Hello everyone in the Law and Order Special Victims Unit community, it's time for the second chapter of Catalyst! First off though, I must thank with all my heart:

FangandIggyRule,

XxBlazestormxX,

addicted2svu2010,

Anonymous Reviewer,

EOforevertogether,

Sidle13, and

Rhonda Petrie for reviewing my story!

I also love everyone who favorite and alerted this story as well; I didn't forget you guys as well! Anyway, I'm sorry for not updating this on Saturday, I can only write in a very small period of time every day, and I'm a very slow writer, so expect an update every 1 or 2 weeks. It's a long wait but trust me, it's worth it! One last thing; to all the Law and Order SVU fans that won't watch the show anymore because Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) is gone, the show really isn't that bad without him, so try to watch it just because the material they're working with is really amazing. It's not that different, even though the cast is new, so show your support by tuning in, you may be able to tolerate the difference.

Recap:

Olivia took in a deep breath and reached into her pocket, feeling once again the sharp cold of her metal friend. She determinedly withdrew it and positioned it above her arm, as she always did, but never had the drive to finish the deed. Today though was different. She closed her eyes and made one swift motion.

Flick.

"AHH!" Yelped Olivia in surprise; dropping the now bloody knife into the sink and grabbing onto her arm in shock. She was amazed at the pain; it was never described like this in the books! Her entire arm was on fire; the long, slightly diagonal line was dark red and pulsing, pouring blood into the sink and down the drain, speckling the entire white surface. From the gaping wound that she now made, it looked like she had cut too deeply when she had carelessly ripped at her arm in anger.

Olivia gasped and dove under the sink for a towel; dripping everywhere. She grabbed the first one that she could find and pulled it out of the cabinet and wrapped it around her arm, watching in dismay as it quickly became red. Olivia looked around wildly and her eyes fell onto the glass encased first aid kit that was kept in the orphanage just for emergency. She punched it hard, breaking the flimsy barrier and freeing her only hope. The glass flew onto the floor and Olivia realized that it had hurt her knuckles, which were bruising and tender.

"Olivia, are you okay in there? I thought I heard something break; is everything alright?"

Olivia's eyes widened as she heard the worried call of Mother Mary. "How could everything be going so wrong? I have to think of an excuse…" Olivia opened the first aid kit and took out the gauze and bandages that were kept in the box. She tore open then package and began pressing it onto her gash, packing it on as thickly as possible. The cut finally stopped bleeding, much to Olivia's relief.

"Olivia, why aren't you answering me? I'm coming in there if you don't tell me what's wrong!" Mother Mary's call echoed through the flimsy door; it was a possibility that she was right outside. Olivia stopped layering her bandages and called out the best possible answer, hoping that her response would be enough to make her go away.

"Nothing's wrong Mother Mary, the… cup that I brought into the bathroom… slipped, that's all. I was using it to… brush my teeth; I always hit my head on the faucet when I try to get water to rinse my mouth. I'm cleaning it up right now, I'm sorry if I didn't hear you the first time you called, I'm a little preoccupied." Olivia knew that her sudden use of advanced vocabulary was a tell-tale sign that she was lying, but she had to say something quickly.

Olivia heard Mother Mary sigh and start to walk away. "Okay, as long as you're cleaning it up I don't mind. Hurry; it's almost time for dinner, and your food is going to get cold." Mother Mary's footsteps receded and Olivia let out a breath that she didn't even know that she was holding. Now that the bleeding had been stopped on her arm, she had to figure out how to bandage the gauze to her skin.

Olivia rummaged through the various medical supplies until she found something that looked like white tape. She ripped off a long strip of it and tightly wrapped the gauze to her skin so that it wouldn't fall off. Thankful that she had a sweater on, she pulled the sleeve down over her bandages and examined her work.

The sleeve was a little bulky around the bandaged part, but if she hid her arm from her orphan-mates, no one would notice except for Alex if she saw it. The little eight-year-old had a sharp mind and an eye for detail; Olivia would have to be extra careful tonight. Examining her arm had led her to remember that her knuckles were messed up from the glass, so she put on a glove.

After scraping the glass into the bathroom's garbage can, Olivia pulled the darkest towel that she could find and wiped away all of the blood spatter. She rinsed out the sink and threw out the towel, bunching it into the bottom of the can so that no one could see it. Olivia stood up and stared at her reflection, noticing her pale, shocked look. "Come on, you'll be fine, just stay away from people and they won't notice you." She slapped her cheeks for color and tried to smile, her eyes empty.

