The Garden of Eden by Lexikal
Author's Note: This is my first SVU fan fiction and a short one. Please review. It's about Eden (played by Elle Fanning) from the episode "Cage" from Season 8. This story deals with the subject of child abuse. I didn't follow season 8 as closely as I should have due to cable problems so I am not sure when Liv got back exactly, but in this story she is back at Special Victims less than a week after Danny leaves and is in this story. I realize that Eden has the disinhibited form of Reactive Attachment Disorder, aka DAD (Disinhibited Attachment Disorder), and that the healing process would take place much more slowly than I have depicted in this story... but this is fan fiction, so I sped things up a bit. However, after seeing the movie version of "Child of Rage" the other day, I may decide to write another story, even an SVU story, about a child with RAD. It depends. And yes, I know Huang isn't spelled "Wong" but that part is from Eden's POV and I think she would spell it "Wong"...
Nothing particularly graphic or upsetting in this story. I really found myself wondering after watching "Cage" what might happen to little Eden, so I wrote this...
Summary: How does Eden deal with Danny's "abandonment"?
O0O
"Where are you going, Danny?"
The cop looked at the child, secured to the bed and restrained and walked out. The door shut softly and Eden glanced heavenward, her throat heavy. She wanted to cry, but crying wasn't something she did... ever. Scream in anger, maybe, but not cry. Crying was for babies. Not even when she'd seen Rosemary laid out all pale and dead on that table, not even then had she cried. Not even when the car had gone into the water and she'd been handcuffed inside and scared and cold and wet and the metal of the cuff had dug into her wrist and cut her. She hadn't cried then either. No, she wouldn't cry. Danny didn't really matter anyway, did she? There would be another one. Soon enough. Another chance. Someday there would be someone who would want her. It was just a matter of time, of finding them.
Time passed slowly, restrained to the damn hospital bed. The child let her mind drift to happier times. Playing with her sister at Rita and Bud's, the few times when that was allowed and Rose or she wasn't in any trouble. She thought briefly about the hose, about the water filling her mouth and coming out of her nose and the sensation of drowning and went back to staring at the ceiling. The lights were fluorescent and hideous but somehow hypnotic, and they were dimmed at least...
The door opened and in came a nurse, dressed in white, her lips pressed into a bloodless line. She didn't look like she liked kids, didn't look nice. Didn't look like how Danny had looked.
"I want out of these!" Eden snapped, pulling on the arm restraints. The nurse ignored her remark but came over to her bed, checked to make sure the restraints were still tight. "Aren't you listening? I said I want out!"
No comment from the woman. Eden sighed heavily and pulled at them, tried to struggle a bit to show she still had some fight left.
"You better stop that." The woman was finally speaking, her voice emotionless but firm. "The doctor will see you in the morning."
"What time is it now?"
But the woman was already heading towards the door, her back to the child who had caused so much destruction in one night.
"I have to go the bathroom!" Eden whined, and suddenly she realized that she really did need to go. She needed to pee like a race horse, as Rose used to say.
The nurse's hand was on the door knob.
"I HAFTA GO!"
"I'll bring in a bed pan."
O0O
The lady was back with a strange plastic bowl thing. She pulled down Eden's sheets and started to slide the bowl thing up towards her, between her legs. Eden still had underwear on, though, and the nurse would have to... what, pull them down? No way.
"NO." The girl's voice was firm. No. She would not pee in that thing. No. She'd had to pee in a bucket at her last home once, as punishment... before Alma and the police... and before Danny. One time the tiny bucket she'd been given had been already too full and when she'd started to urinate the piss had flowed over the rim. Bud had made her lick the pee off the floor. No. She would never pee in a bucket of any sort again.
"You can use the bed pan or you can hold it till morning." The Nurse's tone was brusque, short. Eden wanted to scream, wanted to lunge, wanted to swear at the ugly old bitch, but she was tied down. None of that would do any good at all.
