Close To Home
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine.
Chapter 2: How I Know You
"Elizabeth Stabler?"
She lifted her head, and Olivia saw the tears swimming in her eyes. She nodded a little, but it wasn't necessary. One look at her face was all the detective needed to confirm the girl's identity.
In three steps, Olivia had crossed the room to take the distraught young woman in her arms. The girl sank into the embrace, and the detective could feel that her whole body was shaking. "It's okay now, sweetheart, it's okay. You're going to be okay."
"Olivia -" her voice broke off, and she clutched tighter at the woman's arms.
"You're safe now," she soothed. "I need you to tell me what happened, honey. Can you do that?"
"I'm scared, Olivia," she whispered.
"I know you are." She gently ran a hand down Elizabeth's back. "But I need you to talk to me. If you tell me what he did, we can put him away where he can't hurt you again."
She nodded against Olivia's chest. "I went to my locker to get my books after music practice, and Mr. Bakersfield said he wanted to talk to me about my grade in English. I know I have problems with that class so I -" she choked and let out a stifled sob. "I went into his classroom with him."
"That's okay, sweetheart. You thought you could trust him. That doesn't make it your fault."
"I leaned over him at his computer, and all of a sudden he just put his hand down my shirt and grabbed my breast. I pushed him away and I said no, just like Dad always told me to." Another choked sob. "He grabbed me by the shoulders, said that if I was going to be a bad girl I'd have to go sit in the corner for awhile. I tried to push him off but he was holding on too tight. He dragged me into the corner of the room. I just started screaming, I screamed so loud -" She gave a soft whimper. "No one came. No one came to help me. He pushed me down on my knees and he - he opened his pants. Then he pulled my mouth open and forced himself in. He said 'you even think about biting me and you'll regret it' and I was so scared to go against him. I just let him."
"You did what you thought you had to. It doesn't mean you wanted it." Olivia kept rubbing her back. The poor girl was a mess, and the last thing she needed was to feel that it was somehow her fault.
"He made me swallow - oh, God."
Olivia recognized the look on her face and got Elizabeth's head over the sink in the office just in time for her to throw up. She was shivering even harder now as Olivia held back her hair and rubbed her back.
"I'm sorry," she gasped when she'd finished.
"There's nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart. I know you feel sick. That's normal." Glancing around the office, she spotted a small stack of paper cups. She took one and filled it, bringing it up to Elizabeth's lips.
The teen took a sip to rinse her mouth and drank down the rest. She started talking again, in a weak, shaky voice. "When he, you know, finished, even though I felt awful, I was glad. I thought it was finally over. Then he laid me down on the floor and pulled down my pants." This last admission seemed to finally break down the floodgates and she began to cry openly. Olivia pulled her close again, letting the girl sob into the lapel of her jacket.
"He raped me," she sobbed out. "Then he just told me to pull up my pants and get out, like nothing happened. Just before I left, he said that he knew grades were important to me, and that if I told anyone I would fail his class. I just wanted to get away. I walked out of school and Richard stopped me - he must have been waiting for me. He asked me what was wrong and I told him what happened and who did it. Then - I saw him. I couldn't think straight. I just shut down. The next thing I know my brother walks up and decks him. Please, Olivia, don't let him get in trouble. He was just trying to help me."
"I know," she soothed, still holding Elizabeth.
"You promise he can't hurt me again?" she whispered.
"I promise, honey. I promise."
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"What's your name?" Amaro asked the teenage boy sitting in the office.
"Richard Stabler," he replied. A bell went off somewhere in the detective's head, but he couldn't place it so he ignored it in favor of the topic at hand.
"You told the officers who first responded that your sister had been raped."
"That's right. But they didn't take me seriously."
"I know." He sat down across from the boy. "But I will. Now, how did you know? Did you see anything?"
"She told me, and she wouldn't lie about something like that. She knows better; we both do. But even before she said it I knew something was wrong."
"Really? How?"
"Well, first of all she looked awful when she came out of the school. Like she was going to fall over. And besides, I just know these things. Elizabeth and I are twins. We have a connection I can't explain. I just got this awful feeling - I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew something was. Seeing her all messed up, and then when she told me, just confirmed it."
"Let's go back to her telling you. What exactly did she say?"
"She said she was raped. I asked her who, she said Bakersfield. Then I felt her just go stiff, and I looked behind me and he was there, just walking away like nothing ever happened while my sister was falling apart in my arms, and I just wanted to wipe that smug expression off his face. I don't actually remember hitting him. I mean, I know I did, but I don't remember it. The next thing I remember is him on the ground and the school security officers rushing over."
"All right." Amaro nodded. "What happened next?"
