Disclaimer: Law and Order SVU and its characters are owned by Dick Wolf and Wolf Entertainment.
When Partners Collide
Chapter 2
Olivia sat in the passenger seat of the Sudan with Fin driving, traffic was building so they had their lights and sirens blaring. Behind them in another Sudan were Amanda and Kat. Olivia looked at the wing mirror and could see the difference in the two officers' faces - Amanda, who was driving, was concentrating matching Fin move for move as they weaved in and out of the New York City traffic. Kat's face showed a mixture of apprehension, uncertainty and excitement as the adrenalin was beginning to pump through her body.
Fin suddenly hit a bump in the road and Olivia was jolted back to the last time she was travelling to Red Hook Granary. In the back seat of a town car she had 'acquired', her hands cuffed behind her back to the door handle, and William Lewis - the only criminal she had ever truly feared - was driving and deliberately hitting every hole and dip in the road, knowing with her hands cuffed, every jarring motion the car made would hurt.
"Liv, Liv, are you with me?" Fin asked as Olivia jumped in her seat, unconsciously rubbing her wrists. "Sorry" Olivia replied bringing herself back to reality.
"Red Hook's coming up, there are two entrances, which one do you want - Clinton into Halleck or straight off Columbia?" Fin asked. Olivia was now completely focused on the task at hand. "Let's go Halleck Street and get back-up to hold on Columbia Street if needed." As she said this Olivia had picked up the radio to let Amanda, Kat and the following uniform back-up know the plan.
As they pulled into a clearing that was surrounded by rocks piled high, Olivia looked up at the sky and could see that it would soon be dusk. She got out the car and put on her bullet proof vest and NYPD wind breaker, Fin, Amanda and Kat did the same. Olivia instructed Amanda and Kat to go around the back of the granary while she and Fin went around the front.
"Whatever you do don't enter the granary unless you have cause to. We don't know exactly what we're looking for. If the grounds are clear then we'll send in the back-up and search the building quickly before nightfall, understood?"
Everyone nodded and headed off in their different directions, their Glocks raised.
Amanda and Kat headed towards the back of the Granary, with the water in front of them they went down a path between a derelict out building and the granary. They saw some truck tires laying up against the wall, as they went past them Kat looked to the left and, hidden from plain sight, saw three black SUVs. Kat signaled to Amanda who radioed to Olivia and Fin. "We may have company, and from the looks of the cars it could one of the alphabets."
Olivia and Fin travelled down the left side of the granary with the water and gas works opposite. As they were pausing to check an abandoned entrance Amanda's voice came through on the radio. They glanced at each other acknowledging that each one had heard the message and Olivia quietly radioed back to Amanda that they understood.
Amanda and Kat rounded the corner at the back of the granary where they found the owners of the black SUVs. There were two men, both in their late forties, wearing jeans, combat boots, navy polo shirts and baseball caps. Both had windbreakers on. Hearing a noise behind them, both men suddenly span around, whipping out their guns and aiming directly at Amanda and Kat.
"NYPD" Amanda called spotting the letters 'ATF' (The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) on their jackets, she signaled to Kat and both lowered their weapons. The two ATF officers did the same.
"What on earth is NYPD doing here?" asked one of the ATF officers whilst holstering his weapon.
"We had a tip off that we should check out the granary tonight, 7pm" Kat stated.
"You Narcotics?" asked the second officer.
"No, SVU" Amanda answered
"Why's the panty police getting tip offs about a firearms drop?" the second ATF officer scoffed.
Amanda answered, her annoyance at the insult barely disguised, "We don't know anything about firearms - we had a tip off about there potentially being some abducted girls held here."
Suddenly over the radio they heard "All clear inside" The first ATF officer answered "ok", then, turning to Amanda and Kat, "your boss here?". They both nodded, "let's go and sort this out" and the ATF officers escorted Amanda and Kat to the front of the building.
