To all those who review, thank you. You make my day. Smiles and gives you…I don't know…I guess I'll give you another chapter… To those who don't, well…

Chapter Seven

Olivia made it through the night. She was still not awake when Elliot's watch started beeping at six thirty in the morning, but she had not woken up at all that night. That at least was reassuring. Elliot quickly hushed his watch as he rolled off her couch. He did not want to risk waking her up by showering in her apartment. She still did not know he was there, so that had the potential to be frightening if she did wake up.

Instead, he tiptoed over to her bedroom and pushed the door open a crack. Olivia was sleeping peacefully. He did not dare disturb her. He walked back over to her kitchen and grabbed a piece of scratch paper to write her a note. He scribbled it to her and tried to decide on the place where he was sure she would find it. He was not sure if she would go into work, so leaving it with her badge was out of the question. She would definitely be hungry when she woke up, but he did not yet know if she had a particular craving for something. He did not even know of she knew.

He scanned her kitchen. Wherever she ate, she would have to go into the refrigerator to get something to drink, but there were some other things there. Perhaps the kitchen was not the best place. He should give her time to wake up before causing her to look for a note. He sighed as it finally dawned on him to leave it on the door. As he left her apartment, he left it between the door and the doorway.

His drive back to his apartment was not too long. It was too early to be the rush to work. He had time to take a quick shower, get something to eat, and get over to the SVU.

As soon as Elliot arrived at the SVU, he walked over to Cragen's office. Not many of the other detectives were there yet, which was definitely a good thing. Cragen was there though. Elliot knocked on the door to Cragen's office. The captain looked up at Elliot then gestured for him to come inside.

"Sit," Cragen said as he gestured at the chairs. He eyed Elliot suspiciously then nodded as he realized what this conversation had to be regarding. "This is about Olivia, isn't it?"

"What makes you think that?" Elliot asked as he sat down.

"You're here in my office early in the morning before any of the other detectives have arrived. There is nothing about your case that would need discussing right now until you talked with Munch and Fin," Cragen noted. "Plus, we're the only two people who know about her…condition."

Elliot nodded to each of Cragen's points. "True," he stated.

"Well?" Cragen asked. "How is she?" His concern was close to the level of Elliot's. "Should we be doing anything to subtly increase her pay?"

"We should be doing that to every detective here for the long hours and intensity of the cases," Elliot pointed out. He sighed and got back to being serious. "Yes," he stated. "It would really help."

"She knows for sure?" Cragen asked.

Elliot nodded. "All to well," he stated. "She has an appointment this afternoon, so she won't be in today. I told her I'd be there for her, so I might take an extra long lunch break."

Cragen nodded. "Right," he said as he saw Elliot stand up. "Take care of her."

"Of course," Elliot said as he started walking out the door. By this point, Munch had arrived, and he was sitting by his desk. Elliot exited Cragen's office and closed the door behind him. He proceeded to walk to his own desk. Once he was there, he did a quick search for the location of Olivia's OB/GYN. He gasped as he saw Munch coming over and he quickly minimized the window.

"So I did some snooping last night," Munch began. "And as it turns out, Patrick Lotz's alibi doesn't check out for the O'Donnel rape-homicide."

"But the DNA sample from the rape kit cleared him," Elliot stated as he turned away from Munch and looked back at his computer. "Look, I don't have time for this. Pester Novak."

"I wasn't finished," Munch argued as he spun Elliot's chair to face him again. "Turns out there was a witness who could place Lotz at the scene of the crime at roughly the time the M.E. gave for the time of death."

"Ok, get Novak to get a search warrant for Lotz's apartment and try to track him down," Elliot began.

"Hey," Casey argued as she approached from behind the two detectives. "I thought DNA cleared him. If I'm going to be doing paperwork, I'm going to need a good reason."

Elliot shifted his glance from the ADA over to the other detective in a clear signal that he would not be answering the question.

"His alibi didn't check out, and there's a witness who could place him at the scene of the crime," Munch stated plainly. "Good enough for you, Miss Casey?"

Casey rolled her eyes at him but did not press the issue. "I'll have it by eleven," she promised. She then turned and focused on Elliot. "I need to talk to you," she stated seriously.

Elliot glanced up at her. His face was turned away from Munch, so he mouthed up at Casey, "You know?"

Casey nodded slightly and repeated her initial statement. "Elliot, I need to talk to you. Now and in private." She folded her thin arms across her chest and glared at Munch.

Elliot turned and rolled his eyes at the other detective. He stood up and pulled Casey away from his desk towards the interrogation rooms. There were no witnesses yet, so the two of them would be alone.

Munch watched the two of them suspiciously. Something was definitely weird. He knew that much. He glanced over at Elliot's computer to see if that would give him any clue as to what was going on. There was something minimized, so he maximized it. He gasped as he looked back over at Casey and Elliot. On Elliot's computer was a list of local OB/GYNs. That was definitely not something related to any case they were on.

"You know?" Elliot asked as he pulled Casey into the first open interrogation room. He closed the door quickly behind him. "Wait," he said. "What do you know?"

"Probably not as much as you, which is why I'd like to talk to you," Casey answered. "I'm just concerned about her, Elliot. Olivia's one of the best girl friends I've had in a while, and I care about her. I haven't talked to her since last night, and when I did she mentioned that she thought she might be pregnant. I tried calling earlier, but she didn't answer."

"Ok," Elliot said. Casey already knew some things about what was going on, so Olivia must have felt comfortable with the ADA knowing the rest. "I'll tell you, but only to keep you out of suspense," he began. "When she tells you, you have to act surprised."

Casey rolled her eyes. "Elliot, just tell me, ok? I won't mention your name if she finds out I knew before, ok? I could have asked Cragen."

"She is," Elliot confirmed. "She's pregnant. She's keeping the child. I don't know if she's fully grasped the situation."

Casey nodded slowly. "Is there anything we can do for her?"

Elliot shrugged. "Be there, I guess. Cragen is working on getting her a subtle raise. She has an appointment this afternoon, and I'll be there for her."