AN: I am constantly being floored by the reviews to this story. Your responses and encouragement continue to drive me on. I love you guys... in a completely platonic way, of course ;) Seriously, though, you're all great.

*

She reasoned. She pleaded. She cajoled. She even threw in some thinly veiled threats for good measure. Olivia had been cycled through so many departments that her head was beginning to spin. The phone had nearly fused into a permanent fixture on her head by the time she accomplished what she had set out to do.

"Finally." The word floated out as she exhaled in relief.

Elliot eyed her from across his desk. "So they finally broke down? Smart move."

"Yeah." Olivia could feel the headache looming in the horizon. "I only had to wheel and deal through half of the people at ACS to do it."

Noon had long since come and gone, but this was something she refused to give up on. She found a foster home, technically already at capacity, for Sara to stay at. The social worker had been very resistant, and even when Olivia had managed to wear him down he was adamant that it was only temporary. A week at most. She was smart enough to know that she wouldn't get any better, so she had readily accepted.

She'd go through the whole damn thing a week later if she had to.

Sara had been ignoring her since she had broken the news. The few times she tried to talk to her, see if she needed something, were met with disinterest. Munch had mercifully taken over when it became apparent the attitude wasn't going to miraculously change in a couple hours. And now that she had a place to go, he offered to take her over. Olivia figured it was for the best.

It did give her time to catch up on paperwork. She figured it was the least she could do since the Captain didn't gripe at her being tied up on the phone most of the day. But he had always been good like that, giving them a little extra rope to do what they needed to do. You'd never find it in any of the manuals, but there were times you just needed to go above and beyond or the job would just eat you up. Either you kept caring, or you stopped altogether.

Of course, her mind didn't actually stay on the reports and notes. Olivia thought about the case, about Eric Holden, and of course about Sara. She wondered if he'd take the plea. She also wondered if a panel of jurors would be snowed into believing his innocence or not. He had a decent job, and a couple nice suits. Some people were easily blinded by such status symbols.

Whatever did end up happening, she wondered what would happen to Sara. The girl was resilient enough, if given half a chance she'd probably flourish. Would she get that chance? Olivia would do everything in her power to make sure she did. She shook her head, it wasn't all on her. Alex was a damn miracle worker in the courtroom. She'd make sure enough dirt stuck to Holden that losing custody would be a foregone conclusion.

And despite all the other wonderings, the top one on her brain at that moment was if Sara would forgive her misjudgment. In her haste, her own outrage at the situation, she had promised something she couldn't be sure she could deliver. While Olivia hadn't said the word itself, they both knew it had been there. It was one of those things that got drilled on you early on, don't promise what you might not be able to deliver. Because the last thing a victim ever needed was more disappointment.

Sometimes you had to, for yourself as much as anyone else.

"Accomplishing much?"

At the sound of Elliot's voice, Olivia shook out of her stupor. So much for getting some work done. "What?"

"You've been looking at that same report for the last ten minutes," Elliot said.

"You know how much fun paperwork is," Olivia answered wryly. She tapped the papers on her desk to reorganize them, and then tried again.

"Fun for the whole family."

"So maybe you should get on it."

Elliot responded with a cocky grin. "I've finished a lot more of it than you have today."

And this is why they made such good partners. They could go from serious to banter in the blink of an eye, knowing just what the other person needed to hear. Opening a drawer, she shuffled through the sticker pad she kept there for kids, tearing off one that had a bunch of balloons with 'GOOD JOB!' emblazoned through the middle.

She flicked it across and it fluttered on top of the clutter on Elliot's desk. "I'm out of gold stars."

"My loss," he said, making a flourish of sticking it to the side of his monitor.

With things so normal, Olivia actually managed to get something done. For a little while she even managed to keep her thoughts away from all the what-ifs that were plaguing her. It was nice to get away from the morose. Olivia was quite productive until Alex entered.

She came to a stop between the two desks and removed her glasses. Alex turned her head to Olivia and gave her a small look of sympathy, promising they'd exchange apologies later in a less public setting. Olivia knew she had far more to beg forgiveness over than the other woman. When she returned with a small smile tinged with embarrassment, Alex shifted to address them both.

"I guess you'll be happy to know that Eric Holden refused the plea bargain," she said.

Olivia found herself more surprised than anything. She had been almost certain he would accept, and actually the thought of a guaranteed sentence had been comforting.

Elliot shared her surprise. "Why would he take such a gamble? He could have been out on parole in a year."

"Well, when I went back to get his answer I got the impression that his lawyer was for it. Mr. Holden, however, was quite vocal in his decline."

"He's a vocal guy," Elliot said.

Alex's brow raised in an expression that said 'no kidding'. "Very. There was a long diatribe about the insult to his character for even offering such a deal. He's sick of us mucking up his good name, and wants the harassment to stop immediately."

"He has it coming. Maybe he'd find it wouldn't stick so hard if he was actually innocent," Olivia retorted. She hoped the stink never rinsed out.

"I was a tad more diplomatic, but you've caught the essence."

Elliot shook his head. "So he thinks a trial is going to be easier? Even if he did manage to weasel his way to a vote of not guilty, the publicity is going to ramp up."

It definitely didn't play out as the smartest move he could have made. His best bet would have been to take the plea and try to sweep it under the rug as quietly as possible. He'd get a nice label, but fewer people would know about it. If it were Olivia trying to salvage as much as possible, she'd definitely go with a guarantee rather than an off chance.

But being a cop and not a perp probably skewed her thinking along different lines.