Lauren Smith was crying as she climbed the stairs to the 1-6 precinct. She knew her best friend, Dickie's, father worked at the Special Victims Unit of the NYPD. She had to look like a wreck. Her clothes were covered in blood and her hair was a mess.
She entered the elevator and pressed the button for the Special Victims Floor. She sat down on the floor and put her face in her hands. She was so ashamed. Ding. She looked up as the door was opening. She was so weak. She forced herself to stand up. She walked out of the elevator. She looked around for Mr. Stabler but all she saw was a pretty, middle-aged woman sitting at a desk typing on a computer. She was so desperate she started walking towards her.
Olivia Benson sat at her desk finishing up the last of her and her partner's latest case. Everyone else had already went home. She caught a glimpse of someone walking towards her. She looked up and saw a teenage girl, maybe 16 or 17, clothes covered in blood, her hair was matted and ratty, and she had a hand print across the left side of her face. Olivia immediately got up from her desk and ran to her. The girl fell into her arms crying.
"Please, I need to speak to Mr.—Detective Stabler. Please," Lauren sat down in a near by chair and Olivia pulled another one up beside her.
"He went home but I'm his partner, Detective Benson, Olivia. You need to get to a hospital."
Lauren's eyes filled with terror, "No, no! They'll call him and he'll hurt me. No, please!"
"Who? Who will hurt you?" Olivia had never met this girl in her life, but for some strange reason she felt an instant connection to her.
"My dad," Lauren choked.
"Sweetheart, you're in bad shape. You need medical attention. I promise it'll just be me and you and I can call Elliot if you want?"
"You can't protect me. He'll find out. I know it." Lauren's sobbing became louder.
"Yes, me and Detective Stabler will protect you. Now please, you need help."
Lauren looked up into Olivia's eyes. In those eyes she saw something she had neither had nor felt in her entire life, concern, love, and trust. She had never met this woman before and Olivia didn't even know her name, but she felt she had known her for her entire life. Lauren nodded. "Okay," she whispered, "okay."
"I'll call a bus and Elliot."
"No, I can walk down to a ca—" Lauren passed out and began to fall forward. Olivia caught her before she hit her head on a near by table. She gently laid her on the ground and picked up a phone.
"I need a bus at the 1-6 precinct. Young teenage girl is unconscious and beaten up."
Olivia hung up and proceeded to call Elliot.
"El, sorry I know it's late but there's been an incident. Victim was asking for you…"
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"Elliot," Elliot heard his partner's familiar voice as he entered the pediatric floor of the Manhattan Hospital.
"Liv, where is she?"
"She unconscious, but I'll take you to her." Olivia began to lead Elliot towards her room. "Sorry about not catching her name."
Elliot and Olivia reached her room and Elliot looked inside. He instantly knew who it was even though she could hardly be recognized through all of her bruises. "Lauren."
"Hmm," Olivia responded.
"Her name is Lauren. Lauren Smith." Elliot felt as if it was his own daughter lying there. She had been Dickie's best friend ever since their freshman year. She was considered one of the boys to Dickie even though she was probably one of the prettiest girl in their high school.
"Elliot, you okay?" Olivia asked. She was concerned about him and Lauren.
"What happened to her?"
"I don't know. I think it was her father though. She said that she didn't want to come here because she didn't want him to find out."
"Makes sense."
"What does?"
"She would be over at our house all the time. Her and Liz were close, but not as close as her and Dickie. She would always hang out with Dickie and his friends. Dickie had brought it up one time that he noticed Lauren had a lot of bruises on her arms, legs and such. He said every time he asked her about it, she would change the subject. I only met he father once, Dickie had me drop her off at her house. He ran out and yelled at me and said to stay away. That was three days ago. I was gonna call her tomorrow." Elliot could feel tears welling in his eyes.
"El, I'm sorry." Olivia placed her hand on his shoulder. Elliot turned to look at her.
"Thanks." Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Lauren stirring. She was coming to. Elliot entered the room with Olivia and sat down next to Lauren's bed. "Lauren, can you hear me?" Her eyes slowly opened.
"Lauren, can you hear me?" Lauren could hear someone talking to her. Lauren awoke to the familiar faces of Elliot and Olivia. She had no clue where she was or how she got there. "What?" Her voice sounded funny to her.
