Making a Dent

After Elliot had left for work in the morning Olivia wanted to do some investigations of her own. She grabbed her badge and her gun and headed towards the precinct where she sat outside waiting for Elliot and Hector to leave the building. An hour later Elliot and Hector walked out the front door stuffing doughnuts down their face and arguing about the difference between Miller and Miller Lite beer. Elliot spoke as he wiped his fingers on a napkin. "My point is if you exercise you can eat what ever you want. I'm tired of the diet crap. It's all a scam anyway."

Hector burped and scratched his beer belly, "Yeah, well not all of us can be as dedicated as you."

Olivia shook her head as she listened to them wonder down the street. She ran up to the squad room to look for Hector's notes on the school investigation. She copied the papers and just as she was getting ready to put them back into the filing cabinet Cragen spotted her.

"Olivia."

Olivia jumped in her skin. "Captain."

"What are you doing here?"

"I…I remembered that I never finished some of my paper work from some old cases, so I came by to make sure it was taken care of."

Cragen looked at her funny, but ignored her lie. "How are you?"

"I'm great. I actually want to tell you I'm ready to come back."

"Olivia, I've talked to Huang, you take two more off and call me then."

"You've talked to Huang? That's real confidential."

"I only asked him if he thought you were stable enough. He didn't give me details."

Olivia was enraged, but she let it slide for fear the papers jammed in her coat would fall out. "Captain, I know you need the help. I don't care what Huang said; I'm ready when you are. Give me a call if you change your mind." With that she pushed past him and walked towards the door.

Cragen turned to his office. "Good bye Olivia."

She threw her hand up as a goodbye signal and was gone.

Scene

Elliot and Hector walked into Melinda Warner's lab.

"Tell me you have something Melinda. I'm out of options." Elliot asked through the toothpick sticking out of his mouth.

"I got the results back from the blood tests. We have four victims, one perp, and 6 blood types. Somebody else was in that apartment with them. And all of them have the same Y-chromosomes. You're mystery man is related to your father."

"Great so now we have a hidden son. I don't know how these people kept up with their lies."

Scene

Olivia knocked on the door of Amy Schultz. A thin woman with blonde hair answered with a baby on her hip. Olivia flashed her badge and she opened the door.

"Hi, I'm detective Olivia Benson. I need to ask you some questions about the Lacey family."

"Oh please, come in. It's just terrible what happened to them. My daughter has been in therapy all week. I can't even get her to go to school."

They walked into the kitchen and sat at the table while Amy finished feeding her baby.

"Mrs. Schultz, Grace Lacey and your little girl Amanda are best friends is that correct?"

"Yes, they were joined at the hip. They had a sleepover every week."

"So you probably know the family well?"

"Well I knew Ellen, her mother well. I only met Robert once when I dropped Amanda off for a play date, but he was a man of little words."

"Did Ellen ever tell you about Robert's occupation?"

"No. She was a very private woman. I do remember Grace talking about her father's business apartment. When I asked her about it she told me that they went there to help make daddy's friends happy. I figured he was just a hardworking businessman."

"Did the children ever show signs of abuse?"

"No. They were all happy and healthy."

Olivia scribbled in her notebook as fast as she could, "Do you know where this business apartment might be?"

"Well, yeah, it was the apartment you found them in."

Olivia stopped writing and looked up at her, "What do you mean by that?"

"They live right down the street in a beautiful Victorian home. The apartment you found them in had to be their other place."

"Victorian home? Where is there house located?"

Amy stood up to look in her address book, "Why?"

"Well that address is news to us. All of their records including the ones we found at the school board had the address to this apartment."

Amy handed her the address book, "I didn't realize they used that apartment so often. It makes sense though. Grace was never allowed to visit or call Amanda during the week."

"Do you know if they have any other family members like a grandmother or an aunt or uncle?"

Amy thought about it, "Um…. actually, I remember there was one time Ellen had to go out of town for a family emergency, and we watched the kids for them. She gave me a phone number. I think I still have it." She started digging through the junk drawer in her kitchen. "Yes, here it is. There's no name on it though."

"Can I take that with me?"

"Yeah, sure. I guess it won't be of any use to us now." Her eyes watered up. Olivia patted her on the back and took the piece of paper.