"I need to go to a bathroom." The girl's voice was firm, demanding, but also tinged with frustration and despair. The same tone she'd used with the driver who had wanted her to keep singing after her throat had started to hurt. The same driver who'd almost killed them all by driving into the water and who'd handcuffed her to the seat. She was restrained now, again, in this hospital- uncomfortable and trapped. The feelings were coming back again, the old feelings of being trapped and abused.
They could kill me, Eden thought suddenly, and her throat tightened. Like Rosemary. It would be so easy now, in a hospital, especially when she was tied down like an animal in a trap, unable to get away. And isn't that what adults did- kill or leave? Of course that's what they did. Eden stared straight ahead, eyes slightly unfocused, ignoring the bed pan.
"I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you." The nurse snapped indignantly and before the child could get another word in the door had clicked shut. Eden moaned and begged her bladder to stop throbbing, but she really had to pee. Really badly... but not in that thing. Not in that damned plastic bucket. Not... the nurse would see her, would have to see her. No. She'd wait. Eden stared at the ceiling again, ignoring the burning, the throbbing. "Fucking bitch, I hope you drop dead." She told the ceiling softly. "Stupid, ugly old bitch..." She fell to sleep angrily, bitterly whispering threats and swears.
O0O
The psychiatrist was a thin, balding man with glasses who looked about 50. By the time he arrived she was wriggling with the need to take a leak.
"I have to go to the bathroom." Eden snapped before he had a chance to introduce himself. She wanted to kill the nurse, just stab her. And, maybe... this loser too. Or at least hurt him. Hurt him badly. Hurt him for hurting her, for making her wait all night to take a leak.
The man nodded and approached the bed. He held a clipboard in his hand and a pen. But he made no move to undo her restraints.
"I'll be good." Eden offered, and smiled. Hopefully they'd let her go now. She knew it was wrong to have lit that fire, but she knew Danny had liked her. She'd liked Danny too. But Danny didn't want children and the people that did... they usually didn't love them. That was one thing she'd figured out in her 8 years on the planet. She had just wanted to be with Danny, with the smiling police lady who could protect her. Be with her and never have to go away. Never ever. She knew eventually she'd end up like Rosemary anyway, so it was better to get it out of the way sooner, rather than later. And Danny didn't have a husband or any kids. They could've been together in Heaven. Eventually everyone died, anyway, so what had been the big deal?
But Danny hadn't seen it that way. Hadn't wanted her either.
The balding man looked at her and wrote some quick notes down on his clipboard. Had she said anything aloud? She didn't think so.
"I REALLY have to go." Eden begged.
"We'll get you out of those in a few minutes, Eden, but you have to promise not to hurt yourself."
"I didn't hurt myself."
"You were scratching yourself."
Eden considered this, not sure what the man's point was. She wanted to ask him what scratching herself had to do with anything. The bitch nurse of last night had taken a sample of blood from her arm and that had hurt more than the scratches and left a bruise, but no one was mentioning the needle, or the small purple circular bruise under the bandage. So why was scratching any different? Because she, a child, had caused the injury, and not the adults? Probably. Eden gritted her teeth and ground them, an ancient anger beginning to burn inside her.
The head-shrinker was staring intently at her, though, so she just nodded.
"I won't. I promise. I just wanna pee."
He finally nodded and came over to the bed and undid the first restraint. It felt good to have her hand loose. Slowly, methodically, he released the other small hand. Eden sat up and draped her feet over the side of the bed, eager to get to a toilet.
"I'll take you to the bathroom, and then we'll have a talk, okay?" The man was trying to be nice, but Eden knew it wasn't a question. It was an order. So she just nodded. The man smiled in response and held out his hand to her and led her out of the room and down the hall. On the way she saw the lady nurse who had let her lie in bed and hold it. Someday, if she grew up...
They stopped in front of a door and the man nodded towards it.
"I'll wait outside, okay, Eden?"
She went in and relieved herself, washed her hands and dried them on her hospital gown. The back was open, but at least she had underwear on. Still, she held the back closed with one hand and came back out, looking up at the shrink. He led her to another room, one with a small circular table and a beat up beige couch and a he pulled a stool from behind the door and perched on it. He reminded her of a bird of prey.
