Chapter 13 – Baby Bump
Three long months had passed since I had seen Stabler. He did send me texts every now and then, but I had not been able to talk to him or see him. His new boss, Ayanna Bell, did give us a suspect's name for the Tiana Smith case, which was Tyler O'Leary. He fit the limited description we had of her attacker so now we needed to get hard evidence that he was guilty. Stabler had given intel to Ayanna that O'Leary was the son of the bartender we had first talked to. He was low on the totem pole as far as the mob went. He did odd jobs for the mob bosses such as take bets and run drugs. Stabler said that he had overheard O'Leary talking about his girlfriend who was famous, and he had seen several pictures of Tiana Smith in the guy's locker at the bar. Fin and Rollins had been following the guy over the last three months to make sure he was not planning any other attacks against Tiana. So far, he had not sent her anything else since the flowers and had just been keeping his head down and working. Tiana had started touring again and was no longer in New York which took some pressure off of SVU.
My pregnancy has been progressing well over the last three months. I have had several pre-natal visits due to being a high-risk pregnancy with my age but so far everything has been checking out normal. I was now almost six months along and had a moderate size baby bump. I was head over heels in love with this baby and was counting down the days until I could hold him or her in my arms. I was also very lonely not being able to share this time with Elliot who still had no idea that he was about to be a father for the sixth time. I had been sentenced to desk duty by Captain Cragen who had been treating me like an overprotective Dad, but I did not mind since I never really had a father. Since I could not go out in the field, I decided to produce a plan to get justice for Tiana by trying to get evidence on Tyler O'Leary. I felt a little guilty since part of me also wanted a reason to check in on Elliot and see if he would be done with his undercover work soon.
I called Fin, Nick, and Amanda over to my desk and briefed them on my idea. I suggested that we figure out a way to get fake intel to Tyler O'Leary that Tiana would be back in New York for a promotional photo shoot for a new album she wrote. We would give him a location and time to see if he would attempt something incriminating. We should have an undercover agent disguised as Tiana Smith and can then arrest him if he tries anything. We would then be able to get a warrant for his home and locker to see if there is evidence of his previous attack on Tiana. Fin nodded his head in agreement and then asked, "How are we going to get the intel to him, so he doesn't figure out it is a set up?" I responded, "We need to coordinate with Organized Crime since they have an undercover agent." Fin smiled with a mischievous grin, "I'm sure their UC will be more than happy to help us out." I glared at Fin with a warning for him to not say anything more about Stabler or give any hints as to an ulterior motive for this operation. I ended the meeting by saying, "We are going to meet over at Organized Crime later today to come up with a game plan." Everyone except Amanda went back to their desks. She came closer to me and said, "Sergeant, I would like to be the one disguised as Tiana Smith. We are both similar in size, build, and have the same hair color. This way we do not have to waste time looking for another agent and can close this case faster." I knew Amanda was right, but she was still new to SVU, and I was worried she would get hurt or not be able to handle being undercover. I told her I would think about it and decide once we had met with organized crime. She then asked, "Does Stabler know yet about the baby?" I sighed, "No, because I have not been able to talk to him in person. It is not something you tell someone over a text message who is supposed to be keeping it cool undercover. It is too dangerous to tell him right now."
The four of us went over to the office building where the organized crime task force is based out of. I had not seen Elliot's new workplace yet and was secretly hoping he would be there even though I knew he was undercover, and it was unlikely. Ayanna and I had been exchanging information over the phone and had met a couple of times at coffee shops when we had any updates, but I had not met anyone else yet from the task force. She is a young, beautiful, African American woman of average height and build. She had to be one of the youngest detectives ever to reach Sergeant status, which made me respect her even more. Their building was an old warehouse that had been renovated inside with an office, a small squad room with desks, and an interrogation room. There was a young Asian male sitting in front of several monitors who stood up and walked over towards us when we came in. There was also a middle-aged brunette sitting a desk in the squad room area who stared at us as we walked in. Ayanna came over and introduced the male as Mark Tsai, a detective who specializes in IT and surveillance, and the female is Detective Amy Willows. I introduced the SVU squad as well and then began to brief Ayanna on my tentative plan for catching Tyler O'Leary.
Ayanna listened intently to my plan and seemed to be contemplating how she should respond. "Sergeant Benson, we are remarkably close to taking down the leader of Tyler's organization and I am worried that if he gets arrested, the Irish Mob will get spooked and our whole case crumbles. That would mean months of undercover work wasted as well as my undercover agent being at risk for exposure." She then stared at me intently with her deep brown eyes and I knew she understood that Elliot meant much more to me than just another co-worker. I was not sure what he had told her, but she knew something because I could read it in her eyes. I took a deep breath, "Listen, this guy brutally raped this poor woman and is under the impression they are together which means she is not safe until he is locked up. I understand the importance of your operation and making sure everyone remains safe and undercover." Just then we heard a door close and footsteps heading down the hallway. I turned in the direction of the noise and saw Elliot walking towards us.
He paused when he saw everyone in the squad room, and his eyes instantly looked over at me. "Liv, what are you doing here?" He ran over and wrapped his arms around me before I could stop him. I was uncomfortable with this display of affection in front of all our colleagues, but he seemed oblivious to everyone else in the room. I hesitantly hugged him back aware of how uncomfortable everyone else in the room felt. I felt Elliot tense as he pulled me in closer and then realized that my belly was protruding out further than when he had previously seen me. He instinctively placed both of his hands on my hips and then moved them over my belly bump. I could see the realization in his eyes and the shock on his face. He was about to speak when Fin cleared his throat just in time to prevent a soap opera scene in front of everyone. "Hey Stabler, we are here to discuss a case with Sergeant Bell relating to the Irish mob case. Olivia can catch you up on everything privately while we finish here." Stabler paused, looked around at everyone, and then understood what Fin was trying to do. He then placed his hand on my elbow and guided me toward the interrogation room, "Sounds good, we can talk in this room over here."
As soon as we entered the interrogation room and the door was shut, Elliot placed both hands on my shoulders and yelled, "Liv, you are pregnant! Why didn't you tell me? When did this happen? I am the father, right? I know we have not established a status on our relationship, but I do not think you have been with anyone else?" My mind was spinning, and I felt a little faint. This is not how I wanted him to find out, but I should have known I could not hide it from him. He had done this with Kathy four other pregnancies, and he was detective. I sat down in one of the chairs since the room was spinning some, "Yes, El, I am pregnant. I am about six months along and yes; you are the father." He leaned down and hugged me again. "This is wonderful!" He then placed a hand on my cheek and leaned in and kissed me. I was happy with his response to the news but also surprised. I did not think he would be this excited. He then surprised me again and said, "I do not want you doing this alone Liv. I need to tell Ayanna that I am done with undercover work. I do not care if the operation is finished or not." My eyes went wide. He was saying everything I wanted to hear but I did not want him to risk his job or his life to protect me. I responded, "El, we need you to stay in so we can get Tiana's attacker. I am fine. I have been doing fine by myself for years." It came out harsher than I wanted but he was not going to throw everything away when I had been doing fine without him. He flinched hearing those words but did not argue. I then told him the plan to take down Tyler O'Leary.