(no subject)
Title: Under Her Skin 35
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 5.20 Lowdown
Disclaimer: They're not mine, I'll put them back when I'm done
Author's Note: This chapter picks up exactly where the previous one left off. I actually started it as one big chapter back in the Fall of '09, but circumstances led me to post the first half at a reasonable stopping point. I had no idea what chaos would follow that posting in my life, which resulted in a huge time gap that was intended to be a week or two yet became at this writing a six month lapse. I apologize for the delay and sincerely hope that all who have followed this story are still around and waiting for this next chapter. That being said, please enjoy and stay tuned, I'm not done yet :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hands flat on her desk, arms ramrod straight and clearly supporting her weight, ADA Casey Novak pleaded, "Don't make me do this."
"Somebody has to," EADA Elizabeth Donnelly responded, "wouldn't you rather Olivia hear it from a friend?"
Deflated, Casey replied, "Why me?"
"Why not you?"
"I'm her co-worker, not her friend," Casey argued, "and I didn't even know Jeff York."
"But you know Olivia, a little better than even you want to admit," the EADA countered, "and if you search yourself, I think you'll see that nobody could possibly handle this task better than you."
"If you knew him, and knew that they'd dated? Then shame on you for not telling her sooner!" an angry Casey lashed out, unwilling to admit that her boss was completely right regarding the current situation.
After a very pregnant pause, Donnelly explained, "I wasn't really sure that they had dated. You see, I knew that they'd developed a close working relationship during a trial, years before even Alex came along..."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So....."
"So what?"
"So," Detective Elliot Stabler cautiously continued, "about York. Look, Liv, I-"
"Need to mind your own business," Detective Olivia Benson annoyedly replied.
"We were partners when you dated the guy," Elliot rationalized, "I guess I just thought that if you were dating somebody, I'd have known about it."
Relenting, Olivia admitted, "I really didn't even date the guy. You see, it all began during a trial. Do you remember that rape/homicide case, the one that crossed over into the Bronx?"
Thinking for a moment, Elliot recalled, "The one where our rapist had escalated, a string of rapes in the city leading up to the eventual murder over there?"
"Right," his partner affirmed, then added, "you and I were on call that night, but another case broke as we were leaving for the Bronx crime scene."
"The subway strangler," he remembered, "I went to the subway, and you went to the Bronx..."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Olivia was SVU in the Bronx? I never knew that," Casey admitted.
Rolling her eyes, her boss explained, "No counselor, the murder in the Bronx was committed by the same man who'd been responsible for a series of rapes in the city. Because it was his signature, Benson and Stabler were called in by the Bronx captain."
"I see," Novak said, "so how did Liv end up so close to York?"
"She was so young," Donnelly recalled, "and I can't remember exactly why her handler-"
"Partner?" Casey sarcastically interjected.
Ignoring the interruption, Donnelly continued, "Wasn't there, all I remember was thinking that it was unusual that she was the only detective testifying."
"That's not so unusual," the ADA replied.
"It was back then," Liz responded, "remember, forensics wasn't as advanced as it is now, prosecutors relied heavily on witness testimony."
"Oh."
"So anyhow, I'd heard about the trial, knew that it had ended, and was on my way out of the courthouse when I decided to stop for a drink. Imagine my surprise when I found a cop in a lawyer bar..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So," Olivia continued, "after the trial was over, I really needed a drink, but I didn't feel like talking to a bunch of cops, ya know?"
Stabler nodded, yet kept his mouth shut as she continued her story.
"So I went to this bar uptown, right by the courthouse."
"Jenny's bar?" he asked.
"The very one," she replied, "but of course, this was years before she worked there. So, I'm sitting at the bar, drinking a little too much and trying to erase the crime scene images from my mind, when who sits next to me but Elizabeth Donnelly. She orders a drink, has the bartender refresh mine, and then..."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"She thanked me for the drink, picked up her stuff and moved to the other side of the bar!" Donnelly exploded.
"Why?" Novak replied.
"She said she wasn't there to celebrate the win, but to forget about the entire trial."
"So she moved across the bar, and then?" Casey prompted.
"I followed her," Liz smugly responded, "told her I understood, had been there myself, and offered to listen if she needed to talk. She said she just wanted to be left alone, but I insisted on keeping her company."
"You were concerned for her welfare?" Novak guessed.
"Of course!" Donnelly quickly agreed.
Too quickly.
Interesting.
"So I changed the subject to try and put her at ease. I asked her about her family," the older woman expounded, "but -"
"But that's not the best subject with Liv," Casey finished.
