DISCLAIMER – Not mine. Belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. But I do love having them do things that'll never be seen on the screen.

A/N – First of all, I would like to thank everyone who's been reading, and those that have left reviews. Well, you all know how much they mean. Okay, the chapter's not longer than the previous one, but I personally think it's much better than the previous one. Let me know what you thought, huh?

Part 5

At 10pm Olivia's cell phone started chirping. She looked at the time. "Shit, I forgot about Ed."

Looking at the caller ID, she confirmed who it was. "Hi Ed…Yeah, no I don't think I'll be able to tonight…Got a hot case it's looking pretty bad…I know…I'm sorry…I'll call you tomorrow…You too…Nite."

She placed the phone back on the desk and continued reading. The men watched her, after a few minutes, she felt the six eyes boring into her.

Looking up she asked, "What?"

Elliot answered. "You shouda gone, I could've done the work for a few hours."

"Thanks, I know. But I found the link, and I wanna see where it takes me."

Fin spoke up from where he was sitting working on his own case. "Damn it girl, when was the last time you met anyone like Ed? Elliot said he's got it covered. Take a break."

Olivia smiled. "Thanks Fin, but really it's fine. He's an ex-cop. He understands."

The conversation was closed.

For the next hour, aside from the occasional rustle of papers and standing to get either coffee, or to stare at the chart, there was silence.

John and Fin left shortly after 11pm, but Elliot and Olivia stayed, pouring over every word of the earlier reports.

At 1am, Cragen left his office to find his two best detectives buried in old files. "Guys, I know you wanna get this asshole, but we're still only on the paper trail. Go home! You can start re-interviewing all the suspects and witnesses tomorrow."

Both his detectives looked as though they were going to argue, but he held his hand up, to hush them. "That's an order."

Four red-rimmed eyes looked up at him. They would have remained, wanting to get as much work done as possible, but they'd been there for 17 hours and knew they were too tired to do any decent work. They stood in unison, grabbed their coats and left the precinct.

"You going straight home?" Elliot asked his partner.

"Yeah, too tired for anything else. You better get home, I sure Maureen's worried."

Elliot flashed on the face of his oldest daughter. She had been the caretaker of the other 3 children after their mother had died. He was so proud of the way she kept things together, along with going to college.

Elliot looked at her bleary eyed and nodded. "You're right. See ya in the morning."

Getting into his care, he started the long drive home to Queens.

- SVU SQUAD ROOM -

- MARCH 31 10am -

Reading through an old witness statement, Olivia was surprised when a bouquet of flowers was placed in front of her nose.

"Hey beautiful. Missed you last night." Olivia looked up into Ed's green eyes.

The eyes of every man in the bullpen were on her. "Ed, you shouldn't have," she smiled. "But I'm glad you did."

She stood, and he grabbed her waist, kissing her passionately. She pulled away. Her face was flushed partly from the kiss, partly from the audience she knew was watching intently.

Trying to regain some decorum, Olivia pushed away from him saying urgently, "Ed, you gotta leave."

"Come on sweet heart." He grabbed her waist again.

"No Ed! I havta stay. You how the work can be," she pulled away from his embrace.

"Yeah, and I also know that you can stop when you need to."

"You never worked the SVU. We're running an unknown countdown for an unknown victim, and I can't just leave because you want a romantic lunch." She sat back down.

"Listen Olivia, I like you. I know it's only been a month, but I think I might even love you. You're funny, smart and incredibly sexy, but it's clear that you're more invested in your job than any relationship. The bottom line is I don't want to be second in line to a job. I know how stressful this job is, and how much harder on you as a woman, let alone the only woman on a team of men investigating sex crimes, crimes against the elderly and young. I admit I have no idea how hard it is for you everyday. But I want more than you seem to be willing to give. If you ever transfer to a regular division," he laughed a little. "Like there's any such thing. Anyway, I really wish you the best. Good luck Olivia Benson. Enjoy the flowers."