A/N: Thanks for all the love on this!

For WriterKC, no it's not wrong to be glad El is single! I mean he needs to be if he's going to (eventually) get his princess ;)


"And you'll see over there, all that ornate detailing, that comes from the Beaux Arts style from the Gilded Age," Munch said pointing out yet another gaudy something or other in another room on one of the upper floors of the precinct building.

Olivia hadn't been paying much attention for the last 20 minutes. Fin was just planning on showing her the bathrooms and the break room, and the little gym downstairs where Stabler went to punch his anger out on the punching bag. But Munch took it as an opportunity to show Olivia all the leftover relics of the bygone years, and every anti-industrialist conspiracy theory he could spout along the way.

One thing did catch Olivia's eye though, a fancy staircase. They seemed to be standing in what was once maybe a small ballroom, and the staircase leading up to a little alcove made her curious.

"What's up there?" Olivia asked, pointing to the marble steps.

"Where?" Munch asked, following her finger. "Up there? Oh nothing. Absolutely nothing interesting up in the West Wing. Old case files. Bunch of junk."

"So that's the West Wing," Olivia said.

"Way to go, dumbass," Fun muttered.

"Why is Stabler so squirly about it?" Olivia asked. "What's he hiding up there?"

"Hiding?" Fin said. "He's not hiding anything."

"If he didn't have anything to hide it wouldn't be forbidden," Olivia said.

Olivia started walking towards the stairs when Fin and Munch stepped in front of her.

"Maybe you want to see something else?" Munch asked. "I think there are some tapestries in one of the back rooms."

"Maybe later," Olivia said, trying to move around them, but not having much success.

"Or we could take you out to the back garden," Fin said. "It's pretty back there. Has a fountain. Amanda likes it. Or we could show you the library."

"This building has a library?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah," Munch said. "Tons of old books. Lots of the classics. Most of them haven't been touched in years. We're not big readers around here."

"My mother was an English professor," Olivia said. "She, uh, she raised me on the classics."

"Well, we've got mountains of books for you," Munch said. "More than you'd ever even be able to read in a lifetime."

The two men started walking off in the opposite direction and Olivia started to follow. It was hard for her to turn down a good book, much less a full, semi-secret library. But as she looked over her shoulder and up the stairs again, something in her gut said she had to see what was up there. She kept a few paces behind Fin and Munch until they rounded the corner, then sped up the stairs and into the alcove.

The alcove looked like a balcony of sorts, but lined with shelves. The back wall had been turned into an evidence board. There were photos, pushpins, red and yellow string connecting different pieces of evidence. There was also a desk with a mountain of open case files.

She stepped closer to the evidence board to try to make sense of what she's seeing.

There's a picture of Lieutenant Stabler at the middle of the board. He's clean shaven and has hair, which is strange to see. More importantly, he doesn't have the massive scar across his face here.

There's a picture of another man Olivia vaguely recognizes, but she can't figure out why. He's got shaggy-ish brown hair and a huge nose, and a shit eating grin on his face.

She doesn't have time to comprehend how she knows that man because a photo of the face of someone else she definitely recognizes pinned to the top of the wall.

William Lewis.

There's a yellow line connecting Stabler's picture and Lewis'. But how would they even know each other? What could possibly be the connection between Stabler and Lewis?

Olivia stepped forward to unpin the picture of Lewis from the wall, to see if anything was written on the back, when something seized her hand. In her haste to investigate, she'd missed the large shadow looming over her.

"I thought I told you not to come up here?" Stabler growled, spinning Olivia around before releasing her wrist.

"I'm sorry," Olivia said, stumbling backward into the desk.

"This area is private," Stabler said, his voice still menacing. "It's mine."

"I didn't mean to cause any harm," Olivia said. "But that man in the top corner. He was my last perp before I got transferred here. Why is he on this wall? How do you know him?"

"That's not your business," Stabler said. "How do you know him?"

"We think he murdered a woman in Central Park," Olivia said. "Burned her, tortured her, raped her."

Stabler's face twisted in pain.

"But we didn't have enough to prove it yet," Olivia said. "Before I left. Maybe whatever it is you're working on here, maybe it's connected. Maybe it can put him away for good."

Olivia took another step towards the evidence wall and reached for the photo again.

"Stop," Stabler yelled, pulling her back by the arm once again. "Do you know what you could have done if you moved things around? Wrecked five years of work. My life, my career."

"What are you even talking about?" Olivia asked. "How can I help you if you don't tell me what the hell is going on?"

"I don't need your help," Stabler roared. "I don't need a partner. I didn't ask for you to come here. I don't even want you here. Just get out. Get the hell out!"

Olivia's blood was boiling. She wanted to fight back, she wanted to push. She never backed down from a fight, but staring into this man's face, his head red as a tomato, which would have been comical if she wasn't so overemotional to begin with. She felt like the wanted to cry, but also slap Stabler. And she also wanted to kiss that look right off his face.

Whoa. Where did that come from?

That thought scared Olivia more than his yelling and sent her into a panic.

"You know what, forget 1PPs orders," Olivia said. "If my choices are to stay here with you, and get treated like trash for offering to help you, or lose my shield, then McGrath can have it. I'm not staying here another minute."

And with that, Olivia stormed out of the West Wing, down several flights of stairs and burst into the squad room.

"Olivia, what's wrong?" Fin asked. "Where are you going?"

"It's been nice getting to know all of you," she said. "But I'm afraid I'm done here. Thank you for being so kind to me these last few days."

Olivia grabbed her jacket and cell phone from where they'd been sitting on a table earlier during lunch and she stormed out of the front door of the precinct, hoping she'd never have to return again.