ONE
"Benson. Amaro. Four-year-old girl named Allison, abandoned at Mercy hospital half an hour ago." Cragen says walking out of his office.
Nick and I stand up.
"Raped?" I ask.
"Abused." Cragen says.
I nod.
"She a missing person?" Nick asks.
Cragen shakes his head. "Her foster parents just dropped her off and left." Cragen says.
"Where are the foster parents?" I ask.
"Not answering the phones." He says.
I nod. "Okay." I say, and then follow Nick out of the squad room.
We walk up to the nurses' station and I hold up my badge. "Detective Benson, this is my partner detective Amaro. We're here for Allison." I say.
The nurse nods and pulls a chart. "Allison, there's no last name on file, four years old, abandoned, signs of prolonged sexual abuse, dehydration and malnutrition. The poor little things terrified of men. She had to have all female staff. She's in room 308. Two doors down on the right." She says.
I start to walk away when she calls me back. "Does she have anywhere to go? She can leave in about half an hour, when her IV is finished." She says.
"I'm not sure yet." I say.
She nods and looks back down at her computer.
I walk down to the room and poke my head in to see the little blonde girl alone in the room, clutching a teddy bear. I walk into the room and her head turns toward me. I smile a little bit and watch as her eyes go wide and she turns away.
I turn to Nick. "Wait out in the hall." I say.
He nods and walks out of the room.
I walk over to the bed and sit down on the bed beside her. "Hi Allison. My name's Olivia." I say gently.
Her eyes open and she looks at me for a second.
"Hi." She says quietly.
I smile. "Who's this little guy?" I ask pointing to her teddy bear.
"Teddy." She says.
"Teddy huh?" I say.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Teddy." I say, reaching out and shaking the bears paw.
Allison smiles and sits up a little bit.
"Allison, I'm a detective. I'm here to help figure out where your foster parents are." I say.
She shakes her head. "No, I don't wanna go back there. He hurts me." She says.
"How does he hurt you sweetheart?" I ask.
"He hits me. And he touches me." She says as tears well up in her eyes.
"Where does he touch you Allison?" I ask.
She tries to blink the tears away but it doesn't work. "Down there. On my private parts." She says, tears running down her cheeks.
"Please don't make me go back." She says.
I move forward a little bit and take the little girl in my arms. "You don't have to go back there sweetheart. I promise." I say.
She nods and wraps her arms around my neck.
Nick walks into the room and taps me on the shoulder. Allison looks up, whimpers and buries her face in my side.
"Allison, what's wrong honey?" I ask.
"Him." She says.
"Allison look at me sweetie." I say.
She looks up at me and I smile a little. "This is Nick. He's a detective too. He's a good guy sweetie, almost like a superhero. I promise he's not gonna hurt you." I say.
Her blue eyes widen. "Are you sure?" She asks.
I nod. "I work with him every day. I promise you he won't hurt you." I say.
She nods and slowly turns her head to face Nick, keeping her hands wrapped around my arm.
"Hi." She whispers.
Nick crouches so he's eye level with Allison. "Hi Allison." He says gently.
"This is Teddy." She says, holding up the bear for Nick to see.
"Teddy? Wow. That's a great name. You know, my little girl has a Teddy just like him, except she named him bear." He says.
Allison laughs a little bit. "Bear?" She asks.
He smiles. "Yeah." He says, then turns to me.
"Cragen just called, he located the foster parents, Rollins and Fin are bringing them in now." He says.
I nod. "Okay, Allison. I have to go now sweetheart." I say.
She clings onto me tighter. "No please don't go 'Livia." She says.
"Okay sweetie. I'll stay. Nick, you go." I say.
He nods. "Alright." He says.
"I'll call Cragen." I say.
He nods and walks out of the room.
"Allison, I have to call my boss right now okay, so I'm gonna get up and walk over to the door. Alright? You'll still be able to see me. I promise." I say.
She nods and slowly let's go of me.
I stand up and walk over to the door, dialing Cragen's number. He picks up on the fourth ring.
"What's up Liv?" He asks.
"Nick's on his way back. I stayed at the hospital. Do we have somewhere for Allison to go? The doctor's said she'll be released soon." I say.
"CPS isn't able to find anywhere to place her so she'll probably be placed in a group home for the night." He says.
"I'll take her. I can't let her go to a group home." I say.
"I'll talk to CPS but are you sure Liv? Is that gonna be okay with Amanda?" He asks.
"Is she back yet?" I ask.
"Yeah, she just walked in. One second I'll go get her." He says.
"Hey Liv. What's up?" Amanda asks.
"Hey Manda. I have a question to ask you." I say.
"Ask away." She says.
"Is Frannie good with kids?" I ask.
"Yeah, she loves kids. What're you getting at Liv?" She asks.
I sigh. "This little girl, the victim, she's only four Manda. CPS is having a hard time finding somewhere for her to go and I don't want her to go to a group home, I talked to Cragen and he said he'd talk to CPS and..."
She interrupts me. "You don't want her to go to a group home so you volunteered to take custody for a little while right?" She asks.
I sigh. "Yeah." I say.
Amanda laughs lightly. "I'm okay with it, although the apartment isn't really set up for a kid; I guess we could pull out the couch in the office." She says.
"Thank you Manda. I wouldn't ask you if I thought she'd be okay, but she's so scared.
Nick walked in and she was terrified." I say.
"I know Liv, it's fine. Are you coming to the precinct before you go home?" She asks.
"Yeah, I have to pick up a few things." I say.
"Okay, I'll let you talk to Cragen. Love you." She says.
"Love you too." I say.
The line goes quiet while she hands the phone back over to Cragen.