"They brought me in here and called the cops. I wasn't going to say anything, but they started talking about assault and charging me and I was just so mad - I mean, Elizabeth's rapist would walk free while they arrested me for trying to defend her? Before I knew what I was doing I was blurting out that he was the one they should be arresting because he raped my sister. But once I said it, I couldn't take it back or they'd think I made the whole thing up. It would've thrown her credibility to the wind if she ever tried to report it, and I can't do that to her." He let out a slow breath. "Can I see my sister now?"
"My partner's interviewing her. I'll check and let you know."
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A tap on the door startled both Elizabeth and Olivia. The detective looked up. "Who is it?"
"It's Nick. Can I come in?"
Olivia took one look down at Elizabeth, who was staring at her wide-eyed and furiously shaking her head. "No. I can't. I can't."
"It's my partner. He's not going to hurt you." She rubbed Elizabeth's back gently. "Tell you what. I'll go talk to him out in the hall, okay? He won't come in this room."
She nodded and slowly released Olivia from her death grip. The female detective stood and walked to the door. "Nick? Don't come in; I'm coming out."
"Okay," he called back.
She stepped out the door and was greeted by his serious expression. "What's up?"
"She's upset and scared, and I don't blame her. How the hell could they think she wasn't raped? One look at her face and I can see it." She sighed. "How about on your end?"
"Sounds to me like the brother just snapped. He claims he doesn't actually remember hitting the teacher, and I believe him. I'll see if I can talk the unis into letting him off with a warning. The bastard doesn't have a leg to stand on if he tries to press charges, not after what he did." He finally stopped his rapid-fire rant to take a breath. "Richard wants to see his sister."
"I've taken her statement, I don't see any harm in it. Bring him by - but," she added, "he only gets to see her if she says it's okay."
"Right."
"And then I want to get her to a hospital. I think she's in shock."
"Understood."
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Richard had barely walked through the door before his sister was on him, arms wrapped tight around his waist. Her body still shook with her sobs and her terror as he pulled her close, holding her, whispering so quietly even Olivia, five feet away, couldn't hear him.
She saw Amaro signal to her over the twins' heads and carefully walked past them to meet him. "What's up?"
"I talked to the officers and they agreed not to charge Richard. Official report will say they decided to leave disciplinary action to the discretion of the school." He dropped his voice. "Unofficially, there's no way they'll get a conviction on this. As soon as the jury hears he punched his sister's rapist, he'd walk. Might not even be worth it to prosecute, and they don't want to waste their time. It was one punch, and he didn't do serious damage. They don't want to deal with the paperwork."
Olivia glanced over at the boy, still holding his sister tight and stroking her hair. "Good. Then he can come with her." She stuck her head back in. "Elizabeth?"
"Yeah?" she whispered. Her brother's head turned and the shock on his face when he saw her was evident, but to his credit he didn't say anything, didn't do anything to divert attention from his sister even for a moment.
"I need you to come to the hospital with me. I want to make sure you're okay."
Elizabeth's wide, frightened eyes met Olivia's. "Will I have to have one of - of those exams?" She didn't elaborate. She didn't have to.
"It would be a good idea," Olivia replied softly. "It would help us catch him, but no one's going to force you to have one. I promise."
"I'll be right there with you," Richard whispered into her hair. "The whole time."
She finally nodded. "Okay."
"I'll take you two in my car, all right?" While she was worried about Elizabeth, she didn't think it was serious enough to need an ambulance, and being surrounded by strangers would probably not be helpful for her right now.
Elizabeth nodded again. She let up her hold on her brother but kept a death grip on his hand as Olivia led them both out to her car. She couldn't miss the way the girl shrank a little closer to her brother every time they walked near an adult male, and it tore at her. She would probably never be the same.
Amaro had beat them both out to the lot, but was standing back. "You go ahead," he told Olivia in an undertone. "I'll catch a ride with someone."
"You sure?"
"She doesn't want me in that car, I'm not going to be. It's that simple."
"Hey!" Richard was running over to them, apparently having already settled his sister in the car. "Amaro, right? Can you do something for me?"
"What is it?"
He had come to a stop and was frantically scribbling something on a scrap of paper which he shoved into Nick's hands the second he was finished. "Call my dad. Tell him to meet us at the hospital."
"Your sister okay with this?"
"She didn't ask me to, but I think it'll help. Please."
The younger detective glanced over at Olivia, who was nodding. "All right. I will."
Just so everyone's aware - I will be using a form of break between passages that I'm familiar with, rather than trying to imitate the SVU title card. I just never seem to get that right.
I was going to add more to this chapter but since the prologue was so short I wanted to get this out there. Everything that was going to be in this chapter will be in the next one.
Please review. I do make a point of writing back (this last chapter was the exception because wouldn't let me PM anyone for 24 hours), and I love to hear what you think.