Chapter Three

Olivia Margaret Benson's point of view

Susan regains consciousness while the ambulance is still en route to Mercy General and she looks around, confused. Her eyes land on me sitting as close to the stretcher that she's strapped to as I can, holding her smaller hand in mine. I smile softly at Susan and gently tell her that she's in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. She's clearly confused but is trying to stay calm.

"Why am I going to the hospital, Mama? What happened? Where's Daddy? And Aunt Amanda?"

I tuck a strand of my daughter's brown hair behind her right ear before gently squeezing her hand and explaining to her that she fainted earlier in the park and the ambulance is taking her to the hospital just to make sure that she's alright. She nods her head, indicating that she understands but I can see a hint of fear in her blue eyes.

"I'm not going to leave your side once we get to the hospital, baby. I'll be right beside you the whole time, okay?"

"You promise you won't leave me when we get to the hospital, Mama?"

My heart aches for my daughter who is clearly feeling scared right now and I completely understand why. Susan has never liked hospitals due to having to be admitted multiple times when she was younger. Susan used to get ear infections very easily when she was younger but thanks to a surgery when she was 6 years old, she doesn't get them as much anymore. Elliot and I would always stay with Susan whenever she had to stay at the hospital overnight before she had the surgery and if neither one of us was able to stay with her because of a case at work, Alex or Casey would volunteer to stay with her until one of us was able to.

"I'm not leaving your side, baby. I know how much you don't like the hospital so I'll be right here beside you the whole time and so will your dad, ok?"

"Ok, Mama. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can, baby."

"Would you be mad if you found out that I had kept a secret from you?"

Before I am able to answer my daughter's very confusing question, the doors on the back of the ambulance fly open and I realize that we are now at Mercy General Hospital. I quickly climb out of the vehicle and follow the paramedics pushing the stretcher that Susan is strapped to into the emergency room. A nurse with blonde hair stops me from following the paramedics even though I try to persuade her to let me remain with Susan. Since I'm stuck, I find a seat in the waiting room.

Elliot walks into the emergency room with Amanda right behind him a few minutes later.

"Liv, why aren't you with Susan?"

"The nurse wouldn't let me stay with Susan, El. I promised her that I wouldn't leave her."

"Livvy, don't-"

Just then, the same blonde nurse who had prevented me from remaining with Susan when the paramedics first brought her in approached us.

"Detective Benson?"

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to apologize for preventing you from remaining with your daughter earlier when the paramedics brought her in. I didn't realize at the time that she was actually your daughter."

"Thank you. Can I go be with my daughter now?"

"That's the other thing I came over here to speak with you about. Your daughter became hysterical when our ER doctor, Dr. Campbell, tried to approach her. She refused to let any nurses near her as well. She says that she wanted you and her daddy and only you and her daddy."

El and I follow the nurse back to a curtained-off area where we find Susan, her knees pulled up against her chest with her arms wrapped around them, tears streaming down her face. I go over to the gurney and sit beside Susan, pulling her into my arms as she buries her tear-streaked face in my shoulder and cries her heart out. I rub Susan's back as I whisper to her that I'm here and that everything will be okay. Elliot looks nervous so I ask him with my eyes to come sit down beside me and help me comfort Susan which he immediately does. He softly kisses Susan's hair before whispering to her that we are both here with her and that everything will be alright.

"Baby, could you tell me why you asked me earlier whether I would be upset if I found out that you kept a secret from me?"

Susan looks over at Elliot who is still sitting beside me, holding Susan's smaller hand in his larger one then back at me.

"Well, I have been keeping a secret from you and it's not a good kind of secret."

"Baby, you know that you can tell me anything right?"

Susan nods her head yes, indicating that she knows that she can tell me anything but I can see hesitation in her blue eyes, leading me to believe that she's afraid to tell me the secret she's been hiding from me.

"I-I promised that I wouldn't tell anyone, Mama, and you have always taught me that I should never break a promise."

"You're right, baby. I did tell you that but remember I also taught you that if someone is hurting you or is hurting someone that you know, you should tell me so that I can try to help stop it from happening."

Susan takes a deep breath then says that there is a reason she was so afraid of the doctor earlier.

