Chapter Four

Tension in the Door

Thanks so Marish89, Beautifully Tragic-Tragically Beautiful, BrittanyLS, MissFantabulous, DrusillaBraun, JennBenn3148, Little People, sergeanthappybunny, Tamasit1, nicole812us, TV Angel 711, SVUfan1006, mentalcase911, C.T., EnglishJumperChick13, ok, Hkitty9013, spacemonkey1129, onetreefan, and obsessedwithstabler for their reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in law and order, or any other show for that matter.

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"So she was raped here, the usual signs of a struggle, but no drag marks. This was definitely the scene of the crime." Olivia said, scanning the area with a hand, shading her eyes.

"This just got blown out of proportion." Elliot said. "The vic was a Fed, that's gonna muddy up the waters a bit for us."

"I'm not sure the perp knew though," Olivia said. "Something in my gut tells me it's a serial. Her being a Fed had nothing to do with it."

"Your gut isn't as good as physical evidence." Elliot said.

Olivia was taken back and only a step away from Elliot was the sign of that feeling. He had never spoken to her like that before. The warmness of her hand on his skin faded away as she realized that her Elliot had changed. Dani had changed him and so had the world.

"I'm sorry, I was just stating." She said.

"I can't present your gut in court." He said.

She shook him off. It wasn't worth getting into an argument now, but concern was etched into her features as she walked toward him.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"Nothing." He said. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

He glared at her. "I don't need a mother Olivia. I need a partner right now. Stop treating me like one of your victims and start treating me like a cop."

He didn't know why he was losing his cool or why he was taking out his anger at the nearest possible target, Olivia Benson. He just knew that the time that she had been gone had been rough on him, his feeling of abandonment and upon her return, he had let his care for her cloud his judgment. He took her back when he should've been angry at her betrayal. He forgave her before he knew that there was so much that was unforgivable. He felt that anger again at the familiarity of working beside her, as if nothing had happened, no change had come between them.

But change had. Time had torn open wounds in him that refused to heal. This angered him and he directed his anger to the only one who would bear it.

She didn't answer him, just stared at him for a moment. Then she turned away, her hair falling over her eyes as she focused on the crime scene. They worked for the rest of the day in silence, not silence where they were comfortable and at ease with each other, but one of discomfort. Olivia was trying not to provoke Elliot further, while Elliot was trying to keep his rampaging emotions under wraps.

They bagged and took notes and then piled into the car.

"Want a coke?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "I don't drink coke."

He glanced at her strangely. "Why?"

She shrugged, "It's bad for you."

"Oh." He said.

Then silence lingered again. It was a relief when they arrived at the precinct and Olivia could leave the beacon of awkwardness and tension behind. Dani was waiting at the doorway.

"Took you long enough." Dani said.

"We were thorough." Olivia said.

"Thorough or wasting time?" Dani asked.

Olivia glared. "As thorough as a cop would be." She said coldly, eyeing her. "Or at least should be.

"Don't criticize someone else's efficiency when you have none." Dani said.

"Well then we don't have a problem." Olivia said through gritted teeth.

Elliot came up behind them. "That's not fair Olivia. Dani's got more collars than anyone I know."

"Collars but few convictions." Casey said, coming up the steps with Elliot behind her.

She had a briefcase in one hand and a smirk of contempt on her face as she gazed at Dani. "You skip around evidence and only take what suits your assumptions."

"Is that an accusation Counselor?" Dani hissed.

Elliot stepped between them. "Let's not fight." He said slowly.

"No let's." Casey said.

Casey wasn't hearing any of it. She had just had a horrible day in court due to another one of Dani's mistakes. The defense had shredded her apart on a missing piece of evidence that Dani had failed to present to her. It had been an extremely difficult and embarrassing trial, but Alex had been present and during recess had run down to Melinda for anything that would've saved the case. They succeeded and won the case, but there was still a stain on the thoroughness of the prosecution.

"You really think you could take me counselor. I mean you spend so much time in court and so little in the streets, I would think you to be a bit more on the weak side." Dani said.

Casey scoffed. "Detective, keep this up and I'll have your job."

