All In the Family (A Law And Order SVU fanfiction)

Chapter 1: Reunited

October 10th, 2014

Benson walked in to the squad room way too early this morning. The coffee she had earlier was the only thing that was keeping her awake, but she didn't care. Her old partner, Elliot Stabler, was returning to work today after leaving for three years. 

She looked around to see if Elliot was there yet, but the only people there already were Rollins and Amaro. Amaro was sitting at his desk, looking out into space. He didn't even seem to notice that she had walked in.

"Good morning Nick," she said.

"Huh?" he said, snapping out of it. "Oh, hey Liv."

"Is everything okay, Nick?" she asked. "You seem pretty out of it."

"I'm alright," he sighed. " I just got a call from Maria. She still doesn't want Zara to visit me. I have no idea when I'm going to see her again..."

"I'm so sorry, Nick," she said.

"I'm sure it will all work out," Rollins said, walking over to us. She put her hand on Nick's shoulder. "She just needs some time."

"I hope so," Nick said.

"Alright everyone," Cragen said, rushing out of his office. "NYPD just reported a rape on Lenox Hill. Everybody move out! Amaro and Benson, you two can deal with the victim. "

"Sorry I'm late," a voice called from the back of the room. "I forgot how damn early we had to get in here."

Olivia instantly recognized the voice.

It was Elliot Stabler.

She walked over to him as fast as she could.

"El," she said, "...wow. it's been so long."

"Three years, I know," he said. "And I must be crazy, because I actually missed it."

"Well, it hasn't been the same here without you," Olivia said. "We're all glad to have you back."

"So, how was retirement, old man?" Finn called out from the back of the room.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Cragen said. "Save the happy reunion stuff for later. Right now, we've got a case on our hands. Let's go everyone!"

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"Lenox Hill?" Amaro asked on the car ride over.. "That's pretty much the richest neighborhood in New York. "

"It's been a long time since we've had a case there," Olivia said. "I haven't been there in years. There's plenty of robberies over there, but there's never any rapes...."

Olivia pulled the the car over on East 67th street in front of a huge building. the whole place was surrounded by cops and police tape. "Well, here we go."

They walked through the spacious, high-ceiling hallways with some kind of stunned reverence. Eventually, after walking what felt like a mile they went into the huge apartment and looked around. They were both speechless. It was unlike any place they'd ever seen, it was impossible not to admire the obvious signs of wealth.

"This place is incredible," Nick marveled, "It's huge, there's a grand piano in the living room....this place must cost more than all of our houses combined."

"And than some," Olivia said. "I don't think I've ever seen a place this big, or this beautiful."

They walked over to a cop standing in the corner of the living room.

"Detective Olivia Benson, Special victims," Olivia said.

"Good, you're here," he said. "The woman won't really talk to us. Her name is Linda Jacobs. She's in her bedroom down the hall. She's says she's not hurt too bad, but she's really shaken up."

Amaro and Benson walked down the hall to find the victim sitting on her bed, surrounded by police officers. She looked like she was in her 40's or 50's, was blonde and in great shape. Right away, Amaro was struck by her beauty. She looked extremely nervous, she was shaking and her eyes were darting all around the room.

"Hi, Linda," Olivia said gently. "I'm Olivia Benson, and this is my partner Nick. We're from the special victims unit, and we just wanted to ask you a few questions about what happened."

"I'm sorry, but I really don't want to talk about this. Not now," she said, still shaking.

"Ma'am, the sooner you tell us what happened, the faster we can get this guy off the streets."

" I'm sorry, but I really can't help you," she said. " I don't remember much....and I'm fine really, anyway. I just want to forget about this...."

"Well, if you can just tell us anything, any small detail you tell us could help. We want to get this guy, but we can't do it without your help."

"...I mean...I...Alright. Well, I was just coming home from the gym, and I walked into my bedroom to go change. I was about to go into the shower when someone tackled me from behind. Before I even got a chance to turn around and see him, he put a blindfold on me so I couldn't see. And than, well...he attacked me. It was quick and by the time I got the blindfold off, he was gone. That's all I remember."

"So you didn't notice anything about your attacker?" Amaro asked.

"I told you, I never got a chance to look at him." she said.

"Do you remember anything at all? How he smelled, how big he was, anything on his body, tattoos...."

"He was wearing really strong cologne," she said. "And he smelled like he had been smoking."

"Anything else?" Olivia asked.

"...No," she said. "That's all I can think of."

"Thank you for talking to us," Olivia said. "And I promise you, we will catch this guy."

"I...I just don't understand it," Linda said, suddenly breaking down. "At first, I thought he did it for my money. You know, some random guy coming in to rob me and than raping me when he saw that I was there. But he didn't even take anything. So someone must have done this just to hurt me...."

"Dont' worry Mrs. Jacobs," Olivia said. "We're gonna find this guy, and he'll never be able to hurt you again."