Olivia unlocked the bathroom door and walked out of it, almost stepping on a little kid as she did. She weaved through the obstacles and furniture of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where she crossed her arms hesitantly and sat down at one of the many chairs.

Mother Mary was at the stove, watching three pots of macaroni at the same time. It was noodle night again, and at exactly 5:00 she would ring the bell to call all of the children in. She turned from the stove as she heard Olivia sit and she nodded absentmindedly towards her.

"Did you clean up all of the glass Olivia? I wouldn't want any of the little children getting hurt by your… mistake."

Olivia clenched her injured hand frustrated and winced at the pain; instantly regretting it. "One minute she's an angel and the next she's a demon. I should have known that she wouldn't stay nice for long. I'm not calling her 'Mother' anymore, stupid bitch." She looked up with defiance and nodded in a fake happy tone.

"Oh yes; it's all clean now! I swept it up and used a magnifying glass to find the little shards, which are safely deposited into the garbage. Any other screw-ups that you need me to fix?" Olivia wasn't usually the aggressive type, but today was too much for her to handle, it was making her crazy.

Mary, (Because Olivia once again refuses to use the heading 'Mother') glared at her as she turned off the burners on the stove. She whipped around and hit the dinner bell hard; sending a screeching sound echoing throughout the kitchen and the rest of the apartment. The pounding of little feet on wood was heard as nineteen little kids scampered into the kitchen and sat at their most favorite spots at the table.

Alex was the last to come down as she quietly sat down on Olivia's left side, next to her injured arm. Olivia cursed under her breath and kept her arm as far away from Alex as possible, hoping to avoid drawing her attention. It didn't work; Alex grabbed her arm on the bandaged part and stared at it, confused.

"What's that on your arm Olivia? It feels weird!" Alex poked the bandage a few times to see if she could identify it by its squishiness, and Olivia twitched as she poked the area where her cut was underneath.

Olivia ripped her arm away from Alex and hugged it protectively. "It's nothing, just… a piece of cloth that I tied there because my arm felt cold." "Man, I'm going to get stuck in the web of lies that I'm weaving. Now accept my lie and shut up Alex, just this once!"

Alex stared at Olivia's arm suspiciously and pouted, but she couldn't think of another possible explanation for what it was. "If you say so Olivia, but I don't believe you." She angrily poked at her pasta; frustrated that she couldn't know what Olivia was hiding. After eating a few bites, Alex forgot about Olivia's arm and instead intently focused on the noodles, which she inspected with narrowed eyes. "Thank god for that; it's a good thing that she has such a short attention span."

There was little discussion at the dinner table this night. The smallest kids were busy shoveling the macaroni into their mouths with their hands, Alex was questioning everything that she found interesting or suspicious about the food to no one in particular, (which she always did), and Olivia quietly ate while thinking about her failed attempt at cutting herself. "They make it seem so easy in school; the emotionally disturbed kids are covered in cuts, how did I almost chop my arm off then? Maybe this is too risky; I'll need to find another outlet for my anger or I can end up killing myself!"

Olivia finished eating and placed her dish into the sink with her fork on top of it. She wandered into her room, mentally exhausted at her ordeal. She took the switchblade that she had cleaned from out of her pocket and sighed, placing it gently in its spot back underneath the floorboard.

Olivia plopped onto her bunk and pulled her thin sheets over her body. She shifted around to get comfortable; ignoring her homework and just wanting to fall asleep. She closed her eyes and was about to doze off when Alex suddenly popped up in front of her face. "BOO!" She shrieked happily.

Olivia screamed and jumped back, falling off of her bunk and onto the floor. "You scared me Alex, what did you do that for? I could have hurt myself! You know that I get scared by crazy little bugs!" Olivia jumped to her feet and tickled Alex, who was giggling and squirming to get away.

Olivia bear hugged Alex and patted her blond hair, watching as she tried to escape her grasp even more furiously than before. Finally Olivia let her go and she plopped onto her bunk with and oomph, slightly winded. After a moment of breathing, Alex turned towards Olivia. She stared up at her with a suddenly demanding look.

"Olivia, why have you been acting so weird?"

The question caught Olivia by surprise as she struggled to find an answer. "Why… why do you think that Alex? Is it something that I've been doing?"

Alex angrily crossed her arms, her nose wrinkling angrily. "You haven't been playing with me as much! When you come home, you barley smile and then tell me that you're too busy to do anything. I don't like it when you lie, I told you that!"

