Make the Bodies Drop [SVU; Elliot/Olivia]
TITLE: Make the Bodies Drop
CHAPTER 15
FANDOM: Law & Order: SVU
PAIRING: Elliot/Olivia
SPOILERS: Season seven-ish, pre-trilogy
RATING: R for adult themes
SUMMARY:
*****
Morning arrived in a rather harsh way; the sound of the phone ringing yanked Elliot from sleep and he rolled over, grabbing for the receiver without a thought. "Yeah."
"You are damn lucky it was only me calling, because you just answered my house phone," came the soft -- almost-whispered -- alto on the other end of the line.
"Liv?" Squinting into the sunlight glaring in at him, Elliot rolled onto his other side and searched for his partner. Her side of the bed was empty and cool, the indentations on the pillow the only indication that she'd been there at all. "Where are you?"
"The station. Cragen wants to know where you are."
"What'd you tell him?"
"Told him I thought maybe your alarm didn't go off or you hit some bad traffic."
"Oh," he exhaled softly in relief.
"I didn't want to tell him... anything... until you were here."
"Okay."
"So just get down here."
"Why didn't you wake me?"
"I woke up early and thought I'd let you sleep." After a pause, she added flirtatiously, "You looked pretty sweet."
Elliot barked a laugh. "Liv, do me a favor. Never use that word again when referring to me, 'kay?"
Her answering laugh was warm and he found himself missing her already. "Deal. Now get your ass outta my bed, Stabler, and get down here."
"You got it." He looked longingly toward the bathroom, straight at her shower. "You wanna come back here and shower with me?"
Her voice was firm, but he heard the smirk as she said, "Goodbye, Elliot," and hung up.
And with that, he set off for the shower.
*****
Twenty minutes later, Elliot made it to the station, offering up a shrug and the cliched response of, "Traffic," when Cragen looked to him questioningly.
Cragen eyed him suspiciously, but accepted it with a brief, "Alright," before he addressed the other detectives. "Today we're doing the DNA tests on every male employee at the Pink Flamingo. Fin, since you've been employed there as the bouncer, that means you too. Gotta keep up appearances."
"No prob, Cap."
"Olivia, tonight you're back onstage. And I want you wearing a mic and earpiece this time to keep in touch with the guys. We're gonna amp up surveillance." To Olivia, he said, "I also want you to keep a very close watch on the other dancers. If they take someone back to the private rooms you sure as hell better memorize what they look like and what time they go back there. If anybody looks familiar -- anybody at all -- I want you to tell Elliot or Munch right away."
Olivia nodded, and exchanged a brief glance with Elliot before looking away. Elliot felt his muscles tensing; he couldn't read his partner's face this morning and it was distressing him. Of course he wasn't expecting her to rush over and give him a kiss as soon as he arrived or anything, but... any acknowledgement of their night together would've set him at ease. A discreet wink, a small smile, anything. Anything but avoiding his gaze, like she regretted it.
The night far surpassed any of his expectations... any of his fantasies, for that matter. The way their bodies fit together had made his head spin, and the way Olivia said his name in the throes of passion did things to his pulse he still couldn't find a way to describe. She wasn't going to get out of this by claiming it was a mistake -- he wouldn't let her. She was far too adept at ducking her feelings when they became too heavy or too intense. And Elliot knew that they had put too much on the line to let it just fall to pieces.
The captain's voice broke him from his thoughts. "If nobody has anything else, then that's it. I want this guy caught by the end of the week, so step it up." With that, he headed back to his office and the detectives got to work.
Elliot's eyes followed his partner as discreetly as possible as she went up the stairs toward the crib.
"Hey Stabler."
He broke gaze with his partner's retreating form to see Munch handing his earpiece and molar mic to him. "I have a feeling Cragen's gonna keep tabs on who's actually wearing theirs tonight so here. You might wanna keep it close."
"Yeah, thanks," he replied reflexively and shoved the electronic pieces in his desk drawer, eyes once more on the now empty stairs. After checking to make sure Munch and Fin were otherwise occupied, Elliot took off toward the crib. He took the steps two at a time, not even caring if he looked like a desperate maniac. He had to talk to Olivia, had to make sure that she wasn't going to just take back everything that had happened between them lastnight.
