Chapter 48: Until Further Notice

Olivia woke up at seven thirty to shower and get dressed for work. She didn't even want to think about how tense things would be between her and Elliot. And she definitely wasn't looking forward to explaining her absence at last night's crime scene to Captain Cragen. She wished she could just call in sick but that would only worsen her problems. So she kissed Rae goodbye and headed to work. She walked into the squad room at eight twenty five and sat down at her desk. Munch came over and sat on the edge to talk to her.

"You know, I have this theory that age is all in our heads. We are only as old as well feel and as old as we think. Some of us are older than our age and others are younger. Take Rae for instance, she's young but a blind man could see that her mind is so much older than her years and she definitely feels older than she is. You can see it in the way she carries herself and in the way she speaks and in..."

"Munch" Olivia said cutting him off. "I assume there's a point to this?"

"Isn't there always?" Olivia gave him a look that said, if there was a point, he needed to get to it. "Cap heard that you flaked on the call this morning and he's not happy. He said that your relationship with the youngin' is...how'd he put it..."starting to affect your work and unit cohesion". Anyway, he wants to see you in his office" he said getting off the edge of her desk. Olivia took a deep breath before standing to head to the Captain's office. "Hey, Liv", Munch said calling after her, "for what it's worth, I'm on your side. It's good to see you happy" he said. Olivia smiled appreciatively, "Thanks John" she said. He gave her nod before going back to his desk and Olivia turned and headed to Cragen's office. She knocked on his door and opened it when he yelled for her to come in. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Yes sir." He looked up at her and held up finger asking her to wait while he was on the phone. "Yes sir, I understand that but..." he paused to listen to the person on the other end. "Yes sir, yes sir. I will" he said then he hung up. He let out a loud sigh and looked at Olivia, "Have a seat" he said gesturing to the chair in front of her. She walked around it and sat down. "I spoke to Elliot, got his side of the story. Now I want to hear it from you. Why didn't you show up at the scene this morning?"

"Ummm...I got the call at four in the morning. I was in bed and Elliot got upset when he heard that I was..."she paused trying to think of a good way to explain this, "with Rae and he said that he'd call Fin instead then he hung up on me. I called him back, more than once, to try to talk to him and get the address of where to meet him but he ignored my calls" she explained.

"I could've sworn that I told you two to work this out weeks ago" he said angrily. "I can't have two of my best detectives at odds with each other, especially when it starts to affect your work" he said.

"There's nothing to work out. My personal life is none of Elliot's business. I'm fine to work with him. He's the one with the problem. The only way it'll be fixed is if I stop seeing Araeyah and I'm not going to do that" she said firmly. Captain Cragen stood up and walked around his desk to stand in front of Olivia. He leaned against his desk and took a deep breath "That was the chief of d's on the phone. He heard about you and your relationship and he's not a fan, Liv. Now, he doesn't know you like I know you. He's unattached. He only cares about the optics of the situation and the optics, according to him, are not good. Now he wants one of two things to happen: your relationship with Rae to end or you gone. I've tried to keep it from coming to this. I fought hard for you but it's been taken out of my hands. Those are the only options he's offering. Either you end it or you're gone, it's up to you" he said sadly.

"He can't do that. I'm not doing anything wrong. My personal life is mine and it has nothing to do with the job" she said. "It's becoming a problem, Olivia. You and Elliot are fighting, you're missing calls because of it..."

"That's not on me. No one has complained about working with me. Not Fin or John or Alex so just maybe I'm not the problem. Elliot is the one making an issue of this. I won't allow him or anyone else have a say in my relationship with Rae. I won't end it with her. If he orders me gone, then I'll go to GOAL and ask for representation. As long as I'm not breaking any laws, he doesn't have the authority to tell me what to do on my own time." Olivia stood up from the chair, "So, you have my decision." She turned to walk out of the office but Capt. Cragen stopped her. "Why don't you take some time to think it over?" She shook her head.

