Chapter 28

"Look what the cat dragged in. You go home last night?" Munch asked the next morning, realizing that neither Kenny nor Huang was with them. The question, however, seemed to answer itself as Elliot and Olivia made their way into the bullpen, still wearing the clothes they had been the night before. Elliot didn't say anything and headed right for the locker room and the showers. Olivia collapsed into the chair at her desk.

"Baby Girl, did you get any sleep?" Fin walked over to her, cup of coffee in his hands. He noted that the bruise on her face looked worse than it had the other day. That was something that bruises did, but still didn't make Fin feel any better. While he'd never say it aloud, he always thought of Olivia as a sister and tried to pick up any slack that Elliot could not – granted that wasn't much but whatever he could do.

"Huang was right. I needed to be there," she said, ignoring the question and accepting the coffee. She took a sip of the bitter, hot liquid, and it burned all the way down her throat. Fin didn't want to press but Cabot's meeting with Kevin was in two hours and if there was something that stopped the ADA from making a deal, they needed to know.

"What happened?" Tutuola asked, pulling a chair up next to her and sat down. Munch watched from his desk, letting his partner make the move toward nudging Olivia into explaining what had gone on. She was obviously exhausted and this case was draining on her. While she had been trying to hide it, they had all noticed that she'd, at a minimum, been on edge.

"Once she had calmed down, Stephanie just started spewing everything. Huang said that he figured she'd never admit it, but it was like she just couldn't hold it in anymore. By the time that Elliot and I had gotten there, she had passed out; completely drained. Huang gave me all the details… after that I just couldn't leave her," Olivia stopped, attempting to keep the coffee in her otherwise empty stomach down.

"Kevin…" Fin didn't really ask but she knew what he meant.

"She freaked out when she saw Kevin because… because whenever he came over, she knew what was going to happen… While Kevin didn't do anything to her sexually, he stood by while Linda and his no name buddy did things to her," Olivia clenched her free fist.

"Shit," Fin swore. Munch just shook his head.

"Well, it's not solid proof but if he knew what they were going to do, then Cabot has to be able to charge him with something," the Sergeant said.

"Yeah, well you better go to that meeting. I'm liable to do something I can't take back," Olivia slammed the rest of the now lukewarm coffee down and left her seat, heading to the locker room, looking for Elliot and the stuff in her locker. The Captain exited his office, having just gotten off the phone.

"What's been going on out here?" He asked.

"Good news and bad news…" Fin said before quickly filling the Captain in on what Liv had told them.

"Fin, get on the horn to Mo and see if he's got anything. Munch, where is Kenny? Once you have answers, then go to the meeting. I'll corral Benson and Stabler," Cragen told them. The Captain walked over to the locker room door and was about to knock before entering when he heard a loud thud. Pretty sure that he knew what that noise was and concerned for his detectives, he flung the door open. What he saw surprised him.

"Liv, what did ya do?" Cragen went up to her and quickly checked her hand. She had pulled a Stabler and punched a locker. Her knuckles were bleeding but what worried the Captain was the look on Olivia's face. It was a mix of rage and a crushing sadness – he wasn't sure how that worked but the best way he knew how to describe it.

"Liv!" Elliot was fresh out of the shower, wearing his clean back up suit from his locker. He rushed over to her and quickly wrapped a locker room towel around her hand. The Captain noticed that the man hadn't even looked at him.

"You take her to the hospital and get her hand checked out," their superior officer told them.

"Don't I get a say?" Olivia demanded.

"You just took out a defenseless locker with your innocent knuckles. You're bleeding and not in control of your emotions. I want you checked out and then you're to get some sleep. If you're not going to sleep, you're going to see Doctor Valentino. Is that understood?" Cragen was practically barking. She didn't answer him, so he said,

"I can't have two hotheads in this unit. You get yourself squared away. Stephanie needs you at your best and so does Calvin." Olivia heaved a sigh, knowing that she was dangerously near the edge of the precipice she'd been on before. It was not a place she wanted to be.

"I don't need to go to the hospital – I can bend my fingers. Let me shower and get some clean clothes on. Then I'll go see Doctor Valentino," she said, removing the towel and showing her ability to move her fingers to them. Cragen eyeballed her but he didn't want to push since she agreed to go see the department psychiatrist.

"Fine, but after your meeting, go home. You need sleep and Calvin needs to see your face. I'm sure that Officer Lucy Jin would like some of her free time back," with that the Captain left the room. Elliot gingerly took her damaged hand and looked it over. He'd done it enough times that he would be very surprised that she hadn't broken something and was just telling the Captain she was fine.

"All right, mega dose of pain killers because even if the adrenaline is not making it hurt, it will hurt eventually. Let's go get this cleaned up," Elliot said. She just looked at him and he leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Come on. The sooner we go, the sooner we can both get some sleep," he smiled slightly. Olivia nodded and they headed toward the sinks. She was lost in her thoughts as Elliot gently cleaned up her hand. They exchanged no words and Olivia marveled at how he managed to be so delicate. He was right though; she was starting to feel her hand throb.

"You know you probably should eat something before you take any medicine. Go hit the showers in the ladies showers and I'll see if I can rustle something up," Elliot told her.

"Thanks, El," she said.

"Of course, Liv," this time his lips went to hers. It was a quick kiss but one that they both seemed to need. Then she was off to her locker and the showers.

To Be Continued…