"Hey, Lauren. How are you?" Elliot was relieved to see that she responded to him.
"Mr. Stabler, sorry that I asked for you. I know you rarely get some time off."
"No, no, it's fine. I just wanna know what happened." Elliot voice was full of concern.
"I—He, my dad, we were eating dinner and I told him that I was going to Dickie's house to study. He went nuts, said that didn't I know his dad was a cop and I was a rat. I started hitting me and kicking me. Then he grabbed a knife off of the table and cut my shoulder. Then he tried to kill—" Lauren was in complete torture, if only she could have told sooner this wouldn't have happened. "He tried to stab me but I kicked him and he was thrown off guard so I ran for the door and hopped a cab to the precinct."
Elliot was so angry. Why didn't he see this? He had spent almost every other day with her for 2 years. "This wasn't the first time was it?"
"No, he hit me almost everyday."
"Is he your only family?" Olivia wanted to find out if there was anyone else that should know.
"Yeah, my mom died when I was 2 and both my parents were only children. My grandparents are all dead."
Olivia truly felt for this girl. She had never had a chance. This girl had lived her whole life with this sick man. "Friends?"
"Other than Dickie and Liz, no, not really. All the girls in my school hate me because I hang out with the boys and all the boys are real jerks."
Olivia realized her and Lauren had a lot in common. Both had grown up with no family other than a troubled single parent. Up until about a year ago Olivia had no family until she found Simon.
"Where is you father?" Olivia wanted Munch and Fin to go and arrest him.
"I dunno, probably at home."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"Joe Smith, you're under arrest," Munch flashed his I.D. badge at Mr. Smith. It was 2 in the morning when Benson had called him and he was tired, but he knew this guy had to be off the street.
"On what charge?" Mr. Smith had this dumfounded look on his face.
"How about assault, endangering the welfare of a child, attempted rape, you pick."
Munch cuffed him and Fin read him his rights and they headed to the station house to book him.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"Lauren has suffered a minor concussion and two rib fractures. The cut she sustained was deep, but not life threatening." Elliot listened intently as the nurse read him and Olivia the extent of Lauren's injuries. "Also, I noticed some calluses on some of her other ribs, possibly sustained by long term abuse. She'll have to stay here over night, but she will be able to be released in the morning. I'm afraid you two detectives must go now though, the doctor says she needs to rest." Lauren had already fallen back asleep. Her steady breathing could be heard.
Elliot and Olivia left the room and headed out to Elliot's car. "I can't believe—" Elliot kicked the trash near by over and over.
"Elliot, Elliot, ELLIOT!" Olivia ran to him and pulled him away from the bin. "Listen it's not your fault." She laid her hands on his shoulders. She could feel his tense muscles under her grip begin to ease with her touch.
"I never saw her hurt, Liv. She was over all the time. I knew something was wrong, but never like this." Elliot eyes shone with unshed tears of sorrow and guilt and regret for Lauren.
"I know you feel bad, but you need to be there for her now. Come on, let's see what Munch, Fin, and Cragen have got on our perp."
With that, Elliot and Liv hopped into Elliot's car and drove to the station house.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Olivia and Elliot walked into the precinct. Liv walked over to the interrogation room to see Mr. Smith. She recognized his face, but couldn't quite place it.
Munch walked over to her and handed her the case file. "Thought you and Elliot might want to interrogate him. It seems like our Mr. Smith is dead, But not as Joe Smith, he was listed as a Joseph Hollister." Munch walked away to go see what Fin was doing.
"Liv, you okay?" Elliot had walked up to her. Her face had gone white as a sheet. Joseph Hollister was her father's name. Her father she had never met, the father that had raped her mother.
"Elliot, I—" tears welled in her eyes. She shoved the case file into Elliot's hands and ran to the restroom.
Elliot was puzzled. He looked down at the file in his arms. Immediately, the name Joseph Hollister stuck out in his mind. Oh my God! He's alive, this whole time. He lied to his wife, Simon, and Liv, oh God, Liv. And Lauren! Elliot ran to the restroom and knocked on the door. "Liv?"
"Please leave me alone." He could tell she was crying pretty hard.
"Liv, please, talk to me." He waited for a few seconds and heard the door unlock. The door opened revealing Liv with tears streaming down her face.
