AN: How about a little shorter wait this time? It was a pleasure of doing one of my fav episodes, hopefully you'll like it and let me know :) . Though a fair warning - next chapter won't be up before the end of September, because I'll be out of country without my computer doing field works and won't be back until the middle of September. It'll be fun!
L.
***SVU***
8.06 Infiltrated
„Elliot, I don't know if you're pissed or something, but please pick up. I honestly have no idea why you're pissed, but I apologize for whatever I did. I need you to pick up," Olivia said, then fell quiet and let out a small laugh, "Even if you did pick up there's not much to tell. I'm just gonna be away for some time, but it's because of work. My phone will be disconnected in no time, so you can't reach me. I'll let you know if I come back, if you want to. I gotta go, bye, I love you, Stabler."
The phone beeped, indicating the end of message. A female voice asked if he wanted to erase it, but how could he? It's Olivia.
Elliot hadn't coped well with Olivia's sudden departure, just when they were getting past their problems. She just left. And she thought that he was mad at her. He wanted to slap himself for forgetting his phone at Olivia's for a few days and not bothering to go get it. And when he finally did he had 15 missed calls from her and one voice message. He had listened the same message every day for the past 5 weeks.
Truth to be told he was angry. He was angry that she left without saying anything to him. She knows where he lives and he has a landline. She could have tried, but she didn't – she just left. And Cragen isn't talking. Even though he was angry at her above everything, he couldn't deny that he missed her a lot. It wasn't the same, when she was at Computer Crimes, because then he could see her when he wanted and he knew exactly where she was; but now he didn't have a clue where she was, what she was doing or even if she's okay. He had nothing.
Now there was a blonde occupying her desk, answering her phone and calling herself his partner. Dani Peck – the woman, who tries to take Olivia's place, but it's no secret that her place can never be taken by anyone else. Ha had perfect sync with Olivia – she was good with the victims, compassionate and safe, while he was "the bad cop" with anger issues, who had to get the perp to talk and fear him. Dani is more like him, except she crosses the line he never would. His current partner is example of someone, who shouldn't be a SVU detective.
Oh, god, he misses Olivia.
Olivia deep in his mind, he started his morning and ended up in court stand. Lucky for Casey he was the arresting detective and Olivia's testimony was not necessary to proceed. Or at least that's what Casey thought.
Roger Kressler was questioning Elliot and when he got to the point of smoking gum he started attacking Olivia and – to Elliot's and Casey's big surprise – called Olivia to stand. Elliot was shocked frozen on the spot and looked at the courtroom doors, halfway expecting, hoping, Olivia would walk through the doors. She never did. He barely registered when Casey asked to meet Judge in his Chambers with Kressler for the defense.
And then he left and drove to another day, another case to survive without Olivia. But he bet Olivia would be back soon now, because no way in hell she'd leave a rape victim be denied justice – she'll come back for Chelsea. Casey will get her back.
He had barely sat down, when his phone rang.
"Stabler," he grunted to the phone. Comes out they have another case, so Elliot grumpily closed his phone and got up.
"We have a case," Elliot said to his partner.
"Let's go then," Dani replied and stood, grabbing her things. Elliot announced his departure to Munch and Fin, who were sitting behind their desks, working on something.
They got to the elevator, Elliot standing in the back, Dani followed him. Elliot grunted and stepped forward to press the button – it was Olivia, who pressed the button. Oh god, he missed his real partner, because with Olivia everything was natural – they were in sync. Dani on the other hand was a quite different matter.
As they entered the parking garage, Elliot thought he saw Casey rushing to the precinct, but he could have been mistaken. For a moment he wanted to rush to her and ask how far her quest to find Olivia was, but then again it might not have been Casey.
But it was Casey, who had her eyes on the elevator, needing to get to the SVU floor as soon as possible. She caught up to Cragen and Munch, who were walking towards the squad room.
"Hey, Captain, Elliot around?" she shouted as she caught up with them.
Munch turned around to inform the ADA, but they didn't stop.
"He just went on a call with Danny," Munch informed, using Dani's nickname he had become fond of, but no-one else used it.
"I need to get in touch with Liv," Casey announced.
Both Munch and Cragen came to stop and turned around.
"Forget it, he doesn't know where she is," Cragen said firmly.
Casey's eyes were wide in disbelief, "They send Liv undercover with no information about her whereabouts to her boyfriend?"
"It's FBI, Casey. Besides Liv couldn't reach Elliot before she left," Cragen explained, "They even called me in during the weekend."
"Do you know where she is?" Casey was blunt.
"No," Cragen said easily, he knew who knew and he had a hunch, but it was never confirmed.
"Word in the conspiracy mill is she's out having my love child," Munch announced, causing both Cragen and Casey to roll their eyes.
"More like Stabler's," Cragen said under his breath.
"This is serious," Casey said seriously, "If I don't find her, I'm looking at a mistrial on my rape case," she explained.
"Shouldn't you have hashed that out before you went to trial?" Cragen asked, momentarily thinking less of the ADA for such a mishap.
"Well I was blindsided. Stabler was the arresting officer, I never thought they'd call Liv to testify," Casey explained.
"You'll work it out," Cragen said and walked away, while Munch stayed in the spot. Casey ran after Cragen, determined to get the captain to speak.
"Look, I just need her for a day in closed court," Casey tried.
"No," Cragen said firmly.
"Come on, she can't be thwarting arson plots every day. For all we know she's got some down time right now and is bored out of her skull," Casey continued.
Cragen stopped abruptly. "I'm sorry Casey, but I don't know where she is and apparently at this point she's not my detective. She's undercover and she can't – FBI won't – risk her blowing her cover for some rape case. It's just the way they work," he explained, "She's forbidden to contact anyone except her case agent, or do you really think she'd disappear so even Elliot has no idea of her whereabouts?"
