CHAPTER 5
In this chapter - Olivia and Elliot face Liv's clone, and they are not happy with her. Is she going to help them? Is it going too smoothly?
Olivia paced the room as Elliot watched her carefully from his position, leaning on the dressing table, his arms folded. He sighed and stepped toward her, grasping her shoulders and stilling her.
"We can do this Olivia, Munch has been researching this for a while, we have to trust his plan."
"I trust him as a friend and a cop, but Elliot, he is telling us we are at the heart of a major conspiracy plot - this is a bit hard to accept," she said, shaking her head before briefly glancing up at him, their eyes connecting.
Elliot smiled, it was impossible to meet her eyes without smiling, she radiated such warmth, beauty, compassion. She was the love of his life, but she had no idea. "It's crazy Liv, but Munch really is right about all of this. You ready to meet your clone?"
"Is anyone ever ready to meet their clone Elliot?" Olivia said, as they both took a moment to absorb the fact that they were about to come face to face with a genetically near identical copy of Olivia.
Elliot took a deep breath as his gaze averted to the window, not wanting to see Olivia's reaction in case his hopes of her requiting his feelings came crashing down around him.
"So I'm divorced," he said quickly.
"You are?" she said, as she watched him, willing him to look at her.
"Yeah. Turns out Kathy's mind was messed with - she got a divorce in my absence, then forgot all about me. Guess she couldn't have loved me enough to be brainwashed quite so easily."
Olivia stepped forward, her hand reaching out, touching the leather of his jacket as her fingers closed around his arm.
"She's wrong Elliot. You deserve better," Olivia said, as he turned to face her, looking into her eyes, "so much better," she whispered.
The moment was abruptly interrupted by the sound of a key card being inserted into the door. Olivia and Elliot turned to face the door, waiting for Munch to bring them face to face with the woman who had stolen Olivia's life.
Sergeant Benson stared in shock at the two detectives, jumping slightly as the door closed with a loud click. Glancing behind her, she frowned and shook her head, "Munch what the hell is this?"
Olivia and Elliot remained silent, standing side by side as they watched Olivia's clone, mentally assessing her reactions, while trying to shake off the bizarre experience of having two Olivia Benson's in the room.
As Munch began to talk, Elliot found himself temporarily distracted by the thought of two Olivia Benson's - he couldn't deny how incredibly beautiful and stunning his Olivia was - but her clone certainly shared her physical attributes, and he gave a small smile at the thought of both of them...one on each side of him as they lay on his bed...
"Who are these people?!" Sergeant Benson asked, her question directed to Munch.
Elliot stepped forward, coughing in embarrassment and slight guilt, at his train of thought, even though he was pretty sure that no one in the room could read minds.
Almost definitely sure...
He's watching Sergeant Benson curiously, before glancing back at the real Olivia, momentarily comparing them before catching sight of the look of determination in Olivia - his Olivia's eyes. There may be two extremely hot women in the room, but only one of them had his heart - only one shone with the passion of the real Olivia Benson.
"I'm Elliot Stabler," he said, a hard edge to his voice, pausing as he gestured toward Olivia, "and this is my partner Olivia Benson - she look familiar to you?"
Sergeant Benson began to speak but found herself lost for words, taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly and stared hard at Elliot.
"You...are Elliot Stabler? The man who walked out of my life, after my painful unrequited, damaging, harmful, bad relationship? The man who doesn't care anything about me? Now...now, you have a girlfriend called Olivia?"
Olivia, Elliot and Munch simply stared at Sergeant Benson, amazed at the ridiculous words tumbling out, as she reacted to Elliot's presence.
"That is so disturbing, that you made me so unhappy for so many years, left me, then got a girlfriend who looks like me - you are even worse than I remember! You are...you…"
"He is what, Sergeant Benson?" asked Olivia, deciding she had heard more than enough, as she stepped forward standing at Elliot's side. "He. Is. What? What do you know about Elliot Stabler? Tell me - because it sounds like you've been making it up as you go along."
