Olivia's alarm went off and she hit her phone angrily, turning off the annoying sound. Elliot pulled her body back against him, hating the space she had created when she had pulled away to turn off her alarm. He wrapped his arm around her and buried his face in the hair at the back of her neck. "It's too early." He mumbled against her skin and he more purposefully wrapped his right leg with hers, keeping her anchored to him.
"We have to get up." Olivia said, really not making an effort to go anywhere. She had lived a lifetime of sleeping alone in her bed, but Elliot was a commanding presence, and she had happily acquiesced to nights spent with him wrapped around her body.
"I need more sleep." He said, without lifting his head.
"If you didn't get enough sleep last night, you have no one to blame but yourself." Olivia said, running her hand along his arm as it held her around the waist. They had made love once again, and talked late into the night before sleep had overtaken them, and she was feeling the effects herself.
"Have you thought about what you want to do this morning?" Elliot asked, switching topics.
"I'm still torn. There's a good chance Homicide won't really consider us suspects." Olivia said, rehashing some of the thoughts from their discussion last night.
"But if they do, and ask for an alibi…" Elliot said.
"I know." Olivia sighed. Elliot thought they should tell Cragen about their relationship before their interview with Homicide, so he heard it from them first. But it was a gamble. If Homicide didn't seriously consider them suspects, they would have outed themselves for no reason.
Elliot pushed himself up and propped his head on his bent arm. "Liv, I don't want to sneak around anymore." He released his hold around her waist and settled his hand on her hip. "I want to be able to go out. I don't want to be afraid of being seen together."
Olivia rolled over on her stomach and folded her arms under her chin. "But everything is going to change." She knew she was whining. Elliot had told her so last night…she couldn't have it both ways for much longer.
"I know it's going to be hard." He said, resting his palm on her lower back and rubbing lightly back and forth. "But hopefully it will be for the better." Elliot placed an open-mouthed kiss on her left shoulder. "It's going to come out sooner or later. There are only so many times I'm going to be able to keep myself from reaching for your hand in the squad room."
"OK." Olivia relented. "You're right. Let's tell Cragen this morning."
Elliot flattened his palm on her lower back. "Sounds good." He placed another kiss on her shoulder as he slid his hand down over her ass and squeezed gently. "Now how about a little celebration before we do?"
EOEOEOEO
An hour later, they were in the car, ready to head for the station.
"Now we're going to be late." Olivia grumbled, trying hard to keep a smile off her face. "Men your age aren't supposed to be able to have that much sex…" She teased.
"Watch it Benson." He said as he started the car. He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Besides. It's your fault. If you weren't such a sex goddess…" he said flippantly.
Olivia rolled her eyes and hit him lightly on the arm. "Knock it off."
"What? I'm serious." He teased. "I have to take extra vitamins just to keep up."
Olivia laughed as he pulled away from the curb. "You're taking something alright." She shot back. When she looked over at him, he gave her a wounded look, and then they both laughed. It helped to ease the anxiety they were both feeling at what was waiting for them at the precinct.
They were silent most of the rest of the way, each lost in thought. When they parked their sedan, Elliot turned off the key and pulled the keys out of the ignition, but neither one of them moved. Elliot wanted to reach for her hand, but he didn't know who was around, and didn't want to start things off that way. Finally, when a minute had passed, he broke the silence.
"Ready?"
Olivia looked back over at him and nodded, and they both got out of the car.
"This carpooling has gotten to be a regular thing." Olivia heard Fin's voice and turned to her right, surprised to see him standing there. She hadn't even seen him as she got out of the car. She gave him a quick smile and was about to say something when Elliot chimed in.
"I practically drive right by her apartment on my way in, so seems stupid not to pick her up." He said as they all three started walking in together.
"Yeah, well I spend enough time with my partner during the day as it is." Fin grumbled. "I'm glad Munch doesn't live anywhere near me." He knocked his shoulder into Olivia's. "Hey what do you say you give up Stabler and come be my partner for a while. I could use a break." Fin chuckled then and Olivia tried to paste a smile on her face. If he only knew…
They walked up to the squad room together, with Fin still teasing Olivia about what an ass Elliot was and how he'd treat her much better…but he clammed up when he saw Munch sitting at his desk. Elliot and Olivia dropped their things at their desks, hesitating only a second before they headed towards Cragen's office. They had agreed that they wouldn't delay…they didn't want to lose their nerve.
