Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.

Squad Room of the Special Victims Unit, Sixteenth Precinct, Manhattan, New York

"Well," Elliot sighed, taking a long sip from a bottle of water before handing it to Olivia, "At least, this time, he isn't the bad guy."

Olivia chugged back a long gulp. "That's subjective," she countered, wiping her lips.

Elliot chuckled, and then sat in the chair at his desk. "He was...unusually nice."

"Because he doesn't want to see what happens when he pisses me off while my hormones are out-of-whack," she said, eyeing Elliot narrowly.

Again, Elliot laughed, and he shook his head at her. "I don't want to see that, either." He winked at her and looked over his shoulder. "How did Cragen find out about the baby, anyway?"

"Maybe Fin told him," she said, sounding irritated.

Elliot's brows furrowed. "How the hell did Fin find out?"

She rolled her eyes and let out a challenged breath, and she said, "He figured it out. I guess the way I was acting, or maybe I had my hand over...look, I didn't tell him, he just knew."

"It's fucking impossible to keep a damn secret in this place," he growled, running a hand down his face.

She smirked at him, though, and said, "We're keeping one." She innocently aimed her eyes at the ceiling and drank her water, tapping the fingers of her other hand on the surface of her desk. Fin and Munch walked into the room just as she had her bottle settled on her desk. "What took so long?"

"More than one suspect," Fin said, raising one eyebrow, "Means more than one test." He slapped the results of the blood tests on Elliot's desk. "Cassidy's been cleared, so has Porter, and the sketch artist is working with the security guard from Rikers as we speak."

"Good," Elliot said, reading through the print-outs Fin had given him. "We may finally close this fucking case." He shot Olivia a smokey and pointed look.

She returned his wicked grin, too, as she took the papers he was offering. She read the test results and shook her head. "Inconclusive? Great. Did Brian tell you about anyone else, other than Dean, who would have a way to get an old badge of his?"

"Well, we know it's not his father, or Porter," Munch said, pushing his wire-rimmed spectacles up higher on his long nose. "Porter could have given it to someone else," he said with a shrug. "All those tests prove is that the man wasn't the one who attacked Stanton. He could still..."

"I assure you," Porter's grimy voice interrupted, "I did not." He walked into the room and headed for Cragen's office. "Is he in there?"

Elliot shook his head as he leaned backward in his chair. "No," he said, "He's in a meeting with Tucker."

Porter looked at him, raised both eyebrows, and plopped into a nearby metal folding chair. He whipped out his cell phone and fired off a text message. He didn't have all day to wait, and he knew whatever Tucker and Cragen were talking about could take a very long time.

Office of Sgt. Ed Tucker, Internal Affairs Bureau, One Police Plaza, Manhattan, New York

"Turn that fucking phone off, or at least stop looking at it every time it beeps," Tucker barked. "This is a serious accusation, one that could cost you your job."

Cragen sighed. "It's Porter," he said. "He's waiting for me at the station, and considering everything that's happened, I don't want him alone with Stabler for more than five minutes."

"That can fucking wait," Tucker hissed again. "Security tapes aren't helping, the guy knew to keep his head turned, and was wearing a hoodie." He spoke through gritted teeth. frustrated. "Porter pointed the finger at me, first, and then you. You had an old badge of his, when he used to..."

"I never left my office!" Cragen yelled, interrupting. "I was either there, or here, for the entire run of this case!" He shook his head. "I may find ways to bend the rules and dodge road blocks for a case, but I would never kill anyone over it!"

Tucker sighed, rubbing his hand across his forehead. "This job is giving me so many fucking wrinkles." He looked up again. "Okay. New question. How did you know Benson's pregnant? Elliot told me, neither of them had any intention of telling you, for obvious reasons."

Cragen flinched in hurt, those words difficult to hear, that his actions had caused two people he considered family to lose trust in him. "Reviewing the case files," he said with a shrug. "I went over everything, including her medical report and chart, when she was hit with that bottle of...shit." He waved a hand in the air, dismissively, as if trying to remember the name of the chemicals or the doctor who threw them at her was pointless. "There was a notation at the bottom, because they had to make sure that no damage was done to the..." he paused and his eyes widened a bit, his lips attempted to curl upward. "She's having a baby."