Yeah, Casey understood the Captain, but it doesn't mean that she approved or didn't want to help the ADA. Both of them knew Olivia would be here in a heartbeat.
***SVU***
Olivia was having a good dream – she saw herself with Elliot, and how after she got back home he'd be there. She kept on dreaming how he'd kiss her and envelope him in her arms, confessing his undying love in the process. She didn't seem to get any word out of her mouth except his name. That's what he kept on repeating.
Until she was pulled from the pleasant dream into not so pleasant reality.
"Hey, who's Elliot?" Hope asked from the other bed.
"What?" she asked.
"You've been mumbling the name Elliot all night," the other girl said, waiting for explanation.
Olivia's eyes were wide open, when Elliot's name slipped from someone's lips, who isn't supposed to know detective Olivia Benson and her partner Elliot Stabler. Here she was Persephone James. She looked around, tried to run his fingers over her face, but she couldn't since she was handcuffed to the bed.
"Where are we?" Olivia asked, trying to remember, but her mind is blank since the protest and some police officers trying to break it off.
"County hospital. Prison ward," Hope said, "Deputy Aby Grab tried to brain you for helping T-Bone."
"Hope did they break your leg?" Olivia asked, noticing her companion had her leg in a cast.
"Yeah," Hope replied, "When I tried to make a run for it, I twisted my foot in a gopher hole. I snapped my ankle."
Olivia started laughing and offered an explanation that the other girl devotes her life to nature and the nature replays by snapping her ankle. Of course that got Hope all riled up and Olivia had to compose herself, damn concussion.
"You should sue them for police brutality. You and T-Bone both," Hope suggested while still riled up.
"Actually T-Bone hit the cop first," Olivia said remembering how it went down and how trying to break it off got her in a hospital bed, "And mine was an accident," she added, though she knew it wasn't.
"No it wasn't," Hope argued, "How on Earth can you defend those fascists?"
"Because I am one of them," Olivia thought and quickly apologized, blaming it all on the concussion.
But then it hit her – Elliot might not be the only thing she was mumbling. She could vaguely remember Elliot once commenting on her sleeping habits and how she liked to talk.
"I didn't say anything else, did I?" Olivia asked, momentarily scared for the answer.
"No," Hope said, her voice calm again.
"Sure?" Olivia asked, hoping that's it.
"All I could make out was Elliot," Hope said easily.
Olivia was relieved for a moment, but even though she had talked about herself – or Persephone to be exact, all of it was made up, some taken from her cover's real life, but not a part of that was Olivia.
"So spill, who is he?" the younger woman asked.
"My everything," Olivia thought, but the words coming out of her mouth were quite the opposite: "Nobody."
"It doesn't sound like nobody," Hope teased and imitated Olivia by moaning Elliot's name. Olivia turned her face away from her and closed her eyes. She really wanted to fell under the ground and disappear, or rather get back to Elliot.
Olivia got some peace and quiet with Hope occasionally moaning Elliot and Olivia keeping herself calm – it wasn't the younger woman's fault Olivia had tendency to talk in her sleep and Elliot was subconsciously always in her mind. But she really had to do something with her night mumbles.
The doctor came in and cleared Olivia – her pupils were reactive, BP was normal and she didn't seem to have any memory loss or brain bleeding. She was going to be fine. To her great surprise though, she was arrested the moment she was cleared by the doctor.
In an odd fashion she was the one photographed and fingerprinted, when she is used to being the one doing the fingerprinting. She felt humiliated, but Olivia also knew the magical words – "I want a lawyer." And that got her into a meeting with some public defender, who was fresh out of law school. He knew the process though, but so did Olivia. Her lawyer even didn't ask if Olivia was guilty of the charge – probably assuming she was, because he might be used to deal with people, who actually are guilty or he just didn't need that piece of information. Nevertheless Olivia gave him that.
She got to spend most of her day in jail, but she was given ROR, so she was free to go, except FBI left her hanging with the bail and she had to take bond. Of course when she was released, her phone had died and she had to go back in because of some dead pharmaceutical company worker and the local sheriff was looking at Olivia's group. She agreed to the talk about the murder, but seeing the photo of dead body only made her shake her head – it was a sex crime and in her mind there was no doubt that the killer was no-one from her group.
The next day she had an arranged meet with her case agent with the Bureau, but for the night all she wanted to do was go to her crap apartment and take a warm shower, followed by a good night sleep under her warm blanket, but after reading a good book or enjoying a good movie – whatever seemed more appealing once she got home. And that's exactly what she did. The next morning she woke up early, but she had to meet Dean.
And her case agent – Dean Porter – was a piece of work. Though handsome and supportive, sometimes Olivia just wanted to smack him to see if that would get his brain working again. But on the other hand he is sometimes just borderline flirty, which is annoying, but in a weird way it makes her feel more confident. Dean being the smug FBI agent, ate his doughnut and ordered Olivia to look into the murder of Carl Dunford, but the moment her investigation leads her outside the group she has to stop, even though she was certain that it will lead out, but she won't stop. She knew Dean knew that too – after all they had been working in close contact for the past 5 weeks.
She was supposed to meet with Hope and T-Bag, so she drove to the spot, but decided to make a call before. She used the pay phone and dialed familiar number.
"Detective Tutuola," was a response she got, a smile on her face.
"Hey Fin, it's me," Olivia said.
"Liv, our lost detective. How's the Bureau treating you, baby girl?" Fin asked.
"Everything's okay," Olivia said honestly, "But I need your help."
"What can I do?" Fin asked automatically.
"I have to investigate a murder while undercover and I was wondering if you could check my victim, Carl Dunford," Olivia asked.
"Hang on," Fin replied and stayed quiet, so Olivia assumed that he was typing.
Olivia looked around to see if Hope and T-Bag were anywhere in sight, they weren't.
"Your victim Carl Dunford had no criminal record, credit history looks solid," Fin said casually.
