The girl pulled the hood over her head, cursing herself for not grabbing a scarf or hat on the way out. Not that she could really blame herself, she didn't have a lot of time to get out of there when everything started going down.
"Listen here, you little shit."
The voice echoed in her mind, but she forcefully suppressed it deep, deep down as tears began stinging her eyes. She refused to cry over this anymore. Not again.
She took a sharp left around the corner and hit a tall man's shoulder. Before he even had the chance to apologize, she was yelling at him, "Watch where you're walking, asshole." She shoved her hands in her pockets, only then looked up to his face to watch a sour expression form.
"Fuck off, slut." He stepped around the girl and kept walking, huffing at the indignity of girls these days.
Lena adjusted her jacket, deciding if she should run after him. Although the initial shout had felt satisfying and good, the man's rebuttal made her feel like street trash. So she turned back around anyway and continued on her way, scolding herself for once again allowing a man's words to put her down. She's really gotta cut that out.
Besides, she was on a mission and it'd be stupid to start shit three feet from her destination. And at a police station, no less.
The girl approached and watched as the older man struggled to pull the heavy doors of the building open, just as she had seen multiple people before struggle. While forcing down a smug grin, the girl rushed to the other side of the man and pulled the door open with ease. The man couldn't mask his amazement from his face and Lena found satisfaction in it as she motioned for him to walk through and followed behind him. She massaged her left bicep from the "strain" as the door crashed shut behind her.
The girl found the precinct to be in chaos and disarray as she walked further into the building. The older man she walked in with went off to her right and she vaguely wondered what brought him here today, and regretted not finding out. She was an incredibly nosey girl. But, alas, she was here for a purpose and pushed herself towards the elevators on the left.
Lena gently nudged the "up" button with a knuckle from underneath her hoodie and rocked back and forth on her heels as she waited for the doors to open. Only a couple beats passed before they did and Lena took a step into the elevator, only to feel something obstruct her path.
The girl looked down to see a man's arm—belonging to the elevator security guard—stuck out across the door. Startled by the contact, she instantly stepped back. "Keep your hands off me." Lena warned dangerously, her fists gripped tightly by her sides.
"Ma'am," the guard didn't seem very concerned, "you need an escort to go above this floor."
Lena rolled her eyes, "I have one, she's just upstairs if you just let me talk to her then—" She attempted to step again into the elevator, only to be halted a second time.
"No can do, missy. Your detective has to meet you down here or you're welcome to talk to one of our street officers across the hall." He moved to stand more in the way of the door, obstructing her path and looming over the young girl.
"You don't understand, she's just—" Lena made a final attempt to squeeze past the officer before she felt a stranger near her skin, her hand—specifically—as it gripped the side of the elevator door.
In that moment, a woman's warm hand only lightly grazed the tips of Lena's fingers, but it was enough for the girl to get a pretty good read on the woman. She saw the woman's kind eyes that were partially obscured by thin spectacles and graying brunette hair before she even turned around. Images instantly flashed at the front of the girl's mind; a small boy sitting on a counter in a quaint kitchen, a book in her lap in her favorite chair of the living room, tears falling on case files in an office. The woman, who's name was Doctor Myka Brewster, had a green aurora—a light shade, like summer grass—and felt mainly things such as heartache and pride for those around her.
"Thank you, Officer Dudley, but I can handle this from here." A soft and sophisticated voice suggested from behind her. The security guard stood down and sunk back into the empty elevator as Lena turned around. She didn't have any words yet, as the girl was shaken by the contact and the vision she'd received of who this woman was. Lena hadn't met her yet, but she already knew all about her.
"Can I help you, kiddo?" The woman asked, and Lena could feel her eyes scanning over her.
"Um, yes, actually," Lena suddenly found her vans extremely interesting, not even mad at being called 'kiddo', and certainly not making eye contact with the nice lady, "I'm need to speak with Olivia Benson." The girl mentally kicked herself. She was stupid for coming here, of course it wouldn't be easy or private.
