Set early season 17 **this is a parody** With thanks to Joanie.
Olivia's out of character words as she slates Elliot have an explanation...so what is wrong with Sergeant Benson? Kathy suddenly remembers that she hasn't seen Elliot for, oh...four years, and asks SVU for help, but Fin notices Liv's strange disinterest.
Munch and Fin soon uncover the shocking truth about Sergeant Benson!
Warning: Contains clones. An evil villain. Memory wiping. Cryogenics. A sudden and terrifically convenient divorce.
Can we fix it?
OCTOBER 2015, SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, SERGEANT BENSON'S OFFICE.
Olivia looked up in surprise as her door burst open to reveal Fin, looking none too happy.
"Liv, you're not gonna believe this..Kathy Stabler is here...she.."
Fin was interrupted as Kathy walked swiftly past him and stood in front of Olivia's desk, her eyes locking onto Sergeant Benson with an intense determination.
Olivia stood, staring in confusion at the flustered woman in front of her.
"Kath-y Sta-bler," she said slowly, the name sounding strange yet familiar as it rolled from her tongue.
"Olivia - what's wrong with you? Of course I'm Kathy Stabler!" Kathy said, shaking her head in slight confusion at Olivia's reaction.
"Elliot's wife!..Yes!...wow, I had almost forgotten about you...and..all of your children," laughed Olivia as she pondered the absurdity of the situation, "How is Eli? The baby I helped save, and deliver - oh yes...I held him moments after he was born...I totally forgot about him!"
Fin frowned, wondering why Olivia, who had held Elliot's son moments after he was born, never even thought about him these days. Shaking his head, he decided to file that under 'crazy shit that's been going on around here lately' and revisit it later.
"Eli's fine...but Olivia...something awful has happened...I need your help.." Kathy said.
"What happened?" Olivia asked.
"It's Elliot...he's... missing!" Kathy said, her voice rising dramatically.
"Missing...Elliot...ok, why are you telling me that? He walked out my life years ago, he definitely hasn't so much as even called me, or emailed me, or even thought about me, I'm not even a blip on his radar, not even a passing thought, I am pretty much nothing to him….I mean...why would you be telling me?"
"Oh Olivia, that is total bull. Listen to yourself!" Kathy said. "He didn't call you because something was wrong...come to think of it...why didn't you try a bit harder to reach him? Olivia, look; his disappearance is very strange….as soon as I realised he was missing I felt SO bad for not noticing sooner - but then I felt better because it's not like you did either and you're a detective!"
"Ok," said Olivia, with a defeated sigh, "when did you realise he was missing?"
"Well," Kathy coughed, her cheeks tinging pink in embarrassment, "I realised three weeks ago...that he hadn't come by for a while to see Eli...I mean we got divorced so it's not like I didn't notice he wasn't home or anything."
"How long?" Olivia asked.
"Well...about four and a half years…" Kathy said, looking away in shame.
Olivia rounded her desk and stood directly in front of Kathy, her hands gripping her shoulders tightly as she stared into her eyes.
"You mean to tell me your husband has been missing for four and a half years - and you only just noticed?"
Fin silently observed the exchange between the two women, and felt a pang of concern at Olivia's words. Why was she discussing Elliot as if he was someone she didn't even know?
"Yes...sorry...I figured there was some kind of reason, but then I bumped into Munch - he had so many ideas about where Elliot might be...I figured I would just tell you...because if Munch was right and he really has been abducted by...well...aliens..." she paused, the ridiculousness of that notion striking her.
Olivia exhaled sharply, dropping her hands from Kathy's delusional shoulders, "I seriously doubt he has been abducted by aliens...but if you haven't seen him for over four years….well I guess you should report him missing," shrugged Olivia.
"Kathy...you didn't notice he hadn't come to see Eli since 2011?" Fin asked, stunned by the words of both women.
"No...I just...didn't notice...I kinda forgot about him, I know that sounds strange. It was like; he wasn't there and every memory I had of him just left my mind. It was weird, I felt a bit crazy, that's why I talked to Munch. Then three weeks ago I was replaying a home movie of Eli...and I suddenly remembered him and then I thought...I haven't seen him for a really long time...oops!"
"Maureen, and the others forgot about their dad too?" Fin asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I guess we all did…." she said before leaning closer to Olivia and lowering her voice to a whisper, as she cast a brief paranoid glance at Fin. "Is Munch right Olivia?" she whispered, "Is it aliens?"
Fin sighed and turned his head toward the window, pretending not to hear as he tried to suppress a laugh at Kathy's words.
Olivia blinked, and looked at her gravely, "No. There are no aliens Kathy, it is utterly insane of you to even suggest that."
Fin shook his head once again, confused at the lack of concern Olivia seemed to be showing, "Look Liv, if something bad has happened to Stabler, we should open a case, work it, we owe him, let's face it - the worst crime of all...is that nobody even noticed he was missing!"
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt, we won't find him anyway if he has been gone for this long, so let's just work it alongside our other open cases, just as a courtesy," Olivia said.
"Liv, seriously - what the fuck?" said Fin shaking his head. "Why does this not bother you? And while we're at it - how could you not even realise Elliot was missing? I mean how was he last time you saw him?"