"Thanks," Olivia said, though she was disappointed, because she was hoping to find something that would lead to motive.
"Any time," Fin said sincerely, "It's good to finally hear from you," he added.
"My case agent would probably kill me if he found out I broke protocol," Olivia explained and turned her back to the street she was scanning, "So I really can't call you again."
"Before you go, Novak ever get in touch with you?" Fin asked, Casey had kicked some doors and raised her voice to get her location already.
"Why?" Olivia asked and raised an eyebrow, she couldn't figure out one good reason why Casey would want to contact her, specially if it was known that she was undercover and not to be reached.
"A case you worked with Elliot," Fin said and noticed the man in question had just walked in, "He just walked in, I'll let you talk to him," he announced and held the phone up for Elliot asking him to guess who was on the phone.
Olivia felt her heart skip a beat by the name, wondering if he was missing her as much as she missed him. Wondering if he even wanted to talk to her, but she didn't have long, because he was on the other side of the line and ready to give her answers.
"Hello," Elliot said to the phone and Olivia could almost see the smug smile he was wearing.
Before she could say anything she heard a voice calling for her and so she hang up the phone, even though she wanted to talk to him more than anything.
"Persephone," T-Bag called, "Who were you talking to?" he asked.
Olivia was surprised, but she recovered rather quickly and turned herself around to face her friends here.
"Probably talking to Elliot, the guy from her dreams," Hope teased.
Even though Hope was right somewhat, Olivia made up a quick lie about it being her public defender and she was asking about Carl Dunford case – how much should they cooperate, because her job was to figure out the killer and no matter what Porter wants, she'll find the killer, whoever it might be.
Olivia excused her from her "treehuggers" and went on to investigate the murder. It took her less than a day to conclude, that the crime was indeed a sex crime and the victim was pedophile. Dean wasn't too happy about it and it was hard to get to information to the local sheriff, because they seemed to have made up their minds about the killer and apparently Olivia was one of the suspects. The irony. But as it came out someone from her group had sent threats to the company, one specifically about their victim's penis and Olivia had no idea about it.
She wished Elliot, Fin, Munch, Cragen and Casey were there with her, because the way Porter put it, the crime was a "phantom sex crime", but she knew her job well enough to know, that it was real. Her colleagues from SVU would back her up.
Still she kept investigating, but she decided to drop by at T-Bone's house, where her group usually met and hang out. When she walked in, she saw Hope and T-Bone in the kitchen eating dinner.
"Persephone, where have you been?" T-Bone asked.
"I bet she's been with Elliot," Hope teased – she was not getting over that yet.
Olivia sat down by the kitchen counter and sighed. "I've been trying to figure out who killed Carl Dunford or at least get the cops out of our hair," she said honestly.
"Have you found anything?" T-Bone asked.
Olivia shook her head, she chose not to mention the e-mails, because then she'd be exposed and the sexual motive is obvious to her, because she has worked the crimes. Anyone not familiar with the psychology of killers, it should look like a random murder.
"It's not like you have access to police records and staff," Hope joked.
Olivia nod, she didn't have access at this moment, but she used to.
"I'd say it's better to let the police investigate, we haven't done anything wrong," T-Bone suggested, "Or you have something to hide or some other motivation?"
"The corrupt police might make any of us take the blame," Olivia tried, "Plus they promised to make my assault charges disappear if I'll get them something."
"I can't believe them," Hope shouted and continued to explain why the police was bad and how corrupt they really were.
"It's not like we're EDG or something," T-Bone added.
"We like peaceful demonstration, but that's how far it goes," Hope continued.
"I know guys. I just think it's best to get this thing sorted out and prove that we had nothing to do with it," Olivia was firm.
T-Bone raised his hands in defeat and Hope gave her a shrug – they didn't agree with Olivia, but it meant that she could continue investigating.
Hope looked at the time and ran off as she remembered that she had to go to the local shelter, where she volunteered for the night shift. So she ran away leaving Olivia and T-Bone alone.
"You're worrying about the murder investigation," T-Bone stated.
Olivia nod vaguely and grabbed an apple, when she realized that she hadn't eaten anything since morning.
"Don't worry, no-one from our group did it and they'll prove it," T-Bone tried to assure her.
"I know," Olivia said, "I just have a feeling like they have something on us, beside the protest."
T-bone grabbed a mug and poured Olivia tea, then sat down beside her, his dinner discarded.
"Look, I sent a threat mail to the company and Andrea might have sent another one to Carl Dunford, but that's it. We are not the bad guys here," he confessed.
Olivia acted surprised, because in fact Porter shower her the e-mails and she knew exactly what her friend was talking about, but still she questioned the purpose and content to keep her cover.
"Hey, Persephone, just forget it. Is there anything I can do to take your mind off of it?" T-Bone asked.
Olivia shook her head. T-Bone felt for her, so he placed his hand on her shoulder comfortably and pulled her into a hug. He tried to soothe her, when in fact it only made her think of the guy she left in NYC and who will be still waiting, hopefully.
"Let loose, you're always so tense," he whispered.
Olivia nod against his chest and then pulled away. Though she stayed close, his arms still around her. She closed her eyes and leaned in, her lips softly brushing against his. She pulled away before he could deepen the kiss, or worse she would.
"That was nice," he said with a smile.
Olivia gave him a weak smile and announced that she had to go, something about writing an article. Before she could get out of the door T-Bone called for her. She stopped and looked back.
"Go out with me," he asked.
"Not tonight," Olivia decided.
"But you'll think about it?" he asked hopefully.
Olivia nod heavily, "I will," she promised with a small smile and left.
She could hear the joyful shout T-Bone let out, but her smile dropped the moment she left the house. All she could think about was Elliot and how she's the woman she never wanted to be – she cheated on him. Olivia felt disgusted with herself and she could only imagine how Elliot would respond – he was a possessive, jealous guy after all, but unfortunately he was not here.