Olivia had never felt more vulnerable in her life. She felt like a frightened child. She stood there with the restroom door open looking directly into the eyes of her best friend. She flung her arms around his waist and buried her head in his shoulder and cried. "Elliot, what am I gonna do? What—I dunno where to start?" She released her grip and looked at him for some answers.
"Liv, tell Cragen to get you off this case, it's too personal."
"No, I can handle it."
"No, Liv, you've searched your whole life for this guy and when you finally get some closure, BAM! He walks into your life AFTER you think he's dead. You need off this case. Talk to someone, Simon, Me, whoever but take a break."
Olivia knew he was making sense, so she decided to talk to Cragen. "Okay, okay."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"Cragen, we've solved a cold case." Liv walked into his office and shut the door.
"Good, who's?" Cragen looked up from his computer.
"Serena Benson." Olivia almost choked.
"Liv, I am sorry. I thought he was dead."
"So did I, but it turns out Mr. Smith, aka Joseph Hollister, faked his death after the police in upper state were on him for another rape. Cragen, I want off the case, no, I don't want off the case but I need off this case."
"I understand, go take a break. Come back when your ready."
"Thanks," and with that Liv grabbed her stuff and headed out. She decided she could talk to Elliot later. Now, she needed to go home and tell Simon about his father. Also, she had to think about Lauren and what she was going to say to her.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"Joseph Smith or should I say Joseph Hollister," Cragen watched through the mirror as Elliot began the interrogation.
"I want my lawyer."
"He's coming."
"No, I'm here. And you don't have to say anything."
"Sure, just prolong the agony." Elliot said as Smith and his lawyer walked out of the door.
"I'm sure that Mr. Smith, will enjoy the nice hospitality of our holding cell until you suffer the wrath of Casey Novak." Munch opened the cell door.
"When can we get a court time?" Joe's lawyer asked Cragen.
"I dunno call the A.D.A." With that, the lawyer was off. Cragen looked at his watch. 4:47. Cragen was opting for a 10:30 meeting with the courts so he needed to call Casey ASAP to let her know and prepare for his lock up.
"Cragen," Elliot interrupted his train of thought, "Uh, Munch and Fin said they can take watch him until morning, I'm gonna check on Liv and take a nap. Then I was gonna go check on the vic at the hospital and figure out how to tell her about her father. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, go. Tell Olivia that we're all here for her."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Olivia called Simon a soon as she reached her house and told him all the news. Afterwards, she got ready for bed, she was so tired, but she couldn't sleep so she stared blankly at the ceiling, thoughts running through her mind. Her thoughts got jolted by a knock at the door. She crawled out of bed and looked through the peephole. Elliot. She ran her fingers through her hair and opened the door.
"Hey, can I come in?" Olivia opened the door wider and walked over to the couch. Elliot followed behind her and shut the door. "How are you doing?" Elliot asked as he took a seat next to Olivia.
"I honestly don't know. I called Simon, he was a little torn up, but I think he'll make it. He's got his fiancé."
"No, how are you doing?" Elliot grabbed her hands in his.
"I—I don't know. Elliot, first I find my brother, find out my father is dead. Then poof! He's alive and I find him because he has been assaulting your son's best friend for her entire life." Olivia was overwhelmed. She started to cry. Elliot put his arms around her; she laid her head on his chest. For some strange reason, being wrapped up in Elliot's arms put Liv in complete peace with the world. They both sat there in silence for a few minutes until Olivia became overwhelmed by sleep. Elliot leaned backwards and looked at Liv, something he had wanted to do for so long. He stared at her perfectly toned arms, the delicate features of her face. Elliot fell asleep looking at the most beautiful sight in the world.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Olivia woke to Elliot's strong, steady breathing. She smiled to herself. God, he was so hot. She was wondering why he had stayed the night anyway. Then she remembered. Lauren, her father, Simon. Elliot had come over to check on her. She glanced at her watch. 8:23 a.m. Elliot stirred beneath her. He opened his eyes. He smiled at her. She returned the smile. "What time is it?" He asked stretching.
"Almost 8:30." Olivia sat up.
"We better go talk to Lauren." Elliot got up and headed for the kitchen and got himself a glass of orange juice. Olivia went into her room and changed her clothes.
