Vigilante 24/?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Monday morning found Olivia unable to concentrate on her paperwork. She glanced up every two seconds to see if Casey was there, to go over testimony or watch an interview or give them a warrant... but she never was. By the time lunch came around, Liv had accomplished little to nothing, and Stabler was starting to give her weird looks.
Finally Elliot couldn't stand it any longer. "What gives?" he asked bluntly after Munch and Fin stepped out for their lunch breaks. "We got remand on the vigilante chick pending the DNA return. What's eatin you?"
"You know there's no DNA from any of the scenes to match to her. We don't have a confession, we've got jack shit without it unless somebody else comes forward as a witness. And nothing's wrong, I'm fine," Olivia lied in that way she had perfected over the years, which could fool most people, but not her partner.
"Not buyin," he said, shaking his head.
"I really don't care," Olivia snapped, standing from her desk and grabbing her coat. She strode briskly from the precinct, heading for Casey's office. The ADA hadn't returned her calls yesterday, she must have apologized a hundred times to the damn answering machine, and she just had to see her.
Reaching the closed door, Liv reached up and knocked softly. "Casey?" she called, and the door was flung open to reveal a very incensed Liz Donnelly.
"She's not here, and I suggest you leave immediately, Detective," Liz said, her gaze incendiary as she stared Olivia down.
Olivia's jaw dropped. Had Casey told Liz what happened? "Liz, I really need to--"
"That's Elizabeth to you, and I really don't give a God damn about what you need. Make yourself disappear from this building or I'll have you brought up on trespassing charges." Yes, Casey had told her what happened, but only after she found the ADA crying in the bathroom and pretty much forced her to spill it.
A shellshocked Olivia started backing away from the door, stumbling once or twice before she finally got her body to listen to her brain and she turned around, walking in a daze out of the building.
Liz closed the door and turned to Casey, who was seated very gingerly in a chair to her right, looking grateful, but also as if she were about to start crying again.
"Thank you," Casey said, then cleared her throat in an attempt to make her voice less raspy. "You didn't have to do that."
"I know," Liz said, resting her hand on Casey's shoulder and giving her a comforting squeeze. "I'll be in my office if you need anything."
"Thanks Liz, I appreciate it," Casey said quietly.
"Hey. Nobody fucks with my rising star or they answer to me. Come check in with me a little later."
Casey tried to find humor but her heart wasn't in it. "Rising? I'm not already a star?" she joked weakly.
"Of course you are, but there's always further to go," Liz said, squeezing Casey's shoulder once more before she slipped out the door.
Casey sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. Liz was being so great, she couldn't even begin to describe how relieved she was that her boss had pried the story from her and was being so supportive about it. It felt good to tell someone, even though she was still haunted at the thought of not being with Olivia every second of every day, kissing and cuddling and sharing their lives on the most personal of levels. It hurt so much, but she was not about to sacrifice her sense of self and just lay down for Olivia to walk back and forth as she pleased.
--
Olivia pulled up in front of Sloane's school, in a very bad mood, and when she saw Charlie give Sloane a kiss, she slammed the car into park and got out, striding angrily to the two of them and yanking Sloane away from him by the arm. "Go get in the car," she barked, and Sloane was too surprised to argue. She thought that maybe Olivia had found something bad in his background check or something.
Olivia jabbed Charlie in the chest with her pointer finger, giving him a hard stare. "She's fourteen years old, you read me? Fourteen. Keep your damn hands off her."
"I'm only fifteen, Ma--" Charlie started to say, but Olivia interrupted him hotly.
"Consider yourself warned." And she stalked back to the car, got in, and slammed the door.
"Where's Casey?" Sloane asked curiously.
Liv ignored the question and tried to start the engine, which was already running, and consequently wouldn't turn over. With an angry curse, the detective slammed her open palm hard against the steering wheel. "Fuck!"
Sloane took a minute or two to process the scene, not used to seeing Olivia lose control. "It's already on," she said quietly, not sure how to tread in this unfamiliar territory.
Olivia tried to calm herself, even more pissed at herself for exploding like that, and she ran both hands over her face, taking a slow, deep breath and letting it out with a sigh. She got out of the car again and ran her hands through her hair as she walked back over to Charlie. "I'm sorry. I had a shitty day, and--"
Charlie interrupted her. "You're a cop. What kinda day for you *isn't* shitty? I understand, you don't gotta apologize."
