Olivia's nanny, Lucy, arrived soon after Noah was dressed and ready for school. Olivia invited Emily to join her at work after she got a call from someone named Fin. Emily had done reading about Olivia's unit and work while her sister was getting Noah ready for school. She also didn't take long getting dressed and Emily was surprised, again, to find that they dressed very similar. In fact, she was pretty sure she had the exact outfit at home.
The drive there was awkward. She hadn't expected to be joining her sister at work so soon after arriving, but if she was anything like her, Olivia was probably working nonstop. They pulled up to the precinct and parked. Emily found herself holding her breath for the second time that day. Olivia sighed but didn't get out of the car just yet.
"Ok," Olivia said, turning the car off and pulling the keys from the ignition, "I will walk in first, so just hang back a little bit so I can explain, at least simply, what is going on to my squad."
"No problem," Emily said as she released her breath slowly like she'd been told to practice.
Saying the walk up was awkward was an understatement. So many eyes and whispers as they moved toward the elevator. Luckily they had gotten one to themselves so they didn't have to endure the silent stares. Olivia exited first and Emily followed, hanging back just enough that people would see Olivia first. An older man rushed up to her with a file in his hand, a blonde woman not far behind him.
"Liv, sorry, I know today was your day off, but this perp is moving fast." The man said, Olivia took the file just as he looked past her and to Emily.
"Woah, who's that?" The man said, looking Emily up and down.
Olivia looked back at Emily and back to the squad room.
"Ok, listen up!" Olivia raised her voice so everyone could hear, "This is Emily. She is my identical twin sister. She will be spending the day here with me. I want you all to note what she is wearing because she is not me. We don't need any mix ups ruining this case."
Emily slowly made her way to Olivia's side, the blonde woman looked dumbfounded.
"Fin, I want you do make Emily feel at home, she's traveled a long way." Olivia said, moving to rest her hand on Emily's shoulder. Emily tried not to, but flinched ever so slightly. Olivia noticed, but said nothing.
"Nice to meet you, Emily." Fin said, holding his hand out to shake hers. Emily placed her hand in his and shook it.
"Thanks," Emily said, "It's been an interesting morning."
"I bet," Fin said, "Let me introduce you to everyone. This is Amanda Rollins."
The blonde Emily had seen when they walked in stepped up and shook her hand.
"Nice to meet ya." Amanda said and Emily couldn't help, but notice her southern accent.
"Where are you from?" Emily asked, "Georgia? Tennessee?"
Emily was pretty good at guessing where someone was from based on an accent. It had actually helped her solve a few cases.
"Georgia," Amanda said excitedly, "Atlanta actually. What kind of work are you in?"
"Oh," Emily said chuckling, "I'm actually a detective. You can imagine my surprise when I found out my sister was one, too."
"I guess there's some truth to that freaky twin thing huh?" Fin said, laughing.
"I guess so," Emily said, smiling.
"So where are you from?" Amanda asked.
"Oh, Seattle. My mom is… was from here, but moved to Washington when I was a baby." Emily said, noticing now that her mother had moved just in case her birth mother tried to be in her life.
"Was?" Fin asked, concern in his voice.
"Yeah," Emily said sadly, "She passed away a week ago. She'd been battling breast cancer for years, but had a massive stroke right after she told me I was adopted. I didn't know I was a twin until after I got home that day."
Just then Emily heard the shuffling of dress shoes coming from the elevator in a hurry.
"Sorry, Lieu," A man said in a thick Brooklyn accent, "I had to babysit my niece last night and overslept."
Olivia walked out of her office right as the gentleman sat at his desk. He looked up just as she reached Emily's side. He quickly looked from Emily, whom he'd assumed was Olivia, to her sister standing next to her.
"Woah… what?" He said, so confused, "I know I didn't get much sleep, but am I passed out and dreaming or something?"
Olivia laughed. It was the first time Emily had heard her laugh and it only confirmed what she had suspected. They really were identical in every single way.
"Carisi, this is Emily." Olivia said, visibly amused, "She's my twin that showed up at my apartment this morning, make sure she's comfortable."
"Of course, Lieutenant," Carisi said, then turned to Emily, "Welcome to SVU, Emily, sorry about the mixup."
"Oh, no problem, " Emily said, "I doubt it'll be the last time it will happen." Emily smiled politely.
"Ok," Olivia said, breaking up the awkward silence that had formed, "This perp is moving fast, we already have 3 known cases of assault that have occurred just in the last 2 days, he's on a spree. Fin, I want you in the interview room with the first victim. Amanda, Carisi, the other 2 are still at the hospital. The second victim is being released in a few hours, the third is getting the rape kit done right now. Let's try to get a sketch if we can from each one if they were able to see his face. We need to work quickly people, we don't need a fourth victim."
Emily hadn't noticed she had been holding her breath the whole time and exhaled louder than she expected. Olivia shot a glance, but again didn't say a word as her detectives all filed out and made their way to their assignments.
"Emily," Olivia said, Emily jumped at the sound of her name, "Would you like to hang out in my office? I have a couch. I can get you something from the vending machine or something."
"Uh yeah sure," Emily said, "I'm not hungry right now though, but thanks."
Emily walked into her sister's office and sat on the couch, looking around at the small room with a desk in the middle.
Olivia made note that she'd flown completely across the country and not once had she eaten since arriving at Olivia's apartment. She wasn't quite sure what was going on with her or if this was normal, but when Olivia did these things it was because there was something heavy weighing on her mind. She also wasn't sure what was up with her holding her breath or flinching when Olivia had touched her, but she'd experienced these symptoms in cases before and she intended to bring them up, she just wasn't sure how.