Pairing: Olivia/Melinda
"Inconceivable"
Olivia rolled over and looked at the clock before answering her ringing cell phone. It was 2:30am and she knew, a phone call at that hour meant one thing, a victim.
"Benson" her sleepy voice said into the phone.
"Liv, its El. Fin called, he's at Mercy General"
Olivia's cell phone beeped, letting her know she had an incoming call. "Okay, hold on El…Fin's calling". Olivia clicked over, "Fin, I'm on my way" she said, answering the phone.
"Liv, hurry up" Fin says frantically.
"Hold your britches, I'll be there ASAP" she tells Fin.
"Mel needs you, hurry up and get here"
"Mel" says a shocked Olivia, as she sits up in the bed. "Fin, what's going on? What happened to Mel?"
"It's not Mel… its Deidra. She was beaten and…" was all Fin could get out before he heard a dial tone.
Deidra is Melinda and Olivia's sixteen year old daughter. She's a junior and star athlete at her Lincoln Park Academy; where she plays volleyball, basketball and softball. Being an honor student makes her the perfect student athlete.
Twenty minutes later, Olivia comes rushing into the emergency room in her pajamas. "Where is she?" she frantically says to Fin and Elliot.
"Over there" Fin says, pointing at the curtain.
Olivia slowly walks over and pulls the curtain back. She sees Melinda sitting next to the bed holding Deidra's hand. Melinda was so deep into thought; she hadn't notice Olivia behind her. Olivia walks closer to the bed and tears began to trail down her face when she see her teenage daughter with tubes down her throat and her face beaten badly. Olivia immediately broke down.
"What happened to my baby" Olivia cried out.
A sobbing Melinda gets up, turns around and buries her head into Olivia's shoulder. "Liv, someone tried to kill our baby" Melinda says, as she continued crying. "Why Liv… why would someone do this to her?"
The two women stood there holding each other for a few minutes. Olivia knew she had to gather her composure because Melinda was a mess. "Mel, sit baby… have a seat" Olivia said, as she guided Melinda back to the chair she had been sitting in.
A doctor enters the area. "Hi, I'm Doctor Carson" the lady said to Olivia. "Doctor Benson, your daughter is stabilized now and we're going to move her to a temporary room".
"Okay" says Melinda.
"She'll be move in about an hour" the doctor says. She walks over and looks down at the sixteen year old, "She's a lucky girl" she said, before turning around and leaving.
"Mel"
"Yeah"
"What happened? Was she able to talk when they bought her in? How did you find out?"
"I don't know what happened" Melinda said as she held Deidra's hand. "All I know is, you better catch the son of a bitch before I do"
"Where did this happen? What time?" Olivia says.
"I don't know, Liv"
"Well, what do you know, Mel?" Olivia said with anger in her voice.
Melinda sighed. "I got a call around 1:30am from a nurse, she said, Deidra was rushed to the emergency room and that she was unconscious"
"1:30am wait… Deidra's curfew is 10pm. What was she doing out after curfew?"
"I told her she could stay out until midnight" Melinda mumbled.
"What, midnight?" Olivia says. "First, I receive a call, not from my wife but from my partner telling me my daughter is in the hospital an hour after you had been notified and now you're telling me, you gave her permission to stay out until midnight? Nothing good happens after 11pm. MEL, WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Elliot and Fin could hear Olivia and so could everyone else in the area.
"Go get her" Elliot tells Fin.
"So what are you saying, Liv? Are you saying this is my fault?" Melinda asked.
"I sure as hell didn't give OUR daughter permission to stay out late, did I?" Olivia says sarcastically.
"Come on you guys" Fin says, as he pulls the curtain back. "Everyone can hear you"
"Where is Jacob and Jennifer?" Olivia asked Melinda. Jacob and Jennifer are the ten year twins of Melinda and Olivia's. "Or did you give them permission to stay out all night" she says to Melinda.