So she drove home, curled up in her uncomfortable bed in his t-shirt and cried.
***SVU***
Elliot was sitting behind his desk, across from Dani. Unconsciously his eyes kept on drifting to Dani, every time hoping to see a brunette looking back, but he was disappointed every time. He found Olivia looking back at him on the picture he put on his desk right after she started with the FBI. It was the same one Munch had taken after they fell asleep on the couch, right after their first kiss, before they even decided to try being a couple.
He couldn't focus on the case they were working, so he announced that he'll be out for coffee. He couldn't get far, because Huang and Casey ran to him downstairs and asked him about Olivia once again.
"I don't know where she is, she was just gone," Elliot assured Casey.
"It's not like Liv to leave without a trace," Casey said in disbelief.
Elliot shrugged, "She left me a voicemail, but you know the FBI," he gave Huang a dirty look, but the doctor didn't let himself be bothered, "She told me that she'll be away for a while, but she never told where or how long."
"Undercover agents leave their life to do the job, it's standard FBI," Huang supported.
They stepped into the elevator and rode to the right floor.
"Oh, I almost forgot, Liv called Fin a few days ago," Elliot remembered.
"Forgot?" Casey asked, her voice louder than normal, when they got off the elevator, "Did you tell her about my case? Did you tell how everything depended on her?"
Elliot shook his head, but before he could explain, Casey interrupted.
"I have a rape victim threatening to slash her wrists. How could you let Liv off the phone without letting her know?" she accused.
"I didn't have a chance," Elliot explained, "She hung up when Fin handed me the receiver."
"Why would she do that?" Huang asked, from what he knew Olivia and Elliot were good – at least were before Olivia went undercover.
"You tell me, FBI's supposed to have her back," Elliot defended, he was angry and confused about her actions too, "Would they know if she's in trouble?" he asked worry overwhelming.
"They'd know, they just wouldn't necessarily tell," Huang explained, slightly worried himself.
They stopped at Elliot's desk, where Dani was still working, but her attention was on the conversation.
"I'm sure she's fine. It's my case that's in trouble," Casey interrupted, "What time did she call? I can get a court order and dump the LUDs on Fin's phone," she asked, getting desperate.
"That's just gonna piss away another day and give us a useless pay phone number," Elliot reasoned, then turned to Huang, "Where is she?" he asked.
"I don't know," the FBI agent told honesty.
"Well tell me who does, I'll talk to them," Elliot tried, "I'm her boyfriend and I worry. Shouldn't they give out information to let me know if she's in trouble."
"I can't do that," Huang said calmly, even though he wanted to – he too wanted to know if Olivia was okay.
"Are you playing company man with me, doctor?" Elliot was frustrated.
"I'm not gonna give away state secrets, I just wanna make sure Liv's safe," Elliot explained.
"Elliot, I gave the message to my SAC. I was told it was given to Liv's case agent," Huang said.
"Then why hasn't she called?" Casey interrupted.
"If she knew Chelsea's case hinged on her testimony, she'd be here," Elliot assured the ADA.
"Maybe her case agent just isn't in touch with her at the moment," Huang tried.
"That doesn't make sense," Elliot brushed it off.
"I'm sorry Elliot, I wish I knew more, but I don't. Our undercover missions are kept secret and the agents' identity is protected even inside the Bureau, the same goes for their location," Huang said.
Elliot turned to Casey, hoping she had a plan to figure out a way to find Olivia.
"She broke protocol to call here, hang up when Fin handed me the phone. Something's off," Elliot said and Casey nod. Both of them turned to Huang, who was as helpless as they were, despite his connection with the FBI.
"I'm sure she's safe, but maybe you can get closer if you ask Fin about the reason for her call," he proposed, "Start there."
Casey looked around to see Fin's desk empty. She looked around and her eyes stopped on Dani.
"I think he went to the bathroom," she said, "What's the problem? Maybe I can help."
Casey walked to Dani, ready to attack the woman, but she didn't. She wasn't angry with Dani or Olivia, she was frustrated about her easy case was falling apart, because of one detective, who decided to play FBI agent and is unreachable. "If you can find detective Olivia Benson, that would be helpful," she said to Dani.
"Elliot's former partner?" Dani asked.
Elliot's face turned red at the former partner and Casey was even closer to attacking the blonde.
"Yes, Elliot's partner. She's working undercover, but Casey needs her in court," Huang explained, seeing his colleagues were not in a place to explain.
"Did I miss the memo of shouting match in squad room?" Cragen asked as he walked to his squad.
"We're still not having any luck locating Liv," Casey said fast.
Cragen shrugged his shoulders, wanting to help the ADA, but he couldn't. Even though he had maintained his cool composure, he was also worried about his detective and he didn't want to see their rapist walk free after what he did to Chelsea.
"What are you guys doing here?" Fin asked as he came back to his desk.
"Actually looking for you. What did Liv want when she called?" Casey asked.
"He wanted information about a murder victim, Carl something. She was investigating it," Fin said.
"The name, Fin?" Elliot pressured.
"Carl… Dungeon? Something like that," Fin tried to remember, "Oh, wait I can look into my search history," he said and started working on his computer.
He typed away and finally got a name. "Carl Dunford. There's a break in his murder case," he said as he looked at the victim, "Comes out a girl went missing 7 years ago and now she killed Dunford," he read.
"Liv finds a sex crime everywhere she goes," Cragen commented.
"Any other suspects?" Huang asked, but then everybody looked at him asking for explanation, "Maybe Liv or someone she knows was suspect and that's why she was investigating it," he offered.
The looks were on Fin. "Yes, they looked at local eco activists," Fin read, "They were protesting against the company Dunford worked for, but were cleared."
"That's our connection," Casey said, "Where does he live?"
"Hillsden, Oregon," Fin read.
"So Liv really is out of State," Elliot commented.
