Protégé
A/N: Holy smokes! Chapter 50, here we go! Happy reading, hope everyone has a good week, and good luck to anyone writing exams in the upcoming weeks
TW: Mentions of a case that contained rape, NO mentions of the rape itself, or any details.
Disclaimer: I would gladly write 50 episodes for them, but alas these words are all I own.
Chapter 50
Friday Morning, Captain Olivia Benson's OB/GYN's Office, New York City, Summer 2013
She'd been running late. It was her own fault. She overslept, tired from staying up late to finish some reports for Dodd's, which she was delayed in getting done earlier because of her sexy boyfriend, and his distracting body.
So really, she thought as she rode the elevator up to her Doctor's office, it was actually Elliot's fault she was late.
Opening the door to the waiting room, sure enough there was her Detective, chatting to the receptionist. His motorcycle jacket was hanging on a coat stand beside where she stood. There were a few other couples in the room, and Olivia couldn't help noticing how many female eye's seemed to be pinned on her man.
"Hey there you are," Elliot turned to face her, holding out his arm in greeting, "I was beginning to wonder," he said as he pecked her cheek.
"Mmmm, sorry I overslept, somebody really tired me out last night," Olivia smiled politely at the older receptionist. She told her not to worry, her Doctor was running behind as it was, and gave them a couple more forms to fill out.
The two cops took a seat, and once again Olivia could feel the stares from the other couples on them. She didn't know what emboldened her to do it, but she tilted her head and grasped his cheek, sucking his top lip between hers. His face was rough beneath her fingers, during his week off he had stopped shaving. She would've killed to feel that tingling sensation against her own face and neck, or better yet, on her inner thighs. Perhaps she could convince him to hold off on cleaning up until he went back to work next Monday.
"Good morning," she hummed, keeping the kiss short but tender.
"I'll say," he replied in a low whisper, gulping loudly while he gazed at her lips.
Seeing her lips turn upwards, and her pearly white teeth make an appearance, had a grin appearing on his face as well. She broke their connection to rummage around in her purse, so he took a moment to look at the questions on the clipboard that the friendly receptionist had handed them.
Glancing around the room he noticed some of the other men checking out his girlfriend. He couldn't help the smirk that it caused. He knew she was out of his league, and God knows he couldn't keep his eyes off of her either when they met. She may have used it to her advantage at times, but it was true, it made him feel good, boosted his ego to know he had gotten a woman of her caliber to fall in love with him, and having a baby with her was definitely an added bonus, one that he hoped they would repeat a couple more times at least.
He was brought out of his reverie by Olivia tapping a fingernail on his clipboard, "Get to it," she muttered.
"More forms, jeez you'd think I was the one carrying Baby B… I thought your history would be hella more important than mine," Elliot complained, not enjoying the amount of paperwork they had to fill out.
"Hey, do you have the forms we already filled out? I just need to see what I put down for-"
"Yes, here," Olivia handed him the documents resting on top of her purse, as she continued to answer the questions on her clipboard.
Elliot took the papers, as he was looking for his he scanned hers to see half were still empty.
"Liv, you never finished your Dad's family history," Elliot handed them back to her, and tapped his pen on the blank sections.
He watched as she bit her lip, "What's wrong?" he asked, reading the distress on her face.
Olivia looked around the room, "It's nothing, but I don't want to talk about it, especially with an audience."
Feeling like he was missing something Elliot pressed forward, "Look I get it, family's are complicated. But shit Liv, you've had the misfortune of dealing with most of mine already, you know my Father can be an SOB, and my Mother's a little… different. There's nothing you could tell me about your family, that would change how I feel about you, us, or our baby."
"It's not that…" Olivia trailed off.
"Why won't you tell me? Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I trust you Elliot, we're having a baby together for God sake's, you think I'd do that with just anybody?" Olivia huffed, clearly annoyed.
"Then what's the problem-"
"Miss Benson?" the older receptionist called, "The Doctor is ready for you now."
They both stood up, and followed the grey haired lady through the frosted glass door.
Olivia tucked their new ultrasound pictures into her purse, as they stood on the sidewalk.
Her appointment had gone smoothly, and the Doctor was able to capture a few more images of their growing baby.
The whole time Elliot's confused, and mildly hurt expression was playing in her mind.
"Guess I'll head home for now," she heard him say as he put on his black leather jacket. Despite the warm weather, he always put his safety first when riding his motorcycle, she had to give him credit for that at least.
Olivia had turned her phone off, putting it on silent for her appointment, but as she turned the sound back on she could see she already had multiple missed calls from the precinct.