The Captain's door was open, but Elliot knocked to get Cragen's attention. The Captain looked up and saw them standing there and he motioned them in. Olivia walked in first, and moved into the room. Elliot walked in behind her, and closed the door behind him. That got Cragen's attention, and he leaned back in his chair as Elliot stood in front of the door.
"What can I do for you two?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.
Elliot glanced over at Olivia, and saw she was looking at him, and everything they were going to say flew out of his mind. She looked uncertain, and he started to wonder if she had changed her mind. Surely, she had to know that changing course now was not an option.
"I'm assuming that the fact that you're in my office…" Cragen lifted his arm to look at his watch. "at 7:30AM, means there was something you needed to tell me before your meeting with the detectives from the 1-2."
Elliot nodded. "Yeah."
Cragen shook his head. "So, you lied to me."
"What?" Elliot said.
"I asked you point blank if you knew Logan was out on bail and you both told me no." Cragen said, pushing himself up from his chair.
"Cap'n." Elliot tried to interject.
"Now this is going to bite us all in the ass." Cragen said. "I told the Captain from the 12th that neither one of you knew anything about this and now you're telling me…"
Elliot tried to interrupt again but Cragen kept talking. He wasn't even looking at either one of them as he rambled on.
"Damn it. Tell me you just beat the crap out of him and that he was alive when you left him."
It was Olivia's voice that finally got him to stop talking…to look up at them.
"Elliot didn't touch Logan." She said, raising her voice. She found it a bit ironic that she had accused Elliot of the same thing, and now she was defending him. "We didn't lie to you Captain." Olivia looked over at Elliot. "We didn't know Logan was out."
Cragen stood for a moment, looking at her, and she knew he was trying to determine if they were covering for each other…if they were telling the truth. He must have decided he believed her, because he let out a sigh and fell back into his chair. "Well. Then what the hell are you doing in my office?" he asked.
Olivia lost her nerve, because now Cragen seemed annoyed, when instead he should be feeling relieved. She looked back over at Elliot as he started to talk.
"Do they honestly think Olivia and I had anything to do with Logan's murder?" he asked. He needed to ease into this confession.
Cragen shook his head slightly. "Honestly? I don't know." He picked up a pen from his desk and fiddled with it. "I can't imagine they do…but you have some marks in your jacket Elliot. And you both have history with the victim. So, they're going to have to take it seriously. They're going to question you thoroughly, and check out your alibis." He looked at Elliot. "I hope you're going to tell me you were with your kids…" He swiveled to look at Olivia. "And that you were out on a date or with friends. Something nice and public with lots of witnesses."
"About that…" Elliot started.
Cragen put up his hand. "Don't tell me…you were both home in your apartments. Alone. God, I hope they have DNA or something from the real doer."
Elliot let out a sound of frustration. Cragen was making this so much more difficult than it had to be.
Olivia spoke up. "Captain. "She had been quiet up to this point, so now she had his attention. "I was at my apartment the night Logan was killed…but Elliot was with me."
Cragen didn't react.
Olivia went on. "He was there with me all night."
Cragen furrowed his brow, obviously trying to process what Olivia had said.
"He's been at my apartment every night for the past five weeks." Olivia added. She figured she would save him from asking the inevitable...help him put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Cragen's head sagged slightly as he looked down at his desk. Olivia looked over at Elliot, but saw he had his attention focused on Cragen, so she returned her gaze to Cragen too. She couldn't tell if he was surprised or just resigned, and she felt like she should say something else.
Before she could say anything, Cragen lifted his look and looked back and forth between them. Elliot shifted on his feet, feeling like a teenager who was about to get a lecture from his girlfriend's father.
"Well, that's just great." Cragen said with a heavy sigh.
"We didn't mean for this to happen…" Olivia started.
"This has been happening for years…" Cragen interrupted, shaking his head. "I should have split you two up a long time ago, but I was stupid. I didn't want to lose my best team."
Elliot took a step forward. "See, that proves we can work together, despite how we feel…" Elliot said, hoping to save their partnership.
"You're sleeping with your partner!" Cragen snapped, cutting him off.
Olivia's skin flushed at his comment.
"This is all going to come out. The minute you tell the detectives that your only alibi is each other…that you've been having an illicit affair, what do you think's going to happen? It's completely against regs. And I didn't know about. Damn it." He was up and out of his chair again.
Elliot and Olivia looked at each other, but didn't say anything as Cragen braced his hands on his desk and stared down at the papers there. A half minute had passed, and he looked back up at them. "I'm not even sure how this is all going to play out." He was about to say something else when there was a knock on the door. Whoever was on the other side didn't wait for a reply, and they all looked up as the two detectives walked into his office, accompanied by their Captain.
