Merry Christmas guys, we don't know how to actually take a day off, now do we! Here's our gift to you.
As the squad preps for trial a problem arises prompting an unexpected witness to have to testify. Olivia visits Dr. Lindstrom to cope with everything
The next morning, Rita Calhoun and John Buchanan made their way to the visitation room in Rikers where a fuming Elliot Stabler was waiting for them.
"You two seriously didn't show up yesterday?! I could have gotten killed!"
"Well we don't just work for you. John and I both have other cases." Rita said.
"And after whatever the hell happened yesterday we needed to prepare before we talked to you. You've got a girl accusing you of sexual harassment." Buchanan bites out.
"Jet has clearly misunderstood what happened yesterday. She's so young she could practically be my daughter. I wouldn't do that to her." Elliot says dismissively.
Rita places her hands on the metal table and leans in close to make sure Elliot is listening.
"Then why would she be accusing you Stabler?" Rita asks.
"I don't know why she's accusing me. Nobody's on my side anymore. They all believe whatever Olivia is telling them about that no good excuse for a man Barba."
"Listen here Stabler. Barba is a good man."
Stabler jumps out of his seat.
"A good man doesn't try to put his life on the line for a woman who wouldn't care if he lived or died because he's betrayed her."
Now Rita was mad. She isn't going to listen to Stabler bad mouth her friend any longer.
"Listen here, I know Barba and whatever he did was for good reason and he's in the hospital because of you, now sit down and work with me."
Elliot huffs and sits down.
"So you're blaming me for what happened to that son of a bitch because he's your friend. I thought you were better than that."
Rita's eyes narrow at Stabler.
"You want to stay on my good side Stabler. This case would be open and shut for Capitan Benson if you were only represented by Buchanan."
"What are you saying Rita? That I'm not as good as you?" Buchanan said.
Rita knew she was good at her job. Heck she had even been a part of the prosecution team that had beaten Buchanan when she took Abby Johnson's case. But she had no desire to deal with this conversation at the moment.
"If you're so opposed to all of this, why did you say yes when Buchanan called you?" Elliot snapped.
"I don't need to explain my reasons to either of you. You would never understand."
"We don't have to Rita. We have a job to do. Now let's get you prepped for tomorrow, Detective Stabler." Buchanan said as he pulled out his legal pad.
Rita took a deep breath trying to regain her composure.
"You have now two charges of sexual harassment. One makes it seem like an accident but two is questionable to a jury. So you need to tell us exactly what happened at Captain Benson's apartment and what happened with Detective Slootmaekers." Rita said.
"Your credibility is already in jeopardy so you need to be honest. According to the statement from the prosecution, you were on drugs when you entered Captain Benson's apartment." Buchanan says
