Madeline looks so small. So young. No, Olivia corrects herself. Not young. No, her eyes are old, her movements careful. She won't even look Olivia in the eyes and she's startling way too easy. Whatever happened to this girl, it has her positively terrified.
Now, Olivia has always been empathetic for victims, even before she entered this unit, but she has never experienced this exact pull on her emotions. Rather than just fix this girl's tragedy, bring about justice for it, she finds herself needing to erase it. She can't explain why, but when she looks at Madeline, Olivia suddenly feels so much like a mother it makes her heart hurt; wanting desperately to take this girl into her arms and transfer all the pain and memories onto herself instead, and it makes her wonder about Madeline's own mother: where she is now, where she was when her child unexpectedly stopped being a child at all.
The walls are too white, Madeline thinks. It's not right. She doesn't like it. She doesn't like it here at all. She just knows that nothing good will come out of this. But she is terrifyingly clingy as she clutches the detective's hand in the small confines of the examination room, needing how solid it sits against her skin, momentarily stopping its shaking. The palm is slightly warm but her fingertips are cold, like she's been outside.
Olivia has got a really nice smile too, sort of motherly. Not one that lights up her whole face or anything, like the nurse's, but one that is immediately calming, as if a person could tell her anything and she'd make everything all right again, no matter what had happened – which scares Madeline because she can't tell anyone anything. And it's sincere too, that Madeline notices right away.
The nurse begins messing with some kind of equipment, and panic squeezes around Madeline's heart. "I'm staying right here with you, the whole time, I promise. So why don't you talk to me?" Olivia says, smoothly stepping out of Lindsey's way like this is a dance she's done so many times she doesn't even have to think about it anymore and switches hands so she can face Madeline.
But the panic consumes again, and Madeline quickly looks away while biting her lower lip. The nurse is pointing out how many of her scrapes need stitches and then asks Madeline to take off her outer shirt.
Madeline stops breathing. She has a tank on underneath, but… her arms. The nurse will see her arms. Madeline squeezes Olivia's hand by accident and she puts her other hand by the girl's wrist, asking what's wrong but Madeline's brain obviously isn't capable of thinking clearly because she doesn't know what to do to get herself out of this mess. She doesn't even know how she got in. If only she'd obeyed him when…
Madeline shakes her head vigorously, her tongue thick and dry inside her mouth. "Sure you can hon; we just need to check you over for injuries. It's okay." Lindsey says, which Olivia echoes, but it only causes Madeline to shake her head more and grip the edges of her sleeves tight between her fingertips, which Olivia only notices because Madeline has let go of her hand to do so. "Here we'll help."
And they've unbuttoned it and they're pulling it off. They're pulling it off and she can't stop it. She can't stop it so she just closes her eyes. Someone breathes in quick. Olivia, probably, because the nurse is still talking to her, taking it in stride. "That's a lot of scars, young lady. You sure you're ok?" And Madeline just nods, looking down.
Madeline tries to squirm away from Lindsey's grasp when she touches one of the more recent cuts, midway through the scab phase, so still tender, and the newest ones too, angry red lines grinning up at Madeline, but Olivia is holding her hand again, somehow keeping her still. The nurse hands her a gown and has her step onto a paper sheet on the floor in-between two curtains. The detective supports Madeline's weight on her way over, and she's never felt so fragile. There are bags on the floor with labels. She's supposed to put her clothes in them and wear the gown, she knows, but she doesn't want to. She wonders if she will get the items back, wonders if she wants them back at all.
When Madeline's done she climbs onto the table again and pinches her eyes so she doesn't have to see their faces anymore. Then she hears something metallic click into place as the bed shudders and slowly she cracks her eyes open slightly. "All right, now if you'll just set your feet into those stirrups for me," and suddenly it's just the nurse, Olivia, and Madeline in this echoy little claustrophobic room. Just the three of them. Them and Madeline. Nice confident Lindsey, big brave Olivia, and Madeline. Scared little Madeline.
The nurse helps move her legs because she's still shaking. Then Lindsey pulls up a chair and Madeline suddenly notices that Olivia already has and the bed has also been lain down so now the detective is by her head. "I'm just finishing up the examination, then I'll take some pictures and send this puppy off to the lab."
Madeline looks up at Olivia, questions thick through her lashes. "It's okay. I'm right here with you through it."
Lindsey speaks briefly "All right, you're gonna feel a slight bit of pressure here," and just like that Madeline can't breathe. She can't breathe. There's no air in the room. There's nothing. Nothing at all. She wants to scream Stop! Stop! I don't want to do this! I don't want to do this! STOP! She wants to scream it from the top of her lungs but she can't. She can't. He made her swear.
So she just gasps for breath, convulsing almost even though Olivia's grabbing her shoulders and Lindsey is up off her chair and everyone's telling Madeline to calm down, calm down, but she can't, she can't. Something's going over her mouth and she can see them. She can see them both hovering before her but she still can't breathe and this time it's Olivia who's squeezing Madeline's hand and running her fingers through Madeline's messy light red hair as the loose bits stick with sweat to the skin all around her face. Her green eyes are all glassy, glazed over with these tears of fear that won't fall as she chokes, pulling her knees up tight into her chest.
Olivia comes close. "Where do you want to be?" Madeline's breathing is still shallow and the nurse is checking her blood pressure and heart rate again, trying to move past her legs. "Look at me," Olivia says in a way that leaves no room for confrontation and yet is not really fierce or frightening either. She stares right at Madeline while gently pressing the girl's legs down. She is not afraid of me, Madeline realizes suddenly. Nor does she pity me. She sees understanding there, in Olivia's full gaze, equal amounts of sadness, fear, love and anger. She is redemption, a way out, not revenge but justice. A soul from the other side; and this is the moment when Madeline lets go, surrendering to Olivia as a spark of hope ignites in her heart. "Think, where do you want to be? You're safe here. I promise you." The detective points to the gun at her hip and then to the door. "I won't let anyone hurt you. I'll protect you."
Madeline nods slightly and is just starting to calm down when, perfect wrong timing, Elliot shows up at the door. Madeline's eyes go wide as saucers and Olivia turns to where she's staring. She hurriedly motions for Elliot to show his badge, "He's my partner, Madeline. His name is Elliot Stabler. He's ok, it's ok. He would never ever hurt you." and then shoos him away as Madeline struggles to suck in some air once more.
Finally, Olivia nods at Lindsey, who returns the gesture and sits down again, putting her hand softly on Madeline's ankle, but Olivia is demanding her attention. "Think about where you want to be. Close your eyes. Where are you? What are you doing there? Who is with you?" And Madeline lets Olivia lead her down this road so that she can forget what the nurse is doing and forget why she's here or what happened and that's ok with her. She'll be okay as long as she can forget, as long as she doesn't talk. Because then nothing happened and she's okay.