Protégé

A/N: I know this is not how the judicial system actually works in NYC, but you know what, my story my rules. I drop a LOT of hints/facts/clues in this Chapter so be aware it will greatly impact Chapter 71.

A/N 2: Fan meet shit. References to Season 14 episode 24, and Season 15 episode 01. Warning this is a Lewis Chapter, however there is nothing graphic I pinky promise, but that doesn't mean everyone is safe. DUN DUN.

A/N 3: I did consider doing a little something something for chapter 69… but with all the smut in this story I thought it was a bit too on the nose. Also there's a reference to something small that happened in the beginning of Chapter 67, I wonder if any of you remembered that it had happened. Can't believe we got to Chapter SEVENTY, AND I'm updating this on the FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY of when I first published this story. Holy crap I can't believe it's been that long! Thank you everyone who's come along for the crazy ride!

Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing some of these characters in order to fix what the original owners screwed up.

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Chapter 70

Special Victims Unit, 16th Precinct Manhattan, July 2013

"Chief I can explain," Olivia blurted out, still in complete shock over seeing her Mother in her office.

Dodds walked over to her desk where his briefcase laid on top, and opened it revealing a slew of papers.

"Mrs Benson contacted me about an inappropriate relationship between the two of you…" Dodds rambled on as he flipped through his papers, "Something about the two of you living together."

It's Miss Benson, I'm not married," Serena smiled sweetly at the man, leaning her body towards him.

Olivia rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe her Mother was flirting with her boss.

"But yes that's what I wanted you to be aware of, that this low-life is using my daughter to get ahead and draining her bank account, he's even got her to buy them a new apartment-"

"Ah," Dodds interrupted Serena, "Yes I see that right here in their disclosure statements, and change of address forms."

Dodds put the rest of his papers back in his briefcase, holding the others out to Serena for her to take.

Elliot and Olivia were frozen, watching the scene play out in front of them.

"Bu-but no. You knew?" Serena gasped.

"Yes they disclosed, they reported their move, while I can not comment on their financial situation I can tell you that they've taken the appropriate steps they needed to in order to pursue this…" Dodds paused as he eyed the two officers, "Errr surprising relationship."

"You may not approve Miss Benson, but they've done nothing wrong in the eyes of 1PP, so if there's nothing else?" Dodds asked.

The Chief grabbed his briefcase and motioned for the stupefied woman to follow him as he moved toward the office door.

Olivia and Elliot were still in shock, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

Elliot snapped out of his surprise first, and opened Olivia's door.

The Captain was brought out of her stupor at the sound of a commotion in the squad room.

The Chief and her Mother were still in her doorway as Elliot blocked their way, but beyond them she could see a red haired woman walking beside Lewis as an officer escorted him towards the cells.

She clocked the way Lewis stared at Elliot and Dodds. Olivia was happy that he couldn't see her tiny Mother behind the taller men.

She could tell the man was stalling, and she didn't like the way he was leaning into his lawyer.

"Get him out of here," Olivia barked, striding past the people in her doorway.

"Captain," Lewis smirked.

Olivia crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to rise to the perps bait to engage.

"I'll be seeing you," he called over his shoulder as an officer pushed him towards the cells. He would be stuck there until the transport van came for him to take him to his preliminary hearing.

"Benson," Dodds piped up, "I hope I cleared up any confusion with your Mother here?"

"Yes Sir, I'm sorry, there won't be any issues like this again," Olivia stated, even though she knew she couldn't exactly promise that.

"I hope not, I don't know what's going on in your personal life, but keep it out of your squad room," the Chief ordered sternly.

Dodds looked at both women before nodding once and turning to leave, they watched as he shoved their papers into his briefcase.

Olivia marched back into her office, ignoring Fin and Nick, the only other officers in their vicinity, she was grateful they already knew about her and Elliot.

Serena and her boyfriend followed her into her office.

Olivia slapped both hands on her desk. "What were you thinking?!" she exclaimed.

"I-I, no!" Serena stuttered, the tables had quickly shifted and she was the one in shock, as she clung to the purse she was holding.

"Get out of here," Olivia muttered.

"Olivia listen to me, he's using you," Serena pleaded with her daughter, "He's a man sweetheart, what did I teach you, that men will always use you-"

"Enough Mother! I can't believe you would've risked my career-"

"But darling don't you see, you're doing that yourself," Serena cried as she grabbed her daughter by her shoulders.

Olivia immediately broke from her hold, "Get out."

Serena sighed loudly, "We are not done Olivia!"

Serena whipped around, bumping into a stunned Detective as she stomped out of her daughters office.

"What the hell was all of that?!" Elliot asked, finally finding his voice.

"You tell me," Olivia replied, "What happened after I left home a couple hours ago?"

