The light of morning had just began to appear and the dark blue of night was beginning to lighten as the short brunette stared out the window of the bus as it approached the corner of Broadway and Waverly, the location of NYU's College of Nursing. She hated going to work before 8, but it was part of working as an analyst of student surveys for accreditation of a prestigious school. She had two weeks to analyze over 4000 responses. She sighed as she pressed the indicator for the bus to stop. Perhaps the largest cup of coffee form the next door McDonalds might help her wake up and get some motivation to work. She walked across the snow lined street from the bus stop, the cold wind biting through her clothes. It was the week between Christmas and New Year's and it was colder than she was used to. Then again, she had grown up in a warmer climate so the winters here were a difficult adjustment.

After getting her coffee in a surprisingly un-crowded McDonalds, the girl walked into the school's building. She smiled as she waved to the front desk security and flashed her name badge. Things were pretty relaxed and calm when students weren't in attendance so she breezed into the elevator to the 11th floor. The Nursing College was actually on the 10th floor, but she was more general staff so the powers that be liked for her to be nearer to the Admissions and registrar for NYU. Still, that didn't help this week when there was no one there. The main school and departments had this time off, but the Nursing College chose to work this time, giving its employees time to take as vacation later. All that meant was she would be alone on a dark and creepy floor. It unsettled her to no end, but, as she kept telling herself, this was part of the job and it paid the bills.

She exited the elevator on the half lit floor, and immediately walked towards her office door. There was one light switch in her little hallway, and she flipped it on as soon as she could to illuminate her area. Not that she was nervous or panicky, but something about a quiet area was unnerving today. She reached her door, set her coffee cup on the floor and reached for her keys. Not too safety conscious in a big city, she realized, but then again, who else was here? She opened the door to her pitch-black office. She had no outside windows and only one small window that faced the hallway so the room was dark a lot of the time. She stepped in and felt around for her desk lamp, the door started to shut behind her so she put her foot in the opening. The light popped and flashed to signify the bulb had lit its last.

"Great," she muttered to no one as she stepped into the office further, leaving her shoe in the door for a little more hall light. She placed her purse on the floor in front of her desk so it would bang into things as she felt around for the switch on the wall to her left. Suddenly, the door opened wide and she turned to see a large figure standing in the doorway. She tried to see his face, but the hall light behind him left it in shadow. The girl began to panic and lunged for her desk phone to call security, but the man moved and grabbed her arm. She tried to scream, but he hit her across the cheek which made her teeth rattle.

Reeling from the blow, she tried to come to grips with what was happening and how to get out of it. Someone was attacking her so it was now a question of making sure that no matter what, this guy wouldn't get away with it. Her analyst mind tried to take in as much information as it could. Smells, approximate build and height, clothes he was wearing, hair color. He kicked her shoe out of the way and the door slammed shut, killing whatever light she had. He pushed her to the floor and got on top of her., kicking the survival instinct into high gear. She began to hit at her attacker. She grabbed at hair and skin with her horribly short fingernails, hoping to get some sort of evidence. She had watched enough of those shows on the Discovery Channel to know that those things made a difference. The man grunted as he tried to control her. She felt sweat dripping from her attacker onto her skin as he ripped her clothes. He put his hand over her mouth and she bit down hard enough to draw blood. Then he sat up, grabbed her head and smacked it into the floor causing everything to go black.

Olivia Benson sat at her desk in the Manhattan SVU squad room staring at the red envelope. It was from her former partner, Elliot Stabler. She had been contemplating opening this for the past month since it landed on her desk. It had been over a year since her partner had retired without so much as a word of warning, and she hadn't really spoken to him since. It was too painful after all the cases they had worked and the experiences they had shared. She understood why he had left, but still, there was something about being able to say goodbye that gave it all closure.

The envelope was decorated with pretty writing which meant that Elliot's wife, Cathy, probably sent her a Christmas card. Last year's card still sat unopened in Olivia's drawer, but on the outside there was a message "To Elliot's office wife" with a smiley face. That was Cathy's nickname for Olivia since Elliot spent as much time with her as he did his own wife and sometimes more.

Olivia sighed and decided to open the envelope, if it was a Christmas card with a family photo, it might be nice to see little Eli, the youngest child, and how he had grown. She smiled as she realized he would be in kindergarten now. She had been there keeping his mother alive when Eli was born almost amongst a horrible car accident so she felt a slight connection to the kid.

