Finally

By

18lzytwner

Chapter 1

"So what was all hush hush that you needed to see me down at my office? I mean I never figured you'd come in here voluntarily," now Lieutenant Ed Tucker commented on the person he let into his office.

"Truth be told, neither did I, but it needs to be done," Detective Elliot Stabler told him.

"That sounds ominous," Tucker swallowed as he said back down behind his desk. His promotion had come straight from the Commissioner after he'd outed Deputy Chief Robertson and what he'd been up to. Interfering with SVU was only one thing that Tucker had managed to dig up; there had been more like taking bribes and currying favor with some of New York's biggest crime bosses. The commanding officer over at OCCB (Organized Crime Control Bureau) had practically kissed Ed when he'd given them his suspicions.

"Well it is, I guess," Elliot seemed to be holding something back and Ed gave him a look.

"So how long have you and Benson been more than just partners?" Tucker asked. It was Elliot's turn for a look of his own – shock.

"I've been getting calls about you two long before your marriage broke up. Figured one day it would come to this," Ed said when he got no response from Elliot.

"Look, we were just partners until after my divorce was finalized. We finally admitted that a huge part of our lives had been affected by our partnership. My marriage wasn't great not long after the twins were born and her relationships didn't last more than a couple dates once she joined SVU. The job takes its toll and even the people who aren't on the job get hurt," the detective admitted.

"So the straw that broke the camel's back was the divorce and my guess is that you two want to share an apartment or something?" Tucker wondered.

"Yeah, we'd like to live together. Can't change one of our addresses though without raising suspicion at HR and we'd really like to continue working with each other," Elliot said.

"So why isn't your partner down here anyway? Shouldn't you both be telling me this?" Ed asked.

"She wanted to be here but she was called away to the Commissioner's office. We think it has to do with the Kenneth Smith case," Elliot told him.

"I thought she was cleared for duty. Besides she wasn't even at the shoot out," Tucker was surprised to hear it.

"Since her neck injury, sometimes the Commissioner calls her into his office, to check in. She's afraid that one of these days he'll say she has to go permanent desk duty or retire," the detective explained.

"So you're in quite the pickle. However, it might work to our advantage," the IAB Lieutenant had a smirk on his face. Elliot raised an eyebrow and was wondering just what was going on in the man's head.

"You leave everything to me. Keep your hands off of each other at work until I figure this out. Did you tell Cragen?" Tucker wanted to know.

"No. We were waiting to see what you had to say," Elliot admitted.

"Figured that it was a bit like asking her dad to borrow his daughter huh? I get that. You two do know that I don't hate other cops, right? I only hate the ones using their position for things they shouldn't. Now you head on out and make sure that you have a good excuse for the Captain as to why you weren't working on your caseload," the Lieutenant said. Elliot nodded and stood.

"Thanks Tucker," he said.

"Don't thank me yet," Ed winked.

To Be Continued…