"What are you doing now? Oregon is a big State. It's not like you can go out there and look for a needle in a haystack?" Dani asked.
"At least we have a haystack," Elliot said.
"I don't like where this is going," Huang said under his breath.
"I'll book a flight down there," Casey said.
Elliot shook his head.
"Cap, I have some vacation days. I'll go down there and bring her back," Elliot said.
All eyes were on Cragen, it's up to him now. To their relief he nod. "You have 2 days, but don't compromise her cover," Cragen decided.
"Thank you," Elliot said and started collecting his things.
Huang and Casey left the squad room now that there were some answers, both of them sure Elliot will find her.
Kathleen Stabler walked past Huang and Casey towards the squad room, which was silent once again.
"Dad, you going somewhere?" she asked.
Elliot froze on the spot and turned around.
"Kathleen," he greeted, "I didn't forget our lunch," he said fast.
"I sure hope so," Kathleen said with a smile.
Elliot turned off his screen, and walked towards the elevators with Kathleen, leaving behind a stunned Dani – he never told about his kids and she wasn't aware of his relationship with Olivia either.
"What's wrong Dad?" Kathleen asked, "Is it about Liv?"
"Yeah," Elliot said and pressed the button for elevator, "Remember, I told you she's temporarily reassigned."
Kathleen nod.
"Casey needs her in court and we just found out where she is," Elliot explained, "I'm going down there to get her back."
"Oh," Kathleen said.
The elevator arrived and Stablers got in.
"Do you think she's in trouble?" Kathleen asked.
"I hope not," Elliot said heavily.
"Oh, daddy," Kathleen said and hugged her father, "I'm sure she's okay. Olivia can take care of herself."
"I know," he said and stepped out of the elevator, Kathleen following him.
"I guess we have to reschedule the lunch," Kathleen said.
Elliot looked at her to see how mad she is, "Look, I'm sorry, but I really need to get to her as soon as possible," he tried.
"It's okay, go get Liv and we can get lunch all together," Kathleen said easily, she wasn't mad.
"I love you," Elliot said and kissed his daughter's hair.
"Love you too, Dad," she replied, "I'm gonna get something to eat now," she said and left Elliot alone.
Elliot looked as Kathleen walked away, but didn't took long. He got to his car and drove to his apartment to pack. He was going to get her woman.
***SVU***
"It makes sense that Britney would go back to her comfort zone," Olivia said reading a case file in the passenger seat, while Dean was driving to Buttewille, "Now, how thorough job do you think the locals did searching her old house?" she asked.
"Very," Porter replied fast, "And I think the family of five living there now probably pitched in. She's not there," he elaborated and kept his eyes on the road.
"She hasn't seen the light of day for ten years, where else is she gonna go?" Olivia wondered out loud.
"Police are searching her elementary school, her church, the local parks," Dean said, took a look at the passenger seat, where Olivia brought her hand to support her head as she leaned on the door, her face indicating that she has no hope in locals – it just didn't make sense, so Porter tried to lighten the mood "It's a small town – we'll find her," he said with a reassuring smile.
Olivia returned the smile and opened the case file once again, reading it over again with a hope that she has missed something. Victims usually went back to their comfort zone – usually home or some favorite place.
"Your partner back in New York," Dean changed the subject, "Does he find you as annoying as I do?" he asked.
"We're best friends," Olivia said with a small smile, which appeared every time she thought or talked about Elliot.
"But does he find you annoying?" Porter asked again.
Olivia smiled and shook her head, "It'll be nice to have a partner I'm in sync with. I almost forgot what that was like," she replied, "If he does find me annoying, then he isn't as verbal about it as you."
"Well, he'll have you back soon," Dean promised, "Lucky him," he added, meaning it, because even though Olivia had been problem and annoying at times, she was an extraordinary woman and good detective.
"Yeah, lucky him," Olivia repeated with a smile she couldn't wipe off her face, then focused on the file in her hands again.
"Here's something," she said as she read about a fort Britney's friend had in the woods. Maybe she was there? Besides as it came out locals didn't check that.
Dean agreed to look that with Olivia and sped up his car. They arrived in no time, parked the car and he followed Olivia into the woods after getting instructions from the named friend, who used to play there years ago.
While Olivia had to troubles going into the woods and enjoy a small hike, then Dean was more reluctant, something about his overpriced shoes.
The path had grown in the years, when no-one played out there and it took some imagination to see it there at all.
"Wait up," he told Olivia, when she was long ahead that he was afraid to lose sight of her.
"If you'd move yourself, then we'd be there before tomorrow," Olivia said, but waited anyway.
Dean took a few bigger steps and reached her, "I'm sorry, but unlike you I'm not up for a hike," he said referring to his suit, while Olivia was comfortably in her jeans and long sleeved shirt
"Maybe it's time to change your attire?" Olivia joked, she could imagine FBI agents walking around in office wearing sweats.
"Hey, I like my style, it's professional and women seem to like it," he shot back, pretending to be hurt.
"Funny, that I'm the only lady here, fed, and I don't think that your suit is the smartest choice while walking in woods," Olivia said.
"I dressed up for a press conference," Dean stated.
Olivia stopped, looked back and rolled her eyes. "Right. Press conference and arresting me apparently," she said bitterly.
"I'm sorry about that, but you gotta admit I was right," he said.
"I was doing my job. I discovered the secret room and blew the case open. I make no apologies for doing my job," she was protective.
"I know," Dean admitted, "You've been helpful. But at least your assault charge won't stick," he tried.
Olivia gave him a murderous look.
"Look, you did your job, we have the eco-terrorists and we might reunite a girl with her parents. I think that's good enough, so you can go back to DC and continue working sex crimes," he said fast.
"Yeah, I get to go home. Will you be staying here?" Olivia asked.
Dean shook his head, "When we find our girl, I'm going back to New York," he replied.
Olivia nod and continued to walk.