As they rounded the front of the building, they heard someone above shout "Clear" and suddenly ATF officers appeared from every entrance of the granary. When they neared Olivia and Fin, they saw them talking to two agents - one was 6ft 5 broad shoulders and around 30. The other was older - Amanda thought he was probably mid-fifties - with greying hair and, for a man his age, he clearly worked out. Suddenly they saw Olivia launch herself at the older man, landing a punch squarely on his face, before walking away. "Woah" Kat said as she, Amanda and the ATF officer briskly made their way over. They heard Fin say "You deserved that" and the older officer respond "You think I don't know that?"
"Why did you deserve that Stabler?" The ATF officer with Amanda and Kat asked.
Fin cut in "Either you tell him, or I will"
Elliot Stabler, whose right eye had now swollen shut explained "That was Detective Olivia Benson, she was my partner for over twelve years when I was on the job Sir." very much aware of the glare that Fin was giving him.
"Until you left with no explanation or goodbye nine years ago. And - by the way - it's Captain Benson now!" Fin growled at Elliott, still trying to control his own emotions at seeing his old colleague again.
"Liv's a captain?" Elliott said in surprise.
"If that's the case Stabler, I'd say you got off lightly - if you'd been my partner for twelve years and suddenly cleared off, I wouldn't have just taken a swing at you, I'd have taken out your knee caps as well!" Elliott's superior said. Then, addressing Fin, "When your Captain's nursed her hand, let's do some introductions."
As Elliott returned to his squad they thoroughly enjoyed winding him up, but Elliott was preoccupied keeping track of Olivia, shocked at seeing her again and desperate to make amends and to try and explain his disappearance over the last decade. "Stabler, are you with us?" One of the ATF agents asked.
Dun Dun
After hitting Elliott, Olivia walked back to their Sudan and lent her head against it, the metal feeling cool against her head. Her breathing became fast and shallow as she was trying to process everything - seeing Elliott, being back at Red Hook, having to pass the door Lewis had taken her through when they entered the granary - everything seemed to hit her at once sending the ground around her spinning out of control.
"I'm an agent of change Olivia" Lewis had taunted her and there was no doubt of it. As much as she'd tried to put Lewis behind her with all the counselling she received, he had changed her, and she struggled with that.
Olivia focused on the one positive thing that had happened to her since Lewis, the thing that always calmed her down - Noah. She began thinking of the first time she saw him smile; his first word; the first time he walked. Olivia felt herself calming down, turning around she saw Fin approaching, "You ok?" He asked. Olivia nodded, "I guess I'd better go over and explain. Can you stand back-up down?" Olivia said getting up and heading back to the ATF officers who were clearing up their equipment.
Walking back over to the ATF agents and to where Elliott was standing Olivia shot him a glance and asked, "You Ok?" Elliott shot her one of his smiles that under normal circumstances would have Olivia smiling back, "I'll live".
"Good" Olivia responded and then went to address the man who looked as if he was in charge. "Captain Olivia Benson, NYPD Manhattan Special Victims Unit", she said as she shook hands with the ATF agents. "This is my squad Sergeant Fin Tutuola, Detective Amanda Rollins and Officer Kat Tamin."
Returning the handshake, he answered "Rick Johnson, I'm the Agent in Charge. This is Jose Garcia" pointing to a Latino man in his late thirties who smiled at the detectives raising his hand to say Hi. "Connor Walsh" a man in his mid-forties who had accompanied Johnson earlier and was clearly unhappy that the NYPD showed up. "That's Okieriete Okocho" pointing to the agent who had accompanied Elliott. He was in his thirties and was tall and well built. He smiled at Olivia and said "Please, call me Oki"
Johnson turned and pointed towards Elliott saying "Finally we have Elliott Stabler...who I believe you know". "You could say that" Olivia responded glancing towards Elliott who she noticed was watching her very closely. Then, clocking the light, "Agent Johnson as it's almost dark and clearly nothing has come of our trip out here, how about we call it a night and reconvene tomorrow morning and share our intel." Glancing around Johnson agreed and both squads agreed to meet at 8am the next day.
When Olivia and the others reached their Sudans, Amanda finally spoke, "So that was the infamous Elliott Stabler?"
