A/N: I'm on some kind of Law & Order: SVU kick lately… so I've decided to base a new Zevie fic around that… somewhat. Happy Zevie Month!
Let me know what you think!
Zander and Stevie work in the Special Victims Unit along with a few others, and so it's going to sort of be like Law and Order, but don't worry. You don't have to watch the show to understand this. I'm not going to be basing much off the show anyway (or at least I hope not!)
I'm rating it as T, but there will be trigger warnings at the beginning of chapters if needed. I like to get graphic with dark things, so PLEASE, if you can't stomach those kinds of things, or you've had experiences or something, and you can't handle things like this, please don't continue reading.
I really want to make this an enthralling story, but I don't want people to be disturbed by it. This is your warning; however, the first chapter isn't going to be very graphic at all.
Disclaimer: I don't own How to Rock or Law & Order: SVU
Warnings: Non-suitable content for anyone under 13
April 23rd, 2008 | 6:57 AM
Los Angeles Police Department
"Coffee?"
"Oh, you know me so well," he teases, kissing her cheek and swiping her coffee mug right out of her hands, careful not to spill any on her blouse or his crisp white button-down. He gulps down at least half before giving a dramatic "Ah" and handing her the cup back.
She gives him her best un-amused look and then says, "You better hope you didn't catch my cold." She takes a small sip from what's left of her drink and then places the cup down on the wood surface of her desk.
He grins and says, "You don't have a cold, you're just trying to scare me."
"Too bad I don't have oral herpes," she retorts, rolling her eyes. He knows she's only joking, but she's always been convincing. He's just known her too long to take her seriously.
"That's a 'too bad' thing?" he teases, raising an eyebrow. She ignores the question and thumbs through a file that's been sitting on her desk probably all night—she's only just got into work, and it must not have been too important, no one called her in after she left last night.
"Hey, Z, you got anything this morning?" Stevie asks him. Zander Robbins and Stevie Baskara have been partners for almost eight years. Zander's been working for the LAPD longer than Stevie has though, but he's never quite gotten along with his other partners the way he has with Stevie.
They're inseparable, and Zander even jokes about Stevie calling her his work-wife, though he has no wife outside of work. Just a girlfriend of almost four years. Their coworkers tease Zander and Stevie constantly about how close they are, but they have an unspoken rule.
No dating. No feelings. Strictly work.
"Define anything," Zander replies, sitting down at his desk only a few feet from hers. Stevie walks around her own desk, reading through the file. She takes a seat on the edge of his desk that's not cluttered with papers and manila folders and Zander watches her silently for a few minutes.
"What's that?" he asks.
"It was left on my desk, here look at it," Stevie says, shoving the folder into his hands. He skims over it and Stevie walks away for a minute to grab herself some more coffee and a mug for Zander too—so he can stop stealing hers.
When she comes back Zander says, "I don't know what you find so interesting about this." He shrugs, closes the file and tosses it on the ever-growing pile. Stevie places the mug down on his desk and he continues, "It's not even a sexual assault case. Not rape. It's out of our hands."
"I found it interesting because his file states he's been in jail before. It doesn't say what for though," Stevie responds, picking the file back up.
"You're not considering digging around, are you?" Zander asks, watching his partner for any signs. When she lies, he knows. He's known her for a while, but what he also knows is when she doesn't look him in the eyes. She keeps her attention on the file and Zander sighs, "Don't do it. It's not worth it, Steves. The case shouldn't have even ended up on your desk, it was probably a mistake."
"I don't think so," She says, finally looking at him. He then purses his lips and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. He doesn't think the case is all that important—it's not even in the right department for God's sakes!
"Steves, let the case go, alright? It's not in our department. Let the others take care of it."
"Fine, fine," Stevie gives in, tossing the folder aside.
She yawns and it's a big enough yawn to catch Zander's attention because when she's able to speak again he asks her, "Did you sleep at all last night?"
"Wha—of course I slept last night. People need sleep, Zander," she answers, waving at him dismissively. He watches her for another minute before finally brushing it off and turning back to the paperwork on his desk.
He loves the mysteries in his job, and sometimes even getting to play good cop, bad cop, but he absolutely hates the paperwork. He likes the days where Stevie insists she will do it for him—she's always been more patient with that kind of stuff…
Despite the fact that she's absolutely impatient when it came to most people.
Today, however, is not one of those days. In fact, she looks a little bit too tired than normal, but maybe he's just misreading—something he normally doesn't do when it comes to her. He starts filling out the load on his desk before his boss comes in with news of a case.
"Baskara, Robbins. Got a call not too long ago. Santa Monica Pier. An anonymous source called in the police after they found a body under the pier. They've got a medical team down their already, but they're calling us in. Where's Baskara?"
Zander looks over at Stevie's desk and then shrugs at his boss.
"She was here a little while ago…" he answers, closing folders and quickly stacking them together before pulling on his jacket with his badge in the pocket, "I'll go look for her real quick and then head down to the pier."
Eventually, he does find her. She's in the employee kitchen/lounge sucking down her fifth cup of coffee—or at least that's what she's told him. He tosses her jacket at her and then leads her out of the building, down to the lot where their car is.
April 23rd, 2008 | 9:24 AM
Santa Monica State Beach & Pier
They arrive at the Pier, and naturally, the first thing they see is a crowd of people being kept behind yellow caution tape. On-lookers who quite honestly have no business looking on, but do so anyway.