"Let's go," Elliot grabbed his keys from the coffee table and they both headed out of the door.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEO
EOEOEOEOEOEOEO
By the time Elliot and Olivia had gotten ready and made it to the hospital, it was nearly 9:30.
"Elliot, what do I say? I mean I dunno. I'm scared." Liv backed away from the door into Lauren's room.
"Liv, it'll be okay. Lauren will be so grateful." Elliot grabbed her hand and lead her into Lauren's room.
Lauren stirred in her sleep as Elliot and Olivia sat in the two chairs next to the bed. Her eyes fluttered open. "Hi," she said stretching.
"Lauren," Elliot said softly, "we took your father in today and found out some new information."
"What?" Lauren was looking at Olivia. She could tell Olivia was about to cry. Olivia's eyes met Lauren's and she quickly turned her gaze to Elliot. "What happened?"
"Honey," Olivia began to speak up, "your father wasn't really Joseph Smith. His name was Joseph Hollister. He faked his death and took on a new identity."
Lauren looked blankly into Olivia's eyes. "What did he do?"
"Your father lived a double life. He has a family in northern New York and you have a brother named Simon Marsdon. Also," Olivia was becoming more choked up. "Sorry, its just—" Olivia took a moment to breathe. "Your father also raped a woman named Serena Benson." Lauren's face turned a ghostly white.
"You mean like raped?" Lauren couldn't believe her ears. Her father, abusive, yeah, but a rapist.
"Yes, and Lauren I know this is hard to hear but, Serena Benson was my mom. I was conceived through my mother's rape." Olivia could barely finish her sentence. She was crying so hard. Elliot just sat there, watching, and holding Olivia's hand for support.
Lauren sat on the bed crying softly to herself. She wiped the tears from her face. "So that means, we're like sisters?"
Olivia nodded her head, almost afraid of how Lauren would react to that. She would either hate it or she would love it. As Olivia was running all of the possibilities through her mind, she felt two arms embrace her in a hug. Olivia let go of Elliot's hand, reached up, and returned the hug. That action set Lauren into tears of joy. She and Olivia sat there hugging each other and crying on each others shoulders for about 5 minutes before Olivia broke the silence.
"The doctors said that you could be released today. Do you have anywhere to go?"
"No not really."
"Well, you can come stay at my place." Olivia stated. "Or if you don't feel comfortable with that—"
Lauren cut her off, "No, that would be nice. Thank you, for everything."
"Your welcome." Olivia gave her a genuine smile of appreciation. "I'll come back around 1 and I'll get you some clothes and then we can go out to eat or whatever. Elliot could join us if you like?"
"Thanks, Liv." Elliot felt glad that Olivia hadn't forgotten that he was sitting there.
"Elliot, thank you as well." Lauren was almost embarrassed she hadn't said anything sooner.
"Your welcome." Elliot and Olivia gave Lauren their finally hugs good-bye.
"See you at 1," Olivia said as she and Elliot headed out the door and out to the precinct.
It was 10:46 by the time Elliot and Olivia reached the car. Elliot hoped in the driver's seat while Olivia plopped down in the passenger's. Elliot turned the ignition on and reversed out of the parking lot and then merged onto the main road. The whole time glancing over at Olivia to make sure she was okay. As soon as she had sat down she put her face in her hands, and she had not looked up from them.
"Liv, what are you thinking?" Elliot reached over and placed his right hand on her neck.
With her face still buried in her hands she answered, "Why couldn't I have found her sooner? I could have protected her." Olivia looked up. She was so angry, angry at her self, her father. She hit the dash board of Elliot's car. She hit it hard enough that her knuckle split open. Blood gushed from the fresh wound. "Shoot," She grabbed a napkin from inside of the dash board and put pressure on it. "Sorry, El, really. I'm just so—I can't take it." Her emotions were running high and she felt at any moment they all might come flooding out.
"Hey, it's okay. You don't think this car hasn't taken a beating or two from me?" Elliot's remark made Olivia smile and that was all it took for all her emotions to be released. She started crying. "Hey, Shh. Liv, take a minute. It's fine." Elliot rubbed his hand on her shoulders as she cried.
When they reached the precinct, Elliot parked his car in a discreet spot so that Olivia could have some time to clean herself up, because he knew she would be embarrassed if any of the other detectives saw her in such a state.
