okay, the long-awaited update is here. it is here because a.) time has finally found me, its forsaken friend b.) I am just so damn nice and c.) the thought of keeping all these fans waiting and in complete shambles gives me a slightly guilty conscience. so you know me, the wonderful person I am, and I knew that deep-down inside you have all felt utterly incomplete without the benefits of your daily OE dosage. the fact of the matter is this: ending a story on an uplifting sex-in-church note and then not updating for weeks is a cruel and insensible thing. I solemnly swear I will not do it again.
for those of you truly dedicated fans, an update on my seemingly small and insignificant life: AP examination-ness has finished. so I am officially no longer highstrung about that. and I know I got at least a four because I found the whole thing to be kind of contrite and altogether easy. I have begun a semi-friends-with-benefits ordeal and it is going pretty swimmingly.
and now, for what you need. what you crave. what above all you seek.
(a special word to those of you that read your friends' fellow reviews: I am listening to your suggestions. and have officially agreed to two of them. so two of you will be very happy very very soon.)
WAHAHAHA, the power I have over this menial world. it just pwns.
by the way….this chapter is a few days after the last one. I'm going to start putting gaps in here and there so the damn thing can move along at quicker pace.
…
Everything can be so simple until you think about it. And then you're chasing after truths you're not even entirely sure exist, caught in a dizzying dance with love and life and insurance agents, tossed onto a strange and unfamiliar shore some call relationships.
But here he was, divorced, detached, whatever you wanted to call it…and feeling strangely normal. He had no desire to run after lost lives, or reach for the unattainable horizon. In this, his own dream, his own dance, he was oddly content. He didn't need to think about anything but the simple things he'd come to cherish: the cup of coffee in the morning, the warm pair of socks, cool evenings, quiet snowfalls. That place behind her ear where his mouth always rested when he was inside her.
He glanced up from the desk drawers he was clearing out, summoning command over suddenly whirling senses as her eyes met his, dizzyingly deep. She smiled softly, the small expression only he knew the meaning of.
There was movement above her left shoulder, and he glanced past the locks of her hair to see a tall blonde entering the room, pulling off her oversized white sunglasses and flexing a dangerous eyebrow towards him.
"Benson and Stabler," She announced, stopping the conversations in the room with the command in her voice.
Olivia turned in her seat, giving the woman a willing smile and waving slightly. "Over here."
"Valerie Bates," The woman said, pushing her sunglasses into her auburn hair. "My family lawyer will be arriving shortly."
"For what?"
Valerie glanced around the room, giving its contents a disapproving sneer. "Clarifications."
Olivia stood up, frowning. "I'm sorry. I don't think-"
"I'll need a word with you and your partner in private, Ms. Benson. I can speak with your captain later."
"But I would think-"
"Interrogation room C," Elliot interjected quickly, giving his partner a small nudge in the small of her back. This did not look like the woman who had any chance of being questioned on anything but her own terms. Besides, he remembered the stories about this one, and had no wish to summon the Satanic bitch Katrina had so 'lovingly' spoke of.
An older man in a business suit, whose graying hair and well-aged features only gave hints of how good-looking he must have been at one time, followed behind them as they entered the room, Elliot locking the door as Valerie instructed.
"Well, let's get down to it, shall we?" Valerie set her large and pale eyes on both of them as she sat across from them, her lawyer appraising them both with mixed reactions. "My brother has been wrongfully connected with a rape case. On behalf of the Bates family and my father's immediate wishes, I am here to remove his name from any further proceedings and erase all records of his connections with your case."
Elliot shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling the tension build up in the leg beside him as she pressed closer to him. "I think you had better discuss this with our ADA, Miss Bates."
"That's not really necessary." She said, nodding to her lawyer, who quickly had a suitcase ready and was pulling out a number of papers. "We're all on equal terms here, aren't we? We simply need your signatures and any documents containing my brother's name."
"This is classified information, Miss Bates." Olivia leaned forward. "And there is no law that grants us permission to obstruct or change official documentation of the New York Police Department."
"I see," Valerie bit her lip, glancing from one detective to another. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a checkbook. "We don't entirely understand one another, Miss Benson. You see, the Bates family has a very long and important legacy, one that has been upheld since the 1790's and one that will continue to be upheld for as long as we wish it. I am willing to give you anything: simply name the price."
"How about this- you and your lawyer take your checkbook and go, and my partner and I will get back to our jobs." Olivia said hotly, arms folding across her chest. Elliot pressed his knee into her thigh, begging with his body for her to stop.
"Miss Benson, I normally wouldn't do this, but…" Valerie began to scribble out a check, passing it across the table. "And my father will triple the price if needed."
"This is a check for one million dollars." Olivia stared, blinking down at the small paper before her. She glanced back up at the smugly smiling woman across the table. "You really think I'm going to risk for my job for your money?"
"With the prices I'm offering, you don't need a job. I just need my brother's name cleared. It's a sister's debt, you might say."
"Right. You can't disown him for it, since he's dead and all, so instead you have to come and do the dirty work yourself." Olivia frowned. "It's almost worth pitying you, Miss Bates. Give your brother hell for all his life and only truly redeem yourself when he's gone. How sad."
