Operation Heart

Meet the Team

When Olivia reached the location of the pin Fin had sent her, she looked out the car window, surprised by the complete lack of NYPD police cars. It seemed to be an industrial neighborhood, full of old factories, and warehouses. She was about to call him to double check that she was at the correct location when she saw him standing at the door. She got out of her car and went over to him, her mind still reeling from the fact that Elliot had officially been dead for ten years. "What do we have, Fin?"

"We're helping out the Organized Crime Control Bureau with a case. Rollins, and the OCCB people are all in there waiting for us. How are you holding up today, Liv? I know just how much today sucks for you." His caring, almost worried expression wasn't missed by her, but she shrugged.

"You're right, it sucks, Fin, and I still miss him, but work will be a much needed distraction until I can go home and spend time cuddled up on the couch with Noah, watching a movie and eating pizza, just like he and I do every Friday night," she replied as she followed him into the building, where a group of people were standing.

A dark-haired woman approached them and extended her hand to Olivia. "I am Sergeant Ayanna Bell, you must be Captain Benson. It is nice to meet you," she said politely. Olivia nodded and shook the woman's hand before going over to the rest of the group, where she recognized three people, and it made her smile slightly, happy to have some of her closest friends nearby. One was SVU Detective Amanda Rollins, another was Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi, Jr. an ex-SVU detective who was now involved with Rollins, and the third person truly surprised her. ADA Alexandra Cabot had barely changed in the last few years since Alex had left SVU.

"What kind of case requires Organized Crime, SVU, and not one, but two ADA's?" Olivia inquired as she turned to look at Ayanna, who was thumbing through a case file.

"My team has spent about a decade attempting to catch a child sex trafficking ring, to no avail. We believed it was time to bring you guys in since you're sex crimes, and two ADA's are better than one when it comes to getting warrants quickly," Ayanna admitted, not looking up from her case file.

Olivia was standing next to Alex, who leaned over and hugged Olivia tightly. "How are you doing, Liv?" She asked softly, knowing that Olivia didn't want everyone to know exactly what was going through her head at that exact moment, but both Alex and Fin did. They had known Elliot, had seen the strong bond he and Olivia had shared, and had seen the aftermath of Olivia falling apart not long after losing him.

"I'm managing, but it is great to see you, Alex. How long has it been again?" Olivia was smiling slightly, her head leaning on Alex's, who smiled, not making any move to step away.

"Two years, I believe. We definitely haven't seen each other since the world went to shit from COVID, but it's nice to see you so put together again. You look good," she answered, and the two ladies looked at each other, both smiling.

They were taken out of the moment by an unfamiliar voice, a pale black-haired woman. "I truly hate to break up this adorable lesbian love fest, but can we please work on catching the criminals responsible for the child sex trafficking ring, please? One of the detectives on this case is driving me nuts."

"That is Detective Jet Slootmaekers, our resident computer genius. We have a detective, the one who drives Jet nuts in fact, who has infiltrated the trafficking ring over the past few years, and he should be here soon to shed some light on this case for us," Ayanna explained as she pulled out multiple boxes full of everything they had so far on the case. There were at least twenty boxes.

"Holy shit, that's a lot of files. I'm gonna start looking through them," Amanda stated.

"I'll help," Carisi added, and everyone got to work, including Alex, starting to look through all of the evidence. Everyone worked in companionable silence for the most part, though there were a few occasional words spoken as everyone worked together to form a timeline using the evidence. Olivia noticed Alex and Fin continuously sneaking glances at her, checking on her.

She covered her mouth with her hand, attempting to stifle a yawn. "Sergeant Bell, do you guys have a coffee maker here?" Alex asked when she saw the yawn. Ayanna nodded and gestured in the kitchenette's general direction. "Anyone else want coffee?" Everyone uttered some form of a yes, except for Olivia, who knew exactly what Alex was thinking, since there was a large coffee that was still mostly full with Alex's name written on it.

"How much sleep did you get last night, Cap?" Fin asked softly as he sat on the edge of the desk next to where Olivia was standing, flipping through a file. She looked at him as she decided how to escape his questions, but quickly determined that there was no escape. He cared about her, and she cared about him. Their friendship wasn't to the extent hers and Elliot's had been, but that was okay. She was too scared to ever give her heart away that fully ever again.

"Every time I closed my eyes last night, I was back in the squad room, watching that scene unfold, over, and over, and over again, until I made a pot of coffee, and figured out how to hide the dark circles under my eyes from Noah."

"Come on, Liv, you can't blame yourself for what happened that day. He knew what he was getting himself into by becoming a cop. And we both know he'd rather have gotten shot, than for you to have been the one who was shot." She glared at him, hating when Fin was right.

A few moments later Alex returned, making multiple trips to bring everyone's coffee to them. She also had the sugar and creamer, not knowing how anyone except for Fin and Olivia took their coffee. "Thanks," Olivia muttered as she took a sip of the coffee. She already felt like every nerve of her body was buzzing from the caffeine, but she still needed more. Everyone heard a buzz, and then they heard a heavy door open and shut moments later.

"You guys expecting someone?" Amanda questioned Ayanna, momentarily forgetting that the undercover detective was supposed to be joining them. Before Ayanna could answer, a man entered everyone's field of view, and Olivia's jaw practically hit the floor.