Mark walked through the front door around six that night to find Olivia sitting on the couch, reading her book. She looked up and smiled as he closed the door behind him.
"Hey babe," she said closing her book and putting it on the table. "How was the first day?" He smiled as he walked toward her.
"Great. It's like walking into my old office, just with different people there. But everyone is really nice and showed me around the building and everything. It was good," he said as he bent down and kissed her lightly. "What did you do today sleepyhead?" he asked falling onto the couch. Olivia laughed lightly as she stood up.
"Well I filled our kitchen with food from the store down the street. And might I just say wait until you see this grocery store. It's huge and everything is so much more expensive than New York."
"Great," he said. "Did you eat yet?"
"No, I didn't know what you wanted to do for dinner."
"Why don't we go out and explore our surroundings a little," he suggested.
"Okay," Olivia said with a smile. "I'll run and change real quick." She walked across the apartment and into the bedroom. Olivia pulled off her white tank and opened the doors to their closet.
"When do you start tomorrow?" Mark called from the living room.
"Uh, I have to be there at 8 to meet with the captain and then my new partner," she called back as she pulled a black strapless shirt out of the closet.
"You nervous at all?" he called.
"Yeah. It's going to be really different going from a unit where I had known everyone for ten years to completely new people," she replied as she pulled the tight fitting shirt over her head. She adjusted the cuffs on her denim capris before slipping on her high black wedges and grabbing a white, fitting jacket from the side of the closet and putting her arms through the sleeves. She walked into the bathroom and brushed her hair before spraying it lightly with hairspray. "Ready," she said walking into the living room.
"That was fast?" he said standing up. "You look nice."
"Thanks," she said smiling. She grabbed her purse off of the table before following Mark to the door. Five minutes later Olivia said next to Mark in his SUV that a dealer had driven over a week prior as they pulled out of the parking garage of the apartment building.
Olivia stood in front of the bathroom mirror the next morning adjusting her hair. She had straightened it and flipped the ends out lightly as they fell just at her shoulders. She unbuttoned the top few buttons of her black collared shirt revealing her black laced camisole. Her dark wash jeans fit her thighs tightly and fell to the ground over her black closed toe wedges. She grabbed her oversized black purse off of the bed where Mark was laying, just being woken up by his alarm. She kissed his cheek lightly before swinging her bag over her shoulder.
"Bye. Love you," she said softly before turning to walk out of the room.
"Have a good day," he said groggily. She laughed as she walked through the apartment and out the door. An hour later Olivia stepped out of the elevator and down the hall of the LAPD building. She turned a corner to find herself standing in front of full glass doors with the words 'SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT' printed in black in the center. She walked through the doors and into the busy squad room, which was set up much like the one in New York, except the walls were painted a crisp white and all of the desks were black and relatively neat compared to the desks in Manhattan. She walked up to a man about her age if not a little older, who was seated at the first desk filling out some paperwork.
"Excuse me," Olivia said catching the man's attention. "I'm looking for Seargent Anderson's office?"
"You must be the detective from New York," he said leaning back in his chair.
"How can you tell?" she asked nervously.
"You're wearing black and dark blue," he said with a smile. Olivia smiled lightly before glancing down at the floor. "Jim Bryant," he said extending his hand as he stood up.
"Olivia James, nice to meet you," she said shaking his hand.
"Office is that room back in the corner," he said pointing to the glass door in the corner surrounded by white walls.
"Thanks," she said adjusting her bag and walking across the squad room. She knocked on the door lightly and upon hearing a reply opened the door slowly.
"Sergeant Anderson," she said stepping into the office.
"Guilty," he said as he twirled his pen through his fingers. "Who's asking?" he added.
"I'm Olivia James, we spoke a few days ago on the phone," she said as she stood nervously in the doorway.
"I knew who you were the second that you walked into the squad room and talked to Jim," he said nodding toward the squad room. "And I bet he told you how I could tell."
"Because of how I am dressed?" she asked with a smile. Anderson nodded as he stood up from his desk. Olivia laughed lightly as she walked further into the office after closing the door behind her. She shook his hand before taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"Your office sent me your file about a month ago," he said turning around and grabbing a folder off of the shelf behind him before sitting down behind his desk. "And I have to say that I was extremely impressed."
"Thank you," she said as she set her bag down on the floor.
"Ten years in the same unit with the same partner. Second grade detective behind your partner who was first grade," he said reading from the file. "Did you come into the unit at second grade?"
"No. I came in at third but about two years after I started I was promoted to second grade when my partner was bumped up to first," she answered. Anderson nodded.
"You had a 96 closing rate on cases in the past six years," he read from his file. Silence filled the room as he scanned over the file again. He flipped over the page and read the other information on it. "Alright," he said closing the file and setting it in front of him. "You know what you are doing as far as the logistics of the job obviously. We are a highly accredited unit within the department much like yours in New York so not issue there." He opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a gun and holster and badge, and set it in front of him. "Identical gun that you used in New York. Badge and holster." He slid them across the surface of the desk. "ID and registration of the weapon," he added sliding a number of forms and her ID across the desk. "You just need to read over and sign them." Olivia flipped through the pages of forms before signing at the bottom of the pages. Anderson got up from his desk and walked over to the door. "Bryant!" he called across the squad room. Seconds later Jim walked into the office as Olivia slid the papers across the desk. "Give Detective James the grand tour of the palace."
"Ok," Jim said with a light laugh at Anderson's sarcasm.
"And welcome to Los Angeles," Anderson said as Olivia stood up.
"Thanks," she said with a smile before following Detective Bryant out of the office.
"Olivia stood outside the building in the warm 3:00 air later that day. She took out her phone and dialed the number before leaning against the cement wall.
"Stabler," Elliot said into the receiver as he walked out of Warner's office.
"Hey it's me," she said, smiling.
"Well if it isn't Detective Los Angeles," he said in a sarcastic tone. "What's going on? How's the new job?"
"It's alright. Sergeant Anderson liked our work for the past ten years by the way," she told him.
"Well, I only worked that hard because I figured that you would leave and go to Los Angeles." Olivia laughed. "How's the new partner?"
"Jim Bryant. He's 47, been in the unit six years after transferring from LA Homicide," she told him. "But other than that, he's a decent guy with experience and personality." A moment of silence filled the conversation as Olivia glanced down at the pavement below her. "Regardless of who he is, it's not you sitting across from me so, he's just alright."
"Well it's good to know that I haven't been replaced," Elliot said as he walked to the squad car. "How's the apartment and Mark and everything?"
"You remember the size of my apartment in Manhatten?"
"Yeah."
"Our balcony is bigger than my kitchen was," she said with a light laugh.
"Welcome to the LA lifestyle."
"Tell me about it. When's the rookie coming?" she asked.
"Tomorrow," Elliot said plainly as he turned on the ignition to the car.
"Well call me, tell me how it's going?" she said standing straight.
"Expect a call early," he said sarcastically. Olivia laughed.
"Well I have to get back but I'll talk to you tomorrow," she said.
"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Tell Mark I said hi"
"I will. And El?"
"Yeah," he said putting the car in reverse.
"Thanks for the letter," she said plainly.
"You're welcome. Get back to work," he said with a light laugh.
"Okay. Later," she said laughing.
"Bye." Olivia closed her phone before walking back into the building and into the squad room. Elliot pulled the car out of the parking space and onto the main road. He came to a red light before rubbing his temple.
"What am I doing?" he said to himself before pressing on the gas and turning the corner.