I watched as I sat beside my partner, questioning the teacher. I'd always admired him, even if no-one else knew it. He was a great cop, he had passion, he had a good heart. Marriage and family meant everything to him. I knew that he was still hurting from his break-up with Kathy, and with not seeing his kids, and I really hated to see him get so worked up. He knew that he shouldn't keep it all bottled in, but he didn't know how to let it out. Lately, I'd been trying to help. My couch had seen a lot more of him the past few weeks. We'd gone out for drinks after work more. I felt that he just needed someone there for him, not even to talk to, just the comfort of being with someone he knew and trusted on a deeper level than most.
I took a long, hard look at the man sat across the table from us. I realised that his hands were shaking, and little beads of sweat were forming. I hated guys like this. They thought they could get away with anything, but when they got found out, they panicked, and they couldn't handle it. I just didn't understand why they even tried in the first place, if they were just gonna freak out.
"I'm gonna ask you one more time Mr Scott. Are you pursuing a relationship with your pupil, Megan Kent?" Elliot asked, and suddenly I snapped out of my own little world that I retreated into more than most people know.
"No, no, I'm not. I..." he paused and looked away. "Not Megan."
"Not Megan," Elliot stated, and Scott nodded.
"Wait..."I said, and he looked from my partner to me. "You mean not with Megan but with someone else?"/
"I want to call my lawyer," he stated.
"Is that what you mean?" Elliot questioned.
"I want to call my lawyer," he shrugged.
Elliot and I glanced at each other. We'd seen this so much, it really was getting old. The perp would almost admit to something, but would then call for their lawyer. It was impossible to know why they did it. To torture us? Did they get some perverse kick out of it? I didn't know, and to be honest? I didn't care.
We headed back to the squad room to be met by the Captain. I followed Elliot in and sat myself down on the chair. The Captain was a good guy too. Even though sometimes he could be a pain in the ass, to both Elliot and I, I knew that he was always looking out for us and trying to do teh best things in the situation, even if sometimes no-one was best pleased with him.
"Tell me where we're at on this teacher case," he ordered.
"Girl denied it. Teacher denied it," I replied.
"But the teacher, he said that he wasn't in a relationship with the girl, but with another pupil," Elliot stated and glanced over at me, cool blue meeting warm brown.
God, I loved it when he did that. It made my stomach jump. I knew that I shouldn't feel that way towards my partner, but I couldn't help it. Working side-by-side with someone, every day, for so long, it was different to any relationship that anyone else shared. You got to know them, on a deeper level. You had to completely trust them, with your life, becaust at any moment they might be the difference between living and dying. You had to have their back at all times, and you had to be prepared to make some sacrifices.
Also, you had to be able to step back sometimes, just to take a look at everything, but that wasn't something Elliot and I were too good at doing. We couldn't just take a breath and say 'This is just a job, and they're just my partner.' We had become something a little like Laurel and Hardy. We had become known as a pair, not just as Benson or Stabler. It was always Benson AND Stabler. That was fine with me though, because they were right. We were almost always together, and we did have a high solve rate, so it was alright.
"Okay, I want you to find out which pupil he's in a relationship with, and I want you to find out before he has a chance to abuse her even more," Craigan said, pointing a finger at us before stalking off to speak with Munch and Fin.
Elliot and I looked at each other, with a look that only said ' This should be fun.' There had to be at least 300 hundred girls at the school. Any of them could have been the one Scott was with, and we couldn't be 100 sure that he was actually telling the truth. I sighed softly, and Elliot paused before asking, "Where do you wanna start?"
"I reckon we should speak to the teacher again," I said, making eye contact with him. "Even if he has lawyered up. Maybe his lawyer will tell him if we find the girl without his help, Novak won't even consider making a deal."
"You think he's just gonna give the name up that easy?" Elliot spun round in his chair a little so that he was facing me.
"No," I shook my head. "Just a suggestion."
I looked down at my desk, but I could still feel Elliot's gaze on me. I was starting to feel uncomfortable after a few minutes, so I looked up, and he smiled slightly. "You wanna go talk to him?"
I nodded, and we grabbed our jackets, hauling ourselves off and heading out to find Mr Fraser Scott and have a word with him about this new relationship which had come to light.
So I don't know if this is any good, we shall see. Thank you for reading. :-