Joined Forces Epilogue: "Nothing Changes, Except What Has To"
Police Plaza Path
Manhattan
The Next Day
9:30 AM
With the Mia Harris trial now having been rather abruptly concluded, Captain Benson, Lieutenant Beck, and Sergeant Bell were all called to a meeting with Deputy Inspector Eames in her office at One Police Plaza. The 3 consummate policewomen were walking down the path toward 1PP when Benson's cell phone rang.
"Who's that?" Beck asked.
"Carisi," Benson replied, "It probably has something to do with the Harris case, so I'll put him on speaker."
Benson did just that at she answered. "Counselor," she said into the phone, "Good morning. I have you on speaker with me, Lieutenant Beck, and Sergeant Bell."
"In that case," Carisi said from his end of the line, "Good morning to you ladies as well."
"Morning, Sonny" Beck said.
"Good morning," Bell chimed in.
"I just wanted to tell you that I spoke with District Attorney McCoy about ten minutes ago," Carisi explained, "I can't say that he was very happy with Judge Bertuccio's decision about Mia Harris. However, he did agree that she deserve to answer for Dwayne Leung's murder."
"I wonder if Enzo Ricci's on board with that whole thing," Beck said.
"I actually just spoke to him as well," Carisi explained, "He and Perry are both on board with everything. Enzo also mentioned that Perry found a great therapist at Bellevue and she's getting counseling."
"That's great, Carisi" Benson said, "Hopefully, she'll have a chance at a real life and not have all this dark baggage following her like it has been for all these years."
"That's certainly my hope, too, Liv" Carisi replied before changing subjects. "Listen, while I've got you on the phone, I wanted to ask, do you have any idea when Rollins and Velasco will be back in town?"
"Actually," Benson replied, "Yes. She e-mailed me last night and told me that they found their rape suspect hiding out at a relative's house in Paducah, Kentucky. The local DA and a judge signed off on the extradition and they should be back this evening, if not early tomorrow morning."
Carisi sighed on his end of the line. "That's good to know," he candidly said, "I'll talk to you ladies later, then."
"Got it," Benson replied, "Thanks, Carisi."
The captain promptly ended the call before trading looks with Beck and Bell. "I think he misses, her. What do you guys think?"
The lieutenant and the sergeant both grinned and chuckled. "Forgive me," Bell said, "I didn't even know that he and Detective Rollins were an item."
Benson shrugged her shoulders. "They've been together for a while," she clarified, "They just choose to keep things professional at work and not broadcast it."
"Heh," Beck said, "More power to them, but I can't imagine that's very easy to do when you spend so much time in a room full of well-trained detectives."
10 minutes later, they entered the office of Deputy Inspector Eames. The office was otherwise empty, save for Eames' desk and about half a dozen cardboard file boxes full of various items and paperwork.
"Thank you for coming, ladies" Eames said as she sat behind her desk and motioned to the 3 chairs she had set up just on the other side of it, "Please have a seat."
Her subordinates did as instructed, with Benson taking the centermost chair. "Let me guess," Benson said, "We caught you right in the middle of spring cleaning, huh, Alex?"
The Deputy Inspector chuckled and gave a half-hearted smile. "I don't know if you all specifically know," Eames began explaining, "But Chief Moran turned in his retirement paperwork yesterday. He has over thirty years invested in the department, and he decided that recovering from his injuries and living a life off the job would be the best thing for him going forward."
Bell nodded. "Good for him," she replied, "I mean, we've all worked under Kenny Moran for several years now and change is always hard. My question now, though, is, what does this change mean for you?"
"As I told Olivia early on during the Ricci investigation," Eames said, "I accepted my promotion to 'Deputy Inspector' with the promise of being able to head up a specialized team within the Counterterrorism Bureau. However, when Chief Moran was hit by that car, the Commissioner put his confidence in me to fill in, which was a responsibility that I reluctantly yet graciously accepted."
"So," Benson replied, "Now that the Chief is hanging it up, you're taking the opportunity to go for yours and move to Counterterrorism."
"Bingo," Eames said.
"That's awesome, Alex" Beck chimed in, "But who's stepping in as the new Chief of Detectives?"
"Assistant Chief Tommy McGrath", Eames replied with a certain irresolution in her tone.
Beck snickered uncomfortably for a second. "'Feel the Wrath of McGrath'?" she asked, "That guy? I thought they just wanted him to temporarily oversee SVU after Chief Garland left."
"He still plans to do that," Eames said, "Just from this office with a new title. Plus, he now has all the other divisions in the Detective Bureau to administrate."
Bell put her hands up for a second and looked over at Benson and Beck. "Okay," she said, "Hold up, guys. I know McGrath's a hard ass, but I worked with Tommy back when I was a uniform cop at the Ninety-Fifth Precinct in Brooklyn. When he made Captain there, he completely reorganized the Domestic Violence Unit. DV cases went down by at least fifty percent after that, and as far as I know they're still somewhat down."
"According to Brooklyn SVU," Benson said, "You're correct, Ayanna. But just because McGrath's a good boss doesn't mean that we all must look forward to him micromanaging us."
"Anticipating that," Eames said, "I've asked him to keep his hands off three squads in the department. That's Manhattan Special Victims, that's the Warrants Division at the Fifteenth Precinct, and that's the Organized Crime Task Force. He can keep eyes on you guys all he wants, but if he starts unnecessarily crawling up people's asses, I'll personally beef him to the brass. That's a promise."
The three commanding officers stood up from their seats and each took a turn shaking hands with the Deputy Inspector. "Thank you, Alex" Benson said, "Best of luck to you."
NYPD 16th Precinct
Later That Evening
7:00 PM
Captain Benson was leaving the precinct for the evening and was in the process of walking to her car when she found Kat Tamin standing beside her own unmarked Chevrolet Impala that was parked close to the captain's SUV.
"Hey Kat," Benson greeted, "What brings you here this late in the day?"
Tamin uncrossed her arms and sat down on the Impala's front bumper as Benson came closer. "Lieutenant Beck told us about McGrath taking over," she said in a very apathetic tone, "I can't say that I'm too excited about it."
An always sympathetic Benson nodded as she said down next to her young colleague. "Honestly," she replied, "None of us higher-ups are too thrilled either. But it's like I said to you when you left SVU, you sometimes must stay on and fight. You're not thinking of turning in your shield for good this time, are you?"
Tamin chuckled. "No," she said, "Honestly, being back on the job and working Warrants has renewed my love for the job, despite my perpetual dislike for the politics involved."
"Right on," she said, "That's how I've been able to do this job for so long."
"Hmm," Tamin replied, "Speaking of which, I meant to ask you. How's that guy Detective Velasco holding up since I left?"
"He's a good cop," Benson explained, "He got a little bit of a rough reception from Fin at the beginning, but he's warmed up to him a lot more since then. Basically, for a guy who I doubt ever intended to be a Special Victims detective, he's faring well."
"Yeah," Tamin said, "See, with me, I really enjoyed my time with you guys at SVU, but being in Warrants now seems like a better fit. Plus, working with Beck and Ming has been a great experience."
"That's great," Benson replied, "You're a great cop, Kat, and I know you're feeling uneasy about the changes coming. But I'd like to share a saying that Captain Cragen told me a while back."
"What's that?" Tamin inquired.
"'Nothing changes'," Benson quoted, "'Except what has to'."