Olivia wiped her eyes with a tissue Elliot had handed her. "Thanks." Olivia looked at the cut on her knuckle. It wasn't too bad.
"I have a first aid kit in my trunk, hold on I'll get it." Elliot popped the trunk and hopped outside of the car. HE returned to his seat with the first aid kit. "Okay, let's get you doctored up." Elliot cleaned the wound and then put some antibiotics and a band-aid on it. "Wait," he said as Liv started to pull her bandaged hand finger away, "I have one final touch." With that, he gently picked up her hand and placed it in his. He brought her hand to his face a lightly kissed her wound. "Better?"
This made Olivia blush. He was so thoughtful. "Much. Thank you. For everything."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEO
"Joseph Hollister was remanded, thank God." Casey said to Cragen as Elliot and Olivia were making their way into the building. "I don't want him getting the chance to hurt his daughter any more."
"Nice work, Casey." Cragen gave her a congratulatory pat on the back.
Olivia felt sudden relieve at the news. If he would have made bail, who knows what he would have done to Lauren.
"Trial starts tomorrow, let's hope the jury will put him away," Casey said.
"With all of his prior acts, I'm sure they will." Elliot put in.
"I better go talk to the DA. He said he wanted to talk to me the moment I was out of court and that was 10 minutes ago so, I'll see you all later." Casey waved the gang a fare well and headed to the elevator.
"Glad you two made it back. Olivia, Elliot I need to see you two in my office." The pair followed their captain into his office. Elliot shut the door behind him. "You two, I want you to take a few days off. You guys have had a lot happen and I think you just need to go home and be with your family. I don't want to see you two in this precinct until I say otherwise. Okay?" The detective nodded their heads, each grateful for the captain's orders. "Okay, I talked to you later then." Cragen whisked the detectives outside his office door.
"So, what do we do now?" Elliot asked.
"I think we should go over to Lauren's house and get her some clothes. Hopefully Munch and Fin haven't totally had the search team destroy it."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
When the two reached the address, they stared at the home in awe.
"Elliot, you could have told me she lived in a mansion," Olivia said, her face still staring at the house. It was a two story home, just on the outskirts of Manhattan. Olivia was glad to see that the other police officers had left the home. She noticed that the crime scene tape was still up and posted on the front door. "Did you get the key from Cragen before you left?"
Elliot lifted his right hand and in it dangled a gold key on a silver key ring. "Yep," Elliot walked down the sidewalk that was lined with red rose bushes. It led to the front entrance of the house. He placed the key into the door and then unlocked the door. He held it open. "Ladies, first," he said in an amiable tone.
Olivia stepped in front of him and stared in astonishment at the gigantic, crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the front room. "Wow, this house is amazing." She ran her hand up the hand carved railing on the stairs. "My guess is her room is up stairs, so let's try up there." Olivia slowly walked up the steps, taking in the wonder and beauty of the home. Large painting and photographs covered the walls of the stairs, some probably worth more than her apartment. Elliot was following closely behind her. Once the detectives reached the top of the stairs, they stood in the middle of a hallway, directing to the right and the left of the home.
"I'll go to the left and you go to the right. Shout if you find her room." Olivia started to head left when Elliot stopped her.
"How will we know which room is hers?"
Olivia stared at him in disbelief, "Elliot, you have had 3 teenage girls before, and you won't be able to recognize her room? You'll know when you see it." Olivia turned and shook her head. Men.
Elliot went the opposite direction. There were so many doors. He tried the first door on the right of the hallway. He found a rather large restroom. He tried the door on the left. He had located a bedroom. He looked around. White walls, brown and red décor, definitely not a teen's room. He shut the door and as he did he heard a voice. "Found it," he turned around and headed in the direction of the voice.
"Where are you?" he shouted.
