"Sorry to wake you Olivia…"
Olivia Benson groaned as she was forced from the loving arms of slumber. Squinting at her clock radio she realized she had been asleep for only 15 minutes – the dried tears on her cheek and the dampness of her pillow belied the reason she had been tossing back and forth for hours, unable to experience the blessed escape and relief that unconsciousness would bring.
"You sound way too awake for 4am, Captain. I'm on my way," Olivia spoke into her phone, already buttoning her shirt and clipping her badge to her belt. Ten years of middle-of-the-night callouts and she had her routine down to a science – she hastily brushed her teeth and gave her fridge a cursory inspection – a few questionable condiments, Chinese from three nights ago, and an expired carton of milk – before sliding on her jacket.
She took the stairs – experience telling her that even a small amount of muscle movement would wake her up more effectively than the elevator – and timed her exit to the street perfectly, observing Elliot pulling up against the curb in his SUV. She noted he already had picked up coffee from the all-night gas station near his house – a sure sign he hadn't been sleeping either – and she sighed, inwardly preparing herself for a long day with a combative, belligerent Elliot and the possibility (or likelihood) of perps being thrown against the wall of interrogation.
Elliot Stabler's heart tightened in his chest as his partner swung herself into the passenger seat and immediately consumed half her coffee without even taking a breath. Even at 4am – and he could tell she had had little, if not no, sleep – the mere sight of her gave him butterflies in the pit of his stomach and turned his knees to jelly. As much as he had tried to avoid, ignore, prevent – Elliot Stabler, married father of five, was hopelessly in love with Olivia Benson – and this conflict was his reason for tossing and turning, his wife slumbering peacefully beside him as the turmoil raged within him – Was it possible to be in love with two people at once? He tore himself to shreds over this question, and others, and was no closer to an answer than he had been eight years ago when he finally admitted that his feelings for Olivia were very different (and fifty times stronger) than the typical partner relationship – that of Fin and Munch, for example.
"Thanks El," Olivia said with a half smile, turning to stare out the window as they sped towards Mercy General. Typically they would go straight to the crime scene with a rape-homicide, but tonight was not a standard case for Benson and Stabler – a mother had been brutally raped and murdered in front of her six-year-old daughter. It was unspoken between them that they would head straight to the hospital to support and interview the little girl, leaving CSU and the capable Melinda Warner to collect evidence, and the body, back at the crime scene. Olivia had pushed her personal worries to the darkest, dustiest corner of her mind – right now the welfare of a terrified child was their priority as well as finding the son of a bitch who had done this.
It had not escaped Elliot's notice that Olivia had been crying – as desperately in love with her as he was, little she did escaped his notice – and he had been concerned about her since an almost indiscernible shift in her behaviour yesterday. She was, of course, as professional and sympathetic as usual, but something about her just seemed…off. She had come in a little later than was normal (Olivia was almost always at the squad room before him) and although outwardly appeared to be her usual 'Olivia' self, there was something in her smile, and behind her eyes, that seemed like the slightest pressure would break something within her – as if she was holding back a huge emotional weight that was dangerously close to crushing her. He was almost desperate to ask her what it was, what he could do to help (because short of plucking the stars from the sky Elliot would do anything for Olivia), but he knew what her response would be and how she would throw up a wall between them, and in a way that was even worse. So although it was killing him, he left it – for now – mentally locking it in a safe in his mind to address later.
Olivia noticed Elliot was quieter than usual and marked it up to a lack of sleep, assuming Eli had been bouncing off the walls past midnight, as he was wont to do. Both detectives subconsciously turned on 'detective mode' as they traversed the all-too familiar corridors of Mercy General. Without discussion between them, Olivia hung back as Elliot approached the reception desk and inquired as to the whereabouts of their patient, and followed him equally obediently as they negotiated deeper into the children's wing, snapping out of her reverie with a start as Elliot tapped lightly on the window of a room where a child with swathes of blonde hair slept, monitors beeping around her and a bandage on her wrist. Olivia felt Elliot stiffen almost unnoticeably next to her – she knew that blonde children reminded him of his own daughters Maureen, Kathleen and Lizzie – and almost unconsciously leaned into him to offer support. Elliot glanced down at Olivia with a small smile of thanks as a doctor emerged from the room, closing the door softly behind her in order to not disturb the child sleeping within.
"Detectives Benson," – she glanced at Olivia – "and Stabler I assume? I'm Dr Chloe Steele, neurology. Your victim is Clara – no last name as of yet – six years old – lacerations to the face and neck and a radial fracture of the right wrist. Superficial bruising on her upper arms, probably from being held down. Unfortunately she also presents with bruising of the upper thighs and vaginal bleeding -"
Olivia's heart broke for the little girl at the mention of her rape, as Elliot interrupted rudely - "In that case we need a rape kit and swabs performed as soon as possible before crucial DNA or fluids deteriorate."
The doctor regarded the detectives with a quirk of her head. "Already done, Detective Stabler." She held up a sealed and neatly labeled evidence bag he hadn't noticed until now. "The results from the rape kit are at your lab as we speak, and I've already bagged her clothes. You're free to talk with Clara immediately and she will most likely be discharged tomorrow."
She turned to leave, handing Olivia the bag, but was stopped by Elliot, who said, "Doctor Steele, I'm sorry - we generally deal with doctors who make our job fifty times harder, booking the rape kit and leaving us to it, contaminating evidence by allowing multiple pairs of hands to touch clothing, sedating the victim so we can't talk to them immediately - it just came as a surprise to me that you have done basically the entire job for us. We usually have a huge struggle persuading terrified children to submit to further, invasive examination, let alone have a full rape kit completed two hours after the crime. How have we not met before?"
As she turned back to answer Elliot, her lips curved in a half smile, Olivia was struck at how familiar she seemed – I'm sure I've met this girl before, she thought – and girl she was, seemingly impossibly young to be a Doctor of Neurology already – she didn't look a day over 20. It also hadn't bypassed Olivia that the doctor had known their names before they had introduced themselves, and perhaps more impressively, had correctly known which was Benson and which was Stabler. Caught up in analyzing Dr Steele, Olivia almost missed her response –
"The apology is unnecessary Detective – I'm from Seattle originally, but New York is more conducive to my particular interest in adolescent neuroscience, hence your correct assessment of me as the new kid on the block. It also explains the rape kit, and the reason the attending doctor paged me through." She glanced through the frosted glass and observed – "I think your victim is waking up. By the way, it's Chloe – 'Dr Steele' was my late father. Let me know if I can be of anymore assistance." Passing Olivia her card, Chloe walked away.
"Ok, just me, or did she seem awfully familiar?" Elliot whispered, echoing Olivia's thoughts from earlier.
"She seemed awfully familiar," Olivia agreed, an unspoken understanding to follow up on their new favourite doctor later passing between them.
But for now, the priority was the terrified little girl in the room beyond them, and anything the dynamic duo could learn to help bring about justice for this child and her murdered mother.