Fandom: Law Order: Special Victim's Unit
Spoilers: Takes place on September 11, 2001; before the third-season SVU episodes "Repression" and "Wrath"
Feedback: Yes, please!
Summary: General Plot. The SVU team deals with the tragic events of 9/11
Author's Note: All of the Law Order characters contained in this story are not mine. They are the property of Dick Wolf and Wolf Films. I claim no ownership of the Law Order characters, nor am I making any money off of this story. All people within this story-including the original characters that I have created-are fictional, and any resemblance between them and real people is not intended and is purely coincidental.
122 Plum Street
8:44 AM
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Detective Olivia Benson sighed heavily as she got out of the car. She slammed the passenger door shut with far more force than was needed. It was the result of the frustration she felt from the relentless disappointment at not being able to find James Garrison, their prime suspect in a brutal rape. The bitch of it was that she and Elliot had actually spoken to the bastard two days ago at his work. Garrison was a co-worker of Cheryl Rothman, the victim, whom he attacked in her own apartment; he even shared an office with her at their ad agency. They originally spoke with him to get some idea if Cheryl had any enemies-never knowing that he was the very man who had violently raped and beat her to the brink of death. Elliot had tried to assure her that they met with Garrison well before Cheryl woke up in the hospital and was able to identify him as her attacker. But it still stuck in Olivia's craw, especially since by the time they were finally up to speed on what Garrison had done, he had already run to ground. Now they were playing catch up, trying to track Garrison's whereabouts by checking in with a former girlfriend of his who resided here on Plum Street.
Elliot Stabler got out of the driver's side of the car and put on a pair of sunglasses and his suit jacket. Despite the fact that it was September, it promised to be another warm, sunny day today. Olivia briefly gazed at the Twin Towers, which both gleamed in the morning sunlight roughly a mile to the South in lower Manhattan. Elliot gave the apartment building they had parked in front of a suspicious look and said, "I really hope she's home."
"She said she was expecting us when I just called her," Olivia replied, as she strolled around the front of the car and stepped onto the sidewalk. "So there's no reason for her to be out."
Elliot smiled tightly. "Yeah, well, it remains to be seen if…" He abruptly did a double take as he stared at something over Olivia's shoulder. Pointing up at the sky, he shouted, "Liv, look!"
Olivia heard it before she saw it: a low rumbling sound that cut through the city noise. She spun around and glanced up at the sky just in time to see a giant commercial passenger jet-it looked like a 757-streaking over the rooftops of Manhattan. Seeing planes in the skies over New York City wasn't unusual; but what was strange was how low this particular plane flew-normally a huge passenger jet of that size flew high enough above the city that it was barely noticed. But this one was so near to the ground that Olivia could even make out the windows. She watched as it soared south, banked to its left slightly—
—and then slammed right into the North Tower of the World Trade center.
Olivia took a step backwards as she let out a sharp gasp. Elliot, who stood next to her, removed his sunglasses and blinked in disbelief at the sight of the massive fireball that arose from the tower. The entire bizarre scene had been oddly silent, until a few seconds later, when they heard the explosion.
"Oh my God, Elliot," Olivia said softly, as she watched a column of black smoke emit from the tower. All she could think about were the poor souls who were aboard that plane, as well as those in the tower.
Both detectives were so enraptured by the scene that they never noticed the young woman who stood next to them until she spoke. "Did the building blow up?"
"No," Elliot replied. "A plane flew right into it."
The woman whispered a curse under her breath as she shook her head.
"Just like the Empire State Building," Olivia said. She recalled watching old news footage of a military plane that crashed into the Empire State Building back in the 1940s. But the damage shown in those old films were nowhere near as horrendous as this present day scene.
"Another plane crashed into the Empire State Building, too?" the woman asked anxiously.
"No, I'm referring to what occurred back in the '40s," Olivia assured her. "A bomber plane crashed into the Empire State Building by accident back then."
"And now the same thing has just happened to the Trade Center Towers," Elliot said grimly.
Olivia gave the young woman a second glance when she realized that her voice had sounded familiar. The woman was in her early twenties, and casually dressed in jeans with a faded blue t-shirt. Olivia gestured at the apartment building behind them and asked, "Excuse me, is this where you live?"
"Yes," the woman said, still staring in shock at the smoking World Trade Center tower. "I was waiting for company in the foyer of my building when I heard what sounded like an explosion. So I came out to see what it was."
Olivia and Elliot exchanged a knowing glance. "Are you Margaret Gabon?"
The woman nodded, then her face lit up with recognition when she stared at Olivia. "Oh, you're the cop I spoke to on the phone, right? Detective Benson?"
"Yes. This is my partner, Detective Elliot Stabler. As I've stated on the phone, we'd like to talk to you about your ex-boyfriend, James Garrison. Could we talk inside?"
Margaret appeared reluctant to tear herself away from the extraordinary scene that was in progress downtown, and Olivia honestly couldn't blame her. It was taking every ounce of her professional reserve just to stay focused on the job at hand in light of this horrible disaster.
Elliot gestured at the doorway to the apartment building and said, "Shall we? We won't be long. We just have a few questions."
With a last look at the burning office building, Margaret turned and walked back inside the building. Olivia followed, until she was startled by the sounds of sirens in the distance. She glanced down the street and saw several fire engines speeding away, heading south-towards the disaster.
Olivia's heart sank when she stared at the burning building once more. The tower now looked like a giant smoke stack, with a huge black mass of smoke billowing up into the morning sky.
'Those poor souls,' Olivia thought with sadness. She took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh to help fight off the urge to cry.
"Olivia?" It was Elliot. He and Margaret stood waiting for her on the steps of the apartment building.
"Sorry," Olivia said, as she came over and joined them. Elliot held the door open for her.
With a last, somber glance at the burning building, Elliot muttered: "Given the circumstances, Liv, it's perfectly understandable."