"You know what, let me make it up to you. I'll call you when I'm back and I can buy you an expensive dinner, while you can bitch about me," Dean offered.
"You asking me out?" Olivia was stunned, but she didn't turn to face Porter.
Dean walked beside her and caught her hand. "Yes, I'm asking you out," he said gently, both of them stopping again.
Olivia looked deep into his eyes and found herself battling with herself. One the one hand she wanted to go out with Dean – he is something, everything Elliot is not, but her heart belongs to her partner, which means she should say no. Besides she was not entirely sure she still had Elliot waiting for her. Torn between Dean and Elliot, she chose the safe way.
"I'm seeing someone," she said apologetically.
Dean's face fell, but he recovered, "It doesn't have to be a date. It could be just an apology and friendly dinner between two adults," he said.
Olivia raised her eyebrows.
"Think about it," he asked and released her hand.
Olivia nod and continued to walk on in silence with Dean beside her, but falling behind pretty quickly.
"Let's find Britney first," she said, indicating the conversation will go on in professional manner from now on.
Dean accepted that and followed her silently, trying to keep up with her and ignoring the dirt getting on his good shoes.
They had walked deep into the woods, the path long lost from their sights or what's left of it. While Dean was losing hope, Olivia was certain of herself – she believed the fort was near.
"We must have gone off the path at some point and missed it," he commented, "Let's go back," he suggested.
"This is the path, it's just overgrown. Kids haven't been playing here for years," Olivia responded.
"If you get us lost in these woods…" Dean threatened her.
"There it is," she said and pointed to building in front of them.
They headed towards the small building, Olivia was optimistic, while Dean not so much.
"Even if she did come here five days ago, I don't think she would have stayed," he voiced his thoughts.
"Why don't you go wait in the car and I'll let you know what I find?" Olivia snapped, but Dean refused to leave her alone, he did mumble something about protecting her.
She walked in front of him and opened the door to find Britney sleeping inside. That softened even Dean, who admired how Olivia talked to Britney, sounding nothing like the pissed off detective she was just moments ago.
They got Britney to agree on a drive to station, but they promised not to look at her. Even in the interview room, Dean couldn't help but watch how she handled her. Though he was a little skeptical if she was as good with victims as she claimed. In fact he was pissed to see the victim not talking and going around in circles in the room, while Olivia tried to talk her down. He even made a few comments that led her throwing him out of the room.
He did change his thoughts on her, when Olivia reached their victim and all he could do was watch from the other side of the glass. He smiled for a moment, when he realized that Olivia got through to the girl, who seemed reluctant to talk to them.
She left the room, when Britney was okay with her parents, while Dean had looked everything.
"She has Stockholm syndrome," she said, when she entered the observation room and closed the door behind her.
"Fell in love with her captor," he added, "Stopped trying to escape years ago. Probably had dozens of chances to before she killed him," he continued to analyze.
Both of them watched the exchange between parents and lost daughter.
"You know, no jury in the world will convict her," Olivia said looking at Dean.
"Who's pressing charges?" he asked back.
Olivia nod, "She'll get psychiatric care?" she asked.
"Yeah," Dean said, and kept on looking at her like he had something to say.
"What?" she asked and furrowed her brows.
Dean didn't reply instantly, he kept on looking at her deeply and threw his head back, then opened his mouth to answer her, "You do have a little knack with victims," he admitted with a smile.
She returned the smile easily and after a short moment walked away – she had a plane ticket to home.
Dean stopped her, "Oh, I'm sorry, I almost forgot," he said and went through his pockets to find a message, "I got a message for you a couple of days ago."
"While I was undercover? Who knew we were working together?" Olivia asked, surprise all over her features.
"Uh, it came to the bureau," he said and got the little piece of paper to read out, "An agent Hu-ang," he read. Olivia corrected him and took the piece of paper from Dean. She read it once and her eyes went wide. She had to be in New York. Without saying anything further, she left Dean.
"I'll call you when I'm back," Dean shouted after her.
If Olivia did hear him, she didn't let him know.
Dean let out a deep breath and shook his head. He might be going after the wrong girl, but maybe she'll give in and maybe she won't be wrong for him. But he knew that she was a lot of work and as annoying she was, secretly he was enjoying every moment they had spent together. Guess time will tell what will happen.
***SVU***
Elliot arrived at Olivia's last known location at afternoon. He knew he had to find her fast and take the first plane home to make it in time.
So he rushed through the airport and rented a car. Truthfully he had no idea where to start his search. He decided to check out the murder place, maybe she was lurking around there. When he arrived, he looked to see her there, but only an elder woman was standing on the porch, seemingly waiting for someone.
Elliot decided to try his luck, so he walked up to the lady.
"Mr. Smith?" she asked and held out her hand.
"Detective Stabler," Elliot corrected. He took a picture of Olivia from his folder. It was a mugshot she had made, when she was arrested as Persephone – he figured he couldn't blow her cover like that. He gave the lady that photo and by the looks the lady made, she knew Olivia. "Have you seen this woman?" he asked.
"I knew she was in trouble with the law," she said bitterly.
"Why is that?" Elliot asked.
"She broke into my ex-husband's house and wouldn't stop asking questions about him," she said.
"When was that?" Elliot asked.
"2 days ago, but she was here yesterday during the press conference," she was certain.
Elliot looked at the time and around the house.
"Do you have any idea where I could find her?" he asked.
The lady shook her head, "I moved away years ago, I'm only here to sell the house," she said apologetically.
"She seemed to be in trouble with the local Sheriff too. Maybe they finally locked her up," she suggested.
Elliot nod vaguely and gave her his card if she remembered anything.
He really didn't want to go to the cops, instead he decided to look for local eco activists; Olivia must be with them if she is still working the eco-terror case.
He decided to look at local farmer's market to see if someone knew her from there. He looked at the map and got directions, then got on his way.
