Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

(Chapter One: Rumors)

"What are you looking at?" Olivia growled at Fin across the room.

"Looks like you may have had just a bit too much fun last night."

"I don't know what the problem is. I have drank way more than that before and not gotten a hangover."

"Liv, you drank about a gallon of tequila last night. Then the Champaign, a couple of beers and whatever that bad smelling shit in those shots was."

Olivia slid her dark sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to look him in the eye.

"Jager bombs," she clarified. "A wonderful idea brought on by Detective Stabler's frat boy days. I could kill him."

"I'm just saying, you were mixing all kinds of stuff last night."

"It was Independence Day and it was a party. I was supposed to have today off. I was supposed to be able to sleep it off today….all day today. How was I supposed to know I would get a call at six o'clock this morning demanding me to come in?"

"It was Independence Day and there were parties," he mocked.

Olivia exhaled as she looked at the practically empty room around them.

"Where is Elliot, anyway?"

"On his way in here," Fin answered handing her a cup of coffee and a couple of aspirin. "You guys have a wild night last night?"

Olivia gulped her coffee and raised her head to look at him.

"You were there."

"I mean, after."

"We left the bar around two and went to get something to eat. Then headed back to my place."

"Ahh," Fin said with a nod.

"Time out. What exactly are you asking here? You think that Elliot and I…."

Fin didn't respond. He knew exactly what she was trying to say, but wanted to drag it out of her slowly so that he could assess the situation himself.

"I don't appreciate being interrogated about my personal life!"

"I'm not interrogating. And if you are doing what I think you are doing, with who I think you're doing it with, then it interferes with work and is no longer a personal matter."

"Fin, you are really pissing me off right now! And not helping the hang over one bit!"

"Olivia, this is a bad, bad, bad idea. I am just trying to help you. You guys work together. Not to mention there are already suspicions about….well, you know, and there have been for years."

"So you think that I am sleeping with Elliot?"

"There are rumors. I didn't say that I agree with them. And there was a lot of touching and insinuating movements on the dance floor the last night."

"We were dancing. Trying to have some fun and relax the one night we had off in about two months."

"He practically carried you out of the bar and you were hanging all over each other."

"We're friends. We're close."

"Very close. You were hanging all over each other and climbed into the back of the cab together. You went back to your place…."

"We went back to my place and ate breakfast together from take out containers. We sat together on the sofa, where I asked Elliot how the kids were doing and I passed out before he could answer. He must have left some time after that. I woke up on my sofa covered with a blanket from the hall closet. ALONE! Not that it is any of your business. But I am pretty sure that if there had been any sex, I would have remembered it. I would be able to tell anyway," she said as if trying to convince herself that sex infact didn't happen. "A woman can tell these things."

"I believe you. You just may want to watch how you guys interact in public. People confuse this closeness with flirting and they assume something is going on."

"I can't believe this," Olivia replied taking another drink of her coffee. "I can't work with a man without people assuming I am fucking him?"

"Who are you fucking?" Elliot joked entering the room.

Olivia glared at him across her coffee cup.

"Apparently you."

"As always I am the last to know," Elliot remarked. "Was I any good?"

"Elliot, this isn't funny!"

"Relax. Who the hell cares what other people think anyway?"

"I care. We work our asses off to try and bring some kind of justice to victims and because we are together so much people assume that we are sleeping together as well. And the part I find the strangest is that you do not seem shocked at all."

"Liv, people have been whispering for years. Even Kathy suspected stuff was going on."

"You never told me that."

"I figured you knew. It doesn't matter. We know the truth."

"It does matter. Not addressing this issue just makes it worse. This makes me sound like some big slut, who was screwing someone else's husband! And it has been months since I have even had sex."

Fin stopped what he was doing to look at Olivia.

"What?" she asked looking at him again.

"Nothing," Fin said shaking his head. "That is just a little hard to believe, that's all. Months?"

"Tragic, I know," Olivia replied.

"Fin! You're not helping," Elliot reminded him.

"Is that why Kathy filed for divorce?" Olivia asked.

"Of course not. Kathy and I hadn't been happy together in a while. She left because she wanted out. It had nothing to do with you."

"You would tell me if it did, right?"

"Olivia, stop beating yourself up for things that are out of your control. Kathy knows that nothing happened between you and I. I set her straight on that a long time ago."

"Did she realize that you are one of the few men in the world who wouldn't cheat?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is that nothing that happened between she and I was because of you. I don't want you thinking that some rumor about you and I broke up my marriage. Now, do you feel better?"

"About that, yes. But what are we going to do about everyone at work saying these things?"

"I don't think there really is anything we can do. You and I know the truth. Our friends know the truth. Anyone beyond that point is not my concern. Don't let it bother you."

"Now that we have all arrived," Cragen announced looking in Elliot's direction as he walked out of his office and into the bullpen, "it looks like we had a pretty wild night last night. "Munch and Fin, we got a hit on the Fletcher case. Our perp struck again last night. The victim is twenty seven year old Danielle Davies," he said handing Fin a slip of paper with the address on it. "CSI is working the scene now, I want you over there immediately. And you two…."

"You want us to head over to the hospital to talk to the girl?" Elliot asked.

"There is no need. He didn't give this one the chance to speak. The perp broke her neck during the attack."

"So what do you need us to do?" Olivia asked.

"Benson and Stabler, pack your sleeping bags! You're going camping."

"Camping?" Olivia laughed, noticing the serious look on Cragen's face.

"Yes, camping. Seven year old Arianna Brooks disappeared from her family's campsite just outside of Detroit, yesterday afternoon. The suspect is a man we put away a few years back for the kidnapping and murder of a six year old."

"How the hell did he get out?" Elliot asked.

"Prisons are over crowded and lawyers are full of shit. His appeal was finally granted, but it wasn't because he wasn't guilty. We had enough evidence on this bastard to put him away for life."

"Then how did he get the appeal?"

"A rookie filled out the forms wrong during processing and gave them grounds for the appeal."

"Wait, Detroit is a bit out of our district," Olivia said.

"The F.B.I. caught the case and requested the help of the SVU."

"They have SVU branches in Michigan," Elliot argued.

"The last time he abducted a child he kept her hidden in the woods for three weeks before we got close and he killed her. He knows the area and has several hideouts and underground bunkers scattered in the area. He used these to keep hidden with the last victim so long. You are going to be helping the F.B.I. track this guy and help to catch him, hopefully before he can bring any harm to another child. Locals have reported seeing the perp in the area just days before Arianna disappeared. These people don't have any idea how to work with child victims and they don't know this guy. They cant get into his head the way that the two of you already have. The F.B.I. requested this branch. Specifically the two of you."

"Haung must be behind this," Olivia said.

"Actually, it was Agent Porter who requested your assistance," Cragen explained.

"Your biggest fan," Elliot said looking at his partner.

"Am I missing something?" Cragen asked.

"Dean Porter is slightly in love with Detective Benson. No doubt his little crush has something to do with this."

"Is there a problem here?" Cragen asked Olivia.

"We dated for a few months. It was a long time ago. I think he will keep it professional, I don't think he will let it will interfere with the case."

"I wont let it interfere with the case," Elliot said protectively.

"Well, I trust the two of you to keep the situation under control."

"Of course," Olivia agreed.

"Great. Get packed. I want the two of you on the road in within the hour."