Title: Weary Sighs

Disclaimer: I have never and will never own anything relating to Law & Order: SVU.


John Munch sighed. It was one of those weary sighs that means a man had just seen too much. It was the kid cases that got to him the most. What kind of monster could take an innocent child and do that to them? How could anyone get off on a child's suffering? John shook his head. It was disgusting, especially this case. Eleven year old Jake Williams was molested and raped by his mother's boyfriend. The kid's seventeen year old brother, Blake Williams, was behind bars for beating the shit out of the boyfriend. Now really, how is that fair? And get this, the mother won't believe any of it, not a word. She wouldn't listen to either of her sons or the detectives that had evidence. In fact she went as far as apologizing to her boyfriend and paying his bail money. Now as you can imagine the whole thing just didn't sit well with the department or the DA's office. So they put Jake in protective custody...John Munch's protective custody. Which is why John and Jake were currently sitting in his apartment in an uncomfortable silence. Jake was a quiet kid. A bookworm who didn't mind being alone or silence. The problem was that something was on his mind and John could tell.

"What's wrong kid?" The boy looked up from his hands and stared at John. His brown hair fell slightly into his green eyes, eyes that glittered with uncertainty.

"I'm scared." John sighed. Trauma. Something most, if not all, rape victims suffer from.

"It's okay. We'll make sure that he never gets near you again. We'll stop him." Ah, the same promises that were always made. But John was going to sure that this promise went though. The dark haired, eleven year old shook his head.

"I'm not scared of him. I'm scared for my brother. I know what happens in prison. I've seen it in the movies." John admired the boy's ability to worry about his brother in his situation. The boy had reason to worry, Hollywood was pretty accurate when it came to what happens in prisons. Munch did the only thing he could think of to comfort the boy.

"Jake, do you want to go see Blake?" And wasn't that cute? They had rhyming names. Jake's eyes lit up and he nodded his head. Happiness was in every step he took as he rushed to put his jacket and shoes on.

Later, as Munch was watching the brothers talk through two inch thick glass and a phone, he once again wondered how anyone could intentionally hurt a child. Jake and Blake were as close as two brothers could be and yet they were separated because of what that bastard had done to Jake. John watched the two and couldn't help but be amused at the way the brothers still joked and laughed, like they weren't sitting in jail, like none of this had ever happened. It was moments like this that kept him from quitting the force. The sheer joy the two got form each other's presence was enough to chase away the trauma for a little while. Munch secretly hoped that Blake would get away from his mother when he turned eighteen and take Jake with him. Because what she was doing was just as bad as what her no good boyfriend had done. Some part of her had to know that what her children had said was the truth, and yet she stood by her boyfriend. John Munch shook his head and sighed that weary sigh that means a man has just seen too much.


I know that story sort of switches a lot and doesn't make a whole lotta sense, but I'm proud of it. So please be kind and merciful, review.