Olivia poked Alex's shoulder to get her to start laughing again, but Alex wouldn't even smile at the gesture. Olivia smiled and shifted her book bag a little bit and pulled out one of her notebooks. "I don't play with you because I have a lot of homework. See, look at my trigonometry notes for today!" Olivia opened her notebook and showed it to Alex, whose scowl deepened.

"That's your English notes Ollie, and don't even ask me how I know, because it says it in your heading. Besides, you don't even do your homework! Who do you think picks up the phone when your teachers call about you? Not Mother Mary; I just hang up on the teachers when they begin to speak! What's wrong Ollie?"

Olivia turned away from Alex and lied down on her bed. "Nothing's wrong Alex; I just haven't been understanding school. I'm going to tutoring; it helps me out. Don't worry about me; think about your school and your life. I'm fine." Olivia shoved her notebook into her bag and zipped it carefully. She then turned over and pulled her covers over her head; her previous exhaustion coming back to her.

Alex stared at Olivia, her face worried. "You're not going to sleep from now, are you? It's only six o'clock! Olivia? Olivia…!

Olivia woke up the next morning with a slight headache and a weight on her feet. She sat up on her uninjured arm and looked at what was squishing her legs; curious as to why there was no feeling in them. She smiled in amusement when she saw the cause of her discomfort.

Alex was wrapped at the bottom of her blankets under her sheets to keep herself warm. It looked as if she had spent the night on Olivia's bed, using her legs as a pillow. Now Alex was gently snoring and squirming slightly. It explained why Olivia couldn't feel the lower half of her body; there was a little person cutting off her circulation.

Olivia gently shook Alex and woke her up. "Good morning Sleepyhead!" She whispered.

Alex stirred and gradually got up; stretching her arms over her head. She let out a massive yawn and dropped onto the floor, using her sheets as a cape. Alex shook her head and blinked up at Olivia while rubbing her eyes.

After she finally gained her bearings, she looked apologetically at Olivia, who was trying to pound the life back into her legs. "I'm sorry for sleeping on your legs; I was supposed to sleep on my bunk, but then there was a huge spider on the ceiling and it scared me! So I slept at your feet. "

Olivia gingerly got up and began making her bed; being sure to tuck in the corner tightly to pass inspection. She smiled at Alex and laughed while looking for her gym uniform. "Why couldn't you have just slept next to me?" She joked while folding.

Alex pouted and threw her sheets at Olivia's head. "You take up too much space, I tried! You almost smothered me to death!" Olivia chuckled and tossed Alex's sheets onto her bunk so that she could lie down comfortably. Alex climbed up their ladder and hesitantly looked to see if the spider was still there. Alex looked around and saw nothing. She sighed in relief and plopped onto her bed, fluffing the pillow and curling up. Olivia stood on her toes and tucked her in; wrapping her up in a cocoon.

"Go to sleep; you shouldn't be up this early. I'm sorry that I woke you up; I have to get ready to go to school. Good night!" Alex nodded and closed her eyes; falling asleep almost at once.

Olivia sighed and packed her schoolbag quickly. She then changed into new outfit and slung her bag over her shoulder. After rummaging in the kitchen for a few minutes she finally found her hidden lunch of leftover macaroni and stuffed that into her book bag also. The little time that it took to groom flew by and soon Olivia was ready to go. She stared at the bathroom mirror; noticing the bags under her eyes and she sighed, rubbing her face.

"It's time for another school day." She sighed, and crept out the door.

"Okay everyone; I'm rearranging your seats. Stand up and move to the corner of the room."

Olivia's science class was being re-arranged for the 50th time, and the class knew the drill. Everyone stood up and shuffled over to the side of the room; dreading the moment when they would be assigned a front seat. As far as Olivia was concerned, her day was going fine and no seat change would be able to ruin it.

Mr. Baron looked through his science roster and pointed at a name. After a few minutes of muttering to himself, he nodded and pointed at Olivia. "Olivia Benson, first seat. Next to you will be sitting Odafin Tutuola, who will help you with you chemistry. Now, for everyone else…"

Olivia crept forward and quietly sat down next to a dark burly kid with a goatee who was staking up his books neatly. He turned towards her and grinned, taking her disheveled look. He had a tough air to him; Olivia noticed, but since he was apparently the best student in the class, he must have the brains to pass the class.

Finally the gangster spoke. "No need to be so intimidated baby-cakes. The name's Fin!" He smiled as Olivia stared at him, not processing what he had just said. She narrowed her eyes and smacked his shoulder, disliking her nickname.

