Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Elliot asked, his arms crossed and his face screwed up in an expression torn between fear and disdain.

Chief Muldrew peered at him over his glasses, a flat and unamused smile on his face. "It means, Sergeant, that someone in this city has it out for the two of you, and your jobs, and this case is only making it worse."

Olivia rolled her eyes and laughed bitterly. "Of course, the minute I think I could actually, maybe, do this job, something like this..."

Muldrew blinked once before holding up a hand and interrupting her. "Captain, if I didn't believe you were capable of running this unit as good as, if not better than Don Cragen, I would not have handed the reins over to you in the first place." He cleared his throat. "As you know, there are some power-hungry, manipulative, bastards in this city, and a few them are, unfortunately but expectedly, after your jobs. Now that we got wind of this, though, we can avoid any real problems and head whoever this is off at the pass."

Elliot unfolded his arms and jammed his hands in his pockets. "What does any of this have to do with this case?"

Muldrew sighed. "The name Sarah Bramson gave you in return for that dropped charge..." he paused, coughed, and took a breath before continuing. "It linked the case to organized crime. Someone must've known Bramson would eventually point the finger...and rather than wait for you to follow the lead, they simply decided to..."

"Someone put a hit out on me and Liv?" Elliot questioned, both eyebrows scrunched in concern as he stared at the Chief of Detectives.

"Not exactly," Muldrew said in a sing-song manner, pressing his lips together. He turned his hat around in his hands and looked down, trying to figure out the best way to explain. "This, uh, family...if you want to call it that...they have someone on the inside. A cop. How do you think I found out about this before you were even done interrogating Miss Bramson?" He looked at Elliot. "The guy doesn't want to hurt you, or see you hurt, so as soon as he got the call, he came to me. You're not in any immediate danger, but you need to watch your backs." He turned his gaze to Olivia. "When you find Sal Carbone, you don't go after him by yourself, do you understand? You send someone else, and you send them with heavy artillery."

Olivia nodded, biting her lip. She shot a cautionary glance toward Elliot and took a shaky breath before looking back at Muldrew. "Right," she said. "I'm not really, uh, I don't get to go out into the field much anymore, anyway." Her eyes traveled over to Elliot again. "Of course, this would happen on the one case I work with you."

Muldrew laughed, slapping his knee. "Seems the two of you, together, still make people look bad, even when you're not trying." He pointed a finger at Olivia. "You're running the unit better than anyone expected, but because this turned into a high-profile case, involving a cop and a city medical examiner, it pushed you back into the spotlight with Stabler." He smiled and laughed slightly. "The...the other one. This is gong to get very confusing. Are you sure you want to change your..."

"It's already been done," Olivia said, cutting him off. "It says it on my license, it might as well say it on my paycheck," she laughed with a slight shrug. "We won't be working together. Not much. It won't be as confusing as you think."

Muldrew chuckled. "Well, maybe not, but I think I speak for everyone when I say...it won't be the same without Benson."

"She's still Benson," Elliot said, smirking. "Don't let the name trick you, she's...she's all Benson." He looked at her, smiled softly, and turned back to Muldrew. "So you said you were taking care of..."

"While I can, yes," Muldrew interrupted. "You two...solve this case, get Goren back to work, and stay in your own departments unless, God forbid, we get another Special Victim's case involving a cop, and hopefully, they'll realize that you're just as unstoppable on your own as you are together." He rose from his chair and put his hat on, nodding to Olivia and then to Elliot. "I expect to see both of you at the budget meeting, and, of course, you know you're expected to teach a class at the academy on..."

"Yeah," Elliot spoke, rolling his eyes, "We have that marked in our calendar."

Muldrew shook with laughter as he turned and walked out of Olivia's office. Olivia turned to Elliot, crossed her arms, and tilted her head as she said, "Not even my partner anymore, and still making my job difficult."

He narrowed his eyes and moved fast, pulling her into his arms. "Oh, please, I make your job fucking easy." He kissed her fiercely, his hands curling into her skin where he gripped her. He moaned lightly in protest as he felt her begin to pull away, and he tightened his hold to keep her from moving too far back. "No," he whined.

She placed her hands on his chest and licked her lips, contemplating kissing him again. "We have work to..."

