"You did what?" Olivia questioned in disbelief. She came around her desk and went to the door. "Carisi. Now." She stepped aside as the detective trudged in with his head down and shut the door. "You had one job. One. To execute a search warrant. How could you possibly fuck that up?"

"Lieutenant, I thought since he was former NYPD-" Amanda began.

"I don't care if he's former President." Olivia said loudly. "We never leave evidence or potential evidence behind for any reason. We bring it in and we test it ourselves. Did it ever occur to you that we could have just used our own internet service for the computer?" She release a round of harsh hacking coughs into her elbow. "Hold on." She turned her back and coughed so hard it sounded like she might pop a lung.

"You okay, Liv?" Amanda asked.

"Noah brought a cold home from one of his nursery groups." Olivia answered. She took a sip of water from the bottle on her desk. "I'm fine. You're not." She turned to Carisi. "What do you have to say?"

Carisi bemoaned quietly. "I knew I didn't do right, Lieutenant, but ya know, I guess I just caught up. We were just so impressed by this guy. All the stories-"

"I don't care." Olivia stated. She stared them down from behind her desk. "You two screwed up. And if TARU so much as theorizes something was disappeared off that computer, it will be your asses on the line. And whatever respect and care I have for you both will not save you."

Amanda and Carisi exchanged a look. "Sorry." They muttered together.

Olivia sighed and sat down. "The only reason I'm not hanging you out on a limb with One PP is because I know this guy. It's been a very, very long time since we've spoken but he's legit. He wouldn't screw with us or jam us up."

"He was really up front with us, had all the files ready," Amanda said quickly, "hell, he even gave us the original copies of his paperwork."

"You two had better be thanking whatever gods you believe in." Olivia urged firmly.

"We never would have done it if it had been anyone else." Carisi assured her.

"You better never do it again." Olivia said dangerously. "Now go."

They both went to the door.

"Hey, Lieutenant," Carisi said, pulling Amanda back by her sleeve, "did you really go undercover with the Fibbies?"

"And at Sealview?" Amanda added.

Fin glanced up from his desk.

Olivia stared at them for a moment and sighed. "A long, long time ago. Another time, another place."

"What was it like?" Amanda asked.

Olivia looked away. "I'd rather not talk about it." Her desk line rang. "Benson, SVU." She sighed and shoved a hand through her hair. "Okay." She hung up. "Victim number 7."

"You nervous?" Dickie asked, hoisting the laptop bag up his shoulder. "Going back?"

"Not really." Elliot said nonchalantly. "I guess I'm nervous about seeing her."

"I can't believe you just left without talking to her." Dickie remarked. "I mean, no judgement, I get you were going through it, but she was your partner for so long. I can't really even remember a time before Olivia was your partner."

"You could have stayed in touch." Elliot suggested. He locked the car. "Let's go. They're probably waiting for this before their next move."

Down the block the door to the station house flew open and they watched as the two detectives from the day before hurried out.

"Rollins and Carisi, right?" Elliot greeted. "Computer."

"Hey, thanks, that's cool, uh, take it on up into the squad room, Fin'll help ya out." Amanda said quickly. "We gotta go, got another victim. It's actually the second one today."

"Palmer worked last night." Elliot informed them.

"Maybe you could hang around, we could talk to you for a few, about Palmer?" Amanda requested.

"Sure." Elliot agreed. He watched them get into their squad car and peel off. "God, I don't miss those days. Frustration mounting, more victims, a suspect still acting."

They turned to head inside but Elliot froze.

"Dad?" Dickie questioned.

Olivia with her face buried in a tissue, tucked into her coat, stepped outside onto the sidewalk, cellphone to her ear. "Make sure he's taking his medicine, whatever this is it's nasty. I can feel my throat growing fur and claws." She lifted her key-fob and unlocked her personal vehicle. "I'm gonna run to the pharmacy and pick up some Robitussin or something." She slid in the driver seat and was gone.

"She looks good." Dickie observed. "Age has definitely been friendly to Olivia Benson."

Elliot smacked him upside the head. "Hey, that's not cool."

"Admit it, dad," Dickie teased, "bet you're missing it now."

They went inside, waited through security, and got escorted upstairs.

Fin looked up from his paperwork and tssked. "Man, what are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too." Elliot greeted.

"They still have messenger services." Fin remarked in annoyance. "Helps with those moments when you're the most unwelcome person in a room."

"Hey, uncalled for." Elliot insisted. "Kiss my ass."

"There's enough of it." Fin retorted. "Is that the computer?"

"Yeah." Elliot said shortly. "I took the liberty of hand-delivering, that's not worth at least a handshake?"