"You've been very helpful. I think this will be good for now. Here's my card, please call if you think of anything else that might help us."

Scene

Olivia was on her way to the Lacey home when she called Elliot.

"Stabler." Elliot said from the other side.

"Elliot, you need to get to 6512 W. 48th St, now."

"What did you do Olivia?"

"Just do it Elliot."

"Are you working?"

"Not exactly. Just get there. Hector needs to perform a better interview process if he wants to stay a detective. The Lacey's had another home. I did a background check and the name on the mortgage bill is Michael Sparelli."

"Michael Sparelli? Like Joseph Sparelli from the mob case?"

"Yes. I'm on my way to the Lacey house on 7789 E. Carson. You and Hector go check out this other address. A Linda Hurtz owns it. I'm guessing that Linda is a family member from Ellen's side. "

"Livia, stop. You can't go to their house by yourself."

"I'm already here."

"Olivia, I'll send Fin and Munch. Now go home. This is not your case."

"You can't send Fin and Munch. They're out on another case."

Elliot pulled at his hair. "Liv, this is not good. What if the perp is there? You can't take him on by yourself and you don't have a warrant. It's not safe."

There was silence.

Elliot shook his phone, "You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"I didn't mean you couldn't take on a perp. I just meant you shouldn't do it alone. Come on how many times have I messed up a case because I thought I could handle it by myself?"

" Ok, you win. I'll call Casey to get you a warrant."

"Olivia you need to go home."

She hung up

Elliot clicked the phone off and slammed his car door, "Damn it"

Hector got into the car, "Lover's quarrel?"

"Something like that."

Scene

Olivia made it back to her apartment after she talked to Casey about getting a warrant for the Sparelli residence. She started making a chicken and rice dinner when she got a knock on her door. She grabbed her gun and walked to the door. "Who is it?"

A muffled voice came through the door, "Olivia, it's Maureen."

"Maureen? Hang on a second." Olivia walked in a circle with her gun in the air. She wasn't sure what to do with it. She jammed it in one of the kitchen cabinets. "I'm coming."

She opened the door to find all of Elliot's kids standing on the other side. "Hi guys!"

Maureen wrapped her arms around Olivia's neck for a big hug. "Olivia, I'm so glad you're alive. I was so worried."

Kathleen, Elizabeth, and Dicki, also gave her a big hug.

Dicki added, "Yeah, we prayed for you. Dad told us not to talk about it though, but Mom told me I could give you the card I made for you." He pulled a homemade card out of his pocket.

Olivia opened it up and read, " 'Welcome home. Get well soon. Love Dickie.' Thank you so much Dickie."

"Dickie has a crush on you Livi" Elizabeth teased.

Dicki hit Elizabeth and cried, "I do not. Shut up." Olivia smiled and gave him a big hug. "It's ok Dickie, I have crushes on a lot of people." He blushed and grinned.

"Well come on in." Olivia said as they all walked into her small kitchen. "So where's your dad?"

Kathleen answered, "He's trying to find a parking space. He told us to get out of the car because Maureen was driving and she almost killed us 10 times."

"Shut up, Kathleen. What do you know about driving? You've failed your test twice already." Maureen yelled back.

Olivia jumped in, "Whoa, girls. Calm down. I didn't even get to take my drivers test until I was 20 years old, so Kathleen you have plenty of time. Maureen, you were probably driving just fine. Your Dad tends to exaggerate situations he can't control."

"Tell me about." Maureen said as she sat down on a bar stool by the counter.

Scene

Elliot got out of the elevator and he could hear the kids laughing and talking loudly. He opened the door to the apartment, "Hey, what's going on in here? I could hear you in the elevator."

Elizabeth ran over to Elliot, "Daddy, Olivia has video games from the 80's."

Kathleen and Dickie were playing an Atari racecar game on the floor of Olivia's living room. Maureen and Olivia were cheering them on and backseat driving.

Maureen squealed, "Dickie, that's the wrong way."

"AH I crashed!" Dickie yelled. He stood up and stomped his feet.

"Hey, Dickie, settle down, there are people living under you." Elliot yelled.

