Protégé
A/N: Same as before, words in bold are a flashback, italics are a character's thoughts. 2 shorter chapters in 2 days to make up for my tardy updates in the last 12 months.
A/N 2: Your reviews/views will be the only reason I will continue to write this story, because I truly believed after all this time people would've lost interest. So to all my new readers, welcome, and to all my previous readers, welcome back.
Disclaimer: I wish, but alas these are Wolf's property not mine.
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Chapter 65
Monday July 8th 2013, Special Victim's Unit, 16th Precinct, Manhattan
Olivia was trying to concentrate on the document on her computer but she couldn't help it when her eyes kept shifting to her phone.
~DING~DING~
She nearly knocked the device over in her haste to grab it.
It was another message from Porter. She wondered why he suddenly had an interest in burying the hatchet with her. By the sounds of things he had been back in New York for months, and it wasn't as if he didn't know where she worked.
Once again she ignored his pleas, and instead typed another message to the person currently ignoring her pleas. She wondered if she sounded as desperate as she felt.
OBenson: I know it's your first day and you're probably overwhelmed, and swamped but could you please give me 5 minutes? You can call me or I can come to you? Please.
Olivia pressed send but noticed her last two messages hadn't been received yet. She felt slightly better thinking that maybe he wasn't ignoring her out of anger, that maybe he really was slammed his first morning. Still that didn't exactly account for the radio silence she had received from him since she had messaged him early Saturday morning. She didn't hold it against him, but when he ended up quite drunk at his farewell/congratulatory party, she wanted to give him some time to recuperate before delving into such a serious conversation.
She bit her lip as more memories of the weekend pushed their way to the forefront of her mind.
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Friday July 5th 2013, Detective Tutuola's Apartment
"I-wh-what, ummm?!" Rollins gasped, completely baffled by the question her Captain countered with.
The older woman looked like she had accidentally stumbled upon a line of questioning neither had been prepared for.
"Amanda," she said slowly, and calmly, reflecting the exact opposite of the emotions she herself was feeling inside, "How did you 'recognize'," she stressed the word, "The prenatal vitamin box?"
"Oh I-ummm," Amanda stuttered, her mind had gone completely blank.
Even though they stood mere feet from each other in a dark red game room, Amanda could physically see when the light bulb went off in Olivia's head.
"Oh my God!" Olivia exclaimed, clapping her hands over her mouth.
"You're pregnant!" she announced through her fingers.
"Yeah well you're pregnant too!" Rollins threw back at her.
It sounded like the kind of childish conversation she would've had in grade school, except it would've been funny back then. There was nothing to joke about in that moment for either woman.
Olivia quickly realized that if Amanda was in the same predicament as her, knocked up by a younger coworker, then she too would know the consequences if her situation wasn't handle properly.
There was one major difference in Olivia's mind.
Olivia was 99% sure who Amanda's baby daddy was, but she was also almost 99% certain that Amanda did not know who had fathered Olivia's dream baby.
Suddenly Olivia grabbed Amanda's forearm. "Have you told anyone?"
She knew in an instant she had, as Amanda looked away from her.
Olivia tried to recall who Amanda had spoken to since coming back with the cake, and there was only one person she could think of.
"Carisi?! Shit Amanda, did you tell Carisi what you found?"
Olivia thought for a moment Rollins was going to lie to her. She didn't know if it was the sound of her voice, or the pleading look on her face but the younger woman cracked.
"Yeah okay I'm sorry Liv, I was just so shocked-"
"Damnit!" Olivia exclaimed.
She turned around in the small room, and sat against a table, "And I'm sure your own hormones aren't helping," Olivia stated.
Amanda scoffed, "Speakin' of, I um, hah, the irony is that I actually haven't told Carisi I'm pregnant."
"Wait a second, you told Carisi I was pregnant before you even bothered to tell him that you're expecting? What the hell Rollins?!" Olivia gaped, she herself had been relieved that she found out with Elliot, she couldn't imagine trying to hide their Baby B from him too.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Liv, like I said I was just so shocked and-"
"Oh God!" Olivia jumped up, "Carisi!"
Amanda was perplexed, "Yes Carisi, I just said that."
"No, shit! Damnit I just gave Carisi my keys to go to my apartment, he said he really needed the bathroom, and Fin's has been occupied to say the least."
"Alright…" Amanda was perplexed by her friend's sudden panic.
"Rollins, you know I like Carisi but the man can't keep a secret on a good day, let alone three sheets to the wind!" Olivia could hear the stress in her own voice.
There was a beat before both women rushed to open the door, they raced to exit Fin's bedroom but were intercepted at the threshold by Melinda asking to borrow Rollin's for a moment. Olivia shrugged her shoulders, and continued on with her mission to get out of Fin's place, and find Carisi.
Just as she got to his front door it opened, and she came face to face with the man she had been looking for.