"Right," Liz agreed, "but how was I supposed to know that?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"She just wouldn't leave me alone El, no matter how politely I tried to refuse her attempts at conversation. Finally, after what was an awkward eternity, a couple of lawyers walked in. The bar was crowded at this point, and York noticed me as he was looking for a seat. Grateful for the interruption, I asked him and his friend to join us....."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Then ADA Jeff York and his lawyer buddy walked in. His lawyer buddy, as in, his *buddy*," Liz insinuated, "the one I was certain he was sleeping with."
"Wow," Casey breathed, "then what?"
"She invited them to join us!" Donnelly snapped.
"After she told you that she just wanted to be left alone?"
"Right."
"Ouch. So, did you leave?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Even though it was clear that I didn't want to talk to her, even when it was quite obvious that she was a third wheel once Jeff's buddy left, she wouldn't leave me alone."
"Liv?"
"Yeah El?"
"Why didn't you want to talk to her?"
After a long pause, Olivia admitted, "I'm not sure. I think it was just the way she, I don't know, *looked* at me, like she was....."
"Undressing you with her eyes?" he helpfully supplied.
At her answering glare, he explained, "She still does it."
"She does it to everyone," Olivia added, "I just didn't know that at the time, and it gave me the creeps."
"She doesn't do it to Munch," he rebutted.
"Nobody should," Olivia fired back.
"Or to Cragen," he expounded with a grin, "but you know who she really does it to?"
"No El, but I'm sure you just can't wait to enlighten me."
"Novak," he smiled, "she really lingers on our esteemed ADA."
Thinking that he was just hilarious, he totally missed the poisonous glare she shot in his direction.
Smiling broadly, he prodded, "So you were at the bar..."
"And feeling pretty good," she continued, "the music was playing, and I really wanted to ditch her, so...."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So I return from the ladies room to find York's pal long gone, and the two of them on the dance floor," Liz continued.
Briefly flashing on a memory of Olivia dancing, Casey shuddered; the EADA, wrapped up in her own story, completely missed her counterpart's response.
"Did you join them?" Casey innocently asked.
"I sat back down at the bar," she replied, "and when they returned to their seats, it was quite obvious that they were leaving together."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I was hammered El, and really feeling the need to prove my straightness. So-"
"Is that even a word?"
"Is that really important to the story?" she snapped.
"I was just wondering," he continued, "if straightness is even a word."
"It's the only way I can think to describe my state of mind, Mr. Word Police," she growled, "now could you please shut up and let me finish?"
"Sure, go on," he patronized.
Smack!
"Ow!"
"Anyhow," she continued, "we drank a few more shots, I dared him to take me home, and although he seemed reluctant at first, he eventually agreed."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The last thing I saw was them getting into a cab together," Donnelly finished, "and the smug, drunken smile on her face told me exactly what was going to happen next."
Surprised at the jealous reaction in her gut, Casey stammered, "So you don't know for sure whether she slept with him or not?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I was so drunk, and the sex was so, I don't know, automatic?" Olivia continued, "I mean, I knew we were both there, knew that I was having sex, but it was just so, so....."
"Vanilla?" Elliot asked.
"Detached," she corrected, "I didn't even spend the night. I took a cab home, as soon as it was over, and we agreed that it shouldn't ruin our friendship. But...."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The following Monday, my secretary was just bursting to tell somebody that York had popped his cherry with a woman," Liz continued, "unfortunately, my bathroom was out of order, and I was in the ladies room when she dished the gossip to Carmichael's secretary."
"Did you say anything?"
"I gave her a stern lecture on gossip in the workplace," the older woman admitted, "but the details of the story that she'd told were so far from the truth as I knew it, I began to doubt the validity of the entire tale."
"I see," Casey replied, "but when you heard the rumors about him, about the very real possibility that he had HIV, why didn't you tell her?"
"I wanted to, but there was never a right time to approach her. At first, I wasn't entirely sure that he was positive," Liz admitted, "especially considering that I'd heard the news from the same unreliable secretary who'd dished that his first sexual encounter with a woman had been in the alley behind the bar."
"But you saw them leave!" Casey protested, as the image of Olivia in a dirty alley with the unworthy ADA York crept into her head.
"Exactly," Liz agreed, "and to tell the truth, it was politics that finally made the decision for me."
At Casey's incredulous look, Donnelly snapped, "Disclosing HIV status in the workplace is a dangerous game, Casey, and I'm not working with fry cooks here! Can you imagine the size of the lawsuit York would have slapped on me if I had?"
