Title: Via

Rating: Parental guidance suggested; adult situations, violence

Characters: The cast of SVU, other

Disclaimer: I don't own, so you don't sue. I don't have anything you'd want anyway.

Notes: I have read endless stories where Olivia acquires a man in her life. I don't think she needs a man, she's strong enough without one. What she does need, though, is someone who can pull her out of herself and remind her that work isn't the be-all and end-all of life. Who better than a little sister? Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Chapter 1: Drunk

"But Mom, I don't wanna go to Aunt Mary's! I wanna go to Sarah's party tonight instead!" the little girl's complaining voice sounded petulant as she and her mother walked through the parking garage to the car.

"Now then, Suzie, you know how your father and I feel. We've been through this already. Sarah is much older than you, and I haven't met her parents yet. So you're going to Aunt Mary's." the woman stopped beside a green Camry and slipped a key in the lock. Her daughter got in the other side and they drove away, protesting the entire way. The mother's attention was partly on her complaining daughter, so it was the little girl's scream that alerted her mother to the road ahead. There was a flash of blue, the barest glimpse of a running woman, and then a thump as the front of the car struck the figure. "Oh my God," the woman said, clinging to the wheel as she put the car in park. "Suzie, are you all right?" The little girl in the front seat beside her nodded, and the woman hastily unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out. "Miss? Are you all right?" she called as she approached the front of the car. When she didn't receive an answer, she stepped around the front of the car.

"Suzie," she said, her voice shaking, "Get the cell phone from my purse and call 911. Hurry!" The little girl did as she was told.

St. Vincent's emergency room wasn't really busy, Olivia Benson thought as she and Elliot Stabler hurried down the hall to the nurses' station. They flashed their badges at the nurse, and Elliot said, "Detectives Stabler and Benson, SVU. We're here for—"

"Detectives?" came a worried voice from behind them, and they turned to see a harried-looking doctor behind them. "I'm Dr. Harry Arden. She's in 413, this way." He led them away from the nurses' station. "Her name, according to the information we found in her purse, is Jessica Ross. She's 32.When the bus brought her in she was so smashed she couldn't even answer questions. She apparently wandered out into the street in an alcoholic daze and was hit by a passing car."

"So?" Elliot shrugged. "A drunk woman walks out into the street in front of a car and gets hit. I don't see why you called us."

"She has some injuries inconsistent with a car accident, and her knuckles were bruised and bleeding. They looked like defensive wounds to me, so I asked her about them…she couldn't even answer me. I thought perhaps she had been assaulted, and I called you."

"Was there any attempt to contact any family she might have?" Olivia frowned. It didn't sound like a case for them, but you never could tell…

"There was a cell phone in her purse that had her home number in it, and we called that. The woman who answered said she'd be down shortly."

Elliot nodded and pushed the door to room 413 open, walking in. Olivia followed him, and approached the other side of the bed. Elliot spoke first. "Hey. We heard you had a fight with a car and lost."

The woman looked up at them, and Olivia winced when she saw the bruise around the left eye, and the swelling on the jaw line. Other than those, she might have been pretty, once; she had honey blond hair and blue eyes, and a slim figure. "Yeah," she replied, in a voice that was barely audible. "Stupid bitch driving the car didn't even watch where she was going."

"From what the ambulance driver said, the report from the accident scene said you were the one who stepped out into the road," Dr. Arden said.

The woman shrugged. "Drivers're supposed to watch out for pedestrians," she grumped, irritably starting to bite a nail. "Wasn't my fault."

"Well, some of those bruises don't look like you got them in an accident," Olivia said, studying the dark bruises. "That black eye, for instance. Can you tell us how you got that?"

"Don't gotta tell you nothing," the woman grumbled. "Stop nosing around in something that's none of your business and leave me alone."

"Ma'am, we're from the Special Victims Unit," Olivia said, her patience starting to wear thin. Didn't this woman understand that they were there to help? "It's our job to investigate cases of suspected abuse or rape."

"Rape? I wasn't raped. Who said I was raped?" she sat upright, looking indignant, then lay back down, groaning. "Damn hangover."

The door behind them opened, and the two detectives turned, to see a nurse coming in with a young girl. "Dr. Arden? This is Miss Ross's next of kin," the nurse said dubiously. Elliot and Olivia exchanged quick glances as the girl nodded briefly to them and went straight to the chair beside the bed, which Elliot stood quickly to vacate as both he and Olivia looked over the new arrival. She was young, maybe about fourteen, Olivia guessed from her height, with long red-brown hair pulled back in a tight, neat braid.

"Hi, Mom," the girl said quietly. "I got the call at home. They said you'd been hit by a car and you were here. I came as soon as I could."

The woman didn't look happy to see the girl. If anything, she looked even more annoyed. "I don't see why you came. Not like you're going to be any use here at all."

"I came because I was worried," the girl said quietly, gently, even though Olivia could see that the woman's words had hurt her. "When you didn't come home from Leo's last night I got worried. What happened?"

"I stayed a little later for the party. You wouldn't have gotten worried if you'd come along like I told you to. Leo could use another employee."

