Untitled
Chapter One: Personal

A/N: Ok, so I'm revamping this story. I loked over it and am not satisfied with my work on it I love SVU and so I want to give tis story all I've got. For those who have read it, I'll encourage you to read it again. Chapters will change slightly, not in story, but in style. Enjoy and as always, thanks for reviewing and reading!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All the characters and settings belong to Mr. Dick Wolf and all those on the production team

Pairings: This story will contain the following pairings: Elliot/Olivia, Don/Casey, Arthur/Elizabeth, and John/Monique (for those not familiar with the pairing abbreviations EO, DC, AE, JM)

Courthouse traffic started slowly improving and thickening as the lunch hour came to an end. Judges were returning to chambers, attorneys were either searching for them or a way out, and general traffic lined the corridors outside the courtrooms. One judge was not looking forward to returning to the bench, having dealt with the same case three weeks in a row, with the defendant always playing hooky.

The case was People v. Wilcox. Aaron Wilcox had been accused of stalking women, learning their routines, and following them home. Once he was there, he would force himself into the residence, taking the unsuspecting victim from behind with a blitz attack and then begin sexually assaulting and eventually raping the women. In a fewinstances, there had been boyfriends or husbands involved. They were forced to watch whatever went on between their significant other and Wilcox, and then they were shot execution style. Entering the courtroom, she heard the bailiff call for the gallery and attorneys to rise.

"All rise. The case of the People v. Wilcox is back in session. The honorable judge Elizabeth Donnelly presiding."

Liz sat down, nodding slightly in acknowledgement. Seeing the second chair at the defense table empty, she cursed inwardly. "Be seated. Mr. Siever, where is your client this time? This is the third time in three weeks that I've had to set back all my cases because Mr. Wilcox cannot keep himself in one piece or sane." She was looking at the man with nothing less than tired exasperation. Her stone grey eyes were sharp, unlike the rest of her features, which, overall, looked exhausted.

"He was supposed to be here today, your honor. My apologies."

"Save your breath, Counselor. I'm issuing a bench warrant. He'll either appear tomorrow, or he'll face contempt charges. His choice." Writing something down, Donnelly passed it on to the court officer, who handed it off to ADA Casey Novak. "Find him." Seeing Casey looking over her shoulder, Liz rapped her gavel once on the wooden surface before her. "Thirty minute recess."

The general rustle of people moving was the first thing she heard as Casey gathered her paperwork and notes. Turning fully toward the gallery, she was approached by the lead detectives on the case, one whose blue eyes were locked on the defense attorney who was on his phone. Easing her paperwork and notepad back into her attaché, Casey crossed her arms.

"Looks like you two get to scour the hospitals again. Don't forget the mental ward."

"I'm getting really tired of chasing this scum bag down. How much longer can he stall this trial?" Elliot Stabler adjusted his tie, finally turning his gaze on Casey. "He's getting desperate."

"I know, El. I'm tired of hearing his sob stories about ho accidents happen. It's almost like the Parker case all over again." Olivia Benson raised her eyebrows as Seiver replaced his phone, walking off in a huff. "I mean come on…"

"This is exactly why I could grow to hate this profession. We'll need to find him and get him here so that this case can finally continue. The defense has a right to a speedy trial, but I think he's forfeiting that right." Casey threw her bag over her shoulder. "Let's get out of here."

The three left the courthouse, going their separate ways. Elliot and Olivia moved toward the local hospitals, searching to see if their guy had made any recent check-ins. Munch and Fin were handling the half that they were closer to, narrowing down the searching. Casey took the subway, heading back to her office. She had an appointment with District Attorney Arthur Branch that she could make now that the case had been held off again. Knocking on his door, she entered the office at his acknowledgment. Choosing to close the door, she stood before his desk, loking down at him as he removed his glasses.

"You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"I did. How is the case going?" There it was, that same concern that he had shown earlier when the hearings had just started. Casey raised her eyebrows and took the seat he wwas motioning for her to take. "Any more problems?"

"If you call his playing hooky a problem, then yes. Wilcox hasn't shown up again, and a bench warrant was issued. SVU's on it. Can I ask why you're so involved in this particular case?"

Choosing to wipe his glasses off, Arthur started to avoid the question, groaning at the news of another delay. Finally cleaning his already spotless lenses, he replaced them in their case. "I am always involved in all cases that pass through this office. I'm not making an exception with this one."

