A/N Sorry, it took so long to post this chapter. Rl got in the way, my apologies.
This chapter's quote is part of a song. And after thinking about it for a long time I stick with a quote, a part of the song so to speak, but it still feels like not doing justice to the song. Therefore I'll be posting that at the end of the chapter.
"There's a road we must travel. There's a promise, that we must make. But the riches will be plenty. Worth the risk, and the chance we take." - Queen Latifah
Chapter 64
"Seeing you've been with Homicide and SVU before, I have the solution to get you away from the 48th. Call them and take a few sick days. That way you are not there when things are being arranged, a few days should be enough for me to get it done," Oliver answered.
Both blondes looked at Oliver, shocked and with raised eyebrows, and asked the same question at the same time.
"How?"
Oliver looked at Kerry and his wife and shook his head with a smile on his lips.
"Well, that's why Cragen has to come here and partly Liz. Cragen has to set things in motion, and while it normally will take a lot longer, if Cragen does it the way I want it to be done, it could be done sooner," Oliver said.
Alex looked at her Detective and shook her head. She instantly knew that they wouldn't get more out of her husband, not before everyone was back and Cragen, Liz and perhaps Petrovsky had arrived.
"I think that is all we'll get out of him now, Kerry. He'll make us wait until everyone is back or here," Alex said.
Oliver smiled at the blonde's words before he responded verbally.
"She's right, but then again she knows me very well. There is one important question I do have to ask though, make that two. Would there be a reason for you not to want to join an SVU division, well more specifically, the 16th precinct's SVU? And is it okay with you for me to tell Cragen and maybe, Petrovsky about your transition to clarify why you need to transfer away from the 48th?" Oliver asked.
Kerry shook her head.
" If it is necessary to tell them, then it is alright. And, no, I have no objection to transferring back to SVU. But the 16th precinct, isn't that your and Jane's precinct and the precinct Abby and Alex, are ADAs for?" Kerry asked.
"Yes that is correct and as mentioned before, Cragen is the Captain and Liz is the EADA and therefore Abby, Casey, the other ADA, and Alex's boss, when Alex returns that is of course, which will probably take a while," Oliver answered and smiled at his wife.
"Well, I'll just wait then. I'm sure the how and why will become clear later. But isn't there a conflict of interest with Abby being their ADA now and Alex when she'll return? I don't want to offend anyone or be nosy, but I don't know what the regulations are here at the NYPD, that's why I ask it, not to cause any trouble," Kerry asked and explained.
"Don't worry Denning, I'm not easily offended, well as long as it's not about Alex that is of course, anyway, I"m certainly not offended by you asking this. While there's nothing against it in the regulations, otherwise Abby wouldn't be an ADA for SVU now, there is an agreement between the current ADAs assigned to SVU now, and will involve Alex when's back, and the Detectives. Whichever ADA isn't involved with the detective or detectives working the case, will be handling the case for the DA's office, so that the defense attorneys can't or won't have a field day with it. And, if possible, not all the Detectives involved with the ADAs, will be working a case. I'd have to ask to be certain, but I think that should that happen that Liz will take the case, because normally if all Detectives are assigned to a case it usually is a high-profile case and a huge case as well which makes it necessary for all Detectives to work at it. Right now Casey and Abby are SVU's ADA and are equal to each other, but once Alex returns, they'll be second to her or second chair, if needed, to Alex, and they don't have a problem with that. But don't worry Casey and Abby have the second and third-highest closure rates of Manhattan's DA office, and before you ask who has the highest, that will be my wife, not only for Manhattan though, she has the highest closure rate of the entire DA's office in New York. She's the best ADA there is," Oliver answered, proudly.
Alex blushed 10 shades of red up to her hairline at her husband's answer and voice. And Kerry laughed out loud.
"Well it's good to know that we have New York's finest at our side," Kerry joked.
The three of them joked around for a bit and had some small talk until Liz arrived and they filled her in with what they knew and the evidence that would be collected and on its way to the hospital with Gena and Jane. Cragen had arrived at the same time Lena Petrovsky arrived and while the Captain waited outside, the rest of them talked with Petrovsky. Who told them that if the evidence was what they told her it was, he most certainly had violated his probation and would lose his license and since it was part of the deal there was no hearing needed to do so. They agreed to have Vain escorted to her chambers, in case he would try to run first or do something else, and Fin and Amaro would go pick him up, first thing in the morning, the next day. And if Gena agreed, she and Kerry would officially press charges in the morning as well. It didn't take long after that conversation for Gena and Jane to return to the hospital and for the evidence to be handed over. Normally Petrovsky would have left since they were done for today anyway, with the case regarding Vain but per Oliver's request, she stayed. While they were waiting for Abby getting back to the hospital as well, everyone was in Oliver's room and Kathy brought the beds for Oliver, Alex, and Kerry she also told them about a few guards that she trusted and they agreed that Jane would make a schedule for them to rotate shifts at guarding Oliver's room.
After Abby also returned to the hospital and Oliver's room, Oliver explained to the rest of them that weren't present during the conversation with Liz and Petrovsky, what they were going to do. After that he started with the second part of his plan, helping Kerry.