Olivia looked at Dickie and shrugged, "He's the boss." She walked into the kitchen as the kids played in the living room. "Hi dad." She said to him with the dark sarcasm she loved to throw at him every now and again.

"Sorry, Liv, I forgot it was my turn to take the kids out for dinner."

"So you brought them to my house?" she laughed.

"Well I needed to pick up my wallet. I left it here, but then the kids wanted to say hi, and then Maureen was making me nervous, so we just all stopped. Sorry, I should have called."

Olivia smiled, "It's fine. I'm glad you stopped. Actually, I was in the process of making a big thing of chicken and rice. There should be enough for all of us. I like to make enough to last me a week."

Elliot looked at the oven, and then back to her. "Now how did you have time to figure out my case and cook dinner?"

"What can I say, I'm a superwoman." She replied as she stepped closer to him and leaned on the counter.

"Olivia Benson, if I wasn't so pissed at you for going behind my back, I'd have to kiss you for saving my case." He touched her hand. "Why don't you just come back to work? I'd rather know you were doing the job by the rules and with back up."

She linked her fingers into his and replied, "Elliot Stabler, I know that you like to think that I'm as irrational as you, but I have to tell you that I already tried that. Cragen won't let me come back."

"Yeah and he's probably right, so stop using me as your role model."

Olivia got right up next to him with her face right under his chin, "What makes you think I'm modeling you?"

He locked eyes with her, "I've been noticing that your temper is a lot hotter then usual."

Her upper lip slightly moved into a sultry half smile and she slowly raised herself up to his lips, "You haven't even seen how hot I can be. I don't think you could handle it."

They were about to exchange a kiss when Maureen walked in the kitchen. She cleared her throat. Elliot backed away from Olivia and Olivia walked to the refrigerator for some water. "Maur, what's up?", Elliot said as he shook his sexual thoughts to the side.

With a look of shock in her eyes Maureen asked "Are we gonna grab some food or what?"

"uh, yeah, Liv said we could eat with her." He yelled to the living room, "Would that be ok with everyone?"

Maureen stood and glared at her dad. Elizabeth and Dickie yelled back, "Yeah, dad let's eat with Olivia."

And Kathleen pulled her cell phone from the side of her head and answered, "Whatever, as long as I can watch Scrubs at 9."

Elliot looked at Maureen, "You ok with that?"

She looked at her father with disappointment on her face. She wasn't sure how she felt about her dad being with Olivia like that. She remembered the fights her mother had with him over Olivia and their actions just confirmed the relationship he said never existed. "I guess." She said softly.

"Come on, we'll get dinner at Ed's diner another night." Elliot replied as he pinched her shoulder.

"El, you guys don't have to stay." Olivia said. She could see Maureen was a little upset.

"No, we're staying. Maureen's just being a spoiled brat."

Maureen smacked her dad on the arm, "hey I'm only spoiled because you made me that way."

"That's it, come here." Elliot lifted her above his shoulder and pretended to body slam her on the couch. Dickie and Elizabeth jumped on top of him and they all wrestled and giggled, while Kathleen chatted on her cell phone in the corner. Maureen's reaction to their show of affection made Olivia feel uncomfortable. The last thing she wanted was to upset Elliot's kids. She loved them as much as he did. She was like their unofficial aunt. She could see why Maureen would feel weird about the idea of her being in the place her mother use to have.

Just then Elizabeth looked over at Olivia and yelled, "Charge Olivia!" Elliot, Dickie, and Elizabeth ran over and pulled her to the ground. They all jumped around and tried to tickle her. Maureen sat on the couch laughing and catching her breath. Kathleen started yelling from the sidelines, "You guys are too loud. I can't hear anything."

Elliot threw a pillow at her and said, "You shouldn't be on the phone anyway. Who gave you that thing? "

"Mom."

"Yeah, well Mom isn't here." Everybody paused and took a breath of silence. Elliot looked at Kathleen, who hung up her phone and then he turned his head to the mountain of his smiling children on top of Olivia and yelled, "Charge Kathleen!"

They all headed towards Kathleen who jumped off the floor and tried to get away. "You all have serious problems. Why is my family so weird?"