"Please sit down, Eden."
So she did.
O0O
Rain was splattering and running down the car windows like teardrops. Maybe somewhere in heaven, Rosemary was crying. Back to another home. She'd been promised it wouldn't be back to Bud and Rita's, but she'd been promised a lot in her life and a lot of those promises had turned out to be lies. The van stopped for a moment at a red light and the social worker in the driver's seat mumbled something about the traffic. Eden felt for the door knob, and before she knew she wanted to do it, she'd opened the door and tumbled out into the street. She could hear the social worker call her name, but she didn't look back. Instead, she began to run. She wouldn't go back. Not now. Not ever.
O0O
It was still raining and she was in a part of the city she didn't know, which made sense as she didn't know ANY part of the city. She found a pay phone, one that actually worked, and had stolen a few quarters from the social worker's purse when the woman had left her momentarily to talk with the hospital shrink. She plunked one of the quarters into the phone and waited for the dial tone, then dug threw her pocket and came back with a business card. It was a card Danny had given her the same night she'd taken her home. Promising her to phone if she ever needed help. Danny had left, but maybe just because she was upset. Maybe she was feeling better now.
The phone began to ring. It rang a few times and finally Eden heard the other end pick up. A male voice answered, said something about some precinct.
"Is Danny there?" Eden coughed slowly into the phone, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. The fear that Danny might not be there. That Danny might hate her or be gone forever.
"Eden?" She remembered the voice now. The man's voice- she thought his name was Detective Stabler. She'd only seen him briefly. He'd tried to get her to talk to him and had seen the bloody laceration on her wrist from where the handcuff had dug in. Mark had stabbed him with a pen, she'd been told. That was kind of funny, actually, but only a little bit. Detective Stabler hadn't seemed that bad, not bad enough to deserve to be stabbed by a pen, anyway.
"Is Danny there?" Eden repeated again, ignoring Elliot Stabler's inquiry. She was shivering now, wet and cold and utterly lost. She wanted to speak to Danny, not Elliot.
"Eden, Danny is not here. Where are you?" He sounded a little worried, which Eden thought was weird. Maybe he was worried about Danny.
"Is Danny okay?"
"Eden, where are you, honey?" Honey. She recoiled momentarily, not sure how to accept the term of endearment. Finally decided that maybe it was okay for Elliot to call her that.
"I'm not going back to any home." She said simply. Still, she was shivering, and she was 8, and she was lost in a big city. It was kind of scary but maybe she could make it. Maybe she could live underground in the tunnels. She'd heard some older kid talking about tunnels in the hospital psychiatric wing before the social worker had come for her.
"Eden..."
"If I tell you, you'll send me back. I'm sorry about the fire. It was an accident." It hadn't really been an accident but maybe Elliot didn't know that.
"Eden, please just tell me where you are... We can work something out."
"Only if I can live with you."
The phone was silent for a moment.
"Can we talk first? Please?" He sounded genuinely concerned about her. Eden smiled. She knew Elliot had kids, Danny had told her so when they'd had supper, a few hours before bed. Maybe he'd want another kid. He was a police officer, and a man, but he seemed nice enough. But if he wanted another kid... no, he probably had enough. No. This wasn't going to work.
"It's okay, Elliot. Don't worry about it." She knew she sounded disappointed. She was about to hang up when Elliot blurted out something. She held the phone closer.
"Eden, just hold on a second. Will you talk to somebody for me? Just for a minute?"
"Is it Danny?"
"Just hold on a second, okay?"
The phone stopped talking but she heard Elliot talking in the background, somewhere back at the police station. There was the sound of movement, of walking. She heard someone breathe and a female voice.
"Eden?" It was a woman's voice, slightly out of breath. For a moment she felt a spike of hope, but that hope quickly flickered out. It wasn't Danny.
"You're not Danny."
"No, Honey, I'm not. My name is Olivia."
