HEY GUYS, I'M TRYING THIS ONE OUT. THE IDEA CAME TO ME THE OTHER DAY WHILE I WAS THINKING ABOUT PARTS OF MY OWN CHILD HOOD. I'M NOT SURE HOW EVERYONE WILL LIKE THIS ONE, BUT I THINK IT COULD BE INTERESTING.
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK IN THE REVIEWS!
(also, I will accept suggestions )
(I DO NOT OWN SVU OR THE CHARACTERS WITHIN THAT SHOW, ONLY MY ORIGINAL ONES IN THIS)
TRIGGER WARNING:
MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE
"That doesn't really sound like a case for SVU." Olivia said into the phone, confused by the call. "We don't usually get involved in overdoses."
"I think there's more to it than that Liv, one of the kids is showing signs of abuse." Amelia Lynn, a nurse from Belleview hospital had called her out of concern.
"Alright." Olivia sighed. "It's pretty slow in here at the moment, so I guess I can give it a look. I'll be over as soon as I can. Thanks Lynn." Striding into the squad room, she announced a possible new case. "I'm doing this as a favor to a friend that works at the hospital, I don't know what we're walking into just yet so Fin, Carisi, you two stay here and hold down the fort. Rollins come with me. The kids are all female and young, I could use you."
"Say no more Liv, I'm ready to go." Grabbing her jacket from her chair she followed Olivia into the elevator bay, unaware of what would meet them at the hospital.
"There are three girls at the hospital with their step-father. The mother, staff believes, overdosed at their home. She was brought in by her husband, Greg I think it was, with her children in tow." Olivia explained the information she had been given by the nurse.
"We don't work ODs Liv." Amanda countered, confused as to why their assistance was needed in a drug case.
"I know that, but a woman I know that works in the ICU is concerned there might be abuse. She said one of the kids is exhibiting symptoms." She explained, what would be the harm in checking, right?
*
Thirty minutes later, the female duo arrived at the hospital and made their way to the ICU where they were greeted at the nurse's desk by a small woman, her fire red hair tied back into a loose pony tail that hung at the base of her neck.
"Amanda, this is Nurse Lynn. Lynn, Amanda Rollins."
"It's nice to meet you." Nurse Lynn said, smiling at Amanda who returned the gesture. "So, I'm not exactly sure how to describe what I'm seeing with the kids. It might be best if you observe them yourself." Without further pleasantries she led then down a hallway to a private room.
Upon entering the room, they were greeted with the sight of three small blonde haired girls. The older one, Olivia could only assume to be nine year old Mariah, was sitting in a chair in the corner with an infant she assumed was two year old Dakota. The baby was fast asleep, her little hands clutching a blanket with a red cool-aid mustache, with her older sister playing on a phone.
The middle girl was settled on the bed, between her mother's legs, and Olivia couldn't help but feel like the tiny little girl was somehow on guard. She had this look on her face, like she was watching every person that came near her mother.
"You must be Breann. My name is Olivia and this is my friend Amanda, we're here to talk to you and your sisters if that's okay?" Olivia asked, pulling an extra chair up next to the bed when the small blonde girl narrowed her eyes but nodded. She and Amanda shared a look and the detective knew what was being asked of her: occupy the other girls, this is the one we need to talk to.
"Okay sweetie, can you tell me what happened today?" Olivia said kindly, the voice she saved for victims coming out in full force. This girl knew something, she probably knew a lot. Breann studied her face for a moment, looking intently at her eyes, checking to see if she could be trusted. After a moment of turning her head this way and that, almost like a puppy, she spoke.
"Mommy's 'sleep cuz she's sick." It was matter of fact. Her mother was sick, she just wasn't sleeping. She was in a coma. The ventilator pumping air into her lungs was obvious.
"Well, that's not very good is it?" the little girl shook her head slightly, never taking her blue eyes off of the brown orbs staring back. "How did you and your mommy and your sisters get here, to the hospital today?"
"Greg drived us. He got mad because Mariah and Dakota cried, but not me, I didn't cry." Once again, her eyes narrowed, this time it was when she said her step-fathers name.
"Were is Greg right now sweetie?" Breann just shrugged her shoulders, but it was more of a "who cares?" type of shrug. Olivia looked to Lynn.
"He left about an hour ago to get coffee." Lynn said, smiling when Breann looked around Olivia at her.
Standing, Olivia extended her hand to the six year old who immediately jumped back in fear. She exchanged looks with Amanda and her stomach sank. Breann had covered her face, and her little t-shirt lifted just enough to see a mottle of bruises on her tiny side.
"Oh my God." Amanda gasp, her hand going to her mouth. Usually she was much more composed, much better at hiding her reactions, but this little girl, this innocent little girl looked so much like her daughter it was disturbing. She looked at the two other children, the baby, Dakota, still asleep in her sisters arms. The oldest girl, Mariah, so focused on the Angry Birds game she had been playing was unaware of what had just unfolded.
"Sweetie what happened to your side?" Olivia asked moving slowly towards the bed as to not startle the little girl once again.
Breann had tears in her eyes, but the look of fear had been replaced with one of defiance. This was a strong little girl.
