Disclaimer: If you've seen them on the show, they belong to Dick Wolf, not me. Maybe someday he and I will work something out . . .

I apologize if I took a bit of poetic license and changed some of the circumstances from the actual episode. I tried to use as much of the dialogue as possible.

A corrections officer took Olivia to the nurse to make sure her arm was all right, but Elliot suddenly felt nauseous. He couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that enveloped him. He had hit Olivia. He had hit Olivia. He had hit Olivia. He had hit Olivia. The words kept replaying in his mind like a broken record and he felt like he was going to faint from hopelessness and shame. He had hurt Liv. He was here to make sure she didn't get hurt, not to hurt her. Even though it was just for his cover, he couldn't let it go.

"Hey," said Officer Parker approvingly, giving him a light punch on the shoulder. "Not bad for your first day on the job."

If this was how it was going to be every day, he knew he wouldn't last a week.

* * *

Olivia lay on a dingy mattress in her 8x10 cell that night, tossing and turning as she tried to sleep. She couldn't imagine how some people did this for months – years, even. Besides the lack of any privacy whatsoever, there were the brutal, sadistic guards who, although permitted by law to strike an inmate to force compliance, seemed to be overstepping their boundaries in more ways than one. Olivia quickly learned that the corrections officers could do pretty much whatever they likes and the prisoners were helpless to stop them. They would hit the women or touch them in ways Olivia knew they shouldn't in plain view of others, and no one did a thing to stop it. And she, the powerful, fearless, police officer, Olivia Benson, couldn't do anything either. When Captain Cragen had asked her if she had any idea what she was getting herself into, she said she didn't care, but now she truly realized how powerless she was. It scared her to think that she was just another little fish in an ocean of sharks.

So she lay in her cell, listening as other women cried out in their sleep, listening to the soft sobbing in the cell adjacent to hers.

* * *

The next morning, the women were allowed outside for an hour of recreation. To Olivia, it felt like recess time in elementary school. Except the prison guards wouldn't have lasted a day as teachers. The thought brought a smile to her lips.

Feeling a sudden, inexplicable feeling of exposure under the bright sun and the eyes of the corrections officers and inmates, Olivia wrapped her arms around herself and continued to meander around the courtyard, keeping a vigilant eye on the guard. It interested her to see that every so often, an officer would inconspicuously take an inmate aside and lead them back toward the prison. At first, she thought this was suspicious, but then she realized that she was just overreacting. All the guards couldn't be raping all these women all the time. She wondered what was going on. Maybe they were exchanging drugs.

A moment later, she glanced up to find the corrections officer who'd seen her get hurt yesterday – Officer Parker – coming over to her, Elliot by his side. She almost smiled at the sight of her partner, wearing such a hardened look on his face, but she knew him too well and saw right through it. In his eyes, she could read contrition and an apology that she didn't need. It hurt that he had hit her, but only physically. She knew it wasn't the real Elliot. Her partner would never hurt her and the guilt from doing so yesterday was probably eating him alive.

"You feeling better today?" asked Officer Parker causally.

"Peachy," replied Olivia sardonically, not thinking about the potential ramifications of such a retort. As a cop, she'd always used sarcasm, and it would be a hard habit to break.

The guard raised his eyebrows. "'Yes, thank you, CO,' is the correct response."

Swallowing her pride for the moment, Olivia made the decision right then to pick her battles. If she fought tooth and nail for every little indignity, she'd have little time to do anything else, and she didn't even want to think about what her punishment would be. Getting put in solitary confinement for a week would hardly help Risa Tyler; if anything, it would jeopardize her purpose for being here to begin with. So she did as she was told, biting down on her lower lip. "Yes, thank you, CO."

He gave her a facetious stare. "Now apologize to Officer Randall." That was Elliot's undercover name.

Olivia's eyes widened in confusion and disbelief. "For what?"

"You got blood on his shoes," answered Officer Parker calmly.

"He hit me," protested Olivia in as measured a tone as she could muster.

"Excuse me?"

She could see the rage boiling beneath Elliot's calm exterior, the subtleties that would only be visible to someone who knew him as well as she did. The way his hands curled into fists, the way his jaw clenched, and she knew that this was killing him inside. Her pride was important to her and he knew that. He didn't want to humiliate her any further.

Afraid that Elliot might blow their cover and step in, saying that he didn't need an apology or something, she bit back her dignity, rationalizing that it was just Elliot, after all. "I'm sorry for getting blood on your shoes. It won't happen again."

She saw his hands unclench but he didn't reply. He just cast her an apologetic glance as he followed Officer Parker away.

* * *

Elliot hated seeing Olivia like this. She was his partner and best friend, but he'd always seen her in positions of power. She was the strongest person he knew and she'd dealt with more crap in her life than anyone should ever have to. But now . . . she was humiliated, vulnerable. It pained him when the guards taunted the inmates, struck them with more force than necessary, jeered at them, made inappropriate sexual comments. He wanted to smack Officer Parker for calling Olivia "honey" and "sweet cheeks." He wanted to punch the guard's lights out when he saw him grabbing Olivia's butt and squeezing, and the worst thing was, neither of them could do anything about it. They were both powerless in that moment. But still, it made Elliot's blood boil. Olivia was a police officer, not some whorehouse plaything.

He wanted a moment alone with her more than anything, a moment in which he could apologize, a moment in which she would assure him that there were no hard feelings between them. He was going to find that moment.

Will Elliot be able to talk to Olivia alone? Will they get caught and have their cover blown? How will they cope? Review for chapter three to find out!