Animal - Ch. 16

[whedonist]

Ch. 16 – Modern Rome Burning

The smell of Incense calms me and as the priest says, “Please stand.” I cast a discrete look to my left and watch as Liv rises with the rest of the congregation. The fact that she asked to come to Sunday mass with me and my family was enough to check for the signs of the Apocalypse. When she showed and Kathy opened the door, I coulda sworn there was going to be a rain of toads on the way over.

There wasn’t and she’s sat going through the motions with us this morning.

I turn my attention back to the priest as he says, “The Lord be with you.”

We respond en masse, “And also with you.”

My eyes train on his movements as he walks to the lectern. “These are troubling times and a lot of the prayer requests that have come in have reminded me of a few simple things that get lost in our daily struggles. Today I ask that you pray with me.”

I bow my head and prepare to follow his words, “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope;” we take a breath and continue the prayer as one, “where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.”

“O, Devine master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life,” we end the prayer and a solemn cloud hangs over the mass.

“We must not forget these things. They are the teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May almighty God bless you,” Father Williams says. Making the sign of the cross over the entirety of his flock, he finishes, “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

“Amen,” we all say as I cross myself.

“Go in the peace of Christ,” he says smiling.

“Thanks be to God,” we finish as one.

The organ starts up and the procession from the pulpit files down the aisle as the alter boys swing the censer of incense. Father Williams follows and the rest of us exit the church. I know the last few weeks have been tough on everyone, but Liv seems to have taken it worse than most.

I bring up the rear of my family and we file out of the church heading towards the two cars that we brought. The morning is overcast and dreary. Not a big stretch for the type of weather we’ve been having lately, but a little sunshine to warm us up wouldn’t hurt.

“Honey,” Kathy’s voice causes me to look down and over at her. “We’re going to go to brunch. Do you two have time?”

I look at Liv and know. Shaking my head, I say, “We should be getting in. We’re late as it is.” Turning to my partner, I say, “I’ll meet you over at the car in a minute.”

She nods and a few of the kids hug her goodbye. “Olivia,” my wife says, “It was good to have you with us this morning.” She hikes up my Elliot Junior on her hip and asks, “Will this be a regular thing?”

“I,” Liv falters, “honestly, probably not.”

Kathy dips her chin in understanding. “Well, you’re welcome, anytime.”

“Thanks, Kathy.” Liv smiles and waves goodbye. “El, I’ll meet you at the car. You guys have a good day.” With that she spins and heads across the street to our unmarked while I walk Kathy and the kids to our van a block down.

“Elliot, is everything okay?” Kathy asks as I buckle Eli in to his car seat and check that the rest of the kids are buckled in.

I shut the van door and lean in the open driver’s side window before answering, “It’s the case we’re working on. It’s…it’s shaken a few of us up.” I shrug and cover her hand with mine, resting it on the steering wheel. “I think she’s looking for a few answers. I don’t think she’s gonna find them here.”

Kathy’s mouth pinches and I know from our years together that she wants to say something. But she thinks better of it and instead leans to plant a chaste kiss on my lips. “Okay,” she says, “Call me later.”

I nod. “Love you,” I say smiling as I lean further in and tell the kids the same.

“Be safe, El,” my wife says.

Turning away, I jog across the street and down the block to meet up with my partner. She’s in the drivers seat with the heat on as I climb inside.

“Everything cool?” she asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know if cool is going to happen anytime soon Liv. But Kathy was just worried. You and church? I didn’t think I’d live to see the day.”

She smirks at me as she puts the car in drive. “Me either partner.”

She signals left and we head towards the bridge to take us to Manhattan. The drive ain’t so bad and we make it to the one-six in less time than I anticipated. We park in front, but she doesn’t kill the engine.

“How are you handling all of this?” she asks, licking her lower lip.

“This is what?” I ask her. What the hell is she talking about?

“This whole,” she looks over her shoulder and out the windows, before saying, “Vampires, demons, slayers stuff.”

“Partner, this, the vampire, slayer stuff, is just actual proof that there is a God.”

She shakes her head. “No it’s not. You saw what happened to Siobhan.”

I lean back against the door to turn and look at her. “So, because of that, you have no faith?”

She rolls her eyes and it nearly comes out like a pout, “I didn’t have any to begin with, El. All of this just seems to reinforce it. The God that I’ve heard about…it’s not one that I want anything to do with even if He does exist.”

I open up the passenger side door as she kills the engine and we step out into the late morning. “I think you’re looking at it wrong. It’s a balance thing. Right and wrong, good and evil.”

She quirks an eyebrow at me and scrunches her face, “After all the shit we’ve seen in the past ten years you really believe it’s that black and white?”

We walk inside and sign in before I give her an answer as we step in the elevator. It’s only us so I say, “Not everything. Some stuff, definitely. God is to me.”

