Semper Fi

That's what Friends are for

Two Weeks Later

The talk surrounding Brian and Elliot's altercation had died down and their lives were somewhat back to routine. It would only be a couple of weeks before Olivia could formally adopt Noah and she was knee deep in studying for the Lieutenant's exam. It was increasingly hard for her to concentrate on studying with Elliot around full time. He was a welcome distraction and often purposely interrupted her with kisses and touches that quickly escalated and all studying was lost. He didn't have to go back to Virginia because of his undercover operation so they spent all of their spare time together and with Noah and Eli. They were practically living together at this point. She expected it to feel like an intrusion especially considering that sometimes her apartment felt too cramped for her and Noah. Instead it really felt more like home than it ever did before.

After going back and forth about the logistics, Chelsea and Eric were finally in town for their double date. They had plans to catch a Broadway show and then have dinner. It was a Saturday and Elliot took Noah and Eli to Central Park to meet Eric and Chelsea so she could get some studying in. She got a few hours in before her phone rang.

No no no she said to herself.

"Benson."

"Hey Sarge, you know I wouldn't call you if I didn't have to but me and Rollins have Rick Taylor down here and he wants to talk to the person in charge," Carisi said.

"Apparently us lowly detectives are beneath him," Rollins added from the background.

Rick Taylor was the CEO of a local toy store chain that was suspected of the rape of several kids. His attorney successfully got him out of every interview they set up for him much to their dismay.

"Is Barba on the way?" she asked irritated.

"No he's not on this one. Novak is. I just called her right before you. She's on the way."

She sighed loudly. She was not missing tonight and hoping she could do the interview and be done before she needed to start getting ready in a few hours. "Ok ok. I'm on the way."

While getting dressed she tried to take inventory of what was in her closet to decide what to wear tonight. She really had not done a good job keeping dresses over the years because she rarely got the chance to go out. There was a purple one-shoulder dress that she saw briefly that she thought would be good for tonight and kept that in the back of her mind while she headed out the door.

XXXXX

"That took way longer than it needed to," Casey said as she came back in Olivia's office after the interrogation.

"So what do you think?" Olivia asked.

"I think he has answers for everything but so would I if I had weeks to come up with a story. What about you? What do you think?"

"I think he definitely did it. He had alibis for every single assault. Hell everyone has at least one time where they are alone with no one there. It was just a little too perfect. I'm going to put Carisi and Rollins on those alibis and verifying them."

Olivia looked down at her watch. "Shit!"

"What's wrong?" Casey asked concerned.

"Elliot and I are supposed to be double dating with his partner and fiancée."

"Aww look at you two. Going on double dates, you snuck off to Virginia and rocked his world and he's been basically shacking up at your place. Sounds like it's really getting serious. I'm proud of you Benson."

"You don't have to sound so surprised."

"Well after what happened with him and Cassidy I was a little worried that you guys would hit a rough patch but I'm glad you guys came out on the other side."