"Do you know Danny? Is she mad at me?"
"Nobody's mad at you, Honey." Eden almost hung up the phone then. She knew a lie when she heard one, but something about the woman's voice was very soothing. Maybe even more than Danny. Calm and Soothing.
"Olivia?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have any children?"
O0O
She was back in the same little play room she'd been in with Danny. The woman- Olivia- was sitting across from her, trying to make eye contact. Eden glanced around the room, eyes continually darting back to the door. She didn't think it was locked.
"I'm not going back to a foster home. I am going back to my real family."
"Your real Mom and Dad?" Olivia prodded gently.
"Them... and Rosemary." Olivia seemed to look a little alarmed suddenly and leaned closer.
"What do you mean by that, Eden?"
"Me and my real Mom and my Real Dad, and Rosemary. That's who I want to live with."
Olivia glanced towards the big mirror on the wall before looking back at the child.
"Eden..." She took a deep breath. "You know Rosemary is dead, right? Do you remember that?"
Eden shrugged. Maybe. Or maybe Rosemary was sleeping. Could be.
"If she's dead, how come she hasn't come to see me?"
Olivia looked confused now. "What do you mean by that, Eden?"
"Rosemary... she said if she ever... she said she would be my guardian angel. That we would always be together."
Olivia looked sad again. Not sure what to say.
'Eden, when people die..."
"You don't believe in angels." Eden said simply, tired with the conversation. It wasn't a question.
'Actually, you want to know a secret? I do. I REALLY do. I just don't think..."
"She promised. " Eden snapped.
There was a knock on the door and Olivia stood.
"I'll be right back, okay?" Eden nodded, picked up the doll she'd played with, the little doll she'd seen in the doll house when she'd told Danny about Rosemary. Held it tightly. The door clicked. Instantly she was on her feet. She tried the knob, but it would only turn. Not open. She sighed, tired and worn out. Locked up again. Like being in a cage.
Only in this cage there were toys. At least that was better.
O0O
She'd spoken to a doctor named "Wong". He was nice enough, with a soft voice and deep, probing, intelligent eyes that Eden only glanced at from time to time. Then she was back in the playroom. They'd dried her off with a towel when they'd picked her up, probably had phoned the social worker to come get her again. Being a kid really sucked.
But then Doctor Wong- except his name was spelled Huang, apparently- he came back and told her she didn't have to go back to a foster home. Someplace else. He wouldn't say where exactly.
"Will Rosemary be there?" He'd said no. He'd said Danny wouldn't be there either. But other kids like her. And nice adults. Really nice adults. He'd promised her.
She'd asked him if she could stay with him and he smiled a real soft smile and said it just wasn't possible. But she'd meet adults like him there. And he'd try to visit. Olivia, too, said she'd visit.
They were waiting for a van or something when Elliot came into the playroom carrying a purple and pink backpack and a giant stuffed rabbit. Gifts from his daughter, he said, smiling. Eden took the backpack and searched through it. Envelopes and paper and markers. Stamps. A photograph of her and Rosemary he'd somehow gotten from somewhere. In a nice little frame. Some little trinkets and toys and a card.
Then the van was there. Dr. Huang was gone, had to go back to work, and Elliot was on the phone but Olivia went with her, smiling and taking her hand. Eden looked up, not sure why, but feeling a bit happier, hugging the rabbit tightly.
They went through a McDonald's drive thru and got a happy meal with a Barbie inside, another gift. She ate the cheeseburger slowly, the fries. Olivia made chitchat and every time Eden asked if she would visit, Olivia smiled and promised she would try to visit whenever she could. And then she gave Eden her card, except there was another number written on the back of it in ballpoint pen. A special number. Olivia's cell phone.
In case you ever feel like you need to run away again, or in case you're ever in trouble and need me. Eden smiled and tucked the card back into her backpack.
And finally they were there. The building was big, like a mansion, with a gate around it, but the gate wasn't topped with razor wire or anything... just a regular gate, like the type around schools. The Van pulled to a stop and they got out and walked into the building.
