Guess who's back?
Olivia walked into the commissioner's office ready for the long day ahead of her. She was excited for the interviews, but also nervous. Not only would she be hand picking her squad, but she would also be training them. Working in SVU wasn't anyone's top pick and the people that did want to work in the unit, was never cut out for it. She didn't want to settle just for any officers, but she wanted to make sure that she had a fully equipped team.
"Miss Benson, I'm glad you're here with us." The commissioner, Rick, said standing up and shaking her hand. "Also, congratulations." He said referring to her pregnancy.
She smiled. "Thank you, and the pleasure is mine. Thank you for allowing me to pick my squad. I promise you Chicago's SVU will not disappoint you." She said returning the handshake.
A few weeks ago, the Arlington SVU deal fell through, and Olivia was upset about not being able to do what she loved anymore. However, Hank pulled some strings and got Rick to open an SVU right in Chicago, and Rick was more than happy to have Olivia be the commanding officer for it.
"With you running it, I have no doubt in my mind it will be successful." He said with a small smile and taking a seat. "We have ten candidates today. All have been on the force for at least five years."
"How many male and female candidates?" Olivia asked as she sat next to him.
"Half and half."
Olivia simply nodded. "Well, let's start."
"Great." Rick looked over at his assistant, who was standing near the door waiting for assignment. "Can you please send in the first applicant?"
His assistant nodded before leaving the room.
"It's okay if you don't like anyone from this group. You don't have to find your entire unit today."
Olivia actually calmed down a bit at his words. The unit wouldn't be opened tomorrow or even next month. She still had six months until the first day. She had time.
The first female officer walked into the room. She was about 5'8'', African-American, medium-build, with dark brown shoulder-length hair. "Lisa Turner. Current homicide detective." She held her hand out to shake Olivia's and the Commissioner's hand.
"Olivia Benson." She said returning the handshake.
Lisa took a seat and smiled. "I've heard your name mentioned once or twice before." She wasn't aware if Hank had told Olivia about her and her sister, but she wasn't going to mention it, because she didn't want anyone to think she didn't get her job fair and square.
"You must have been spending time in the Intelligence Unit, then." Olivia was slightly surprised that her name was already generating buzz in Chicago. If they were in New York, she wouldn't be surprised, but here she was, halfway across the country, and people already knew her.
"Sergeant Platt was my mentor when I first entered the force, and we've kept in touch. She's the one that told me about the new unit opening up."
Olivia just nodded. "Already off to a good start. Why do you want to work in SVU?"
"Well," Lisa stated before she relaxed in her chair a bit. "As a victim of rape, I think it's important that we take as many rapists off the streets that we can." Playing the victim card was not part of her tactic to get into the unit. She truly wanted to work in a unit that helps people beyond catching the criminal, and she knew SVU was that place. It was just a plus that her uncle was dating the Captain.
Olivia hoped her surprised reaction didn't reflect on her face. While she knew the stats about rape and how common it was, she was starting to see how much more common it was for female officers. "Do you think that your assault will affect you on the job?"
"Yes." Lisa said with no hesitation. "I wouldn't be human if it didn't affect me. Are you asking if I can control my emotions during cases, especially ones similar to my experience, yes. I'm quite aware that losing my cool can jeopardize entire cases, and that's the last thing anyone needs." Unfortunately, being a hothead ran in the Voight family. Lana, Lisa's twin, was the only even-tempered person in the family.
Olivia appreciated Lisa's honesty. Because of how Olivia was conceived, she always felt like she dealt with cases differently than her coworkers, but after Lowell and Lewis, she knew she handled things differently, and always let her emotions cloud her judgement. "Seeing a therapist will be mandatory while working in my unit. Is that something you're okay with?"
"I actually think that's a great idea, and it should be mandated in all units." Lisa said while slightly glancing at the commissioner.
Olivia nodded again, while she started looking through Lisa's files. "You have a write up for assaulting a suspect. Would you care to explain that?"
Lisa sighed. "That suspect was my rapist. No one knew that he was my rapist, which is why my Captain didn't remove me from the case. I did let my emotions get in the way, especially after I found out that what he did to me, he did to four others."