They stood frozen, staring at one another. Olivia wasn't sure but she could feel the blood draining from her face, and as she looked at Carisi she realized it was like gazing into a mirror. He looked pale, and clammy too.
They both opened their mouths multiple times to speak, but neither said a word.
Carisi held out her keys, which Olivia took. She looked up into his glassy blue eyes, she knew he was still very inebriated. "Carisi we should ta-"
"SONNY!", a bunch of people shouted from behind them, and came rushing to the man of the hour, swarming the pair, and taking away any chance Olivia had to talk to the new lawyer in private.
Olivia knew that Amanda, and Sonny were now aware she was pregnant. But judging by Sonny's demeanour once he was back from her apartment, she feared he may have accidentally stumbled upon something more. Was there some evidence of Elliot that she had missed when she was cleaning her apartment? She thought she had been extra careful, and she didn't think Carisi was the kind of person who would go snooping through her closets, or drawers.
Sonny didn't know if he should've been happy to have been whisked away from that awkward convo with Olivia but nevertheless he was.
Olivia went back into the kitchen, she was in desperate need for some water. Just as she grabbed a bottle from the fridge, Elliot once again appeared beside her.
"I've been looking for you," he muttered, he could see multiple people watching them.
"If you knew the conversations I've just had," Olivia began, trying to keep her voice low enough not to be heard, but loud enough to be heard over the party that was turning raucous. There was a plethora of alcohol being consumed.
"Oh is that so? Because I've been caught in my own hellish conversation with my future boss, and her smarmy number two, who had a whole lot to say about you!" Elliot declared.
Olivia's breath caught in her throat. She had completely forgot about Porter, since Rollins' big reveal.
Olivia reached out, about to grab his forearm when she stopped herself, aware of their surroundings once more. She really couldn't wait to disclose.
Just as she moved her lips another voice interrupted her, "Olivia is that you? I was hoping you'd be here, sorry I'm late, couldn't get out of the office, but it'll be great having Carisi on our team now."
Olivia blinked, Porter coming to the party was shocking enough, but David Haden, it was too much of her past suddenly in front of her eyes.
David glanced at Elliot when the Captain failed to say anything, "Li-Liv?" Haden repeated.
Olivia swore the scene in front of her blurred, as the stress of the last couple hours piled on top of her. Hiding her baby and her relationship with Elliot, Porter, Rollins' discovery and confession, Sonny finding out, and lastly the reappearance of David Haden. It was official, the celebration was over in her opinion, just as her vision went black.
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Monday July 8th 2013, Captain Olivia Benson's Office, 16th Precinct Manhattan SVU
~KNOCK~KNOCK~
"Hey Cap, the dragon lady is ready to be escorted to her new home," Fin declared from her doorway.
Olivia smirked, she knew her squad was looking forward to the bad press heading their suspect's way.
She nodded from her desk, "You know the drill."
She watched longingly as Fin left, even though she had been the Captain of SVU for more than half a year, she still missed being on the streets at times.
Olivia stood and moving the blinds she looked out her back window. Sure enough there were her officers walking their latest perps out to the cruisers. A large crowd had gathered, taking photographs as they moved.
Olivia turned her attention back to the files on her desk when a loud bang cracked through the silence in her room.
She froze. She knew that sound. There was no mistaking the sound of a gun shot, ringing in her ears.
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A/N: First off a lot to digest in the last couple chapters. And if you remember the cases happening around this time on the show, then you're aware of what's about to happen, and possibly what could be coming up. Referencing season 14 episode 22. There will be minor changes such as Olivia being the Captain, Carisi being on the show and of course now you know Amanda is pregnant too. It's how she immediately RECOGNIZED the box before she even saw the label.
Second, congrats to anyone that connected Elliot leaving his dirty marines shirt with STABLER on the back, on the top of her hamper, AFTER she had admitted to disinfecting her apartment of anything that might be linked to him (Chapter 61). And drunk Carisi finding it when she allowed him to use her bathroom (Chapter 64).
Dean Porter. David Haden?!
A/N 2: I've warned my readers before, I sometimes write how I feel, so if I'm going through it, you may end up going through it too. And I love misdirecting my readers, you all should know that by now. Remember never assume anything in this story ;)
A/N 3: As much as I appreciate the "get better" messages, unfortunately there are some diseases that don't get better, I will gradually get worse and that's a prognosis that I am learning to accept. However they're also saying the state I'm in is the best things will ever get and THAT I don't accept. I will sit up again (by myself). And I will walk again (even if it is with a rollator for a few years). The disease I have basically causes my vertebrae and discs to slowly crumble. I've got 13 broken vertebrae at the moment. They're throwing in the towel. I. Am. Not. And I will use this story as my rehab as much as I can. If I am slow to update or respond, I wanted the readers to know why.
