Fic: Different (9/?)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Everything becomes different after an unexpected move by Alex.
Authors' Note: A shorter chapter for your reading pleasure. (Hey, that rhymes!)
Previously on 'Different': The Prologue / Part 1 / Part 2/ Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8
13. Hits And Misses
It was around noon when Cragen walked into the observation room and found Elliot, Fin and Munch crowding around the one-way mirror. All three men were clutching in their hands sandwiches in varying stages of consumption.
"I wasn't aware that this place had turned into a VIP box at the Garden," he said. Cragen directed his next statement to Elliot. "And why aren't you in there?"
"Olivia said she wants a shot at this one alone." Elliot didn't take his eyes off the scene going on in the other room as he spoke. "The schmuck thinks he got picked up on possession and she thinks she can make him cop to the assault if she sweet talks him a little."
Cragen turned his attention to Munch and Fin. "And the two of you have nothing to do?"
A crashing sound from the interrogation room interrupted him and the four men turned just in time to see the suspect, Jamal Burton, be introduced face first to the steel table. Olivia's hand hardly fit around the back of the man's neck. Cragen didn't flinch, but he did wish for his bottle of Pepto as his stomach roiled.
"Show's over," Cragen resumed and handed Fin a slip of paper. "A body was found behind a dumpster with signs of possible sexual assault. This is the address where the M.E. will meet you."
Fin took it and his partner read over his shoulder.
"Ah... 39th and 10th Avenue, a hamlet of infested working girls and shady characters. The perfect way to bring joy and sunshine into our day," Munch commented sardonically. He tossed his unfinished sandwich into the trashcan and followed Fin out.
After the duo left the room Cragen spoke up again. "I hope you read him his rights."
"Don't worry, Cap. Idiot even signed the waiver."
Cragen pursed his lips and moved closer to the mirror. They listened in as Olivia told Jamal they're just waiting on some files. She then casually asked him about the girls he was with when they had arrested him earlier for possession of a couple of dime bags. Olivia acted as if she didn't just have him eating rusty metal two minutes ago.
Jamal, in an equally surprising move, seemed to think the worst was over and was more than happy to tell Olivia about his girlfriends, not realizing that they were there to get him for assaulting his wife.
"We may have a winner for idiot of the year," Elliot said in amazement after watching Jamal make a pass at his partner. Olivia began to sneer as she stared at the man.
A few minutes later Cragen said, "I want this whole thing to be clean. I'm two outs and down on the count with the ADA as it is. If he talks and the confession is tossed out on some technicality, it's not going to be my ass on the line."
Elliot's eyes squinted as he watched the scene in the box. Olivia was picking up speed. She leaned across the table and spoke in a menacing tone. She jabbed her finger at the stack of evidence photos of the damage Jamal had inflicted on Licia Cleveland, his wife. Something wasn't right. They had agreed on a plan, but Olivia looked like she just abandoned it.
The moniker 'Bad Ass Benson' had been earned when Olivia was in uniform. Elliot had never managed to weasel out of his partner exactly what transpired for her to earn the name but over the years he's had the pleasure of watching her refine the attitude and act. He could see that she wasn’t playing with Jamal.
In a flash of movement, Olivia had jumped up and was in Jamal's face. If the situation hadn't been as tense Elliot would have probably marveled at the way Olivia towered over the seated six-foot-and-change Jamal, who had an easy fifty, sixty pounds on her. Jamal's hackles rose when she called him a 'prickless sonofabitch'.
"You better get in there."
Elliot already had his hand on the door before the last word left Cragen's mouth.
He entered the room, rolling his sleeves up and walked over to stand on the opposite side of Olivia, crowding Jamal Burton. He had no choice now; he dumped the good cop act and played off the emotions running in the room. The two cops proceeded to double team the suspect with Olivia taking the lead.
