Disclaimer: I do not own anything in relation to Law and Order: Special Victims Unit…I just own this story…and that's it…end scene

Author's Note: One-Shot. AC/GH friendship kinda thing. It's kinda cliché, but it came to me. It's kinda lame, but it came to me. The characters are kinda OOC, but it came to me. So all you have to do is read and review and I will be happy…

Burdened

By: Nimmireth

There is a soft knock on the door to my office. "Come in," I say.

Alexandra Cabot, the Assistant District Attorney of the Special Victims Unit enters. "Are you ready for tomorrow, Doctor Huang?" she asks me.

A silly question, but I answer anyway. "Yes, Counselor."

"Just remember, you are an expert witness, so answer the questions."

I nod. "I've done this before, Alex. I know what to do."

She nods. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, then," she says and turns to leave.

Her hand is on the door handle when I interrupt her. "Something tells me that the trial isn't the only reason you came to me; is that correct, Ms. Cabot?"

She looks down at the floor and exhales deeply. "No, I'm afraid you are incorrect," she says, looking directly into my eyes.

I shake my head; I see the tear that slips down her cheek. "You can talk to me anytime, Alex. You know that, right?"

"Thank you, Doctor, but I don't need to see a psychologist," she tells me. "I need to talk to the Detectives in preparation for the trial."

Being the psychologist that I am, I interpret the sentence to mean more than one thing. I suddenly knew why she wanted to talk to me. "Alex, when did it happen?"

She gasps and stares at the doorknob. She began to breathe heavily and another tear found its way down the side of her face. "A year before I started working at SVU," she answers.

I nod once more. "Is that the reason why?" I ask.

She nods again. "Yes," she tells me.

I look at her. "Tell me about it."

She slowly removes her hand from the doorknob and walks over to a chair in front of my desk. She hesitates and wipes her eyes. "I wanted to go into Homicide," she begins, looking down at her knees. "I had just talked to Arthur Branch about the possibility of moving me up; he told me I was a good lawyer and I should be proud and that I would make a great addition to Homicide. I thanked him and I left."

She stops. "Go on," I encourage her.

She sniffles and lets out a small sob. "I just got into my apartment. I changed and got into bed. I heard someone knocking at my door. I got up and opened it; that's when he tackled me."

She pauses to wipe away a tear. "I screamed at the top of my lungs; he hit me and said 'Shut up, Bitch! We're just getting started!'" She shudders and sniffles. "I was in shock, I-I didn't know what to do, I…" She breaks and softly starts to cry, bringing a hand up to her forehead.

I look directly at her. "You don't have to talk about it anymore," I tell her.

She takes her hand away and takes a deep breath. "The only thing I ever did for that night was ask to work with SVU; I never went to the police, I never went to the hospital, I didn't even tell my mother. You're the only person who knows." She pauses. "Why didn't I go to the police? I knew they could do something; I finished law school and I knew what could happen if he was put on trial. Why didn't I say something?"

"I don't know," I tell her. "Why didn't you go to the police?"

She looked at me and rolled her eyes. "Don't. Please don't shrink me now, I feel small enough."

"Alex, you know the answer. You just said it," I say. "Tell me, Alex, tell me why you didn't go to the police."

"Would you shut up!" she snaps. "I don't need to be psychoanalyzed right now, okay? I just wanted to get that off of my chest. That was a rhetorical question, I should've said anything."

"Alex, why didn't you go to the police?" I ask.

She takes a deep breath. "I was scared, okay? I was really scared, I didn't want to go through that again, I just thought that if I did something for other people it would give me some closure."

"Did it?" I wonder.

She sighs. "No," she tells me. "To this day I still carry the burden of being a rape victim."

"And you will always have that burden, won't you?" I ask.

She exhales with more tears falling. "I guess so."

"But, doesn't helping other victims make you feel good?" I ask. "I mean, you get to overpower them like you never got the chance to that night."

She finally looks directly into my eyes. "Yes," she says. "I do feel like I have total control over them in the courtroom. And when I win, it's like I fought back, like I went to the police. Like I did something about it."

I stare at her. "Alex," I say. "You're learning to take full control over your life again. That's great. You should know that no one has the right to take away your power. You are a strong, talented woman; no one can second guess you on that."

She smiles; that was when I knew that she finally felt like she could take over the world. "George?" she says. "Thank you. Thank you, so much."

"You know my door is always open," I tell her.

She nods and stands up. Putting her hand on the door handle once more, she looks up at me and smiles. Two seconds later, she's gone.

The next day, she won that trial; and she smiled.