"Who the hell do you think you are? My name is Olivia, not 'baby-cakes'! I just met you and I already have a nickname? Are you a pimp or something?"

Fin's grin broadened as he opened his textbook smoothing out the first page neatly. "You're very feisty for a girl who's usually quiet. I get to call you whatever I want if you want to pass this class. I just want to be friends, don't be so defensive!"

Olivia hissed angrily and glared at Fin. "Asshole," She muttered unhappily. Fin poked her ripped textbook and turned it to the page that the class was working on yesterday. "While we're waiting I want you to read this page and tell me what you understood. There I can see what help you need."

"Well, he does seem to have a professional teaching method. Maybe I can be friends with this guy." Olivia nodded and read the page. The chemical bonds and lines with circles made no sense to her. She looked up desperately at Fin, who sighed and scooted closer to her. "Okay, so these are oxygen molecules and…"

After an exhausting chemistry period that she actually learned in, Olivia staggered out of the class, now knowledgeable of a topic that she never understood before. Even though Fin looked like a reject, he taught even better that the class teacher did. Olivia now had a migraine from learning, and it was making her dizzy. She noticed that her arm was starting to hurt again also; it felt as if it was going to fall of this time!

Olivia fell against a wall, her head spinning. "My arm is throbbing!" She though, panicked. Olivia turned and began inching her way towards the nurses' office; but she was on the third floor. Her line of vision narrowed and everything closed in on her as she fell to the ground.

Olivia came to in the nurse's office, where her sweater was off and her bandage was cut open. The nurse was inspecting the cut that she had made yesterday, and she was lying on her back on the examination table. She sat up and looked around in confusion."I though… I was on the third floor… I passed out there… h-how did I get here?"

The nurse looked at her and then pointed over at the waiting chairs in the next room, where a handsome boy was sitting patiently. He had dark black hair and brown eyes, and when he saw Olivia looking at him he smiled kindly. Olivia turned away and looked down at her cut, which was puffed up and oozing.

The nurse dabbed her would with a searing disinfectant and Olivia exclaimed angrily at the pain, watching as little white bubbles formed along her cut. She flailed her free hand in an attempt to lessen the pain, but it didn't work and she was soon gnashing her teeth angrily. "What is that stuff; acid? It burns!"

The nurse shrugged and continued dabbing it onto her arm. "Its hydrogen peroxide, you've never heard of it? I had to put a lot on your… wound because it was infected. Whoever dressed it put no ointment on the cut, and tied the bandage too tightly. You have to really go to better doctors. How did this happen to you; this wound is really bad! It may require stitches with a parent or guardian's consent."

Olivia bit her lip and frowned; imagining the cruel look of victory that would adorn the face of the ever-changing Mary. She nodded to the nurse and carefully watched how she bandaged her cut for future reference. First she put some sort of ointment on the cut so that the dried gauze wouldn't stick, and then she gently wrapped the bandage around the gauze; not too tight, but just enough to hold it on. The nurse gave her an ice pack to put on her head in case it was to start hurting, and she wrote her a note to take her back to class.

"I'm pretty sure that 'Victor' over there will take you to wherever you need to go. He's the one that carried you in here, with all your stuff on his back. I think that he likes you. However, in my profession I can't instigate so just go back to class." The nurse gave Olivia the note and pushed her through the separating door to meet her mysterious savior, grinning evilly at Olivia.

"H-Hi!" Stuttered Olivia hesitantly to 'Victor'; staring at her feet and blushing. Victor looked up at her and smiled, slinging her book bag carefully over his shoulder and standing up next to her. He was actually half a foot taller than her, at 6'2. It shouldn't have been a problem for him to carry her, she noted. He was staring at her head with a playfully worried glance; looking into her eyes when she shyly took a peek at him.

Victor wrapped his arm around Olivia's waist and pulled her next to him. "You have to stay close to me so that you don't pass out again! Come on; I'll take you to your next class; which according to you schedule is… lunch. Oh yeah I forgot, my name is Victor, just in case the nurse didn't tell you. She's a very nosy woman; right?" Victor pointedly looked in the direction of the nurse's door, which closed quickly as Olivia turned around.

Olivia laughed at the thought of the nurse spying on their conversation, the tension in her body fading. "She seemed to enjoy investigating our business all right! Which by the way leads me to this question; when did you find me…?"

"Unconscious?" Questioned Victor. He steered her towards the door and opened it; catching it with his foot and holding it so that the two of them could pass. "Well, I was walking out of my science room, which is 307 by the way, and I saw you stop there suddenly. Then you slid down the wall and fainted very stereotypically; with the whole dramatic flop. A few kids stepped past you as I made my way through the crowd. Someone had to be your savior."