"Come on in." the woman waved the girl into her office, which was to the right of the elevators. The room was small, but almost cozy—for an office in an NYPD building. Lena noticed the several degrees that hung on the wall and three lamps in the room, in an effort to brighten up the dismal office. Lena also took note of the many picture frames on the woman's desk, and although Lena could not see the pictures, she had a pretty good idea already of what they looked like. "Take a seat, I'll call up to her." She motioned for the girl to sit in the chair across from her desk.
"Um." Lena said as she pointed to the chair. It was filled with papers and case files, there was no way she could sit there.
"Oh, sorry dear, my apologies." The woman rushed to the chair, but Lena was already shuffling the papers together. "I can take those." The woman reached out and Lena placed the files in her hands. This time, Lena was more careful to avoid contact as they made the hand-off.
The woman nodded for the girl to sit, and the girl was obedient for once, as the lady sat behind her desk and picked up the phone. A second passed and the Doctor spoke into the phone, "Hi, yes, can you connect me with Olivia Benson, Special Victims Unit?" The woman's eyes flicked up to watch the young girl glance around the office. When she was sure the girl wouldn't see her, she scanned over the bruise on the girl's young face, gauging for severity and a possible time frame in case she needed to add her name to the report Benson would be making about the girl. "Hi Detective Benson, one moment." The lady shifted her phone to speak to the girl, "I realize I didn't catch your name."
"Lena." The girl provided, quick to demonstrate her willingness for cooperation as a mode of appreciation, even though the response was delayed as the girl had been deep in thought.
"Hi, Detective, I have a 'Lena' here to see you." The woman straightened the papers on her desk and the girl anxiously awaited a long pause, "Yes, of course." The woman nodded as if Olivia could see her, then set the phone down with a plastic 'click' and addressed the spacey girl across her desk, "Detective Benson will be down in a few minutes."
Lena could only manage a nod, as she was shifting uncomfortably under the woman's gaze. The Doctor was staring at her over her glasses and with such scrutiny that Lena felt she might as well have all her secrets written on her forehead.
"I've had the pleasure of meeting Detective Benson several times," Doctor Brewster said, surprising Lena with the sound and information, "She's a very kind soul, but certainly quite a force to be reckoned with." The woman chuckled at some recent memory of the detective, and Lena couldn't help but chuckle a bit as well.
"Quite a force." The woman repeated, sombering, and Lena knew she was wondering what tragedy would have tied the girl's fate with the tour-de-force detective's.
Luckily, before any questions could be asked or barriers penetrated, the elevator doors 'ding'ed and the Detective strode into the office. "Lena." The woman breathed, rushing to kneel in front of the girl's chair. She opened her arms and the girl fell forward into the detective's warm embrace.
"Olivia." Lena's arms wrapped behind the woman's neck and held steadfast. She finally felt safe. Well, as close as she'd ever felt, anyway.
The moment was over faster than Lena would've preferred, as Olivia pulled back from their hug to cup the girl's face and look at it intensely. "What the hell happened, Lee?" The bruise on her right eye was fresh, only just starting to swell and gain color. But even in its early stage, Olivia could tell it was going to look bad and hurt like a bitch. "How hard did they hit you?" It would take a hard hit on anybody to look this bad, but Lena wasn't just anybody. And for Lena to be that bruised, they must have hit her hard.
Lena suddenly became aware again of the other person's presence in the room, "There was an incident, 'Livia." Despite herself, hot, fresh tears poured down her face fearlessly, "I couldn't help it. I couldn't."
Olivia wordlessly pulled the girl back into her arms, shushing her and tracing small, calming circles on her back. "Let's go upstairs, kid. We'll figure this out." She adjusted Lena's jacket so it was on straight after it had fallen off a bit, and they both stood. Remembering the doctor who had been watching the whole interaction, the Detective turned to her position in the corner and thanked her, "I really appreciate you calling me. I'll see you around, Doctor."
"Of course, Benson." Brewster nodded humbly, "Take care, Lena."