"So to hell with Olivia's health, as long as your reputation was intact?"
"Olivia doesn't like me Casey. Never has, never will. Quite frankly, I don't understand why, and I wasn't about to gamble my reputation and my future on some information that may or may not have been true!"
"So let me get this straight," a stunned Novak replied, "she doesn't like you, so it's ok for you to withhold the fact that she may have HIV?"
"Of course not," Donnelley answered, "that's why you're going to tell her."
"Unbelievable," Casey exhaled, dropping into her chair as her boss walked out the door.
Pausing in the doorway, Liz tossed over her shoulder, "Look on the bright side counselor - he's dead now. The only repercussions will be emotional."
Having a much better understanding of Olivia's recent behavior, wishing that she didn't know now what she hadn't known this morning, Casey struggled to erase the unwanted images of her detective and the slain ADA from her mind............and failed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Did you ever see him again, you know, after?" Elliot softly prodded.
Olivia sighed, then answered, "Yeah. We met for lunch, but were both quick with the excuses of why we had to leave right after the restaurant. Before I knew it, life had moved on and I'd filed him away as one huge mistake. Then, what felt like a lifetime later, I was standing on the dock looking at his body......"
"Were you in love with him?"
"God no," she honestly replied, "but he was a good man, he didn't deserve this."
Sinking into her chair, arms crossed on her desk, Olivia shook her head and tried to reconcile the man she'd known with the details of his murder.........and failed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the detectives sat silently opposite each other, investigation stalled until the forensics team was finished, the phone erupted on Elliot's desk.
"Special Victims, Detective Stabler speaking," he answered, then paused for a moment as the caller spoke.
Grinning, he said, "She's right here, hang on," then handed Olivia the phone.
With a quizzical look to her partner, she took it.
"Detective Benson," she professionally stated, frowned, then added, "Yeah Case, it's just been nuts here, sorry...."
Smiling, Elliot walked away; watching him go, Olivia then added, "Sure, I'll be here. An hour? Great, see you then."
Silently cursing her partner, vowing not to be anywhere near her desk when the ADA arrived, she immediately placed another call.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Jeff York had thirty bucks in his checking account the night he died," Captain Cragen factually told Elliot as he accepted a soda from the detective, whose body language clearly communicated that more was on his mind than just the slain ADA's case.
Playing along, Elliot countered, "Well he wasn't buying drugs. M.E. says his tox came back clean."
Deciding not to dance around the subject, Elliot cut right to the chase, "Look, Cap'n, I've got to say that I think Olivia's getting a little overzealous about this case."
Cragen immediately turned on his heel, facing the younger man, and responded, "Oh, I might be too, if I were her."
Elliot's next words, a plea to remove his partner from a case that he knew was taking too steep a toll on her, died on his lips as said partner rushed around the corner.
"Hey Captain, I called the lab, I wanted them to run something. You know the lipstick?" The words all ran together, one huge rushed string of clearly rehearsed phonics, spilling out into one big monosyllabic stream of diatribe that seemed all too eager to hurry up and get out.
Smooth Liv, smooth.
"Yeah, but you don't need to call the lab," her partner interjected, using a tone that he usually reserved for his children, "If they got anything, they'll talk to us."
Dismissing his interruption, she continued, "Hold on Elliot, just listen. The DA's investigator who worked for Jeff told us that she carried lipstick in her bag, but we never found it. The color was Blush Rose."
Both men seemed unimpressed, but there was no way Olivia was giving up on this reason to bolt that easily. Warming to her topic, she continued, "I had the lab run a gas chromo on the lipstick on the condom. Blush Rose," she firmly concluded, looking from her partner to her boss and back again, waiting for the proverbial light bulb to pop up above at least one of their heads.
"That would mean a hooker had to get the lipstick out of the gym bag, put it on, then perform oral sex. I don't buy it," Cragen honestly stated.
"So who's the gal with the lips?" Elliot snarkily asked.
"Since you're going to the lab, see if she left some saliva for DNA along with the lipstick," the Captain suggested, then turned and walked away.
"Since when are we going to the lab?" Olivia nonchalantly asked.
"Since we got a call that they had something for us," Stabler replied, then added, "so I guess your 'Blush Rose herring' wasn't really necessary after all."
Scowling, she grabbed her coat and followed him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Cragen."
"Are they back yet?"
"No," he replied, "but Warner gave me a heads up. I take it you know?"
"Yeah," Novak sighed, "did she tell Liv?"
