I'm so excited to bring y'all another chapter. Thank you to everyone who followed or favorited the story, and especially to those who reviewed. A guest reviewer suggested I add the story to AO3 (Archive of Our Own?) because of the adverts, which I didn't notice until I used the desktop - I will definitely look into it! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

PS: You'll come across the term BBA, which means Born Before Arrival.

Olivia was reviewing emails at her desk when Amanda knocked and entered. "Fin and Kat talked to Warner at the crime scene," she said, clasping her fingers together. "The victim was pregnant with twins, but only one infant body was recovered. There's no way to know if the other twin is dead or alive." Olivia slid her black framed glasses off her face and asked if Amanda found anything in VICAP. Amanda said, "I checked VICAP. There's nothing on this particular MO." Olivia took a deep breath and said, "I think this is going to be one of those cases. But nothing we haven't done before, right?" Amanda agreed and sat down. Olivia went on to praise her on obtaining a copy of the surveillance expeditiously. She said, "When Fin and Kat get here, we'll connect with TARU. Maybe they can clean the video up enough for an image we can use to canvas."

"Or," Amanda began, "I can go ahead. Save some time?"

"Let's just cross that bridge when we get to it," Olivia returned.

"I mean, it's really no big deal, Liv. Even with Kat we're a little short."

"Every one of my detectives' safety is a big deal. Nobody goes out without somebody watching their six," she said firmly. "Not if I can help it." Amanda turned her eye to the corner of the ceiling, annoyed. Olivia suggested that if she was bored, then she could finish up some reports Olivia expected to receive from her a week ago. "I know you've been busy with the girls, but we've had a little bit of wiggle room recently. Before this case really gets hot, my advice is to wrap that up as soon as possible. I need 'em before the fundraiser," Olivia advised.

"Yes, Captain," Amanda said, rising from her chair and heading for the door. Before exiting, she saw Fin and Kat returning into the squad room. She alerted Olivia, and they all convened in front of the squad room's large monitor. Fin asked Amanda to pull up the video and some crime scene photos CSU had forwarded. Amanda started manipulating an iPad, and the monitor lit up. Photos of the Henry Hudson Bridge, Spuyten Duyvil Creek, the pebbly shore, the woman's body, and the red cooler among other things were assorted across the screen. As they discussed certain photos, Fin and Kat filling in the currently-known crime scene facts, Amanda alternately expanded the photos. Olivia petted her chin as she consumed the information, marrying it to her twenty-two years of SVU experience to quickly formulate and eliminate various theories as they went along.

Then Olivia ran it down. "So, we've got a male suspect, unidentifiable as of yet, dumping the body of an unidentifiable woman in her early twenties. And the woman was pregnant with twins, one of which is missing," she restated.

"Yes," Kat locked in. Fin and Amanda nodded.

"I'm gonna put up the video again," Amanda said, swiping her finger across the iPad screen in short strides. Then the video played, without audio. In the dark of night, near the end of the sparsely lit bridge, a man pulled a woman backward to the rail. His arms were under her arms. She was barefoot, and her heels dragged the concrete. A street light flickered behind him, so his face was heavily shadowed. He forced the the dead weight of her torso over the rail, then he flipped her legs over as well. When she disappeared over the side, he turned in the direction of the camera, looked left and right, then ran to an off-camera vehicle.

"Look at this guy," Amanda said. "He doesn't even know this bridge has cameras."

"And he looks anxious to me," Kat added. "Crime of passion?"

"I'd be anxious too if I just killed a pregnant woman," Fin countered.

Amanda pointed out that he looked around only after dumping the body. "Either he's the dumbest murderer out there, or he's scared himself," Amanda posited. Kat followed with the position that he could just be ashamed. "That could be his wife, and his baby dead in the cooler," Kat said. Olivia's eyebrows raised. She said, "That could explain the umbilical cord being cut. He could be in possession of the baby. Either way, if that baby's alive, it'll need medical attention."

"That's hoping he cares about the baby," Amanda said. Fin agreed, adding that would be high hopes for a man who dumped the mother's body with the other baby inside. "He would have to have medical knowledge to recognize the baby's incomplete breach position if he knew there was a second baby and decided it wasn't worth the trouble of saving," Olivia reasoned. Inquisitively, Kat said, "So... a doctor?"

"Not another quacked out doctor," Fin moaned.

"Well, one way or another, we've got to get more information to see how this is gonna shake out," Olivia concluded. "Fin, Kat - I need you to see if TARU can get us a clear image of the suspect's face," she delegated. Fin checked his watch. "Amanda, you and I can catch up with Carisi. We need to put all NYC hospitals on notice for a BBA newborn. Regarding the mother, we also need the DA behind us on getting all the mother's patient records when we identify her. We can't afford a hang-up with any extra protective medical institutions. We don't have the time to spare."

