"

That sickly whisper sends shivers up his spine. "I'm not."

"What do you know about controlling anything?"

"I don't murder people." They're different people, Elliot has to remind himself.

"Give it time. You say you see something in me. Well, I see something in you, too. You think you control? You can't. You're controlled by your boss, by your job, by your wife… your kids… What would you be if all those controls went away?"

"I'd be you."

Elliot's mind is a million miles away, even though he responds. The fight in him is gone, he's exhausted… He knows they're nearing the end and there's a part of him that feels defeated.

He knows Gordon is looking straight at him, into his eyes, but he can probably tell by now that Elliot's not there. He's considering the man's words, what would he be, if he weren't this? He's currently down two of the four things Gordon listed and, even without Gordon actually knowing that, it hits him deep.

He only snaps out of it when he hears the creak of the door opening from behind him and his boss' words:

"Mr. Rickett you're free to go."


After they let Gordon go, Elliot took a turn in the cribs before returning to the case. The whole team was scattered around the whiteboard this time, Cragen having brought both new pairs of partners in. After speaking out loud and bouncing ideas around the room, Elliot had another theory.

His theory found him and his partner outside Gordon's girlfriend's apartment, which leads them to the girlfriend's work, where they found her boss's car was stolen and torched and left on Staten Island.

The stolen car takes them to Staten Island with another CSU unit who determine new information about the scene. This is close to where the little girl was found so they can only assume at this point. Across the way, Elliot sees an assisted living facility, and something clicks. Rickett had mentioned an aunt, how he was taking care of her, how he would never put her in an assisted living facility.

He moves on hunch alone, going to the building and up to guest services. This leads them not an aunt of the man, but a wheelchair bound elderly woman whom Gordon visits frequently. They learn from the woman that Gordan Ricket has been 'taking care of her home while she was gone'.

They go to the house where they find it hardly taken care of. Since the woman is in a wheelchair, they know she can't make it to the basement, so they investigate there and… it's all there. They little girl's shoes as well as blood they can only assume was hers. The guy didn't even clean up the scene.

They don't have to wait long before they hear commotion coming from upstairs. Faint screams echo down the basement stairs. Elliot's pulse is racing, and his blood boiling as he follows Olivia up the stairs, guns drawn. Gordon has taken another young girl. He's startled when the partners yell at him, turning instantly to hold the girl in hostage stance.

Olivia tries to talk him down, that there is no way out of this situation. Her eyes shift between Gordon and Elliot. Her partner's eyes are locked with the assailant, the only slight distraction to either of them is the girl thrashing in Mr. Rickett's arms.

"I swear to god, I'll kill you." Elliot snarls almost out of nowhere.

"That's what you wanted all these years."

Olivia can hear the smile in Gordon's voice, like he's the one who has waited all these years to be in this exact situation with Elliot. She's questioned the sanity of both these men since the moment Gordon told her to get a new partner but, there's a part of her that completely understands where Elliot is. This guy had played them all, dangling key details in front of them and then ripping them away.

But they were smarter this time, Elliot figured it all out… he's outsmarted Gordon Rickett. But she could tell that wasn't enough. She looks to her partner one last time, a slight falter in his gun-bearing hands and a small twitch in his eye. She sees a bead of sweat roll down his forehead, and she can only imagine the debate going on up there.

Olivia doesn't need the debate. As soon as Gordon even slightly moves the girl out of the way, she takes her shot, aiming straight for the guy's arm. She's a good shot, she knows by the sounds coming from the man that she hit exactly where she wanted, enough to wound him… not enough to kill him.

She goes for the girl at first, checking her over, making sure she's unharmed. It's then she notices Elliot, gun even shakier, closer, and still aimed at Gordon as he lies on the floor. She takes it on to walk over to him, moving slowly to not startle Elliot out of whatever trance he's locked in.

She takes one gentle hand and lays it over his, pushing down only slightly, lowering her partner's gun for him, almost like he did for her all those years ago. He looks up at her then, coming to, and she can finally say:

"Elliot, it's over."


Back at the station, they only have to fill out some paperwork before they can head home for the night. Somehow, it's late again and Elliot's sitting at his desk. He's still as Olivia approaches and it's almost eerie when he finally speaks to her… she knows he's been affected by this case, that it will take some time for him to get past this.

His eyes catch her first, but it takes a minute for him to speak. "Did you think I froze? Is that why you fired first?"

"I fired first 'cause you would've killed him."

"He deserves to die."

"Maybe he does, but he wanted you to kill him. He wanted you to always remember that you took his life. Not 'cause you had to, but because you were angry." So much truth behind such a gentle voice.

He looks at her for a moment, not saying anything. In that time, he realized a few things that he not initially thought. Firstly, Olivia knew a lot more about him than he originally thought. She had also been there the whole case, not fighting him, not disagreeing with him. And finally, they worked well together, really well together.

The last thing he thinks before she snaps him out of his internal musings with an invite to get something to eat – with her – is: Maybe this whole partnership thing might actually work.


AN: Alright, yes, Rage is a hard episode to write! Hope I did ok [yikes] lol.

But yay! They're partners now - baby partners. Let's play with that for a lil bit :)