Benson and Stabler sat in the waiting room of the hospital, helpless. Across the hall, in one of the room recovery rooms, lay a little 11 year old girl, talking to Dr. Huang.
The girl, Emily, had been savagely attacked in her own back yard. Fortunately, the girl had not been sexually assaulted, but she'd been scratched and beaten pretty bad. The frustrating part was, it was by someone she knew, but she wouldn't talk. Dr. Huang had spoken with the little girl at length, trying to coax the identity of her abuser out of her, but it was like talking to a brick wall. Olivia herself had given it a shot earlier, reasoning that the girl might respond more favorably to a female, but it didn't work.
"Elliot, I'm stumped," said Benson. How can we help this poor girl if she won't talk to us? Surely she must know that it could happen again, unless we catch this guy!"
"I know, Liv. Everyone is trying their best. Until then, I think we should try to get CFS to take custody of Emily."
"Why?" asked Olivia.
"Because she refuses to deny that it was her father, and her father has no alibi. Besides, the father is clearly a crack head - she'd be better off."
"You can't just take a child away from her parents without any evidence," said Olivia. Although, inside, she loathed Emily's father and wised he would get hit by a bus.
Elliot, however, disagreed, and called the A.D.A. to see what could be done.
They passed the time watching Jerry Springer and Montel Williams on the waiting room TV, but their minds and hearts were really concentrated on that poor little girl. Eventually, Dr. Huang called a halt to his session with Emily, and came to see the 2 SVU detectives.
"Any news?" asked Stabler earnestly.
"None, I'm afraid," said the debonair Asian psychiatrist, shaking his head sadly. "In fact, things are getting worse than with you spoke with her, Olivia. The turmoil of her abuse seems to have caused Emily to enter into a fantasy world, and experience strange delusions."
"What do you mean?" asked Benson.
Huang sighed. It was sad to have to report this news.
"Emily seems to believe she is visited at night by small blue men with white hats. She says the little people live in mushroom shaped houses, and try to protect her from her attacker."
"What did she say about her attacker?"
"Not much," said Huang, regretfully. "Emily says that the little blue creatures are the mortal enemies of her attacker, who, along with an evil cat, is always trying to capture them and eat them. She even has a name for these little creatures - she calls them "Smurfs".
"Smurfs?" said Benson. "That poor, poor girl."