He found it with ease and parked nearby, then walked over to first local farmer and gave him Olivia's picture after introducing himself. He was lucky, because the older man seemed to know Olivia as she was regular here. Elliot managed to get the names of Olivia's new friends, but unlucky for him he just got the first names.
His luck turned, when those friends decided to come for some fresh corn. A blonde women and long haired man walked to another farmer and Elliot followed them there.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for this woman and I was told you might know about her whereabouts," Elliot said and showed Olivia's picture.
"Why you need to find Persephone?" Hope asked.
Persephone – Olivia must use the name of Mitchell's girlfriend, Elliot remembered.
"She jumped bail in New York," he said vaguely.
"You're a cop?" T-Bone asked.
"Not here," Elliot said and shook his head, "Look I just need to find her and make sure she's okay," he tried.
"You're Elliot?" Hope asked, her eyes shining.
"Yeah," Elliot said while recovering from her surprise, "Has she talked about me?"
"She was mumbling your name all night in hospital," Hope replied, "I can see why, now."
"Why was she in hospital?" Elliot asked.
T-Bone and Hope shared a look, then T-Bone opened his mouth, "We were protesting peacefully, when some deputy came and brained her. Later accused her of assaulting her."
Elliot made a mental note to find that deputy and kick his ass.
"Is she locked up?" Elliot asked, realizing that her being locked up is most convenient for him.
Hope shook her head.
"Where is she then?" he asked, glad that she's not in prison, but disappointed because finding her became harder.
"Haven't seen her since last night," Hope said, then turned to T-Bone, "Did she stay with you?"
"No, she left, but she did kiss me," he said to his friend.
Elliot's eyes went wide, but he kept his silence.
"Finally," Hope exclaimed, "So you're together now?"
T-Bone shrugged his shoulders.
Hope hugged his friend.
"I'm so happy for you," she said.
Elliot got his tongue back and asked again for her location. To his luck Hope gave him Olivia's address, which was just at the other side of this small town. He turned to leave, but the came back. He confidently punched T-Bone in the face and left for good. No-one touches his Olivia. Numerous curse words sent him and he was positive those two won't help him further, but he might not need it if he has her address.
He drove to the apartment and to his surprise found the door unlocked – that's very unlike Olivia. The apartment was small, it had just one room beside kitchen. The kitchen was almost as empty at hers in NY, but he found that her eating habits were much healthier than before – there were salad and some fresh vegetables in the fridge. On the counter he found half-empty pack of tea – Olivia didn't drink tea. He found no trace of coffee or any take-out food she enjoys.
He noticed how she didn't have any personal things in the apartment, there were few items of clothing, but those must be new, because he didn't recognize them and he was pretty familiar with her items of clothing.
It also seemed like she left in a hurry.
Elliot automatically expected the worst so he decided to try the neighbors. Another dead end as they only confirmed that Olivia had been staying here for the past month, but they knew nothing of her and barely saw her at all. One of them was aware that Olivia spent most of her time protesting against ruining eco-systems.
Finally he decided to check out the local Sheriff's place – maybe they knew more. In typical small town fashion he had to wait for an hour before he could talk to some deputy and it took even longer to finally get the Sheriff to see him.
"I need to find this woman, Persphone," Elliot said and showed him the picture of Olivia.
"I'm sorry you just missed him," the Sheriff said easily.
Elliot had already shown his badge around so the Sheriff knew who he was.
"Where is she?" he asked impatiently.
"Left a while ago with FBI agent," Sheriff explained, "Who knew FBI would expose their undercover agents like that."
"Where did they go?" Elliot asked.
Sheriff shrugged, "I don't know. Probably sent her on the plane out and went on working on another case. I don't honestly know and I'm glad to have her out of my town," he said, quite obviously not too fond of Olivia, "The agent didn't seem too happy with her either."
"So you have no idea, where she is?" Elliot asked.
"I'd check Buttewille, but she's no longer in Hillsden," Sheriff Bartley suggested, "It's an hour drive from here. And if you find her apologize for Deputy Ibold. I'll make sure action is taken against him after what happened with your detective."
Elliot thanked him politely and rushed out, ignoring the comment about deputy.
He arrived at Butteville late at night so he took a motel to stay the night and continue his search the next morning.
***SVU***
Olivia grunted at the traffic, when she ran through the streets of New York, missing the small Oregon town she had spent last 5 weeks. She also suddenly felt uncomfortable in her formal attire consisting skirt, black t-shirt and suit-jacket. Her hair was straightened and in ponytail – she looked formal after a month of having loose dress code.
She rushed through the doors of courthouse and headed towards the assigned room for Chelsea's case. As she got off the elevator and the room came to sight, she saw Casey pacing by the doors. The ADA looked up and saw Olivia marching towards her.
"Thank god, where the hell have you been?" Casey asked as she looked at her watch, but she seemed relieved, "Did Elliot find you?"
"I haven't seen Elliot since I left NY. Why would I have seen him?" Olivia asked not understanding, when she reached Casey.
"Never mind, you're finally back," Casey said happily and hugged Olivia.
"Have I got some stories for you," Olivia replied, "It's so good to see you," Olivia said to her friend softly.
"I am dying to hear them, but some other time," Casey said as she took Olivia's hand by the elbow and lead her to the courtroom, "We gotta get in there," she said firmly.
"How's Chelsea?" Olivia asked after Casey had released her hand and they opened the doors.
Casey noticed Chelsea sitting on the bench, then looked at Olivia and a smile appeared on her face for the first time since the trial started. "She'll be fine," Casey said, managing to bring a smile to Olivia's face.
Both woman noticed Chelsea looking at them, smile appearing on her face. Casey went to her desk in front, while Olivia took a seat at Chelsea's side.
"I was so worried you wouldn't show up," Chelsea said with relief.
"There was never a chance of that happening," Olivia assured and took Chelsea's hand in hers.
Casey took out her cell phone and sent a quick text to Elliot.
