Chapter Two – Time Passed

"Where are we going anyway?" Emily asked as a favor to JJ after she'd spent so much time mooning over Olivia's car.

Amanda just shrugged, not really sure herself.

"Olivia is choosing since I've only been here a few months."

Both Emily and JJ knew that Nick Amaro, another SVU detective, was new to the squad. They hadn't known that Amanda Rollins was too.

"To Manhattan or New York?" JJ asked.

"New York. I transferred here from Atlanta Special Victims. I know my way around and have found a good coffee shop, a gym, a diner open 24 hours for when we don't get off until 3AM, and did I mention a good coffee shop?"

The others laughed. They all knew how important good coffee could be. It was the only thing that kept them functioning more often than not.

"Olivia is the one who knows the hidden secrets."

Emily chuckled again at the phrasing, but she knew it was true. Locals always knew the best spots; especially those out of the way of tourists that nobody seemed to even know existed.

"Better be good then."

JJ gave Emily a playful swat on the arm and took charge.

"How long have you lived here, Olivia?"

"Manhattan born and raised," Olivia told her with a grin. "The city and SVU are all I've ever known."

Emily's eyebrows lifted in surprise. Olivia had only worked for one unit her entire career? Most of the BAU had been around awhile, but many of them had spent time in other areas as well. She, JJ, Morgan, and Rossi all had. As for Hotch, she couldn't be sure, but it wouldn't surprise her if he had.

JJ seemed to be just as surprised with Olivia's career path as Emily had been.

"Only SVU?"

"Yeah, unless you count my time as a beat cop."

"And there is no way you're new at this," Emily said. "You're way too good at it."

Olivia just smiled, not really giving the compliment much thought. She'd heard it more than once, so it rarely affected her now. Besides, she always thought she could do more, save more people, try and do something else to stop the horrors that happened every day even though she knew deep down that she was doing everything that she could.

"Thirteen years," she confirmed.

Emily and JJ glanced at each other with mirrored looks of amazement. That was almost twice as long as even JJ had spent at the BAU.

"Okay, seriously, I love you guys and all, but thirteen years? I'm not sure you wouldn't drive me nuts without breaks," Emily told her friend.

JJ chuckled, completely understanding. There were some days when they couldn't make it through a few hours without driving each other nuts. It came with the territory considering the team spent more time together than they did apart.

"And with our job, breaks don't come that often," she added.

"You haven't been out of the unit at all?" Amanda asked. Just like with Olivia's personal life, Amanda knew very little about her career history even though they worked together. The two of them didn't share a lot, and this was one of their first nights out together that wasn't work related.

Olivia shrugged and made another turn, easily navigating the busy New York roads. They were making a pretty big deal out of this. Considering the average time spent in SVU was two years, maybe her thirteen was a big deal. It had never seemed that way to her. She belonged in SVU and couldn't picture herself anywhere else.

"Not really. I had a short stint in Computer Crimes and a little while after that I spent some time undercover for the FBI's domestic terrorism task force."

"You were undercover with us?" JJ asked in surprise. It wasn't often that the bureau outsourced jobs without a good reason, and domestic terrorism didn't exactly fit with sex crimes.

"It wasn't planned," Olivia explained. "Events in New York left me pretty deep in an organization they were looking into. The FBI's CI was dead, so they sent me in alone to finish the rest of her mission outside of New York after that. I hated every second of it."

"Undercover work isn't easy," Emily told her. She knew better than anyone how difficult it could be.

"It wasn't that exactly. It was more the fact that I spent all of my time chasing after eco-terrorists that didn't exist. In return, I wound up being falsely charged with assaulting a cop, paid my own bail, was questioned in a murder, and then solved the murder after my pain in the ass handler outed me as a cop."

"Eventful," JJ laughed.

"You have no idea," Olivia told her. "Every time we deal with the FBI it's eventful. The other agent we've run into more than once got my former partner hurt each time. Shot twice, blown up once."

All three of the others burst into laughter. It was just ridiculous. Nobody could have that much bad luck.

"You're kidding!" JJ exclaimed.

"Nope. One of those shots was actually her own ricocheted bullet too."

That brought another round of laughter to the group, Olivia included.

"Remind me not to end up as your partner if she shows up," Amanda told her as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"Oh, it has nothing to do with me!" Olivia insisted. "I was only there once!"

Amanda didn't seem the least bit reassured, and a slightly worried look creased her face. When Olivia noticed it she grinned, but saved Amanda the worry by continuing the conversation.

"What about you two? How long have you been with the BAU?"

"Almost seven years," JJ answered as she tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. "I was with the DoD at the Pentagon last year."

"That certainly puts me in my place," Amanda grumbled. A job with the Department of Defense was a big deal. Amanda's career path completely paled in comparison to that.

"Obviously I liked the BAU better. I definitely didn't come back just for the long hours."

"Who would?" Emily asked with a quick roll of her eyes.

The two detectives knew the feeling. They often worked gruelingly long days that didn't leave room for sleep. Weekends were potential work days too since they could be called out at anytime. Neither serial killers nor rapists took vacations.

Before long all eyes turned expectantly toward Emily. It took her a moment to register the fact that she was silently being asked to share her own answer.

"Oh, I was with Interpol before joining the bureau about six years ago."

She didn't really want to go into more detail. The memories of that time when she was undercover and what happened after were still too painful. Thinking about it could send her into a tailspin, and that wasn't what she wanted tonight. Thankfully she was saved from responding when Olivia drove into a small parking lot and turned off the ignition.

"Talmarc's?" she asked, looking curiously at the unlit sign. There weren't a lot of places in New York that didn't use fluorescent neon lights somewhere.

"Yup. It's a little place. A lot of cops frequent it, but it's not considered a cop bar since there are so many locals who come too. The atmosphere is nice, and you usually don't have to worry about trouble. Good fries, cheap beer," Olivia explained as she dropped her keys into her purse and got out of the car.

"What else could a woman need?" JJ grinned.

"I'd take some good music," Amanda responded nonchalantly as she followed Olivia toward the bar's front door.

"Can't have everything," Olivia told her with a smile.