"Alright, straight to the point, there is a reason why all of you are here, including you Captain, without going into details, I knew Kerry before the current situation brought her here, we were partners and friends at the Academy, that's why I want to help her with getting transferred out of the 48th precinct, all of you know what I'm willing to do for those that I care for or consider my friend or family. "Oliver said to start kicking them off.
Everyone nodded at the strong Detective and with that, did not interrupt him with words so he continued.
"Your Honor, have you read the evidence concerning the blackmailing of that…Doctor?" Oliver asked.
"Oliver Benson, I've heard you using bad words before, so no need to bite your tongue now, besides we're not in my courtroom or at the courthouse. And while I appreciate you using my title, you know how I think about it, when it's concerning you, outside of that same courtroom, and with what you said before you asked me that question, I also know that you trust these two ladies and that at least one of them is important to you, so feel free to address to me as you normally would have done without them being present. That said, the answer to your question is that I know about it but haven't read or heard every piece of it." Lena answered.
Oliver nodded at Lena Petrovsky and continued.
"Thank you. Well, getting straight to the point, Kerry needs to transfer away from the 48th as she went through the same process as I'm going through myself right now. And we all know how they deal with these kinds of situations there. Part of the evidence is a medical record of Kerry and Vain threatening to make it go public or inform her captain at the 48th. Knowing that everything said in this room, stays in this room. Nobody outside this room will know why Kerry needs or needed to transfer and we'll keep it that way, unless or until Kerry herself tells otherwise. And knowing all that I just mentioned, she needed to transfer yesterday, so to speak. I already told her to call in sick and take a few days, that's how long it's gonna take me, well some of you and me to be exact, to get it done," Oliver said.
"And with some of you, I assume you're meaning me, Detective. What is it that you need me to do, presuming that you have the plan to get something done?" Cragen asked.
"First of all, I need some signatures to go with the endorsement, that will be going to HR, meaning that I need Liz, Abby, Alex, Jane, and your signature along with my own of course. And if it's not inappropriate or against some rules, it would help to have yours as well, Lena," Oliver answered and raised his hand to prevent the others from speaking up, "At the moment you're at least 1 Detective down, with me being here and 2 if we don't count Jane and do count that asshole in. One way or another, you could use a decent Detective, that knows how to handle things at SVU, and Kerry here is now in Homicide but she was with Homicide and then SVU before she joined the NYPD, so Captain you would get a good Detective and Kerry would get a precinct that would treat her properly and with respect, sounds like a win-win situation to me," Oliver explained.
Cragen nodded at what his Detective had said, he was right that he could use a good Detective, even if Oliver would come back, he could still use another good Detective, that was something he would say something about later. But he was concerned about how they would manage to do that; he, as well as everyone else in the room, didn't know that the strong Detective had a few cards on his sleeve, to make it happen. So he decided to address the issue he thought they had.
"While you are right Benson, Detective that is not Mrs, I could use a good Detective, I don't see how we can make that happen in just a few days, and equally important, how we can make it happen without the captain from the 48th being involved or at least notified about it and him or them not interfering or preventing it," Cragen said.
Everyone in the room nodded at the Captain's words, and except for Alex, they all in one way or another worded the same thing Cragen had said, well Kerry and Gena stayed silent as well, the first because she knew that Oliver knew more then he had said so far and that he wouldn't give her hope if he wasn't sure about it, the second one because she didn't know enough about how things normally would work let alone now, within the NYPD, as for Alex, she didn't say something more because she knew that her husband was up to something, something that included their signatures, but she was, this time, the only one that understood her husband's way of thinking and knew there was much more to it then he had let them think there was. She knew he had something worked out that would make it possible, and even if she didn't know how she had faith in her husband that he had worked it out. Alex looked at Oliver and when she got his attention, she just smiled at him, knowing that he understood it. Oliver nodded at Alex and smiled back before he turned his attention back to the others in his room.
"As I told Kerry earlier and as you all know and should have remembered, I have a lot of connections within the NYPD, and DA's office should it be necessary, and I have a lot of people who owe me a favor or multiple favors, which makes a lot of things normally not possible now, in fact, possible," Oliver started to explain when he was interrupted again.
"I still don't see how that could make it possible Oli," Abby said.
"I agree with Abby on this one, sorry Oli," Jane said.
When it looked like the others would throw in their two cents as well, Oliver raised his hand again, and his face showed that he was starting to get irritated, the rest decided to shut up when they saw the look on his face and hoped they would not have to face the Detective's infamous temper or worse his wrath.
"It would be nice if I actually could finish explaining my plan and for you all to have a little faith in me, don't make me go into Detective Benson Mode again, because I will if asked for and we all know that you're not gonna like it," Oliver warned before he continued yet again.
Everyone just nodded at that and let the Detective continue without saying a word.
"Right since you all have no patience I'll keep it as short as I can since you all do better with doing tasks than you are doing with listening," Oliver said, looking around as if he dared them to say something or to prove him otherwise.
But nobody was dumb enough to take up on that and they did want to know what he wanted to do.