"Yeah, but it just seems you're giving this one a little more attention than usual. Is something bothering you about this case? Do you know one of the victims? I'll be discreet if that is what you're worried about." Casey gave him a more friendly look than she was accustomed to when dealing with her boss. Arthur took a moment to consider this, deciding against avoiding the uestion. Motioning for her to sit down, he took his usual place behind his desk, except he didn't sit down. He stood, leaning against the book case, facing her with a tired expression.

"Do you know why I took a step back and let McCoy run this show for the moment, Casey?"

"Because you're thinking of retiring soon?" Casey said this with a joking air which Arthur appreciated. He laughed lightly, welcoming the humor. Shaking his head, he continued on a more serious note.

"Thankfully, no. I actually did this to spare the defense the chance of gunning for a mistrial due to impropriety. I've kept my hand off the wheel this time around, and I've been following this cse a little more enthusiastically than usual, so you've got me there. The purpose of it was to keep my personal opinion out of the courtroom and out of the defense's black book of desperate last attempts." Arthur finally chose to sit down, reading the interested look that had just crossed Casey's face. Ï do know one of the victims in this case. I know them very personally. She's my wife's sister. Came up here for a conference, stayed here for a few days, and on the night before she was supposed to head back down south, that animal reared his head. Now, she's been interviewed, forced to relive that night again and again, and all she wants is to get away from it. I've been trying to convince her to testify, but I haven't had any luck."

"Hold on a sec… The reluctant victim is your sister-in-law? Jillian Keller is your sister-in-law?" The slight shock had escalated to a medium level now. Casey looked through a few notes that she had taken on the afore mentioned victim, and as she looked up, she saw Arthur nodding grimly.

"That's why I stepped down. You cn see just how this would effect the case's outcome."

"Yeah…" Casey finished looking over her notes, replaced them, and looked back at him. "Has she said anything that might be useful? We have no DNA, no prints, no nothing. All we've got are latex smudges, the victims'ID and that's not saying much. He worked as a volunteer at a few of the neighborhood charity organizations that all these victims were involved in. They could have seen him anywhere."

"Since when did you start theorizing for the defense?" This time, it was Arthur's time to joke. Casey smiled, knowing that humor was needed right now just as much as seriousness, but it was true. They heard him, they barely saw him, and it could have been like the West case again. Mistaken identity had almost sent Martin Tranway walking out of that courthouse free as a bird. "Well, keep up what you're doing. I'll check in with you later in the week. He'll show up tomorrow or Liz'll lock his ass in jail."

"There's a quick win. Too bad we couldn't skip the trial phase." Casey stood, preparing to head to her office. "How far do you want this information to go, Arthur? Special Victims should know the identity of the first victim, your sister-in-law, so that it will be there in their records. At the moment, all they have is Jane Doe listed."

"That's as far as I need this going. I'm heading out. I'll be back around 4:30. Relax a bit Casey, because there's nothing you can do except wait for more information." Arthur replaced his glasses into their case, slipping it into his jacket pocket, and headed for the door. Opening it, he motioned for her to exit first, and then he closed it behind him.

"Right. I'll see what te detectives have found. They've been searching for him, so hopefully they find him or at least a record of where he's been." Casey started to unlock the door to her office, watching Arthur descend the stairs down past homicide, where he said something to ADA Tracey Kibre. Since the DuVal case, Casey had hit up the homicide ADA on occasion, the two of them tended to get along well. Since then, they had been handing off cases to one another when the situation warranted. Hearing the lock click, Casey turned the knob, entering her office.

Liz entered the safe haven that was her chambers, or this room had been since this trial started. Looking back over the last few weeks, she saw the defendant's shotty appearances, the reluctant witnesses, the testimony from the prosecution, and all of it was spinning, spinning out of control. Feeling a throbbing in her head, the judge knew just how quickly this headache could ascend to new levels. Deciding to head it of, she pulled a drawer out, removing a bottle of prescription headache medication. Popping one and downing a small amount of cold coffed, Liz suppressed the disgusted look that was bound to pass over her face if she let it. Hearing her phone ring, she answered it on the second ring.

"Elizabeth Donnelly." The sound of ragged breathing met her ears. From the sound it was a man. "Who is this?" Hearing nothing in response to her question, she was tempted to drop the receiver back down onto the cradle. As her grip tightened around it, she heard the presumed man speak.

"Judgment will come sooner than you think, my dear. It won't be you making the decision. You are the pawn and I am the master. Don't turn around. I'm always here." A pause came after this statement, followed by more ragged breathing, and then the line went dead, the connection broken. Turning quickly, Liz moved to the window, looking down at the street and at the buildings across it. Spotting a man at a payphone, she had just enough time to see him before a bus rushed past, and as it moved on, the payphone stood abandoned. A court officer stopped in the doorway on her way down to another courtroom, giving the judge a questioning look.

