Disclaimer: I do not own anything. All stories and characters belong to NBC and Dick Wolf.

Save Me

Olivia and Elliot rushed into Mercy General on a rainy night. They were just leaving for dinner together when Cragen got a phone call. There was another brutal rape. Elliot and Olivia sighed. They just finished a brutal serial rape case. They asked if it could be handed to another detective, but the victim asked for them personally. Olivia advised Elliot not to say no, despite how tired and annoyed he looked. So, there they were. Two cops on a Saturday night with nothing better to do. "Hi, I'm Detective Stabler and this is my partner, Detective Benson," he said, introducing himself and Olivia, "we're here about a rape."

The receptionist glanced up. "We've been expecting you," she said, "room 208." Olivia nodded in thanks and Elliot strode in exhaustion to the room.

"You okay, El?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he said.

"Okay," she agreed, "then stop acting like you have a stick up your ass."

"I'm not, Liv."

"Yes you are," she said. "You always act like this when you're tired." Elliot ignored her.

When they reached the room, they approached the victim with caution. They knew that victims are sort of jumpy. They never know what to expect, particularly after traumatic cases like these. They saw a woman facing the back wall, a long mane of red hair trailing down her back. She seemed distracted. They could hear sniffling. She was crying. A faint whisper was emitting from her lips. They could barely make out what she was saying. "Hi," said Olivia timidly. "I'm Olivia Benson and this is Elliot Stabler. You made a request for us?" It was at that point she turned around. Olivia gasped and Elliot nearly tripped over a cord. There, right in front of them, sat Casey Novak, their former prosecutor. Olivia inched closer to her old friend. Tears were trickling down her cheeks. She was bruised and battered. Olivia remembered when she was attacked in her office and how much trouble she went to to catch the son-of-a-bitch. To see her looking so frightened again broke Olivia's heart. Elliot's too. He knew Casey longer than Olivia, even though it took longer for him to warm up to her than it took Olivia. Elliot saw past the old, fearless prosecutor and into the eyes and ears of a troubled woman. It was like he was looking into broken glass. Like if you touched her, she would break into a million pieces. "Casey?" asked Olivia bewilderingly.

"Hi Liv," she said through tears with a small smile. She was glad to see the two of them again. She'd always wondered what had happened to them after her disbarment. "Hi Elliot," she said, acknowledging that Elliot was also in the room. Olivia moved to Casey's side and sat down next to her. The look of despair in Casey's eyes was to much for Olivia to take.

"Case?" she asked again, "what happened?"

Casey took a deep breath. She was getting ready to explain the whole thing in detail. Olivia shuddered a little bit. She knew that Casey was ready, but this was a different case. "He attacked me from behind," she said, "I never saw it coming. He hit me over the head a few times and he... he... well- you know the rest."

"He raped you," stated Elliot. Olivia glared at him and he shrugged back. Casey, however, nodded. "Now, you said he attacked you from behind. Did he say anything unusual?"

"He called me a filthy, dirty whore repeatedly," she sobbed. "Said I should die." She looked up, hopefully. "Maybe I could go through a voice line-up?" Olivia nodded her head.

"We have to find the bastard first, Case," she said, "did you forget?" Casey shook her head. She heaved shaky, uncontrollable sobs. Olivia and Elliot looked down at her. The once composed Casey Novak in the DA's office was now the destroyed, vulnerable woman in the room in front of them. "Oh, Case," Olivia breathed trying to apologize, "I'm sorry. That slipped."

"No, Liv, you're right," she sobbed, "it's my fault."

"No it's not," Olivia reassured her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "it's anything but your fault. You should know that from working with rape victims for five years." Casey looked into Olivia's eyes. She then leaned into Olivia's shoulder, sobbing into her jacket. Olivia's arm slowly wrapped around her shoulder and her other arm moved forward and around her front. She cradled the crying Casey. "It's okay, Casey. It's okay." Olivia could see Elliot in the distance. His eyes were a little red. "You're crying?" she mouthed to him.

"Shut up!" he mouthed back.

Olivia saw that Elliot was becoming blurry. She felt something wet and hot trickle down her cheek. She had tears too. She couldn't see a victim. She could only see a friend, desperate for her help. Before she could stop herself, Casey was tighter in her arms and her face was in Casey's hair. She sobbed into Casey's hair.