With that, their huddle broke. Fin pulled Olivia to the side to tell her about what happened when he and Kat were leaving the crime scene. "Stabler's supposed to be on his way here," he told her. She looked disturbed, and her head bounced back slightly. Her lips parted, but for a couple breaths no words formed. "Now?" she asked. "He said he thinks he can help with this case, which would help them with theirs. If that's true for this case, it'll probably be true for cases to come," Fin stated as an FYI.

"Thanks," she replied. "We're still SVU. Nothing changes except what has to."

"You good?"

"I'm fine..."

Fin turned and joined Kat to head for the elevator. When the elevator pinged and the doors slid open, there was Elliot standing in the center of it. "Detective Stabler," Kat greeted, stepping onto the elevator. "Officer Tamin," he greeted in turn. He greeted Fin similarly as they switched positions, with Fin taking his place in the elevator and Elliot stepping off. On a whim, Fin reached out and clutched Elliot's shoulder, using a foot to block the elevator door. "I don't know what your deal is gonna be, Stabler. But when you come into this squad room, make sure you're coming correct," he whispered with a singe. "You know you owe."

His aging brown eyes retained the fierceness he used more in Narcotics. His gaze locked onto Elliot's oceanic blues like a pitbull. He never had to say too much to demonstrate his capacity for hostility, his capacity for violence. Perps' only saving grace was the fact that Fin didn't have the same luxuries - to outbursts, to brutality, to rule-bending - as his white colleagues. He faced a wrongful death lawsuit for doing what he had to do to save a young boy's life. A young boy who had called him.

When he'd reflected on this, it did occur to him that despite six incidents, Stabler never faced a lawsuit for a shooting. He's always understood the boundaries are different for him. He crossed it this time, and the City paid out. Because after twenty years on the job - this specific job - sometimes you'll do anything so you don't have to see the mutilated body of a child. On cases involving children, he remembered the work of Eugene Hoff, or Abraham as he'd called himself. He never failed to flash back to that.

"We got a good thing here," Fin warned.

"I know you do," Elliot replied, returning the hard stare but understanding the reasons. Fin released him and let the elevator close. Elliot stood there, eyes fixed on the metal. His reflection in the metal stared back, a shadow challenging him to a standoff. He bowed away and approached the squad room.

Olivia and Amanda were in deep discussion by the monitor when Elliot cleared his throat. She saw him finally. She couldn't feel her head. It was like a dream. Was he really there? Just standing there like he hadn't fallen off the face of New York? Standing there like he could've done at any point before now? In his charcoal overcoat, close-fitting suit, and scarf? Just... standing there. How could he? How dare he?

"Hi," Amanda offered. "Can I help you?"

The way he and Olivia couldn't look elsewhere but at each other... Amanda noticed. Amanda said to Olivia with more discretion, "Liv, do you know him?" Olivia swallowed. She looked him up and down. She wanted to touch him, or for him to touch her, because surely she wasn't awake. At first, his feet were planted in the way he always used to stand. Like when they were being scolded by Captain Cragen. One leg extended, then the other, and he was walking over to them cautiously. Olivia responded, without taking her eyes off him, still in disbelief. "This is my old partner," she said, almost choking. "Of twelve years. When I transferred into Special Victims."

After a lifetime, he was within arm's reach of her, with a tender smirk. "You look good, Liv," he said with a gentleness and familiarity nobody else could imitate. "I should," she said to keep from looking like a fool. "I take care of myself. So... OC, huh?" He gave the affirmative, raising his chin just a bit. It was pride. It was the seeking of approval. Look at him. After all that happened and all the tribulations in his work and personal life, he was back. A detective. He was ready to work again.

Snapping out of her trance, Olivia introduced Amanda as Detective Rollins. The two shared a quick smile in lieu of a handshake. Covid. Olivia needed to give the impression that she was not as affected as she was, as affected as Fin apparently expected her to be or as affected as any reasonable person should be. It wasn't acceptable to be reasonable, though, as a woman on the force and in a leadership position. It was only acceptable to be fine. "What have you brought for me," she asked him, pushing the importance of business-as-usual.

"I don't have a squad yet," he said. "So I'm a little here at your disposal while I work on a parallel investigation.

"Good then," she said, barely letting him finish. "Sounds like you won't be in the way. We could use an extra set of hands, too." She forced an arrogant, closed-lipped grin. Elliot stepped in a little closer and said, "I was actually thinking I'd work in a capacity a little more equal to you, instead of grunt work." He returned the grin.