Elliot ran his hand through his short cropped hair, "I got a call from Dodds asking, no… telling me to meet him here. I had no idea what it was about so I got changed, again, and grabbed all my stuff."

Olivia nodded, that would explain why he was dressed as a Detective normally would be, badge and gun included.

"I didn't see him when I first came in, and Munch said you were interrogating someone, so I went over to the rooms and caught the tail end of your interview. Who is that creep?"

Olivia shook her head, "We're having trouble figuring that out ourselves. He has no history in our database. Claims he moved around a lot growing up, has no ID, nothing."

"Well maybe I can help with that," Elliot suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"Computer crimes, let me help you track down this guy's real identity," Elliot offered, "This is part of what I do now after all."

Olivia smiled, "Thanks I'll message Dana, let her know I've asked her unit for some assistance."

"Well anyways next thing I know you were coming out of interrogation and Dodds was behind me, you know everything that happened after that," Elliot shrugged.

Olivia nodded again.

"Still, I can't believe she actually went to Dodds. Thank God we disclosed when we did, or we'd be so screwed," Olivia mumbled perching her butt on the edge of her desk, a desk that had been involved in quite a few of the more satisfying moments in their relationship.

"Yeah well, I thank God she was in shock, because she could've called us out for being together while I was still in this unit," Elliot reminded her.

Olivia rubbed her face, "Shit you're right, she still has ammo she can use, she's just not aware of it… yet."

They stood together in silence for a few moments.

"We'll get through this together, no matter what your Mother does Liv," Elliot told her.

Olivia gave him a half smile, "Thanks."

She looked out into her squad room, "Now get out of here before more people start asking questions."

Elliot hummed, "Fine, I'll go down to my unit, and message you with anything I find. But I don't like the way that guy was looking at you, or spoke to you, 'I'll be seeing you…' what does that even mean?"

"He could've been talking to anyone, hell it looked like he was even trying to charm his lawyer," Olivia tried to comfort her baby's Father, if he got worried about every creep that directed his attention towards her, then he would be in for a very long life.

Even though he said he should go, he didn't leave.

"I really want to hug you right now," Elliot whispered.

Olivia sighed, "Me too."

"I love you" she mouthed.

"I love you," he muttered and then held up two fingers, his eyes dropping to her stomach.

Olivia placed her hand over their growing child, she could feel the moisture building in her eyes.

Elliot walked out of her office, nearly knocking into Rollins on his way.

The blonde looked back once before addressing her Captain, "What's Stabler doing here?"

"Uhhh, I requested some help from Computer Crimes, trying to figure out who the hell this guy really is," Olivia informed her, technically not lying either.

Amanda nodded, "Good yeah, great idea."

"Carisi and Casey called, he goes in front of the judge in a couple hours," Rollins told her Captain.

"Damn, I'll message El-liot," Olivia stuttered nearly calling the man by his nickname. She really needed to have an honest conversation with Amanda, but there always seemed to be something bigger going on.

"And let him know we have a deadline," she finished.

"Sounds good, Jet and I will keep digging on our end too, I just know this guy has a record somewhere," Rollins nodded once before leaving the older woman in her office.

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Manhattan Court House, Preliminary Hearing People v William Lewis, July 2013

Hours later Olivia found herself standing in the back of a courtroom with a few members of her squad. They hadn't been able to find anything useful on William Lewis, and the witnesses were shaky at best.

While Olivia was sure of his guilt, they couldn't find any previous charges, the tourists were struggling and didn't want to stay in the country to testify, Alice Parker, an elderly woman who was taking pictures in the park that day, had accidentally in her haste erased the contents on her camera, TARU and computer crimes were still trying to restore the images. This guy was the luckiest perpetrator Olivia had dealt with in a long time.

Casey tried to get the initial hearing pushed back, but somehow Lewis got lucky and received a public defender who was actually capable of her job, and she argued that her client had the right to a fair and speedy trial.

Olivia sighed as she heard the sound of the judge's gavel, and the words "dismissed without prejudice" washed over her.

She road back to the station with Nick, Munch, and Amanda. She noted the other woman was quiet the whole way back too.

"Rollins my office," Olivia rasped as they walked back into the unit.

The younger woman followed her.

"You okay?" the brunette asked as she settled into her chair.

"Are we ever okay when a guy like that gets off on so many circumstances of chance?"

Amanda paced the small space, "Cases like this…"

"I know Rollins, I know. Take the rest of the day, none of us were suppose to come in today anyways, and you need to take any chance you can to destress," Olivia reminded her, looking down at her stomach, knowing she was also pregnant.

Rollins came to a stop and rolled her shoulders, "Yeah maybe I will, thanks Cap."

Fin walked in as Amanda left. Some days Olivia felt she should just remove her door altogether.

