Title: Blind, Chapter 1

Author: Sorsha711
Fandom/Pairing: Munch/OFC, Tutuola, others implied
Rating: M, for language and references to violence; some adult situations
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to Dick Wolf. A quick check of my bank account should prove I'm not making anything off of writing my stories. Sigh!
Summary: A brutal assault in Central Park exposes a horrifying family secret… one that leads the SVU squad down paths none of them anticipated when they took the call. Munch-centric with heavy doses of the oh-so sexy Fin

Blind, Chapter 1

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Munch rose from behind his desk and stretched, hoping to ease the strain on his lower back. While a day without any new cases falling into their laps was a welcome change after the hectic pace of the last few weeks, a day spent in the office doing paperwork was hardly simulating. Reaching for his jacket, he looked over at his partner, Odafin "Fin" Tutuola. "Want to grab a burger and beer, Fin? My treat."

Without looking up, Tutuola nodded. "'Bout time. Been your time to buy for a while now. Give me a sec to finish this report. Cap wants it today."

"OK." Glancing over at the only other occupant of the squad room, he offered, "Interested in a night on the town with two of New York's finest finest, Liv? I'm buying."

A bright smile lit her lovely face as she teased, "John Munch buying? Isn't that one of the seven signs?"

Grinning, Munch agreed, "Yeah, I'm the Horseman of Cynicism and Sarcasm."

Chuckling, Olivia began to shut down her computer. "Well, that would make you the little-known and over-looked eighth horseman, but a burger and beer in the company of two such gorgeous men sounds good."

"Gorgeous are we? Wish I'd known you felt like this sooner, Livvie," Munch teased, an exaggerated leer settling on his face. "How have you managed to resist our charms for so long?"

Rolling her eyes, she responded, "It's a constant struggle, but I think I can remain strong for the good of the unit. Your virtues… such as they are, are safe with me."

Pushing back from his desk, Fin joined the fray. "Can't speak for the Munchkin, but I'm not the type to kiss and tell. Don't want to cause you any pain by forcing you to restrain these urges."

"Discretion is my middle-name," Munch inserted, waggling his eyebrows. "Not a word, scout's honor," he pledged, his fingers held up like a Boy Scout.

"Get real! If you got lucky, you'd be up on the roof tossing ticker tape and shouting out to anyone that would listen!" Fin scoffed.

"Yeah, I can hear it now! 'I got laid! I finally got laid!'"

Turning, the three found they had been joined by their Captain. "Et tu, Brute?" Munch demanded. "Pot meet kettle."

Grinning, Don Cragen asked, "Do I need to send the three of you to sensitivity training on sexual harassment?"

"Just Livvie. She called us gorgeous. I feel so violated," Munch quipped.

Throwing up her hands, Olivia assumed an innocent look. "It must have been the shock of Munch offering to buy!"

"Yeah, that would do it," Cragen agreed. "Fin, you about finished with that report?"

Rising, the younger policeman walked over to hand the requested document to his boss. "Yeah, Cap. Just finished."

"Despite your cruel and hurtful words, I was about to ask if you wanted to join us for a burger and beer." Sending Olivia a smirk, he added, "I'm treating. Apparently, the shock of that offer is enough to break down Detective Benson's self-control, so you better come along to protect Fin and me."

"Yeah. Not to sound like I'm taking up for Munch, but the way things have been lately, any of the four of us is likely to be up on the roof with the confetti in the morning if things get out of hand." Grabbing his jacket, Fin added, "This will be the first time in weeks we've gotten out of here at a reasonable hour."

As if fate had been waiting for that statement, the phone on Munch's desk rang. Three sets of eyes turned to glare at Tutuola. "Just had to say it didn't you. We were that close!" Munch muttered, measuring the distance to their escape by two fingers almost touching.

Reaching for the phone, he answered, "Munch, SVU."

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"What do we have, O'Malley?"

Looking up, the veteran uniformed officer greeted them. "Damnedest thing I've seen in a while, Cap. Marino and I responded to a call about a woman screaming for help from down in that ravine."

Leading the way to an incline that dropped down into a heavily wooded area, he pointed to a spot barely visible through the dense foliage. "From what we've pieced together, a teenage girl was being assaulted by a group of young punks. Several bystanders heard her screams for help and called it in."

Turning to face his commander, he continued. "Apparently, a female jogger came up at that point and demanded someone help the girl. When no one stepped forward, she took off down the hill to try and help the vic herself."

