Chapter Text
"Coffee and bagels on the way!" Liza declared as she rounded the corner to her friend's desk.
"Thank God for you! Apparently this is gonna be a long and boring night, and I am hungry already," Elin groaned. Liza set the box and cups on the table and loosened the collar of her uniform as Elin carefully picked a bagel for herself.
"So...How was your date yesterday?" Elin queried with a smirk.
"Meh, quite bland," Liza confessed.
"I mean the guy was good looking, hot even, but he had no original thoughts whatsoever. I was bored out of my mind by dessert, and it was so awkward to come up with anything to talk about."
"That's a shame" Elin declared, and lifted her shoes on the desk in front of her.
"No second date then?"
"Definitely not!"
"Ok, so who are we going to do tonight?" Liza changed the subject to their favorite pastime on these long nightshifts.
"Hmm, let's take the detectives for a change, Elin said. We havent done Bruno yet?"
"Uuh, he's a good one," Liza agreed.
"Oh definitely! Is he single? I have always thought so, but I don't actually know," Elin pondered.
"I guess yes, or then it's a well kept secret."
"Ok, sexual orientation?"
"I don't know, again," Elin repeated amused. "Why do we know so little of a guy who is so open and eager to talk?" she wondered.
"I don't know. Maybe he just talks a lot of nothing to keep anything of importance away from the focus," Liza reflected.
"There might be some thruth to that. Or then he just likes to keep the job separate from his personal life," stated Elin.
"That's plausible too. Well, women or men?" Liza asked.
"Let's choose both for now. We can come back to this if we find any new evidence.
"Ok, let's see, he needs someone chick."
"Yeah, chick and a little bit of classic beauty. But not too much, nothing boring," Elin announced, pointing with her bagel.
"An artist, or an art gallery owner, or some stylish boutique owner!" Liza rattled ideas in the air.
"Yeah, someone who can stand on their own feet. Someone with an edge."
"He's quite timeless, I could see him with a younger or even an older person."
"Sure, he's easy to look at, I'm sure most people would love him," Liza marked bemused.
"It's the curls! How could anyone resist a man with a curly hair and and such an easy smile?" Elin laughed.
"And all that money!" Liza snorted.
"Well, that's not a disadvantage either," Elin concluded laughing.
"Ok then, who's next? Your pick," Liza promised.
The bagels were gone, but they still had coffee and many long hours left.
"Hmm, the Captain?" Elin suggested grinning.
"Oh nice! She's so cool. I don't think she has anyone, she seems to be always at work, or on her way to go and get her boy."
"Yeah, it surely would have been a topic of the day if there suddenly was someone with her," Elin concluded.
"So, she's single," Lisa decided.
"She straight?
"I think so, I have heard she used to date some guys openly, but it was years ago." Elin remembered.
"Oh, that's so sad" Liza said with compassion. "But I guess that's how she often is, a little sad," she shrugged.
Liza contemplated their captain for a moment. Professionally she set a good example for all of them. So strict and always demanding the best results from her people, but still always friendly to everyone. But even if she was kind and respected everyone's work, she didn't seem especially happy usually. There was something undeniable sad about her demeanor. Such a kind woman deserved to have someone for her in her personal life too.
"Well, she needs someone classy, hot and smooth, but not slimy," Liza decided. Handsome, tall and dark."
"Or maybe gray?"
"Oh yes, salt and pepper, that's sexy!" Liza agreed easily.
"Although, I mean, she could easily attract men even a lot younger than her, but I can't imagine her being that interested in young guys," Elin said.
Liza was ready to agree on that one. "Yeah, she wants someone who knows where he is in the world."
"A bankier?"
"Or some big gun lawyer?"
The officers were suddenly disrupted when someone entered the lobby from an elevator. Liza took a look at the man and dropped her legs down from the table.
"Where is someone like that going at this time?"
The man was older, tall, bald and obviously angry. He paced the lobby agitated, shouting on his phone.
"The hell you are! If you wanted to do it, you could have done it weeks ago!"
