Chapter 4

Elliot walked in the bullpen and noticed Olivia's blank expression. She had been acting weird since the social worker and Vivian had gripped Calvin from her grasp. Elliot hated seeing his best friend this, but what was he do to help her besides stand beside her?

"Liv you're not okay are you?"

Olivia snapped out of her trance as she heard Elliot speak. She knew her partner was worried about her, but it was be a while before she got over the lost of her first child. "I'm fine El…It's just going to take a while."

Elliot nodded; understanding that that was his queue to shut up and get back to work. Elliot called and confirmed the young lady's last name was Robinson and Elliot told the sweet man on the phone that they would be dropping by to talk to the family.

Elliot looked up asking, "You ready to go notify the family?"

Olivia didn't respond, she just threw her coat over her shoulders and heading toward the elevators. It was going to be another one of those days and Olivia hated it. Why couldn't she just be happy that they had found one of Calvin's relatives so he wouldn't be tossed back and forth in the foster care system?

They arrived at Robinson residence as they admired the prestige home and marble steps, Olivia thought of the young girl and how lucky and privileged she was. They exchanged apprehensive looks as they knocked on the door and waited.

Olivia decided to let Elliot to do the talking since she wasn't all there at the moment. She heard him ask was their daughter Laura Robinson and began explaining how she was killed last night. She could see the cringe in both the mother and father's faces as they realized they no longer had a daughter. Elliot went straight through the line of questioning. Next he asked if they knew anyone who would want to hurt their daughter and as usual they go the same answer, "No, everybody loved her. Who would want to hurt our Laura?"

Elliot threw Olivia a glance, wondering when she was going to jump into the conversation. Finally he caught her attention and she became more focused.

Olivia looked from Elliot to the parent's as she ran the list of questions through her head. Next question on the list; Number three, "Did she have any enemies or people who had been bothering her lately?"

Laura's mother, Marissa looked into Olivia's eyes. Olivia could see that the woman was trying to read her. She knew her mother was trying to figure out why someone who hurt her baby for no reason.

"No…none that I know of. Everyone loved her…she was perfect and she went out of her way for everyone."

"Did she have a boyfriend that you all were aware of?"

"Yes…um Vince, no Vincent. That's his name, Vincent Bowman."

"Do you know where her boyfriend lives?"

"He lives in Queens in an apartment. Here is his address and where he works," said Marissa trying to be as helpful as possible. "He will be crushed when he finds out. He told us a few days ago he was going to propose to her this weekend."

Olivia and Elliot said thanked them for their time and told them how sorry they were for their loss. They headed for Vincent's apartment and knocked on the door several times only to realize no one was at home. They trekked over to his job and found him taking an order.

Olivia told Vincent they need to speak with him regarding Laura and she had to catch him and sit him down in the nearest chair. She wasn't expecting Vincent to react that way, but everyone reacted different when they lost something important to them…she of all people knew that. Going through the routine questions, nothing looked out of the ordinary for Vincent, but they couldn't cross him off as a suspect this early.

They headed back to the house and on the way they stopped to get a bite to eat.

Elliot observed his partner once again, " Liv you're not ok, you need to talk to someone if you aren't going to talk to me."

Liv glared at her partner, "Elliot are you dense I am not talking about this and I'm not talking to anyone else for that matter."

"I know this is hard on you but it will be okay. I'm here for you and I always have been…why can't you just let me be here for you?"

"Elliot I just want to deal with it on my own. You still get to see your kids when you and Kathy separated." "This case is different; I will never get to see him again end of story. Yes it was temporary and I knew that, but I still got attached."

"That is not you Liv, you will let this fester and fester, not talk to anyone, and only hurt yourself emotionally."

Olivia's cell phone rang, stopping her from lashing out at Elliot for his statement. She got up, excused herself and went outside.

"Liz any good news for me?

" Yeah there may be a loop hole but I need to talk to you first. When can we meet?"

" Now is fine! Where are you?"

"At my office."

"I'm on my way, bye."

Liv hung up and walked back into the restaurant as she started gathering her things. "El, I gotta go, Liz called and she wants to meet with me now. I'm going to meet you back at the station."

Elliot looked up at her, "Is everything okay?"

Liv nodded, "Yeah, I just need to go ok? See you later."

Rushing out of the restaurant, Olivia quickly hailed a cab and hopped in as it drove off. She needed to get to Liz as quickly as possible. There was new evidence that could help her and she wanted it…badly.

She finally arrived at the DA's office as she hopped on the nearest available elevator. She hopped off the elevator and walked down the hall as she hit a sharp left that led her right to judge Elizabeth Donnelly's office. Olivia knocked before entering, signaling her she had made it.

"Liz, what do you have?"

"Sit sit down Olivia. This won't be easy but there might be a small loophole in the system but we can go for it if you want."

Olivia's eagered eyes expressing just how much she wanted this, "Yes let's go for it."

"Okay then, I will start on the paper work this afternoon then. I'm not making any promises Olivia but I'm definitely going to try."

"You're going to be the lawyer? Liz I love you so much. This means the world to me."

Donnelly nodded her head and smiled, "Yes and I don't mind…pro-bono as well. Unless you have someone in mind?"

"Yes I do want you, but you're a judge now not a lawyer…Can you do this?"

Donnelly smirked at Olivia, "I may be a judge but I was once a lawyer and I still know how to execute the law."

"Whatever you need me to do, I will do it."

"Well I need to draft up this motion and I will get back with you. No worries Liv, I am personally going to see this through."

Olivia stood up, walked around the desk, and squeezed Donnelly in a tight hug. If she didn't appreciate her before, she definitely appreciated her now. She was about to get her dream child back and she couldn't think of anything better.