Pavel tugged on John's sleeve. "Ivan, I'm hungry," the little boy informed him.
"Of course you are. I'll take you for something to eat in just a minute. I just have to talk to my boss. You wait right here," John said, as he hoisted the boy up on his desk.
John turned to Casey and Olivia, "You two watch Pavel, while I'm in talking to Cragen?" he asked the women for a favor. They eagerly nodded and moved closer to his desk to play with Pavel.
"Why'd you ask them, when I'm the one with four kids at home?" Elliot commented, as Munch started to head for Cragen's office.
John paused a moment and looked at Elliot over his glasses, "First, you're barely conversant in English, let alone Russian. Second it's your lovely wife Kathy who is the one with experience raising 4 kids, you just make them and bring home the paycheck," John said as he breezed by Elliot on his way to Cragen's office.
Fin tried hard not to laugh. "Don't take it too hard El, something's bugging John, or should I say Ivan?"
"Yeah, now what's up with that? Why's the kid keep calling him Ivan?" Elliot asked.
"That's simple, Ivan is Russian for John just like Paul is the English version of Pavel," Casey answered from where she and Olivia were trying to find computer games on Munch's computer to keep Pavel busy with while John talked to Cragen.
"Nah, it's more than that, when he introduced himself to the kid I heard him say Ivan Borshevsky, at first I thought maybe he was asking the kid a question about someone named Ivan Borshevsky, but then the kid said, 'OK Ivan' and I knew that's how Munch had introduced himself to Pavel," Fin explained.
"So what are we saying here, that John's real name is Ivan Borshevsky?" Olivia asked. "Why would he change his name and why would he tell Pavel his 'real' name?" she continued adding questions.
"I don't know, but you know John, he's not going to open up and spill his guts about it, especially if he's kept it a secret for a long time," Elliot added.
"Yeah, well so what do we do, pretend we haven't really noticed, ask him about it, or investigate behind his back?' Fin asked.
"I don't like the sound of that last option, especially with John, if he finds out we're snooping around in his past, he's likely to get all paranoid," Olivia said.
"What do you mean get paranoid, the dude's paranoid to begin with," Fin commented.
"Look, why don't each of us look for a chance to ask John straight up about this Ivan Borshevsky thing, but in the meantime it can't hurt to do a little research," Elliot said.
"Like what?" Casey asked distractedly as she tried to see John in Cragen's office.
"I don't know, like see if we can find an Ivan Borshevsky with John Munch's birth date," Elliot suggested.
"Yeah, that ought to be easy enough to check in vital statistics," Fin said, turning to his computer screen.
"You might check court dockets for a name change or an adoption," Casey threw out, but still kept her attention on Cragen's office.
"I'm pretty sure John's not adopted. I mean I think that's something he would have mentioned," Olivia countered.
"Well, it wouldn't have to be a traditional adoption, more like a stepfather adopting his wife's children," Casey explained what she had meant by her suggestion and Olivia nodded her head.
"Bingo!" Fin said, but before he could explain what he was excited about Munch exited Cragen's office. He walked over to Pavel and knelt down to the boy's level.
"Come on Pavel, I got my boss' permission to take you to get something to eat, and then he's going to let me off for the rest of the day so I can get you settled in at my place. How's that sound?" John asked.
"It sounds good, Ivan. Can the pretty red-haired lady come with us?" Pavel asked.
John looked at him over his glasses. "What are you plotting?"
"Nothing, I swear. I just like her," Pavel said with a slight blush.
John leaned in closed and murmured, "Keep a secret?" Pavel nodded earnestly. "I do too," John admitted in a whisper.
"So, we ask her to go along?" Pavel asked. John smiled and nodded.
"Hey Casey, I've got an offer you can't refuse." John said, doing his best cocky guy routine.
"Want to make a bet," she answered cheerily.
"Yeah, I'll bet that you're going to have lunch with me, because I just know you won't turn me and Pavel both down, right?" he asked smugly.
Casey shook her head. "That's low John Munch, even for you. Using a cute little kid as bait, so I have to say yes to a lunch date."
John bowed his head as though he were ashamed of himself, but then he looked up at her from an angle, "Is it working?"
"OK," she said, in a voice that hid how thrilled she was to be going out with him. She turned to Pavel and asked, "So where are we going?"
"McDonalds!" Pavel exclaimed.
"In the country a month and the kid's already got a Jones for McDonalds," Fin said sounding a bit disgusted.
"They do have McDonalds in Russia you know," Munch informed Fin.
"Come on let's go," Pavel said impatiently, and then grabbed Munch and Casey each by the hand and began pulling them toward the doors.
John looked back, smiled and waved. "Bye gang."
"Good I thought he'd never leave," Fin said. Elliot and Olivia gathered round his desk, but before he could say anything Cragen and Huang came out of Cragen's office.
"So you guys got some hot lead on this case or what?" Cragen asked.
The three detectives looked at each other, uncertain whether to bring Cragen in on their little bit of extracurricular investigating or not.
"What? What's up? Come on spill it, you all look like kids caught out after curfew," Cragen gently barked.
"Well, we were kind of curious about this Ivan Borshevsky name thing of John's, and we thought we'd just take a second to look into it," Fin said.
"You know it might be a good idea. It seems to me that John might want to keep Pavel, and if that's the case the CPS will do a thorough background check on him. Maybe you, as his friend,s should beat them to the punch," Huang suggested.