"You call it grunt work. I call it getting the job done. If you want to collaborate with SVU, you need to prove you're not here to ride the coattails of our investigation. All glory no guts doesn't work here," she declared. She was unwavering. Her doubt was overridden by confidence and resentment. She remembered how she, once his rookie partner, had progressed to command the Special Victims Unit. And she remembered how he, the man who once told her "for better or worse," had abandoned his post, his partner, and more importantly, the victims.

Amanda was stunned and intrigued. She'd heard about their partnership - not from Olivia but from other cops. A legendary duo respected by some and begrudged by others. They were supposedly power partners, a play on the term power couple, who cared for nothing but justice for the victims. No perps, not even fellow cops, were safe when caught in their sights. Partnerships weren't like theirs in, quote-unquote, regular units. It got crazy in the gray. Fuzzy. There were rumors. There were rumors about the nature of their relationship. There were rumors about their psychological state. How screwed up of a childhood and background would one have to have had to make sense of a twelve-year, or twelve-year plus for some, tenure in the 2-years-and-get-out squad?

"If you two need to talk for a minute," Amanda started, "I can watch the donut holes."

"We don't need to talk," Olivia responded, assertively. She gave Amanda a face meant to communicate that there was nothing to be concerned about. There was a forced pleasantness about it.

"I would like to talk," Elliot disagreed. "I think I would like to talk. So where can we do that?" He made his request out to be as strong as a demand, like he was speaking to a skeptical witness or suspect. Agitated at his insistence, Olivia gestured with an open arm to her office and let it audibly drop back to her side against her black blazer when he started for the door. She stopped at the other side of the closed door, finding him across the room.

"Twelve years, Elliot," she fumed. "I ga-"

"What do you want me to say?" he pleaded, also annoyed.

"I gave you twelve years, Elliot," she restarted, trying to keep her voice down. "Was I so undeserving? Of at least one word?"

"Liv, what do you want me to say? What can I say," he said, his voice beginning to rise, a palm out seeking retribution.

"Anything! Say anything. Now. Then. Any time at all," she broke out. Her hands went to her hair, combing through it in frustration. She began to pace slowly.

Elliot moved around in his own area, hands balled into fists instead of open and repentant. "You wouldn't understand," he said, reeling his own frustration back in while defending himself.

"I wouldn't understand?" she scoffed, laughing at the incredulousness of it all. "So I can understand the rage, the family issues that always interfered with work-"

"Now, let's not pull punches," he insisted, with apprehension.

"The self-righteousness, the overbearing-"

"Neither of us was perfect," he warned.

"The- the betrayal," she said, the word barely escaping.

"Betrayal?" he parroted. His face twisted. "I have never-"

"Oh multiple times," she hissed. "I just always forgave you. I never held it against you. And then- and then you disappear on me, and you don't answer my calls."

"It was the job!" he shouted. He was almost as desperate as when he needed his mother to testify to being sick. It definitely hurt as much.

"Was I the job, El?" she shot back. She stood still now, and her eyes were wet and stinging. "I called you, Elliot."

"I'm sorry," he said, disgusted with the way things turned out. "That's it. I'm just sorry. I can't change that. I can't change anything, Liv."

"What were you so afraid of?" she asked, repairing her own dishevelment and folding her arms. "What stopped you? You've had all the time in the world."

He felt convicted and on the spot. "I've had to put my family first," he sighed. "I had to do right by my family. What happened with Jenna- that made it easier to see. We needed a clean break from SVU. Clean. It wasn't easy." His arms dangled now as he stood guilty before her court. "I chose my family," he said. "Over SVU. Over the vileness, and yes, even over the victims. But not over you... In spite of you. Did you expect me to see your face, to hear your voice, and still walk away? From you?"

"Yeah, well," she began, herding the mussed sections of her hair back into their appropriate positions. "That certainly makes sense," she said, sarcastically. Elliot felt ashamed. Olivia went over to her desk and retrieved her gun from a drawer. She placed it onto the desk. She then worked at something fixed to the bottom of the pistol's handle. She was able to pull it free. She walked it over to Elliot, and he received it into his hand. It was the badge pendant he got when he retired. He'd sent it to her with a note:

Semper Fi

- El

It had his old badge number on it. 6313. Olivia'd taken his old life and returned it into the palm of his hand. He'd wanted her to keep it. It pained him. "That's not necessary," he mustered. She stopped in the doorway of the office. "I figured you wouldn't understand," she replied, before walking out.

He followed.

I hope you'll review and tell me what you think. Did you notice how with Elliot I'm kind of playing with the theme of shadows and past vs. present versions of himself and his life? And what do you think about the case? I've already got in mind how this is going to be a great SVU/OC case. Can't wait to share it with y'all. This won't be the last of Bensler conflict, either. It's not going to be easy for him to regain her trust. He really did her dirty for the last time :) I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. I'll be working on the next.