Chapter 9

1995

October

Manhattan

Courthouse

Judge Elizabeth Donnelly waited in her chambers along with the current SVU ADA, Peter Stone, with Russell Sheiffeild and Aaron Kirkland's lawyers. Trevor Langon was Aaron's lawyer. He pursed his pretty face and checked his watch a third time.

"Judge Donnelly, the prosecution, is now an hour late. I think it's fair to say she's not coming. Again. Is it necessary that we drag this out any longer?"

"I agree," Russell's lawyer started to say.

Elliot and Captain Cragen finally poked their heads in, cutting off the fussy lawyers.

"What's the status," Judge Donnelly cut them all off. Her glasses tossed on the desk, as her stern guttural voice took control of the whining in front of her.

Cragen shook his head. "She's not answering."

Langon started putting his paperwork away. "So that's that."

"Not so fast," Peter Stone jumped in. "We need to reschedule."

"Judge, the ADA has no evidence that either one of these men laid a hand on the girl. She herself testified that she had called Aaron to set up an evening of sex. Soliciting my client for sex."

Peter cut Trevor off. "Takes two to tango. Your client was seen at the bar and in the Alley by over a dozen people, including an NYPD Detective."

"Junior Detective," Langon corrected.

Donnelly was listening intently and then once she heard enough she lifted her hand and the men stopped their bickering.

"What's the status on the rape kit," Donnelly asked.

"Ahm," Elliot cleared his throat. "Backlogged."

"For how long," she snapped.

"Could be tomorrow, could be years," Elliot stood in the corner. All eyes on him. He held his hands behind his back and tried to make himself smaller. It was as if they were expecting him to say more or perform a rape kit miracle. "Yeah, I don't know what holds it up. Don't shoot the messenger," he felt forced to continue. "Last kit I was able to push through when I caught the guy behind the desk on a slow day. If we could get more time, I could keep trying-"

Elizabeth bit her lip in deep thought, she'd been through this too many times before. She specifically took this job to help women in a city filled with masculine power. She'd been the only one of two female judges in New York City, and she was bound and determined to give women a voice. It was a proud day for her to be sworen in as a judge, but she quickly found that the system was so flawed, she would have to burn down the whole city and start over again to get a clean case for clear judgment. That and women she wanted to help didn't want to help themselves, let alone show up to a courtroom and go through the worst night of their lives in front of their attacker, and have no hard evidence to back them up.

She heavily sighed and neatly placed the paperwork in front of her on the desk. "And this is the second time Stacey has dodged court? Is she ill?"

"Um…not in the immediate sense," Captain Cragen answered. "But the girl has been through the wringer. She was evicted two weeks ago, we helped her get into a women's shelter until she can save up for an apartment, her parents refuse to talk to her. I think if we could give the lab a few more weeks, it would give Stacey the time she needs to get herself together and make a court appearance."

"Judge, we've already given this court hearing a month. My client has a life. He has a full scholarship to UCLA's Graduate program. Stacey is a college dropout, who couldn't afford to pay her rent, so instead of getting a job, she became a prostitute. Why are we all dragging our feet?"

"Okay, that's enough, Langon," Donnelly stood up. "Without a victim, there is no crime. I, therefore, have no choice but to drop the charges on Russell Sheffield and Aaron Kirkland."

Langon practically fist pumped and shot a wide smile at Elliot.

Moments later Cragen and Elliot walked out of Donnelly's office, followed by the lawyers. Olivia jumped out of her skin at the sound of the door. She'd been pacing in the hallway after returning from her quest to find Stacey.

"Did we reschedule," Olivia started to ask Elliot, who shook his head no.

Langon was close behind. "Olivia, long time no see. You work with sex crimes now?"

If eyes could kill, Elliot would have laser-beamed Langon's head right off his neck.

"I do," Olivia quickly answered. "I see you're still taking money from rapists."

"Ho, good one. Tell Stacey, she can thank me for that women's shelter she's hiding in. The rapists who pay my firm, helped fund it."

Olivia lunged. She didn't know exactly what she was lunging to do it. Hit him. Punch him. Neuter him.

Elliot's calm hands pulled her back. "Not worth it," he softly said to her, and she backed off, but Elliot kept his hand around her stomach, adn she didn't flinch. In fact, she had her hand resting on top of his, and Langon picked up on it.

"Be careful with that one," he whispered to Elliot. "She forgets to take her pill."

Olivia couldn't hear exactly what he said to Elliot, but by the look on his face, she knew what it was about.

Elliot's elbow wildly flew up and hit Langon in the face. Langon yelped and the entire hallway stopped.

Cragen, who was talking to Peter Stone 20 feet away, heard the pop, and looked over to see Trevor bent over half laughing and half grunting. "Ha…shit…you almost broke my nose."