She sighed loudly, "What if I don't know?"
There it was, Elliot's confused face again, "Don't know what?"
"The answers to those questions on the forms, the blank sections?" Olivia held a hand over her forehead, shielding her eyes from the bright sun.
"Uh, you don't know your Father?"
"Not-" Olivia began to respond when her cellphone went off, rolling her eyes she answered, "Fin what's the issue?"
She knew if Fin was blowing up her phone that there was more than likely a good reason.
"Pregnant? My God, how's Avery handling it? Does she know who the Father is?" Olivia covered her mouth in shock.
Here she was the product of rape, not knowing her Father, grown up, now pregnant herself, as she tried to get justice for a victim who was possibly just starting the same journey her Mother, and her had been on.
"Yes I'll be right there, just leaving now, thanks for keeping me updated, yes, okay bye Fin," Olivia looked up to see Elliot still standing by her side, leather clad arms folded across his chest.
"I'm sorry I've-"
"Gotta go, yeah I figured that out for myself," Elliot said indifferently.
Olivia stepped into his space, and placed her hand on one of his arms, "I really am sorry, maybe you can come over this weekend? We can sit down and talk, really talk?"
Elliot dropped his arms, and grabbed her hands in his, "Actually I was gonna ask you before your appointment… but you were running late. There's an apartment I wanted to go check out this weekend, but the building manager can only show it early tomorrow morning when the tenant isn't there. Guess the current renter works night shifts, so they'll be sleepin' all day."
Olivia nodded, "Sure what time?"
Elliot opened his mouth as her phone ringed again, this time Munch's name was displayed.
"How 'bout I text you the deets?" Elliot kissed her quickly, and whispered, "Love you," against her lips, "Stay safe."
"You too," Olivia repeated as she walked to her vehicle.
Elliot watched her pull out into traffic, wishing he was going to work as well. He only had the weekend before he too would be back at it, and thankfully Nick had been keeping him updated on their current cases.
Saturday Morning, Manhattan, New York City, Summer 2013
Elliot drove to Olivia's, and together they drove her car to the prospective apartment. It was in a descent neighbourhood, and would take them the same time to drive to the 16th precinct as it took them from her current place. Looking around the streets, she realized belatedly that she knew the area, her childhood apartment… her Mother's home, was not too far away.
It was 7am when they met the building manager Gabe, and he let them into the modest lobby. The building required a keycard to get in, as well as an access code, an additional security feature that they did not mind.
The soon to be empty apartment was on the 4th floor, the building had two working elevators, which would be a lifesaver for Olivia in her third trimester, but Elliot knew he wouldn't mind the extra cardio the stairs would give him at times.
The hallways were sparsely lit, and featured large windows overlooking a courtyard. Acceptable during a bright sunny day, but they would be dark, and dingy at all the other times, something Elliot would make sure they improved on.
The apartment itself was light, and airy. The ceilings were exceptionally high, at least 15-18 feet if he had to guess, Elliot knew some of the apartments had been renovated into lofts.
The one they were looking at had two bedrooms, both with walk-in closets, and en-suites. The kitchen had been remodelled along with the rest of the space about a decade ago, Gabe informed them. As they perused the space Elliot used a tape measure he brought with him, to make sure their furniture would fit if they chose to rent the place.
"What do you think?" the building manager asked them.
Elliot had negotiated the price with the man previously, and Olivia was shocked at what he was willing to charge.
"What's the catch?" she inquired skeptically.
Both men glanced at each other but Elliot subtly shook his head, "Well let's just say I've agreed to rent the place at a discount because a bit of a crime occurred here."
Olivia raised a brow, and scanned the apartment wondering just what had happened in it.
A robbery? No the owner would have probably sprung for new windows, and a front door, both of which she could tell were years old. Perhaps the previous renter had a stalker or…
With one last look Olivia turned her attention to Elliot, "Really?! You brought me to a murder home?!"
"Attempted!" Elliot confessed, holding both hands out in front of himself.
"Yes only attempted, the victim lived-"
"Even better! So the 'attempted,' killer can come back!" Olivia huffed angrily, she picked up her purse, and marched out of the apartment, hearing her shoes tap across the brand new hardwood floors that gave the crime away.
The two men sighed and followed her, "And I thought you said the reason we had to see it so early this morning was because the current tenant was working night shifts, and would be here all day?"
"Shoot, I forgot my tape measure be right back," Elliot told the pair, leaving them in the hallway. A woman was leaving from an apartment down the hall.