"Captain, you take that endorsement with all our signatures on it and the official request to transfer with Kerry's signature, to Kate Johnson from HR. If she objects, tell her I'm using one of my cards, that should be enough. She can do the paperwork in a day or two and after that, Kerry should have transferred to your precinct on paper, after you deliver the paperwork to Johnson, then to prevent the captain from the 48th is going to cause problems, you go to the Chief of Police and tell him that I'm using one of the four get-out-of-jail-free cards I have with him and that I'm using it on the Captain of the 48th precinct, and that it concerns Kerry's transfer to the 16th SVU, should he ask you more about it, tell him to call me to have those questions answered, but I'm almost certain he won't call nor will he ask you for more. I know this raises a lot of questions with all of you, but I can't explain it, it is something between him and me, and unless he would come forward on the subject, my lips are sealed, all I can say is that this will make sure that the captain is not gonna cause any problems. So to summarise it all, we need to sign that endorsement, then the Captain will take it to HR with Kerry's request to transfer, tomorrow, and Kerry needs to call to take a few sick days tonight or tomorrow early in the morning. So, at the latest Monday, Kerry, you should be able to start at the 16th precinct with SVU. Lastly, may I suggest that Alex writes the endorsement, I know it's mine but she's the best with words as we all know. Does anyone have a question about my plan or a suggestion on how to do it better?" Oliver explained and asked.
It was really quiet in Oliver's room after the Detective finished talking. Everyone's jaw hit the floor, and they all were stunned to find out how much power Oliver actually had and how far it could reach if it became necessary, but, if even possible, they were more shocked to find out about it now and knowing that he hadn't used any of it for himself after everything that had happened to him, but that he used it to help someone else.
After a few minutes of silence, it was Lena Petrovsky who spoke up.
"Someone, please, remind me to never really piss off Oliver," Lena quietly said.
It was quiet after Petrovsky had spoken for about half a minute when Alex looked at her husband and saw that he was getting at least uncomfortable with the situation and attention on himself and decided to get some of that attention away from him and got them all back on track. After everyone had agreed with Oliver's plan and they all had done what needed to be done, at least for today, Liz and Lena had left, leaving Cragen behind with the rest of the gang, so to speak. They made some small talk for a bit. While Cragen was listening to them he also was thinking about Oliver and when he figured out what he wanted to say and how to say it he spoke up.
"Oliver, besides the obvious and nothing too private, are you comfortable enough with everyone here for me to speak freely?" Cragen asked.
Knowing, with how and what he said, that it wouldn't be something too personal and trusting his Captain, Oliver answered right away.
"Yes you can, Captain," Oliver said.
Alex knew he was going to say something important though and while Oliver was the guard dog, Alex herself was rather protective about her husband as well, so she sat up straight. Cragen of course noticed the change in his ADA and nodded at Alex and looked at her reassuringly. Letting her know that while he appreciated that she wanted to protect her husband, it wasn't necessary, in his opinion. Alex nodded back at him and then Cragen turned his attention back to Oliver.
"Oliver, after seeing what you did and how you figured things out, you didn't lose your touch at all, did you, Detective?" Cragen asked.
"No, I didn't, and neither did my "detector thing" as you all call it, so out with it," Oliver answered.
Everyone, including Cragen himself, shook their heads at Oliver's answer. After all, they all had been at the other end of his "detector" at one point.
"I'm not even going to try to insult you and deny that," Cragen said with a smile on his face.
"Quite stalling, Captain," Oliver answered back.
Cragen jokingly saluted Oliver before he got serious again. After all, he kind of had to, figuratively, drop a bomb into the Detective's lap. Not a bad one but still a bomb, or so he thought at least.
"I know you just had surgery and have to recover, physically, from that, but I'd like for you to think and talk with Alex, of course, about, at first, in some kind of way, partly coming back to SVU, forming a team with Jane and Kerry with you being head of it as a Sergeant," Cragen said.
A/N 2 As promised here is the whole song, well the lyrics of it.
I know where I've been - Queen Latifah
There's a light in the darkness. Though the night is black as my skin.
There's a light burning bright, showing me the way.
But I know where I've been.
There's a cry in the distance. It's a voice that comes from deep within.
There's a cry asking why, I pray the answer's up ahead.
'Cause I know where I've been.
There's a road we've been travelin', lost so many on the way.
But the riches will plenty. Worth the price, the price we had to pay.
There's a dream, in the future.
There's a struggle that we have yet to win.
And there's pride in my heart, 'cause I know where I"m going. Yes, I do!
And I know where I've been, yeah.
There's a road we must travel.
There's a promise, we must make.
But the riches will be plenty.
Worth the price, and the price we had to pay.
There's a dream, in the future.
There's a struggle that we have yet to win.
And there's pride in my heart, 'cause I know where I'm going.
And I know where I've been.
There's a road we must travel.
There's a promise, that we must make.
But the riches will be plenty.
Worth the risk, and the chance we take.
There's a dream, in the future.
There's a struggle, that we have yet to win.
Use that pride, in our hearts, to lift us up, to tomorrow.
'Cause just to sit still would be a sin
I know it! I know where I'm going.
Lord knows, I know where I've been.
I give thanks to my God 'cause I know where I've been.