"Unarmed? So, we have two vics to deal with?" Cragen asked, rubbing his neck in frustration. Much as he admired her courage, he hated the thought that it had gotten her hurt… or killed.

"Can't find either woman, Cap," was his reply. "They were gone by the time we got here and got the situation under control… had to call in backup. Five men have been transported to the hospital for treatment… none looked to be hurt seriously. The rest are being treated by the EMT's here at the scene."

Frowning, Cragen faced his officer. "What do you mean you can't find the victims? You have all the perps in custody, right?"

"I think we have them all," O'Malley hedged, pointing to a cluster of young men handcuffed and surrounded by a several grim-faced uniformed officers. "Those are the ones we found fighting. We haven't had time to take statements or sort out the perps from the onlookers that eventually came to the women's aid. Like I said, some of those in the fight were pretty banged up and a couple had knife wounds, but none of them seemed too serious. We're still securing the site and getting them to shut up long enough for us to figure out whose who."

"OK. I got it," Cragen inserted, "Back to the vics; where are they?"

"Lady in the blue shorts talking to Marino saw the whole thing. From what she says, the lady jogger grabbed a tree branch on her way down the hill and used it like a bat to take out two of the perps… clocked them pretty good the witness says." Clearly impressed by the jogger's courage, the veteran officer continued. "Then she went after the one raping the girl, managing to knock him off of her. The rest of the perps then laid into the jogger… started whaling on her."

Glancing down at his notes, O'Malley continued, "Seems the male onlookers, seven in all, found their balls about then and ran down to help. When we got here, there was a fight in progress between the perps and the onlookers… a few more onlookers had tagged on at the end, so it was bedlam. The two women had vanished while all of this was going on. We were just getting things under control when you arrived."

"OK, finding the two women is top priority." Looking over at his detectives, Cragen ordered, "You three take several uniforms and spread out. They couldn't have gotten far if they are injured. I'll start trying to sort out the bullshit from the rest to make sure we have all the perps in custody. Get to it."

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"Found as blood trail"

Hearing Olivia's call, the rest of the officers sprinted to her side. "It looks like they collapsed here and rolled down the hill toward that bank."

Jogging down to the bottom, Fin called, "There's a stream running below here. Seems reasonable to assume they fell in… maybe got pulled downstream. We need to search along the banks."

Stopping at his partner's side, Munch crouched down and studied the ground below them. "It's getting dark and there's a storm coming from the sounds of that thunder. We need to find them fast. If it starts raining, the water in this creek will rise fast. We will lose them and the blood trail… assuming there is one."

Holding onto a small tree trunk next to the bank for support, Munch dropped down to the narrow bank on their side of the stream. "Water appears to be about 18" deep. Deep enough to drag them along if they are injured."

Seeing Fin and Olivia preparing to follow him down, Munch grabbed onto a sapling growing on the edge of the water and stepped into the current so that he could wade across. "The current isn't very strong, so hopefully, they were able to get out. Liv, take the uniforms and get them searching downstream from up there. It's too narrow for more than two of us on the banks, so Fin and I will search down here."

"Got it. You heard him. Let's get going. They may have been separated by the fall, so assume we have two separate exit points to find," Olivia instructed, pulling out her flashlight to aid her in the gathering dusk. "Night… and a storm are coming. Move."

The two detectives on the stream banks did the same, both knowing time was running out for both woman given the amount of blood they had found on the trail down to the creek.

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"Fin… I've found blood. Looks like one or both of our vics tried to crawl into this culvert for cover," Munch called, bending to enter to a large drainage pipe.

Training the beam of his flashlight along the base of the narrow tunnel, he found what looked to be a few spots of fresh blood. "Police. Is anybody in here?"

Straining to hear over a loud clap of thunder, he detected the sounds of someone crying. Moving a few feet further in, he tried again. "My name is John. I'm a police detective. You're safe. Just let me know where you are, so I can help you."

"Stay away!"

Focusing his light fifty feet in front of him, he breathed a little easier to find the two women huddled at the base of the junction of two sections of drainage pipe. The pair was surrounded by trash and debris washed into the pipes from above. From where he stood, he noted that one of the two… one wearing blooded jogging shorts and a tank top appeared to be unconscious. The other, the teen rape victim from all appearances, was cradling the jogger close to her and brandishing a broken bottle. Her clothing hung in tatters around her battered body.