"I don't want to work for Leo, Mom," the girl said firmly, resignedly. It sounded like she'd said this many times before. "I'm happy with my job at the grocery and the convenience store."

The woman also sounded like she'd said this more than once. "But you'd be making more money, and you wouldn't have to work as hard."

"My job is fine, Mom," the girl said with a sigh, then turned to the detectives and Dr. Arden. "Is my mother all right?" Olivia saw that she'd guessed the girl's age incorrectly; whatever she might look like, she was definitely older than that. There was maturity in the wide brown eyes she turned to the detectives.

"Your Mom's going to be all right. She got grazed by a car. The doctor says they want to keep her overnight for observation, but she can go home in the morning. I'm Detective Benson, this is Detective Stabler. What's your name, sweetheart?" Olivia liked the girl instantly.

"Livy Ross. She's my daughter," said the woman from the bed.

"I prefer Via," the girl said shyly. "It's Sylvia, but I prefer Via. Mom's the only one who calls me Livy."

My mom did that too, Olivia thought, but she didn't voice the thought aloud. Instead, she asked, "How old are you?"

"Sixteen." The girl raised her chin defiantly. "I'm old enough to be alone. I know I look younger than I am, but I'm old enough. So I won't need to go to a home overnight, thank you."

"Is there anyone who can stay with you? Sixteen is still very young, Via."

"I'll be just fine, thank you," Via said stubbornly. "Besides, I have to work tonight anyway, so I won't be alone."

"Where do you work?" Out the corner of her eye, Olivia saw Elliot whipping out his notepad and taking notes.

"I work afternoons at Carlos's Grocery on Amsterdam and 107th, and at night at the convenience mart on West 18th," Via said.

"And your Mom works at Leo's?" Elliot asked as he scribbled the addresses and names down. "Where is that?"

"Why do you want to know?" Jessica asked from the bed before Via could answer. "You vice, gonna bust in and get me out of a job?"

Elliot turned to her without missing a beat and said, "Is there anything in there that will require Vice to bust you guys for illegal activity?"

There was a moment's pause, and then Jessica Ross said "no", in a not-very-convincing tone of voice. Olivia saw the tension in Elliot's shoulders and knew they'd be paying a visit to Leo's, wherever that was, very soon. In the meantime, however…

"Who drove you here, Via?"

The girl shook her head. "No one."

"How'd you get here?"

"I walked." Olivia looked startled, and the girl said quickly, "We don't live that far away. And I'm used to walking." She stood. "If there's nothing else you need, Mom, I'll be heading out. Mr. Kinsley said Harry called out tonight, and if I wanted to work a little extra he'd pay me for the time. We might be able to make all of the rent this month."

"West 18th's kind of a long walk from here, Via," Olivia said guardedly. "Don't you have anyone who can give you a ride? We could put you in a car…"

"Oh, no, don't trouble yourself," the girl nodded briefly at them as she stood up. "I'll be fine. When will my Mom be able to come home?" she asked Dr. Arden.

"Tomorrow morning, around nine," he said.

"I'll be here," Sylvia said.

After she'd left, Elliot turned to Jessica again. "All right, Miss Ross," he said. "You spent the night at Leo's? How'd you get those bruises?"

"Look," Jessica said, hostility in her voice and face, "Leo's my boyfriend, owns a little bar and nightclub. I work there nights as a bartender and working girl. There was an after-hours party there last night, and some of the guests got a little rowdy. I had to knock some sense into a few stupid men's heads. I had a little too much to drink, and Leo let me stay at his place for the night. I wasn't raped, wasn't assaulted, so you can just go bother someone else." She looked at the doctor. "Any chance of getting something to eat here? I'm hungry."

It was a clear dismissal, and Elliot was quick to leave. Olivia lingered for a moment, looking at the woman in the bed as a nurse brought a meal tray, and finally turned and left, closing the room door after her.

"So we got any idea where exactly this 'Leo's' is that Jessica was working at?"

Elliot shook his head as he looked up from the paperwork spread out on his desk. "Liv, why are you bothering? It's not a rape case, and no one wanted to file charges."

"But Elliot, look at the facts. She was at this 'Leo's' all night, leaving her sixteen-year-old daughter at home. Alone. All night. Doesn't that sound a little odd to you? And she was drinking; she complained of a hangover. Via's only sixteen…she's working two jobs to make the rent…so where's her mother's money going?"

"Groceries. Bills. I don't know." Elliot shook his head.

George Huang looked up from where he was filling out a report for one of their open cases. "Liv, can I ask you a question?" he asked. "This about Jessica, or Via?"

"It's Jessica—" Olivia started, and at Huang's look, she sighed. "All right, it's Via. A sixteen-year-old girl shouldn't be left alone so much…and she shouldn't have to work two jobs to make the rent. What's her mother doing?" She pushed aside her paperwork and stood up. "I'll be back. Tell the Cap I'm checking on something."

"Hold on, Liv," Elliot sighed and pushed back his chair. "I'll go with you."

"It's not officially a case, Elliot," Olivia started, but Elliot cut her off.

"I know you well enough to know you're not going to leave this alone until you're satisfied. And I've learned to trust your instincts. Let's go."