After a uniformed officer led Jamal away to be processed, the pair of detectives stood in the interrogation room. His arms crossed over his wide chest, Elliot waited for his partner to explain herself. Olivia mirrored his stance when she turned to look at him. They said nothing to each other for a long time.
Elliot knew that, like him, Olivia was tired and on edge with work being so shitty for the last couple of weeks. Just a little while ago she had been all but ready to castrate Jamal Burton, given half an excuse. And earlier, Olivia had rowed with their ADA. He didn't actually see the exchange but Elliot was willing to bet his paycheck that his partner had given the lawyer a good piece of her mind after an indignant Alex followed Olivia out of the squad room.
He had wondered if something else besides the job had been causing the strain on her. Like this person she's been going out of her way to keep seeing through this hellish period.
Elliot would never pry, but he was no stranger to the way personal life affected the job, nor was he blind. All of the other times when work had clashed with personal time, Olivia had never been so motivated to call and reschedule her dates. Elliot had never even seen his partner work through lunch hour just to cut out early to meet someone before this last Sunday.
Something was different with this one. And Olivia was acting as if it was the best and worst thing happening. But after five years of life and death with the woman he realized that he was not going to get anything out of her right this moment.
The buffer of silence had come to an end and Olivia walked away first. Elliot rubbed a palm over his face and trekked after her. If they could get through the remainder of today unscathed he would see if she was up for hitting Maloney's after.
* * *
Later in the afternoon it started to pour down rain over the island of Manhattan. Alex had turned on all the lights available in her spartan ADA office. She looked out the window, out to the limited view the second floor of Hogan Place afforded her. Then she glanced over at the clock... it was getting close to the end of the business day. And what a day it has been.
Driving back from her sister's late last night Alex had mentally prepared herself for the distant, professional demeanor Olivia had adopted. Alex had expected getting the cold shoulder from her friend. She was willing to play along for the sake of keeping the peace. For now. It was obvious that neither of them could pretend anymore that if they ignore it hard enough the pull between them would fade away.
As she headed to the squad room earlier Alex had felt her insides began to tangle themselves into knots from the thought of facing Olivia, and she had retreated to an all-business mode in an attempt cover up any physical evidence of her weakness. What she had not anticipated was being on the receiving end of a scolding for having taken a day off.
The lawyer sniffed a little aggrievedly recalling the whole incident. It was not as though she wielded any authority over NYPD human resources. Don Cragen's department was short handed and the promise of springtime in New York City seemed to lure animals as well as criminals out of hibernation.
Looking at the clock again, Alex decided that the draft of this trial brief could wait. She slipped some papers into her attaché and then checked her email one last time. To her infinite surprise, there in her inbox was a message from Olivia Benson. Alex lowered herself back onto her chair with a frown creasing her forehead.
The message was perfunctory and official. Typical of Detective Benson. She wrote that there would be a couple new DD5s awaiting the ADA tomorrow, and inquired if the paperwork for Jansen (which they had indeed gotten to her by noon) were copasetic. It ended a p.s., 'Lunch tomorrow?'
The frown on the attorney's face disappeared and her lips pulled involuntarily into a smile at the olive branch being extended by Olivia. Alex picked up the phone and dialed.
"Benson's phone." A gruff voice came over the line.
"Elliot. Hi." Alex said with surprise.
"Olivia stepped away from her desk and left her cell. I saw you on the caller ID and figured it might be important."
"Actually, it's... nothing. I just wanted to call and let you guys know that I appreciate the work the two of you did for the Jansen case. I've filed the paperwork and the grand jury won't have any problems indicting."
"Just doing our jobs, counselor. I'll let Olivia know."
Alex put the phone down and sighed. If she was going to meet Tracy Ng for dinner in this rain, she'd better get a move on.
Back at the 16th precinct, Olivia came back to her desk to see her partner looking at her meaningfully.
Elliot nodded at the cell phone lying by the blotter. "Cabot called your cell. I thought maybe she wanted to register a complaint about a typo on the fives so I answered it."
