Elliot is seated at the breakfast table, fully dressed, but without his jacket, eating breakfast.

"What are you thinking about, sitting here all by yourself?" He looks up to see Olivia, who is wearing a black nightgown with flowers printed on it. She is looking at the newspaper.

"The fact that this will be our last night together, and you'll finally be rid of me," he says, with a bit of sadness in his voice.

"Well, you've been pretty tough to take," She sits down on a chair.

"My business is almost over, so I'll be going back to California." He states.

Olivia looks pensive.

"I'd really like to see you again," he says, smiling at her.

"You would?" Olivia smiles.

"Yes. Yes, I would, so I've arranged for you to have an apartment, to have a car..." Olivia's smiling face saddens a bit. " ...to have a wide variety of stores guaranteed to suck up to you anytime you want to go shopping. Everything's done."

Olivia shakes her head looking down at the table. She exhales. "What else? You gonna leave some money by the bed when you pass through town?"

"Olivia, it really wouldn't be like that."

"How would it be?" She asks.

"Well, for one thing, it would get you off the streets."

"That's just geography," Olivia stands up and walks to the terrace. She bends over the balustrade. Elliot stands up, and walks toward her.

"Olivia, what is it you want?" Elliot stops and stands by the terrace door. "What do you see happening between us?"

"I don't know. When I was a little girl, for a while, my mom was sober. She used to read me these books, with fairy tales. When she started drinking again, she'd often lock me in the attic when I was bad. And I would... I would pretend I was a princess... trapped in a tower by a wicked queen." Elliot is seriously listening to Olivia. "And then suddenly this knight..."she pauses "...on a white horse with these colors flying would come charging up and draw his sword. And I would wave. And he would climb up the tower and rescue me." She walks away from the balustrade and toward Elliot.

"But never once... when I had this dream did the knight say to me, Come on, baby, I'll put you up in a great condo." she finishes.

The phone rings inside the penthouse. After a couple of seconds, she smiles sadly at him, nodding for him to go. Elliot walks into the penthouse, and picks up the phone.

"Yes." He picks up.

Olivia starts walking back into the room.

"I had to call," Elliot hears Richard's voice. "I just got off the phone with Donald Cragen. Get this,"

Olivia standing near the terrace door, and looking a bit sadly at him talking on the phone.

"He wants to meet with you today."

"What about?" Elliot inquiries.

"He wouldn't say," he pauses. "Elliot, I think we got him. His nuts are on the block. We got him!" Richard laughs down the phone. "Look, if he's really caving in, I want to get him to commit his stocks to us this afternoon. Hmm?"

"No, it's no good. If he's really caving in, I don't want to wait until this afternoon. Have Cragen meet me downtown this morning. Good-bye." He puts the phone down and grabs his jacket from a chair. He puts his jacket on while walking toward Olivia.

"I have to go now, but I want you to understand... I heard everything you said. This is all I'm capable of right now. It's a very big step for me."

She absently straightened his tie. "I know. It's a really good offer for a girl like me."

"I've never treated you like a prostitute." He looks at her, then walks away toward the front door. Out of his earshot, Olivia whispers:

"You just did." And the front door closes.

-HOTEL LOBBY-

Fin picks up the phone and dials the number.

"It's Odafin Tutuola here, Miss Olivia." Amanda, chewing gum, looks at him irritated. On the top half of her body, she is only wearing a bra made from fabric with a panther-skin motif.

"Could you come down to the front desk? There's someone here who wants to speak to you. She says her name is Miss Rollins..." Amanda extends her hand to take the phone.

"Let me talk to her. Let me... Let me just talk to her." Fin gives the phone to Amanda.

"Yo, Liv, babe. Would you come down here? The sphincter police won't let me through. Okay." She gives the phone back to Fin.

"She's on her way," she announces.

"Fine."

An uniformed attendant walks to the counter. "Mr. Tutuola."

Fin turns toward him.

"Yes."

"They need you upstairs," he says.

"Okay," he turns to Amanda. "Wait here, please." He then turns to the receptionist. "Watch her."

"Yes, sir."

Olivia and Amanda come down the stairs. Olivia is wearing a very elegant dark pink suit with a white shirt. Amanda has put a grey denim jacket over her panther-decorated bra, but she is also wearing a very short and tight black skirt. Olivia has put her arm in the crook of Amanda's elbow.

"Listen, I've been calling you." Olivia starts.

"Yeah, I know. They told me at the 116 you were looking for me."

"You took the money and vanished."

"I was hiding out from Johnny," she says.

"Well,if you used the money and paid him, you wouldn't have to hide."

"Hey, I was busy. I had a life, you know. Nick got beat up. We had to visit him in the hospital. Rachel got arrested. It was a mess," she explains.

