Author's Note: Hang in their guys. All the intense stuff starts after this chapter. But don't skip this one. It's important too :) Thanks for the reviews so far guys, they mean a ton. Enjoy!
When the girl walked into the room Elliot Stabler knew exactly who she was. The hair, those eyes, and hell, even her ears, were so familiar he thought maybe he had traveled back in time. But then he remembered his discussion with Olivia from the previous day.
So this was Laura Benson. She looked spot on like her sister. He examined her from across the room but said nothing, attempting to be discreet. She was young. She looked exactly like what he thought Liv would have looked like in high school: medium height, brown hair about shoulder length, chocolate brown eyes that were wide and curious. He hadn't even noticed Liv walk up beside him.
She leaned against the desk behind her. She followed the path of his eyes and noticed where they rested. A small smile played across her lips. He glanced over at her. "Hey," she greeted.
"She looks just like you," he said with a laugh. He hadn't been expecting such resemblance.
"Really?" She looked over at her sister but couldn't find too many similarities.
"Yeah. Anyway, I talked to Cragen. He said it was fine if she hung out here for the day. But just for today. Crime's pretty slow at the moment. We're just waiting to hear back for some people about that thing Munch and Fin were working on. But they say it's practically a closed case."
"That was fast," she mused. She couldn't imagine what had made it so easy.
"Yeah," he agreed. His eyes were still on Laura who was looking around the room with an interest that could not be stifled. Her eyes moved around, taking everything in but never once resting on her sister and Elliot. She seemed excited to be there but had that look in her eye like when she couldn't quite figure things out. She was attempting to recognize people from Liv's descriptions this morning before they came.
They're staring at me again, she thought to herself. She refused to meet either of their eyes, preferring to take in everything that was going on in the room. Most people were just sitting staring at file folders and leafing through page after page, looking for anything they could have missed. A few, like her sister and the man she assumed was Elliot based off her list of people she would meet, were standing and talking. A few people were watching her. She could feel their eyes. Others still were gathered around a cork board trying to piece information together. So this was what her sister did for a living. It didn't look all that exciting to her.
She figured she wouldn't really get to see any action though. They probably didn't let people who weren't cops see anything at all really. She noted where Olivia had put down her keys and walked over to the desk. She had a seat and glanced around at the things on the desk. There was a lamp, a few stacked files, a pen cup, but nothing unusual that said this desk belonged to her sister. She felt the extreme urge to go through the drawers, find something that linked this place to Olivia, but she suppressed it and instead took to spinning in slow circles in the chair.
"You can go say hello to her, ya know?" Olivia said. "You are the reason she's here after all."
"I'm the reason she moved out to New York?" he asked, mock serious.
"You know what I mean," she said rolling her eyes.
"I wouldn't know what to say." He turned around to his desk and shuffled some papers absently, trying to look busy but not being very convincing.
"Introduce yourself. Make sure you didn't freak her out. It's pretty easy to feel when someone's staring at you. She just might want to know why."
He shrugged, put down the papers and walked over to the table. He pulled over a chair from a nearby desk and had a seat. Laura slowly stopped spinning and watched him intently instead. She could tell he didn't know what to say. "I'm Laura," she began with a wide grin, hoping to break the ice even a little bit. "You work with my sister, huh? You're lucky. I hope you know that." She wasn't kidding about the second part but she said it so lightly he couldn't really take it seriously.
"Trust me, I know I am," he said with a laugh. "I'm Elliot Stabler." He didn't stick out a hand for her to shake or seem to expect anything at all from her really which was a nice feeling. She had never been allowed to just be.
"Olivia told me about you, Mr. Stabler," she said though 'Mr. Stabler' sounded all wrong to her on her tongue.
"Elliot," he said, not liking being called Mr. Stabler. It made him sound old. "Really? You don't happen to remember anything specific, do you?" he asked jokingly.
She shrugged. "Depends what you can offer me in return."
"I've got some great stories about, Liv," he said in an offering tone. Laura seemed to be weighing the benefits of keeping her secrets or sharing them. But she like Elliot and was desperate to be able to talk to someone who wasn't family, so she decided it was best to accept his offer.
"Sounds good to me!" she said cheerfully. "Though from what she's said you probably could have just interrogated the information right out of me without needing to give me any info on Olivia."
"It's more fun to give stories to someone who can use them properly though," he joked. She shrugged. She didn't really plan on using any of the stories. She just wanted, needed to hear what had happened to her sister in the past seven years. She assumed Elliot was one of the reasons in her prolonged stay in New York. She noticed a lot of things about him. He had a wedding band on. The stress lines on his face indicated he had been doing this job probably as long as Olivia. There were several frames on the desk she had seen him at which indicated he probably had children and with luck some might be around her age. But mostly she noticed how nice he was and how easy to talk to he was. No wonder Liv had described him as one of her closest friends and the best partner she could have wished for. But she assumed Liv wouldn't want him to know she had said that.