"It's kind of hard to withhold that kind of information from the lead detectives, don't you think?" the captain responded.
"I guess they need to know that they're looking for a man," Casey agreed, "but what of the other?"
"The other?" he questioned.
He didn't know!
Pausing at the newsstand, she blanched as she saw the headline on the front page.
"Counselor?" he queried in the ensuing silence.
"We need to talk, Captain. I'll be there in five."
Click!
Puzzled, he hung up the phone.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I could just kill you Elliot," Olivia seethed as they left Warner's lab.
"For the thousandth time, I'm *sorry*," he pleaded, "but I thought you and Melinda were friends-"
"We are!" she snapped.
"And I thought women told everything to their friends-"
"Not this!" she barked.
"I know that now!" he exploded, then calmly added, "I know that now!" he exploded, then calmly added, "but I think I covered it up well, and she came away thinking that I was just teasing you."
Silence, as Olivia absorbed both his apology and the fact that now at least one more person likely knew of her humiliating tryst with ADA Jeffrey York.
Trying to make amends, Elliot suggested, "How about a decent cup of coffee before we head back?"
"That sounds really good," she grudgingly admitted.
"Ok, two cups of amazing coffee coming right up," he said as he parked the car at their favorite coffee shop, "vanilla, extra bad stuff, all the caffeine, right?"
"Right," she replied with a small smile, relaxing into her seat as he exited the vehicle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While she waited for Elliot, Olivia's gaze began to wander.
Stopped, when it hit the newspaper machine on the corner.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As he paid for their coffee, Elliot noticed the headline on the front page of the morning paper.
Crap!
Grabbing their drinks, he rushed back to the car.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neither detective mentioned the headline that had screamed the truth of Jeffrey York's demise, they simply sipped their coffee and rode back to the precinct in silence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are they back yet?" Casey asked, as the captain met her outside.
"No," Cragen replied, "what have you got?"
"It's time to pull her off the case, Don," the ADA advised, "Just look at this headline!"
"Not you too," he replied.
"Me too? Me too who?" she confusedly responded.
"Never mind. It doesn't mention Olivia at all Casey," the captain explained with irritating logic, "and I'm sorry, but that's not enough to change my mind."
"Really?" Casey challenged.
"Really," the Captain firmly stated, "and unless you can give me a solid reason to pull her off, she's staying on the case."
"Well," the ADA began, "how about the fact that Jeff York had-"
"Sex with me?" Olivia interjected, finishing the sentence as the young redhead's jaw dropped in surprise.
Stunned, both the captain and the counselor silently stared as the older woman continued, "Well it's none of your business, or my partner's business, or the M.E.'s business, or the goddamn FBI head shrinker's business!!!! Got it???" she seethed, then turned on her heel and walked away.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Where the hell did she come from?" the ADA snapped at the equally surprised Captain.
"Got me," he admitted, "I never even heard her coming."
Turning on the approaching Detective Stabler, Casey reached out and smacked him.
"Ow! What'd you do that for?" he whined.
"That's what you get for letting your partner sneak up on me!" she snapped, as Cragen shrugged and followed the fiery ADA, who waved the paper in his face and launched into the tale of why the front page had caused her such grief.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Olivia returned a few minutes later with a cup of coffee, matter of factly slipping right back into the conversation between the captain, the counselor, and her irritatingly loose-lipped partner, who were discussing the various aspects of the case.
"Well we know what didn't happen," Olivia factually interjected, "the wallet was stolen, the credit cards were unused."
"The first thing a hooker's gonna do when she rolls a john is use those credit cards or sell 'em," Elliot, ever the diplomat and seeing an opportunity to smooth things over with his partner, gently added.
Olivia, in no mood for this sudden show of solidarity, simply took a large swallow of coffee.
Finished drinking, looked into the cup and stirred it some more, as Casey deduced, "So robbery's not the motive."
"But we're supposed to think it is," Cragen added, as Olivia continued to play with her coffee cup.
Hmmm.
Then the captain pushed that button, insinuating that Jeff liked it rough, and fired a tiny spark that made Olivia softly defend his character, "Guys, I gotta tell you, Jeff seemed pretty vanilla to me."
Annoyed that she had used Elliot's terminology to describe Jeff, irked that he had caught it and was clearly enjoying the irony, she squirmed as he smugly stated, "Maybe you didn't date him long enough."
We didn't date! she inwardly screamed, yet kept her mouth shut in order to not give him the satisfaction of a reaction.