"Stay away!"

After calling to Fin to let him know he had found them, Munch slowly moved toward the two women. "I'm a cop. Let me help you and your friend. She looks like she needs a doctor."

Frantic eyes wavered from their focus on him and dipped to look at the woman in her arms. "How… how do I know I can trust you… that you really are a policeman?"

Reaching up to pull the chain holding his badge over his head, John offered, "I'm going to toss you my badge, OK? My name's John. What's yours?"

The badge landed softly in her lap. Recognizing the gold shield in the flashlight's beam, she seemed to collapse into herself. "I'm Lucy… Lucy Hellman."

Seeing the broken bottle fall from her hands, Munch quickly moved to their side. "Hi Lucy. We need to get you and your friend out of here as soon as possible. There is a storm coming and this culvert will soon be flooded with rainwater. Can you stand?"

"No… my leg hurts. I think it broke when I fell down the hill from the path. I was meeting a friend… They pushed me from behind. I never saw…" she whispered, sobs beginning to rack her frame. "They… they kept hitting me and… were going to rape me. Sam stopped them!"

"Sam?" Munch asked, checking the jogger's pulse to make sure she was still alive. While it was weak, he breathed a little easier. She was alive for now, but he needed to get her help immediately. Calling over his shoulder, he asked, "Fin, can you help my friend Lucy while I take… Sam is her name?"

"Yeah… she told me before she passed out," the girl sobbed.

Gently untangling the girl's hold on the woman, Munch offered, "Lucy, my partner will be here to help you as soon as I get out of his way. His name is Fin. He's a great guy, so just let him help you, OK? I need to get Sam to the doctor immediately."

"Is she going to…?"

Breaking in before she could become hysterical, he soothed, "Not if I can help it. Wait for Fin. You did great getting her to a safe place… protecting her like she did you, but we need to let the doctors take over. Relax. You will both be fine."

While he was talking, he pulled off his jacket, so that he could rip off his shirt. Balling up the fabric, Munch used it to form a compress to try and stem the bleeding from a deep wound in her side. Using his tie, he secured the compress around her waist as tightly as he dared.

After wrapping his jacket around her shivering body and dropping the chain for his badge over his head, he carefully lifted the injured woman into his arms and began to ease his way out of the culvert. Other than a soft moan of pain as he shifted her, she gave no sign she was aware of what was happening. The cramped conditions slowed his pace as he was forced to try and walk in a stooped position while carrying her limp form. His back screamed in protest.

Arriving at the mouth of the culvert, Munch was relieved to find that Olivia had alerted the paramedics that their victims had been found. An EMT was waiting to take the injured woman from him as Fin disappeared back into the tunnel for Lucy. "She has a deep wound on her left side and it looks like she's lost a lot of blood. I packed it with my shirt. She's also got a head wound… and who knows what else. They did a number on her."

"Right," the paramedic responded, easing the woman onto a stretcher. "Tony… this rain is picking up. Let's get her to the bus before we start treatment. The shirt should give us a few minutes to get her there. Detective, can you give us a hand and keep the pressure on the wound while we carry the stretcher?"

Jumping down from the culvert, Munch took his place at her side. "Sure."

"We'll need help getting her up the incline," the second paramedic, Tony, observed.

"Olivia, we need help getting this stretcher up. Who's with you?" Munch called.

Within seconds, several officers had gathered at the top of the bank. The stretcher, Munch and the two paramedics were quickly pulled up, and were soon racing up the hill to the waiting ambulance. A driving rain slowed their progress, as they struggled to keep their footing on the wet leaves and mulch.

Over his shoulder, Munch called, "Fin is bringing up the vic. Her name's Lucy Hellman… looks to be around 16 or 17. This lady… Sam is all I have so far, saved her from being raped. Both have been beaten badly."

"Got it," Benson called, turning to wait for Fin and the girl. Trading a look with the other officers, she noted, "I sure hope she makes it. That lady is a hero."

The grim-faced men all nodded as the ones closest to the bank bent to help Tutuola and his charge. A second set of paramedics took over, easing the injured girl onto a stretcher for transport to the hospital. Under the circumstances, they all knew they had been lucky to find both of them alive. Now they could only wait and pray they would both survive their ordeal.

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A/N --- quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Act III, Scene I. Translates as 'You too, Brutus!'