"Yea?" Olivia said non-committedly. Elliot was probably trying to run interference in case Alex was still looking for a fight.
"I think the ADA was trying to apologize and say thank you at the same time but couldn't figure out how." His mouth quirked into a grin and the glint in his eyes told Olivia that he'd already forgiven Alex.
Olivia grunted and shuffled papers around, clearing her work surface as best as she could while avoiding Elliot's gaze.
Elliot watched her silently, as if seeking for the right moment to broach the subject of her irritability. She went to her locker and swapped out her gear. He read her body language and realized little had changed since they came out of the interrogation room hours ago. "You headed out?" He finally asked.
"Yea." She shrugged her jacket on before turning to her partner. She looked at him warmly. "Goodnight, El."
"See you tomorrow," he replied, somewhat in defeat.
"Bright and early," she called back, already out the door.
Olivia was a block from the station house before she took her cell phone out and hit the speed dial for Alex's number. She wasn't sure what she was going to say but decided that they have to talk. It had only been two days but this... whatever this is, the ambiguousness between them, on top of everything else was wearing on her.
She wanted to be able to look at Alex in the eye again without wondering if they were going to be distant to each other or bicker about some stupid paperwork. They had fought over cases before but there were always concrete reasons to their disagreements. This morning, whether or not they both wanted to admit to it, had been the result of personal feelings tumbling over and that was not good.
The aloof act was not working, and taking out her frustrations at the lawyer was definitely not helping. She was going to have to find a solution to this stalemate because Olivia really didn't know how to act anymore. It was simply unrealistic to pretend that they did not at least have a friendship. A return to that would be preferable over this dysfunction.
Alex's voicemail picked up so Olivia disconnected the call. Whatever it was that she was going to say, it would have to wait. She continued walking under an ever-darkening sky. The rain clouds above were making a slow trek eastward. It was going to be a wet journey home.
Later that evening, after saying goodbye to Tracy in front of their favorite bistro, Alex checked her phone and saw that she had a few missed calls. She inwardly cursed her provider's spotty coverage when she saw that one of them was from Olivia.
Her initial inclination was to return Olivia's call but stopped short when she realized she was not quite ready to talk to her. Irritated at her own cowardice she checked the other missed calls and took care of them, deciding to leave the one person she really needed to speak to for last.
At the same time, Olivia was staring vacantly at the microwave in her kitchen while her dinner was warming up inside. When her cell phone rang, a small ping of excitement pulsed in her heart and she quickly made a grab for the device. The thrill receded when she saw the number. Dinner will have to be on the go, she thought as she answered the phone. "Hey, Elliot..."
* * *
Alex sat in her kitchen table with a glass of wine and work spread out before her. She leafed through her print outs in an absent-minded way and realized that she was doing an inordinate amount of clock watching tonight. It was just a little after ten. She convinced herself that it wasn't too late to return the call.
She finished the last of the wine and headed to the bedroom. Ignoring her earlier resolution, she decided to take a shower. A half hour later, she returned to her bedroom and retrieved her Blackberry.
When she saw the display she cursed out loud. "God damn it!"
There was a voicemail icon on the screen and her missed call listed Olivia again. Today had just been a whole lot of hits and misses. Alex dialed her mailbox and listened to the message. Her heart, out of trepidation, felt like it was beating a little irregular as she waited for the familiar voice.
"Hey, it's me... Sorry I missed your call. Uh, Elliot and I caught a new case tonight. I'll tell you all about it in the morning if you bring the coffee and donuts." There was a pause and Alex could almost see Olivia taking a deep breath before she continued in a voice barely above whisper, "Good night, Alex."
Alex placed the phone on her bedside table. She was smiling again. There'd been plenty of that today as well, frowns and smiles. Turning the lights out, she climbed into bed. After a few minutes, she got up and reached for her alarm clock. Still smiling lightly in the darkness Alex backed up her alarm so that she could stop for donuts and coffee in the morning.
