A/N Warning... this chapter is potentially emotional. (Suicide mentioned)

2

Two weeks ago

Olivia looked round at the children in front of her. They were all aged twelve to thirteen and she had come in to give them a talk on personal safety. It was hoped that educating girls about how to keep themselves as safe as possible would help reduce the likelihood of any of them getting into any potentially dangerous situations and ending up being victims of the kinds of sex crimes Olivia and the rest of the unit dealt with on a daily basis. Her talk had been simple and judging by the questions and stories they had been sharing afterwards, it had gone down well and she was pleased. She always felt nervous facing this age group and was inevitably relieved when things went smoothly.

After the session ended, she was gathering together her belongings, when she noticed one of the students, a fairly small blond-haired girl, approach her.

"Hey," she smiled. "Do you have a question?"

"Kind of," she replied shyly.

"What's your name?" Olivia enquired kindly, halting what she was doing to give the girl her full attention. She looked younger than her grade, so much so that Olivia wondered if it was possible she might have skipped a grade or two. It wasn't unheard of.

"Melanie Carrey," the girl replied quietly.

"So what's your question Melanie?"

"I was just wondering. You said you work in a special victims unit which helps women and children."

"That's right, I do."

"Well, say if you have a kid report something really bad. What happens to that kid?"

"Well it depends on what's happening. Basically we want to make sure every child or young person is safe and we work to ensure that's the case."

"I see."

"Melanie, is something bad happening to you?"

"I… well… no… I was just curious, that's all."

Olivia looked at the child sharply. She was obviously hiding something and alarm bells started ringing. Something significant could be wrong here.

"You know if there is something troubling you, you can tell me. I want to help you."

"It's nothing," Melanie replied firmly. "I… I've got to go."

"Look, here's my card. If you ever want to talk, call me, okay?" Olivia handed the girl her name card with her contact information on it.

"Thanks," Melanie said as she walked away.

Olivia watched her go, a sinking feeling in her heart. There was definitely something up with this child. She decided she would speak to the principle before she left and see if she could find out any information.

Her meeting with the principle hadn't raised any red flags. The child was performing well scholastically and had perfect a perfect attendance record. Her homeroom teacher hadn't noticed anything unusual other than the fact that she was quiet. She had only joined their school a couple of months ago, so they still didn't really know all that much about her, other than she had moved around a fair bit due to her parents' work. It could explain her shyness. Olivia imagined it must be hard to continually make new friends and then be uprooted and have to start all over again. She was still not completely satisfied however, so she made the decision to contact social services and arrange to have them check in on the girl at home, just to make sure everything was really okay.

That night after a relaxing bath and an evening curled up on the sofa in front of the TV she was on the verge of heading towards her bed, when her phone rang. She sighed: the only reason anyone would be calling her at this time of night would be work-related and being called out on a case now was the last thing she wanted to face. She was exhausted and just wanted to curl up under her sheets. On glancing at her phone however, she didn't recognise the number and her curiosity was peaked.

"Hello?"

There was silence on the other end. Great, she thought, a prank call at this time of night. Slightly irritated she spoke more curtly this time.

"Hello? This is Benson. Who is this?"

"Olivia?" The caller had a quiet voice that she recognised immediately as the girl she had spoken to earlier that day.

"Melanie, honey, is everything okay? What's the matter?" Immediately her irritation was replaced with genuine concern. It was very late for a seventh grader to be making phone calls. She reached for her notepad, ready to record any necessary details.

"You said I can call. Is it okay?"

"Yes, of course. Melanie, did something happen? Can you tell me?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Olivia sighed. It was frustrating, but it took time to get children to trust her. The fact that she had called was an important first step. She determined that she would call social services again first thing in the morning and try and hurry along a home visit. Something was definitely not right.

She chatted for Melanie for thirty minutes about anything and everything besides the reason for which she feared she had actually called, before she managed to convince her to try and get some sleep.

"Thanks for talking to me, Olivia," Melanie said just before they said goodnight.

"You're welcome sweetheart," Olivia said. She wished she had told her what was going on so that she could really help. Casual chit chat wasn't going to change a potentially bad situation.

Once the call ended, Olivia struggled to sleep. Her mind was racing with thoughts of Melanie and what might be going on. Eventually she drifted into a fitful sleep, only to be woken by an early morning call into work.

Three days later she headed to Melanie Carrey's home address with the social worker who had been assigned to the case. She had managed to convince the young woman to let her tag along. Melanie had called her every night since that first call and she had come to expect the late night calls. She was still no closer to finding out what was going on and she hoped that by turning up at Melanie's house, she would prove to the girl that she really did want to help her and finally be able to persuade her to talk.