Valerie's eyes flashed menacingly. "I know you've already spoken to Katrina. The whore's probably told you all sorts of stories about how I ruined her childhood and made Jonathan into some sort of lost soul or something. But the truth is that while she sulked around and rubbed our faces in all her stupid little problems, I was the only one doing anything for the family. Everything I have done has been for the Bates name. Jonathan was successful because he was the son Daddy always wanted. I had to work my ass off to get any recognition from my father, which was never enough, and then after everything I'd done for the damn company, he gives it to Jonathan, who rubs it in my face and becomes a whole bastard about everything. Someone was bound to kill him eventually, the way he paraded around with our name on his back. Yet here I am, still doing Daddy's work, still trying to get that last word out of him. I've never deserved pity because I have never given anyone the time to give it."
The room fell silent. The door was opening, a frantic looking Casey stepping in.
"This ends here." She said, stepping quickly to the table. She picked up the documents on the table, giving them a cold frown. "This meeting is about as legal as these documents, and these are the biggest pieces of bullshit I've seen in a while."
"Right," Valerie stared across the table at Olivia, her eyes dark and dangerous. "I'll be on my way, then. Come alone Andrew." She stood up, heading for the door. But before she left, she turned to Olivia. "No hard feelings, right?"
Olivia did not respond. She was watching the woman go with a cold expression in her eye, a mixture of hatred…and of fear.
"Did I mention I hate rich people?" She whispered as they took their seats at the desk, his knee instinctively pressing against hers.
"I have a feeling that won't be the last time we see her." Elliot said quietly, taking a small sip of his coffee. Damn. It was cold already.
"Or her lawyer. Pushy bitch is not going to rest until her family name's been 'cleared' or whatever, I guarantee it. But the motive! My god, there's no doubt in my mind now who killed Jonathan. That bitch has wanted him dead ever since he was born."
"The question remains though…" He stared longingly at the cold coffee, and then met her eyes. "Who is telling the truth here? They both have different viewpoints, of course, but the pictures they're painting of Jonathan are pretty different. One says he's an angel, the other thinks he's an asshole."
"Well, Katrina was loathed by everyone but Jonathan, so of course she'll think so highly of him. And she hasn't really known the person Jonathan was with his family in a number of years. He could have been someone entirely different around her than when he was with the Bates, especially considering the 'treat everyone like shit' standards they seem to withhold."
"So who is Jonathan Bates anyway?"
"And how did he know about me?"
"Lauren Tracy, you mean."
Olivia sighed quietly, her fingers running through her hair as her eyes wandered across the room. He desperately wanted to reach out and take her hands in his own, remind her of where they were. Keep her on the ground even when she seemed to be struggling against the sun.
"Are you coming over tonight?" She whispered, letting her fingers fall into his palm. "I'd really like…I just…"
"I'll be there." He said, closing his palm around her hand. "I promise."
…
She'd had two more glasses of white wine than she'd needed. She was officially drunk, officially in love, officially in love with the paper cup that was resting on the corner of her kitchen counter. It was the color of a pill she hadn't taken this morning, and she distinctly remembered putting it in the dishwasher last night. Only that wasn't right. She couldn't put a paper cup in the dishwasher. Or maybe she had dreamt about it, because there had been a giant plate with a little girl sitting in it, and a wool hat she hadn't worn since college. And someone had been standing at the top of a mountain, throwing things off. Like her cutlery. What the fuck were they doing with her cutlery?
It didn't matter. She was stumbling into her apartment, hands wrapped around the back of his neck, fiddling with his collar and pulling off an already loose tie.
His shirt was off. How had that happened? But so were her pants, and that wasn't surprising. They fell backwards into the door of her bedroom, laughing as they hit the floor. She collapsed onto his bare chest, and then her mouth hit skin. Her mouth hit skin and her mind began to melt even faster than before.
He reached for her bra strap- teasing, tantalizing. She was being pressed against the door again; her legs were pulled up as he came to replace her lower half.
"Fuck," She whispered in his ear as he began to breathe harder against her cheek, and it was a command, not a curse. He obeyed, hands moving to her shoulders as he slid down her thighs.
But then there was a sound. A gunshot. In her state of mind, it was far away. It wasn't even a part of this world. Yet it was. He was pushing her to the ground, covering her with strong hands, running to the window. She fell over, staring in confusion.
There was blood on the door. Why was there blood on the door?
She stared at, frowning at the stain like rose petals against the pale porcelain she was leaning on.
He was yelling something, and the room was falling with her. Everything was falling. Tumbling. Tumbling into the sky.
She reached for his hand, reached for his leg, reached for his cock for Christ's sake, whatever it was her memory was spitting out before her. She was drunk once. But now she thought she was dead.
She heard her name in his voice, something warm around her body. But then someone was kicking her, and she was screaming.
And then it was red.
And black.
And cold.
"Olivia!" Elliot was crying as he floated past her on the fire escape, then vanished against the smoky landscape as something dark took him backwards.
She shuddered and embraced her womb.