"Hey Liv. I spoke with Allison's case worker, she told me that since you and Amanda are both NYPD, she felt Allison would be safe with you, I just need you here for a few minutes to sign a few things okay?" Cragen says.
"Alright. I should be there soon." I say.
"Okay. See you soon. Bye." He says.
"Bye." I say.
I hang up and put my phone back in the back pocket of my jeans and walk back into the room and sit down on the bed.
"How would you feel about going home with me Allison?" I ask.
"With you?" She asks.
I nod.
"Bad man at your house?" She asks.
I smile. "No sweetie. No bad man. I do have a girlfriend and a doggie though." I say.
"Girlfriend? Like boys have?" She asks.
I smile. "Kind of." I say.
"But aren't girls only supposed be with boys?" She asks.
I shake my head. "No sweetie. Some girls like girls, and some boys like boys. And that's okay." I say.
She nods. "You love her?" She asks.
I nod. "Very much." I say.
"She loves you?" She asks.
I nod again. "Yes she does." I say.
She smiles. "As long as you love each other it's good. Right?" She says.
I nod. "Right." I say.
"What's her name?" She asks.
I smile. "Her name is Amanda. She's a detective like me." I say.
"What's she look like?" She asks.
I smile bigger. "She's beautiful. Like a princess. She's tall and she has blonde hair and really pretty blue eyes." I say.
"What about doggie?" She asks.
"Her name is Frannie. She's pretty big, but she's really nice." I say.
"She bite?" Allison asks.
I shake my head. "No sweetie. She doesn't bite." I say.
"So I can go home with you?" She asks.
I nod. "Yeah as soon as the doctor says you can leave."
Right as I finish the doctor walks into the room. "Hi Allison. I'm Doctor Smith." She turns to me.
"Who are you?" She asks.
"Detective Olivia Benson, Manhattan SVU." I say. She nods.
"Okay, well Allison is free to go, um, where is she going, exactly?" She asks.
"My captain spoke with CPS, you should have been notified, she's going home with me." I say.
She nods. "Oh, yes. It's right here in her chart. Okay, I'll just take the IV out and then she can go." She says.
I nod and pull my phone out of my back pocket and send a text to Amanda.
'Hey, Allison's just been discharged, I'll see you in about 15 minutes.' I hit send and look back up at Allison, who is now IV free.
"You ready to go?" I ask.
She nods smiling. "Alright. Let's get outta here." I say, holding out my hand for her to take.
She takes my hand and slides off the bed. "Can Teddy come too?" She asks.
I crouch down in front of her. "Of course Teddy can come sweetheart." I say.
She smiles and throws her arms around my neck.
"Okay. Let's go." I say standing up.
Allison smiles and takes my hand.
We walk down to the front entrance of the hospital and get into a taxi sitting at the sidewalk.
We pull up to the precinct and I pay the cabbie and help Allison out of the car.
I pick her up and put her on my hip.
"Where are we 'Livia?" She asks.
"Remember when I told you I'm a detective?" I ask.
She nods.
"This is where I work." I say.
She smiles and hugs Teddy tighter. "It's okay Allison." I say.
She nods and snuggles into me a little bit.
I walk into the precinct and down the hall to the elevator. I press the call button and the doors open and I step into the elevator.
The doors open on the sixth floor and I walk out and down the hall to the squad room.
Amanda looks up at me and smiles.
I walk over to her.
She stands up and hugs me. "Hey Liv." She says.
"Allison this is Amanda. Amanda, this is Allison." I say.
Allison looks at Amanda and smiles.
"Hi Allison." Amanda says gently.
"She's even prettier than you told me." Allison says.
Amanda laughs. "You've been talking about me detective?" She says.
I smile. "Maybe." I say.
"Only good things I hope." Amanda says.
"There's nothing bad to talk about." I say.
She smiles kisses me gently. I pull back and look at Allison, whose face is scrunched up, like any four year olds when they see people kissing.
I laugh. "Allison, can you stay here with Amanda while I go talk to my boss?" I ask.
She nods and I put her down. "I'll be right back." I say.
Amanda nods and Allison smiles. "Can I see your hand cuffs?" I hear Allison ask as I walk away.
I walk into Cragen's office and close the door. "How's she doing?" He asks.
"She's scared." I say.
He nods. "No doubt." He says.
"What do you need me to sign?" I ask.
He grabs a few papers off his desk and slides them towards me. "Just sign the dotted line." He says handing me a pen.
I sign the papers and hand them back to him. "Go home. Take a few days. Take Rollins with you." He says.
I nod. "Okay." I say.
I walk back into the squad room and see Amanda and Allison sitting in Amanda's chair laughing.
I walk over to them. "What's so funny?" I ask.
Amanda stops laughing long enough to say "I showed her a picture of Frannie and then I showed her the picture of Frannie dressed up for Halloween last year. You remember? When she had the unicorn horn on her head?" She says then busts out laughing again.
I laugh lightly. "You guys ready to go?" I ask.
"I have paper work to do Liv." Amanda says.
"Cragen told me to take you home." I say.
She nods. "Okay." She says.
"You hungry Allison?" I ask.
She nods. "What do you want to eat?" I ask.
"What am I allowed to have?" She asks.
I smile. "What's your favorite food?" I ask.
"Can we have Chinese food? I had it once a little while ago. I really liked it." She says.
I nod. "Sure. Do you want to go pick it up or do you want to go straight home and have it delivered?" I ask.
"I can choose?" She asks.
I nod. "Yep." I say.
"Can we have it delivered?" She asks.
I nod. "Sure." I say.
"You ready to go Amanda?" I ask.
She nods and stands up.