"Everybody just has to know what's going on, don't they?" Zander huffs under his breath, just low enough that Stevie can still hear him.
She laughs at the comment and nods her head, "Of course they do. God forbid anyone should miss something—about half of them go home wishing they hadn't bothered to see anything. That's just when the body's spotted."
They walk through the crowd until someone from their unit recognizes them and lets them through. Zander goes first, careful to avoid stepping in the water as the tide comes in and goes out. He walks over to the medical team and that's when the news comes out—this case is already going to be a difficult one.
"According to her current condition," a medical examiner begins, taking short but thorough notes on her clipboard, "She was alive when she got dumped here. Inhaling all that salt water must've finished our perp's job. She's cold, which means she's been here for a while. I won't know exactly how long until we get her back to the lab and run a few tests."
"Our perp was smart though," she says suddenly, "Dumped her body here, far enough in so it would take a while for the tide to pull her out and have anyone recognize her here. Just enough time for the water to take off any prints they may have left on her."
"Great," Zander states cynically, his tone dull, "So, we've got nothing so far?"
"I wouldn't say that," Stevie says suddenly, leaning down for a closer look at the body. She slips on a pair of gloves and carefully moves the girl's wet shirt sleeve up her arm. Just an inch or two above her wrist is a deep bite mark, still bright red but slowly browning.
"That looks fresh," the examiner says, kneeling down beside Stevie. Zander doesn't move, he doesn't need a closer look.
"If our perp's in the system, all we have to do is trace their dental records. It's a deep and clear bite, this could be helpful."
"So, what?" Zander asks suddenly, "Is that all we've got?"
"Like I said, Detective Robbins, our perp was smart. She's been in this water long enough to wash away and fluids the perp might've left on her. That includes fingerprints, semen, blood. Perp's male. Judging by the blood between her legs, she was a virgin."
"So, he rapes her, but he doesn't kill her. He lets the water take care of that," Zander elaborates, moving his eyes away from the victim's body to out from under the Pier, where he can just see the horizon. A breeze brushes past him, pulling him out of this thoughts.
Before he can elaborate any further, Stevie cuts in, "He lets the salt water kill her, take off anything that might lead back to him… stuffs her under the pier as far in as possible so it takes long enough for any evidence to clear off… sounds like we've got a professional on our hand," she sighs heavily.
The examiner moves away from Zander and Stevie to continue checking out the victim for any more clues as to who may have killed her.
"Do we know anything else about Jane Doe here?" Zander asks Stevie, crossing his arms.
"No ID," Stevie deadpans.
"You sure you don't need to take the rest of the day off and sleep?" Zander asks, concerned. Stevie shakes her head.
"Just give it up, okay? I'm fine, Z. Besides, we've got a case with very few evidence… might as well start working on it now." She makes to move past him and continue getting as much out of the examiner as she can, but Zander gently grabs her arm.
He looks at her seriously and says, "Don't push yourself, okay?"
"Never have, never will," she says with a small smile, removing her arm from his grasp and making her way back to the medical examiner.
April 24th, 2008 | 1:47 AM
Los Angeles Police Department
"Anything come back from the lab yet?" Zander asks a few hours later. They've returned back to the police department, and Stevie's looking through the small pile of papers the examiners handed her after a few tests they had taken.
They aren't nearly done with Jane Doe yet though, and both detectives are becoming a little frustrated with how slow the medical department is currently being. Zander sighs and sits back in his chair as he waits for his partner to finish reading.
She shakes her head suddenly, "Nothing new, not really. Just that she's nineteen years old. Still no name yet, and she was under that pier for almost a week… Doesn't it make you wonder about something though?"
"Wonder about…?"
"Well," Stevie says quickly, "No one's filed a missing person's report. Don't you find that weird? She's been under that Pier long enough to make someone worry…"
"Well, maybe a bit, but maybe someone isn't missing her. She could've run away from home ages ago. Cops gave up looking for her… she turns up suddenly without a name, or any form of ID and suddenly she could be any missing person."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Stevie says, rubbing her eyes, exhausted. At the moment, she thinks there's nothing more inviting than her bed at home. But she's also not ready to go home yet.
Zander says, "You should just head out now. It's almost two in the morning, Steves. You looked like hell when you walked in, might as well try to get some sleep."
"I'll just stay in the precinct or something tonight. There's no point in driving home, only to come back in a few hours anyway," she sighs.
"You can have my bunk for the night," Zander says, not minding it. He hasn't stayed in the precinct in almost a year. He's never really needed to, not unless he was working till late and didn't want to drive home. He hands her his pass card and she takes it gratefully, wanting nothing more than to sleep.
But there's a slight hesitation in the way she grasps the pass. She masks it quickly though and thanks him before running off to go get some sleep. Zander hangs back and leans back in his chair, putting his arms behind his head for some support.
He shuts his eyes and pays attention with his ears. The office is extremely quiet except for the late night work going on down the hallway. He wonders if the medical team has given up for the night or if they're still trying to put a name with their Jane Doe.
Bad guys never seem to sleep, Zander thinks tiredly, drifting off.
A/N: Dear God, that sucked, didn't it…? So sorry if you've read up to this point…