"You should watch yourself next time. Give a guy some space," Elliot strutted.

"What the hell happened," Cragen barked.

Langon was more embarrassed than bruised. He shook off the blow, and merely said ", Ah, nothing. Your guy clocked me." Langon knew he was wrong for instigating Elliot with that comment. Olivia stood in the middle of it all with those deep brown eyes, and her confused hurt stare forced him to gather himself and get out of there. "Was an accident is all," he said to Cragen. "Right Stabler? I'll be sure to never get you from the back again. I'm good," he smiled fakely at Cragen. "All…good."

"Accident," Elliot repeated, daring him to say anything else in front of Cragen.

Cragen stood with Elliot and Olivia in the hallway and watched Langon leave with his tail between his legs. "Do I want to know what that was about," he asked.

"No," the pair said at the same time.

Cragen didn't believe them, but ignored it nonetheless. "I gotta get back to the Precinct. Olivia," he smiled with his warm friendly eyes. "I know this ending is a let down. But you handled this case better than my 2nd grade Detectives. And somehow you did it with one of the most stubborn pain in the ass Detectives in New York" Cragen jabbed at Elliot.

"That can't be all there is," she pushed. "What happens to Stacey?"

"For now, it's all we can do. Stacey doesn't want to be found right now," Cragen nodded, but hated saying it. "Anyway, Olivia, as soon as you level up to 1st grade Detective you let me know. There's a desk with your name on it."

"I'll hold you to that," she said as she hung in and out of so many emotions.

Once they were alone, Elliot walked her down the courthouse stairs. "You okay?"

"No. No, I'm not okay."

"The backlog happens more than I like to admit. Which makes us seem untrustworthy to the victim. It's not hopeless. If the kit comes through, we find Stacey, and we reopen the case."

Olivia silently nodded. "Sorry about Langon."

Elliot was afraid to ask, he decided to shrug and listen. Seemed the only right thing to do.

"I make one bad decision, my whole life. Truly, I don't make mistakes often, but when I do they are epic. And of all the bad decisions, Langon was my worst. And he continues to haunt me."

"He's lucky I didn't punch him. I didn't make things worse for you, did I?"

"Are you kidding? He's lucky you were there to stop me," she laughed a little, and he nudged her in good fun.

She looked up at the pink sun that was setting. It was a perfect sky. Hard to ignore. She had to change her mood now, or she was going to go home and fall down a backlog rabbit hole.

"Dinner?" She looked at him through the corner of her eye.

"Sure," He held out his arm and she pulled herself toward him.

They had already broken the first date seal. It was easy to do while they worked the case together. Interrogate, commiserate, paperwork, and dinner. Now that the case was over, and her victim was gone with the wind, Olivia didn't know how to go back to the Bronx. She had that nagging feeling that nothing good could go right without losing something as equally important. Was this the crossroad? Elliot or Manhattan SVU? Was he the reason she lost the case, because she was happy and falling in love. She pushed the thought away. It was a crap thought.

"I liked working this case with you," she said looking off into the distance of busy Manhattan foot traffic as they walked.

"Best month I've had in a long time."

She paused. "I'd like to do it again. The detective work and the dinner. Is that…even possible? Can we mix business with pleasure in the business?"

"Maybe," he said with hesitance. "It can get complicated. My first SVU partner left, because we had a one-time fling, and she wanted me more than I wanted her…"

"Well, I don't like that at all."

"It was a stupid thing really. But you're not my work partner, and I'd like to think this has been a little more than a fling. Am I reading the room right?"

She laughed at him. "I think you're on to something there, detective."

Their steps synchronized, Elliot led the way, Olivia allowed it.

"I get nervous mixing business with pleasure. Langon was a harsh reminder of that."

"Hey now, you think you're the first woman to forget to take a pill. You're looking at a guy who almost married a girl he didn't love because she was having my kid."

"Well when you put it that way," she jested.

"So we take it slow," he said. They stood on the corner in front of a Korean BBQ restaurant. Rush hour was in full swing. People pushed by them as they stopped and held each other in deep thought. Olivia couldn't imagine giving this up. She was young and still believed in love, almost as much as she believed in saving every victim in Manhattan. In an instant, their whole life together flashed through her mind. Working SVU during the day. Raising a few babies at night. They'd live near Central Park and she'd take the kids to zoo and all of the museums on her day off. He'd support her long hours, because he'd know what was at stake and respect her passions. She support his need to go undercover, even though it was dangerous and he could be gone for weeks at a time. They'd have a nanny or a manny...or maybe her mother would change around her grand babies. But she was getting ahead of herself.

"I like slow," she smiled.