"Yep" Olivia responded. "You never told me he was cute; I mean his butt - clearly he works out" Amanda continued "I never saw it" Fin chipped in. "I am sorry who was Elliott Stabler?" Kat asked. "Elliott was my partner for over twelve years back in the day." Olivia said wistfully. "Till he buggered off without even a goodbye - he didn't even pack up his desk, the Captain had to do it." Fin said clearly still annoyed. "I think I would have punched him too" Kat said with righteous anger on Olivia's behalf. "Thank you" Olivia said smiling at Kat.
Dun Dun
That night Olivia tossed and turned, she dreamt that she saw Elliott in the distance, and she kept calling him, finally when he turned around it was not Elliott but Lewis. This led straight into another dream, where she kept hearing Elliott calling her to help him and she was running throughout the granary looking for him with no avail. Olivia woke up with a start and went to make a cup of coffee, she checked on Noah - just watching him sleep calmed her down. Looking at the time she saw that her alarm would go off in an hour. So, after draining her cup, Olivia went to get ready for work.
Dun Dun
When Elliott got back home that night, he finally managed to get some ice on his eye and relieve some of the pain. But Elliott liked the pain. It felt like a good punishment of all the hurt he had caused. The hurt he had caused his family while he was on the job and in the years since. But also, the hurt he had clearly caused Olivia. The anger hurt and betrayal he had seen on her face when she hit him. He thought leaving would be the best thing for her. But seeing the way she reacted, he'd clearly left a deep wound. But she's now a Captain, she's benefitted from my leaving Elliott tried to reason with himself. He thought back to seeing the way she introduced the squad and the suggestion to reconvene in the morning. It was confident and authoritative and suited her summarized Elliott. Putting the ice down Elliott took a shower in an attempt to wash off the negative thoughts he was having, but also the apprehension of having to see Olivia again tomorrow. Even after the shower Elliott did not manage much sleep.
Dun Dun
Hearing a knock at the door Noah ran to open it, knowing his uncle Fin was coming to take Olivia to work "Morning Uncle Fin, come look at my dance moves." Noah bounded into the living room followed by Fin holding two cups of coffee and pastries, "Ok little dude show me what you got!" "Give me a beat Uncle Fin" - Fin started beat boxing and Noah started a short routine of a mixture of ballet and hip hop ending with a back flip. "Oh yeah little man, put it here" Fin said holding his hand up for Noah to give him a high five, which Noah did beaming. Olivia entered the room and said, "He's quite the dancer, isn't he?" "Hell yeah" Fin answered high fiving Noah again. "Right Noah give me a kiss and I will speak to you later to hear all about your day. Please be good for Lucy?!" Olivia gave Noah a hug as she spoke and then picked up her bag, coffee and pastries from Fin. As she and Fin left, they both said goodbye to Lucy and closed the door to the apartment.
Dun Dun
When Fin and Olivia pulled into Red Hook, they clocked the ATF agents were already there. Olivia saw Elliott drinking coffee and joking with his colleagues, the bruise around his eye standing out in his facial features. It brought back memories for Olivia of when they use to drink coffee and joke together. Olivia and Fin got out the car and walked over to the agents as Amanda and Kat pulled up, each with a coffee cup.
Special Agent Johnson, good to see you again, Olivia said as she extended her hand. "Captain Benson, please call me Rick "Agent Johnson said. "Olivia" responded Olivia. Each of the agents and detectives said good morning to each other, though Connor Walsh was still scowling. After an awkward exchange between Olivia and Elliott it was down to business.
Olivia begun, knowing what she was about to say was going to cause a reaction from Elliott. "I was dropping my son off to school..." "You have a son?" Elliott jumped in. Olivia looked at Elliott to see shock but also joy on his face. This reminded Olivia of a conversation they had when she had told him she'd been turned down from an adoption agency for not being 'mum material'. Elliott had told her straight away with no hesitation that they were wrong. "Yes, I do, his name is Noah and he's nearly eight years old." Olivia smiled at Elliott. Her first smile at him since they met again. Elliott felt his heartbeat speed up as he once again saw that smile which he had memorized every detail of and had only seen in his dreams over the last decade.