"Liv" Fin says.
"Stay out of it, Fin" Olivia says. "You got me living in a hotel because you think I cheated on you and meanwhile our family is being torn apart and our daughter almost dies because of a stupid decision you made.
"Liv, don't" Fin says as he looked at Olivia and back at Melinda, who stood there with tears trailing down her face. "Jacob and Jennifer is at Elliot and Kathy's"
"I need some air, I don't want to see your face right now" Olivia says to Melinda and then storms out the hospital. She leans over and vomits in a trash can outside the hospital doors. She knew was right out mean to Melinda; she wanted Melinda to hurt, to feel pain. The pain she's been feeling since moving out three weeks ago.
"She didn't mean it" Fin says, as he looks over at Melinda.
"I know…I know she's hurting too" Melinda tells him. "Do you have any leads?"
Fin sighs as he puts his hands in his pockets. "We don't. We're waiting for DeeDee to wake up to tell us what happened. Mel, was she…"
"Yes, she was sexually assaulted. They did a rape kit, the nurse should be back with it soon for DNA testing."
Fin walks over to Melinda. "We're going to catch this rat bastard, I promise you" he tells her and gives her a hug. Fin began to walk away and slowly turns around. "She didn't cheat on you"
"What?" said Melinda.
"Liv, didn't cheat on you"
"I saw her kissing another woman with my own eyes, Fin"
"Do you remember reading we caught the lesbian killer?"
"Yes… why?"
"Cragen asked Liv to go undercover with Detective Jackson to catch the guy. That night you walked in Club De'javu and saw Liv kissing a woman, it was Jackson she kissed. The killer was there and we had to make them stick out as targets. It was my idea for them to kiss and it worked. We caught the killer that night, when he tried to attack them in the alley behind the club" Fin tells her.
"I…I, didn't…Liv never said anything about working undercover"
"Mel, she didn't say anything because she knew you wouldn't go along with it; especially after what she went through at SealView. Mel, when you didn't believe her and kicked her out, it crushed Liv. You two are both hurting and you need each other and your children need their parents." Fin turns and walks away giving Melinda a lot to think about.
"Doctor Benson, we're here to move your daughter" the nurse tells her.
"Okay" Melinda says and follows them up to the second floor.
"What the hell was that?" Fin asked as he walked up to Olivia who was sitting on a bench outside the hospital.
"What was what?" says Olivia.
"You know what I'm talking about. Liv, you were down right mean to Mel. You were wrong for saying what you said and talking to her like that"
"I know…I know…but…"
"But, nothing... You intentionally hurt her feelings"
"Fin, whose side are you on?" Olivia asked.
"I'm on both of your sides, yours and Mel's"
Olivia sighs and looks her best friend in the eyes. "So, what am I going to do now?" Olivia's cell phone rings, it's Melinda.
"Hey" Olivia softly says into the phone.
"Hey" Melinda softly responded. "Liv, they moved DeeDee to room 215"
"I'll be right there" Olivia says before ending the call.
"Apologize to her" Fin yells out as Olivia walked back into the hospital.
Olivia enters the room. "I got you something from the cafeteria" she says, as she hands Melinda a brown paper bag and a diet coke. "How is she?"
"She's doing a lot better and they took the tube out her throat. It's, it's just…"
"What is it Mel?"
"I'll feel a lot better when she opens her eyes"
"I know what you mean" says Olivia, who pulls up a chair and sits next to Melinda.
Melinda opens the brown paper bag and gets the burger out. "Have you eaten anything?"
"I'm not hungry, I'm good" Olivia says.
"No you're not. Here" Melinda says, as she hands Olivia half the burger.
After eating, Melinda looks over at Olivia. "Fin told me we have to wait until DeeDee wakes up to find out what happened. I can't believe no one saw anything. It happened in a public place, at McDonalds and you mean to tell me, no one saw anything, no one heard my baby scream for help."