* * *
Summary: Everything becomes different after an unexpected move by Alex.
Authors' Note: A shorter chapter for your reading pleasure. (Hey, that rhymes!)
Previously on 'Different': The Prologue / Part 1 / Part 2/ Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8
13. Hits And Misses
It was around noon when Cragen walked into the observation room and found Elliot, Fin and Munch crowding around the one-way mirror. All three men were clutching in their hands sandwiches in varying stages of consumption.
"I wasn't aware that this place had turned into a VIP box at the Garden," he said. Cragen directed his next statement to Elliot. "And why aren't you in there?"
"Olivia said she wants a shot at this one alone." Elliot didn't take his eyes off the scene going on in the other room as he spoke. "The schmuck thinks he got picked up on possession and she thinks she can make him cop to the assault if she sweet talks him a little."
Cragen turned his attention to Munch and Fin. "And the two of you have nothing to do?"
A crashing sound from the interrogation room interrupted him and the four men turned just in time to see the suspect, Jamal Burton, be introduced face first to the steel table. Olivia's hand hardly fit around the back of the man's neck. Cragen didn't flinch, but he did wish for his bottle of Pepto as his stomach roiled.
"Show's over," Cragen resumed and handed Fin a slip of paper. "A body was found behind a dumpster with signs of possible sexual assault. This is the address where the M.E. will meet you."
Fin took it and his partner read over his shoulder.
"Ah... 39th and 10th Avenue, a hamlet of infested working girls and shady characters. The perfect way to bring joy and sunshine into our day," Munch commented sardonically. He tossed his unfinished sandwich into the trashcan and followed Fin out.
After the duo left the room Cragen spoke up again. "I hope you read him his rights."
"Don't worry, Cap. Idiot even signed the waiver."
Cragen pursed his lips and moved closer to the mirror. They listened in as Olivia told Jamal they're just waiting on some files. She then casually asked him about the girls he was with when they had arrested him earlier for possession of a couple of dime bags. Olivia acted as if she didn't just have him eating rusty metal two minutes ago.
Jamal, in an equally surprising move, seemed to think the worst was over and was more than happy to tell Olivia about his girlfriends, not realizing that they were there to get him for assaulting his wife.
"We may have a winner for idiot of the year," Elliot said in amazement after watching Jamal make a pass at his partner. Olivia began to sneer as she stared at the man.
A few minutes later Cragen said, "I want this whole thing to be clean. I'm two outs and down on the count with the ADA as it is. If he talks and the confession is tossed out on some technicality, it's not going to be my ass on the line."
Elliot's eyes squinted as he watched the scene in the box. Olivia was picking up speed. She leaned across the table and spoke in a menacing tone. She jabbed her finger at the stack of evidence photos of the damage Jamal had inflicted on Licia Cleveland, his wife. Something wasn't right. They had agreed on a plan, but Olivia looked like she just abandoned it.
The moniker 'Bad Ass Benson' had been earned when Olivia was in uniform. Elliot had never managed to weasel out of his partner exactly what transpired for her to earn the name but over the years he's had the pleasure of watching her refine the attitude and act. He could see that she wasn’t playing with Jamal.
In a flash of movement, Olivia had jumped up and was in Jamal's face. If the situation hadn't been as tense Elliot would have probably marveled at the way Olivia towered over the seated six-foot-and-change Jamal, who had an easy fifty, sixty pounds on her. Jamal's hackles rose when she called him a 'prickless sonofabitch'.
"You better get in there."
Elliot already had his hand on the door before the last word left Cragen's mouth.
He entered the room, rolling his sleeves up and walked over to stand on the opposite side of Olivia, crowding Jamal Burton. He had no choice now; he dumped the good cop act and played off the emotions running in the room. The two cops proceeded to double team the suspect with Olivia taking the lead.