"Thank you, ma'am." The girl wiped the tears from her face and attempted at a grateful smile, before she turned around and followed Olivia to the elevators. She was sure to send a spiteful 'I told you so' glance to the security guard as she followed the Detective in, but afterwards was consumed in collecting herself during the short ride. She felt Olivia glance at her more than once or twice, but ignored her and stared straight ahead at the faux-wooden panels.
Finally, the elevator 'dinged' and Lena followed the Detective off and into the precinct. The place was somewhat calmer than the first floor, but it had the same smell of fresh paper and stale coffee. Lena allowed herself to take a breath, relieved to have retreated to safety at last. Lena noticed that Elliot wasn't at his desk, and neither was his jacket or files or any other personal effects, which meant he was probably out somewhere in the city on a call. Lena was grateful that he wouldn't see her as the mess she is today.
When the pair reached Olivia's desk, Lena was motioned to sit in the chair as the Detective sat on the edge of the desk. The woman's body language was calmer and heavier than a couple minutes before, and Lena was just glad she wasn't about to watch Olivia freak out at her. Instead, a frustrated question was asked, "I thought everything was going alright, Lena?"
"It was." The girl shrugged, although it wasn't completely true. Tensions had been rising for a while, she'd known it was a matter of time before something happened.
Olivia rubbed an eye then pushed a fallen strand of hair behind her ear. "Tell me what happened."
"I broke a glass..." The girl's eyes flickered to the woman's knowingly, "I dropped it and I didn't catch it and it shattered. I tried to pick it up, but Jason heard the crash and came to see what happened. He wasn't actually that mad until I talked back, that's when he hit me."
"And you still don't want to press charges?" Olivia pleaded, standing.
The girl rotated the chair and leaned forward, "I'll be 16 in a week, 'Livia. Then I can get out of there and I can just put it all behind me and—"
"But how am I supposed to protect you?" The detective interrupted her, angry. Lena started to open her mouth to explain that's why she came here, but she doesn't have the chance. "Dammit, Lena. Am I supposed to just standby and watch this prick give you black eyes?" The woman threw her arms out to her sides.
"Olivia, I came here because I trust you. I didn't know where else to go. If you don't want to... then I... I gotta go." The girl started to stand, already berating herself for coming here, when her friend stopped her.
"No! Lena..." She trailed off, pinched the bridge of her nose, regretful. "I'm sorry. I'll respect your decision to not press charges." She reclaimed her seat on the corner of her desk. "I'm glad you came to me, and I'm glad you're safe. But I can't take you home or out to talk about it right now. We're in the middle of a case."
Lena's heart broke a little bit. Very rarely—in their years of friendship—has Olivia rescheduled their time together because of work, and never has she cancelled on her when Lena has come to her for help, though those days were —thankfully—definitely less in number. "Oh," She moved to stand again, and actually made it to her feet this time, "You're right." She felt so stupid for coming here. Olivia's the only person that's never let her down. Ever. But of course, everyone lets you down eventually. "Of course. I should let you get back to work then." The girl bolted towards the door.
But the Detective stopped her immediately. "It's not that, it's just that I can't stop working right now. If you want to hang around here for an hour or so, though, I can take you home if there's no breaks in the case."
Lena turned towards the detective and uncrossed her arms. "Are you sure?" The girl asked timidly.
"Yeah, of course! Maybe we can get some McNuggets on the way back." The detective winked, trying to lighten the mood and pull the girl from a scary headspace. "But you gotta promise to not be distracting. I actually gotta work for an hour." The woman playfully nudged the girl with her elbow as the turned back towards her desk. They pulled up a chair to the side of Olivia's desk for Lena to sit in and wait as the detective went sifting through her files, searching them for the two-hundredth time looking for something she'd missed.
Almost an hour later, the girl was dramatically leaned across the desk. She was awake, just desperately bored, and had always had a flare for theatrics. Although her arms spanned almost half the desk, the detective smuggly ignored her. Though, secretly, she enjoyed the girl's antics and hadn't minded when the girl loudly collapsed on the table in attempt to stop the boredom and 'Livia's work. She had just calmly pushed the case files she'd need to the opposite side of the table and used the girl's arms to prop up her files for hands-free reading.