"In here," he saw Olivia's brown hair peek from behind a door. Elliot walked over to her. "See, this is a teens room." The walls were hot pink and white diagonally striped on the two adjacent walls. The other walls were the same colors only the stripes were vertical. Framed pictures of Lauren and Dickie covered the dresser. The room was actually pretty well organized. Olivia looked under the bed and immediately saw what she was looking for. A Louis Vuitton duffle bag sat there neatly. She drug it from out under the bed. "Okay, I'll put a few outfits in here and then we can leave. Olivia found a few outfits, which wasn't hard considering the walk in closet was completely filled, and each section was color coded and put into categories. She neatly folded them and placed them in the bag. She grabbed a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of flip-flops and laid them gently in the bag. While she was doing this, Elliot was glancing around the room looking at all of the pictures. Some were of Lauren, Lizzie, and Dickie, but most contained just her and Dickie. There was even one that he was in. He stared at it. It was that last December when they had invited her over for a Christmas party. They had made gingerbread cookies and he had accidentally dropped the flour causing everyone to be coated in a thin layer of power. He was standing there and Dickie and Lauren were off to the left of the picture laughing hysterically. He was in such a trance state of mind he didn't even notice Olivia come up behind him.
"That's a good picture." She said laughing. "You ready?"
"Yeah," he started to head out of the door, "wait," he went back in and grabbed another picture. "She might want this." He handed it to Olivia.
Olivia looked down at the picture. It was Lauren and Dickie. They were asleep on the couch and her head was laying on his lap. "Aww."
"Yeah, I came home late from work one night and took this on her digital camera." Elliot paused. "How am I gonna tell Dickie about Lauren?"
"I dunno, but it will work out." Olivia glanced at her watch. "Come on we barely have enough time to get to the hospital by one." With that, Elliot flipped off the light and shut the door.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEO
The detectives walked into Lauren's room right as the clock turned one. Lauren was sitting on a chair next to her freshly made bed, sit wearing her hospital gown. "Here we brought you some clothes," Olivia said handing her the duffle bag that she and Elliot had prepared earlier.
"Thanks," Lauren took the bag. "Um," she stared at Olivia wide eyed. Olivia immediately noted that they had put a sling on her arm so that the cut on her shoulder would heal properly. "Could you, you know?"
"Yeah, El?"
"I'll give you guys a moment." He walked outside the door and shut it softly behind him. Olivia walked over and locked it. As she did that, with her good arm, Lauren had already laid the outfit she was planning on wearing, a pair of gray sweat pants and a navy Hard Rock Café shirt.
Olivia untied the hospital gown and helped Lauren into her bra. Olivia noticed all the bruises on her back some bright blue showing there freshness. Others, a dim green showing their healing with time.
"This is kind of embarrassing." Lauren said, her face blushing as Olivia helped her into her sweat pants.
"Hey, we all need help some time."
"Yeah, well, I've been independent for so long. My dad was never there for me, I mean look where he got me. So I had to do everything by myself."
"I'm sorry about that." Olivia sympathetically gave her a hug.
"About what?"
"Not being around to protect you, to help you."
"Hey, you didn't know. I mean," tears started to well in her large, navy blue eyes. Lauren hunched back down in the chair and put her face in her arm that wasn't in the sling. "It's all my fault." Olivia took a seat next to her and put her arm around her.
"No, no, honey, it wasn't your fault." Olivia felt such sympathy for her.
"Yes," she said sniffling, "it was. I could have told Dickie or Elliot or Lizzie, but I let it happen to me. I let him hurt me."
"No, you were young when he started hurting you and kids can't fight back." Olivia lifted Lauren's chin, "Look at me." Lauren's eyes looked into Olivia's chocolaty, brown pools that were tearing up. Olivia and Lauren both felt as if there was some deep connection, beyond blood. It was in there souls, both had been hurt by their parents, both were forced to raise themselves. "This wasn't your fault. Your—Our father was a sick man. That's him and him alone, not me or you. Him." The two sisters embraced in a hug. Lauren wiped her eyes with her hand.
"We better go check on Elliot." Lauren said standing up and grabbing her bag.
MEANWHILE
Elliot walked outside of Lauren's room. He picked up his cell and dialed Kathy's number.
"Hello?"
"Kathy, it's me. Is Dickie around? I need to tell him something—important." Kathy must have hinted the concern in his voice.
"Elliot, what happened?"
"Lauren—Lauren, has been attacked. I need to talk to Dickie, please. I can't explain it all now, but.."
"Elliot, it's fine." DICKIE,telephone, Elliot could hear Kathy yell for their son over the phone. It's your father.
"Yeah, dad."
"Lauren was—she's in the hospital. Well, actually now she being released, but—"
Dickie's face went a ghostly pale. His eyes stung from trying to hold back the tears already beginning to well in his eyes. His legs and hands shook. He took a seat at the kitchen table. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His best friend, hurt. "What happened? Dad, is she okay?"