After a uniformed officer led Jamal away to be processed, the pair of detectives stood in the interrogation room. His arms crossed over his wide chest, Elliot waited for his partner to explain herself. Olivia mirrored his stance when she turned to look at him. They said nothing to each other for a long time.
Elliot knew that, like him, Olivia was tired and on edge with work being so shitty for the last couple of weeks. Just a little while ago she had been all but ready to castrate Jamal Burton, given half an excuse. And earlier, Olivia had rowed with their ADA. He didn't actually see the exchange but Elliot was willing to bet his paycheck that his partner had given the lawyer a good piece of her mind after an indignant Alex followed Olivia out of the squad room.
He had wondered if something else besides the job had been causing the strain on her. Like this person she's been going out of her way to keep seeing through this hellish period.
Elliot would never pry, but he was no stranger to the way personal life affected the job, nor was he blind. All of the other times when work had clashed with personal time, Olivia had never been so motivated to call and reschedule her dates. Elliot had never even seen his partner work through lunch hour just to cut out early to meet someone before this last Sunday.
Something was different with this one. And Olivia was acting as if it was the best and worst thing happening. But after five years of life and death with the woman he realized that he was not going to get anything out of her right this moment.
The buffer of silence had come to an end and Olivia walked away first. Elliot rubbed a palm over his face and trekked after her. If they could get through the remainder of today unscathed he would see if she was up for hitting Maloney's after.
* * *
Later in the afternoon it started to pour down rain over the island of Manhattan. Alex had turned on all the lights available in her spartan ADA office. She looked out the window, out to the limited view the second floor of Hogan Place afforded her. Then she glanced over at the clock... it was getting close to the end of the business day. And what a day it has been.
Driving back from her sister's late last night Alex had mentally prepared herself for the distant, professional demeanor Olivia had adopted. Alex had expected getting the cold shoulder from her friend. She was willing to play along for the sake of keeping the peace. For now. It was obvious that neither of them could pretend anymore that if they ignore it hard enough the pull between them would fade away.
As she headed to the squad room earlier Alex had felt her insides began to tangle themselves into knots from the thought of facing Olivia, and she had retreated to an all-business mode in an attempt cover up any physical evidence of her weakness. What she had not anticipated was being on the receiving end of a scolding for having taken a day off.
The lawyer sniffed a little aggrievedly recalling the whole incident. It was not as though she wielded any authority over NYPD human resources. Don Cragen's department was short handed and the promise of springtime in New York City seemed to lure animals as well as criminals out of hibernation.
Looking at the clock again, Alex decided that the draft of this trial brief could wait. She slipped some papers into her attaché and then checked her email one last time. To her infinite surprise, there in her inbox was a message from Olivia Benson. Alex lowered herself back onto her chair with a frown creasing her forehead.
The message was perfunctory and official. Typical of Detective Benson. She wrote that there would be a couple new DD5s awaiting the ADA tomorrow, and inquired if the paperwork for Jansen (which they had indeed gotten to her by noon) were copasetic. It ended a p.s., 'Lunch tomorrow?'
The frown on the attorney's face disappeared and her lips pulled involuntarily into a smile at the olive branch being extended by Olivia. Alex picked up the phone and dialed.
"Benson's phone." A gruff voice came over the line.
"Elliot. Hi." Alex said with surprise.
"Olivia stepped away from her desk and left her cell. I saw you on the caller ID and figured it might be important."
"Actually, it's... nothing. I just wanted to call and let you guys know that I appreciate the work the two of you did for the Jansen case. I've filed the paperwork and the grand jury won't have any problems indicting."
"Just doing our jobs, counselor. I'll let Olivia know."
Alex put the phone down and sighed. If she was going to meet Tracy Ng for dinner in this rain, she'd better get a move on.
Back at the 16th precinct, Olivia came back to her desk to see her partner looking at her meaningfully.
Elliot nodded at the cell phone lying by the blotter. "Cabot called your cell. I thought maybe she wanted to register a complaint about a typo on the fives so I answered it."