Something started beeping, but before Olivia could check her cell for some kind of message or her desk phone for a call, Lena sprung up from her position. "It's been an hour." The girl grinned as she pressed a button on the side of her watch.
Lena noticed how Olivia sighed heavily and exchanged her cheeky grin for a concerned frown, "The case that bad, huh?" She leaned forward, maybe trying for a peak at the case file. The detective, however, closed her current file and gave a slow, weighted nod. "What's it about?"
Olivia momentarily paused as she shifted focus away from the case and attempted away from her frustration, "These girls are going missing from juvenile centers, and we can't figure out how, much less who and why. It's like they're disappearing into thin air." She shook her head, done with thinking abut the case for now and taking a second to decompress, "But I'll go check with Cap about taking a lunch break." Olivia glanced at her watch as she stood from her chair, and when she read 2:49, she sighed and guessed she'd missed actual lunch. She pulled on her coat while she scanned over the girl. "Where's your coat?" She asked, upon not finding it on the back of the girl's chair.
"I... left it." Lena reluctantly answered. She'd already berated herself for leaving it when the cold city wind hit her on the way here and hoped the detective wouldn't repeat the same monologue.
Olivia sighed, disappointed but not in the girl. She knew Lena didn't want to be cold outside any more than she wanted her to be. She knew the girl would've gone back for it if she could have. The detective debated if they should go get the girl another coat, but this one to stay solely in Olivia's car for emergencies like this, but immediately struck the thought down. That had always been the rule. Olivia could buy the girl necessities or breakfast or even little gifts occasionally, but they could not be left with Olivia for any amount of time after the girl left. If the girl started leaving stuff with the detective, Olivia might be inclined to feel that they would stay there and that the girl would return to stay too. And that was a dangerous, disappointing feeling.
"I've got an extra in my locker near the crib, you can go get it." Olivia grabbed her own coat and pulled it on as she started towards her Captain's office.
"I hope it looks good on me." The girl exasperated dramatically and Olivia didn't need to turn around to know there was a mischievous glint in the girl's eyes.
The girl stood from the swivel chair she'd been practically dying in for the past hour and shook out the tension in her body, refusing to let the day's events get to her. She was spending time with her favorite person, who cared enough to take time out of her day for her—which was more than Lena could say about anyone else in her life—and for right then, that was enough.
Lena made her way down the hall to the lockers and dared to peak her head into the crib. It was empty of people, but the memory of the only other time she'd been in the room haunted her. She saw a reflection of herself on the closest bed, little and scared and hurt, and Lena felt a tinge of anger. She'd vowed to never let someone make her feel so small ever again, and she'd been mostly successful in the last seven years; no one had made her feel that way, not without paying for it. Lena took a breath, telling herself to cool it, as her eyes scanned over the bed next to the door, where Olivia had sat for hours as she slept, until the Social Services lady could pick her up the next morning. 'Livia watched over her all night, not sleeping a wink. The thought brought a smile to her face as she turned back to the lockers.
Lena pushed up the metal lever and reached into Olivia's locker to grab the coat when a familiar face came around the corner. "Mista Tee, what's up?" The girl couldn't help but smile in the man's presence. They did their usual dap that had been through years of perfection. "It's good to see you, man."
"You too, lil momma," Detective Tutuola nodded at eye, "Did Liv see that?"
Lena pulled the coat out of the locker, "Yeah," she answered, pulling on the heavy fabric, "She wasn't too impressed. I think it makes me look cool." She smirked.
"Me too, kid. As long as the guy who did it has one to match." Tutuola said it lightly, but caught the girl's gaze so that she knew he meant business.
Lena looked down, straightening the jacket. She felt a reassuring touch on her shoulder and watched as Fin wordlessly sauntered into the Crib, closing the door behind him. Lena groaned, because he was right and they both knew it. The girl shoved her hands in her pockets as she wondered back to Olivia's desk.
When she got there, Olivia wasn't back, which was a bad sign. It meant something had come up or that she was getting in trouble. Either way, their outing together was looking less likely. Lena sat on the corner of the 'Livia's desk and looked across the bullpen to the Captain's office. She didn't have her glasses on, so she wasn't sure, but the blinds looked closed. Another bummer of a sign.