Olivia quickly adverted her eyes from Fin and Kathy, staring hard at the wall as she battled to recall the date "well...I haven't seen him since the shooting in the squad room…so..2011?"
"What?" Fin and Kathy said in shocked unison.
"You didn't go and see him?" Fin said in astonishment.
"Well, no. I mean I know I left a few messages.." Olivia said.
"Liv," said Fin, "I just assumed you went to see him. I mean he was your partner and best friend for over twelve years...you just left a few messages? That's it? What's wrong with you?"
"I...I don't know Fin..it sounds crazy..I'm not really sure why I didn't go and see him..." Olivia said as she sat down heavily on her chair, "Why do I feel so confused?"
Fin sighed and moved closer, standing next to Olivia as he cast a wary glance at Kathy.
"Something's seriously messed up with you Liv...with Elliot's whole family...and I guess the rest of us too...no one checked up on him after the shooting, not one of us."
"Call Munch, seriously...the alien thing does make some kind of sense…." Kathy suggested.
Olivia looked up at Kathy and shooked her head, "There. Are. No. Aliens. Kathy, Please stop talking to Munch!"
"Well, my role here is done, I've imparted the news, if you find Elliot, let me know. I've moved on with my life, remarried, so there's no way that Elliot and I would reconcile, but now the kids have remembered him, they kinda wanna see him."
As Kathy Stabler turned and left, wrapping up her role in the situation, and her marriage, quite neatly, while leaving Elliot a free man, should anyone be bothered to actually find him and check that he is ok; Olivia and Fin were left staring at each other in amazement.
"Can you believe this? It's crazy Liv," said Fin.
"I know, I mean...he's divorced!"
"No Liv, focus, Kathy and her children forgot who Elliot was and he's been missing for over four years?"
"Yes," Olivia coughed in embarrassment, "That too…"
After Fin convinced her that Munch really was the only person qualified to lead the investigation, Olivia wasted no time in calling him. Munch was more than happy to assist, and began to offer Olivia several possible explanations... before she eventually had enough and hung up on him.
She knew it wouldn't take him long...in under an hour he was standing in her office, watching the intrigued faces of the squad as they gave him their full attention.
"Olivia has briefed you on what we know so far - this is a serious investigation, one of our own has been potentially abducted...whether by the CIA or another covert government agency…" Munch said.
Carisi glanced at Amanda, his intrigue practically bursting out of him, despite her merely rebutting his enthusiasm with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head.
Feeling shot down, he returned his attention back to Munch, the man made sense...this could be big...this could be exciting...working with Munch could be the start of something major… he held his breath,consumed by a mixture of fascination and excitement, waiting for Munch's next words...
"...or perhaps aliens."
Carisi's face fell at Munch's words, and he tried not to look at Amanda, not wanting to see her mocking laugh at his easy acceptance of Munch's theories.
"If Detective Stabler hasn't contacted anyone since his divorce, and no one has been able to reach him...although admittedly only Sergeant Benson bothered to try...and let's face it, she didn't try very hard at all…"
Olivia coughed, and glared at Munch, who shrugged his shoulders and continued.
"Then we have to assume he can't contact us...so what are the only workable scenarios in the pretty unbelievable mess?" Munch said.
"Can we go back to the CIA idea…?" Carisi suggested.
"Maybe he just left - I mean Olivia, you told Nick how you couldn't really live your life to the fullest
when he was here. So he was pretty much a weight holding you down, stopping you from blooming, reaching your goals, being happy?" Amanda said.
Amanda glanced around the room sheepishly as she suddenly realised that every pair of eyes in the room had fallen on her.
"Hey, sorry guys, I'm just calling it like I see it. I wasn't dissing the guy - I never met him, I don't know him, but it's clear from the few times Liv's mentioned him that he's a total bastard, am I right?"
Amanda glanced around the room, Carisi was engrossed in the conversation, taking it all in, Olivia stood with her arms crossed appearing evasive, and Fin stared at them all, shaking his head in disbelief.
"You do have a point Amanda - I mean surely we all remember that Elliot was a bit of bastard, and basically stopping me from having a life - so we have to consider that he probably doesn't care and ...well, just left. No big deal, we just forget about him and move on right?" Olivia said with a shrug.
Fin exchanged a glance with Munch who frowned, puzzled by Olivia's words. Something was seriously wrong with Olivia Benson and he didn't have a clue what it was. He was out of rational reasons for Elliot's sudden, uncharacteristic departure, and couldn't think of a single rational, realistic reason for Olivia Benson slating Elliot Stabler this way.
The only thing Fin knew, was that Olivia's words were irrational, wrong, out of character. There had to be a reason...and as rationality was out of the window, he decided to secretly meet with Munch as soon as the bizarre Stabler Bashing Session was over.
In chapter 2 - Fin can't believe he's listening to Munch's crazy theory about Olivia. Munch tells us about the evil villain responsible for the odd things that have been going on at SVU, and enlist some help to find El, and fix this shocking mess. Will they find Elliot? Where is he? What's the deal with Olivia these days?