Chapter 3

"Hey dad" Maureen said loud enough for her father to hear as she approached. Elliot spun around in his chair and immediately hopped to his feet concerned that something had happened to his daughter. Why else would she show up in the squad room?

"Maureen, what are you doing here? Are you alright?" he said quickly accessing his daughter's physical appearance.

"Calm down dad. I'm fine." Elliot's body relaxed and he returned to his seated position at his desk as Maureen continued talking to him. "I'm just on my way to my friend's house. Remember you and mom agreed that I could stay with her this weekend?"

"Uh no, me and your mother agreed that you could stay with her if we both met her first. I haven't met her" he said with a stern look on his face.

"Yeah and that's why we are here" she said bringing her father's attention to the friend at her side. "Dad, this is Araeyah. Rae this is my dad. So now you've met and we're gonna go now" Maureen said quickly trying to make a break for the door.

"Not so fast young lady" he called after her causing her to turn on her heels. "Nice try but I have some questions for your friend here" he said pointing at Rae.

"Daaaddd." Maureen sounded slightly like a whiny child trying to get her way.

Rae took this moment to gather herself and make that magic she'd had in mind earlier.

"It's ok Maureen. I've got this" she said confidently taking a step forward and giving a quick wave. "Hi, Detective Stabler, it's very nice to meet you. As Maureen said I'm Araeyah but most people just call me Rae. I understand that in your line of work you see a lot of horrible things happen to good people and Maureen is definitely good people" she said as she glanced over her shoulder and gave her friend a wink before she continued. "And she's your kid so I one hundred percent understand your wanting to know who she's gonna be with and where and doing what so..." she paused reaching into her bag to pull out her secret weapon, "I thought I'd make this really easy for you. I typed up and printed out everything you need to know about me and my parents and what Maureen and I will be getting into this weekend."

"You did what?" Maureen had a look that was a mixture of slightly amused and slightly amazed as she watched her friend work.

"Yeah, I did" Rae said kinda impressed with herself. "There is my resume which lists all my sports and clubs and volunteer work...you know good deeds. I have nonexistent criminal record, as do my parents and my brother. I have included my own, my brother's, mother's and stepfather's address and contact info as well as our social security numbers because, you know, I'm sure you want to run your own background checks or whatever. Oh and our vehicle info is in there as well" Rae looked up at the ceiling as if she was trying to remember something but couldn't get it to come to her. After a moment she shrugged her shoulders in defeat. "Anyways it's all in there you can take a minute to look it over if you wish. We can wait." she smiled sweetly waiting for him to respond.

If Rae hadn't captured the attention of everyone when she walked into the squad room she certainly had in that moment as everyone watched her work. Elliot stared at her dumbfounded by how prepared she came but slightly suspicious of all the effort she put into this. As if she'd read his mind she started talking again.

"I know you might be a bit suspicious of my calculated approach but here's what I was thinking..." she was trying not to be too dramatic with her expressiveness but sometimes when Rae got excited about something it became hard for her to control how theatrical she was in her movement. "I mean, I could come in here and say hi and be all sweet and charming and what not and talk about how I'm such a good person and how your daughter is safe with me at my house and blah blah blah...but how can really trust that?" she paused giving Elliot time to say something if he wanted.

"Go on..." he said extremely entertained by his daughters friend and her enthusiasm.

"So I had this brilliant idea, not to toot my own horn or anything but come on you have to admit, me bringing this packet is a bit genius..."

"Rae!" Maureen yelled from behind her friend in a tone that said get to the point.

"Ok yeah, so I had this brilliant idea. I thought to myself "He's a detective. He's not gonna just take my word for what an awesome person I am. He'll want proof". So I brought you proof. Tah-dah." she had her hands out in front of her like she was just finishing a magic trick.

"Yeah ok. You're...interesting" he said looking around noticing that all eyes were on him; well actually on the girl in front of him.

"Thanks" Rae said taking his "compliment" completely serious. Maureen just shook her head and chuckled from behind her friend but stopped and mouthed "I'm sorry" when Rae turned around and glared at her.

Elliot looked up more than amused by the girl standing in front of him. As silly as she seemed, he couldn't deny that he was a little impressed by how seriously she was taking his concerns about knowing who was gonna be around his daughter.

Rae sighed and let her smile and silliness fade seeing the expression on his face. She was seriously business from that point on. "Ok look, I know that whole presentation was a little silly but I promise I would never do anything to put Maureen or myself in danger. You can call and talk to my parents or they can come here and meet you if that would make you feel better. Maureen can even call and check in with you and her mom while she's with me. Make your demands and I'll make sure it happens." Rae stood there waiting as Elliot looked through her papers before returning his gaze to her.

He stood up and firmly shook Rae's hand. "I appreciate all the effort you put into making sure I'd be comfortable with my daughter staying with you and your family. I'm glad Maureen has such a responsible friend. I'm confident she'll be in good hands with you this weekend."

Rae's face lit up again and a huge smile spread across her face. "Ok great! Oh I'm so glad" she said before turning to Maureen and saying, "See. I told you didn't have anything to be worried about." She laughed at the look that she received accompanied by a playful shove.

Maureen walked over to her dad and gave him a big hug and whispered in his ear, "Thanks dad." He kissed on the head. "You're welcome. Now go and have fun. I still expect you to get all your homework done and to be at school on Monday...on time."

"I will. Don't worry." she said as she turned and headed for the door. Rae gave a quick wave goodbye before she followed her friend toward the exit.

"Alright, show's over. Get back to work" Elliot said prompting everyone to turn their attention back to the tasks they were on before Maureen and Araeyah made their entrance.

Once outside the squad room doors Maureen turned to Rae and said, "Hey, I'm gonna go use the bathroom. I'll be right back. Ok?" she said pointing backwards towards the bathroom door. "Yeah, ok. I'll wait here."

Once Maureen disappeared into the bathroom, Rae pulled out her phone to check her email. Not at all paying attention to anything but the lit screen, she turned and ran into a woman causing her phone and the woman's paperwork to scatter all over the floor.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry. I should really pay attention to what I'm doing" Rae said as she helped the woman gather her papers off the floor.

"Oh it's fine. Don't worry about it. I actually think it's me. I've been bumping into everything today" the woman said with a chuckle.

As they began to stand up and Rae was handing her papers to her to put back into the folder they fell from, their eyes finally met. Dark brown looked into dark brown and it was as if there was no one else there. They were lost in each others eyes. Rae's breathing became shallow as she took in the features of the woman standing in front of her. Her shoulder length brown hair, her cheek bones, her lips...god those lips. Her eyes traveled up her face until their eyes met again. Caught in their trance they felt the folder that they were both still holding onto begin to slip to the floor again. They broke eye contact grasping at the folder and its contents before it could drop. It was then that their hands touched and Rae felt a jolt unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Her breathe hitched in her throat and she felt like she had butterflies in her stomach.

"Uh I'm sorry" she said making sure the woman had a grip on the file before she pulled her hands away.

"It's...it's ok" the woman said quickly pulling the folder into her hand and almost nervously tucking her hair behind her ear. She was about to step away and walk into the squad room when she heard her name being called from behind her.

"Olivia?"