"That is true, I'm currently renting it to a handyman on a weekly basis while he fixes it up for the owner, but he's also an emergency room nurse-" Gabe began to explain when Olivia cut him off.
"Too bad he wasn't here when the last renter was murdered-"
"Almost, almost murdered, and-" Gabe defended, but was cut off again.
"Mother?"
Serena Benson looked up while clutching her purse, a confused and startled expression lining her face.
"Olivia? What on earth are you doing here?"
"Mornin' Ms Benson," the manager said with a polite nod.
"Gabe," Serena replied, "Were you," she glanced at the apartment door, "Were you looking at a loft in this building? Bit of a splurge for you isn't it darling? Guess that fancy title came with a raise too? I don't know how you do it, you couldn't pay me enough to work in that unit."
Suddenly Olivia could hear Elliot's voice from behind the door, "Liv I know it's a bit much (Olivia assumed he meant the attempted murder) but you gotta admit it's a hell of a space and-"
Elliot stopped talking as he walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind him, before he laid eyes on Serena.
"You!" she took a step towards them, and pointed her finger at him.
"I should've known you were behind this! Leaching off my daughter, like the manwhore you are-"
"Enough!" Olivia interrupted, "You're one to talk, when judging by all the evidence at the moment, when it looks like you're performing the walk of shame!"
"How dare you speak to me like this! And you," she pointed her finger at Elliot again, "I don't care how good the sex is, my idiot daughter will come to her senses, and when she throws your ass to the curb you stay the hell away from her!"
"For God sakes Olivia, you screw the boy toy, you don't move in with them," Serena stated. " I thought I taught you better than that. I warned you about this exact scenario, men will only use you, doesn't matter if it's for your body, or in this case I'd bet your bank account, I never thought you'd be so foolish, I raised you better than this."
"You raised me?!" Olivia exclaimed, completely flabbergasted.
Serena never looked back, instead she made a beeline for the elevator, and everyone in the vicinity was relieved when it chimed, and she immediately got on.
"Ummm," Gabe broke the awkward silence, "So you know Ms Benson?"
"Uh yeah I've had the pleasure, what's she doing here? Sh-," Elliot's eyes bugged out as he redirected his question towards Olivia, "She doesn't live here, does she?"
"Oh she's here quite a bit, she's quite chummy with Keith, lives a couple doors down that way," Gabe pointed with his thumb, "But nope she don't rent here herself."
"Great her boyfriend could be our potential neighbour…" Elliot frowned, knowing that sealed the deal, Olivia would never take the apartment now.
"Hmmm, Mr O'Reilly is a decent guy, think he had some problems in his younger years, but his check always goes through every month," Gabe explained with a shrug.
"Sounds like my Mother's type…" Olivia trailed off.
They quickly wrapped up their meeting with Gabe, Elliot promised they'd get back to him within a couple weeks. As they got into her car, Olivia's phone rang, Avery Jordan was at the precinct, and she was freaking out.
Normally Fin, or Nick could handle such a situation, but Olivia felt an odd connection to the scared woman. Was it because Avery reached out to her first? Or that she was possibly pregnant with her rapist's baby, she wasn't sure, but she felt obligated to go in.
Olivia dropped Elliot off at her place, he was planning to spend a few hours undisturbed, using her family-free space to catch up on all his and Nick's active cases, before he went back to work on Monday.
Elliot waved at his girlfriend as she drove off, and turned to walk into her building, tossing her spare keys in the air, while he whistled a happy tune.
He came to an abrupt halt as a woman walked in front of the door, "I think it's about time we spoke, alone," she smirked. It was her lucky day, she had hoped to run into him there, and planned to patiently wait to get him by himself.
Elliot gulped, he was not easily intimidated, but this woman had the ability to cause a cold shiver to work its way down his spine, despite the warm sunny weather that was present that morning.
A/N: Dun Dun! Who is it?!
A/N 2: I asked last Chapter what you wanted to see in the future of this story. I have most of the main concepts written/mapped out, but I'm more than happy to try to blend any ideas into it if I can. However something 1 reader wanted to see, I've already included so lucky you!
A/N 3: Just a special thank you to anyone that's ever read even a single chapter of this story. Hard to believe we've made it to Chapter 50. Writing this story has been a great comfort to me, especially being stuck in the hospital for the past 400+ days. Your reviews have been a bright spot in an otherwise very dark year for me, so thank you to anyone that took the time to comment, your words can mean SO much to a person who's been stuck in isolation for a whole year on April 1st. Makes me feel a little less alone. This story and it's followers will always have a special place in my heart because of my circumstances. Thank you!
