"Oh, come on! I'm dying to meet your friends," Laura pleaded.

Olivia just shook her head. "They're just the people I work with, and we have something really important we're working on right now so everyone needs to stay focused. I just can't have you around work with me right now."

Laura looked disappointed and whispered a, "Fine," before making a comfortable place for herself on the couch and turning on the TV.

Liv smiled, relieved the argument was over. "There's money on the counter for pizza if you get hungry. We have basically nothing so get whatever you want. I'll be home later."

"When is later, exactly?" she asked. She wasn't being rude, just very curious.

She paused. How did she answer that? "Um… I don't know really. I'll call you if it's not too late. Bed by 11:30, please."

Laura nodded. "No problem," she said.

They had taken the afternoon to get settled and have lunch. Olivia had helped her unpack her small amount of stuff and then they had just hung out for a while. But now it was nearing four and Olivia knew Cragen, El, and everyone else wouldn't be happy if she didn't get back there. "Bye, lock the door behind me," she called as she left. Laura channel surfed before finally landing on M-TV. She pulled a blanket over her and prepared herself for a night of doing nothing.

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Liv got back to the precinct around four-thirty. It was surprisingly sparse on people. She looked around for Elliot, Munch, Fin, anyone but she couldn't find them so she assumed they were either in interrogation or out busting some asses. She pulled her coat off and hung it on the back of the chair. Her shoes click-clacked as she made her way over to Cragen's office. He was rifling through some paper work and didn't look up as she appeared in the doorway.

"I'm back. Where is everyone?" she inquired. She wasn't really sure what was going on. She'd never seen the place so empty, except for maybe those few times when she'd stayed 'til one or three in the morning.

"They arrested our guy and Elliot got a full confession. There was another call for you two but you weren't around so I sent Fin and Munch. Elliot should be around here somewhere," he said without looking up. She nodded and left without another word. It was only 4:45. She knew that when Fin and Munch got back there would be something for them to do but she didn't know what to do until then so she figured the first step was to find Elliot.

She checked just about everywhere before finally finding him taking a nap on one of the bunks He was sound asleep, his face calm. It didn't show any of the stress or frustration lines that accompanied this line of work. She didn't want to wake him but she wasn't sure what else to do. She nudged his shoulder.

He stirred slightly and his eyes opened like slits. He smiled slightly but didn't do much else. After a second he scooted over a little. "Have a seat," he said, his voice raspy from just waking up.

"Sorry to wake you." She took a seat near his feet.

He shook his head. "I don't mind. How's your sister? What did you say her name was?" His eyes were closed again but she could tell he was listening intently.

"Her name's Laura. She seemed happy to see me. I don't think she really minded moving out here. We look a little similar, I guess. I need to find a school for her to be enrolled in, but I just haven't gotten around to it. But I can't keep her cooped up in that apartment all day. Especially not when I'm here all the time." She could tell she was practically spilling her guts but she didn't mind. Elliot was just sort of easy to talk to. He was like a brother to her and much better than her biological brother.

"I can help with the school thing. Kathy can probably get her into whatever school the kids go to. I bet she's a lot like you. Your sister, I mean," he said. His voice had lost its raspy-ness and gone back to normal.

"I don't know. She seems really smart, but just like any teenager. Young and naïve, ya know?"

He nodded. "You know you don't have to keep her cooped up all the time. Why don't you bring her in tomorrow? I don't think Cragen would mind. I'll talk to him about it, but you might have noticed that there isn't a lot going on. Fin and Munch's case won't take long. Just the typical abuse by father," he said. He didn't like using the word typical to describe someone's pain but he was still to asleep to find a better word.

"Maybe I will. She asked about meeting you guys. She wanted to come in today but I said no because I thought we'd still be working on that last one. Congrats on the confession, by the way," she said grinning.

He smiled. "Thanks," he whispered.

"I'm gonna go grab a snack. You want anything?" she asked.

"No, thanks. I'm good," he answered.

"Okay. You sleep. I'll come get you if we need you. You deserve a nap," she said, remembering he'd been here 'til past midnight almost every night this week.

He nodded slightly before drifting off back to sleep. She left the room feeling a little better about all the problems she saw with bringing a fourteen-year-old to New York.

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Olivia got home around ten. There hadn't been much going on at work but she had finished up a ton of paperwork she'd been putting off. The traffic hadn't been too bad on the way home. She walked in to find Laura curled up on the couch, fast asleep. She smiled. It was the second time that day that she had walked in on someone she cared about sleeping. She flicked off the TV but decided to let her sleep there. She left the hall light on so Laura could find her way to her room if she woke up during the night but she didn't expect that to happen. Laura had had a long day. She changed into a t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants and crawled into bed. She didn't even turn on the TV. She fell asleep in moments. She hadn't even thought about the fact that tomorrow her co-workers would have to be pestered by her little sister.

Author's Note: I know this chapter was a little blah and uneventful but it was important to get to the next chapter. The next chapter will hopefully be up tomorrow night.