Olivia hands her another envelope. Amanda looks inside the envelope and sees more money inside.

"Please, pay him, Amanda. And stop telling him where I am."

"Thank you very much for saving my ass. Now Johnny can get off of it, yours too for that matter." They reached the bottom of the stairs, and they walked between the dinner tables surrounding the pool.

"You know, he was talking about you last night. He would bust something if he saw you in this outfit." She says. "I was afraid to hug you up there. I might wrinkle you!"

"Amanda, I'm scared, ok? This week is ending and I don't think Johnny D is letting this go," she says in a scared tone.

"Relax, babe. It will all work out. I'll pay him, and he will let go of that hard on he has for you." Olivia rolls her eyes, seeing Amanda wasn't taking her seriously.

"You look really good." She adds.

Olivia points to a table.

'"No, something with shade." Olivia points to another table.

"You clean up real nice. You sure don't fit in down on the corner looking like you do, not that you ever did." Amanda sits down. Then Olivia also sits down.

"Well, thanks, but it's easy to clean up when you got money." She looks down at her nice clothes.

"Yeah. So, when does he leave?" Amandas asks.

"Tomorrow."

"You get to keep the clothes?"

"Yeah. Elliot asked me if I wanted to see him again. But I think... I think definitely no. I mean, it's just another week, right?" She bites down on her lower lips nervously.

"Definitely no." Amandas agrees.

"Yeah." Amanda looks at her worriedly.

"Oh, no."

"What?

"I know this weepy look on your face," she points at Olivia's face.

"Oh, no, you don't!"

"You fell in love with him." She says exasperated.

"No. Amanda, please. Stop it."

"You've fallen in love with him?" She insists.

"Amanda!"

"Did you kiss him? On the mouth?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah... I did."

"You kissed him on the mouth!?" She threw her hands up.

"I did. It was nice," she smiled sheepishly.

"You fall in love with him, and you kiss him on the mouth. Did I not teach you anything?"

"Look, I'm not stupid, okay ? I'm... I'm not in love with him. I just... I like him.

"You like him?" She repeats.

"Yeah." Olivia shrugged.

"You definitely like him. Well, he's not a loser. He's a rich, classy guy."

"Who's gonna break my heart, right?"

"Oh, no. Come on. You don't know that. Hey, he asked you, right ? Maybe you guys could, like, um, you know, get a house together. Like, buy some diamonds and a horse. I don't know." Olivia laughs.

"Anyway, it could work. It happens."

"When does it happen, Amanda ? When does it really happen ? Who does it really work out for? Did it work out for Ellie or Rachel? No! "

"Those were very specific cases of crackheads," Amanda pointed out.

"I just wanna know who it works out for. You give me one example of somebody that we know that it happened for." Olivia dares her.

"Name someone?"

"Yeah, one person that it worked out for."

"You want me to give you a name or something," Amanda stalls.

"Yeah. I'd like to know."

Amanda presses her hands on her temples. "Oh, God, the pressure of a name."

She sighs and takes her hands out of her temples.

"Cinder-fucking-rella." Olivia laughs. Amanda starts laughing too.

STABLE'S OFFICE IN N.Y.

Before going into the building, Elliot observes a father and son, playing around together. He smiles and sighs, making a decision.

Elliot is standing behind his chair at the end of the table, in front of a large window. All the other executives are already seated. On Elliot's right hand side, Donald Cragen and then Brian Cassidy. On Elliot's left hand side, Richard. The other seats are occupied by the various male assistants.

"Mr. Cragen, you said this morning you wished to speak to Mr. Stabler. Mr. Stabler is now listening." Richard starts.

Elliot paces in front of the window.

"I've reconsidered my position on your acquisition offer...on one condition. I'm not so concerned about me, but the people who are working for me," the older man says.

"It's not a problem. They'll be taken care of. Well, then, gentlemen. If we could address ourselves to the contracts in front of you. If you look at...

Elliot hardly listens to what Richard says, seeming worried. He raises a hand.

"Excuse me, Richie," Richard looks up at him. "Gentlemen, I'd like to speak to Mr. Cragen alone. Thank you."

Richard seems surprised by what Elliot just said. A bit reluctantly, he says :

"All right, gentlemen, you heard the man. Please wait outside," all the assistants stand up to leave the room.

"You too, Richie." Elliot adds.

Richard, still seated, looks up at Elliot. He looks very surprised and chuckles nervously. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I would like to speak to Mr. Cragen alone."

Richard stands up and points toward Brian Cassidy. "Why does he get to stay?"

Donald Cragen makes a discreet sign to his grandson to join him to leave the room. Elliot and Richard face each other.