"Your boyfriend made me think he cared about me for years, and then he just walked away and never even spoke to me again! Now he has found someone who he can pretend is me? This is too disturbing," she said, before fixing her angry, stunned gaze on Olivia. "You need to leave before he stops you from having babies and holds you down for over a decade, forcing you into an unhappy one sided relationship where you…"
"Oh, shut up!" Olivia snapped, shaking her head in disbelief. "Can you even hear yourself? You may look like me, but you don't act like me or think like me! You don't even know Elliot Stabler, you don't have the first clue who he is - no one has ever cared about me the way that this man has - and I didn't even let him in so many times, yet he was always there for me, always. He would never," she said as she stepped forward, face to face with Sergeant Benson, "Turn his back on me and walk away. Do you wanna know how I know that?"
"Ok, I'll humour you, how do you know that?" Sergeant Benson said.
"Because I would never walk away from him either," Olivia said, her voice lowering, but her determined, forceful edge remaining.
"There's another reason Liv…" Elliot said suddenly.
"Another reason?" she asked, confused, but slightly hopeful, as she stepped back from her clone and turned to face him.
"Yeah Liv, " he said, clearing his throat nervously, "I'd never walk away from you because….well...because,"
"Stabler," Munch sighed, "we do have a situation here...so if you are going to profess your undying love for your partner, could you hurry it up a bit?"
Olivia looked at Elliot, her eyes locking with his as her heart raced in anticipation of his words. "Why Elliot?" she whispered, "why won't you walk away?"
"Because Olivia, I love you too damn much," he said, as he closed the distance between them and took her hands in his, his mouth dropping to hers instantly. In a flash, their lips connected, their kiss turning quickly passionate while Sergeant Benson glared at them both, and Munch glanced at his watch.
Munch allowed them a whole minute, unable to fight the smile it gave him to see his two friends, defrosted and certainly much, much warmer now, finally admitting their true feelings…. before remembering that a clone was actually in the room with them.
"Sorry to break up this long awaited love fest, but we do have the slight issue of cloning, and mass mind control to deal with," Munch said.
"Sorry," Olivia said with a smile, as she dropped one of her hands from Elliot's, the other remaining intertwined with his, as he smiled lovingly at her.
"I'd never walk away from you sweetheart, because I'm in love with you and always have been...plus," he said, placing a kiss on her head before his gaze hardened, as it fell on Sergeant Benson, "I'm also not an asshole."
"That's very true Elliot, you are certainly not an asshole….you did piss Fin off a bit, but even he accepted that I was right, when I pointed out that not only would you never treat Liv how Sergeant Benson here says you did, but you had effectively vanished mysteriously and no one really gave your disappearance a second thought!" Munch said, shaking his head.
"And you," Munch continued, as he peered cautiously at Sergeant Benson from the rim of his glasses, "I am afraid to say, are not a real person. Don't talk, just hear me out," he continued, determined. "Olivia Benson was kidnapped and cloned - you are that clone. Elliot has been in a cryogenic chamber for over four years - which has a little something to do with why he didn't return the three or four calls you made to his cell after he left…"
"You expect me to believe you Munch? This is an insane theory, even for you. The fact that you have located the person that I have spent years recovering from even knowing, and brought him here ..I mean...he's so heartless..is this even safe? He could be capable of anything Munch...he's probably safest in a cryogenic chamber! At least he can't ruin my life if he's below -minus 320.4 fahrenheit!"
"You thought this was ME Munch?" Olivia said in shock, "For four and a half years, you actually thought this was me?"
Munch looked away, embarrassed, "Well, yes. Sorry about that Olivia, but I am making that right now - remember who organised your rescue mission? Well yours and the love of your life here...I think that begs forgiveness...but back to the current dilemma."
It took a further ten hours to convince Sergeant Benson that she was actually a clone - ten long hours, of Munch explaining in far too much detail, and Olivia and Elliot growing tired..of their long ordeal, as well as their physical boundaries.
