Slap: Chapter 9
The morning passed quickly and suddenly Olivia found herself furiously trying to finish up a series of reports that she needed to file in the next three hours so they could keep their suspect locked up. It was close to 1pm and she hadn't eaten lunch yet. Her stomach was rumbling. She'd skipped dinner the night before, it'd been a stressful day and she'd relaxed with a run and then a whiskey; she hadn't felt like eating after the booze, she enjoyed the burning feeling in the pit of her stomach. She'd topped off with a large coffee with milk in the morning; that would get her through.
Olvetti strolled up to her desk and unceremoniously dropped a paper-wrapped sandwich on her desk. "What is this?" she asked, curious and a little annoyed at being interrupted.
"Turkey sub. Eat it."
"What? Why?"
"Why, Benson? Because it's lunchtime. And because three separate people in the last 24 hours have asked me if you eat. I don't want that hanging over my head, so eat it."
"Look, Olvetti, clearly I'm fine, don't worry about it." She gave him a look of pure exasperation. "But thanks for the sub. Pickles?"
"No pickles," he said.
"Good." She unwrapped the sandwich and started to eat.
The next morning they were trading off between finishing paperwork and interrogating their latest suspect or witness, depending on who you asked. Olivia had just come out of the interrogation room and was leaning on the side of her desk, telling Olvetti what she had just learned. Olvetti was listening to her when his eyes focused on something happening at the guard desk out in the hallway. He saw a blond teenager asking the guard something. The uniformed officer leaned forward, pointed at Benson and looked back at the girl. He could see her thank him and then come into the room hesitantly, her eyes looking at his partner. He held us his hand, stopping her description. "I think someone is here looking for you." He gestured behind her.
Olivia turned around and saw Kathleen Stabler standing nervously in front of her.
"Kathleen! What are you doing here? Is everything okay?" She stood up to give the girl a hug. She was rewarded with a quick smile.
"Everything's fine. Sorry to bother you at work, I just wanted your help." The girl shifted slightly, foot to foot.
"How did you know where to find me?" Olivia asked curiously.
"My dad said you transferred. I just googled you. Everything with cops is public record, Olivia. It just popped right up," she answered, as if everybody should know.
Olivia just nodded, showing Kathleen to the chair next to her desk. Olvetti gave her a look and then made himself busy in the other room.
"So what did you want help with?" She could tell by Kathleen's attitude that is wasn't anything too serious, but she was curious as to what would bring her all the way into the city.
"I have to decide on colleges by this weekend. I've made some lists, but I was wondering if you would help me sort out what I think…" She laid out several pieces of notebook paper on the desk.
Olivia couldn't help but smile as she looked over the papers. "So what do *you* think?" she asked. Kathleen smoothed out the papers and explained what she wanted and why and why she didn't want the other schools.
Olivia nodded her head and smiled at the girl as Olvetti took a seat at his desk again. "Sounds like you have a pretty good idea what you want already, Kathleen." She paused for a minute, wondering if she could get to the bottom of this. "You could've talked about this with your mom, or Maureen. Why come all the way into the city to talk with me?"
Kathleen shuffled the papers around into a stack and then looked up at the brunette. "I have to meet my dad for lunch to 'talk things over.' This means me listen to him argue why I should go to the Catholic University and live at home. I don't want that. And whenever I, or my mom, or Maureen debate with my dad, he ALWAYS win. When YOU debate with him, YOU win. So, I figure you tell me what to say and how to say it, and then I go to Stoneybrook and live in the dorms." She looked up at Olivia with wide eyes.
Olivia fought back a chuckle and said "Kathleen, you are going to do just fine in college, wherever you end up. Now, here's what you say to your dad…." She proceeded to help Kathleen line up an argument that she knew would make her father agree, if not be entirely happy about it.
Twenty minutes later, Kathleen left the building, notes in hand and instructions to let her know how it went. Olivia went back to her files, a small smirk on her face. As soon as the girl left the room, Olvetti was at her side. "What was THAT about? Who's the kid?"
"That was Kathleen Stabler." She said it simply, not offering him anything extra. He could keep his nosy self on his side of the desk.
"That was Stabler's kid? What'd she need? Anything wrong?"
"Gosh, you're nosy." She said it with a smirk, hoping he would drop it.
"So what'd she want from you?" he pushed.
"She wanted help on how to talk to her father about colleges."
"And she came to you because….?"
"Because I know how to change her father's mind. Look, I've known her for years, since she was practically a baby. I look out for her."
Olvetti just nodded at her. Curious, he thought. This woman acted as if her life was incredibly simple, but the more he got to know her, the more he was realizing there was a lot more to her than he had thought, she just wasn't going to share any of it.
"You ever think about having kids?" he asked her suddenly.
Olivia didn't respond, pointedly ignoring him, which she did often when he asked any questions that were personal.
"Hey, Benson," he went on, "it's been almost a month. One personal question in a month. You gotta throw me a bone sometime."
She didn't meet his eye, but rolled her shoulders back. "Okay, fine. No,I have never seriously considered having children."
"Why not?" he followed up.
"Because it would not be a good idea." She said simply. It was an explanation that was not really an explanation. "That was two questions."
He opened his mouth to argue that that wasn't a good explanation, but decided against it.