At Olivia's speechless response, Cragen added, "Sounds like there's a lot you didn't know about Jeff."
Ouch!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All business, Cragen gruffly continued, "His apartment is still sealed. Get over there and see if you can find out more about his love life."
In clear disgust, Olivia walked out of the station.
With a shrug, Elliot followed.
Watching them go, Casey sighed, "I really screwed that one up, didn't I?"
"I'm just as guilty," Cragen replied, "I didn't see them come in, and I'm sorry, but I'm not going to sugar coat the facts."
Heart breaking for what she knew Olivia was doing to herself, Casey suddenly thought to ask, "How long have they been keeping this pace? They look terrible!"
"Since they caught the case," he admitted.
Astounded, Casey asked, "Have they slept at all?"
"Elliot went home last night," Don admitted, "but I don't think Olivia's stopped since she arrived at the crime scene."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Stabler."
Elliot listened for a moment, then sighed and replied, "Yes sir."
"What now?" Olivia demanded as he turned the car off.
"A few hours in the crib," her partner responded, "Captain's orders."
Exasperated, Olivia slammed out of the car and marched back into the building.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Casey hesitated as she saw Olivia heading towards her, wanting to tell her friend what she had learned yet unwilling to do it in front of so many witnesses.
When the older woman blew past without even acknowledging her presence, the ADA simply took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and followed the stubborn detective up the steps.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Olivia."
Rolling her eyes, the detective snapped, "What!"
"There's something you need to know, about York. He was - "
"It's all over the front page, *Casey*," Olivia growled, biting off the counselor's name like it left a bad taste in her mouth as she plopped down onto a cot.
"But there's more," a stung Casey softly replied, "you see - "
"Sorry counselor," Elliot interrupted, "but Daddy insists we nap now."
Stupid Elliot!
"Will you please call me before you go to York's?" the ADA asked.
"You'll be my first call," he promised as he dropped onto a cot and stretched out, "nighty night, Casey."
"Sleep well," she whispered, as she hesitated in the doorway and took one last, long look at her beloved Detective Benson.
To be more accurate, Detective Benson's back.
With a sigh, she turned and left the precinct.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ring!
"Are you free for lunch?"
With a smile, Mary replied, "I always have time for you, Casey."
"Great," the ADA replied, "I'm outside."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well that was almost a nice little train wreck we had there," Detective Elliot Stabler remarked, as he rolled over to face his partner.
Ignoring him completely, she rolled over on her own bunk, petulantly facing away from him and the smartass smirk she was sure was plastered on his big stupid face.
"I'm just sayin'," he continued, "that you're obviously, for whatever reason, pissed off at Novak."
"No El, I'm pissed off at you!" she snapped.
"So," he proceeded as if she hadn't said a word, "it's a good thing I walked in here when I did. There was a definite angry vibe in the air."
Slamming the pillow over her head, she promptly went to sleep.
Chuckling, he soon dropped off as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"To what do I owe the pleasure of this impromptu lunch?" Mary Conway Clark asked her dear friend Casey Novak, happy to see her but knowing full well that the precocious redhead was up to no good.
"I missed you?" an impishly smiling Casey Novak responded.
"Yeah right," Mary replied, "really Case, what's up?"
"Well," the young redhead began, "I was wondering how well you know Liz Donnelly."
"Fishing for dirt on the boss, Casey? Shame on you," Mary replied, a hint of amusement in her tone.
"Actually, I'm not fishing on my behalf," the ADA admitted, "I was just wondering why she has such a problem with Detective Benson."
Clark burst into laughter, completely unable to form a coherent syllable for quite a few minutes.
Casey was not amused.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Olivia was actually exhausted, and fell asleep quickly; Elliot, on the other hand, had slept the night before.
Rising silently from his cot, he whispered, "Liv?"
When there was no response he left the crib, headed downstairs and placed a few calls of his own.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mary Conway Clark had finished laughing, finally caught her breath, and with tears of mirth in her eyes asked, "What does your 'girlfriend' say about Donnelly?"
"Nothing!" Casey exploded, "and she's *not* my girlfriend."
Smirk.
"She's not!"
"Ok Casey, don't get your panties in an uproar," Mary grinned.
Annoyed, the younger woman asked, "Can you please just tell me what you know?"
"Not much," Mary admitted, "all I know for sure is that Donnelly was married, then had a mid-life crisis that mostly consisted of sleeping with women. It was during this awakening of hers that she went to war with Olivia."
"Do you think she hit on Olivia?"