"There's nothing for me to think about" she said. She opened the door and walked out of the office and went back to her desk. John gave her an encouraging smile and she returned it back to him. Fifteen minutes later, Elliot and Fin walked into the squad room and went into Cragen's office. They emerged ten minutes later and went to their desks. Elliot sat down across from Olivia and looked over at her, "Nice of you to show up this morning" he said.

"Kiss my ass, Elliot. If it's not about an open case or anything related to work then you don't have anything to say to me and I don't have anything to say to you" she said angrily. He looked dumbfounded; he hadn't been expecting that reaction from her. Fin and John shared a look telling each other things were going to be interesting from now on. She went back to doing her paperwork and the others soon after followed her lead. Ten minutes later, the chief of d's came through the squad room doors, with three other men in tow, and went to the Captain's office. Cragen had called him back after his talk with Olivia and given him her decision. A moment later, Cragen stepped out of his office and called for Olivia to come in. Munch and Fin looked at each other and then turned to watch Olivia walk into the office and the door close behind her. This didn't look good at all. The chief said he wanted to hear from Olivia what she was thinking and why she refused to end this relationship. She repeated everything she'd told the Captain and stood by her decision not to leave Araeyah. He didn't hide his anger and disapproval of her relationship with a teenager or the fact that it was starting to cause problems with her work but her threat to contact a lawyer made him hesitant to fire her on the spot. He said that she was suspended, with pay, effective immediately until he could get to the bottom of this situation. Olivia left the office and went over to her desk to gather her things.

"Liv, what's going on?" Fin asked when he saw her getting her things together.

"I've been suspended" she said looking at Elliot. He held her gaze for a moment before looking back down at the paper's on his desk. Olivia shook her head and put on her coat.

"Suspended? For what?" he asked angrily. Olivia put her bag on her shoulder, "Ask him" she said gesturing to Elliot. She turned and walked out of the squad room to head home. A minute later, the chief of d's and his little minions left behind her. Elliot looked up again to find Fin and Munch glaring at him. Cragen stood in his doorway and called for the three of them to come into his office. Elliot was the last one in and Cragen told him to shut the door behind him.

"Olivia has been suspended until further notice. There are certain things that have happened that have led to this deci..."

"You mean certain people right Cap?" Fin said interrupting his explanation of Olivia's suspension. "We all know why this really happened?" he said looking over at Elliot.

"What? You're blaming me for this?" Elliot asked defensively.

"You're damn right I am? You're the only making an issue of her relationship when it's none of your damn business. Typical you, always sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. You're always right about everything, you can do no wrong. If it wasn't for you Olivia would've been there this morning, the chief wouldn't know anything about her relationship and she wouldn't be suspended right now."

"I can't believe all of you are ok with the fact that she's sleeping with a teenager!" he yelled.

"That's you're problem right there. All you see when you look at Rae is a teenager. It's like she's not a person with thoughts and feelings of her own, like she can't make decisions for herself. It's no wonder your oldest can't wait to leave home, you still treat her like she's seven!" Fin yelled back. Elliot got angry at the mention of his daughter and was about to go off but he wasn't given a chance to get a word in.

"Have you even tried to get to know Rae?" Munch asked jumping into the conversation. "All the time we spent at her house for Thanksgiving and you didn't even try go up and talk to her. You were too busy stewing over her and Olivia being so close. If you had taken the time out to have a conversation with her you'd know that she's not a typical teenager. More than that, you should know Olivia. You should know that would never take advantage of anyone. You've been treating her like any one of the perps that we haul in here everyday" he said chastising him.

"If you'd pay attention, you'd see how happy she's been and if anything she's more on her game now than before. You're just too damn stubborn to admit when you're wrong! You always ta..."

"Alright, that's enough!" Captain Cragen said cutting Fin off. "Now, what's done is done. It's up to Olivia now what her fate is going to be. She's been given her options and now it's up to her." He hadn't brought them in there to argue, just to let them know where they stood. "Options? What options?" Elliot asked. "She either has to end things with Rae or...or she's out of a job here" he said. Fin and John looked even more angry and it was directed at Elliot. "Well she's not gonna throw her career away" Elliot said confidently. "Apparently, you don't know her as well as you think" Cragen said getting upset with Elliot's attitude. "She's made it very clear that she won't be leaving Araeyah. She'll be exploring other options to fight the chief's decision but she's made her choice already. The chief wants them both to have more time to think over the situation before making a final decision."