She looks at me, leaning casually against the back of the elevator as it takes us up to the bullpen. Her hands are hooked in her pants pocket and she’s dressed a little nicer for her trip to church this morning, but it’s still Liv. Actually it’s a little more of the layered look she sported the first two-thirds of our partnership. I forgot how much I like that look on her.

“I say your full of shit,” she says.

I laugh as the doors slide open and we step out into the hallway. “Say all you want. I’m calling you chicken.” I smirk at her and jog down the hallway afraid of getting kicked.

“Stabler,” she calls after me, jogging behind.

Laughing for the first time in I don’t know how long, we rest against each other and walk through the doors. I look up and see Munch, Fin, Buffy, Debra, Jimmy, Alex, Cragen, the federal agent-slash-slayers and Willow all standing around looking at us.

Fin looks between the two of us and says, “What’s so funny?”

Liv and I look at each other and shrug. Nothing, everything, the look between the two of us conveys. It’s her that answers, “Life, Fin. Life is absurd. Sometimes,” she says dropping her coat on the back of the chair and clapping him on the back, “you just need to laugh about it.”

---

I lean against Buffy’s desk and watch as Elliot and Olivia come in laughing. It’s a nice change. Knowing the meeting’s about to start, I stand up straighter as Buffy’s hand gives my arm a gentle squeeze. I offer her a small smile and a silent, ‘love you’ before turning my attention back to the conversation going on around us.

“While we need the levity,” Cragen says directing his attention to me, “Doctor Rosenberg wanted to go over the preliminary findings and the autopsy with us.”

I smile and say, “I just thought it would be easier to go over this with everyone here. Thank you, sir.”

“Hey,” Munch says, “How come Melinda doesn’t ever come down and do a little dog and pony show?”

Odafin rolls his eyes and says, “Willow’s new ya old goat. Cut the doc some slack and let her tell her business.”

I laugh a little at the two of them. If I weren’t so damn tired it’d be a nice hearty type of laugh. Considering I’ve been up since about three a.m. Saturday morning and it’s now past noon on Sunday, my feeble attempt at a laugh should be appreciated.

“Thanks, Odafin.” I watch him nod in my direction and then approach the bank of computer screens pulling up a photo of Siobhan’s body against the cold steel of the autopsy table. “A lot of stuff we lost because her skin was missing. I confirmed yesterday morning through dental records that we correctly identified Siob…” I stop and regroup, remembering that just using her name makes my tummy rumble, “the victim. Given the lower ambient temperature and the missing skin, pinpointing time of death was difficult and even then I’m only going to say that she was dead a minimum of twelve hours prior to the jogger finding her.”

I tap the keys and bring up photos from the autopsy. “It was also impossible to determine cause of death. The blood loss was severe, but,” I point to a marks on her upper left thigh, right shoulder blade and right arm, filling in, “these marking here tell me that her skin was removed in strips. There was no severe pulmonary damage to suggest cardiac arrest, but I wouldn’t rule out hypovolemic shock as a cause of death, but then that would have been brought on by the low blood volume and body shutting down to protect the cardiac muscle and brain. I’m waiting on a few tests that will be analyzing oxygen concentration in the deeper muscle tissue and organs to finalize my report. I…”

“Red,” Jimmy barks, “breathe.”

My face heats up and I nod, sucking in a breath. Breathing helps, it’s helpful and…gah! I need sleep.

“So, tests. Waiting on those.” I punch up a few more graphs and diagrams. “Debra, the results from the trace evidence came back and I need to know if you remember anything about where you were being held.” I look at her, hopeful.

Debra chews on her lower lip and shakes her head, looking at her feet. “I don’t remember. I mean…we were brought in with bags around our heads. I just remember going from the van to the building.” She looks up at me sadly. “I’m sorry.”

I see Jimmy’s hand go to the small of her back and I watch as she loosens up a little. I raise an eyebrow to Buffy and she smirks. We’re going to talk about this later. I’ve been meaning to find out what’s been going on between those two.

“That’s alright,” I say, smiling. “We did get some stuff back, but it’s not a lot. I have a friend at Columbia that’s like the Einstein of soil and all things dirt like. He should have something for me within the next few days.

“Just, I mean, when you guys need me to help, I’m here. I want in on this,” Debra says.

“Detective,” Captain Cragen starts, “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

She looks him over and shakes her head. “With all due respect Captain, but fuck good ideas. I shouldn’t be shut out.”

For some reason, Amanda steps in, “Captain, we’ve actually got the okay. She won’t be a serious participant in the investigation, but she will be useful.”

The captain looks between Debra and Amanda. “Fine, but keep it light, Morgan. I told Lieutenant Laguerta that you would be in good hands. Detective Batista says that two phone calls in the time that you’ve been gone is unacceptable.” Don smiles and says, “I suggest you call your department a little more regularly.”

