Chapter I: The "New" Newbie
She really wanted this job. She spent her life trying to proof herself to people, and this is her chance to really do it. She worked very hard to put Detective in front of her name. But she was still a rookie in that department.
Detective Harper Jane walked out of the elevators at the 16th precinct. The box that she was holding isn't really that heavy, since she didn't know what to bring with her. She packed only 2 pictures, one with her mother and one with all her sisters.
Harper walked into the squad room of Manhattan's Special Victims Unit. The guy in uniform, whom was sitting by the door, stood up.
"Can I help you, miss?" he said, looking at her with sadness in his eyes.
Harper looked at him, "yeah, I'm looking for sergeant Olivia Benson?" she asked.
"She is in her office. It's right over there." He pointed at the door right across the room.
"Thanks."
She walked across the room, while observing the squad room. She saw 3 people, two men and a woman, sitting together. Judging by their faces, Harper assumed they were joking around. And then there was another man. He was sitting by himself and kind of pretending he didn't hear them. Harper felt sorry for him. Suddenly, all 4 of them were looking at her. She ignored them and knocked on the door of the office she was sent to.
"Come in." Said the voice of a woman.
She opened the door, and was faced with her new commanding officer. If Harper was honest, she expected someone very different. She expected an elderly woman, whose hair would have been grey and wearing a police suit. She didn't know why, but she felt better seeing the woman was nothing like she expected. On the desk she saw the name "Sgt. Olivia Benson".
"Sergeant Benson?"
Olivia looked up.
"Yes, how may I help you?"
"I'm Harper Jane, your new detective."
Suddenly Olivia remembers. Seeing that Special Victims Unit was short staffed, Olivia asked if she could have 2 more detectives in her team, preferably one man and one woman. They immediately assigned detective Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr to her team, but so far she felt that he wasn't the right person. Since he was the man she requested, she was hoping the woman would be more of a fit into her team, but she was kind of disappointed of what stood in front of her.
The woman couldn't be more than 25. She was still a girl. And Olivia had a feeling that she had no experience being a detective at all.
"Right. Nice to meet you, I'm sergeant Olivia Benson. Welcome to Special Victims Unit." Olivia said, trying to keep herself from judging the girl.
"Thank you sergeant. I just want to say I'm really excited to be here and be a good help for you. My old CO told me you guys were short staffed."
Olivia just nodded.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to the others."
They both walked out of the office. Harper was still holding the box with her stuff in it.
"Guys! I want you to meet detective Harper Jane. Harper, these are detectives Fin Tutuola, Nick Amaro, Amanda Rollins and Sonny Carisi. Your desk is right across from Sonny."
"Nice to meet you." Fin and Amanda said.
Nick just nodded. He wasn't sure what to think of her yet, but if she was in any way like the other newbie, they won't hit it off.
"Nice to meet you too." Harper said while putting the box on her desk.
Sonny went up to her with his hand out. Harper shook it.
"Dominick Carisi Jr, but you can call me Sonny. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you Sonny."
"No offense, but you look young. Where did you transfer from?"
"Uh… The streets. Was in uniform until a week ago. And a woman is never offended if you call her young." Harper winked.
"Oh wow. You really just came out of the uniform. This is going to be tough for you."
"It's okay. I asked my old CO where they most needed me. He wanted to transfer me to Robbery."
"Robbery. Ha, I actually worked there for like 6 months. Not enough action."
Harper just smiled. She started unpacking the box. She took the picture with her mother and looked at it for a while. She missed her mother. She needed to call her again soon. Harper put the picture next to her computer screen.
When Harper was done, she looked over to Sonny. He was busy with paperwork while the other 3 were still talking to each other. She didn't really like the vibe she was getting.
"When did you start working here?" She asked.
"Just a couple of weeks ago. Was with SVU in Staten Island before this."
"Why come here?"
"Special Victims needed people. The same reason you're here."
Harper nodded. She saw the guy named Nick look at her. She wasn't really sure what was up with him. Sure, she heard about him. The guy who shot an unarmed 14-year old kid and almost beat a guy to death because he was taking pictures. Harper knew from his face that he didn't want her here. She saw him walking into sergeant Benson's office.
Olivia looked up and sighted when she saw whom it was.
"I don't want to hear it Nick."
"Liv, why is she here? We were fine with just Carisi."
"Because I asked for another detective, another woman."
"She is not a woman, she is a girl. She doesn't belong here."
"I'm sorry Nick, but you don't have a say in this even though you want to." The phone on Olivia's desk started ringing. Olivia picked up.
"Special Victims, sergeant Benson."
Olivia listened to the voice on the phone. She took a piece of paper and wrote down some key information.
"Yes, we got it covered. We are on our way now." Olivia hung up the phone and walked out to the squad room, Nick following her.
"Guys, listen up. There is a 10 year old girl, named Lucy Bedford, in Bellevue, says she just want a doctor to examine her but the doctor found it suspicious because of the bruising she has. She is in foster care, but no parent came in with her. Amaro, Carisi, you two go to the address the girl gave. Fin, Rollins, you guys try to find as much as you can about the girl. Jane and I will go talk to the girl. Let's go."
