Full Summary:

An abused cop, her murdering husband, the SVU Detectives, and the 15th all clash. What happens when the cop is beaten nearly to death by her husband? What happens when the SVU Detectives from New York venture to Toronto looking for the man that murdered six women in the city? What happens when the 15th find out what happened to the cop and that her husband is wanted for murder in New York?

Abusive Secret:

Smithers Home:

"Charlie, stop, you're hurting me! Stop!"

"Shut up Bitch!"

Charlie yelled as he hit and beat and kicked Cleara harder with every smack. She hit the ground and was kicked again. He was drinking again, he was always drinking. She felt his foot make contact with her ribs and then again with her stomach. She gasped as he kicked her over and over again. She would have screamed but she couldn't because she couldn't breathe. She didn't know why he was mad this time but if she had to guess, it had something to do with her job as a cop.

They had lived in New York for a short while and while living there, Charlie had managed to get dragged into the SVU Squadroom a few times. The Detectives were never able to do anything because Cleara was never able to press charges. Charlie always made sure of that. He had been a lawyer and he knew how to use the system against his own wife. He'd paid for her to go to school, in which she chose to become a cop to have at least some control over her own life. She soon learned that he now held that power over her since he paid for her to go to school.

When they moved to Toronto, she learned that there was no escaping what he was doing to her. She couldn't go to the cops she now worked with because they didn't trust her at all. She couldn't call the Detectives because Charlie would find out. And she couldn't go to the hospital because he would just follow her and drag her out.

All of a sudden the beating stopped. He bent down and looked at Cleara and then stood up and walked out the door. None of the neighbors had heard because he had been clever enough to put music on so they couldn't hear anything. She knew that she had to work in the morning and knew that he knew as well. He sure as hell wasn't going to beat her to the point where others could see what he'd done to her.

Cleara picked herself up from the ground and entered the bathroom where she got herself cleaned up and got in the shower. Being mindful of her sore ribs and bruises that were starting to show, Cleara washed herself and made herself as clean as she could get without scoring her skin from her body. Every time he came at her, she wanted to score the skin from her body, but she knew that sooner or later, he was going to pay for what he was doing whether he liked it or not.

She got out of the shower, put her pajamas on, set her alarm and got into bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. Tomorrow was the start of the keeping the secret a secret yet again.

New York:

Detectives Benson and Stabler were still working the same case they had been working when the Smithers had moved. Charlie Smithers was still one of the prime suspects but because he had moved across boarders to a different country, they had no way of arresting him. They wished that Cleara hadn't gone with him but knew that if she had stayed, he would have killed her just to get out of the country and away from the Detectives.

There were four dead women so far and they feared that there would be more now that Charlie was in a new city. They knew that he beat Cleara but because she never pressed charges, they had been able to do nothing. they were keeping an eye on the Canadian Boarder just in case he came back into the country that way but they could only do so while in the state of New York.

Four dead women, one prime suspect and no way to get to him without crossing jurisdiction in order to get to him. They were all steamed but they knew that they had a job to do. Captain Craigen was on the phone with one of Toronto's Superintendent's in charge of the precincts trying to get some of his detectives into one of the precincts to look out for there murder suspect. He had already gone through four superintendents and so far no luck. He was hoping this fifth one would give in and allow the detectives to go up and catch the guy.

If they were given permission, Benson and Tutuola would be going because Cleara trusted the two detectives with her life and because they were the ones that had told her what her husband really was. If anyone could get Cleara to finally press charges against Charlie Smithers, it was going to be Benson and Tutuola (or Finn as everyone called him). What was worse was they knew that they would most likely find Cleara either in the hospital or on the verge of going into the hospital. Charlie wasn't known to beat lightly unless he didn't want to get caught.

The Detectives prayed that they weren't too late in catching Charlie or rescuing Cleara from Charlie…