"Is that a threat?"

Casey was about to hit her and Olivia said it as well. Assaulting a police officer was not something that Casey needed. She laid a hand on her friend's arm and cautioned her with a glance not to lose her mind.

Casey slightly relaxed under the pressure, but her green eyes didn't move away from Dani.

"No, it's a warning. The DA's office has no tolerance for officers who don't do their jobs. If you keep giving my cases a swirly, they will consider you for reassignment." Casey said.

"Thank God, I don't work you." Dani said.

"But you work for me." Alex said as she approached. "At least you will, if you want to keep your job, I suggest you start doing it."

The blonde turned to her girls. "Anyway, guys? Want to go?"

Olivia nodded, "Let me just get my coat."

"Alright, meet at Melinda's place." Casey said.

She grinned as she headed inside. With another glare, Dani followed and so did Elliot with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

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"What was that out there?" Elliot asked.

"She approached me, questioned my methods. I responded." Olivia said, all professional.

"Yeah, in a completely inappropriate manner." He stated.

"What's come over you Elliot? Before I left, you would've had zero tolerance for Dani's behavior around cases, why are you making exceptions now?" Olivia demanded.

"Because unlike you, she's the kind of partner that doesn't just pick up and leave without a word of explanation!" He roared at her.

Heads were beginning to turn toward them, while many others were trying to slip out of the room. Dani was watching with a satisfied smile on her face. So the duo wasn't as perfect as everyone else had described. It never crossed her mind that she may have been the cause.

"I had no choice, Elliot." Olivia said her voice lowering.

"You had a choice Olivia. You chose the wrong one."

"Since when was it wrong to save lives?" Olivia questioned. "We're cops. Isn't that what we do? Isn't that what we owe to the people that we promised to protect?"

"What about what you owe your partner?" He asked. "What about what you owe to a friend? To me? Huh? Tell me!"

Olivia looked away. "Good night Elliot." She said, turning away and heading out quickly so that he would not see the tears that were beginning to form in the corner of her eyes.

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Alex was heading to her car when a voice called to her from behind. She turned to find herself face to face with someone she thought she would never see again.

"Oh my God." She breathed, unable to look away, but afraid to keep looking.

"Hey Alex." Tim said with the same charming boyish smile that Alex had last seen him wear before she saw him die.

"How?" She asked.

"Same way as you." He answered.

Alex is usually the type of woman to figure it out by herself. She was the type of woman who always had her own emotions and reactions within iron control and never was the type to disbelieve anything when evidence is presented right before her. Tim was the evidence, but she found it hard to believe.

She reached out and then yanked her hand back.

"Are you really you?" she asked, blushing when she realized how stupid the question sounded.

It was not like she and Tim had ever had anything on the side, but she never stopped thinking about his boyish charm or the way he had tried everything in his power to make sure that the case that had taken her life for so many years would not take her life or her pride with it. She owed him so much and when he 'died', she had felt an overwhelming sense of guilt that still kept her awake at night.

He opened the car door for her. "See? Really I'm human." He said with a grin.

She found herself smiling back and then felt grateful that the darkness that was rapidly falling on the New York skyline could mask the feminine blush that was warming her cheeks.

"Well good to see you again." She said.

"Likewise." Tim said.

Something in the way he looked at her, made her uncomfortable as much as it warmed her. Something in his voice made her turn her head to gaze at him and suddenly she wondered what would've happened between them if that case had never been blown so out of proportion.

She shook the thought from her mind. She would not go down that road again. She had crashed at every turn and finally learned to stick to the one way lane. She would not give another person the chance to leave another scar. She started out with so much trust and left herself open but as time went on and men came and went, she closed and locked each door in her heart and now there were none left.

"Do you want to go out to dinner sometime?" He asked her.

She hid herself behind her quick tongue and cool wit.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I have work, lots of it, and none of them involve a charming ghost that pops out of nowhere in a parking garage." She said quickly, slidding into her car.

Tim was taken back by her sudden change in attitude. He hesitated, unsure of what to do. Ask her again in a more romantic manner, or just drop it. She gave him his answer.