Olivia shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Lisa was very similar to her and if they worked together, it could be a good or bad thing. "What can you bring to squad that no one else can?"
"Myself. There isn't another me in the world. There's better cops, there's better people, but no one can be a better me, than me. You're probably thinking that's a very cocky answer, but I'm not going to give you a generic answer. What makes me different is I'm me."
Olivia couldn't help but to smile. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "I like you. You obviously have a low tolerance for crap which is needed when we're dealing with suspects. But, your past allows you to be sensitive and connect with our victims." She was silent for a moment. "I'll have to talk it over with Rick, but I would love to have you be part of my unit."
Lisa's face lit up. She would finally be working in her dream unit, under the infamous Olivia Benson. "Of course, I would to work for you. Thank you."
xxxx
"Our last candidate is Lana Turner, Lisa's twin."
Olivia slightly chuckled. "Twin cops? Interviewing for the same job? You don't see this quite often."
Rick laughed. "They are complete opposites. I've actually worked with Lana a couple of times. If you liked Lisa, you're going to love Lana." He said matter-of-factly.
"Well, bring her in." Today was not as successful as she thought. Besides Lisa, there was only one other candidate that she liked. She hoped Lana was as promising as Rick says. However, she didn't know how she felt about having siblings work for her, especially twins. Though, Lana deserved the same chance as Lisa regardless of their connection to each other.
Lana walked into the room, a spitting image of Lisa, except she was a little lighter, and had more pep in her step. "Hi, I'm Lana!" She said with a huge smile on her face. She held her hand out for them to shake.
And Olivia immediately saw the difference between them. They may have been identical twins, but their personalities could not be any different. "Olivia Benson." She said returning the shake.
"Thank you so much for taking the time to interview with me. I'm very excited at the possibility to work under you, Lieutenant Benson."
"I see you've done your homework."
"Of course. You are one of the most decorated and admired officers in the NYPD. You've solved multiple decade old cold cases. You're kind of a big deal." When Lana found out that her uncle was the Olivia Benson, she immediately went into fan mode. She started studying Olivia's high-profile cases, and tried her best to pick up some of her detective skills.
Olivia couldn't help but to laugh. "Well, thank you. Why do you want to work in SVU, besides working under me?"
"Well, there's not a lot of cops like me. If you work in homicide, then sure, you can be cold and distant. But if you're working with live victims, you need to be full of warmth and kindness. People have just been violated in the worst way possible, and as cops, we should welcome them with open arms as we try to help them. I've seen firsthand SVU detectives be completely rude to victims, and I want to change that culture."
Whoever was Lisa and Lana's mom, Olivia wanted to thank her for raising two amazing women. Yes, they were completely different, but they were on the same page: wanting to make a change. "Besides a beautiful smile and positive attitude, what can you bring to SVU?"
Lana smiled at the compliment. "I know a lot of people take advantage of my kindness and think I'm weak, but I have a black belt in karate, I did a tour in Iraq, and I come from a cop family, as you know. I'm a complete badass, and being constantly underestimated has just made me work harder to become the best cop I can be. That's what I can bring to the table."
There's the genetic cockiness Olivia was looking for. "Your jacket is clean, you have nothing but praises from your colleagues," She paused. "What are your flaws?"
"As you can easily see, my sister is the more aggressive of the two. I'm not as straightforward as I should be, and I'm working on it." Lisa had always been the one protecting Lana when they grew up, and that's part of the reason she joined the army and the force. She wanted to prove to people that she could fight her own battles, with no help.
"You don't have to be aggressive to be a cop, you just have to care." Olivia stated simply. "And Lana, you care a lot."
"I do, which is why I want to work in this unit."
Olivia gave her a soft smile and grabbed her hand from across the table. "And you are going to work in this unit. Congratulations."
Lana's eyes widen and immediately filled with tears. She would be working her dream job with her sister, under someone she admired. She couldn't believe her life right now.