Debra smiles at this and nods.

“Also, Buffy and Jimmy,” he continues, “Patrick and I have agreed that you won’t be pulled onto any more active cases. Olivia and Elliot that goes for you two as well. Munch and Fin will be picking up some of the slack as will I.”

“Captain,” Olivia starts, “That’s really not necessary. There are plenty of hands in this that we can divert some of our…”

“Olivia,” Don says, his arms folding across his chest, “This isn’t something that you get to negotiate. I don’t care what needs to be done, but you and you’re partner’s sole duty is to this case and this case only.”

I watch Olivia huff for a moment, but see Alex run her hand over Olivia’s shoulder, causing the detective to back down.

“Now that we’ve got that, who wants to fill me in on the latest vic?” Don asks, looking at each detective involved in the huddle.

Buffy steps and says, “Siobhan Brady. She was twenty-one; date of birth is August first of nineteen-eighty-seven. She attended the Holland School for girls in England.” Buffy goes to the computer and shows a photo of Siobhan taken a few years ago when she was on Faith’s squad. “She graduated a year early and was hired by the Watcher’s Council as a consultant.”

“Family?” Elliot asks.

Buffy shakes her head. “The only family that she had was in the form of a few friends from school, but even then from what I’ve been told she wasn’t in contact with any of them for at least a year.”

“She was funny,” Debra says softly. “She was smart and she was good at what she did.”

“Just what exactly did the girl do?” Odafin asks.

It’s Alex who answers, lying smoothly, “She was a buyer for the Council. I was in contact a bit with her boss and Siobhan’s specialty was in Cuban artifacts.”

“Cool. So Deb, how’d you meet her?” he follows up.

“Through Dexter, well, I guess through Buffy and Willow. They introduced us when they were in Miami.” She looks between the two of us and then back at Odafin. “She was young, but she had a better grasp on reality then people twice her age.”

“No known enemies?” Munch asks.

“No. None that I ever ran into or heard her talk about.” Debra leans against one of the desks as everyone begins grabbing a chair. Alex leans against Olivia’s desk and Buffy hops up on hers while Jimmy stands shoulder to shoulder between Buffy and Debra.

“Alright, then we still don’t have much in the way of a suspect.” Don rubs his neck and sighs. “Olivia see if we can get anything from Miami Metro. Maybe they have something that could be useful to us.”

I watch Munch and Fin shuffle to their desks and I look over at Alex. “We have court soon?”

She nods and says, “An hour, which means we should be going.”

I make my way over to Buffy and squeeze her shoulder and pat Jimmy’s arm before waiting on Alex to say goodbye to Olivia. I sigh as I realize it’s going to be another very long day.

---

The speaker on the phone is loud and I cringe as the woman on the other end squeaks, “Buffy just shut up and listen!”

I look over at Alex who shrugs then leans in and uses the pad of her thumb to wipe the corner of my mouth. “Liv, you really should be more careful.”

“Hey,” I protest, “I may have been saving that sauce for later.”

Her eyebrow rises at me and she says nothing more.

“Dawn,” Buffy’s voice is low, “You need them at the other places more than they’re needed here now. I’m sending them away. Satsu and Amanda can go to Los Angeles and the other two…” Buffy falters.

“Claire and Denise,” Willow supplies.

“Thanks Will. Claire and Diane can go to Austin,” Buffy says.

I wonder if she did the name thing on purpose. She has warned that she sucks at names.

“You realize that I’m going to tell Xander and he can call and yell at you, right?”

I take a sip of my Coke and laugh. I think I may like Buffy’s sister. She seems like a riot.

“You and Xander can go blow the whole Council out of your aa…” Alex and I watch amused as Willow’s hand clamps over Buffy’s mouth muffling her words.

“You can tell Xander that it’s the right thing to do, Dawn,” Willow finishes for her wife.

“Princess,” Jimmy starts in from his position on the couch, “we got it here. If it gets crazy, I’ll call you myself.”

“Fine.” We hear some rustling in the background and Dawn says, “Look, fine. Do what you want. I need to go.”

“We love you, brat,” Buffy says smirking as she pries Willow’s hand off her mouth.

“Love you all too,” Dawn parrots back before the line goes dead.

“Well,” Alex says, “that was certainly enlightening. What side of the family is the howler monkey on?”

“Our dad’s,” Buffy says not missing a beat. “Although, I’m not ruling out that she wasn’t adopted or something.”

“Buffy,” Willow warns and I smirk. The blonde rolls her eyes and takes a bite of the pizza.

I look around at the people here, Debra, Jimmy, Buffy, Willow and Alex and realize that today, despite the lack of serious progress, has been okay. Since I found out what’s really been going on, I’ve felt…off. I look up as I feel someone’s eyes on me and see Alex looking at me. I smile at her and realize that I’ve been pretty distant with her recently too.