Olivia's ears perked at the term. "Do you listen to Skillet?" She asked, hoping that her premonition was right. "I swear; that sounded like a lyrical reference to the song Savior!" Victor grinned and tousled Olivia's hair as they headed towards one of the many staircases. "Of course I listen to Skillet; they're awesome. Wanna sing the song?" Olivia nodded and smiled as they bounced down the stairs; singing at the top of their lungs.

"YOUR SAVIIIIOOOOOOORRR!" Olivia and Victor yelled together as they stumbled into the lunchroom. After half-falling down 3 flights of stairs, they were giggling and tipsy off of the happiness they were experiencing. Olivia gasped for air and sunk down onto one of the dirty tables while Victor grinned and chuckled, running his hand through his hair.

All of the sudden he saw the clock and stopped smiling. He quickly set Olivia's book bag onto the seat next to her as her began to rummage for his I.D. "What's wrong Victor?" Asked Olivia as she watched him pull out the small card triumphantly, stuffing it into his pocket. Victor hugged her quickly and turned away, sprinting towards the exit of the lunchroom.

"I have to go to class; it's been 15 minutes since math started! Mr. Vincent is gonna be pissed! I'll see you tomorrow Olivia!" Victor sprinted to the staircase and vanished, leaving a suddenly lonely Olivia at the lunch table, dazed at how fast he could talk. "Hey, at least he cares about his education." She thought with a sigh. "He's kinda cute also though, I'll enjoy seeing him!"

Olivia then turned around to see what table she was sitting at. When she saw several evil pairs of eyes, she gasped and inched away. She was sitting at the popular kid's table, and they were all glaring at her as if she were a rat on the floor. She mumbled her apologies and was about to leave when one of the bigger guys got up and stalked over to her; blocking her path. He grabbed Olivia by the shirt and picked her up until they were eye level.

"What are you doing here? You know that this is the table for soccer players, not fucking losers! I think that we should teach her a lesson, how about it guys?" Not only was she sitting in the wrong place, it was the worst possible table that she could be stuck at. Not even the cheerleaders got this crazy; and they got to be pretty catty. Another soccer player stood up and walked over to the two of them; pulling Olivia out of the big guy's hands and setting her down.

"Don't bother Mac; she's not worth your time. I can handle her; you know that you can't get in trouble again Hothead." The boy punched the big kid in the arm and tried to push Olivia away from the group; but Mac grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Stay out of this Elliot; she's mine now. She came down here with that traitor Victor; and you want to let her get off easy? I don't give a shit if I get taken out of the next game, this bitch has to pay." Mac grabbed Olivia by the face and squeezed her cheeks together, hurting her jaw. "I think that we can have some fun…"

Elliot then kicked Mac in the back of the knee as hard as he could and watch triumphantly as her sunk to the floor in pain. He ripped Olivia out of Mac's grasp for the second time and gently pushed her away, mouthing for her to get as far away from their table as possible. He then turned towards Mac; ready to fight if he had to.

Olivia stumbled away and sat down at a table full of nerds; they didn't have power over anyone so it didn't matter. She massaged her face and sat thinking; watching as one of the lunch aides held Mac back before he could cause any more trouble.

Olivia then couldn't help but stare at her second rescuer of the day. "Damn, I'm way too needy; how do I get into all of this crap? I was about to get at the very least assaulted back there; thank god that one of those soccer players had a heart! So his name is Elliot right…?"

Okay, that was Chapter 2 of Catalyst! You're probably thinking, "LaoevanSVU FINALLY UPDATED, YAY!" Well, I had the time; so I got this out at last. It took me two weeks to type; I'm a slow writer as I said before; and I only have a few hours on the weekend to work on Fanfiction. I decided to end the story right here because I just threw a whole bunch of characters at you; so you have to get to know them first. Also, before anyone asks, John Munch is going to be in this story too; he was just not introduced in this particular part. (He's going to be in the 3rd Chapter.)

I'm really sorry for not having this out earlier; I'm really bad with consistency in updating. I feel bad about that; try not to be too upset; because this chapter is double the length of the first one! There's more coming up, (eventually; I know), so just wait until the next 1-3 weeks and Chapter 3 will come out.

Don't forget to review; you know that I love them! Questions, Comments, Criticisms, and Concerns are all welcome! Thanks for reading!

~LaoevanSVU