"Captain." Captain Doyle nodded as he walked in. "This is Detective Stone and Detective Allen." He said and he looked at Elliot and Olivia. "I assume these are the detectives we're looking for?" He raised his eyebrows as he said it, and Oliva thought he had already concluded they were guilty of something. Maybe it was her own guilty conscience. Having to tell Cragen that she was sleeping with Elliot was a lot worse than she had expected. She felt like she had disappointed him somehow.
"I appreciate you coming down here to talk to them." Cragen said. "We've got room 1 and 2 open."
Doyle nodded. "Not a problem." He looked between Elliot and Olivia. "We're going to talk to Detective Stabler first." He said.
Elliot looked up at her and his eyes connected. He was trying to tell her it was going to be OK but she had an unsettled look in her eye, and he knew it was going to be hard for her to wait out his interrogation. "Let's get this over with." He said, leading the parade out of Cragen's office.
Olivia started to follow, but Cragen stopped her. "Olivia. You know you can't listen in."
"I know."
"You can stay in here if you want."
Olivia shook her head. "I'll just be at my desk." She watched as Cragen walked towards the interrogation room and she stood rooted in place until he was out of sight. She sighed as she walked back to her desk and she sat down heavily in her chair.
"Lot going on this morning." Munch said.
Olivia wanted to roll her eyes at his attempt to get information out of her. "You have no idea."
EOEOEOEO
Three hours had passed before they were done questioning Elliot and Olivia, and they hadn't had a chance to talk in private. They were nervously anchored to their desks…Captain's orders…as Captain Doyle talked to Cragen in a closed-door meeting and Stone and Allen loitered in the interrogation room.
Oliva stiffened when Cragen's door opened, and she saw Doyle walk out, collecting his detectives before he headed out the door. Cragen was standing in the doorway of his office, and Olivia thought he looked beaten down…tired. She felt badly that she and Elliot had been the cause of it.
"My office." He said before he turned and walked back inside, and Elliot and Olivia got up slowly.
"You guys are in the shit today." Fin said. "Liv, I'm withdrawing my offer." He looked over at Elliot. "Unless it's Stabler that fucked things up. Then I say, OK."
Olivia shot him a dirty look and Fin went back to looking at the stack on his desk as she passed by. Elliot closed the door behind her as she entered, and it seemed like déjà vu. She was tired and emotionally exhausted, and she really didn't want to hear what Cragen was going to say.
"Sit down." He instructed and they both did as he asked.
"Well, I'll give you the good news first." Cragen said. "They seem to be buying your alibi, so you may be the hook when it comes to Logan. Nothing's for sure yet, but they figure someone would have come up with a better alibi rather than admitting to something with such dire consequences." He shook his head. "Anyway, whatever their reasons, they're looking elsewhere and I expect that'll probably be the end of it."
"That's great." Elliot said. He couldn't believe there was even a question, but it was good to know they didn't have to worry about it anymore. He wondered what other evidence they had, because if he was in the same situation, he didn't know if he would have given up so easily. But it really didn't matter anymore.
"You may be off the hook with the 1-2, but not with me." He shook his head. "I wish you would have come to me. IAB is going to get involved now…it will be in Allen's report."
"What's going to happen?" Olivia asked.
"Honestly, I don't know." Cragen said. "At the very least, you can't remain partners."
Olivia and Elliot both suspected that much.
"You're going to get a rip for sure. Maybe 10 days without pay…maybe more. One of you may have to leave the squad."
Olivia felt her stomach drop slightly. She and Elliot had discussed that possibility, but she had really hoped it wouldn't come to that. "Is there any way we can both stay?"
"You're not in a great position to be asking for special treatment." Cragen snapped. He let out a sound of frustration.
"I know." Olivia said quietly. "I'm sorry."
"If we had been ahead of this, I may have been able to do something. To work this out without anyone else getting involved but now…"
"Cap'n." Elliot said. "If someone needs to leave, it's going to be me."
"El, we never decided that." Olivia said, shocked at his statement. They had argued about it, and then had decided to see what happened before they jumped to any conclusions.
"Stop." Cragen said, raising his hand. "I don't want to lose either one of you." He admitted. "But it may be out of my hands." He stood up. "But for now…consider yourself on vacation. I don't want you here, especially if IAB is going to come looking for you."
"For how long?" Elliot asked.
"Until I tell you to come back."