She gunned the engine forward and pulled out of the parking lot before he had a chance to collect his thoughts. He shook his head and watched her red lights disappear around the corner. Alex Cabot hadn't changed. Love was still something she had yet to truly learn.

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Dani and Elliot were the last ones left in the precinct. Even Cragen had gone home after a long day of dealing with crime that no human being should ever even be capable of.

"What is she to you?" Dani asked.

Elliot glanced at her and paused before he answered with a question. "What do you mean?"

"I mean how important is she to you? When she came back you were about to cry your eyes out." Dani said.

"She's my best friend." He said slowly. "It's normal to miss your best friend."

"Best friend or girlfriend?" she asked.

"Best friend." He said bluntly.

She looked at him without a word, but her expression said everything.

"Elliot, I'm a pretty outgoing woman, but if you ever cheat on me, I swear I will put my gun to good use on you and her." She said.

"You better not let her hear you say that." Elliot warned, "She might beat you to the punch."

Dani smirked. "You know her that well don't you?"

"Seven year partnership, you get to know someone." He said easily, as if his bond with Olivia was the most natural innocent thing in the world.

"Right." She said.

He was afraid. His love for Dani was nonexistent. He didn't even understand why he was even with her. He didn't love her, barely respected her and had only eyes for Olivia. Yet he was afraid to lose her. Afraid to be abandoned again. He had convinced himself that Kathy would never leave and she did. He had believed that Olivia would never leave him either and she had. He was falling fast and Dani was the only one that hadn't fled from him yet.

She may have meant nothing to him, yet that insanely human part of his mind would not let her go. When habits form, they're hard to break. He had clung onto few people in his life and one by one they left. Now she was the only one that remained, by chance, fate, and cruelty, she had been the one to still be by his side.

Olivia believed she had done nothing wrong and Elliot knew that she hadn't, but that selfish human part of him could not forgive and could not forget.

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She drove with tear-filled eyes. Her headlights were the only ones blacktop road and the moon was a sliver in the night sky. She furiously wiped the hot tears from her eyes as she steadied the wheel before her. She stepped harder on the pedal, in desperate need of consoling words and bright cheery lights that she knew awaited her at Melinda's.

Her vision blinded, but nothing could have made her miss the figure running beside the road. She pulled her car to the side and ran out. A young teenage girl was crying furiously as she fled from the light.

"Hey hey." Olivia called, catching up to her.

"Please help me." The girl cried, sobbing as she trembled and sank to the ground.

Olivia wrapped her arms around her, sheltering the girl. Her clothes were torn, probably from the bushes that she had been running through. An ugly scrap ran down the side of her face along with a blackened eye.

"It's okay. I'm a police officer. It's okay, do you want to go downtown and talk to me?" she asked, making her voice soothing and gentle.

"She's not going anywhere." Came a hard voice.

She looked up into the eyes of pure evil and felt a chill run down her spine. A gun was pointed directly at her face. Her mind was only on the victim. A victim she had sworn to help. However, having a gun in your face limited your movements. She thanked God that it was dark and one hand reaching into her pocket, pressing the speed dial for Elliot and letting it ring.

"Hey, easy now." She said outloud. "Let's not do anything rash."

He smiled crazily at her. He was jumpy, a sign of drugs and he reeked of liquor. She knew she was not dealing with a sane man.

The younger girl whimpered and he startled at the noise and Olivia pushed the girl behind her, facing the shaking gun head on.

The phone was ringing and then a yell.

"DETECTIVE BENSON! HOW CAN I HELP YOU OR DO YOU JUST LIKE CALLING OTHER PEOPLE'S BOYFRIENDS FOR NO REASON AFTER SHIFT?" Dani's voice ran over the line, louder than anything Olivia had ever heard over the thundering of her own heart.

So high on crack and pot and whatever else was flowing through his system at the moment, he reacted and overreacted. His finger pulled the trigger and Olivia felt only a second of pain before she was consumed in darkness.

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Author's Note:

Hey peeps! I hope you enjoyed this! School is starting to get heavy again so my updates may become even slower, so forgive me about that. Enjoy!