"Everything alright, Judge?"

"Perfect." Seeing the officer move on, Liz picked up the receiver and dialed a vaguely familiar number. Hearing it ring on her end, she relaxed slightly, the previous conversation, however one-sided, echoed in her mind.

"Cragen."

"I want this line dumped, incoming only, and the payphone at the corner Quick Mart dusted."

Olivia and Elliot had swept the local hospitals, clinics, and the like searching for their truant defendant. Nothing had come of it, though. Striking out at every place they checked, even ATMs, they weren't surprised when they got a call from Novak to head back. Sitting in traffic for a moment, Elliot turned in his seat to get a look at his partner.

"Do you think I take this job too seriously?"

Taking a moment to really mull the surprising question over, Olivia moved a stray hair from her face. Turning, she answered. "I don't really think you take it too seriously, but I do think you should step back on occasion. You've been letting your personal life ccloud your judgement. Look at the Senet and Beven cases. I'm not going to go over that again, but the line is crossed."

"Yeah…" Easing the car closer to the precinct, Elliot thought about it. He had really jumped the gun with Ray ad he hadn't given Valerie Senet a fair shake, though she had turned out to be a liar in the end. "I just feel like I'm losing so much in this job. Lost my family, my kids, almost lost you… I mean I'm slipping here."

"It's a slippery slope, El. Remember what you told me when I started working here. You don't get tp pick the vic. That's just how it goes…" Olivia paused, remembering her first hard case, knowing that the two women had killed a Serbian who had raped them and killed their families. "Trust me, I don't like how it works, but that's how it is…"

"Unfortunately, that is how it is." Parking the car, he exited the driver's side, waiting for her to join him. Ascending the steps to the precinct, they entered.

In the suadroom, the two had just removed their coats and were about to check with the other two detectives to see what they found. Hearing the door to Cragen's office open, four sets of yes locked onto their captain. Don Cragen leaned against the doorway once he had stepped outside the small confines of his office. Looking them over, he was joined by Casey, who looked tired and slightly worried. Not bothering to sit down, Olivia crossed the room, comig to stand near the two, followed by Elliot. Seeing Don motion for the others to do the same, the small group was joined by John Munch and Odafin Tutuola. All of them had the same thought buzzing in their heads as Cragen straightened up.

"What's going on, Captain?" Olivia was first to speak, ripping the question out of all their minds and throwing it out there.

"You all aren't going to believe this. We've just gotten word from the DA's office. Which do you all want to hear, the bad or the worse?"

"Worse." Four voices spoke at once, making the decision easy. Cragen looked at Casey who nodded, already knowing the bad news.

"The presiding judge has just been threatened, presumably by the dirt bag that she issued the bench warrant for this afternoon. TARU is out there now, responding to her request, which was to have her private line dumped. They're also dumping the payphone across the street and checking it for prints. What have we got on this guy, people?"

"A whole lot of nothing. He's not at any local hospitals, clinics, the mortgue, or anything. Canvased the local neighborhood, still nothing." Olivia said this while Elliot nodded in disappointment. "You guys find anything?"

"So far, zip." Fin said this, crossing his arms. "He's covering his tracks, both physically and electronically. No bank transactions, no activity on his cards, nothing."

"Living off grid, great. Now, onto the bad news. Novak just found out that the first vic was Jillian Keller." Seeing the confusion at the name, Casey answered the unspoken question.

"Jillian Keller is Arthur Branch's sister-in-law. She came here to New York for a meeting, stayed here two days afterwards, and on the night before she was scheduled to leave, she became our original victim in this case. She's still refusing to talk about it."

Thinking on this news, the suad stood in silence, wondering ust what could have made Elizabeth react to such a threat, mild or severe. She was about as steely as they came, and didn't take things like this with much consideration without real evidence to back it up. This seemed highly unusual for a perp to threaten a judge, especially one who was over his own case, when he didn't show up for court. Then again, there was nothing normal about this case it seemed. Looking at each other, the detectives, captain, and ADA had nothing to say aloud. Their thoughts were the same, though. This case was hitting home. This prick had made it personal.

A/N 2: Ok, this is the revised version of chapter one. I'm probably going to change the name of this story once I find one that is appropriate, so look out for that. I'll be working on chapter two very soon. I've got an Avatar (2009 movie) fic that I'm working on along with a novel. Busy busy, but I'll keep up with this story. Thanks so much to my loyal readers who have stuck with me on this one. It's been one that has been gathering dust that I want to revamp and I want to give it my best :)

Cheers!