Olivia went on to explain about receiving the envelope with the photos in and the letter telling her to be at Red Hook at 7pm she finished with saying "the only other potential lead we have is a man in a trilby hat."
At the mention of a man in a trilby hat all the ATF agents suddenly looked up. "That's interesting" Johnson said "we've been tracking a man in a trilby hat for bringing arms as well as other contraband into the US from Europe. We had intel that they were going to be at Red Hook at 7pm. But we think they got wind that we were onto them and switched. Let me show you something."
Johnson led Olivia and her squad inside the granary and over to the stairs, Olivia felt her skin crawl as they walked through the same entrance Lewis had taken her, she knew Johnson was going to take her to the room where Lewis had kept her and another little girl called Amelia, who Lewis had used as bait to get to Olivia.
On the way up the stairs Olivia clocked that in the once empty door frame now stood a metal door. When they arrived upstairs the room was quite different from how Olivia remembered it. "This has changed a little"Amanda said as she entered the room. "A little? It's almost unrecognizable" Fin replied.
"You've been here before?" asked Oki, the ATF agent. "Yeah we had a case out here six years or so back." Fin responded. "What's changed?" asked Garcia.
Olivia looked around took a deep breath and began. "There was no door on the frame as we came up the stairs, and the windows were not covered up with metal but bare. There was no door over there" pointing to a room off of the main one "and this was more empty - just a green mattress and a table". Looking around the room now filled with metal cabinets, a mini kitchenette, and a sofa in the corner with table and chairs.
Walking through to the other room Olivia saw the green mattress along with a couple of other mattresses and blankets. Then her eyes fell on a table - the one she herself had been tied to.
"It looks like they left in a hurry" Elliott said as he came in the room behind Olivia. The other detectives and agents also came into the room. Amanda and Fins eyes darting between the table and Olivia.
"We're going to get forensics to go over the place later." Olivia nodded "Then your team should know that they will potentially find the blood of William Lewis on the table and also mine.
"Yours?" said Elliott, suddenly feel his temper rising at the thought of someone hurting Olivia". Why...What happened...When?" Elliott managed to spit out still reeling at what Olivia just said. "Stabler, not now man" Fin cautioned . Elliott shut his mouth but was adamant he was going to speak to Fin later.
Johnson nodded and said "Ok, thanks for letting us know" clocking how hard it was for Olivia to admit something and the tension building within the room. He continued. "Bearing in mind your prior experience and the fact you're getting personal tips off; how do you fancy working the case jointly?"
"That seems sensible" Olivia responded. "Would you feel happy working with Stabler?" Johnson asked. "Absolutely" Olivia answered without taking a moment to pause. Johnson nodded "Ok Stabler, Oki you're going to work alongside SVU on this case, keep me in the loop." Turning to Olivia, Johnson added "I'll get forensics to report straight to you and let me know if you need back-up and we'll be there". Olivia thanked Johnson and he, Garcia and Walsh left.
Olivia addressed her squad along with Elliott and Oki, "Shall we return to the squad room and evaluate where we are and our next steps?" As she spoke her phone rang informing her of a possible homicide which had a sexual element. Olivia sent Amanda and Kat to the scene.
Dun Dun
Arriving at the scene they found the remains of a young girl who had been stripped and set alight. "Has she been raped?" asked Kat to Melinda Warner the ME, "You'll need to wait until I get her on my autopsy table for confirmation. But from what I can see it's highly likely." Warner responded. The body was being transferred to the bag and started to be zipped up when Amanda stopped and looked at what remained of the girl's face. Grabbing her cell, she called Olivia "Liv can you send me a picture of the girl who dropped off the envelope for you?" Olivia immediately sent over the picture while staying on the line to Amanda. "Is it her?" Olivia asked. Amanda looked at the photo and showed it to Kat who nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, it's her" Amanda said.
Dun Dun