Olivia walked in the house, exhausted, and slightly defeated after today. Of course, it's unrealistic to find an entire squad in one day, but she was hoping she could get this all over in one sitting and just focus on her pregnancy for the rest of the time.
"Hi, there, beautiful." Hank said with a smile when he saw Olivia walk into the kitchen. "How are my girls?"
She let out a sigh. "I'm exhausted, Ella is not." She couldn't complain, though. She loved constantly being able to feel her daughter move especially because she didn't get to experience this when she was pregnant with Erin.
He slightly chuckled. "How were the interviews?" He started making her a plate of dinner.
She shrugged. "Could have went worse, could have went better. I have three of my six detectives."
"Well, what's wrong with that? Sounds like a productive day to me." He said while he handed her the plate of food.
"I went in today with my expectations too high. I thought I would find my entire squad today, which I know is unrealistic, but I couldn't help it."
"Understandable, but you already have half your squad already." He said trying to cheer her up and ease her nerves. Though, he didn't get to handpick his entire squad, he knew how challenging it can be to find people that you think is right for the job.
"That's another part of the problem. I've never had more than three people under me, and now I'm going to have six. I'm excited and honored about this, but I'm a little nervous."
Hank walked over to where she was sitting and gently grabbed her face in his hands. "You are an amazing cop, and an even better leader. If I can run a squad with six people, you definitely can do it." He kissed her forehead. "Stop stressing, it's not good for Ella." He dropped his hands to her very round stomach, that seemed to be getting bigger every day. "You have nothing to worry about, and if any of your people give you any issues, you can just send them my way." He said with all seriousness in his voice.
She loved how sweet Hank could be, then immediately go back to his bad boy persona, all in the same breath. "Okay, you're right. It kills me to say that, but you are right." She slightly smirked.
"Oh, I know." He flashed her a smile before kissing her on the lips lightly. "So, tell me about these three detectives." He said while sitting next to her at the bar.
"Well, Lisa and Lana are twins. Lisa works in homicide and Lana works in robbery. They are complete opposites, but I am very excited to have them work for me. Darren is a rookie, so this would technically be his first detective job, but everything about him reminded me of Fin, including his very chill attitude, so I knew I needed him part of my unit."
"Wait, Lisa and Lana Turner?" Hank never told Olivia about his brother, let alone his twin nieces, but he definitely did not think this would be how Olivia would find out about them.
"Yeah," Olivia said confused on how Hank knew them. Then again, Platt was their mentor, so maybe that's how they knew each other. "What do you know about them that I don't?"
He sighed. "Don't get mad. I had no idea that they would be interviewing for your unit. I have not spoken to them in months."
Olivia sat up straight in her chair. Now her interest was peaked. "Hank, what is going on?"
"Lisa and Lana are my, well, our, nieces. My dead brother is their father." Hank hated his older brother. They never got along and when Dana, Lisa and Lana's mother, came into their family, Hank's hatred for his brother only grew.
Olivia's jaw dropped and she was momentarily speechless. This entire time she thought Hank was an only child, but thirty years into knowing each other, she was still finding out new information. "I want to be upset that you kept your brother a secret from me, but since I also have a brother that I don't talk about, I can't be too upset. However, I just hired family for my unit. Does Rick know that you're their uncle?"
"You have a brother?" Hank didn't hear anything else after that. He knew about her parents and he could not pinpoint how a brother could come into this situation.
She nodded. "Simon is my half-brother that I've only seen twice in my entire life. The first time was about ten years ago because of a case. We took a DNA test and we have the same dad. Except his mom wasn't raped and he lived a pretty normal life. The second time was about four years ago, when he got in trouble with the law again. I helped him out, and we have not spoken or seen each other since. Now it's your turn."
Now he knew why she never mentioned Simon. She didn't talk to him, so it was no need to bring him up. "Michael is a bastard, and I'm glad he's dead. He was an abusive, racist, rapist, which is how Lisa and Lana got here. He dated their mom solely for control and he made their lives miserable until the day he died. When I found out what was going on, I sent Dana and the girls to Michigan to get away from him. It only lasted about three months before he found them and he beat Dana the entire ride back. This happened around the same time Erin came back into my life and Camille didn't think it would be a good idea for them to live with us because it could put our family in danger."