With a conspiratorial grin, Mary admitted, "All I know is that there was an incident at a bar that involved Liz getting shut down by a female cop; now, who that female cop was, nobody seems to know."
"That's not how I heard the story!" Casey exclaimed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"C'mon Munch, I know you know the real story," Elliot pleaded, "why don't you just spill it?"
"Because I heard it from a very valued source," Detective John Munch explained, "and I promised not to tell."
Elliot shook a take out cup at the older man, whose resolve began to crumble...."Is that fig?"
"Sure is," the younger cop responded.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Good morning sunshine, ready to roll?"
Olivia groaned at her too cheery partner, who really knew better than to speak to her before she'd had her wake up shot of caffeine.
"Yeah," she sighed as she sat up, "just gimme five minutes to brush my teeth and run a comb through my hair, k?"
"Sure, take your time," he answered in a singsong voice, "better have fresh breath, don't want anybody to *judge* you, right?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"SHE WHAT???"
"Casey, keep your voice down," Mary advised, as she turned to the other diners and explained, "She doesn't get out much."
It was the second time in a very brief span of time that Mary had used that tactic on a particularly loud Casey, and she was properly chagrined.
"According to the rumor," Mary continued, "Liz had been crushing on this much younger cop for quite a while, and had finally worked up the courage to make her move. So Donnelly followed her into the bathroom, backed her into a stall, and kissed her."
"And???" Casey prodded.
"The cop apparently pushed her down, ran out of the bathroom, and jumped in a cab with some guy they'd been there with that night."
"No wonder," the young ADA breathed as her mentor finished the story, thinking that the very idea of her and Olivia as anything more than friends must just be a slap in the face to her boss.
"So Mary, what if I were to tell you that I'm pretty sure Olivia *was* the cop," Casey whispered, "and that the recently slain ADA Jeff York was the guy she left with that night?"
"I'd say I understand why you're here," Mary answered, "because as I understand it, York wasn't only gay, he was quite possibly HIV positive."
"Right," Casey affirmed, "and Liz knew it, and-"
"And that bitch has decided to saddle you with the burden of telling Olivia?"
"Right again," Casey agreed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As they arrived at York's apartment, Elliot joked, "And you see Olivia, *this* is what it looks like in the morning."
Smack!
"Ow!"
"Serves you right," she scowled as she pulled her gloves on.
"Seriously," he continued, "was it really a better alternative than-"
"Than what El?" she challenged as they left the bedroom and headed for the dining/kitchen area.
"Oh, nothing," he mused, "just don't think you can 'judge' a person by just one kiss......" grinning, he left it at that.
Recognition dawning, Olivia growled, "Who told you?"
"A little birdie," he laughed, "but don't worry, your secret's safe with me. Oh, and speaking of secret crushes, did you call Novak yet?"
"Unbelievable!" she exclaimed as she threw her hands up in the air, then turned and grabbed York's planner.
Once again all business, she noted, "Not much of a social life. The only dates in here are dinners with people from the office, notes on cases to discuss."
Elliot, who'd been flipping through York's mail, felt a sudden dread creep over him.
"Guy's got an awful lot of medical bills," he mentioned, as Olivia noted, "The day he died he had drinks with Andy Abbott at the Carlson Hotel..."
Flashing back to that regrettable night at the bar, she realized that Andy Abbott had been the friend with York...
Back in the present, she turned to her partner and asked, "Did Abbott mention that to us?"
"No," Elliot shook his head, thinking that he really didn't want to know what these piles of medical bills were telling him, then added, "there's got to be ten thousand dollars worth of medical bills here, all of them marked "Paid in cash"...."
He walked over to the cabinet above the sink, hoping not to find what he was pretty sure was there, as he commented, "You know, maybe that's where his money went."
Picking up a stack of paperwork, she argued, "He has insurance through the DA's office," then went back to searching for the money trail as her partner pulled a container of pill bottles out of the cabinet.
Grabbing a bottle, he read the label.
Got instantly sick.
As she looked questioningly at her partner, he stated, "Yeah, and I'm guessing he didn't use it for this....."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ring!
"Novak."
Mary politely went back to her meal as Casey took the call, and had already decided that she was going to take it upon herself to be the one to tell the detective that she needed to get tested.
"Oh my God no!" Casey exclaimed, then added, "Is she ok?"
After a few more moments of silence, she hung up the phone.
"What happened?" Mary asked, though she was sure she already knew the answer.
"They forgot to call me, you know, before they searched York's apartment, and....."
"She knows," Mary concluded, "doesn't she?"
DOINK DOINK