Author's Comments: Oh, yeah.

Let Her Go

Chapter Three

Part 1.

"Trey Jackson?" said Olivia, approaching a man in the tattoo parlor who reminded her of Superman, with his dark hair combed perfectly and a white-button down shirt, one sleeve rolled up to reveal the bulge of finely tuned muscles. She flashed her badge. "NYPD. I need to talk to you for a minute."

"Can this wait?" he said impatiently, "I was about to get started on a new tat."

"Then now is a good time," she said, "since you haven't gotten started yet."

He stood, meeting her eye to eye, revealing that he had brawn, but not the height to match. As they retreated out the door and onto the street he called out, "Hey T.J., I'll be back in a minute."

"What's this about?" he said now, glancing past her.

"Why so nervous?" she said.

"I'm not nervous," he retorted. "Now, you got questions for me or what?"

"Yeah," she said. "Where were you two nights ago?"

He turned his head away and back, and said, "I don't think that's any of your business, but I was playing poker with some friends."

She whipped out her notebook and said, "What are their names?"

He narrowed his eyes and said, "Look, lady—"

"Detective," she said.

"Look, Detective, I'm not answering no more questions until you tell me what this is about."

"It's about your girlfriend," she said.

"Ex girlfriend," he corrected.

"Right. And you aren't too happy about that, are you?"

He rolled his eyes and clucked his tongue. "Whatever. She was more upset about it than I was."

"So your break-up was no big deal to you?" Olivia said. Without waiting for an answer, she said, "No big deal because you were still going to have her whether she wanted it or not—"

"What the hell are you talking about, lady?"

Olivia's volume rose as she said, "I'm talking about how you broke into her house, held a gun to her, and raped her."

"Get the fuck out of my face, bitch, before I—"

"Before you what? Knock me out, like you did Kara? Not so tough now, when you're up against someone your own size—"

Before she could get any more words out, he thrust his open hand, palm up, and slammed the base of his hand into her temple. She staggered a few paces to the left before everything faded away, blackness taking over.

Part 2.

Olivia woke up on the unforgiving concrete, sounds of taxis honking and tires whizzing on the pavement snapping her back to the real world. When she opened her eyes, a woman wearing a bright purple "I love New York" t-shirt was squatting over her, cell phone to her ear. "Yeah, she's coming around now," said the woman.

"Wow, a real-live fight—we never see that in Des Moines," said a teenage girl staring down at her.

The t-shirt woman glared up at the girl and said, "It's not cool, Nicki—can't you see someone is hurt?"

The girl stopped talking, but the smile stayed plastered on her face. Olivia sat up slowly, her head pounding, and the woman put a hand under her arm to help her up. A nearby siren made Olivia's head hurt worse, and she felt nauseous as she pressed her hand against her temple. An EMT squatted next to her. Before he could ask her any questions, she said, "There was a man, about five foot eight, white shirt, dark hair. Do you see him anywhere?"

The EMT looked around at the crowd that had surrounded her and shook his head. "What happened?" he said.

She took two deep breaths of the heavy city air and said. "I got sucker-punched. I'm SVU. Call my partner—Nick Amaro."

And then she had to close her eyes and lie back before she threw up. She let the EMTs work on her and move her into the ambulance so they could transport her. At the hospital, she had to wait until after a doctor examined her and performed all the necessary tests before she was allowed to have visitors. Nick and Elliot were right there, shifting their feet like impatient schoolchildren, as a nurse wheeled her into the room.

Elliot jumped to her side and helped her get comfortable in the bed, saying, "What happened out there?"

"I questioned a suspect, and he caught me by surprise," she said, fighting back wooziness.

"You okay?" asked Nick.

"Yeah, just a concussion," she said.

"No such thing as just a concussion," Nick said. "You better take it easy."

"What suspect?" said Elliot, his eyes angry. "I didn't think we had any."

A nurse wandered into the room to take her vital signs. "Remember, I said there was a victim who didn't want to report?" said Olivia, defensiveness creeping into her voice.

"That doesn't mean you can go around questioning people by yourself," said Elliot, his mouth puckering.

The nurse turned her head at the sound of irritation in his voice, and said, "I think it's about time for visitors to leave and Olivia to get some rest," she said.

Olivia felt heat rising to her cheeks. She ignored the nurse and turned her head toward Nick, saying, "Thanks for the concern, Nick." She paused, and then looked at Elliot. "I don't need your permission to question anyone, Elliot."

"But you have a partner," said Elliot.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave—" said the nurse.

"I do, and it's not you," said Olivia.

Elliot stood still, fuming, while the nurse tugged on his arm. "Fine," he said, turning away from her. As he marched toward the door, he said, "If you want to play Lone Ranger, go ahead. Just don't come running to me to save your ass."

Olivia lay her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes, fighting back tears. "Hey," said Nick, sitting on the edge of the bed now. He took her hand in his and said, "It's okay, I'm not mad at you, Olivia. Don't worry about Elliot. You know better than anyone else what a hot-head he is."

She gulped and said, "You have no idea, Nick. But thank you for not getting upset."

Part 3.

A couple hours later, Olivia woke up in her hospital bed and silently debated which hurt worse, her head or her back from the god-awful mattress. Alex's popped her head into the room and she said, "Want a visitor?"

"If it's just you, sure," said Olivia, groaning as she turned on her side.

Alex came and sat on the bed next to her, and lifted her hand gently into hers. "I heard Elliot was a dick to you," she said. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks Alex," Olivia said softly. "He's probably just pissed because he's worried."

"Still," Alex said. "Not okay."

Olivia's eyes met hers, and she tried to blink away the tears starting form in the corners of them. Alex broke the weighted silence, saying, "I have news. Kara came forward."

Olivia shifted onto her back, trying to sit up. "She felt bad about what happened to you," said Alex, "and decided to be brave and report her rape."

"That's good news," said Olivia, some of the weight lifting from her chest.

"Yeah, but we don't have a suspect anymore," said Alex. "They picked up Trey, and he's been arrested for assaulting you, but his alibi checks out for the night Kara was raped."

Olivia sighed. "His alibis could be covering for him. Poker night with friends?"

"Yeah, could be," said Alex. "But we need to start looking at other possibilities."

"Okay, yeah," said Olivia, closing her eyes again. Then she noticed Alex's hand squeezing hers, and the long, yielding fingers pressing into her own flesh relaxed her.

"You gonna be okay, Liv?" Alex said.

Olivia opened her eyes, and the concern turning the corner of Alex's eyes down almost made her smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, Alex," she said.

"You and El still . . ."

"Living together?" said Olivia, tightening her lips. "Yeah."

Alex looked down at their hands locked together, and began to rub her thumb against Olivia's skin. "Well, I hope it works out then."

Olivia thought the moment awkward, and told herself to pull her hand away, but she couldn't seem to unglue it from Alex's. Instead, she found herself moving her own thumb within the blanket of Alex's palm, and their fingers brushed each other's skin like paintbrushes moving over a canvas.

Alex brought her gaze to meet Olivia's again, and metal clattered in the hallway as they silently locked eyes. As if in a trance, Olivia stayed that way, allowing the buzz of firing synapses to freeze her attention on that one, lasting touch. She breathed heavily, unsure which was stronger, the pounding in her head, or that of her heart.

Alex broke the spell first, pulling her hand back and saying softly, "I'm going to let you rest now, Liv."

The leggy blonde stood, and bent down to kiss Olivia on the forehead. Then she turned and started toward the door, glancing back one last time with longing eyes before disappearing out of the room. Olivia bit her bottom lip and shut her eyes tight, trying to sort out what had just happened.