[Interior. Busy ER waiting room, babies crying, a bicyclist holding a towel to a wound]
Nurse
Alaina Newton, Don Ritter, Carlos Alverez
( Alaina sits, staring at a crying baby in the lap of a horrible-looking mother )
Nurse
Miss Newton, do you still need emergency assistance?
Alaina
(still staring)
They should go before me
Nurse
(approaches Alaina) Miss Newton. (Alaina doesn't respond) Miss Newton! (Alaina turns to look)
You've already let 3 people go before you. If you don't have an actual emergency then go home and schedule an appointment with a doctor.
Alaina
It's an emergency (she grips the filled plastic garbage bag she's holding)
But I'm not going to die or anything…
Nurse
(confused)
Neither is anyone else in here or they'd be in front of you.
Let me do my job and take you back.
(they both get up and begin walking)
Nurse
What exactly is your emergency?
All you wrote on your form was that you need an emergency physical examination.
Alaina
(matter-of-factly)
I need a rape kit done. I've been raped.
----- opening credits -----
[Interior. Hospital Hallway]
Olivia
Alaina Newton, 24.
She was home alone with her cat, perp breaks in through the roof access panel and rapes her at knife point.
Stole some money and jewelry and her ipod.
(Elliot approaches a table covered in bags of clothes and sheets and random objects in zip-lock baggies)
Elliot
What's all this?
Nurse
Alaina brought sealed bags filled with all of the clothes she was wearing, along with everything she saw the burglar touch, to make sure we had enough evidence to find whoever did it.
Elliot
That's thoughtful of her.
Olivia
How is she?
Nurse
Anxious. But not like the usual way.
She wants to get the report filed and get a sketch done and get the results from the rape kit.
Olivia
She wants to find out who did this to her.
That's perfectly normal.
Nurse
She's not acting perfectly normal, for someone who's been raped.
Elliot
What are you trying to say?
You don't think she was?
Nurse
No, she was.
There's vaginal tearing, bleeding, fluids.
Elliot
Then what's wrong with how she's acting?
( laughter from the hospital room )
(Olivia and Elliot peek in room where Alaina and Male Nurse are laughing)
[interior Hospital Room]
( Male nurse inserts an IV needle, while Alaina turns away with eyes shut, but is smiling, listening to his story )
Male Nurse
… and this guy thinks he can sneak out of the psych ward in stolen doctor's scrubs and an IV cart rolling at his side
( Alaina laughs. )
Male Nurse
I've never seen anything more ridiculous. And I'm done!
Alaina
You're hilarious! You know you're really good at telling stories?
Male Nurse
(dropping the hint)
My fiancé thinks so.
Alaina
Well you tell your fiancé that you made someone's worst day ever… a little less awful.
(she looks at the finished IV) Thanks Alex.
Olivia
Alaina Newton?
(Male Nurse looks sheepish for talking so casually with rape victim)
Alaina
Yeah, that's me.
Olivia
I'm detective Benson, and this is detective Stabler.
Alaina
(smiling)
Thanks for coming.
( Olivia and Elliot exchange glances )
Alaina
They said I was dehydrated and had to get an IV. I hate needles.
Olivia
Alaina, I know this will be hard for you, but we have to talk to you about what happened tonight.
Alaina
I know you do… I mean... (looks embarrassed)
I watch the show Los Angeles Sex Crimes
Elliot
Ah, Hollywood's glorification of serial rapists and high-profile sex cases of actresses in Los Angeles.
Alaina
The guy who plays the main lawyer is really hot.
Elliot
Is that why you brought all the evidence in baggies? Because you watch that show?
Alaina
Yes. I… (no longer smiling) I didn't know what else to do.
It was like something right out of the show.
At first I thought the noises were my cat.
She gets crazy at night, sometimes even knocks stuff over.
But this was a loud noise, and then, like, rummaging.
It was 2:22, I remember, because I thought it was weird that the numbers were all the same.
And. Then he was there, at my door. I…
( Alaina looks embarrassed ) Detective Stabler, can you close the door?
Elliot
Sure
Alaina
I don't know why I'm so embarrassed.
I know it wasn't my fault. But I still don't want anyone to hear.
Olivia
It's alright, Alaina. We're going to find who did this to you.
Just tell us what happened, anything you can remember.
Alaina
I remember everything… It was my first time… I was a virgin.
[int police station]
Fin
A 24 year old virgin who packs up her own evidence bags and doesn't shed a tear while talking about what happened?
Sounds like she's making it up, if you ask me.
Wong
Just because she didn't cry doesn't mean she wasn't emotionally effected.
She could be scarred so deeply that she's covering it up with an act of non-emotion and denial.
Elliot
She wasn't crying, but she wasn't non-emotional…
She was spirited: laughing when we walked in and chatting with the male nurse, but then embarrassed when she had to start talking about it.
She even acknowledged that it was the worst day of her life.
Olivia
Elliot's right. It was almost like she was talking about something that happened a long time ago that she's already come to terms with.
Fin
Wonder what that means?
Wong
I'd have to talk to her myself to see.
Do you know if she's on medication or mood-altering drugs?