Olivia watched them from across the room. She noticed the ways both of their faces were lit up from the fun conversation they were having. She wondered what it could be about but didn't even have the notion it could be about her. She walked over to the two, not trying to interrupt, just wanting in on the fun, and pulled up a chair next to Elliot.
"What are you two up to?" she asked, noting the devious look in El's eyes.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Laura said brightly.
Elliot smiled happily. He hadn't had such a light hearted discussion in that building in years. It had seemed like a foreign language at first, well before Laura had started the conversation anyway. She reminded him of his kids, before they had become teenagers anyway. But he could tell she was one of the good ones, one who was probably practically incorruptible. She was sweet and guessed that Liv had probably been much the same way cause the girl had to have gotten it somewhere.
"What's going on here?" Cragen asked as he stood behind Laura who spun around in her chair, eyes wide. She hadn't been expecting anyone to come in on their conversation. The authoritative tone in the man's voice made her nervous.
"Sir, this is Liv's sister. I talked to you about her this morning. You said it was fine," El tried to explain though he didn't seem nearly as nervous as Laura.
"I didn't give you two the right to slack off though, now did I?" he asked, not really seeming to care all that much. The small workload they were facing had made him less of a martinet.
"Sorry, sir, we were just trying to persuade Laura to get out of my chair. She's so stubborn," Olivia joked, winking at her.
"Just make sure you get something done today instead of playing with the new toy all day," he said before he walked away.
Laura thought about saying something about the toy comment but decided against it. She knew she was good at arguing her point but he didn't seem to have meant any harm. When she thought about it she probably was like the shiny new toy. They would rather talk to her than do their work just like little kids would rather play with their toy than do their chores.
Elliot and Olivia had launched back into a conversation of their own so Laura let her thoughts wander. She could tell by the way they talked they were more than just partners, they were like siblings. Sometimes Elliot took the role of the eldest and sometimes Liv had to, the roles were interchangeable as their relationship called for it. She wasn't surprised Olivia had stayed out here. She would have.
"Laura?" Liv said her name for the third time and Laura finally took notice.
"Sorry, I guess I was lost in thought," she glanced over at them.
"We need to get some work done today but how bout we, all three of us, go grab some ice cream later?"
"Sounds good," she replied brightly. "I brought I book. I guess I'll just read. Let me know when you're ready."
---------
Laura had read the day away by the time they were ready for ice cream. They had taken a short break for lunch where they had had sandwiches. It was practically four in the afternoon now. They had eaten around twelve so Laura knew she was about due for an afternoon snack.
"Ready?" Elliot had asked as he pulled on his coat. She noticed Olivia was doing the same thing, but only Elliot grabbed his keys. So they would be back. She too pulled on her coat and stood up. Her legs were stiff.
"More than ready," she replied brightly. They walked out and left the precinct in Elliot's car. They drove to central park. Elliot drove around 'til they found a suitable parking place and they got out. There was a small vendor inside the park selling hot chocolate, hot pretzels, and, despite the cold weather, ice cream. Elliot seemed to know the guy, either from years of visiting the man with his family and buying food or knowing him personally.
"And what would you like, little Miss?" the vendor asked. Laura paused. She wasn't really sure. She didn't really feel like getting anything extravagant. She decided to stick to the basics.
"Chocolate, please," she answered with a grin. Despite the cold biting at her nose and the feeling of her cheeks reddening from the frost, she was extremely happy and couldn't stop smiling. She had trouble reminding herself that she had only been there for a day. She felt like she had seen her sister every day for the past seven years she had been away and she felt like Elliot had been a friend to her for years.
After they had each gotten their order they walked through the park for a while eating away at their snack until there was nothing left, not even the cone. "That was delicious," Laura said cheerfully. She felt like nothing could get her down. How could she have known that destruction was so near, practically close enough for her to touch it? How could she have known that her world would be flipped just when she was getting comfortable with it again? She couldn't have.
But for the moment she was happy, and that was all she cared about.
When they got back to the precinct she went back to reading and Olivia and Elliot filled out more paperwork, it seemed like the paperwork came from an everlasting stack that grew by two files every time you took one off. Olivia and Laura each said good night to Elliot and Laura said she hoped to see him again soon. Olivia smiled as Laura walked away. "I told you it wasn't that hard," Olivia said.
"She might think I'm weird," he said.
"She thinks you're great, she told me," Olivia replied, trying to ease his worries. "I think she's happy to have found a friend here in New York," she mused.
"She didn't need a friend. She has you. She really adores you, Liv," he said thoughtfully. Olivia smiled gratefully. She was just as unsure about what Laura could be thinking as Elliot was. She just hoped what he said was true and could find no reason he would lie.
"Guess I'll see you in the morning," she whispered as she noticed Laura was staring at her, waiting for her from across the room. She left him standing there.
"See you tomorrow," he replied as she walked out the door with Laura.
When the got home, Laura almost fell into her bed, completely succumbing to sleep. Down the hallway, Olivia did the same thing.