From Hell to Heaven
A/N Aw my wonderful reviewers! ^.^ Made me so happy. So special thanks go out to DeLene, Lou3174, courtneylovejason, SteffieDawn, maerae93, Amber77 and svuobsessed2011. And also thank you to olivia-benson1 for adding a story alert.
I was intending to upload this yesterday but I have a last minute cramming session ^.^ (My exam was this morning). I cut this chapter short a bit, explains at the end in my author notes x I've tried to have Olivia faltering a little, obviously not over what happened but working through it, so she's not allowing herself to think about it and get worked up. There is a bit where Elliot puts his foot in it without realising it, a comment he makes could easily be seen as a reference to Olivia and Sealview, see if you can spot it.
Chapter 19- Precinct Pickup
Elliot and Munch strode through a precinct that was not theirs, receiving many looks from fellow officers. As they stepped in to a crowed squadroom, Elliot immediately spotted him.
"That's him there." he pointed out, guiding Munch over. The 'intended target' as Elliot thought of him, was stacking files on one side of the desk, in an attempt to organize them.
"Max Swanson?" Munch professionally inquired, despite already knowing the answer.
Max looked up to see John's badge extended towards him. "Yeah?" he asked hesitantly.
"You need to come with us."
Max chuckled. "I don't think so guys. I've got this mountain of paperwork to get done and I'm already behind. Another time, boys." he said, dropping in to his seat and placing a file in front of him. As he began to open it Elliot's hand came crashing down, holding the file shut.
Elliot leaned over the desk, his eyes shooting daggers. "That wasn't a request, boy." Elliot sneered. He had at least 50 pounds of muscle on Swanson, so whoever the 'boy' was, it certainly wasn't Stabler. "You need to answer a few questions down at our precinct."
Max looked between John and Elliot apprehensively. "What is this about?"
"We'll discuss it when we get there, come on." Elliot said, grabbing his arm and roughly pulling him up from his seat. Max resisted, trying to act tough by yanking his upper arm free from Elliot's hand, but his worried brow gave him away.
"No, I'm not going anywhere til I know what this is about." Max declared; a few people starting to notice the interaction.
Munch looked over his glasses at Max. "We're extending a little professional courtesy here, my friend," he said patronisingly. "No self respecting cop should be marched out of his own station in cuffs." Max nodded in agreement. "But if necessary," John threatened, stepping closer. "I will drag you out of here by your ass."
Max swallowed as he stood between the two tall cops, debating if they were serious. After a moment he conceded with a defeated sigh.
"Don't worry," Elliot smirked. "I'll wait for us to leave the building before I take your weapon." John passed him a was-that-necessary look; taking a cop's weapon was an insult, even to rookies.
xXx
Fin slouched in his chair; they'd been waiting for Elliot and John to return. Olivia flipped the file in her hands closed as she saw Elliot stride in to the squadroom. She jumped up expectantly, Fin twisted in his seat. "Well?"
Elliot looked at her but his expression gave away nothing. "He needed to use the head; John'll bring him up in a minute."
She licked her lips apprehensively. Fin merely nodded and turned back to his desk.
Elliot shrugged off his jacket and hung it over the back of his chair. "So honey how was your day?" he said in a sarcastic cliche.
She held her glare for only a second before taking her seat. "Lovely; if lovely means sitting behind a desk tracking the pervert who was once your CO."
He resisted the urge to sigh; the last thing he wanted was for Olivia to be filling her head with the life of that scum. Perhaps she should have picked up Swanson afterall.
"Liv," he began in a tone of comfort.
"Fin and I pulled the prison records," she interrupted.
"'Livia," he tried again.
"-we were thinking that whoever he's been communicating with,"
"Olivia." he interrupted a final time. Olivia set down the file and begrudingly looked at him.
"I can handle this Elliot."
His eyes connected with hers as he considered her statement. 'She can handle it? Nightmares, cold sweats and panic attacks? That's handling it?' But he didn't dare vocalise these doubts, not if he valued his life.