He paused to get himself together. He had never stopped blaming himself for everything Dana, Lisa, and Lana went through and he could have stopped it earlier.
"Well, two days after the girls' seventeenth birthday, Michael shot and killed Dana in front of them. He then beat Lisa and Lana so badly that they missed school for a week. I was working a case when I got the call from the precinct. He had never put his hands on them until then. When I saw my nieces and I saw that the bastard had no remorse, I saw red. Al and I took him for a ride, and you can put two and two together." Hank did not regret killing his brother one bit. It was well overdue.
Olivia couldn't even form words. She kept trying to speak, but no words came out. Her heart was broken for Lana and Lisa, and she couldn't even believe that Lana radiated so much positivity after going through what she did. She also couldn't believe that Hank murdered his brother and was showing no remorse for it, though, he one hundred percent understand why he did it.
Any time Hank told Oliva about his "rides" this was the reaction he got, so he was used to it. However, he knew she would not be able to digest the fact that he killed his own brother. "I get it. Take your time." He said standing up from the chair. "But, if I could go back in time, I would have done it sooner." He walked away leaving Olivia alone with her thoughts. He knew she would need a couple of days, and he was more than happy to give her that space and time. He knew once she was ready to talk about it, she would have a laundry list of questions, and he needed to prepare himself to answer them.
"He told me everything." Erin stated to Olivia as soon as she walked into the house. "I shouldn't be surprised because he's Hank Voight, but c'mon." She said as she plopped down on the couch.
It had been two days since Hank dropped the bomb about his brother, and he had been giving Olivia the space she needed. However, Olivia needed to talk to someone that was there during all of this, so she called Erin. "You didn't know?" Olivia asked.
"I knew Michael was a piece of shit, but Hank told me everything. Someone should have definitely put a bullet in him, but it shouldn't have been Hank, and shouldn't have been two days after they lost their mother!" Erin had grown up always wondering why Hank never just had Lisa and Lana live with them, but then she remembered how long it took Camille to warm up to her, and she understood.
Olivia sat down next to Erin on the couch before she spoke. "Al shot him, if that makes you feel better. Hank did beat the hell out of him, but Al put the bullet in him. Hank said he couldn't do it." She talked to Hank last night. She knew the kind of person he was before they started dating, and of course it made her uneasy at times, but he usually had really good reasons.
Erin rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, sure that does. Ya know, Hank walks around like Camille was an absolute angel, and God bless her soul, but she would not let him take them in. And it took her at least a year to even warm up to me! She was kind and never did anything wrong to me, but if you can save someone, why not do it? He begged and pleaded with her, but she continually said no. That's why Hank sent them away and hoped that would help. It wasn't until he killed Michael that he brought Lana and Lisa home and told Camille that they were staying and if she didn't agree, she could leave."
Olivia was constantly finding out new things about Hank, but one thing stays the same: he was always putting other people first. On the other hand, she did not like hearing that Camille wasn't immediately happy about Erin living with them. If Hank right now, brought in a kid from the street, Olivia would do anything she could to help. It also didn't help that Erin was her own child, so the thought of someone rejecting her, made her stomach turn.
"There's another reason for this anger." Olivia said calmly. She knew her daughter, and Erin knew about Hank and his rides. There was an underlying issue that was actually making Erin this upset.
Erin sighed as she pushed her hair out of her face. "There's just a lot of emotions when it comes to the Lana and Lisa situation, and now finding out that they're actually my cousins, it just doubles the emotions."
"Okay," Olivia said while wrapping an arm around Erin's shoulders and bringing her closer to her. "You want to talk about that?"
"Not particularly." Erin said trying to stop herself from crying. "Nothing bad happened, it was just a rough time growing up." She quickly added knowing how Olivia could be.
"Well, I love you, and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk." Olivia wasn't going to push her, but she did want to know more about what was going on. She was quickly learning over the last few months that she had no idea what really went on during Erin and Hank's life for the last thirty years.
See ya in a year!