"Olivia," the voice of her new partner, Nick Amaro, broke into her thoughts "we got a call at NYU."

Olivia shook her head to clear the semi-sentimental fog away. She looked up at Amaro and blinked. It was time to put her game face on, you would think rape would take a break over the holiday week, but didn't seem likely. She stood and grabbed her badge and gun. She walked out of the squad room with her partner, the envelope left unattended on her desk.

NYU

726 Broadway, 11th floor, Room 11B125

8:30 pm

The office was crawling with CSU techs fingerprinting and bagging what they could. The floor was covered with papers and folders but the desk was clear. The victim's purse was kicked around and there was a small blood pool on the floor near the desk. Benson and Amaro found a uniformed officer that looked to be the first on the scene. He was holding a cup of coffee, but his hands were shaking. Olivia looked at him with understanding eyes. She had a soft spot for rookies, and she remembered her first rape scene, it took a lot to process.

"Were you first on the scene, Officer", the officer looked up, his eyes wide and scared and he answered her. "Martin. Yes, I took the call. Security guard called it in. He said he was doing a walkthrough and saw a shoe in the hall and spilled coffee. He opened the door and found the victim. She…. Oh, God"

He broke and Olivia saw a tear forming in his eye. She stopped him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "calm down," she whispered, "tell me, where is the security guard?"

"Um, he rode with the victim to Bellevue. He said he would meet you guys there. In fact, he's the one who told me to call SVU, I couldn't remember SOP. Don't tell my captain I forgot, he'll have my ass." The fear was almost too much, but both of the detectives understood. At the beginning, no matter what you're taught, this job can rock you to your core.

"Don't worry, you're secret's safe with us," Amaro said, smiling, "Just make sure you stick to the facts and no one will ever know you had a human moment. Olivia, let's get to Bellevue and talk to our Good Samaritan."

Bellevue Hospital

Emergency Room

9:30 pm

Olivia walked through the halls of Bellevue as she had so many times before, but for some reason this time something seemed off. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end. Something was gnawing at her, and her mind leapt to the thought of that red envelope on her desk and she suddenly wished she had opened it. Why was this thought coming to her now? She was on her way to meet a victim and she was thinking about a stupid Christmas card?

She reached the admit desk and smiled at a nurse that had been there for years but whose name Olivia failed to remember. An older nurse that she hadn't seen before stepped up.

"Can I help you," the nurse asked. Clearly she was new to this department or maybe this shift; she couldn't recognize the look of a detective. Olivia flashed her badge and the nurse studied it with a disapproving look.

"I'm Detective Benson, Manhattan SVU. I'm looking for a," she looked at the notes she got from the shaky officer after he took a breath, "Amanda Sorenson, she was brought in a couple of hours ago."

The nurse looked at a computer screen for the name and the uneasy feeling in Olivia began to grow worse. What was it about this victim that was causing this feeling that was now closer to dread? Why didn't she want to talk to this one? The nurse motioned for Olivia to follow her and the two walked down another hall to a room.

"The officer said the security guard who found her rode along, is he still here? I need to speak with him."

"Don't know, I came on after she came in, but there is a guy here with her, he's been outside the room almost like he was her personal guard or something." The nurse didn't seem upset or suspicious of a guard who supposedly found a rape victim and stayed with her until police arrived. Olivia had to admit, a rapist wouldn't insist on calling the right detectives or staying with the victim until they arrived at the hospital, but as her former partner would say "the perverts get stranger everyday". She resigned that she would play this by ear, and hoped her gut would lead her in the right direction.

As they got closer to the room, Olivia noticed a man in his 40's sitting in a chair outside the room, his head in his hands. It was clear that he was exhausted, but vigiliant. She had her badge still out from the desk and she readied to show it in case she needed to, but something told her that she wouldn't really need it.

"I'm Detective Benson" she began, trying to sound as official as possible in case he was a strange pervert and an official sounding voice would scare him, " I have a few questions for-"

"Liv?" A familiar voice said as the guard lifted his head. Olivia suddenly realized why she had an uneasy feeling and why her thoughts had kept turning to the abandoned envelope on her desk in the squad room. She had just come face to face with her old partner, Elliot Stabler….