Leo's turned out to be a small, seedy-looking nightclub and bar on the Upper East Side. Beside the bar was a shop that sold all kinds of 'adult' material, and on the other side was a vacant shopfront with a 'No Trespassing' sign on its boarded-up window.

They walked in, and realized the place looked deceptively small from the outside. Leo's extended behind the windows of that vacant shopfront next door; with the windows boarded up, the interior was dim. The only source of light was the recessed lighting in the ceiling, and even that was muted.

At this time of day, there were no patrons. The only people the two detectives could see was the bartenders wiping down tables and cleaning up after the previous night, which, from the amount of trash on the floor, seemed to have been quite a party. There was a small dance floor on one side of the front of the room, a small platform for the DJ and his equipment, now silent; but the focus of the room was the large stage at one end of the bar. Curious, thinking there might be offices behind the stage, they stepped up onto it.

"Excuse me, we're closed," said a voice, and suddenly the stage was flooded with bright white light. They turned to find out where it was coming from, shielding their eyes against the glare. There was a man behind the bright floodlights, but they couldn't quite see his face.

Olivia took out her badge, showed it to the man. "My name is Detective Benson, this is Detective Stabler," she said. "We're looking for a guy named Leo."

"Whatcha want him for?" the man squinted at their badges in the dim light. "You Vice? We run a clean establishment here, everyone's consenting adults. We have signed statements—"

"Thank you, Eric, that will do," said a new voice, and the two detectives turned, to see a man coming out of an office beside the front door, which they hadn't noticed when they walked in. "I'll take over from here. I'm Leo James. What can I help you with, Detectives?"

"We're investigating an accident involving a woman named Jessica Ross," Elliot said politely, his eyes busy roving over every inch of the other man. Leo was a tall, muscular man who looked like he worked out on a regular basis; he was totally ripped, though he didn't have the bulky muscles of a professional bodybuilder. The leather pants he wore fit like a second skin over his thighs, and the black t-shirt he wore strained to cover his bulging pectorals.

"Yeah? Jessica's one of my best girls. What's happened to her?"

Olivia didn't answer the question right away, opting instead to start asking her own. "When did you see her last, Mr. James?"

"This morning. She was here all last night, Detectives. We were having a party for some of our members, and Jessica helped out. She went home this morning. I offered to drive her home because she…overindulged…last night, but she insisted on walking. Is she okay?" his concern was obvious.

"She wandered out into the street and was hit by a passing car," Elliot said carefully.

"Oh my." Leo looked distressed. "Is she all right?"

"The hospital wants to keep her under observation tonight, but she'll be released tomorrow."

"Oh. That's good news." He looked up at them. "Is Livy all right?"

"Livy?" Olivia pretended ignorance. "Who's Livy?" She hoped Elliot wouldn't say anything…and he didn't.

"Jessica's daughter. Sylvia's sixteen. She's not old enough to be on her own. I've told Jessica to bring her here; I can use her help, but Jessica says Livy's stubborn."

"You can't hire a sixteen-year-old to work in an establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, Mr. James," Elliot said sharply.

"Oh, I know that," James said with a nervous chuckle. "No, I'd get her to help me in the back. Jessica says the girl's good with figures; I figured she could help me keep the books. She'd have no access to the alcohol, or the customers."

Well, that didn't break any rules. Still, the idea of a sixteen-year-old working here got to Olivia, and she didn't wonder that Via didn't want to work here. "Jessica told us some of the customers last night got rowdy. She has bruises on her face and hands. How'd she get those, Mr. James?"

"I took care of the guys. Just a couple of customers who got too rowdy and touchy-feely with the girls. They got a little rough, I tossed 'em out, no harm done."

"What are those for?" Elliot said suddenly, and Olivia looked, to where he was pointing to a couple of eyebolts set into the stage floor.

"Oh." Leo looked nervous now. "I have girls dance here to entertain the customers. We have wet t-shirt contests and stuff like that. Those are attachment points for the props the girls use."

Olivia didn't like how nervous the man was getting. He was trying to cover up for something. "Mind if we have a look around?" she said.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I do, Detective. We're going to open in a few hours, and we really need to clean up after last night." He subtly shifted position to block their view of the hallway at the rear of the stage. "If there's nothing else…"

"No, that's all for now, thank you," Elliot said, nudging Olivia carefully in the side with one elbow. She took the hint, and they left.

Outside and in the car, Olivia let out a huge sigh. "Was it just me or did Leo really not want us there?"

"Wasn't just you," Elliot said, starting the car. "I didn't like him either. He didn't want us there. There's something going on. Did you hear that guy mention 'consenting adults' and 'signed statements'?"

"I want to come back here and take a look when they're open. I want to see what kind of stuff goes on in there." Olivia sounded determined.

"Great. Not like I had any plans for tonight," Elliot grumbled as they pulled into traffic.

She looked at him in surprise. "Elliot, you don't have to come."

"Sure I do. I don't like the looks of that place, and my partner needs to know I got her back. I'm not letting you go there alone."

"I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself," Olivia said. "Admit it, Elliot, you think there's something going on and you want to find out what it is."

He flashed her a quick grin.