Elliot pulled her back to the floor, "Because it's our job to embarrass you every second of the day." Suddenly Elliot stopped, "Hang on. Do you smell that?"

Olivia shot up, "Shit. I mean, crap!" She ran for the oven that had black smoke pouring out of it. The smoke alarm started to go off and all was chaotic as Olivia opened the window and Elliot turned off the oven. They looked at the black chicken and coughed at the left over smoke.

Olivia scrunched her face and sadly said, "Ok maybe I'm not that super."

Maureen stood in the kitchen doorway and smiled, "It's too bad, Liv. Maybe we'll eat with you next time. "

Elliot gave Maureen the look of death and angrily replied, "Everybody get your coats and go to the car, now." Elliot threw the keys at Dickie, "The car's at the end of the block. Nobody drives, but me."

They all grabbed their coats and shuffled out the door.

Olivia looked at Elliot when the door closed, "Well that was awkward. I'm guessing they don't know about us?"

"Maureen has just been difficult about the divorce from day one, and Kathy's been feeding her lies about you for years. I'll talk to her. Why don't you put your shoes on and come with us."

"Ah, I'm gonna take a rain check. You should probably go spend some quality time with them. They only get you once a week. I'll go out with you guys when they've been informed."

Elliot nodded and grabbed her hands, "Olivia, I'm so sorry. I'm not really good at this whole….thing. Whatever you want to call this. God, I haven't even taken you out on a real date yet. Are you sure you want to do this with me?"

"Elliot, I've been secretly dating you for years. If you think I'm going to leave before I get to go on a real date with you, you have another thing coming. Maureen is the least of our problems. Let's just take things slow." She threw his coat at him. "Now get out of here. I'll see you tomorrow."

Scene

Olivia opened her eyes to a bright light. Elliot was there, standing next to her.
"Liv, you're awake. Do you want to see him?"

She didn't answer him, but he walked away and came back with a bundle of blankets. He held the bundle close to her face, "Liv it's a boy."

She looked at the bundle and inside was a scarred face smiling and snarling at her, "I'm you're trophy now, forever and ever, detective Benson. Touch me. Touch me Bitch."

Olivia shot up in her bed. She was sweating and breathing heavily. It was only a dream. She sat in the dark calming herself down. She was sweating, but her whole body was cold. The door to her bathroom was open and she could see the nightlight inside flickering. A flash of the mocking bird burned in her memory. All of the sudden she heard a thumping coming from the kitchen. She went to grab for her gun, but it was gone. "Damn it, it's in the kitchen.", she thought. Quickly she searched for the bat under her bed and slowly inched her way to the bathroom and closed the door. Then she walked into the living room and peaked into the kitchen. The window was still open from earlier. She shivered as she closed it and the thumping that her blinds were making went away. She opened the drawer that her gun was in and took it back to bed with her. Every time she closed her eyes the memories of her rape kept coming back. "Don't do this again.", she told herself. She tried to read but her mind wouldn't focus on the words. She thought about the Lacey/ Sparelli case and decided to call Elliot.

Elliot groggily answered the phone, "Somebody better be dead."

"Grace Sparelli."

"Liv, it's 4am why are we talking about Grace Sparelli?"

"I can't sleep and I just realized why Grace Sparelli is dead. Joseph had cancer when we investigated him for murder last year. He's looking for someone to take over for him when he dies. Alonzo Sparelli's family was killed last year in the fire. So the next in line would be Michael. Someone didn't want Michael to be the head of their little operation and he knew that. They found Michael's identity when Grace did that movie."

"Yes, I know all of this, because we interrogated Joseph after you called us. He's not spilling anything. Why am I telling you this?"

"What happened at the Linda Hurtz address?"

"Olivia, I'm not talking about this with you. You are not aloud to work on this case. Period. Go to sleep."

"Elliot, I can't."

"You can't what?"

"I can't sleep."

"Talk to me. Why can't you sleep?"

There was a pause.

Elliot really wanted her to just be open with him, "You're never going to get back to work if you don't start talking to people about your problems."

She didn't want to talk about it, but she knew it was what she needed to do. For the next hour she told Elliot all of the gory details and fears in her mind. After she got it all out she sleepily said, "Elliot, I love you.", and fell into a deep sleep.