"Greg gets mad at me sometimes." She said, her little chin jutting out.
"When did this this one happen?"
"…this morning. Mommy and him fighted about it because she saw that one." Her little hand closed around her mother's foot and for a moment her face fell and she acted like the six year old she was before she fixed it into a hard mask again.
*
After some difficult convincing, and promises to stay at her mother's bedside, little Breann agreed to let a doctor examine her bruises. In the hallway of her mother's room, Olivia and Amanda waited for Fin and Carisi to arrive.
"She looks just like Jesse." Amanda said, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.
"I saw it too." Olivia agreed. "What do you think about the other two? Mariah and Dakota?"
"I don't know really. The little one, Dakota, I think is probably too young to really know what's going on. But Mariah has definitely either seen or experienced something. She gets so into those games that she can't hear anyone talking to her, she's good at distracting herself that's for sure." She shook her head, she wanted to be the one to talk to this Greg.
"I think you're right, she hasn't spoken since they've been here apparently." Olivia leaned to one side and peeked her head in the door to check on the two children still nestled in the chair in the corner, and then her eyes fell on the woman laying in the bed. The rise and fall of her chest falling into the rhythm of the heart monitor beeping from the machine next to her. What had happened to this woman? "What about the mother? She confronts her husband about beating her child and in the same day is in the hospital from a drug overdose?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say Greg had a hand in that part as well." Amanda replied sadly. At that moment she heard two familiar voices floating down the hallway from behind her. Turning to look over her shoulder she saw her male colleagues heading in their direction. "Find Greg yet?" she asked.
"No dice. He's not in the hospital, we know that much. A few nurses saw him pulling out of the parking lot while they were on their break. They ID'd him off his driver's license photo because he bummed a smoke off of one of them on his way out." He said with a sigh.
"This guy is a real piece of work Lieu. And he's got one hell of a record. Up until he was eighteen, petty theft, possession charges and the like, but at eighteen he was picked up and sentenced to ten years for a manslaughter charge. He hit his then girlfriend, Renee McCullen, and she died five hours later in her sleep. Turns out she had an aneurism and it burst when he knocked her around. Served all ten because the guy couldn't stay out of fights in prison. After his release he served another four years for assault on a bouncer at a club when he broke the guys jaw and fractured his eye socket. After that it's lots of misdemeanor assault, drugs and stuff like that." Carisi said, pointing to a stack of papers in his hand, he had apparently printed off Greg Harris's entire record.
"I want this guy found. Get Units to go to the home address, work, friends, get them anywhere we know this guy goes. I want him found. These kids have been through enough, and the doctors don't know if their mother will even wake up." Liv said. She was angry.
Amanda stayed silent, she was sick to her stomach; this monster was in the wind. Breann the three foot something tall six year old blonde child was a carbon copy of her daughter, only older. In fact, she reminded her a lot of herself. Strong willed even when she wanted to break down and cry. This child was so far mature beyond her years it was almost unbelievable, but in their line of work, they knew trauma would make someone grow up fast.
Just then, Olivia spotted the tiny blonde bobbing next to nurse Lynn, a small smile gracing her face and a juice box in one hand while the other held tightly to one of the nurse's, and she couldn't help but smile herself. In the hour and a half they'd spent with her, it was the first time she'd seen a semblance of the child she actually was. Without saying a word to the detectives she hurried past them into the room where her mother, and sisters resided.
"Riah! Miss Lynn says she will give you a juice if you go with her to the play room, she says it's quiet in there too so you can play your game." Only after her older sister nodded her assent did she speak again but this time it was to Olivia. "Miss 'Livia?"
"Yes sweetie?" she bent over at the waist to get on the same level as the girl.
"Could you hold Kota for a minute please? Riah has to go with Miss Lynn for a bit of a while and Kota is too heavy to carry for her." She said with a shrug of her shoulders and a shake of her head as if saying she didn't understand why her big sister couldn't carry Dakota.
"Of course I can." Moving slowly to the pair of children in the chair, unsure how Mariah would react to being touched she gently picked up the sleeping baby and rested her on her shoulder, smiling as Breann grabbed Mariah's hand and led her into the hallway to meet Nurse Lynn.
"I'll have one of the other nurse's bring in a cot for you to lay her on." Lynn nodded to Olivia who just smiled in reply. It had been a while since she had a baby snuggle into her neck the way little Dakota was in that moment, her chubby little hand twirling the brunettes hair between her fingers.
"Mommy." Dakota sighed, and Olivia's heart broke. When the nurse set up the cot, Olivia gently laid the baby down, tucking the thin hospital blanket around her.
"Here Lieu, it gets pretty cold in these places." Carisi said, hanging her his jacket cover Dakota with. She smiled and accepted the jacket. Mariah would be checked over by a doctor just as Breann had been, they didn't know who was being abused and who wasn't. With Mariah not talking, Olivia feared she used her silence to protect herself.
Breann had quietly climbed up on the bed with her mother and fallen asleep. She must be exhausted. Taking just a moment more to admire the strength the tiny blonde had inside of her, she walked back into the hallway to speak with her detectives.