"We also have, um, other needs, that really shouldn't be ignored," he interjected, a stern look on his face and deep-set desire in his eyes.

"Not now," she declared sadly, though she moved closer to him rather than away. Caving, she kissed him again, her hands creeping up his back. "Damn it, Elliot," she hissed, ripping herself off of him again.

"What?" he chuckled. "I can't help being incredibly irresistible, not any more than you can," he joked smugly. He sighed, surrendering, and slapped her ass hard before letting her go. "I'll go see where my guys are on clearing Goren. We got Rudnick in holding, Bramson is on her way up the fucking creek and nothing Langan does could help her, Rollins and Amaro should be on their way back with Ramirez, and...we just have to worry about..."

"Finding Sal Carbone," Olivia said, finishing the statement for him. "Bramson hired a professional hitman to kill her child." She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment, ignoring the bile rising and the burn stinging at her nose and cheeks. "El, I can't imagine how..."

"I know," he said softly, running a hand up and down her arm. "I know. Some people in this world...should have never been blessed with children."

Olivia looked into his eyes, a much deeper and greatly hidden message behind her gaze. "And others, who should be, just...aren't."

"Hey," he said with a smile, cupping her face and stopping her from getting more upset. "We wanted to wait, be alone for a while, then shit happened at work, things got crazy...when it all settles down, you know we're trying. Like hell."

"I know," she said, nodding and grinning, finally relaxing a bit. "I can't wait. You know that, don't you?"

He scraped his teeth over his bottom lip. "Neither can I," he said. "I told you, long ago, I always wanted to be the man that made you a mommy. It didn't matter how, you know?" He smirked at her. "I'm really fucking lucky that God works the way He does, and I get to do it as your husband." He narrowed his eyes. "Trying is gonna be so much fucking fun." He kissed her lips softly. "I have to go, because if I stay here any longer, all that paperwork o your desk is either gonna be on the floor or stuck to your bare ass." He winked, gave her another kiss, and said, "I love you."

Laughing and rolling her eyes, she walked with him to the office door. "I love you, too." He led him into the squad room, where they met Fin, who looked annoyed. "What...what happened?"

"Rollins and Amaro are in the box with that punk, Victor Ramirez," Fin said, an obvious chip on his shoulder. "Like you asked, I got a cheek swab, ran it down to Melinda. Waiting on her call, now, but man, it ain't looking good."

"You don't think he's Valerie's father?" Olivia asked, not surprised.

Fin tossed a file at her and said, "I doubt it, since Sarah Bramson isn't her mother."

Olivia's eyes widened and she flipped the folder open. "Mother fucker," she spat, shoving the file toward Elliot.

"What are you giving this to me for?" he asked, wide-eyed. "I'm not your..."

"Habit," she seethed, "Just fucking read it." She folded her arms over her tightening chest and tried to slow her rapid breathing. "That's why it was so easy to...of course, she wouldn't feel a shred of guilt or remorse for hiring someone to kill her, she wasn't her daughter!"

Reading the report, Elliot shook his head. "Why wasn't this done when we..."

"Rudnick," Fin interrupted. "He ran the prelim, remember? We just told Melinda to re-work it from the beginning, and this is the first red-light we got. Her real name was Stephanie Delaclare, she was put up for adoption at six months old, place called Angels of Mercy Miracle Network. When Amaro gets out of interrogation, he's gonna take a ride and talk to them."

"Why do we have to wait for him?" Olivia asked, furrowing her brow. "Take the sedan, go. Find out everything you can, and for the love of God ask them if they did any kind of background check on Sarah Bramson before handing her a baby!"

Fin stared at her, stunned. He didn't argue, though, and simply huffed as he stood up and grabbed the keys off of Amaro's desk. "I'll, uh, I'll be back, I guess."

Elliot and Olivia watched him go and then looked at each other. He was the first to speak. "You find out if Barba scheduled that Seven-Thirty exam?"

"Yeah," she replied, nodding. "Huang's gonna talk to her at four o'clock," she told him. She rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, telling him without words that she'd miss him when he was gone, and she watched him follow Fin out of the squad room. "What the hell is going on with this case?" she asked herself, shaking her head and walking, confused, back into her office.

Please leave some feedback; let me know what you'd like to see!

Peace and Love

Jo

MarchCommaJo on Twitter