***SVU***
Elliot had a smile on his face, despite not being able to locate Olivia, because according to Casey the trial continued, but he'll find out soon enough if it's because of Olivia or not. After 2 days of dead ends, he can return home – not that he could've stayed longer because Cragen gave him 2 days to investigate.
His eyes closed as soon as the plane took off and he opened them again when he was landing in New York. Deciding he was too tired to check up on Olivia, he went to his own apartment and dropped his bag on the floor. He saw a note on the kitchen table.
I hope you found her, I'll see you at Sunday at Dickie's game.
Love you,
Kathleen
Elliot smiled at the words, thanking Kathleen mentally, because he had already forgotten Dickie's soccer game on Sunday.
Tiredly he took a shower and climbed to bed, he needed his beauty sleep, especially if there's a chance that he'll see Olivia the next day. Anticipation kept him awake, but tiredness forced him to sleep. Though he couldn't get one thing out of his mind – Olivia had kissed someone else. Even though she was undercover, he still chose to see it as cheating. They weren't broken up, they were just giving each other space and some would call it a long-distance relationship.
A nasty voice from the back of him that, he had kissed Kathy not long time ago and she doesn't know. Of course they weren't together at the time his kiss with his ex-wife happened.
But were they together now?
His hand reached under the pillow, where Olivia's note to him was located. He took it, read it over again, even though the words were memorized in his mind.
El,
I'm going undercover for some time, don't know where and for how long. Hope it's not the end for us. Wait for me.
I love you,
Liv.
There were tear stains on where they had fallen when he discovered the letter and ever since he made a habit of carrying it around with him, just he liked to listen to her voice mail every time he missed her.
***SVU***
The trial went fast with Olivia's testimony everything went the way it should have been, even though her testimony didn't give much to the trial – Elliot was the arresting officer and lead detective, formally at least.
After the verdict, Casey and Olivia ordered pizza and a bottle of vine, then headed to Olivia's apartment to share stories and catch up.
The first thing Olivia did, was change out of her suit and got into something comfortable – jeans and t-shirt.
"You've been changing in and out of suits for years and now a week away makes you dislike it so much," Casey commented.
"It's the skirt," Olivia joked.
Casey laughed and nod, though she didn't believe her, but it's not that important.
"So how was FBI and being undercover?" Casey asked.
"You know I can't discuss the details," Olivia said roughly.
Casey raised her eyebrow, "I don't mean the case. I meant how was it, how have you been?" she clarified.
"Oh, you know it's different. Living as someone else, and knowing if something goes south, I don't have anyone to watch my back. I had my case agent with whom I met almost every other day, but he wasn't always watching me. I missed you guys of course," Olivia said, "But then again at some point it felt good to be someone else – you know it's so impersonal. I wasn't trying to get to know them and they thought they knew me, but they just knew some fictional person, who stopped existing the moment I left."
"Must be hard living as someone else," Casey wondered, "I know I couldn't do it."
Olivia took a generous sip of her vine and for a moment thought about it, "It was hard at first, but once I got settled it wasn't as hard anymore. It's a pity that you get close to people – I'd like to have some of them as my friends, but they never knew Olivia Benson and frankly I don't think they'd like me as much as the me they knew," she realized, "It's easier to talk about yourself, when you don't have to talk about the crap you've seen. Plus it felt good to be away from rapists and sexual sadists."
"I know what you feel," Casey agreed.
"So, what did I miss?" Olivia asked changing the subject.
Olivia grabbed a slice of pizza and savored the taste – she barely had pizza while undercover, because her new friends weren't fan of take-out food.
"It was hard at first, but the work load was heavy on all of us. We met Munch's uncle, Kathy dropped by to see Elliot a few times. Elliot got a new partner and you don't know how much everyone was praying for your return for the first few weeks of their partnership," Casey said.
"What happened?" Olivia asked in surprise.
"Dani wasn't you. He missed you, that's it," Casey said heavily, leaving out all the times Elliot lost his cool with suspects, Dani and other detectives. She chose not to tell her how people avoided Elliot in fear of him lashing out, how the lockers, walls and dumpsters got a feel of Elliot's anger. "We all missed you," she added.
"I never wanted to leave like this, but everything happened so fast," Olivia apologized.
"Didn't you really tell Elliot your location or anything?" Casey asked.
Olivia nod vaguely, "It was so fast. One day I was in New York as Persephone Lee James and the next evening I got on a plane to work for the FBI at the other side of country," Olivia explained, "I tried to call him, but he didn't answer. I did leave him a note that I was leaving, though."
"He left his phone at your place, but stayed in his apartment. When he realized, you were already gone and your number was disconnected," Casey explained Elliot's actions.
"How is he now?" Olivia asked.
Casey stayed silent as she collected her thoughts and ate a slice of pizza, "He's doing okay, but he has been miserable."
Olivia threw her head back as another bang of guilt hit her, suddenly T-Bone and the kiss coming to her mind. It dawned on her that she cheated on him – she's the woman she never wanted to be.
"But it's all good now that you're back," Casey said with a smile.
Olivia nod heavily – she had to tell him, but frankly she was scared of facing her partner. Ashamed of what she'd done.
Casey looked at the time.
"Crap, I have to run, I have to prep witnesses for my next trial. I'll call later, but you have to go see your man," Casey said in a rush.
"Go put some rapists behind bars," Olivia said.
Casey nod, grabbed her handbag and rushed out of the apartment.
Olivia glanced at the half-eaten pizza and almost full bottle of wine on the table. She noticed that her glass was empty, while Casey hadn't touched hers. She took the glass full of wine, turned on the TV and tried to block out of thoughts circling in her mind. She'll go see Elliot, but not today. Olivia knew she'll have to go the precinct to let Cragen know she's back, in case 1-PP forgets to notify him. Then she'll see if she's ready to come back – if she's ready to face Elliot yet.