"She has a minor concussion and a few broken ribs, but she'll be fine." Elliot tried to remain as calm as he possibly could.
"Dad, what happened?" Dickie prayed to God it wasn't what he was thinking.
"She was attacked. By her father." Elliot spat the three words out. It made him physically ill to think about. He should have done something, anything to get her out of that house.
Dickie knew it. His blood began to boil. This was all of his fault. He knew about her father, but he did nothing. "Dad, where is she? Let me see her, talk to, anything!"
"Son, there's something you need to know." Elliot was trying to think of how to break the news to Dickie about her father, Joseph Hollister.
"What?" Dickie's ears were burning. He couldn't handle much more news.
Elliot sucked in his breath and told him everything, about Liv, Simon, Lauren and their father.
EOEOEOEOEOE
"Here, let me take that," Olivia said reaching over and grabbing Lauren's duffle bag out of her hands.
"You know, I can do things on my own," she retorted in a playful manner.
"Yeah, I know," she replied. "We better go. I think Elliot's probably bored out of his skull right now." She unlocked the door and the pair headed out in the hallway where they found Elliot, leaning against a wall talking on the phone.
"Hold on, let me ask," Elliot said into the phone. Looking at the two girls, he asked, "Would you mind if Dickie came along for lunch?" He was mainly asking Lauren rather than Olivia.
Lauren's navy eyes lit up, she tried to hide her excitement. "Sure," she replied in an all-too-cool tone. She was kind of nervous about seeing Dickie after all the chaos, but Dickie always made her feel better, no matter how awful the situation.
"Dickie, be ready in 10 minutes. We'll be over to pick you up. Yeah, okay, bye." Elliot flipped his phone shut. "I told him."
Lauren looked at him with a sigh of relief in her stance, "Thanks." She truly did not want to have to go through all the drama of telling all her embarrassing tales.
"Well, we better go check you out," Elliot lead the way as the trio made their way to the front desk. Elliot and Lauren went out to Elliot's car while Olivia signed the release form. "We'll pick you up at the front entrance," he stated before left dashed out the door.
"Okay." God, he was so nice to her, not to mention hot and… Don't think about him. Olivia regained her thoughts on the task at deciphering which papers she had and hadn't signed yet. Once all the papers were signed and filed, the clerk said that was it, she could go. Olivia walked outside and there sat Lauren in the back seat of Elliot's car. Elliot sat turned around in the driver's seat having a friendly chat with her. When he caught sight of her, he quickly spun around and looked toward the road. Elliot popped the trunk and Olivia placed Lauren's bag in it. Olivia walked over to the passenger's seat, opened the door, and plopped down.
"Ready?" Elliot said, his eyes glancing over the top of his sun glasses.
"Let's go."
EOEOEOEOEOEOEO
Elliot pulled into the driveway of his ex's home and beeped the horn. Less than 2 seconds later, Dickie came bounding out the house. Dickie got in the backseat.
"Hey Lauren," he said as he gave her a big hug. She was happy to be in his embrace. She didn't know what it was, but the slightest touch of his skin on hers made the world disengage away like sand running through your fingers.
Apparently the hug was a little too long because we were interrupted by, "Ahhmm."
"Oh, sorry. Hi, dad. Liv. SO where are we eating?" Dickie said.
"Where ever. Lauren?"
"I don't care. How about that diner over on 9th avenue?"
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
"Charlie's Diner it is." Elliot shifted the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO
The foursome arrived at the restaurant a little after half past 1. The restaurant wasn't as packed as they had expected it to be, so they got seated pretty quickly. The usual noon crowd must have already come and gone by then. The waiter came and took their orders. Elliot, Liv, Dickie, and Lauren sat and chatted about everything. Birthdays, favorites, hobbies, anything that would help everyone get to know everyone in a better way. Well, actually, help Lauren and Olivia get to know each other better. Once everyone was stuffed to the point of getting sick, Elliot went to drop Lauren and Olivia off at Olivia's apartment.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later," Dickie said, a look of hopefulness in his eyes.
"Well, would you want to walk up with me?" Lauren replied.
"Sure. Dad?"
"You two go ahead. I wanna talk to Olivia."