Amaro and Carisi took their jackets and went to the elevator. Rollins and Tutuola went to computer screens. Harper just looked around her. She was amazed by how well sergeant Benson took control. But she was also nervous. This will be the first time she would be involved with a case from Special Victims.
"Jane, I just need to make one phone call and then we can go." Olivia said, while walking back to her office.
Harper nodded. This is going to be a long day for her.
XXX
"Do you mind if you drive? I'm kind of tired." Olivia asked while they walked over to the squad car.
"I don't. I like to drive. Makes me feel relaxed, you know." Harper said while getting into the driver's seat. She felt her phone buzz.
She took out her phone and saw the text on the screen:
I love you, be safe xxxxxxxxxxxxx – HW
Harper smiled. Olivia noticed it and wondered who that could be.
I love you too, see you tonight xxxxx – HJ
Harper put her phone back in her pocket.
"Sorry. Which hospital is it?"
"Bellevue. It's going to be a long ride, especially with the traffic around this time."
"Right."
Olivia looked over to Harper. When she read the file on the girl, she was indeed impressed with her record. In her 4 years as an officer on the street, she made many arrests involving mostly drugs and gangs. Olivia actually wondered why she didn't join Narcotics.
"Can I ask you a question?" Olivia asked.
"Sure."
"Why did you choose Special Victims and not Narcotics? I know for a fact that Narcotics had an opening and I'm pretty sure they would have wanted you, based on your record."
"Because I actually wanted to help people. They wanted to put me in Robbery first, but my previous CO made sure I was somewhere they actually needed me. Narcotics can get a guy in 20 seconds. Special Victims? Nobody wanted that, so I saw my chance to give back. But I could tell from you face earlier that you were kind of disappointed."
"No, I'm not disappointed. I just… I didn't know what to expect. But can you blame me? You're really young. How old are you?"
"I'm 24, sergeant. But I'm going to make sure you don't regret having me."
"I'm sure I won't regret it. You look like a good person, Harper."
XXX
After a half hour, Olivia and Harper arrived at Bellevue. Harper parked the car, and together they went inside. Harper just followed Olivia because she had no idea where to go. They reached a desk.
"Sergeant Benson and detective Jane, Special Victims Unit. One of the doctors called us about suspicious bruising on a 10 year old girl?" Olivia told the nurse behind the desk.
"Yes, that would be doctor O'Conor. Follow me please." The nurse said, motioning for them to follow her.
"Oh by the way Harper, let me do the talking. Since you're new at SVU, you don't really know how to talk to abused victims. If you observe this one, you can maybe do the next one."
Harper was kind of offended. She totally knew how to talk to victims. When she was still an officer on the streets, she dealt with mostly drug and gang-related stuff. Because of that, she saw a lot of girls who were sexually abused and forced to have sex with other men. Most of them weren't even 15. But Harper didn't want to say anything. She didn't want to look bad in front of her sergeant on her first day.
"Here she is. Good luck with trying to get her to talk." The nurse walked away.
Olivia pulled the curtain aside. Every time she sees a kid all bruised up, her stomach always turned. She just didn't understand why anyone would hurt something as innocent as a kid.
"Lucy? My name is Olivia and this is Harper. We are police officers, and we would like to ask you some questions."
The girl just looked at Olivia. Her eyes then looked at Harper. Harper's heart broke. The girl's eyes were empty and dull. It was like her soul wasn't in her anymore.
"You think that you can answer our questions?"
The girl's eyes widen and she shook her head furiously.
"Calm down, sweetheart, you're not in any trouble. We're here to help you."
Lucy kept shaking her head. Olivia sighted. There was no way this girl was going to talk.
Harper noticed a duffle bag, lying on the chair next to the bed Lucy was sitting on. It had a soccer ball on it.
"You play soccer?" Harper asked.
Olivia looked at Harper in disbelieve. Lucy looked at Harper, then looked at her duffle bag and slowly nodded her head.
"I use to play soccer when I was a kid. I was so good, I actually got a scholarship for it."
Lucy's eyes widen. Harper knew she got the girl's attention.
"What position do you play?"
"Defence." Lucy said in a small voice.
Olivia was surprised. Harper actually made her talk.
"That is so funny, I played defence. Where do you play?"
"Bushwick. I play for the Bushwick Titans Girl Team."
"I used to play for the Queens Vikings Girl Team. Do you like it?"
"Yes, very much. I would like to play in the USA national women soccer team one day."
Harper saw that Lucy's eyes were starting to shine while talking about soccer. Just then a woman in a long white coat pulled the curtain aside.
"Oh sorry, I didn't know Lucy had any company." The woman said.
"Don't worry. My name is sergeant Olivia Benson and this is detective Harper Jane. We're from Special Victims."
"Right. I'm doctor O'Conor. I examined Lucy." Doctor O'Conor said.
Harper was still looking at Lucy. Just like that, the shine is her eyes were gone again. Suddenly Lucy got up from the bed and quickly grabbed her duffle bag.
"I have to go." Lucy said, and before anyone could say anything, she was already running out the exit.
Olivia sighted again. Harper just looked at Olivia. This case could take awhile.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Author's note:
Not sure if anyone is reading this, but if you do please leave a comment if I should continue this story or not. I already planned out a whole story for this, but I would like to know if anyone would actually be reading this.
This is my first story. And English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes.
Please review! I'll appreciate it :)