"Yea?" Olivia said non-committedly. Elliot was probably trying to run interference in case Alex was still looking for a fight.
"I think the ADA was trying to apologize and say thank you at the same time but couldn't figure out how." His mouth quirked into a grin and the glint in his eyes told Olivia that he'd already forgiven Alex.
Olivia grunted and shuffled papers around, clearing her work surface as best as she could while avoiding Elliot's gaze.
Elliot watched her silently, as if seeking for the right moment to broach the subject of her irritability. She went to her locker and swapped out her gear. He read her body language and realized little had changed since they came out of the interrogation room hours ago. "You headed out?" He finally asked.
"Yea." She shrugged her jacket on before turning to her partner. She looked at him warmly. "Goodnight, El."
"See you tomorrow," he replied, somewhat in defeat.
"Bright and early," she called back, already out the door.
Olivia was a block from the station house before she took her cell phone out and hit the speed dial for Alex's number. She wasn't sure what she was going to say but decided that they have to talk. It had only been two days but this... whatever this is, the ambiguousness between them, on top of everything else was wearing on her.
She wanted to be able to look at Alex in the eye again without wondering if they were going to be distant to each other or bicker about some stupid paperwork. They had fought over cases before but there were always concrete reasons to their disagreements. This morning, whether or not they both wanted to admit to it, had been the result of personal feelings tumbling over and that was not good.
The aloof act was not working, and taking out her frustrations at the lawyer was definitely not helping. She was going to have to find a solution to this stalemate because Olivia really didn't know how to act anymore. It was simply unrealistic to pretend that they did not at least have a friendship. A return to that would be preferable over this dysfunction.
Alex's voicemail picked up so Olivia disconnected the call. Whatever it was that she was going to say, it would have to wait. She continued walking under an ever-darkening sky. The rain clouds above were making a slow trek eastward. It was going to be a wet journey home.
Later that evening, after saying goodbye to Tracy in front of their favorite bistro, Alex checked her phone and saw that she had a few missed calls. She inwardly cursed her provider's spotty coverage when she saw that one of them was from Olivia.
Her initial inclination was to return Olivia's call but stopped short when she realized she was not quite ready to talk to her. Irritated at her own cowardice she checked the other missed calls and took care of them, deciding to leave the one person she really needed to speak to for last.
At the same time, Olivia was staring vacantly at the microwave in her kitchen while her dinner was warming up inside. When her cell phone rang, a small ping of excitement pulsed in her heart and she quickly made a grab for the device. The thrill receded when she saw the number. Dinner will have to be on the go, she thought as she answered the phone. "Hey, Elliot..."
* * *
Alex sat in her kitchen table with a glass of wine and work spread out before her. She leafed through her print outs in an absent-minded way and realized that she was doing an inordinate amount of clock watching tonight. It was just a little after ten. She convinced herself that it wasn't too late to return the call.
She finished the last of the wine and headed to the bedroom. Ignoring her earlier resolution, she decided to take a shower. A half hour later, she returned to her bedroom and retrieved her Blackberry.
When she saw the display she cursed out loud. "God damn it!"
There was a voicemail icon on the screen and her missed call listed Olivia again. Today had just been a whole lot of hits and misses. Alex dialed her mailbox and listened to the message. Her heart, out of trepidation, felt like it was beating a little irregular as she waited for the familiar voice.
"Hey, it's me... Sorry I missed your call. Uh, Elliot and I caught a new case tonight. I'll tell you all about it in the morning if you bring the coffee and donuts." There was a pause and Alex could almost see Olivia taking a deep breath before she continued in a voice barely above whisper, "Good night, Alex."
Alex placed the phone on her bedside table. She was smiling again. There'd been plenty of that today as well, frowns and smiles. Turning the lights out, she climbed into bed. After a few minutes, she got up and reached for her alarm clock. Still smiling lightly in the darkness Alex backed up her alarm so that she could stop for donuts and coffee in the morning.
* * *