"Olivia!" Max shouted across the squadroom. Munch grabbed his shoulder and upper arm as he started towards her. Elliot and Olivia stood up, Fin following suit with a scowl on his face. She defensively folded her arms across her chest. "Olivia, what did you tell them? Bitch, what the hell did you tell them?" Elliot acrossed the room in only a few wide strides, Max's expression faltering as a bulldozer of a cop marched towards him. And with one final shove Max was propelled in to the interrogation room.
"Stay." Munch said, pulling the door shut. "You were saying?"
Olivia smirked, glad of the distraction. "Fin and I pulled the prison records. Harris has a spotless report, which is peculiar given the number of visits he's made to the infirmary." She couldn't help but smile at the thought.
"So I was right, he's the new squeeze on the block, popular in the showers." he chuckled.
"About time he got a taste of his own medicine." Fin nodded, gaining a smirk from Elliot.
Olivia took a breath as her memories tried to seep through, reminding her of just what Harris' idea of 'medicine' was. "I er-" she rubbed her forehead, unaware of Elliot was watching her with an analysing eye. "I checked his communications log- no visitations, no calls, no consultations."
"Ok, so he's been a bit lonely recently." Munch offered with a lop-sided shrug.
"Doubt it, sounds like his cell has been the brothel of the block; grabbed for a bit of rough 'n' tumble whether he's game or not." Elliot offered.
"Ok,ok, we get that he's being passed around, come on guys, focus." Olivia chided, wanting rid of the images building in her head, that certainly wasn't what they were discussing; crates, bars, baton to the stomach.
"Ok, ok, so he's had no communication with the outside world, that doesn't mean he didn't." Elliot said.
"Explain." Fin demanded in an agitated tone.
"We've already seen that he has the guards wrapped around his little finger, perhaps they looked the other way when he had a visitation, 'forgot' to add his visitor to the register. Perhaps they 'accidentally' left him in reach of an unmonitored cell phone."
Olivia sighed. "What is the point in catching the bad guy if he's treated like royalty when he's behind bars?" she demanded rhetorically, slamming down the file in her hands.
"Fin, anything better to report?" Munch asked, now crossing his long legs on his desk.
"Hardly. Runnin' with the idea of him workin' with an old cellmate, I crossreferenced his history with his cellmates-"
"My, my, Detective, that is a big word, I think you may have earned your salary today." John interrupted.
"Old man, you better-!"
"Fin." Olivia interrupted. "what did you find?"
Fin passed John a final scowl. "All his previous cellies are either still in jail or rehab programs upstate, all of which have 24-hour security cameras, so it would be pointless to consider them as suspects."
There was a long silence as Olivia dropped her head in to her hands. Elliot watched, wanting so desperately to whisk her up to the cribs; anything to make her feel better.
"I think Harris takes this Houdini thing a bit too seriously."
"John!" Elliot exclaimed. "It's called 'time and a place', can you keep your thoughts to yourself, just for once?"
John remained non-plussed.
"I better get this interview over with." Olivia muttered, heaving herself up. Elliot followed after her.
"Now look what you did, boney ass."
"Liv," Elliot said, falling in to stride. "I was thinking, tonight, maybe we could do something, take your mind off the case."
Olivia merely looked at him, 'Take my mind off the case? Seriously? When every other guy on the street could be the one looking to kill me?' "Sure El, we'll talk about it later."
He placed his hand on her forearm, his eyes searching. She forced a smile she knew he was looking for; he didn't like to see her upset.
Olivia turned the handle and stepped inside. Max was sat at the table, his head in his hands. He looked up when she entered.
"Bitch, what did you tell them?" he yelled, lunging that her.
A/N Ok, I know it was totally evil ending it there but I had a sudden change of heart about the next chapter so I need more time to edit that, but I will post it on time (especially after such a long absence). Again Olivia is not feeling her best, but then again that just means Elliot gets to cheer her up ;) I wonder what Max has to say for himself, I'm sure Olivia will have a few choice words in return. XD What do you think? x