She hadn't been expecting to find the situation she did. The family home was in great condition, tidy and modern, well-furnished and very homely looking. The kitchen cupboards were filled with mostly healthy food. A quick sweeping inspection of Melanie's bedroom upon her invitation revealed a normal teenage girl's room. There were posters of her idols on the walls; she had plenty of books and games and an array of beautiful teddy bears, which Olivia suspected were more a collector's item than toys. It was any girl's dream room, Olivia thought. There was no doubt that Melanie was well provided for. Of course that didn't rule out something untoward was going on, but there was just something about the place which felt right. For the first time Olivia wondered if there really was anything wrong here or whether it was just a bit of harmless attention seeking.

Her Mother was smartly dressed and exceptionally welcoming. She insisted on them all sitting down for tea and homemade cake and quickly proved herself to be an expert conversationalist. When the conversation turned to Melanie and her welfare, her mother explained how they had unfortunately had to move around a fair bit and that her daughter had found it hard making new friends and still hadn't settled into her new school yet. Given the mother's friendly and open attitude, Olivia mentioned that Melanie had been calling her to talk and that they had wanted to come and check everything was okay. Her mother sighed sadly and said she had been worried about her not making friends as quickly at this new school and that it explained why she had been so receptive when Olivia had offered her some attention.

"Do you mind if I have a quick word with Melanie alone?" Olivia had asked.

"Not at all!" her mother had agreed instantly. There was nothing at all suspicious to make Olivia think anything untoward was going on, but she still wanted to talk to Melanie to make sure.

They headed to Melanie's room.

"Do you want to see my doll collection?" Melanie asked as soon as they entered the room.

"You collect dolls too?" Olivia asked.

"Yes."

"I'd love to, but maybe some other time. I thought we could chat a little."

"Sure," Melanie said congenially, seating herself on her bed and looking at Olivia expectantly.

"Do you trust me, Melanie?" Olivia asked suddenly.

"Yes," she replied, nodding as she spoke.

"Have you been calling me because you've been feeling a little lonely?"

Melanie looked down, refusing to meet Olivia's gaze, making her wonder if she had hit the nail on the head.

"It's OK, Melanie. Everyone gets lonely sometimes."

"They do?" she asked flatly.

"Yes. They do," Olivia replied. "You'll make friends. It just takes time sometimes."

"Right," Melanie said unenthusiastically. Olivia sensed she had withdrawn slightly. Maybe she was embarrassed? Admitting you had no friends wasn't an easy thing to do, for anyone, let alone a sensitive teenager.

"Just give it time," Olivia said.

Melanie didn't reply and there was an awkward silence. Olivia decided to end the conversation and headed back to the living room where Melanie's mother and the social worker were chattering and laughing together as they waited.

It was a relief to find nothing untoward, Olivia thought as they drove away. Going by some of the cases she had encountered during her years with the SVU, things could have been terribly different. Melanie Carrey seemed well cared for and her mother was the kind of person Olivia wished her own mother had been like. She just seemed a decent person.

After the visit, Olivia had expected the calls to stop, so was surprised to receive another one that same night. Having satisfied herself that the girl was just temporarily struggling with making new friends and reaching out through loneliness, Olivia thought it would probably be in her best interests to withdraw a little to hopefully encourage her to focus on making friends of her own age.

"You know, it's very late, Melanie," she said. "You should be sleeping and I have work in the morning. You know I don't mind chatting, but maybe you shouldn't call so much."

There was no response and after several seconds Olivia wondered if Melanie had gone.

"Melanie, are you still there?" she asked. She hadn't wanted to upset the girl. She was trying to act in her best interest.

"Yes," the small voice replied.

"You'll make friends. It'll be okay," Olivia reassured her.

"I thought you were my friend."

"I am, but I'm so much older than you. You need friends your own age."

"No, I don't. What difference does age make?"

"Melanie, please. It's late."

"What if I told you… what if I told you I'm being molested."

Olivia sighed.

"Are you?" she asked seriously.

There was no reply.

"Melanie. Listen, my job is to help children who are in real trouble. If you tell me you are hurting like that when really you are not, I'd be wasting time investigating your case rather than helping someone who really does need my help."

There was still no reply.

"Melanie. Listen to me. I want to be your friend. If there is ever anything you need help with, then you can call me, okay? But you can't make things like that up, alright? Do you understand?

"Yes," came the subdued reply. "I'm sorry Olivia."

"It's okay."

"I'd better get some sleep."

"Good night Melanie."

"Goodnight Olivia."

The calls stopped after that.

Just over a week later, Melanie was discovered lifeless in her bed.

Two days after that, Cragen called Olivia into his office and informed her that the coroner had confirmed that Melanie Carrey had committed suicide.