And now the purple dusk of twilight time

Steals across the meadows of my heart

High up in the sky, the little stars climb

Always reminding me that we're apart...

"So that's her," Munch said, handing Olivia the worn badge. She touched it gently. It was burned at the corners and a smudged "X" was slashed across the back.

"Monica," Olivia said, more to herself. The picture was blurred from the sand beneath the plastic laminate, but the eyes were so clear. They were Olivia's eyes.

"Shame about them," Munch said, shaking his head. He perched on the corner of the desk, facing her. "I knew one of their co-workers really well. They all just dropped off the face of the earth."

"Is she dead?" Olivia asked, tears in her eyes.

"Legally, yes. They found the badge in the desert a week after everyone involved in that FBI department disappeared. One of my buddies from Baltimore was able to get it for me...with you as a next of kin, you know? But I'll tell you a secret..."

He leaned forward and whispered in OIivia's ear.

"...knowing Fox Mulder...I think they're all alive somewhere."

Munch left Olivia sitting in the office alone in the dim light of the desk lamps. She'd met Monica Reyes briefly due to pure happenstance. Monica's partner was Elliot's old partner.

"I was a real young buck at the time," Elliot remembered. "Doggett was serious as stone."

"Kind of like you are now," smiled Olivia. They were sitting on her stoop, just watching the cars go past.

"Nah. He was just different. I saw him after his son was killed and the guy acted like he didn't know me at all. That's why I was shocked when he came up to me last week. What was his partner like?"

Olivia searched the sky for the right word. It came to her in a bolt.

"Spooky."

It had taken a mountain of detective work to track Monica down. One of Olivia's old relatives from Texas blurted out the long-held family secret. They moved to Texas for a year when Olivia was four. One day, her mother disappeared, leaving little Olivia alone with her grandparents in Fort Worth. It wasn't a painful separation because the elder Bensons had a pool, money and big hearts. She suspected they didn't even know why their daughter disappeared for six months, but evidentally the news got out. An affair with a married man produced Olivia's sister, who was adopted by a semi-affluent Mexican family.

Beside her mother's dalliance, what bothered Olivia the most was that she always wanted an extra ally in the immediate family. She always wanted a little sister or brother. Now, after all these years of denial, she finally had one. It was just too late.

"Monica Reyes," boomed a voice behind her. Elliot emerged out of the darkness in the shadowy squad room and manifested seemingly out of midair right in front of Olivia.

"She was my sister," Olivia mumbled. Elliot crashed into his chair, shaking his head.

"I talked to Munch about it yesterday and tried to call John. I even called Kathy, who used to be pretty tight with John's wife. No one's seen or heard of him since 2002. Not so much as a whisper in church," he said. Olivia noticed he was playing with a pencil, one of Elliot's nervous quirks.

"She loved John. I could tell just in the short time we were with them," she smiled. Elliot had been sick on the way back from an interview upstate. They stopped just off the highway to get some Gatorade and ginger ale and something to help him sleep. That's when they all ran into each other. This was in April of 2002. Both John and Monica had very little time left.

Monica seemed distant and battered. Olivia could remember her pale skin and bruised arms. If she had only known then...

"Munch's sure she'll turn up somewhere," Elliot said, breaking Olivia's train of thought. She just shook her head sadly and held the ID badge close to her heart. "He seems to think the two of them got wrapped up in something pretty heavy and went underground."

"I wish I could help her," Olivia sighed. "I've prayed for her all day."

"You could've used a sister," he smiled. That lopsided, infrequent smile sent a sad pang through Olivia's heart. She had one thing in common with Monica: They loved the men they worked with.

XXX

They walked through Central Park, staring at the moonlit sky. "You've been so quiet," Elliot said softly, putting a hand on her arm.

"I don't know. It's been a rough month, coming back from California, you've changed, I find out about Monica."

"Yeah," Elliot said. Dani had turned into one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Olivia didn't act jealous or mad...just odd and quiet, as she'd been at dinner. Her dark eyes were dull in the half-light of the streetlamps.

They sat down in the silence. A soft wind ruffled the treetops and tousled Olivia's hair. Elliot reached over and swept her bangs out of her eyes. She jumped slightly at his contact.

"Sorry," they both mumbled, staring at the ground in perfect sync.

"Munch said Monica was supposed to have psychic powers," Olivia finally said. Elliot turned to look at her, to see if it was a joke. It wasn't. "I don't have them, if you're wondering."

"I wasn't."

Olivia moved closer to him and stared at the sky. It was a small comfort to think Monica might be under the same sky, looking at the same stars and praying for a sister she never knew.

"Would John take good care of her?" Olivia asked. Elliot rubbed his upper lip with the back of his hand. A new nervous habit.

"From what I gather, they were very much in love with each other. Kathy said John's ex was sure something had or was going to happen right before they dropped out of sight. John could be a bastard, but he was loyal sonofabitch," Elliot said, wincing at his lack of loyalty to Olivia.

She reached over and tangled her fingers in his. It was a revelation to both of them.

"I wanted to talk to you tonight, Olivia. I wanted you to know - "

He took a deep breath.

"- how much I missed you. I kept expecting you to walk through the door. Dani was a mistake. I don't love her."

Elliot's eyes burned into Olivia's. She felt herself turn red as a hotness coursed through her body, starting at the fingertips he touched and ending at her toes.

"We'll find your sister," he whispered. Another breeze blew around them, and the moon was swept behind a cloud.

"Elliot," Olivia croaked, finally allowing the tears to run down her face. It was the first time in weeks she allowed herself to cry. Elliot responded by taking her face in his hands and wiping the tears away with his thumbs. "I missed you, too."

He leaned in closer and began to kiss her tear-stained face softly. Olivia felt his hands shaking against her jaw. She covered one of his hands with hers and moved toward him to encourage the kissing. It was intoxicating and soothing just to surrender to his lips on her cheeks, forehead and eyelids.

Their lips finally touched. What began as another soft kiss slowly deepend. Just when Olivia thought she'd float up to the starry heavens, Elliot pulled away slightly and settled his lips on her forehead.

"We'll find her," he said again. They both walked away arm in arm down the leafy path as the shooting stars and planets and planes lit up the heavens. Olivia's heart felt like it would burst.

You wander down the lane and far away

Leaving me a song that will not die

Love is now the stardust of yesterday

The music of the years gone by.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: This one takes some explaination. It stands independent of the last story. Monica is Monica Reyes from "X Files". She and her partner, John Doggett, were left in the desert after Mulder and Scully escaped aliens and government conspiracy officers. It is believed they had to go on the run. Monica had to struggle with knowing very little about her past, other than her adoption. The audience was led to believe there was something borderline evil about her past, though it was never made clear exactly what it was. Anyways, since we're supposed to find out some "big" secrets of Olivia's past next season...and Mariska Hargitay and Annabeth Gish share a vague passing resemblance, here goes.