"OK, go ahead but don't spend too long on it. We do have a rape triple homicide to investigate," Cragen said, giving the OK to proceed.
"So Fin, what was the bingo about before Munch came out?" Elliot asked.
"Oh, I'd gotten to Maryland's vital statistics and I found a birth for a Ivan Viktor Borshevsky on Aug 4th,"-
"That's John's birthday," Olivia said excitedly.
"Yeah and if you'd let me finish, I was going to tell you the year matches and it was in Pikesville, which is where John was born, leastwise that's what he told me," Fin said.
"Does it give any information on Ivan's parents?" Elliot asked.
"Yeah, father's name Ivan Nikolai Borshevsky, mother's name Nadia Munch Borshevsky," Fin read from the computer screen. "Guess that just about cinches it. John Munch is Ivan Borshevsky," he concluded
"Wonder why he changed his name?" Cragen wondered aloud, what everyone else was thinking.
"You know there's another record here, but I didn't call it up because it was about a decade too late to be John's birth record, and I can see now it's for John's dad 'cause it's Ivan N. Borshevsky. I'm going to call it up, see what it is," Fin said decisively.
"A death certificate," Olivia said, reading over Fin's shoulder.
"Yeah, and look at what it says in cause of death – suicide, gunshot wound, self inflicted," Fin read softly and slowly.
"Munch's old man committed suicide when he was a kid?" Elliot asked for confirmation.
"Yeah, from the look of these records John would have been about 11," Fin answered.
"John's family is Jewish isn't it?" Huang asked.
"Yes," Cragen answered. "And from what John's said, I think his mother is very observant," he added.
"Judaism teaches that suicide is murder, the suicide victim would not be accorded full burial rites, and there's debate in some communities as to whether the family should observe the traditional 7 day mourning period or whether the kaddish prayer would be said," Huang explained.
"So are you thinking that Munch's mother may have changed John's name, to what, save him the shame of being the son of a man who committed suicide?" Elliot asked incredulously.
"Yes, it could very well be, and if that's what happened it explains a lot about John," Huang said in a soft voice that spoke of his expertise, but also seemed to hold compassion.
"What do you mean?" Fin asked with an edge of distrust.
"Well, there is no easy age to lose a parent, especially by suicide, but it's especially hard on an adolescent boy to lose his father. Particularly at a stage of life when he's just starting to really need a man in his life to turn to as a role model. John's role model killed himself, and remember he was named for this man, and then suddenly his mother took his identity away from him, as though he should be ashamed of who he was or rather who he was becoming," Huang said.
Everyone got quiet as they thought about John as a young boy, coping with losing his father and being renamed.
"Think about John, how would you describe him?" Huang asked.
"Smart and funny," Elliot offered.
"Cynical, even a bit paranoid at times," Fin added.
"He's very loyal and compassionate," Olivia said, sounding like she was defending him.
"Yes, he is Olivia. John cares a lot about people, but he'd rather no one noticed that, he likes cultivating the curmudgeon's label. He longs to be loved, but he's afraid to be hurt," Huang said.
"Aren't we all like that?" Cragen asked.
"To an extent, almost everyone's had an experience or two in their lives that's convinced them that life has it in for them, but most of us didn't start getting those messages so young nor were the messages so effective," George explained.
"Do you think Pavel is OK with John?" Cragen asked.
"Of course he is," Olivia answered defensively.
"Well?" Cragen asked, ignoring Olivia's interruption and pressing Huang for an answer.
"Pavel isn't going to be OK with anyone, unless he gets professional assistance dealing with his parents' and grandfather's deaths, but he is no worse off being with John than he would be with anyone else. At least Pavel doesn't have to deal with communication problems with John, and John understands firsthand what it's like to lose a parent at a young age. John has also dealt with many victims who have lost family members, so he knows what to expect," Huang answered.
"But what if this starts triggering 'stuff' for Munch?" Fin asked.
"Well," Huang was uncharacteristically hesitant; "it would probably be good for John to work through some of that 'stuff', though I'm not so sure how it would affect Pavel, for that reason I'm glad Casey is with them, and I hope she spends a good deal more time with them."
"I don't," Olivia stated flatly.
"Why do you have a problem with Casey spending time with Munch and the kid?" Fin asked truly puzzled.
"You don't know? Are you sure you're a detective?" Olivia said mockingly.
"What? What am I missing?" Fin said, now getting a little miffed.
"Haven't you ever noticed the way Casey is around Munch?" Elliot asked.
"I guess I'm as clueless as Fin. Fill us all in, why don't you?" Captain Cragen requested of Olivia.
"OK, well I think Elliot will back me up on this. Casey has a crush on John, and while I think that might flatter John, and he would flirt with her a bit, I doubt he'd get seriously involved with her," Olivia explained.
"Why do you say that?" Huang asked.
"As far as I can tell he's given up on relationships, and from other things he's told me, I don't think he would let Casey think there was the chance of something serious developing between them if there wasn't. So if Casey spends a lot of time with John and Pavel, both she and the kid may be greatly disappointed," Olivia explained."
"Well, you know what? It's not up to us. It's their lives. All we can do is be supportive friends," Cragen said by way of closing out the discussion. "now Gentlemen, lady it's time to get back to business."