Olivia actually smiled at him, nodding her head and sheepishly shoving her hands into her pockets as she slowly spun and returned to the car. She didn't think Sloane would be so forgiving. Nor did she think she would get away without telling the persistent teenager what had her so on edge, especially since Sloane had already asked about Casey. So she just leveled with her from the start. "I fucked up, Sloane."
"You messed up a case?" Sloane asked, glancing sideways at her guardian.
"I wish," Liv said longingly. "I fucked up with Casey. She's gone."
"What?" Sloane asked, fully looking at Olivia now, with wide eyes. "What did you do?"
Olivia grimaced and stared down at her hands which were fumbling with the seam of her slacks. She obviously wasn't going to give Sloane any specifics, but she settled for the most of the truth she could give her. "I put her in a situation that she asked me not to, completely disregarded her feelings about it and embarrassed her in front of the squad. Not intentionally, but I still did it. She-- I-- why the hell am I telling you this, Sloane?"
"Because I've got more relationship experience than you do," Sloane said with a wry grin before turning serious. "Can't you fix it?"
"I don't know how." Wow. Admitting that was more difficult than she would have thought. Olivia hated not having the answers. She ran her life in a strictly controllable manner, and being at a loss was probably her biggest fear. She had no idea how to make up her indiscretion to Casey, and the thought of having lost someone she cared about was more terrifying than realizing she loved the ADA. And that had been pretty terrifying.
"Flowers?"
"There aren't enough in the world."
"Yikes. Ummmm, a romantic letter with an apology?"
"I tried apologizing, she won't answer my calls. And I tried to go to her office, but her boss threatened me with tresspassing if I didn't get lost."
"Okay, I hate to risk pissing you off, but what the fuck did you do, Olivia? Like, specifically. And don't tell me I'm too young to hear it, because I've done more than you have any day of the week. And. You have been here for me, I'm gonna be here for you."
"Have you been talking to Huang?" Olivia asked suspiciously, arching one eyebrow.
Sloane grinned. "Sure, he's pretty hot, but that has nothing to do with it. Now spill it, lady."
Oh for God's sake. Was she really about to seek love advice from a fourteen-year-old? "All right... we went out to a club, and she asked me to take her home to change before we went to the scene, you know, Friday night, and I told her there wasn't time, and completely ignored her feelings."
"What kind of club?"
"Are you trying to help, or do you just want juicy details?" Liv shot at her, folding her arms across her chest and almost pouting.
Sloane laughed and shook her head. "Both? No, come on. What kind of club? Sex club, bondage club? What was she wearing?"
Olivia couldn't help the blush that rose to her cheeks, and she groaned, leaning her head back on the driver's seat. "Both. And she was wearing... not much."
"You made her go to work in clothes from a kink scene?" Sloane asked, just to make sure she was getting this correct. "Are you insane? Did you know how humiliating that would be for her? Were you on some kind of sadistic power trip? She's a lawyer for fuck's sake. Her entire image is based on the respect of the community."
Olivia didn't have time to wonder how Sloane got so insightful regarding Casey's profession when just over a week ago she didn't even know what ADA meant. The detective was too busy fighting off tears. "I didn't do it on purpose!" she hissed angrily.
"If you want to get her back you're gonna have to even the score."
Olivia was quite afraid to ask what that meant. "And what do you mean by that?" she asked anyway.
"You're gonna have to humiliate yourself in front of her and the rest of the guys."
"Oh, let me just get right on that," Liv snapped sarcastically. "Lunch, paperwork, humiliation."
"You did it to her, Olivia," Sloane pressed. "If you want her to know how much she means to you then you're gonna have to bite your pride in the ass. Unless you don't care that much."
"Of course I care!" Olivia said agitatedly, debating whether to bang her head against the steering wheel. "If I didn't care, then believe me, we would *not* be having this conversation."
"Well I told you what you should do, so if you don't take my advice that's your own damn fault," Sloane said, giving Liv a little glare before looking out the window. "I have homework. I know you were gonna ask. Is Munch at the station?"
Liv finally grinned, for the first time that day, and headed for the precinct. "He should be." She thought it was pretty cute that Munch had been helping Sloane with her homework. He was surprisingly good at it, and Olivia had already noticed an improvement in the teenager's basic reading skills. She would save the ammo and wait for the right time to start ribbing Munch about his aptitude for teaching teens. Right now, she just wanted to make it through the day without bursting into tears of frustration.