Chapter Two

"What?" Olivia asked as she looked at Cragen. Her question was more an exclamation of shock. Obviously, she had heard what Cragen told her. She just did not know what to make of it. The mere suggestion that she could be a victim made her uneasy. In her line of work, she knew it was possible. However, she always thought of herself as a little smarter than the average civilian. She thought she could handle this.

"How can that be?" Elliot asked. "Liv's right here." It was definitely a good thing that Olivia was with them in the office. He did not know what he would do without her. The worry he would have if she actually was the victim. His divorce was finalized. He lost his wife, his children. Losing Olivia would destroy him.

Cragen was simply baffled. "I really don't know," he stated. "From what Mercy said and given with where the woman was found, it made perfect sense."

"Well, what exactly did Mercy say?" Fin questioned as he took a seat in front of Cragen's desk.

Cragen paused as he tried to recall the exact words of the phone call. "They said they had an unconscious rape victim. Although she had no forms of identification on her, one of the residents new it was Olivia. Since the body was found in Olivia's neighborhood, I figured his identification was correct." He gave a sigh of relief as he turned to Olivia. "You must know that I'm glad he was wrong."

"Of course," Olivia said sincerely.

"Although, even though it's thankfully not Olivia, there still is a rape victim at Mercy," Cragen continued. "CSU should be finishing up at the crime scene. John, I want you and Fin to see what they found. Elliot, you and Olivia go down to Mercy," he ordered.

The four detectives nodded as they filed out of Cragen's office. "This I have to see," Olivia stated.


"Spooky," Elliot exclaimed as he looked through the window at the rape victim. He glanced back at Olivia then to the victim again. The similarities in their appearances were strangely uncanny. Granted, Olivia's hair was a little shorter than the woman's. The other woman appeared to be tanner than Olivia, but that could be due to the lighting inside the hospital room versus outside. If this woman was dressed in everyday clothes and he ran into her, he would assume it was Olivia.

Olivia tried to shake her head in protest. "You can't think…It's not that…" She had nothing. This woman was frightening her as well. Who was she? Why did she look like an exact duplicate of Olivia? She had to push those feelings aside. She was an SVU detective. Cragen sent her and Elliot to talk to the victim, so they should actually enter her room and talk to her. "Ready?" she asked. "'Cause she's waking up," she added as she tilted her head at the woman.

"I'll talk to her," Elliot replied as he grasped the metal door. "If you could get one of the doctors, that would be great." The handle was cool to the touch. As soon as he saw the go-ahead nod from Olivia, he twisted it open and entered.

The patient, whoever she was, had awoken before they entered. She was still getting used to the fact that she was awake. Elliot saw her blinking a couple of times, rubbing her eyes, and just gazing at her immediate surroundings. "Hey there," he said gently. "My name's Detective Stabler," he introduced. "Do you know where you are?"

The woman nodded as she rubbed her eyes again. "A hospital," she said. "I should know if I'm in a hospital. I used to work in one back in Chicago." She then frowned slightly. "You probably didn't need to know that," she said.

Elliot shrugged. At least the woman knew something about herself. He doubted she had sustained any head trauma. Of course, he was not a doctor and he knew she had not yet had a CT for confirmation. However, she did know something about herself from the past, which to him was a good sign. "Do you know your name?" he asked.

Again, the woman nodded. "Cynthia Hooper," she stated plainly. "All my life," she continued. "Except for those months back when I was ten and I insisted that my name was Crystal." Cynthia frowned again. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm rambling. I do that when I get nervous."

"It's not a problem," Elliot assured her. He looked at her again. She definitely only shared her looks with Olivia.

The door opened before Elliot could say anything else. "Hello, ma'am, I'm Dr. Allen," the other woman with Olivia introduced.

Elliot smiled at the doctor. "She knows her name and where she is," he confirmed. He turned back to Cynthia. "Cynthia, this is my partner Detective Benson."

"Holy potatoes," Cynthia muttered as she looked over at Olivia. "Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing, or is there something wrong with my eyesight?" she asked. This was freaky. "Is this some kind of freak reality show? Is that why I'm here?" Her voice was getting louder.

Dr. Allen shook her head. "No, Cynthia," she said slowly. She glanced back at Olivia before continuing. "I have no explanation for why you and Detective Benson look so similar, but I guarantee you it's not why you're here." She walked closer to the bed so that she could get a better look at the laceration on Cynthia's head. It had required four stitches. "Detectives Stabler and Benson are from the Manhattan Special Victims Unit," she started. "Cynthia, last night you were raped."

Cynthia nodded slowly as tears started dwelling in her eyes. "No," she started. "It can't…That was a nightmare. It couldn't have been real."