Charlotte Van Horne stood on the stage looking out at the crowd. The bright lights were hot, imposingly so and she breathed heavily, trying desperately to get some much needed oxygen into her lungs. Damn, she was out of practice. The atmosphere in the room was electric. The audience was lapping up the performance of her best friend, an up and coming singer, who was putting on the best show she ever had. Yeah, she was only a support act, but she had the potential to be huge, and Charlotte was honoured to be asked to fill in for one of her dancers. She knew she was going to be exhausted the next morning, but she wanted to be there for her friend on what was the biggest night of her life. The girls were almost blinded by the lights as the set ended and Maddie introduced the main act. Charlotte hugged her beautiful and talented friend as they made their way off the stage, taking one last look at the audience who applauded and cheered, both of them feeling blissfully happy. It was only when the two girls were almost at the wings they saw it. A young girl was stumbling across the floor, crying and screaming, covered in blood. Charlotte stopped, and could do nothing but watch as the girl collapsed on the floor, as the crowd parted and bystanders began to shriek.

Quickly Charlotte jumped into action, taking Maddie's hand and pulling her backstage, instructing her and her security to go to her dressing room, lock the door and stay there until she said otherwise. Turning to the main act's security she told them to go and assist her, but not to allow her to leave the building. Grabbing her bag she pulled out her gun and her cell phone, along with a black wallet, before running back onto the stage and jumping down on to the dance floor. Shouting at the venue's bouncers not to allow anyone else to leave, to prevent the remaining crowd from exiting the building but to keep them back and call the police, she struggled to make her way through the crowd to make her way to the young woman lying lifeless on the dirty floor. Some of the guards stood frozen, unable to comprehend the situation and why they were being ordered around by a dancer. She flashed her wallet at them and screamed, "Go." Quickly they jumped into action.

Finally Charlotte reached the girl and quickly seeing that she wasn't breathing and was face down on the floor, she turned her over and looked at her face. "Oh my God, Blair," she thought as she was pulling her around onto her back, forcing herself to remain calm and not panic. She started to give CPR, willing Blair to take a breath, relieved when she did and her eyes fluttered before she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Uniformed police officers made a loud entrance into the club, instructing everyone to stay where they were. Two officers pushed their way through the crowd, approaching the two girls on the floor, guns drawn, growing agitated as they noticed the gun on the floor at Charlotte's knees. Charlotte looked up, surprised to find herself staring down the barrels of two guns.

"Freeze," one shouted, "step away from the girl."

Charlotte shuffled back from Blair, trying to get her breath back from her efforts to resuscitate the girl next to her. "Relax," she said, with her hands in the air, keeping her voice even and un-threatening, "I'm on the job. My badge is in the wallet, let me slide it over to you."

The uniformed officers glanced at each other before the more senior one of the two said, "fine, but I swear to God you reach for your gun and you'll be dead before it's drawn."

Charlotte nodded, slowly lowering her right hand to the floor, placing it over the black leather wallet at her knees and shoved it towards the officer standing nearest to her, who crouched down to pick it up, never taking her gun off Charlotte for a second.

"Detective Charlotte Van Horne," she read, "Special Victims Unit." She handed it to her partner who glanced at it and indicated that she could stand.

"What do we got here Detective," he asked finally lowering his weapon.

Charlotte glanced from Blair to the officer. She was still trying to make sense of what had happened. "Um, female vic, early twenties, collapsed. She was unconscious when I got to her and not breathing so I began CPR…" she was halted by Blair groaning and knelt back at her side, taking her hand saying, "it's ok honey, I'm here, I've got you."

Blair's eyes rolled, and she coughed, "I was raped."

Charlotte's heart stopped as she gripped on to her hand. She looked at the unis and shakily instructed, "call the Manhattan SVU and chase up that damn ambulance."

The younger officer put in the call while her superior eyed Charlotte with suspicion, "I thought you were SVU?"

Charlotte took a deep breath, "I am, tomorrow was meant to be my first day."

Detective Olivia Benson shot up in bed at the sound of her cell phone ringing loudly on her night stand. "Benson," she said sleepily, trying to stifle a yawn. "Yeah, got it, I'll be right there." She rose from the bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she grabbed her discarded clothes from the night before. She had barely managed to get an hour's sleep and was exhausted from working an eighteen hour day just a few hours prior. Within five minutes she was ready to leave as she grabbed her badge, gun, cell phone and keys on her way out of the door. Still trying to wake herself up she got into the car that she never used, but had decided that it would be quicker to just drive her own car, rather than attempt to get the squad car. The traffic was still heavy as she made her way to the address her CO had given her, hoping that she wouldn't have to wait too long on her partner. When she pulled up outside the, she had to say 'classy' establishment that was the Underground Klub, yes with a 'K' and not a 'C', she was surprised to see Detective Odafin Tutuola waiting for her, rather than her usual partner Nick Amaro. She climbed out of the car and approached him.

