Saving Grace
Summery: A crossover between Law and Order SVU and Grey's Anatomy. When an 18 month old child is murdered, will the detectives of Seattle SVU be able to find the murder, and persecute them before another child is lost?
Disclaimer: Although I do own some of the characters, I do not own anyone from Grey's Anatomy or Law and Order SVU. I also do not own the shows so please do not sue me!
In the criminal justice system sexually based defenses are considered especially heinous. In Seattle, Washington, the dedicated detectives that investigate these vicious felonies are part of an elite squad known as the Special Victims unit, these are their stories.
Chapter One
A 13 year old girl with blonde hair and the most amazing blue eyes you can ever imagine is lying on her stomach on her bed. School books are scattered across her bed, as well as several complicated looking worksheets, and other school supplies such as pens, pencils, etc. She was trying to figure out a very complicated Algebra problem when the terrified scream of her younger baby sister echoes up the stairs and to her room. The young teen leaps up off of the bed, and sprints down the stairs to the living room to find her mother snatching her one and a half year old sister up by the shoulders and shaking her hard.
"Mama!" The girl exclaimed running towards her mother and hitting her trying to get her to release the baby. "Stop it! Stop it NOW! You're going to hurt her!" She said kicking her mother as hard as she could in the side. The mother releases the baby and collapses to the floor, a gasp of pain escaped from her lips as she falls to the ground, blood streams slowly from between her legs. For the first time she is at an angle that revels she is pregnant, although she is eight months along she is extremely small, and the baby is severely underweight due to the fact that the woman consumes more alcohol than she does water. The girl completely ignores her mother's cries of pain, and instantly takes her little sister into her arms, checking every inch of her for signs of damage. Tears of relief formed in her eyes when she realized that there was no obvious damage, realized that her sister was apparently fine. That she had gotten there in time. She pulls her baby sister close to her and holds the infant tight as she stands up, the little girl clinging to her with all of her mite, and slowly walks over to the phone. With trembling hands she picks up the phone and dials 911.
"Gracie! Lexie! What on earth are the two of you doing here?" Addison Montgomery Slone exclaimed as she walked out of her office and saw her oldest God daughter walking down the hallway towards her, the youngest held securely on her hip.
"Aunt Addison I need to talk to you, Mama's been admitted." Gracie said quickly as the baby eagerly reached her arms out to her God Mother to be held. Addison takes the baby in her arms and Lexie rests her head on Addison's shoulder. Gracie uses this opportunity to shift the heavy diaper bag from one shoulder to the other and looks anxiously at Addison.
"What is it that you need sweetie?" She asked, Gracie looks around anxiously at all of the people hanging around in the hallway and then looks again to Addison , who seems to get the point that they needed to talk in private and leads the pre-teen into her office.
"Aunt Addison, Mama shook Lexie really hard. Can you please check her out?" Gracie asked. "I'm so afraid that she might be hurt, something that I can't see, and something that I don't know." Gracie said in a frightened tone tears began to fall down her cheeks.
"Well Gracie you did the right thing by bringing her in. What was your mother admitted for? Is she OK? Is the baby ok?" Addison asked in a truly concerned tone. Meredith was her best friend. A fellow attending at the hospital. They spent most of their free time together. She didn't really didn't want to believe that Meredith would ever harm her daughters but she had a deep feeling that she had been hurting them, she nodded at the thirteen year old girl, and began to examine the baby. Gracie begins to cry so hard that Addison stops examining the baby and walks over to Gracie.
"What is it? What's wrong?" She asked in a gentle tone.
"Mama was shaking her so hard, Aunt Addison I didn't mean to hurt her! I didn't mean to hurt the baby! I just wanted her to stop hurting Lexie!" She exclaimed as the tears fell from her eyes. Addison finished the examination on the little girl, determining that everything was fine, and sat her down on the floor before taking her sister into her arms.
"Shh shh sweetie it's ok. Sweetie it's not your fault." Addison said as she held the blond teenager in her arms, gently rubbing her back. Lexie, seeing that her sister, the one who cares for her, the one who is more of a mother to her than her own, is crying, begins to cry as well. Lexie wipes her eyes and gently takes child into her arms and holds her. Quietly whispering to her that everything was going to be fine. Everything was going to be ok. Addison places her hand on Gracie's shoulder and Gracie wrenches and pulls away. Addison gives her a curious look.