The door to the crib was closed, and the frosted glass window gave no clues as to whether she was in there or not. So Elliot knocked tentatively on the door and opened it slightly, poking his head inside. "Hey Liv?" he called softly, glancing at every bunk. She was nowhere to be found. He took a few more steps into the crib. "'Livia..."
When the door slammed shut behind him he jumped, and spun around just in time to get shoved against the wall by his partner before she pounced. She went straight for his lips while her hands held his face, and Elliot caught her by the waist. After his brief moment of surprise, began to kiss back, passionately.
He wound his hands roughly into her hair while she stretched up on tiptoe, wrapping her arms around his neck. He tried to say her name but it was lost in the kiss.
Olivia was breathing hard, "Do you have any idea," as she asked between kisses, "how hard it was," and another kiss, "to leave you this morning?"
"Mm," Elliot's reply was muffled against her lips as his hands slipped between the hem of her shirt and the waistband of her pants, feeling over the warm taut skin. "Who said you had to leave?" He kissed her jawline while she loosened the knot on his tie. Gruffly, he whispered against her skin, "We could've been late together."
She laughed and pulled him up, kissing him soundly. "Yeah, because that wouldn't have been a dead giveaway," she murmured against his lips.
"You're right. Y'know, maybe we should stop this."
"Yeah. We should."
But they didn't pull away from each other. Instead, they just kept kissing. Elliot spun them so it was Olivia that was pinned to the wall, as her hands started to untuck his shirt from his pants. Just when she started to wrap one leg around his waist, the door to the crib opened and the detectives jumped away from each other. Elliot spun away and ran a hand through what was left of his hair while the other hand rested on his hip, and he knew if he turned around now what they were doing before the door opened would've been all too evident, so he stayed where he was.
Olivia, in the meantime, was flicking her hair out of her eyes and pressing her lips together, hoping they didn't look too kiss-swollen as she raised her eyebrows and addressed the intruder. "Hey Munch! We were just discussing the case."
Munch's eyes flicked from Olivia, to Elliot (whose back was still turned), and back again before he blinked and replied monotonously, sardonically, "Yeah. Sure. When you guys are ready we wanna head back to the club."
"Uh, give us just a sec."
Munch, still leaning into the room with one hand on the door jamb and the other on the doorknob, raised his eyebrows. "Need to discuss the case in a bit more detail?"
"No, we need to talk to Cragen before we continue."
"Alright, whatever." Much as usual was showing his usual investment in the goings-on around the precinct. Over his shoulder on the way out, he called, "Fin and I will wait downstairs."
When the door to the crib was once again shut, Elliot spun to face his partner, and they resumed their attempts to catch their breath. He watched as Olivia combed her fingers through her hair, reinstating the flawless silkiness from the tousled mess it had been while they were kissing. He tucked in his shirt while glancing surreptitiously at her. "So we're really gonna tell Cragen today?"
"Actually, no, I thought we'd wait on that."
"Oh come on, Liv," he sighed (whined, practically), making a face at her. "After last night -- hell, after two minutes ago! -- you can't chalk it up to the heat of the moment or a mistake or whatever the hell excuse you're gonna tack on to wish it away. It's real, it happened, we both wanted it, we both still want it if that sneak attack a couple minutes ago was any indication, and you can't--"
Her lips on his, softly but firmly, stopped his tirade. She pulled away and looked him straight in the eye as she told him in that dusky alto, "It wasn't a mistake. I don't think that it was. I would never think that."
Elliot searched her eyes for a minute. "Oh." It was difficult coming up with much of a follow-up to that, so he just stood there dumbly, not knowing what the hell to say to this woman that knew him better than he knew himself, while she went about the menial task of straightening his tie. "Well okay." It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
Her smile was fleeting as she assured him, "Elliot, I want this. I do. I just... think we should hold off telling Cragen about it." Her hands remained on his tie, grasping it gently, though it had long since been straightened out.
"Why?" He allowed his hands to rest on her hips.
Olivia gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Because I want to finish out the case with you. We'll tell him before we take on another one, but... I want this to be our last case together as partners."
Elliot couldn't help the grin. "Don't go all sentimental on me, Detective Benson."
She rolled her eyes and let go of his tie, good-naturedly grumbling, "Asshole," as she turned to head for the door.
He chuckled and, before she could reach the door, he grabbed her hand and tugged her back to him. "Well hey then, wait. Why are we talking to Cragen if it's not about that?"