"She 'aight?" he questioned.

Olivia appreciated the way Fin deeply cared for all the members in their squad.

Olivia shrugged, "We all know that guy was guilty as hell, it's always hard to see someone like that walk. Sent her home for the rest of the day."

"Why don't you take your own advice?" Fin suggested.

"Rollins might've called us all in, but we don't need to all stay, Nick and I can finish up with the paperwork for now, and Liv this isn't the end, I'm positive more leads will pop up. We'll all hit the ground running on Monday, go home Benson, take tomorrow too, this is what you have me for, I got you for the next 36 hour okay?" Fin proposed.

"Twist my arm why don't you," Olivia smirked. It didn't take her long to grab all her stuff, "Thanks Fin," she muttered to her Sergeant on the way out.

The pregnancy was sapping her of her energy much faster than normal, she was thankful it was the summer and she only had her purse and briefcase to hull up back to their new apartment.

Her phone bing-ed when she got in the elevator. She quickly glanced and saw she had a bbm message from Jennifer their realtor turned friend.

Jen had accidentally left with their spare set of keys after helping them move in the previous day. Olivia was sure her forgetfulness had something to do with the surprise of meeting Serena.

Jennifer was in the neighbourhood and offered to drop the keys off, she had mistakenly assumed the couple wouldn't be working on the weekend. She also really needed to use their bathroom, a fact that made Olivia snort.

Olivia messaged her back, telling her to let herself in and that she would be home shortly.

She sighed as she climbed into a taxi out in front of the precinct. She didn't really want any company, she was exhausted, but it was always nice to chat with the blonde woman, who was quickly becoming a close friend.

Olivia spoke to Elliot during the cab ride home, he was still trying to find background on Lewis, but they also had a few major cases come in.

"I'll probably be really late tonight, I'm sorry Liv," Elliot's voice was muffled through the phone.

"It's okay, I'm so tired I feel like I'm going to crash until I have to go back in," Olivia yawned.

"And when will that be?" Elliot asked.

"Mmmm Fin doesn't want to see me until Monday," Olivia stated, "And for once I plan to take his advice, I think me and Baby B need some rest, but Jen just messaged me and she's going to stop by for a bit, drop off our keys."

Olivia heard someone call Elliot's name in the background.

"Damnit Liv I gotta go, sounds like this might be an all-nighter, so I won't call you unless I have an update, don't wanna disturb you if you're sleeping," Elliot knew his girlfriend could use the rest.

"Sounds good, well I'm home now, I love you, stay safe El," Olivia told him as she got out of the taxi.

"Love you both two," Elliot mumbled into the phone, "See you tomorrow hopefully, get some rest Benson!"

Olivia heard the click, as she walked through their lobby, and she stuffed her phone into her big purse.

Olivia leaned against the wall of the elevator, it wasn't very late but she really was exhausted. Her eyes sprang open when the metal box dinged, she just prayed to god she didn't have another run in with her Mother and her booty call neighbour.

Olivia put her keys in the door and turned the lock, surprised at the lack of lights on.

"Jen? You here?" Olivia called as she heard a noise.

"Jennieeeeeee?" Olivia whined, plopping her purse onto the kitchen counter, as much as she liked the woman, she was too tired for any theatrics. She walked around the island towards the dark living room intent on turning the lights on, she figured Jen was still in the bathroom.

"J-Jennnnifer?" Olivia shouted at the same time the living room lights sprang on.

"Welcome home… Captain."

Olivia's jaw dropped and a cold shiver racked her whole body, as she stared into the empty cold eyes of the man she had last seen in a court room.

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A/N: There was no need to sweat Serena telling Dodds, they disclosed back in Chapter 67 ;) Does Serena have legitimate reasons for distrusting men/Elliot?

A/N 2: Feel free to sweat the rest. Again I'll try not to leave you on this cliff for too long, but this is an arc we had to tackle.

A/N 3: For some reason I've had difficulty uploading the last 2 Chapters on FFN, It's erasing the bold and italicized words/sections. And when I try to fix it manually it won't save, my apologies. Chapters 68 69 and 70 were all beta'd by Tony.

A/N 4: Big thank you to all the readers who have stuck with this story for years now, and to all my new readers, I absolutely love reading your comments as you go through each Chapter. And also a big shout out to the discord group, I didn't realize this story was a fan favourite until someone left me a voice message the other day, (cough Emily cough), so y'all can thank her for these quick updates. This story is almost at 500 comments on FFN, it'll be my second story to hit that plateau, so thank you x500 for the reviews, they cheer me up and motivate me to write. I'm particularly enjoying a new reader GoodTimeGirlNY's Chapter reviews! Tip for any reader, if you want a story updated just flood the story with comments, nothing gets us movin' more!