When Partners Collide

When Partners Collide Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Law and Order SVU and its characters are owned by Dick Wolf and Wolf Entertainment.

When Partners Collide

Chapter 3

Olivia put the phone down and placed her head in her hands, trying to process everything that had happened so far. There was a knock at her office door, and she looked up to see Elliott stride in with two cups of coffee. "Liv what is it?" he asked seeing the look on her face. "The dead body, it's the girl whose been giving me the envelopes." Even after a decade apart Elliott could straight away see that Olivia was blaming herself for the girl's death. "Olivia this is not on you, you didn't kill the girl or order anyone to hurt her." "No, but if I found her, I could have protected her" Olivia said despondently. Elliott, putting the coffee cup in front of Olivia, said "It's not your job to save everyone, Liv, you'll go mad trying. The best thing you can do is catch the bastards who killed her." Olivia gave a half smile and had a sip of her coffee. "You remembered my coffee order" she said in surprise "Of course I did" Elliott responded. "Look" he continued awkwardly "I know we need to talk, and you deserve an explanation for why I disappeared. Do you think we could grab a drink after work?" Olivia thought for a second "I need to get home to see Noah before he goes to bed, but how about you come over and we order a take-out, then we can talk?" "Sounds good" Elliott said. Olivia messaged him her new address and they agreed to meet at half eight.

Fin was watching this all play out from his desk in the squad room with a small smile on his face. "What you smiling at?" Oki asked, "Those two, they're talking again, we're going to need them getting on to stand any chance of getting anywhere." Oki enquired "What were they like working together." Fin smiled "You'll see, when they're in sync together it's almost symbiotic and darn right scary at times, the way they sort of read each other's minds." Oki continued "They must have been sleeping together, right?" Immediately Fin's smile snapped off his face "Na man, they had strict boundaries which they followed - besides Stabler's married." Now Oki smiled "He's not anymore." Fin looked back at Olivia and Elliott as they made their way out of the office. "Interesting" Fin said almost to himself.

Olivia exited her office closely followed by Elliott, "Ok people where are we?", Oki got up from his desk next to Fin's. "I have been going through all the photographs you been sent, and I think this is shot in one of the places we've been keeping an eye on. It's out in Yonkers - the old power plant." "I thought they were turning that place into an arts venue" Fin said getting up and walking round to the boards as Oki projected the photo onto the screen. "They're trying but haven't managed to secure the funding yet." Elliott said looking at the photo. I think you're right Oki, if you look out of that window aren't those the old gas lights on the walkway linking to the two buildings?" Everyone peered around and Fin googled the power plant and, finding a site with photos an urban explorer put online, they all agreed it was the Yonkers Power Plant. "Did you have a lead?" Olivia asked.

"We liked this guy called Leroy Paul, he came to the states from Britain around twenty years ago on all accounts. You would think he was American, except he still keeps in contact with his fellow countrymen. He's been arrested multiple times for drugs, arms, assault, even attempted murder, but nothing has stuck. So, technically he has a clean rap sheet." Elliott informed the squad. "Let me call over the ADA and we'll see if what you have, with this photo, gives cause to pick up Mr Paul." Olivia said. As she said this Amanda and Kat walked in, while waiting for the ME to call. Oki updated them where they were at.

Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi walks into the office swinging his brief case and holding a cup of coffee. He enjoyed his trips back to his old squad room but at the same time it brought tensions as the squad tended to forget he was no longer a cop and now had different bosses and a different focus.