"Hey, where's Nick," she asked as she walked towards him.

"It's his week with Zara, he couldn't get a sitter," Fin told her as they walked towards the police tape, which he raised for Olivia to duck under as she flashed her badge at the young uniformed officer standing guard. The detectives took in the scene as they walked along musty corridors that smelled of sweat, alcohol and smoke, across a floor that was so disgusting and sticky it felt like it hadn't been cleaned since the day the club had opened. The paint was peeling from the walls and there were various faded posters, some of which were for acts who had previously played the club, some advertising safe sex and the standard 'drink responsibly' notices. It made Olivia think of the amount of time she had spent in dives exactly like this in her college days and couldn't believe that she had actually enjoyed herself.

When they entered the main room of the venue they were surprised to see the patrons lined up against the perimeter walls, with uniformed officers taking names and addresses from scared looking twenty some-things, and the odd terrified looking under-ager. A small brunette woman was standing over a young girl on the floor, talking to another uniformed officer, occasionally bending down to check that she was alright. They approached the little group with their badges on display, more than a little irritated that these people were messing with their victim.

"Detective Olivia Benson, this is Detective Tutuola, Manhattan Special Victims Unit. Who are you," she asked, trying to keep the annoyance from her voice, directing her question to the unidentified female.

The woman looked at her and held out her hand, "Detective Charlotte Van Horne, I was meant to be starting at your unit tomorrow, but I guess our perp had other ideas, I was on the scene, when I saw the vic stumble from the left and collapse on the ground just here. I had the security move the patrons away and had the unis start taking details from them, along with some short statements. I also had the two acts who were playing tonight wait in their dressing rooms with their staff. One of them was just leaving the stage with myself when she appeared."

Fin held out his hand to Charlotte, "Odafin Tutuola. Do we have an ID for our vic?"

Charlotte cleared her throat and looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, her name is Blair Williams, twenty five years old, she said that she was raped, but then she passed out."

Olivia saw the look on Charlotte's face, "Do you know her?"

Charlotte shifted her weight, "yeah I do, she was my best friend in high school. We grew up together." She looked down at Blair sadly, hurting so much for her best friend, while trying to maintain her 'cop' composure. Charlotte rarely lost her cool, even when it felt like her world was falling apart, but she wanted to burst into tears at the thought of the ordeal that her friend had endured. She noticed that the other two detectives were looking at her with interest, knowing that they had suddenly noticed her attire and also that they were waiting for her to elaborate on the revelation she had just made.

When she didn't, finally Benson asked, "I take it you were here to see the band?"

"Um no, actually I was dancing onstage. I'm friend's with the support act and she asked me to fill in, one of her usual dancers is sick. Hence the outfit. I didn't even know Blair would be here tonight, I haven't spoken to her in a couple of months…," she explained, but was interrupted by the eventual arrival of the EMTs. The three detectives moved to allow them to examine the young woman. "I should go with her to the hospital, she should have someone with her."

"Actually, why don't I go, you may be too close to this," Olivia said, slightly pissed that this new girl had come in and managed the crime scene so well, but she wasn't sure why it bothered her. Besides from the fact that she barely looked old enough to have graduated high school, let alone work her way up to the rank of detective.

Charlotte didn't argue. She wasn't sure she could handle facing Blair and what she needed was for someone to be strong for her. But Blair seemed to have other ideas. She began to wake up, and seeing all the unfamiliar faces around her she immediately began to freak out. "Charley," she moaned weakly as she began to thrash around on the gurney that the EMTS had placed her on.

Charlotte turned around and took her hand. "I'm here honey, it's ok."

Blair looked into Charlotte's eyes, "please don't leave me, I'm scared," she mumbled, suddenly feeling less panicked now that she knew she had her friend with her. Charlotte looked at Olivia, who nodded, indicating that she should go with her. Olivia knew how distressing this process could be for the victims and it was always best to make them feel as safe as possible. Perhaps the new kid could manage this, perhaps not, but if it made the victim feel even remotely better that was all that mattered.

"We'll finish up here and then I'll come meet you at the hospital," she said as Charlotte started to walk away with the EMTs. She nodded and diverted her attention back to Blair, soothing her as best she could.

Fin was speaking to the uniformed officers who had been taking the patrons' statements, asking if they had anything of interest when Olivia joined them.

"Nope, people are unwilling to put themselves close to the victim, let alone anyone else," the uni said.

Fin sighed, "so a girl gets attacked and everyone is too busy looking out for themselves to help her. Gotta love this city," he grumbled, but he hadn't really expected any other answer. They agreed that Fin would remain at the club to speak to the acts, while Olivia would tail their newest recruit to the hospital, both recognising that there was not a lot they could do at that moment in time with unwilling witnesses.