Olivia
Just pills for A.D.D., which she said she hadn't taken for a couple of weeks because she keeps forgetting to pick up the prescription.
(( Det. Munch enters ))
Munch
Got a hit on the DNA from the rape kit and from the evidence she brought in.
An ex con from Jersey. Ken Miter, who's been in and out for burglary his whole life.
Fin
Wonder what made him jump to sexual assault during his burglary?
Elliot
Let's nab him and find out.
Munch and Fin, see if you can bring in Alaina for a lineup, and we'll make this a solid case against Miter.
[Exterior. lumberyard]
Elliot
Ken Miter?
( Ken runs )
( Elliot and Olivia chase him through the lumberyard until a coworker brings him down )
Coworker
That's what you get for stealing my iPod, Kenny.
Elliot
So you're not just stealing from women in their homes, are you?
Ken
I'm not saying anything. I have a right to a lawyer! You can't prove nothing!
Olivia
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against...
[Interior. Alaina's Apartment]
Alaina
You have him?
Fin
Olivia and Elliot are taking him to the station now
Alaina
I… I have to get my jacket. Come in. Sorry about the mess.
(Munch looks around, observing the books on her coffee table)
Munch
You've got a lot of books about the Bible out here.
Alaina
(from the other room)
Yeah. I joined a Bible study a few weeks ago. You go to church?
Munch
I'm Jewish.
Alaina
Ahh, we can still be friends, right?
Fin
(to Munch quietly)
I guess that explains why she was a virgin.
Alaina
(coming back)
Actually, I'm really anti-abortion.
(Fin turns around)
Alaina
Not that I think abortion should be illegal.
You can't legalize morality, after all.
When Jesus says "Love thy Neighbor" I think he'd rather we love the accidentally pregnant woman than a bunch of unborn cells.
(Alaina begins searching for something)
Alaina
But me? I would never get an abortion, and I figure even if I was on the pill and the dude wore a condom, I'd still be that 1 in 1000 chick who'd get pregnant.
And I wouldn't get rid of the baby.
I would just much rather wait.
Which I know sounds old-fashioned and religious and ridiculous, but it's my choice, and it's not like I'm telling other people it's what THEY should do.
( Alaina looks embarrassed )
Alaina
Sorry, I get on a roll and talk a lot sometimes…
Impulsivity, from not having my ADD meds.
Luckily, I didn't get pregnant from this rapist
Fin
You know you're not pregnant?
Alaina
I was on my period when it happened.
Sorry. That's gross.
But the chances of me getting pregnant are really low.
I'm more worried about STD's.
Those tests come back next week.
I never thought I'd even need tests for those.
Another reason to stay abstinent.
(Alaina is still looking for something)
Munch
Are you looking for these?
( he holds up her keys, taps her computer mouse while picking it up )
Alaina
Yes!
( she takes them )
Alaina
I wish I could say it was the trauma of everything that's happened, but I lose my keys all the time.
Munch
Luckily your downloaded pornography isn't lost
( he turns the computer to her, which features a video of porn )
( Alaina looks embarrassed )
[Interior. Interrogation room, Ken is inside with his lawyer]
DA
He has no alibi, we've got DNA from the scene and an ID from the victim and from a taxi-driver from outside the building that night.
This would be a closed case if not for Detectives Fin and Munch
Fin
We had to report seeing the pornography on Alaina's computer.
Munch
To not report it would be a violation.
Olivia
If she had been a man, you wouldn't have cared if there were a couple of porn videos on the computer.
With a male, it'd be normal, but if it's a woman, it's worth reporting?
Fin
It was in plain sight
Elliot
After Munch tampered with her computer
Fin
Stop acting like we were TRYING to find something against your girl.
It just happened, okay?
We had to report a finding of sex-related paraphernalia because of the nature of the crime.
DA
Unfortunately, that's a rule usually for the perp's place and not the victim's.
This will only hurt her case.
Elliot
Why? The docs say she was raped.
DA
All the defense needs is a reasonable doubt that she consented to the sex.
When they find out she had porn on her computer, they'll make it part of their case.
That maybe it was consensual and the physical tearing was from her being a virgin, not from her being raped.
Olivia
And we didn't focus on the crime scene because of the evidence she brought in.
DA
They're going to say she was trying to hide something.
[Interior. questioning room]
Alaina
I look at porn. I know it's wrong but it's not a crime is it?
Elliot
No, it's not.
Olivia
It's just unusual in a case like this
Alaina
I've seen the show Los Angeles Sex Crimes.
I don't have to stay at the station and answer questions unless you arrest me for something.
And I didn't do anything illegal.
Olivia
Alaina, we're trying to help you.
We need to know if there's a search of your apartment, if any other sexual paraphernalia will show up.
Alaina
Wait… searching my place?
That's why I brought everything to the hospital, so that nobody would HAVE to search my apartment!
Olivia
The defense has the right to inspect the crime scene, which isn't just the things you brought with you to the hospital.
Alaina
Wait, they're doing it?
They're inspecting RIGHT NOW!?
Elliot
Why are you so scared?
What are they gonna find?
( Alaina looks nervous, but says nothing )