"Please, please." Elliot asks.

Reluctantly, Richard starts moving away. "I'll be right outside."

"Good." Richard leaves the room, followed by Brian.

Donald Cragen looked at him questioningly, after everyone left.

"Mr. Cragen, my interests in your company have changed."

"What is it you're after now, Mr. Stabler?"

"Well, I no longer wish to buy your company and take it apart. But I don't want anyone else to, either. And it is still extremely vulnerable. So I find myself... in unfamiliar territory. I want to help you."

"Why?" Don asks, confused.

Outside the men look nervously at each other, not knowing what is happening inside.

"I think we can leave the details up to the others." Elliot stands up, finishing the new deal.

More slowly than Elliot, Donald stands up. "I find this hard to say without sounding condescending, but... I'm proud of you." He puts his hand on Elliot's shoulder, who seems moved by this gesture.

"Thank you. I think we can let in the other suits now."

When Elliot opens the door, Richard is standing behind it sulking.

"Let's continue the meeting." He goes back into the meeting room, followed by Richard, Brian and all the assistants.

Donald Cragen standing at the back of the room, near Elliot's chair. He motions to the men to sit down.

"Come in, gentlemen. Sit down."

Richard comes into the room to a smiling Elliot.

"Elliot, please, what was this all about? Hmm?" Elliot slaps him on the arm.

"It's all yours, Richie. Finish it up."Elliot walks out. Before he closes the door, he sees Richard bending down on the table to look at the documents.

"Hold it. Hold it. These aren't signed! These aren't signed! Could someone please tell me what the fuck is going on here?"

Elliot, with a broad smile on his face, closes the door.

"Mr. Stabler and I are going to build ships together," he hears Cragen say. "Great big ships."

Richard is not happy about this unexpected situation.

The limousine parked on the curb in front of the building. Darryl was standing near the car. Elliot gives his briefcase to the man.

"You know, I think I'm gonna go for a walk. Just stay here for a while. I'll be back."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Stabler." Darryl sits down on the hood of the car, holding the briefcase in his arms.

THE PENTHOUSE

Olivia was barefoot on the rug when she heard the doorbell. She put down a large hat box on the floor, and she walked to the front door. She opens the door to find Richard on the other side. She gets an uneasy feeling with his presence.

He has a strange sneer on his face.

"Well, well. Hello again. I'm looking for Elliot."

"Elliot's not here. I thought he was with you," she states.

"No. Uh, Elliot is definitely not with me," He walks in without waiting for Olivia to invite him in.

"No," He chuckles. "If Elliot was with me..." He puts his briefcase down on the floor and walks into the room.

Olivia closes the front door.

"When . Actually, when... Elliot was with me, he didn't blow off billion dollar deals!" He walks to the bar and helps himself for a drink.

"I think that, uh, Elliot's with you. That's what I think. Mind if I have a drink?" He pours whisky in a glass without waiting for Olivia's answer.

"No," she answers when he holds the glass toward her. "No, thank you." She walks away from him.

"Well, I'll just wait." She sits down on the sofa, crosses her legs on the couch and starts writing in a notebook. Behind her, Richard sits down on a stool near the bar.

"Uh, Elliot will be back soon. Any minute, he'll be home."

Richard stands up and slowly walks toward her.

"You know..." He chuckles. "...this is not home. This is, uh, a hotel room. And, uh, you are not... the little woman." He sits down on the sofa, next to Olivia.

She uncrosses her legs and lets them down on the floor. He puts his glass on the low table, crosses his fingers and snickers.

"You're a hooker. Maybe you're a very good hooker, you know?" She puts her notebook on the low table.

"Maybe if I do you, then I wouldn't care about losing millions of dollars. Because I have to be very honest with you right now, Olivia," He moves slightly closer to her. She was very tense about the situation.

"Right now I really do care. I really do. And right now I am really pissed, you know?" He moves his hand toward her bare leg. She glares at him. "Right now I am just freaking out. So maybe if I screw you, huh..." He puts his hand between her legs. She moves it away.

"...and take you to the opera, then I could be a happy guy, just like Elliot." He keeps on trying to fondle her, and Olivia keeps on trying to get rid of him.

"Hey, get off me !" They start fighting and he stands up.

"Hey, hey! Goddamn it!" She bites his hand.

"Ow!" He slaps her face very hard. She falls down on the floor.

He kneels down beside her and grabs her. "Come on! Come on! I'll pay for it."

"Get off me! Ow! Get off me!" She continues pleading, but he does not stop.

"How much is it? Twenty bucks, thirty bucks?"

"Get off me! Get off me!" she screamed.

"Fifty? You a fifty dollar whore, Olivia?"