Olivia puts her arms around Melinda. "Mel, don't worry. We're going to catch him and when we do, he's going to wish he were dead."
Melinda breaks from Olivia's arms. She looks her wife, her lover, her best friend in the eyes as she places her right palm on Olivia's cheek. "Liv, I'm so, so sorry. Fin told me about your undercover case. When I saw you kiss that woman, I thought you betrayed me and the kids. How come you did tell me the truth?"
"Mel, I did…It's just you weren't listening. I told you I would never cheat on you but you were blinded by what you saw. To be honest, If I were you I would have thought the same thing too. I didn't tell you I was going undercover because of SealView and how it affected me, you and the kids. I knew you wouldn't agree with it. Since SealView, you've been very in tuned to my cases and you've asked me to back away from some of them, like that case with the pregnant marine"
"Liv, I want you to come home. I've been so miserable without you. I need you and the kids need you. I was wrong and I'm truly sorry for doubting your love. Baby, will you come home, please?"
Olivia takes a deep breath and exhales. "Of course I'll come home. You don't know how long I've been waiting to hear you say that"
Melinda leans forward and kisses Olivia softly on the lips. The women stay at the hospital with their daughter and about an hour later they began to drift off to sleep. The sun starts to peek between the shades and the light awakes Olivia. Olivia sits up and sees her daughter still unconscious. She takes a hold of Deidra's hand and began to silently pray. All of a sudden, Olivia felt a movement. She looked up and saw her daughter's eyes open.
"Mel" she called out awaking Melinda. "Mel, she's awake"
"DeeDee…baby" Melinda said. "Mama's here, we both here"
"She's not saying anything" Olivia says to Melinda.
"Liv, go get the nurse"
Olivia rushes out the room to the nurses' station.
"DeeDee, baby…If you can hear me squeeze mama's hand" Melinda tells her daughter, who squeezes her mother's hand.
Olivia enters the room with the nurse. "Is she still awake?" Olivia asked.
"Yes" Melinda says. "I asked her to squeeze my hand and she did" Melinda tells the nurse.
"That's good news right" Olivia says looking at the nurse.
"Did she say anything?" Olivia asked.
"Not yet" says Melinda.
The nurse examined Deidra and told the Bensons, their daughter is just waking up and to give her time because she's drifting in and out.
Four hours had passed by and Deidra was still asleep. Melinda went to the cafeteria to get them some lunch to eat. As Olivia sat in the chair next to the hospital bed, she heard the voice of her daughter.
"Ma…ma…ma…" Deidra struggled.
Olivia immediately leaned forward and took ahold her Deidra's hand. "Hey, baby" she said softly as she took her index finger and ran it up and down the right side of Deidra's face. "I'm right here" Olivia reassures her daughter.
Melinda walks in and sees Deidra awake. She sits the food on the table and walks over and kisses Deidra on the forehead. "You gave us all a scare" she says as tears trailed down her face.
"Mom…" Deidra started out before crying.
"Sssshhhhh…baby. You're safe now" Melinda tells her.
"Mom, I tried…tried to fight back" Deidra said as she continued to cry.
"We know you did" Olivia tells her. "DeeDee, do you know who did this to you?"
"No…I…I…"
"What did he look like? Was he white, black, Hispanic, Asian?" asked Olivia.
"Liv, let her rest for now. She needs her strength" Melinda tells her wife.
"Mel, the sooner we get information on this perp the quicker, we can get him off the streets. He's still out there and could attack or even kill another girl" says Olivia.
"No…no…you got it all wrong" says Deidra.
"Sweetheart, what do we have wrong?" Olivia asked her.
"The perp"
"Sweetheart, I thought you said you didn't know who attacked you" says Olivia.
"I don't"
"I don't understand. If you don't know who he is, how can you say…." says Olivia with a puzzled look on her face.
"Mom…It's not a, He. I was attacked by three girls"
"WHAT?" says a shocked Olivia.