Dickie lifted the strap over his neck and handed it to Fin. "It's all in there, charger cord and everything."

"You've gotten older, man." Fin remarked, shaking the younger man's hand. "How's life?"

"Doing well." Dickie answered. "Almost finished up with my Bachelor's, gonna help dad run the business."

"Cool. Cool." Fin remarked. "I'll voucher everything, make sure you get it all back."

"No rush, I've got my back-up at the office." Dickie said. "Hopefully you don't need that one?" He chuckled. "It's just my personal laptop but it's good enough for a couple of days."

"Nah, I have a good bet this one's good enough." Fin said.

"Those other two detectives asked us to hang around, they wanna talk to us." Elliot interjected. "Can we just hang out, or...?"

"Tell you what," Fin said inhospitably, "why don't you just leave your number, go take a walk. I'll have Rollins or Carisi call you, they can decide where to meet. Far as I'm concerned, you don't need to be here."

Elliot stepped up to him. "You got a problem?"

"I suggest you take a step back." Fin said. "You ain't got a shield to protect your ass now."

The two men stared each other down.

"Give me a reason to regret not having that shield anymore." Elliot said in a low voice.

"I will jam your considerable ass up." Fin warned. "You need to leave before Olivia gets back. She don't need your bullshit on top of everything we're dealing with now."

"Olivia's a big girl, think she can handle herself." Elliot growled.

ME Burke came in and froze. "Uh, should I come back?"

Fin turned to him. "Nah man, we cool. What you got for me?"

"DNA." Burke said with pride. "Guess the condom broke on Victim 7, Lucy Doe."

"Match in the system?" Fin questioned.

"No match but find me a suspect and I can do a comparison." Burke said. He looked between the two men. "You sure everything's okay?"

"It's all good, man. I'll let the Lieutenant know." Fin said. "Thanks. Hey, if you're here who's down at the scene with Victim Number 8?"

"Sarah Doe? Oh, one of my assistants. I figured you'd rather here about the DNA from me." Burke answered.

"You're right." Fin agreed. "Thanks. Let us know about Sarah Doe."

"Oh, Lucy Doe-Number 7-she's been dead and in her dump spot at least two weeks." Burke added. He checked his phone. "This is my assistant ME, says Sarah Doe is fresh, killed within the last six to ten hours." He gave a backwards wave and strode out.

"Eight victims?" Elliot questioned.

"I can't talk to you about it and you know it." Fin warned. He grabbed his phone and dialed Barba. "Hey, it's Tutuola, anyway you can get us a warrant for some DNA?"

"You look like death warmed up." Carisi remarked.

"Haha, thanks." Olivia said sarcastically. She opened the bottle of cough medicine and took a long swig from the bottle. "I miss when you could buy codeine cough syrup over the counter. I could use a little extra something."

"Got news." Fin said. "Burke came by. DNA left behind on Lucy Doe."

"Is there a match?" Olivia asked eagerly.

Fin shook his head. "But Barba's working on a DNA warrant for Palmer."

Olivia's shoulders drooped. "It's something. At least it's something." She coughed quietly.

"Does Noah look as bad as you do?" Fin questioned sympathetically.

"My poor little guy is currently asleep on the sofa under three blankets with Paw Patrol in the background." Olivia said, showing Fin the picture text from Lucy, her nanny. "Lucy said he lost his voice. I better check on Ed, make sure he's not sick."

"How'd he manage to get your germs?" Fin teased.

Olivia stuck her tongue out at him. "Mind your own beeswax."

"Man, up your's." Fin retorted with a smile.

"Remind me to bust out the photos of you I have from your first year." Olivia said teasingly. "Ponytail and three piece suits? They need to know the player king is in their presence."

"Yeah, alright." Fin said with a smile. "Forgot how mean you get when you're sick. Gonna do me like that? I was stylin'."

"Is that what you call it?" Olivia remarked. She rolled her eyes and grinned. "I'll be in my office, fielding calls from One PP. Let me know when the warrant comes in."

"Hey," Fin called, "ME Burke looked all sorts of disappointed when he realized you weren't here."

Olivia stared at him from the doorway of her office, trying not to smile. She shut the door before she burst out laughing.

Fin returned to his desk. "You're still here?"

Elliot rose from where he'd been sitting just inside the hallway. "Rollins asked me to wait."

"You're a stubborn bastard." Fin remarked, turning away.

"Can I poke my head in and say hi to Liv?" Elliot requested.

"No." Fin said stiffly. "Doubt she'd remember your ass anyway, after all she's been through and done since you left her."

Elliot knelt next to him and lowered his voice. "I didn't leave her."

Fin glared at him. "Yeah? Well you sure as hell left."

TBC