I sigh and stand up. I go over to Buffy and lean down whispering, “I need to talk to Alex privately, you mind if I use your room?”

She shakes her head and I turn pulling Alex up from her chair. I lead her down the short hallway and into the bedroom, closing the door once she’s in the room.

“Olivia?” she questions, arms folding across her chest.

I smile at her and lead her to the bed to sit down. “Sorry, I just didn’t want anyone else…this is a conversation for you and me only.”

Her hand finds mine, lacing them together. I almost want to pull away as the touch is almost too much, but I don’t. I need to get over this. “I, uh, I’m sorry.”

“For?” Alex asks, her eyebrow rising.

“For not… for just not being really available the last week or so.” I look at our hands and I run a thumb over her palm. “It’s just I was thinking today about how out of my element I’ve felt, ya know?”

She lets my hands go and I run my left one through my hair. “I’m afraid, I don’t Liv.”

“Alex, I work sex crimes. It’s me. It’s more of who I am than anything else. This whole thing with the…”

“The monsters and vampires,” she supplies.

“Yeah, it’s been weird. There aren’t… I don’t have a rule book for this,” I try to explain.

“You use a rule book?” she jokes.

“No, I mean yes, but this is different. And today, I went to church with Elliot and after that it made less sense than it did before.”

“Wait,” my girlfriend says, “you went to church and didn’t take pictures?”

“Alex,” I nearly whine. “I’m trying to tell you something.”

“Oh really, Detective? And what exactly would that be?” she smiles and tucks some of my hair behind my ear.

“I’m saying it doesn’t matter. I’ve been freaking out and I don’t need to. When this is all done, I’ll go back to catching rapists and child molesters and Buffy and Jimmy and Willow and this whole thing can go away.” I sigh and finish, “So I’m sorry I haven’t made myself available, I just needed some time.”

She nods at me in understanding and her eyes soften. Leaning in she captures my lips in a chaste kiss. Pulling back a few seconds later she says, “Does this mean I can take you home tonight?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me and I laugh.

“We’re trying to stop a crazy vampire from killing a bunch of teenage girls and your thinking about sex?”

She nods and stands. “I have my priorities, Olivia.”

We laugh our way back to the living room where everyone is putting together some ideas about where to start looking.

“Will, what about a spell?” Buffy asks.

The doctor shakes her head. “I tried that. They really aren’t using any. Even the demon locator spell didn’t turn anything up.”

“Shit,” Buffy moans. “Alright. I’m going to head out and start a sweep.”

“Uh, not without Red or me, Cupcake,” Jimmy moves to stand.

“Jimmy,” Buffy warns, “I can handle a sweep without you two.”

Jimmy rises to his full height, squaring his shoulders. “And you must think I’m a fuckin’ idiot if you think that you aren’t taking at least one of us with you.”

I watch amused as they stand toe to toe. Neither budging as Alex nudges my shoulder. “We ever get that confrontational?”

I smirk and shake my head, “Councilor there were some days I couldn’t make up my mind of wanting to punch you or take you on my desk in the middle of the squad room.”

She blushes a little and nods. “Good to know.”

“Stop,” Willow gets between the two of them. “Jimmy you’re staying here with Debra and I’m going with Buffy.”

“Uh, no Will you’re really not,” Buffy says looking at her wife.

“I’m not?” Willow’s hands fist at her side.

“You haven’t slept in two days. You need to,” Buffy tries to reason.

“Do I need to remind you who is the boss of me?” The doctor’s arms fold across her chest and she raises an eyebrow at her blonde counterpart.

Looking between the two of them, I’m not sure if I could cross either one of them. Truthfully, they both kinda scare me.

“Honey,” Buffy’s tone softens, “I get it okay. I just think that I can handle a sweep on my own and everyone else can get some sleep. We’re all in serious need.”

“Baby,” Willow’s tone matches Buffy’s, mocking a little in its sweetness, “You haven’t slept since Thursday night. If anyone can use the sleep, it’s you.” Willow smiles at her and I watch amazed as Buffy’s posture droops. “I think it would do everyone some good, if ALL of us got some sleep.”

“Fine,” the detective mumbles.

“And on that note,” Alex says standing, “I think we should go.”

I move and gather our coats and Jimmy says, “Cupcake, listen to your wife. Alex, Olivia, good to have you over for a round of ‘which Summers Woman Can Screech the Loudest’. Oh, and diner too.”

“Dinner was good, thanks, Jimmy,” I say as he helps me into my coat.

“Willow,” Alex says from behind. “Good work in court today. We’ll see all of you in the morning.”

I wave a goodbye before following Alex down the hall to the elevators. Sleep sounds damn good right about now.