"I wanted to let him know we want to reveal our true identities to Carl."
"What?" he hissed, making a face at her once again. "Are you nuts?"
"What? I think this could help us, Elliot."
"Less than two days ago you were convinced that he was our rapist. Our killer. Suddenly you want him to know who we really are? What are you thinkin'?"
"I've been giving this a lot thought, Elliot," she told him lowly, and she was getting that tone she normally got when they had their quiet arguments. "And I've been paying attention to how he behaves around the club... how he behaved at the funeral, and I just... I don't think he's the one we're looking for anymore."
"Still, what good could come from him knowing that we're really detectives, Liv? Huh? Really, what will that accomplish?"
"Maybe if he knows who we are, he could get us whatever kind of inside info we need to help with the case. Maybe he can give us access to records and stuff," she gestured to herself, "that a dancer," and then to Elliot, "and prospective club buyer wouldn't have access to."
"Yeah, or if he knows who's been doin' this and we tell him who we are, he can tip the guy off."
"Elliot, you saw him at the service. Okay? You've seen him at the club. Do you really think, if he knew who was doing this, that he'd just sit on that information? This guy, whoever is doing this, killed the love of Carl's life. Can you honestly tell me that if he knew who did it that he would just let him get away with it?"
Elliot shrugged. "Maybe he's waiting for the right moment to retaliate. Maybe he doesn't wanna wait for the cops to figure it out, and maybe he wants to get retribution before the guy's locked up. Who knows, Olivia? No good can come from knowing."
Olivia folded her arms across her chest and sunk into one hip, a combative stance. She shrugged with her arms still crossed. "I still think it's at least worth mentioning to Cragen, to get his insight on it. If he hates the idea Elliot, I'll drop it."
Elliot, now with both hands on his hips, sighed out through his nose as he stared at his partner, stared at her while she stared back at him with her kiss swollen lips. Finally, he relented with a nod. "Alright, we'll go talk to him."
On the way out and down the stairs, Elliot settled his hand gently on the small of Olivia's back, guiding her toward their Captain's office.
And behind them, neither of them saw Fin slapping a fifty dollar bill into Munch's hand.
TBC
{x-posted to eoshippers and olivia_elliot}
CHAPTER 15
FANDOM: Law & Order: SVU
PAIRING: Elliot/Olivia
SPOILERS: Season seven-ish, pre-trilogy
RATING: R for adult themes
SUMMARY:
*****
Morning arrived in a rather harsh way; the sound of the phone ringing yanked Elliot from sleep and he rolled over, grabbing for the receiver without a thought. "Yeah."
"You are damn lucky it was only me calling, because you just answered my house phone," came the soft -- almost-whispered -- alto on the other end of the line.
"Liv?" Squinting into the sunlight glaring in at him, Elliot rolled onto his other side and searched for his partner. Her side of the bed was empty and cool, the indentations on the pillow the only indication that she'd been there at all. "Where are you?"
"The station. Cragen wants to know where you are."
"What'd you tell him?"
"Told him I thought maybe your alarm didn't go off or you hit some bad traffic."
"Oh," he exhaled softly in relief.
"I didn't want to tell him... anything... until you were here."
"Okay."
"So just get down here."
"Why didn't you wake me?"
"I woke up early and thought I'd let you sleep." After a pause, she added flirtatiously, "You looked pretty sweet."
Elliot barked a laugh. "Liv, do me a favor. Never use that word again when referring to me, 'kay?"
Her answering laugh was warm and he found himself missing her already. "Deal. Now get your ass outta my bed, Stabler, and get down here."
"You got it." He looked longingly toward the bathroom, straight at her shower. "You wanna come back here and shower with me?"
Her voice was firm, but he heard the smirk as she said, "Goodbye, Elliot," and hung up.
And with that, he set off for the shower.
*****
Twenty minutes later, Elliot made it to the station, offering up a shrug and the cliched response of, "Traffic," when Cragen looked to him questioningly.
Cragen eyed him suspiciously, but accepted it with a brief, "Alright," before he addressed the other detectives. "Today we're doing the DNA tests on every male employee at the Pink Flamingo. Fin, since you've been employed there as the bouncer, that means you too. Gotta keep up appearances."
"No prob, Cap."