"There's nothing you can do" Munch asked. "I've done everything I can. It's been taken out of my hands."

"This is bullshit! This is all your fault Stabler!" Fin yelled. He was about to get in his face when Munch stepped between them. "Hey, come on Fin. Fighting's not gonna help, Liv" he said trying to calm his partner down. "Look, none of us are happy about this but pointing fingers isn't going to help Olivia. Now, we all want to be there for her and support her but we still have work to do. So, let's get to it" he said dismissing them from his office. John had to take Fin's place on the call that he and Elliot had responded to earlier that morning. Fin was so pissed that he refused to talk to Elliot let alone work with him.

Meanwhile Olivia arrived back home just after ten in the morning. She was nervous to tell Rae that she'd been suspended from work because of their relationship. She'd always said that if she became a problem for Olivia at work she would leave before she let her quit. She took off her coat and shoes at the door and went into the bedroom. Rae was still in bed sleeping peacefully. Olivia climbed in and got under the covers with her and went back to sleep. Rae woke up at twelve fifteen and was about to get out of the bed when she noticed that Olivia was in bed next to her. She thought for a moment that she might be dreaming but that thought passed quickly. She got up and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face and then came back to the bed. She laid back down next to her girlfriend and placed kisses on her neck, cheek and finally her lips, trying to wake her. Olivia smiled when she felt Rae's lips caress her skin. Her mind filled with memories of moments in their relationship so far and then she saw flashes of all the possible moments to come. There was a warmth that came over her that only Rae could make her feel. She knew she'd made the right decision. She opened her eyes and stared past long, thick lashes into big, brown eyes.

"Hi" she said. Rae smiled and placed another soft kiss on her lips.

"Hi" she whispered back. She brought her hand up to touch Olivia's hair, "What are you doing home so early?" Olivia took a deep breath before answering.

"I got suspended today" she said softly. Rae sat up in bed and looked down at Olivia. "What do you mean you got suspended and for how long?" she asked. Olivia sat up and crossed her legs indian style. "There are just some issues that have to be worked out and some decisions that have to be made and until they are I've been suspended". Rae looked confused about what she was saying. "What issues and decisions?" she asked. Olivia didn't want to tell Rae that she'd been suspended because of their relationship but it didn't seem like she'd be able to get out of it. "Ummm...there are some people who don't like that we're together. They say it looks bad for my squad and for the department; that it's affecting unit cohesion" she said quoting the Captain's words. "They gave me the option to end things with you or lose my job. I told them I wouldn't do it so they suspended me" she explained. Rae let out a harsh breath, "Liv, I don't want you to lose your job for me" she said softly. "You should go back right now and tell them you made a mistake. Tell them you changed your mind. I won't be up..."

"No" Olivia said firmly. "But Olivia..." It didn't feel right to let Olivia give up her career for her but Olivia wouldn't hear it. "No buts. I made the decision I wanted to make and I'm not changing my mind. I'm not quitting my job but I'm not losing you either. There's no reason I can't have both you and my career" she said confidently. "I don't understand. If they said you have to leave me or lose your job, how can you have both?" Rae asked confused. "They can't control my personal life. They have no grounds to terminate me. They're just trying to intimidate me into making the decision they want because they don't agree with our relationship but I won't let that happen. I'm going to fight this. I've already put in a call to GOAL; I'm just waiting for a call back." Rae furrowed her brow, "GOAL?" she asked.

"Gay Officers Action League. They represent gay officers on claims of harassment and discrimination. Listen, I don't want you to worry about this. I'm gonna take care of it. Ok?" Rae looked at Olivia for a moment. She would never forgive herself if Olivia lost her job because of her. But she had to trust that Olivia knew what she was doing. "Ok" she said. Olivia smiled and pulled Rae into a hug. "I promise you, everything is going to be fine" she said kissing the top of her head. All Rae could do was hope that Olivia was right.