A Waiting Game

Olivia Stabler

Olivia's POV

As Elliot and I walk into the court room that is all too familiar to us, I feel a tightening in my chest, panic, that I've never felt in the court room.

I'm confident in Casey, I know she has it in her to win this for us. And I know we have an airtight case. But still, panic.

We sit in the front row of the gallery. And I'm very surprised to see Arthur Branch, the DA, sitting second chair, next to Casey.

Kathy has Trevor Langan for her defense, and I have absolutely no idea how she's paying for him. Jackass is probably doing it pro-bono because of how much he hates us. 

Judge Donnelly takes her seat at the bench.

I take a deep breath and grab for Elliot's hand.

Casey starts her opening argument.

"Last night Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler went to Ms. Malone's home, to inform her that Detective Stabler would be deployed with the US Marines in a week, as well as the fact that they were engaged." Casey says, "They took Detective Stabler's children out to dinner and returned to Ms. Malone's house, to find it empty."

The courtroom is dead silent, with Judge Donnelly staring intently at Elliot and I.

"They waited, until 3 in morning, for Ms. Malone to return home to take care of her kids, and when she did return home she was drunk." Casey states, "She was throwing different objects at both of them, shouting obscenities, and drinking from a bottle of tequila."

Many of the jurors have surprised look on their faces.

"Today, I would like you all, to hear about the events of that night, to hear about the sheer terror she inflicted upon her children, and make the decision to put her away, thank you." Casey says.

The whole time Langan's giving I'm staring at Kathy.

She's in a wrinkled orange jumpsuit. Her hair a mess, black eyeliner and mascara in streaks down her face. And I almost feel bad for her.

"We call Detective Elliot Stabler to the stand." Casey says.

Elliot squeezes my hand, and walks up, is sworn in, and sits down in his chair.

"Detective Stabler how many years have you worked at SVU?" Casey asks.

"7 years, coming up on 8." he says.

"And how many have you been a cop?" she asks.

"16 years." he says.

"And what state would you say Ms. Malone was in when she returned to her house last night?" she asks.

"She was drunk, violent, out of control." he says simply.

"Tell me in your own words what happened that day." Casey says.

"Well Liv, uh Detective Benson and I went over to her house to tell her that I was being deployed and that we were engaged." he says, "She didn't take it well, but said we could take the kids to dinner."

"When we got back to her house at 9, the agreed upon time, she wasn't home, so Detective Benson and I laid on the couch, and eventually we fell asleep." he says. "When we woke up Kathy was stumbling through the front door, yelling at Detective Benson about how I was her husband, how she was umm a slut for trying to take another woman's husband."

"And after that?" Casey asks.

"Detective Benson and I started up the stairs to go get the kids because it wasn't safe for them to stay with her that night, and as we were going up she threw a case that narrowly missed Detective Benson, and that's when we went into cop mode." he says, "What I mean by that, is we were both very clear that we had to get the kids out of the house, someone had to stall Ms. Malone, because she was trying to stop us from getting the kids, and we had to get out as fast as possible before anyone got seriously injured."