"Olivia, tonight you're back onstage. And I want you wearing a mic and earpiece this time to keep in touch with the guys. We're gonna amp up surveillance." To Olivia, he said, "I also want you to keep a very close watch on the other dancers. If they take someone back to the private rooms you sure as hell better memorize what they look like and what time they go back there. If anybody looks familiar -- anybody at all -- I want you to tell Elliot or Munch right away."
Olivia nodded, and exchanged a brief glance with Elliot before looking away. Elliot felt his muscles tensing; he couldn't read his partner's face this morning and it was distressing him. Of course he wasn't expecting her to rush over and give him a kiss as soon as he arrived or anything, but... any acknowledgement of their night together would've set him at ease. A discreet wink, a small smile, anything. Anything but avoiding his gaze, like she regretted it.
The night far surpassed any of his expectations... any of his fantasies, for that matter. The way their bodies fit together had made his head spin, and the way Olivia said his name in the throes of passion did things to his pulse he still couldn't find a way to describe. She wasn't going to get out of this by claiming it was a mistake -- he wouldn't let her. She was far too adept at ducking her feelings when they became too heavy or too intense. And Elliot knew that they had put too much on the line to let it just fall to pieces.
The captain's voice broke him from his thoughts. "If nobody has anything else, then that's it. I want this guy caught by the end of the week, so step it up." With that, he headed back to his office and the detectives got to work.
Elliot's eyes followed his partner as discreetly as possible as she went up the stairs toward the crib.
"Hey Stabler."
He broke gaze with his partner's retreating form to see Munch handing his earpiece and molar mic to him. "I have a feeling Cragen's gonna keep tabs on who's actually wearing theirs tonight so here. You might wanna keep it close."
"Yeah, thanks," he replied reflexively and shoved the electronic pieces in his desk drawer, eyes once more on the now empty stairs. After checking to make sure Munch and Fin were otherwise occupied, Elliot took off toward the crib. He took the steps two at a time, not even caring if he looked like a desperate maniac. He had to talk to Olivia, had to make sure that she wasn't going to just take back everything that had happened between them lastnight.
The door to the crib was closed, and the frosted glass window gave no clues as to whether she was in there or not. So Elliot knocked tentatively on the door and opened it slightly, poking his head inside. "Hey Liv?" he called softly, glancing at every bunk. She was nowhere to be found. He took a few more steps into the crib. "'Livia..."
When the door slammed shut behind him he jumped, and spun around just in time to get shoved against the wall by his partner before she pounced. She went straight for his lips while her hands held his face, and Elliot caught her by the waist. After his brief moment of surprise, began to kiss back, passionately.
He wound his hands roughly into her hair while she stretched up on tiptoe, wrapping her arms around his neck. He tried to say her name but it was lost in the kiss.
Olivia was breathing hard, "Do you have any idea," as she asked between kisses, "how hard it was," and another kiss, "to leave you this morning?"
"Mm," Elliot's reply was muffled against her lips as his hands slipped between the hem of her shirt and the waistband of her pants, feeling over the warm taut skin. "Who said you had to leave?" He kissed her jawline while she loosened the knot on his tie. Gruffly, he whispered against her skin, "We could've been late together."
She laughed and pulled him up, kissing him soundly. "Yeah, because that wouldn't have been a dead giveaway," she murmured against his lips.
"You're right. Y'know, maybe we should stop this."
"Yeah. We should."
But they didn't pull away from each other. Instead, they just kept kissing. Elliot spun them so it was Olivia that was pinned to the wall, as her hands started to untuck his shirt from his pants. Just when she started to wrap one leg around his waist, the door to the crib opened and the detectives jumped away from each other. Elliot spun away and ran a hand through what was left of his hair while the other hand rested on his hip, and he knew if he turned around now what they were doing before the door opened would've been all too evident, so he stayed where he was.
Olivia, in the meantime, was flicking her hair out of her eyes and pressing her lips together, hoping they didn't look too kiss-swollen as she raised her eyebrows and addressed the intruder. "Hey Munch! We were just discussing the case."
Munch's eyes flicked from Olivia, to Elliot (whose back was still turned), and back again before he blinked and replied monotonously, sardonically, "Yeah. Sure. When you guys are ready we wanna head back to the club."
"Uh, give us just a sec."
Munch, still leaning into the room with one hand on the door jamb and the other on the doorknob, raised his eyebrows. "Need to discuss the case in a bit more detail?"