Liza grew more concerned as she looked at the man more carefully. He seemed definitely strong and dangerous, he had a nasty scar on his forehead and he was talking alarmingly aggressively. Liza and Elin were sitting far away from him, in a dim lit room, which made it unlikely for him to notice them if they just sat still. But they did have a job to do here.
"I should go and question him. Would you mind..." She glanced at Elin.
"Sure, I'll come with you."
Liza knew that they both were competent, armed officers, and the man must have been cleared to enter the precinct already downstairs, but the thought of confronting such a man in an empty, dim lit building made her apprehensive.
"Does it look like he has a gun?" Elin tried to take a closer look as the man turned around as he walked back and forth in front of the elevators.
"Oh fuck, you are right. Let's go!" Liza urged.
"No wait, he has a badge too," Elin then observed.
"Thank God! I wouldn't want to try and go against him." Liza was truly relieved to learn that the man was a cop. But what was he doing here?
"Should we still ask if he needs help or something?"
"Let's wait a moment. As long as he stays in the lobby we can let him be. Let's wait until he finishes the phone call," Elin decided.
"Yeah, good, you're right.
"Maybe he's waiting for the Captain," Elin suggested, more relaxed now.
"But hey, he would be old enough," she smirked.
Liza was confused, "old enough for what?"
"For Benson!" Elin proclaimes, and now Liza understands.
"Well yeah, but that and his height are about the only aspects that fit the job description. Or actually, he is kinda hot," Liza chuckled.
"Oh, he is, Elin noticed too, now that he wasn't so concerned about the safety of the situation anymore."
The man was actually good looking, well built and apparently confident.
"But not exactly smooth or classy", she chuckled.
"No, more like mean and dangerous"
Of course Liza knew that many women fell for dangerous men, or rough men who gave that impression, like bikers and boxers. Hell, even she herself enjoyed occasionally eyeing such guys at a bar, or flirting for one night.
But Benson, she must have enough drama at work, because she was always so strict about rules, so adamant about doing everything properly. She wouldn't want a man who looked like walking trouble.
The man kept on arguing on the phone until he ended the call abruptly.
"Look Rich, I gotta go. Tell Mama I will pick her up tomorrow. Love you."
That's how he spoke to his loved ones? I really wouldn't want to be his enemy, Liza mused.
The detective pocketed his phone and stood suddenly still, looking expectantly towards the SVU squad room. And sure enough, Captain Benson strode towards him, her gait quick and angry, her back straight and face like stone. She looks even more stressed than usual, Liza worried.
The man didn't seem phased by her looks, quite the contrary. He grinned at the Captain, looking even more dangerous than before.
The Captain walked straight towards him, and he waited until they seemed to just collide together. He grabbed Benson behind her head and then wrapped his other arm around her waist. For a second Liza panicked as it looked as if he was going to attack her.
Then she realized that he was just embracing her. And the Captain let him, in fact she practically melted against him in his arms. Slowly he stroked her hair and murmured something in a low voice.
Liza just stared at them mesmerized, and Elin seemed to feel the same. Finally Benson straightened up, and he let her go.
As they walked towards the elevator Liza observed that the Captain's expression seemed exceptionally open and relaxed.
Even her voice was lighter than usually even though she was swearing angrily, which was something Liza had never heard her doing.
"That fucking chief! I should have just shot him when I had a chance!"
"Next time," the man comforted her with a smirk.
"I'll come with you and help hide the body."
"Nah, Fin has already promised to do that," Captain told him.
"Oh well, I will provide you an alibi then. I think we have spent the whole evening together, in bed," he mused.
"Hell no, you are not telling fucking IAB about my sex life! You will need to come up with another cover story. But you can work on it later, now I just want you to take me home," she asked sighing.
"Oh, I will take you," he promised.
He was smiling that dangerous smile again and as the doors opened and they stepped in the elevator side by side, Liza noticed that they were both holding one hand on each other's ass.
"Okay..." Elin said and whistled.
"That was... unexpected. Apparently the Captain prefers cocky swagger instead of smooth elegance, Liza conluded.”
“Well apparently yes. I guess we were wrong, but good for her. That man was hot!