"Why were you scared of Dr. Campbell, baby?"

"B-Because he looked just like my social studies teacher at school, Mama. I'm scared of him because he's been doing bad things to me since about a month after school started this year."

I'm struggling to understand exactly my sweet little girl has just told me. I've been an SVU detective for almost 14 years now and I never saw any sign that someone was hurting my daughter. I wrap my arms around Susan and hold her close to me, burying my face in her brown hair as I struggle not to break down crying.

I finally lift my head and look down at Susan who has tears trickling down her face again.

"Baby, I'm so very sorry that I wasn't there to protect you but I want you to know that the man who hurt you will never hurt you again, ok?"

"Ok. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Mama."

I gently kissed Susan's forehead.

"It's okay, baby. I'm just glad that you did eventually tell me. Would it be ok if I asked Aunt Amanda to come sit with you for a few minutes so that your daddy and I can talk real quick?"

"That sounds good to me, Mama. I bet Aunt Amanda's pretty worried about me."

"She is, baby. Let me go get her then I'll be back in a bit, ok?"

"Okay."

Amanda is more than happy to sit with Susan while Elliot and I talk a little more privately. I also inform the nurse from earlier that I needed a trauma kit done for my daughter and request that Detective Rollins be allowed to remain with Susan while the kit is being done. Elliot and I then walk to the cafeteria to get a cup of coffee and a quick bite to eat. Elliot has been pretty quiet for a while now and his silence is making me a bit nervous. It isn't until we're sitting at a table on the east side of the cafeteria that Elliot finally speaks to me.

"Liv, I wasn't ignoring you or Susan earlier. I was just trying to process what Susan told us about her teacher. I just want to find that guy and kill him for what he did to Susan."

"Trust me, El. I know exactly how you feel right now. I want to kill that sick bastard for what he did to Susan too."

"I want you to know that I'm sorry for leaving the way I did, Liv. I know that you're dating Brian Cassidy now but I'm really hoping that I can still be a part of Susan's life and your life too."

"El, I do want you to be in Susan's life and mine too. As for me dating Brian, I have to be honest with you. I think he knows that my heart truly belongs to someone else, someone that he cannot take the place of in my life or in Susan's life either."

Elliot smiled slightly.

"Well, my heart truly belongs to a very special brown-haired, brown-eyed woman that I've known for a pretty long time but I've never actually told her how I feel about her. I'm planning on telling her soon though."

"Good. You done eating?"

"Yeah. Let's get back to Susan. She needs us both right now."

El and I make our way back to the exam room. Susan is now sitting on the end of the exam table talking to Amanda and Fin who I guess arrived sometime after El and I had left for the hospital cafeteria. I give Susan the Hershey's bar I bought for her out of the snack machine in the hospital cafeteria and turn to Fin and Amanda.

"I called Cragen a few minutes ago, Liv. He wants me and Fin to go and pick up Susan's teacher from his home then bring him to the precinct for questioning."

"Okay. El can drive me and Susan home."

"Okay. There's just one more thing I think that you should know before we head out."

I glance over at Fin who has this look in his eyes that I haven't seen in about 4 years when he and I were undercover at Sealview and he found me in the prison's basement about to be raped by Lowell Harris. He's ready to kill someone.

"What is it, Amanda?"'

"Susan isn't the only student at her school that her teacher preyed upon. Susan told me and Fin that one of her friends confided in her about the same teacher trying to force himself on her a couple of days ago after Susan found her hiding in the girls' bathroom."

"Did Susan tell you and Fin the name of her friend that confided in her about the teacher?"

Amanda sighs.

"Susan said that her friend that confided in her was Emily Cabot-Langan, your friend Alex's daughter."

I stare at Amanda, completely speechless.

I just wanted to say sorry for not updating this sooner. I hit a few roadblocks as I was writing it but hopefully I did okay with this chapter.

Next, Liv and Cassidy have a conversation regarding their relationship while Amanda and Fin speak with Alex's daughter, Emily, about what she told Susan about their teacher.

BTW in case anyone is curious: Alex's daughter Emily is 6 1/2 months older than Susan and they are both in the sixth grade.