[Chapter 14 : Taking a Break ]

Hey all. SO sorry for the delay! I had no internet last weekend and this week has been so busy! Anyway here are 2 chapters, I'll try upload more this weekend.

Thank you so much to those who are following my story and especially ReaganBaby, SVU Lover, and Casey Millington who sent me reviews. I really appreciate the reviews.

Olivia left Cragen's office and made her way over to Amanda's desk.

'Amanda, I'm sorry. You wanted to ask me something before I left to go to the bathroom.'

Amanda looked up from her work. She was so surprised that after what had happened in the last hour, Olivia had remembered that Amanda had called her earlier. The fact that Olivia had remembered just added to the respect Amanda already had for her mentor.

'Um, yes, but Liv it can wait. It isn't urgent.'

Olivia sat down in the empty chair next to Amanda's desk. 'Amanda, thanks but I'm ok. What ya need?'

'I was just going through these forms and I came to this one and I wasn't sure how to do it. We didn't use these back home.'

'Ok. Let's take a look.' Olivia moved her chair closer and proceeded to guide her young colleague through the paper work.

Five minutes later Amanda had more clarity on how to proceed with her work.

'Thanks Liv.'

'Thanks for calling the Captain for me.'

Amanda smiled. 'Didn't know what else to do. Liv, if I may, I just wanted to say, you are still amazing. He hasn't taken that from you. I still want to be like you when I grow up.' Both women immediately laughed.

'Thanks Amanda. Listen I am going to go home for a few hours.'

Amanda looked a bit shocked. Was this Olivia stepping back from an investigation? Maybe the incident had changed her more than Amanda had thought.

'Amanda, I'm not stepping back from this case.' It was as if Olivia had just read Amanda's thoughts. 'I'm just taking a few hours to regroup. I have to go see Sarah in the morning and I don't want any of my stuff getting in the way of my interview. The Captain also wants to start rotating us. As soon as this case ends and we get back to normal, there will be another case and another. We can't all collapse and spend two days in bed, we have to keep going, so at some point we all need to step back and take care of ourselves. I'm just starting it off. Understand?'

'Guess it make sense.'

'Okay then. I'll see you in the morning. You good?'

'Yes, Liv. Thanks.'

'Cool see you tomorrow.'

Olivia turned to see Casey sitting at her desk.

'Hey Case.'

'Hey Liv.'

'Are you offering to do my paperwork for me?'

Casey stood up and put her hands up in mock surrender. 'Definitely not! I just ran away from mine.'

'Ah. Then to what do I owe this mid afternoon visit?'

'Well, as I said I've been sitting caged up in my office all day and forgot to stop for lunch. I just thought may you would like to join me?'

'And this offer, had nothing to do with a phone call from Cragen about my morning?'

'Even if he did, I still haven't eaten and neither have you.'

Olivia glanced over at Cragen's office and saw a guilty look on his face.

'Well, I guess I need to eat before I fall into my bed.'

Olivia waved at Cragen, picked up her stuff and followed Casey out the precinct.

Olivia unlocked the door to her new apartment and walked in with Casey following close behind. They put their bags down on the kitchen counter.

'Want a cup of tea before you go?'

'Are you sure? You probably need to hit the sack.'

'Another twenty minutes won't make a huge difference.' Olivia started to get mugs out the cupboards and put the kettle on. They had had a lovely few hours. After she accepted Casey's invitation to lunch, they had gone to a small deli and had a delightful lunch. After bringing Casey up to date on the case they had kept to lighter topics during their conversations. Casey mentioned that she wanted to do a bit of shopping as she had to get new suits for court and Olivia decided to tag along. She was really tired but she had learnt a long time ago that she needed time to relax before she went to bed when they were involved in a tough case. They had spent around an hour and a half in the shops.

'Like what you've done with the place.' Casey laughed.

'You don't like my interior decorating skills?'

'Um, well not much skill involved when there is like nothing in the place.'

'I call it minimalistic.' Olivia laughed as she brought their teas through to the lounge. 'Actually most of my stuff is still at the old place. I plan on going over on Saturday to start packing the rest of the stuff up. I have about two weeks to clear out that place.'

'How you feel about going back?'

'Not keen. Being trying to avoid it. But it's something I need to do and get it over with.'

Casey inwardly came up with a plan that she would surprise her friend with.

Casey made sure that she didn't stay long so that Olivia could spend some time alone before going to bed. Olivia smiled as she returned their two cups to the kitchen. She had had a lovely afternoon with Casey. For a few brief hours she had put everything negative aside and felt relatively normal, something that she hadn't felt for awhile. Olivia walked towards that bathroom to run a nice hot bath and as it ran she added some bath salts to the water. As she disrobed Olivia took a few moments to look at herself in the mirror. In the first few weeks after her assault, Olivia did not try and look at the scars that were on her body as it immediately caused her to have a flashback but as time went by seeing the marks did not lead to a flashback. She knew that she had to start being acclimatised to seeing her new body because acceptance would lead to healing. She forced her mind to replay her afternoon with Casey and away from anything bad while she relaxed in the bath.