Chapter 4

Olivia got steadily better over the next two days. Cragen was happy to give her the time off. Catching up on her sleep helped her feel a lot better. Elliot, however, needed a lot more than just sleep. Kathy was furious that he had spent even more time at Olivia's house, and he was sick of defending himself.

"You spend more time there than you do at home!" Kathy shouted. Elliot was sitting on the couch with a beer in his hand, surprised by his own apathy.

"I don't know what to say to you, Kathy. You want me to tell you I'm sleeping with her? You don't believe the truth, so what does it matter anymore?"

"Why do you have to spend so much time with her?" Kathy's eyes were brimming with tears.

"She's my partner, Kathy. I was at her house because she was injured and she needed someone to look after her."

"She could have asked someone else."

"She doesn't have anyone else."

"Then she could have gone to the hospital."

"I did he a favour so she wouldn't have to go to the hospital, that's all. What the hell do have to do to make you believe me?"

"Get a new partner." Elliot's jaw dropped. He put his beet down and stood up.

"This job would be unbearable without her!"

"Doesn't that tell you something, Elliot? You can't handle not seeing her all the time."

"We're friends, Kathy, and I'm the only person left in her life she can depend on, you can't ask me to do that to her!"

"I don't want you working with her anymore."

"So what, it's her or you? You can't do that!" Kathy shrugged. Elliot growled in frustration, his fists curled tightly into fists. He wanted more than anything to strike out at something, anything, but he knew he couldn't. Instead he grabbed a pillow from the couch, threw it hard enough to break a lamp across the room, and left the house. It was getting late, and he didn't really know where to go, so he headed to the precinct. He was spending more and more time there lately.

When Elliot walked into the squadroom he was surprised to see Olivia at her computer. "You should be at home resting," he said, draping his jacket over his chair and sitting down.

"I got bored. I'm feeling a lot better."

"You're becoming a workaholic."

"You're one to talk. Shouldn't you be at home?" She glanced at him over the computer.

Elliot shook his head. "Kathy and I had another fight. We both need some space." Olivia had an idea they needed more than just space, but she didn't say anything.

Both detectives worked late into the night. The squadroom emptied gradually until Cragen finally said goodnight and they were alone. "You should really get some rest," Elliot finally said. They had been sitting in a comfortable silence, both catching up on paperwork for almost an hour since Cragen left.

"I've had plenty of rest, watched plenty of movies. I'm bored at home."

"You wanna go for a drink?"

"I just got my balance back and you want to get me drunk?" She smiled, finally looking up from her computer screen.

"I think they still serve virgin drinks after dark. Come one, it's better than sitting infront of the computer for hours." He grabbed his coat and stood next to Olivia's desk. She sighed, shut off her computer and stood up, grabbing her own jacket.

At the bar, which was mostly empty, Olivia finally confronted Elliot. "What's going on with you and Kathy?"

Elliot shrugged. "Same old, same old I guess. She says I don't talk to her enough, but all I do when I'm not at home is work, and that's not exactly a pleasant topic of conversation. Things were getting better for a while, but I don't know anymore."

"I hope you two can work things out. I hate to think of Eli growing up without you around."

"You think Kathy would get custody?"

Olivia looked at him for a minute, then shook her head. "Admit it Elliot, no court is going to give you custody of your kids with your schedule." Olivia's words had a hint of bitterness to them, and Elliot knew she was thinking about the adoption agency. He couldn't believe she had been turned down; she would be a better parent than most biological parents.

"I hope it doesn't come to that. I've been thinking…maybe I should find a different job."

"So do I. You're the only one who actually has a somewhat functional personal life. You're an inspiration to us all." She smirked and took a sip of her drink.

Things settled down for Elliot over the next few days. Kathy apologized for her unfair ultimatum, and said that if Elliot could just stop spending so much time with Olivia outside of work, she would try to trust him again. Elliot was still a little bitter about being told not to spend time with Olivia outside of work, but he wanted his marriage to work and the accusations to stop, so he agreed. It wasn't like he was really sacrificing a lot, he spent most of his time with Olivia at work, anyway.