Inside there were kids everywhere. Laughing, smiling, except for one boy who was yelling at a man. The man was wearing a sweater and speaking softly to the boy. When he saw Olivia and Eden he patted the boy on the shoulder, whispered something to him, and the boy nodded and sulked off. The man came over and knelt down.
"You must be Eden."
"Are you my new Dad?"
"How about you call me Fred for now, okay?" His voice was nice and calm, nothing like the psychiatrist at the hospital. More like Dr. Huang. Fred was about 40 and looked nice and normal. Except for the deep-set wrinkles in his forehead and something about his eyes, something about his eyes that made him look tired.
"Is there a cage here?" Eden asked, gripping Olivia's hand. Olivia squeezed back.
"A cage, Eden?"
"For when kids are bad."
"No. It's never okay to treat kids like that." The man's voice was soft, almost sad. He glanced for a second at Olivia, but Eden couldn't see Olivia's face. Eden felt confused. What about the word "cage" had made the man's smile disappear so fast? Weird.
"What do you do when kids are bad, then?" She prodded.
"Well..." he glanced up towards Olivia and then quickly back to Eden, smiling that same soft smile. "We do have some rules. No hurting yourself or other people. No going into other people's rooms or breaking other people's things. Stuff like that..."
"But what if they are bad?"
"I don't think kids can be bad." Fred said, and Eden smiled. She could tell he meant it.
"But..." Fred wasn't done yet, "sometimes all children misbehave. And sometimes when they have been hurt really badly, they can act out and hurt themselves and other people."
"You don't have a cage." Eden said sceptically, knowing it was too good to be true.
"Eden," Olivia interrupted, squeezing the little girl's hand again. "What Rita and Bud did to you... that was child abuse. Remember we talked about that, about child abuse?"
Eden shrugged slightly and looked back up at Fred.
"You have to punish them if they break the rules."
"Eden, we have a time-out chair for the younger kids. And sometimes you get to be alone in your room until you feel better or calm down. We like to talk here."
"But what do you have instead of the cage then? The hose?"
"Actually, we do have a hose," Fred said, glancing up at Olivia. Eden blinked, suddenly wanting to run. Olivia had promised it would be okay...
"You know what the hose is for, Eden?" Fred's voice was calm.
Eden nodded tightly. She knew.
"I'm going to tell you anyway, okay?" He stepped forward and took her hand gently. Olivia released her grip but followed them towards a big window with lace curtains. Fred lifted the girl a little so she could see.
"Roses," Eden shouted delightedly. She could see Roses. Other flowers too, but especially Roses.
"Yes. We use the hose to water the plants and the flowers. And that's all we use it for. To make the flowers grow."
"I have a sister named Rosemary..." Eden trailed, her eyes taking in all the vivid colors, all the petals. Maybe Fred would let her water the flowers. The roses especially.
"Yes. Olivia told me. She's your angel, right?"
Eden glanced back and nodded. Yes. Her angel.
"Well, you know where I think she might be? Even if you can't see her?"
Eden waited for his response. He smiled and set her back down gently on the hardwood floor.
"I think maybe..." He crinkled his eyes then, as if he was thinking really hard. Eden waited, and pulled her rabbit closer to her. "I think maybe Rose will be in the garden. From my experience, that's usually where a lot of guardian angels like to be. It's peaceful there."
"There?" Eden pointed at the garden and smiled. A real smile. A big one. "In my garden?"
Fred laughed. "Yes. I guess it is your garden, now, too..." He glanced up at Olivia and smiled. "The Garden of Eden. I like the ring to that. What about you, Olivia?"
Olivia just smiled. Eden had walked away from her and was staring out and looking at the roses, hugging the plush rabbit (which, Olivia had learned on the trip over, was named "Danny") to her chest.
"So, Eden, you think you're going to be okay here?" Olivia asked, smiling a silent thank you to the resident shrink.
Eden just smiled back and nodded.
-FIN-
Hope you enjoyed. My first SVU fic and a a short one. Oh well.