Chapter 1

"Come on now, Andy. We both know you did it. Your fingerprints, your DNA- hell, your semen even! Confess and I'll put a good word in with the DA." The blonde detective sat back in her chair. "See if we can lessen the possession charge."

Andy, the perp, looked at her, eyes wide. "I didn't rape anyone! There can't be my fingerprints on no girl!" He pushed his hands out on the table. "Check again!"

The detective stood up. Lacey Bennett slammed the door to the interrogation room behind her with a heavy sigh. She was getting nowhere with the perp she left behind. "Serg, this is useless. We don't actually have DNA on him."

Her Sergeant Olivia Benson nodded. "I can tell. I think he may be innocent. He hasn't even asked for a lawyer. He doesn't even understand exactly why he's still here and not in holding."

"Innocent of sexual assault, but not for possession. We found oxy in his jacket." Lacey smiled. "If we wait a few more hours he stays over the weekend in the Tombs, and maybe get him in on intent to sell as well."

At that moment Sonny Carisi knocked on the Sergeant's door. "This guy's innocent of assault. DNA came back, it's not a match." He looked over at his partner. "But we still have him on possession. A few hours and he can sit in the Tombs for a weekend."

Their sergeant rolled her eyes at the two young detective's antics. "Yes, we can wait a few hours so he can sit. Get back to work, we have to find the guy who did this."

Lacey high fived Carisi as she walked out of the office. "Alright, what other leads do we have?"

"Bennett, you have to go home eventually." Amaro leaned against her desk. "It's almost midnight."

Lacey sipped at her lukewarm coffee before looking up at the Cuban. "I know, but I can't stop until we have more leads. This poor girl was attacked three days ago, and we honestly have nothing."

"But you can't do anything when you're exhausted. Plus, everyone else has already left and I thought Liv said something about not staying late?"

"Okay, maybe she did say something like that." She stood up and put the papers into a folder. "I'm leaving, you can go."

Amaro laughed. "Oh, I am. Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks, Amaro. I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled when he tapped her shoulder as he walked away. "Night."

"Night Bennett."

As soon as Amaro left she sat back down. All she wanted was a few minutes of quiet to try and see the case from another angle. A young girl, Jasmine Butler, attacked by a man in the Bronx on her way home after work. She went to Hudson University. No one saw anything, and they were stuck. DNA didn't match anything in the system, there was no fingerprints, and there wasn't a security camera in a two-block radius.

An hour later Bennett decided that Amaro was right, there was nothing more she could do that night. As she shrugged on her pea coat, a voice called out to her. "Detective, you sure are here later than normal."

She turned. "ADA Barba, it's one in the morning. What brings you to the SVU?"

"I'm dropping off some case things for Benson to testify later this week. She has to go over the information before then."

"Well, she's not exactly here."

"I'm leaving them on her desk."

She shook her head. "Do you ever stop working?"

He smirked. "Absolutely. Only when I go home."

"And what's that, once a week?"

"No," he laughed. "Twice." He disappeared into Benson's office for a moment and then walked back out. "Come on, I'll drive you home."

"No, I'm okay. I can get myself home just fine." She shook her head. "You Cuban boys just want to see where I live, don't you?"

"Well, I can only speak for myself, but I think it's more about safety." He chuckled. "At least let me put you into a cab."

They walked out of the precinct together in silence. Rafael Barba scrolled through his emails on his phone, not actually reading any of them. He needed coffee, but it wasn't worth staying up later than he had too. Lacey scrolled through twitter on her own phone, sending some to a friend. When they reached the bottom Barba hailed a cab for her. "You be careful, okay?"

She smiled at him as she ducked into the cab. "Of course, Counselor." She shut the cab door as he started walking towards the parking garage and the cab drove off. It wasn't long until the taxi pulled up to her apartment building. She tipped the driver and slid out pretty quickly, now feeling exhaustion set in.

She pulled out her keys to unlock the gate when she felt someone press up behind her. "Come on, little lady. Don't scream. Just open your gate." The guy pressed something hard against her side as she pushed the gate open.

"You don't want to do this." She murmured. "Please."

"Shut up, bitch. Take me to your apartment." He pushed her forward.

She started walking to her apartment slowly, praying that someone would see her. "What do you want? You can have it." She opened her apartment door. She felt his hand on her hip, touching her gun. Shit. He pulled it from its holster and stashed it somewhere on him.

"I said, shut up!" He slammed her against the wall. "You feel this?" He held something cold to her head. "One more word, one more move, and I shoot you." She nodded and stayed pressed against the wall. He moved off of her while grabbing the back of her neck. "Computer, money, jewelry."

She walked slowly through the house with her hands up as she pulled what he requested. She saw him out of the corner of her eye. He wore a ski mask and hood, but no gloves. She could see that he was white, but not much else in the dark of her apartment. He grabbed everything she handed him and shoved it into a backpack. "Count to one thousand, and then you can move again." He kicked her in the knee, forcing her to fall on the floor. "Report this, and I'll come back to rape you." He disappeared out the front door, slamming it behind him.

"Well, this sucks." She mumbled and crawled to get her phone. She should wait like the robber asked but thought against it. If he did come back, it wouldn't matter. She cursed herself for letting him have the upper hand and not stopping him with her gun while she had it. Now, she had no gun, and no computer. Or nice jewelry.

She dialed her Sergeant's number and held her knee gently. "Benson."

"Uh, Serg? I just got robbed."

"Bennett? Are you okay?" She could hear the sleep in her voice. "Are you home?"

"Yeah. I think something's wrong with my knee." She tried moving it and winced. "I know there is."

"Did you call 911?"

She sighed. "No. I'm supposed to be counting to give him time to run. He also took my computer."

"Give me a few minutes and I will be there. Call 911, please." Benson sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I'll see if Carisi is awake. He's closer to you."

"Okay boss." She heard the click of the phone call ending and dialed 911 a few seconds later.

Five minutes later she started hearing the sirens of police when Carisi barged in without knocking. "Bennett?"

She called from the kitchen floor, "Over here."

He slid into the kitchen. "Are you okay?" He glanced at her knee which was already swelling in her jeans. "Oh."

"Yeah." She laid on her back, looking up at him. "I'm sorry." It was obvious that she was going into shock from the situation. She was shaking a little bit and her eyes were wide.

"It's okay. It's not your fault." He knelt next to her. "What are you even sorry for?"

"For you being drug out of your house to come see what happened here."

Carisi's mouth opened to answer when a hard knock came from the door. "Miss Bennett?"

"In the kitchen!" She called out again before looking at Carisi. "I'm sorry."

Within the half hour, Olivia pulled up to see her detective be pulled out on a stretcher, a brace put around her left knee, and Carisi talking amicably to her. "Lace, are you okay?" She said, gesturing to her knee.

Lacey shook her head. "I think it's broken. He took my gun, boss. As well as my computer and some expensive things. I didn't see his face."

Benson put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "It's okay. Carisi will go with you to the hospital," She paused until he nodded, "and then someone can take your statement."

She watched as two of her detectives were loaded into the ambulance before heading into Lacey's apartment.