A week after Olivia's injury she felt back to normal, but she still had a dark bruise on her cheek. She had covered it up effectively with concealor, making it a mere shadow, but it was impossible to cover completely. Elliot felt anger rising whenever he looked at it. He should have protected her, should have got to her sooner. She was just thankful he was there at all, of course, but Elliot couldn't help being hard on himself. She had saved him countless times before, after all, and he felt it was his job to protect her from everything.

Elliot was just printing off a report when a woman entered the squadroom looking flustered and close to tears. Olivia was standing closest to the door when the woman entered. "Can I help you?"

"Are you a detective?" The woman asked.

"Detective Benson."

"My daughter's been kidnapped. Please help me." She started crying and Olivia put a hand around her shoulder and lead her gently towards an interview room. Elliot followed them in.

"This is my partner, Detective Stabler. Can you tell us what happened?" Olivia sat down next to the woman and Elliot took a seat across the table from them.

"We were at the park. I just turned my back for a second, and she must have wandered off. When I looked back a man was pulling her into the back of a van. I saw them drive away, and I ran after them, but I didn't see the license plate. I asked other people, but no one saw it." She was sobbing and it was difficult to understand everything she said. Elliot handed her a few tissues and Olivia kept a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"How long ago was this?" Elliot asked, sitting down again.

"Not long, I came right here," she said, wiping her tears with the tissue. Elliot wondered why she hadn't called the police rather than driving to the station, but sometimes people did strange things, and he knew whoever interviewed her later would ask, anyway.

The detectives went to the park where the girl had been kidnapped, but found nothing. They asked around for anyone who had seen the kidnapping, but the few people who had didn't have any information to offer. Munch and Fin stayed at the station to interview the mother and investigate any suspects they could gather from what she told them. By the time Elliot and Olivia returned to the station, they were dividing up their suspect list.

"Good, you're back. I want you two at the school. Talk to teachers, friends, anyone who might know Nancy or had contact with her before the kidnapping," Cragen said.

"No problem," Elliot said, turning and leading the way back to the car.

"Have they even got a conviction on Madden yet?" Olivia asked when they were in the car.

"Courts are backed up, it'll probably take a while yet. Can't wait to see him behind bars?"

"It just seems…" she shrugged.

"Like we just put the guy away and already we have another kidnapping case."

Olivia suddenly sat up a little straighter in her seat. "Don't you find this case just a little odd?"

"What do you mean?" Elliot asked, pulling up to a red light and taking the chance to look at Olivia.

"It sounds just like the Madden case."

"It sounds like a lot of kidnapping cases, Liv. Besides, the guy hasn't been convicted yet, but he's in jail."

"He had to have an accomplice, though. Eyewitnesses saw him pull Kelsi into the van, but he didn't have time to even get the door closed before it pulled away. We never got the driver."

The light changed and Elliot had to turn his attention back to the rode. He shrugged. "It's possible, but like I said, we've seen lots of cases before like this."

Olivia sighed and sat back in her seat, staring out the window. Elliot glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She had lived in New York here whole life, and yet she still liked to stare out the window as if she'd never seen it before. He thought again about all the strange little things he knew about her, like how she would give you her full attention if you were talking to her in the car, but as soon as you were done her gaze went inevitably back to the window. She never turned on the radio or even seemed to notice the silence. But of course, the silence had always been comfortable between Elliot and Olivia. Maybe a little awkward after she returned from her undercover job, but they had slipped back into their old ways easily enough.

Did he know things like that about Kathy? Of course, they had been together for years, longer than he had known Olivia. Nonetheless, he couldn't help noticing that he didn't think about Kathy's little quirks anymore. They were part of his everyday life, and they had been for so long that he didn't notice them. With Olivia, even after years of being together he was sometimes shocked by how little he really knew about her. It was…interesting. But what did that mean to Elliot? It didn't mean he cared about her like he did Kathy, their relationship was just different. Did he like not knowing everything about her? Sure, it was always interesting to discover new things about other people, and he missed having that with Kathy, but he also liked being with someone he knew so well.

Before Elliot could sort out his thoughts and get any closer to an answer - thought he wasn't even sure what question he was trying to answer - they arrived at the school. Olivia got out while Elliot killed the engine and then followed her. "Where do we start?" He asked, looking around at the large elementary school.

"Her teacher, I guess, and go from there. But since when do you ask?" She was looking at him rather than the school now.

Elliot shrugged. "Let's go."