"Yeah," Tucker growled, plopping into his chair. "Now, can we get back to the entire reason we're..." he stopped, rolling his eyes. "Fine, go ahead," he said, gesturing rudely to Cragen's ringing phone, telling him to answer it.

Cragen eyed him for a second, and then picked up the call. "Yeah," he snapped. "What? Oh, Jesus, okay. Just...wait for me before heading out there, this needs to be handled...now, just wait a minute, Elliot! I will be there in less than five minutes, and I'm bringing Tucker! This needs to be done by the book or you'll be in deep shit, and with Olivia...thank you!" He snapped his phone shut and looked at Tucker. "The guard at Rikers finished with the sketch artist," he said, his eyes relaying the seriousness of the results.

Tucker grabbed his gun out of his top drawer. "Cop?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, having heard Cragen's end of the conversation.

"Worse," Cragen said, rising out of his seat. "Judge."

Chambers of New York County Arraignment Judge Doug Stender. New York City Hall and Courthouse, Manhattan

"Judge Stender," Elliot's cool voice called through the locked doors. "It's Detectives Stabler and Benson, Special Victims."

Olivia shot him a look, one hand on her gun. She whispered, "What if he's running?"

"Nah," Elliot whispered back. "Guy like him? So arrogant, he thinks he'll never be a suspect? He's in there." He raised his voice a bit, looking to his left at Tucker and Cragen, and two uniformed officers, laying in wait. "We need a warrant, Your Honor, it, uh, it won't take much of your time."

The lock on the door clicked, the door opened a bit, and the judge glared at Elliot. "I'm in a meeting, Stabler, there are five other judges, right down this hallway, that could sign your warrant. Why do you..." he paused, seeing Tucker and Cragen step up behind Elliot and Olivia. "What is this? What is going on, here? Have you all got nothing better to..."

"Judge Doug Stender," Olivia said, cutting him off, pulling her cuffs off of her clip. "You're under arrest for impersonating an officer, and the assault of Officer Daniel Stanton. You have the right to..."

"Please," the judge sighed, closing his eyes, "Don't waste your voice or your breath, Detective. I know my rights."

Elliot looked at her before taking the judge by the arm and leading him over to Tucker and Cragen. He gave each man a narrow-eyes look before watching them lead Stender down the hall and out of the courthouse. "Did you even know he was married?" he asked Olivia.

She shook her head. "Didn't know he had a sick kid, either," she said. "I can't imaging what that doctor put him and his wife through, all those phony exams, stem-cell treatments he knew wouldn't work, just to take their money." She bit her lip and put her hands on her hips. "You'd have done it."

"Done what?" he asked, tilting his head as he started walking slowly, leading her in the path of Tucker and Cragen.

"If someone took away the chance for you to see the man that hurt your wife and kids brought to justice," she said, and then she looked at him again. "You'd kill him."

"No," he said firmly. "I'd shake his goddamned hand." He chuckled, but his laughter faded and his smile turned into a smirk. He put on a pair of sunglasses as they walked through the front doors of the courthouse and into the sunny afternoon. "But that wouldn't happen," he said. "I'd die before I let anyone hurt my wife and kids, and, uh, my wife can protect herself. She's a pistol."

Olivia laughed and shook her head with a sigh, walking with Elliot down the steps. "That sounds so weird," she told him.

"Yeah, you'll get used to it," he said, and then he looked at her. "You, uh, you do know what this means, don't you?"

She furrowed her brow and stilled on the last stair. "What?"

He waved a finger between them. "You, me, house."

"Hey, before we even have that conversation, how about..." she began, looking up at him as they headed for their maroon sedan. "You, me, apartment, pizza." She turned away from him. "This case took too damn long, and, uh, what was it you said, once? A guy's gotta eat?" She grinned smugly as she walked away from him and got into the car.

It took a moment for it to register, but when it did, the look on his face was darkly evil. "I fucking love her," he said to no one, before he ran to the car, got into the driver's seat, and headed home.

Peace and Love

Jo