"I noticed that about you," he said as he pushed a stray hair from her soft lips. It was the third time today he tought about kissing her.

The City led them to an empty table at Barn Joo on a Monday night. They were the only people in the restaurant and there was a huge moon on the wall and twinkle lights all around them. It was a quiet romantic place only a real New Yorker could stumble across.

"So you never told me. What's the wedding band on your necklace," she asked between bites of garlic spicy potstickers.

Elliot licked his thumb and pulled the necklace out from his shirt. "It was my dad's. He was shot the same night you showed up at my football game."

"Oh…I am so sorry I brought it up."

"It's fine. It's apparently a night I'm not allowed to forget," he tried to make a joke.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be."

He then took the ring off of his necklace and played with it between his thumb and forefinger.

"My mom wanted to pawn it. None of my siblings wanted it. I was moving around so much that I put it on this necklace so I wouldn't lose it."

He twirled it around. "My dad had small hands. Doesn't fit on any of my fingers. Funny what you remember about your parents. My dad had the daintiest hands. He was always self-conscious about it too. My mother would pick on him constantly. Smallest hands, but he sure could throw a punch...she would say."

Olivia watched him go off somewhere in his mind.

"You okay?"

He touched her hand with his free one, he knew she knew the feeling. They didn't have to talk about it.

He then pushed the ring onto her forefinger. "Fits you," he softly smiled.

"Kind of," she said and then she held his hand and rubbed the top part of his fingers with her thumb. "Did you have any good memories of your dad?"

He nodded. "Oh sure. Lot's. Taught me how to fish on the ocean. We would all go to the ocean. We have a beach house. We would go there every summer. All summer long. He'd take us out and we'd come back with fresh oysters and different kinds of fish. Bass. He taught me how to shoot a gun. Which was a weird day, but in the moment it felt special. He saw me as a man that day and not a mama's boy. When he wasn't drunk, he loved my mother fiercely. He would come home on a good night, turn on Frank Sinatra and lead her around the kitchen. She would laugh and laugh. He was a good man. He just walked around with a lot of demons. What about you? What about your dad?"

"Never met my dad? Don't even know what he looks like. He could be anybody really. He could be that guy," she pointed to a man passing by the window on the street.

"You know his name?"

"I found a newspaper clipping in my mom's room one day. It was about a Joe Hollister," she said. Saying his name sent chills down her spine. She pulled her hand away and took Elliot's ring off and gave it back.

"You ever try to look him up," Elliot said, affixing the ring back onto his necklace.

"No," Olivia stopped him. Her thoughts swirled between telling him why or keeping it to herself. "If he wanted to find me, he would have by now. Besides my mother would flip if she ever knew I looked him up."

Elliot grabbed a few noodles on his chopsticks and held it up for Olivia to take. "Taste these. My fav."

She pulled them into her mouth and he took his thumb and wiped her chin.

"Mmm, so good," she smiled. "Look at us being doing normal things. Talking about hard subjects and slurping noodles."

He was amused by that. They held each other by the hand in between bites of yummy food. It was such an overwhelming need to stay connected. He was intense, and gentle, and she loved it. She cold sit in under the beams of this fake moon all night with him.

"Swing by tomorrow and we'll look him up."

"Hmm?," she came out of her romantic haze. "No. Mmm," she waved her hand. "I really don't need to know. Really, just drop it. I'm good- better- not knowing who my father is."

"Okay," he didn't push it, but filed Hollister in his back pocket.

The night ended with laughter and a hint of falling for each other a little deeper than before.

Elliot then paid the bill and walked her to a cab.

"Good night," he stood close enough to hug her and possibly kiss her good night.

They still hadn't kissed, but the pressure to try was there for both of them.

She had a look in her eye that she could kiss him, and he waited nervously unable to figure out when to do it.

They fumbled into a quick peck and before Elliot could right the peck for the real thing, she was in the cab and talking to the driver.

"I'll call you," she said over her shoulder.

"Wait," he stopped her and leaned into the cab. He caressed the side of her cheek and pulled her lips into his. "Is this okay," he pulled away slightly and whispered.

"Mmm," she pulled him in for one more, this time with a hint of open mouth, and then she pushed him away.

"Good night," she blushed.

He watched the yellow of the car drive away and melt into the rest of the downtown traffic.

AN: Hope you're all liking this. I know we all hate Kathy and Langon. I'll try to keep that crap to a minimum. We get teased enough watching the show. I was in NYC for a week, kept my eyes pealed for SVU filming, and OF COURSE the day after I left, Ice T posted them filming in Times Square. WTH. That happens to me EVERY single time I'm in New York. I just want to meet her Once. Needless to say, I'm still manifesting over here!