With that said the two teenagers hopped out of the car, "Here's the key," Olivia said handing her set to Lauren. "Apartment 4C."
"Thanks," then the pair headed up the stairs to the building.
EOEOEOEOEOEO
"I really liked hanging out with you," Dickie said when they were in the elevator.
"Yeah me too."
DING
The elevator doors opened. They walked the rest of the way to Olivia's apartment in silence. Lauren put the key in the lock until she heard it click. She headed inside but before she could Dickie grabbed her arm gently. She turned and looked at him.
EOEOEOEOEOEO
"Teenagers," Elliot said as he and Liv watched his son and his best friend walk up to Liv's apartment.
"Liv, I just wanna let you know that if you need anything. Help with Lauren or whatever, I mean I know I'm not the greatest parent, but any help I could…" she placed her first finger up to his lips. He was rambling and he knew it. He felt like such an idiot.
"You're cute when you care," she said. She gave him a smile. "Thanks, I'll let you know." She exited the vehicle, Elliot following her lead. He shut off the car and locked the door and walked with Olivia up to her apartment.
EOEOEOEOEOEO
"Lauren, I can't let you walk in there, not until I tell you something."
"What?" Dickie's eyes had this look of compassion and sympathy.
"I'm sorry for everything that happened. I mean, I have never been so afraid for someone in my entire life. Even when my dad got shot, it didn't feel like this. I could have did something but I didn't."
"Dickie…"
"And it really put some things in perspective for me."
"What things?" Lauren prayed to God it was what she was thinking.
"This," Dickie bushed the baby hairs away from her delicate face. He lightly kissed her. Lauren's knees went weak. Never in her life had she been kissed before. She didn't know how to react. She wanted that kiss as much as he did. She ran her fingers through his short brown hair.
DING
Both of them broke the kiss when they heard that sound. They looked over at the elevator to see Elliot and Liv looking at them, both of the teens wondering if they had seen the kiss. "Couldn't you find the key?" Relief flooded their faces, as Olivia made the comment. If they had seen, they weren't gonna make a big deal about it.
"Yeah, sorry, we were just talking and got distracted."
"Well, see you later, Laur." Dickie gave her a hug. Lauren wished she would never have to let go of him.
"Bye, see you Elliot." She waved a friendly wave at him.
He walked up and hugged her, "Thanks." She said as they broke the hug.
"See you tomorrow, Liv," he shook her hand. Olivia wished she had gotten a hug too, but she knew that wouldn't be appropriate.
"Bye, El." She gave him a friendly nod. "See you around?" she directed towards Dickie.
"Yeah, bye, Olivia." He waved at the two girls as he and his father jumped into the elevator.
EOEOEOEOEO
Olivia and Lauren both went inside the apartment with a sense of adoration. The boys that had just walked out the door and down the elevator gave them that sense of purpose. "So, how long have you and Dickie been, you know?"
Lauren's face turned blood red, so she had seen us.
"Don't worry Elliot didn't see. I was blocking his view. So?"
"Actually, that was my first kiss." Lauren replied in a shy manner.
"Ever?" Olivia eyes were wide with awe. She could not believe this beautiful girl had never been kissed before.
"Yeah, I never wanted, to like, get that reputation. So I just hung out with the boys instead of dated them."
"Oh, I see. So do you like Dickie?"
"Yeah, I mean, I might love him. I know we're only 16 but, I've never wanted some one to hold me or touch me or even just be with him the way I want Dickie, you know?" Thinking about Dickie made her heart ache with longing, she wished she had had the time to tell him.
"Yeah," I know, ever minute I'm apart from him I feel as if I might crawl out of my skin. His touch makes my nerves go raw. And when he speaks, the world fades away.
"So, why don't you have a boyfriend or husband?" Lauren's question interrupted Olivia's thoughts.
"I dunno. Never met the right person." Wrong, he was right there, everyday, a torturing feeling because he was not hers. "Okay so I'll show you the apartment and where to put your things."
EOEOEOEOEOEO
After the little tour, Lauren walked into "her" room. She was beginning to unpack her things when she noticed the picture Elliot had placed in her bag. She grabbed it and wrapped her arms around it. She laid back on the bed and closed her eyes. After so many bad years, bad people in her life, Lauren's life was about to change for the better.
Or so she thought?