Olivia and Elliot sat on the bed, leaning back against the cushioned headrest, Elliot's arm draped around Olivia as he pulled her close to him. She smiled, resting her head against his shoulder as she watched Munch explaining cloning repeatedly to Sergeant Benson, who was now sitting in a chair by the window, her gaze drifting to the view of the city through the large floor to ceiling glass pane.
Olivia let her eyes close as she tried to drift off to sleep, enjoying the warmth and comfort of Elliot's body so close to hers.
Smiling, she snuggled closer against him, as he tightened his arm around her in response. Hearing only fragments of Munch's conversation with her clone, she let her own thoughts focus on the amazing feeling of being with the man she loved.
"Fin tells me that Rollins has three seasons of Oz remaining, so we have a little time to establish whether or not she is a clone too, but I don't want to delay this any longer. Do you see that you have been used, manipulated, harmed; repeatedly put through hell by the same person who stole the very lives of Olivia and Elliot for the past four and a half years?" Munch said.
"Ok Munch," sighed Sergeant Benson in defeat, "Tthat would explain why there are two of us here...and why I can't remember very much before the squad room shooting...but...what do you want me to do about it?"
"The man who did this has put you through an unnecessarily high level of pain in many forms. Help us take him down. Help us to make him pay for the torment he has repeatedly caused you - work with us on this - you are the key here, you know who he the wizard is, don't you? You can get him here?"
"The Wizard?" she smiled, "yes of course I know him! He's the official head of IAB - I had lunch with him and Tucker the other day - he has really been instrumental in helping me out of my one sided love for Elliot and getting me to where I am today. Then I had drinks with Tucker, which was nice, gosh I'm so happy. What would I do without the Wizard? He even got me to see how nice Tucker was, and now he might be my boyfriend. The Wizard is amazing, he…"
"Would you STOP!" Elliot yelled, before dropping his head back against the headboard and exhaling hard, dropping his arm from Olivia as he put his hands to his head in frustration.
"AND YOU HAD LUNCH WITH TUCKER? With Tucker?? Why the hell would you give Tucker the time of day?" Elliot yelled as he stared hard at her.
Sergeant Benson smiled happily, "well, he's a nice man really, and he is kind of.."
Olivia jumped up from the bed, a look of horror on her face, "Don't say it, please no! Don't say it!"
"Why? Why does no one want me to be happy and have a boyfriend?" she asked, genuinely baffled.
Munch sighed, "Nobody wants you to be unhappy, but you are unaware of anything which happened in Olivia's life prior to 2011. Keep away from Tucker - why don't you find a nice clone Tucker instead - because if Tucker doesn't know you are a clone, then he has an ulterior motive in getting close to you, I can almost guarantee that."
Munch stepped closer and put a sympathetic hand on her arm. "Maybe once we take down your creator, we can find you a clone boyfriend. Gwen's research indicates that a large number of clones are living and working among us, mostly in prominent societal positions - there could be a real catch out there for you." Munch said, offering a hopeful smile.
As the daylight began to fade, they all discussed their plan. Munch watched Sergeant Benson cautiously; she seemed to be very accepting and cooperative of the whole situation. He didn't like it - this was too easy, sure she was a clone, and so it wasn't as difficult as convincing Olivia and Elliot...and considerably easier than convincing Fin, but her ease of acceptance unsettled him. She was designed to think and act like Olivia, so he couldn't help but think 'what would Olivia Benson do?' Keeping that thought in the back of his mind, he smiled reassuringly at Sergeant Benson, soon they would be facing her creator, and then her allegiance would be clear.
In the next chapter of Whatever This Is? Is Clone Liv going to help them, or side with the wizard? Can we really trust Clone Liv? Is Rollins a clone too? Will it be as simple as Munch's plan appears - or will they face resistance from the brainwashed masses? Will the wizard run like a frightened rabbit?