"No, we need to talk to Cragen before we continue."
"Alright, whatever." Much as usual was showing his usual investment in the goings-on around the precinct. Over his shoulder on the way out, he called, "Fin and I will wait downstairs."
When the door to the crib was once again shut, Elliot spun to face his partner, and they resumed their attempts to catch their breath. He watched as Olivia combed her fingers through her hair, reinstating the flawless silkiness from the tousled mess it had been while they were kissing. He tucked in his shirt while glancing surreptitiously at her. "So we're really gonna tell Cragen today?"
"Actually, no, I thought we'd wait on that."
"Oh come on, Liv," he sighed (whined, practically), making a face at her. "After last night -- hell, after two minutes ago! -- you can't chalk it up to the heat of the moment or a mistake or whatever the hell excuse you're gonna tack on to wish it away. It's real, it happened, we both wanted it, we both still want it if that sneak attack a couple minutes ago was any indication, and you can't--"
Her lips on his, softly but firmly, stopped his tirade. She pulled away and looked him straight in the eye as she told him in that dusky alto, "It wasn't a mistake. I don't think that it was. I would never think that."
Elliot searched her eyes for a minute. "Oh." It was difficult coming up with much of a follow-up to that, so he just stood there dumbly, not knowing what the hell to say to this woman that knew him better than he knew himself, while she went about the menial task of straightening his tie. "Well okay." It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
Her smile was fleeting as she assured him, "Elliot, I want this. I do. I just... think we should hold off telling Cragen about it." Her hands remained on his tie, grasping it gently, though it had long since been straightened out.
"Why?" He allowed his hands to rest on her hips.
Olivia gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Because I want to finish out the case with you. We'll tell him before we take on another one, but... I want this to be our last case together as partners."
Elliot couldn't help the grin. "Don't go all sentimental on me, Detective Benson."
She rolled her eyes and let go of his tie, good-naturedly grumbling, "Asshole," as she turned to head for the door.
He chuckled and, before she could reach the door, he grabbed her hand and tugged her back to him. "Well hey then, wait. Why are we talking to Cragen if it's not about that?"
"I wanted to let him know we want to reveal our true identities to Carl."
"What?" he hissed, making a face at her once again. "Are you nuts?"
"What? I think this could help us, Elliot."
"Less than two days ago you were convinced that he was our rapist. Our killer. Suddenly you want him to know who we really are? What are you thinkin'?"
"I've been giving this a lot thought, Elliot," she told him lowly, and she was getting that tone she normally got when they had their quiet arguments. "And I've been paying attention to how he behaves around the club... how he behaved at the funeral, and I just... I don't think he's the one we're looking for anymore."
"Still, what good could come from him knowing that we're really detectives, Liv? Huh? Really, what will that accomplish?"
"Maybe if he knows who we are, he could get us whatever kind of inside info we need to help with the case. Maybe he can give us access to records and stuff," she gestured to herself, "that a dancer," and then to Elliot, "and prospective club buyer wouldn't have access to."
"Yeah, or if he knows who's been doin' this and we tell him who we are, he can tip the guy off."
"Elliot, you saw him at the service. Okay? You've seen him at the club. Do you really think, if he knew who was doing this, that he'd just sit on that information? This guy, whoever is doing this, killed the love of Carl's life. Can you honestly tell me that if he knew who did it that he would just let him get away with it?"
Elliot shrugged. "Maybe he's waiting for the right moment to retaliate. Maybe he doesn't wanna wait for the cops to figure it out, and maybe he wants to get retribution before the guy's locked up. Who knows, Olivia? No good can come from knowing."
Olivia folded her arms across her chest and sunk into one hip, a combative stance. She shrugged with her arms still crossed. "I still think it's at least worth mentioning to Cragen, to get his insight on it. If he hates the idea Elliot, I'll drop it."
Elliot, now with both hands on his hips, sighed out through his nose as he stared at his partner, stared at her while she stared back at him with her kiss swollen lips. Finally, he relented with a nod. "Alright, we'll go talk to him."
On the way out and down the stairs, Elliot settled his hand gently on the small of Olivia's back, guiding her toward their Captain's office.
And behind them, neither of them saw Fin slapping a fifty dollar bill into Munch's hand.
TBC
{x-posted to eoshippers and olivia_elliot}