"Grace did your mother ever hurt you or your sister, anytime before today?" She asked and her stomach sank when the oldest girl nodded her head. Addison took a deep breath.
"Mama hates to hear crying. Crying drives her insane, and if Lexie cries Mama gets really mad and hits her. Today was the first time she shook her." Gracie said in a shaking tone. "I couldn't protect her from it this time." She said, gently massaging her shoulder.
"You protect your sister a lot?" Addison asked looking at the older girl, who was cuddling the baby and gently rocking her back and forth.
"It's like she's my very own baby." Gracie said with a smile. "I take care of her all the time. I get her ready in the morning and take her to the babysitters, after school I pick her up from the babysitters and feed her supper; I give her a bath and rock her to sleep at night. I buy her diapers and clothes with my money I saved from my after school job. She calls me Mama. But that makes Mama really mad." Gracie said looking up at her "Aunt Addison". Addison was the girl's God Mother, sure, but the girls had always called her Aunt. Although Gracie was never really sure why. "When Mama gets mad I take it, because I can handle it. Lexie is just a baby; she's not strong like me. She'll get hurt too easily she's my baby I have to protect her."
"Oh sweetie." Addison whispered. She never knew that it was this bad. Sure she had suspected things through out the years, but she never thought that things had gotten this bad. "I never knew." She whispered holding the child close. "I swear I never knew." She whispered again. Tears fell down her cheeks as she held the two children close. She gently rocked them in her arms for some time. Tears falling from her eyes into their golden light blonde hair.
(Emergency Room: Seattle Grace Hospital, Meredith Grey is laying on a bed, curled up into a ball, her hands on her stomach, she is obviously in a very great deal of pain.)
"It doesn't look good." Dr. Bailey said to the interns assigned to Meredith's case. "Someone page Addison Montgomery Slone and get her down here STAT!" Bailey barked as she put some medicine into Meredith's IV to keep her comfortable.
"Will she be Ok?" A small intern, who looked like she was about 12 years old asked in a quiet tone as she gently held Meredith hand.
"Stop holding her hand White and get over here!" Bailey barked, she tells Meredith to uncoil, and she does so. Bailey preps her for an ultrasound. Upon looking at the ultrasound she clinched her teeth to keep from telling her former intern off. Now was not the time. Meredith needed her help and now was not the time to continue to lecture her about drinking while pregnant. The effects were already evident on the child.
"Get it out of me!" Meredith screamed. "Get this child out!" She screamed and it was apparent that she had been drinking. Alcohol was on her breath and apparently didn't care rather the baby lived or died as long as the pain stopped.
"This baby is coming soon!" Bailey exclaimed and was relieved to see Addison Slone running down the hallway and into the ER.
"What do we have?" She asked, and when she looked at the images on the screen she groaned inwardly. She was better than Bailey at hiding her true emotions. She was better than her at hiding the pain of seeing a child suffering so much before it was even born. Addison sighed, out loud this time and looked at Meredith, an expression of Anger that she wasn't able to hide on her face.
"I thought you were going to stop drinking!" She exclaimed to the underweight woman, who was nearly screaming in pain from the labor pains.
"Not now Addison!" Bailey warned.
"No." Addison exclaimed pointing to the screen. "I think now is the perfect time." Addison said angrily. When Meredith had gotten pregnant, at first, Addison was her doctor, but when it became apparent that Meredith was still drinking, still getting wasted every chance she got; Addison confronted her, and threatened to call CPS. Meredith demanded her file and fired Addison, moving on to another doctor. A doctor who didn't care as much as Addison did.
"Mama!" Tiny little Alexis exclaimed as she lifted her arms up to be held by Gracie. Gracie gave her little sister a tired look as she lifted her up into her arms. She knew the baby must be tired, knew that she must be exhausted from the day's events. She held her in her arms and gently rubbed her back. They had been gone from their home for almost 4 hours now. They had been sitting in Aunt Addison's office, waiting for news of their mother. Gracie didn't care what happened to her mother, she just wanted for the baby, her little brother or sister that she knew she would be caring for to be safe. She hadn't meant to hurt it.
"Sweetie you can't call me Mama. I'm not your Mama I'm Gracie remember?" Grace asked the little girl, knowing she knew how to say Gracie, but knowing that she didn't refer to her by her name, ever.
"No Gracie." The child said shaking her head no and pointing at Gracie's chest. "Mama." She said in a smart tone, apparently proud of herself. Grace shook her head knowing that the little girl would never understand until she was older. So she just sighed. "Mama." The little one said again.