Lena was staring a little too closely at the covered door and windows of the office when one of the blinds lifted up and she swore the eyes were looking right at her. The girl immediately looked for something to do—which was, apparently, to inspect a nearby stapler—but she was sure she was conspicuously delayed. Though the next time she looked up, only a few seconds later, the eyes were gone and Lena was left with a looming discomfort.
The young girl still had hope that all was well, however, until the door suddenly swung open and Captain Cragen stormed out and directly towards her, with a protesting Detective Benson in tow. Lena was nervous, even though she didn't work there, just as any sane person would be if a Police Captain charged out of their office and directly to them. Lena hadn't prepared any sort of question or statement in the couple of seconds that it took for the Captain to reach her, so she shut her mouth and waited for whatever was coming.
"Lena." He curtly nodded. The greeting was not intimate but it wasn't mean either, which was about as friendly as the Captain got.
The girl swallowed her nerves and managed a calm, "Sir."
"Benson mentioned the case to you?" He shoved his hands in his pockets. Lena nodded, perplexed. She was sure the man was coming to tell her to quit loitering around here and get out. "Well, we need some help with it."
Perplexing indeed. Lena couldn't think of anything that would have surprised her less. A smirk crept it's way into her lips as she ignored the tension radiating from Olivia. "Perhaps I could be of assistance?" The girl sat up a little straighter, pushing her shoulders back and chest out just slightly.
"No," Olivia immediately denied, "No way. Captain, she's just a kid. Just look at—"
"Detective." Cragen reprimanded, brushing her off to keep focus on the girl. "Look, Lena." The man visibly relaxed and Lena could tell he was about to be honest with her for once. "There's twelve missing girls, and nothing we're doing is helping and we've got no new leads. We've been sitting on this case for months now already, and we're about to hand this over to Cold Case, where they'll let it rot."
"How can I help?" Lena rushed to ask, not giving Olivia time to interject more refusals.
"I want to send you undercover." The Captain stated, then watched the girl carefully for her reaction.
"Absolutely not!" Olivia objected, raising her voice. "Sir, we have no idea where these girls are going!"
"That's exactly why we need Lena, there isn't another option, Detective Benson." The warning was more dangerous that time, and more effective too as Olivia bit her tongue. Cragen turned back to the girl, "You remember the protocol for that recon case we had you do last month?" Upon an affirmative response, the man continued, "It'd be a lot like that. Simple in and out, except this time we'll plant you first. All we'd need you to do is get picked up by some guys in the 26th, sit through a court hearing to see where you're sentenced, and we'll pull you out before you leave the city."
"I never should've let you do that recon. I should've known it would inspire something dangerous in you." Olivia mumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose.
But the Captain ignored her and looked to the girl for an answer. The girl squinted at the Captain for several long moments, considering. Cragen has made it clear that Olivia's opinion was not the deciding factor in this, Lena's was, but the woman's opinion was still important to her. "Olivia," The girl called and waited for the detective to look at her, "I want to do this, I can handle it. But I won't do this without your blessing. Tell me you don't think I can't handle it, if that's what you honestly believe, and I won't do this."
The tension was palpable as Lena held her breath as she watched and intense internal conflict stir within the Detective. It was a risky move to ask for Olivia's consent, but Lena knew it was the only way to make the woman commit to a decision, hopefully forcing her hand into siding with her.
Olivia breathed a defeated sigh. "I think you can do this." The woman admitted begrudgingly, "But I'm not happy about it!" Olivia exclaimed loudly, glaring at both the girl and Cragen for putting her in this impossible situation.
"Not happy about what?" A light-hearted Elliot strolled into the bullpen, setting his coat on his chair and crossing his arms.
"That I'm going undercover." Lena's cheeky smile pulled an exasperated laugh from Olivia.
"So you're in?" The Captain asked, needing a definite answer.
"Yeah, I'm in." The girl glanced at Olivia for the faintest of nods, then nodded herself to the Captain. This was going to be so much fun.