"Ok Ok." Gracie whispered. "Mama." She agreed finally, and the little girl smiled as she snuggled into her sister's chest. "lah lu Mama." She whispered before drifting off to sleep in Gracie's arms. Gracie smiled and held the child close, gently rocking her in her arms for a few more minutes before making herself more comfortable on the couch they were sitting on and falling asleep herself, her little sister held protected from the world in her arms.
Meredith Grey as it appeared was in far more distress than anyone could have detected. And upon realizing this she was taking into the OR, and Addison preformed an emergency C-Section. The baby was tiny, barley breathing, it's lungs, heart, and stomach not fully developed, but the baby boy didn't need surgery…it was a miracle. Five long hours later, Addison finally has a free moment , walks quietly into her office to check on the girls, finds them fast asleep on the couch. Addison knows she should let them rest, but she can't fight the urge to do an examination on the oldest, to find out how truly bad she is hurt. She knows she needs all of the evidence she can get before she calls the police and CPS.
"Gracie, wake up sweetie." Addison whispered, gently shaking the older girl.
"Uggh." Gracie whispered in her sleep her eyelashes fluttered and she looked up at Addison, a look of confusion on her face. "Aunt Addison?" She asked, in a confused tone, but upon realizing where she was, and why she was there, she gave Addison a small smile. "How's mama?" She asked in a semi concerned tone. "How's the baby?" She asked looking at Addison praying that she would tell them the truth. Addison looked at the little girl and gave her a small smile, then looked to the older daughter. She took a deep breath before continuing.
"Your mom suffered only minor injuries. The baby is another story though." Addison said watching her god daughters the oldest gently lays the baby down on the couch.
"It's my fault." Grace whispered tears falling down her cheeks. "It's my entire fault." Addison takes the girl tightly by her shoulders forcing her to look at her.
"It is NOT your fault do you understand me?" Addison asked in a gentle tone.
"No." Grace whispered. "If I didn't kick her, if only I wouldn't have hurt her?" She asked
"Sweetie." Addison said, taking the girl in her arms. "Sweetie it's not your fault." Addison said gently rubbing the girl's back. "The baby is severely damaged from intense exposure to alcohol and prescription drugs." Addison explained to the child.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Gracie asked a haunted expression on her face.
"You have a little brother." Addison said, her voice pained.
"I want to see him." Gracie demanded.
"Sweetie I don't think…" Addison said, but was cut off by Grace's angry whisper.
"No, he's my brother, I need to be there for him, I'm the one who's going to be taking care of him for the rest of his life, God knows my mother isn't going to be there to protect him." Gracie said her tone angered. She looks at her God mother, as if challenging her. Addison took a deep breath, she knew that the little girl was telling the truth.
"Sweetie I need to do an examination, I need to determine how badly your hurt." Addison said, her voice was calm, but her facial expression one of deep sadness.
"If I let you do the examination, will you take me to see my baby brother?" The teen asked, and Addison nodded her head. "If you tell me everything that happened, I'll take you." She promised.
"I need to report a severe case of child abuse." Addison said hours later into her telephone, Gracie was in the nursery scrubbed in, standing beside her little brother's incubator. She is gently talking to him in a hushed tone. They had moved Lexie to the child care nursery and Addison had stepped outside of the NICU to make the report to her old college Sydney Hansen.
"Addie do you have any proof that the child has been abused?" Syd asked.
"Severe bruising, the child says that her mother did it. Her mother is an alcoholic and has been abusing prescription drugs." Addison said. " I believe that there is a danger to the child and her younger siblings."
"How many are there?"
"Three children in total, the youngest was just born, and is suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome. I wouldn't have called you and bothered you, but the children are my God Children, and I believe that they are being hurt." Addie said. She wasn't usually so quick to pass suspicion. She wasn't so quick to judge, but these were her best friend's children, they were practically her own flesh and blood. She needed to protect them, no matter what the cost. " I don't want them in the System." She said quickly.
"I have a friend with the SVU department who can help you." Sydney said in a serious tone. "I'll send her to the hospital within the hour to talk to the girls. This is a big risk you're taking Addison. You better be sure before you make one of the biggest mistakes of your life."
"If I wasn't sure than I wouldn't have called now would I have?" Addison asked in a mixture between coldness and pure relief that the children would be getting the help they so desperately needed.