Hey guys,

Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews! They are all very encouraging and I'm glad you're enjoying this as much as I am, writing it!

This is quite a short chapter but I felt like this is what it should be so here's chapter 3!

Trigger warning; rape. It does happen in this chapter but I haven't written it in an awful amount of detail, but precede with caution.

Disclaimer: I do not own Law and Order: SVU or any of it's characters, however Meredith is mine, nor am I making any profit from this work.

Enjoy and please review!

It was happening to her. The stories her mom refused to tell her, what she didn't know, she was about to learn.

The man grunted something into her neck, but she couldn't make out what he said. Knees shaking, he suddenly shoved her head first into the brick wall that lined the alley. Meredith tasted blood in her mouth, and her forehead throbbed from where she'd copped the blow. She heard him move towards her and too stunned to move, she let out a cry as his hands reached her neck. Pressing down on it, she coughed and spluttered as she struggled to breathe. Then the pressure released, and her head came in contact with the brick wall again, as he slammed her back against it. Bursts of light clouded her vision and the pain made her feel blurry, like she wasn't really there. But she was, and she could only guess as to what was going to happen next.

Meredith heard his pants unzip and let out a cry, weak but still with a sense of desperation. He pulled her bag from her and threw it down the alley, out of site, and out of reach. Her jacket came off, and the balding man had quickly managed to hitch up her skirt, ripping the pair of tights she'd been wearing, and pulling down her panties, scratching her skin as he did so.

Holding her against the wall with one strong arm, she tried to fight against it. She began to claw at his face with the arm that he couldn't hold quite as well, muttering some kind of protest at the mans actions. Her hand came into contact with his face once or twice and what sounded like a growl raised in the back of his throat. The darkness made it hard to see anything, but she swore she saw him smile then as a silver blade glinted in the shadows. He made a small nick on her neck and she bit back a scream as she felt a bead of blood roll down her neck. Meredith could then feel his hands, his bare legs. The thought of what we was going to do, made bile rise in her throat, but she managed to keep it down, the sick feeling never leaving her stomach.

The pain was what she felt before anything else. When she'd had sex with Jamie it had been passionate, and foolish. Nothing like she was about to experience. This was violent, the only passion lying in the mans urges. Tears streaming down her face, he moved his focus to her neck, kissing her and pulling at her hair. She felt him inside her, and the cloudiness of her mind kept her from being able to kick or scream, to fight. Instead she kept murmuring the two pleading words under her breath that she knew would have no effect on the man assaulting her at all.

Meredith let her mind drift, and at one point she found herself wondering if it was the end, if she was dying. She thought about her mom, specifically the times she'd come home quiet. Those were the nights when Meredith would sit cross legged next to her on the couch, a cup of hot chocolate in her hand and she'd ask what was wrong. Almost every time Amanda would explain to her that another man had hurt a little girl. Meredith now realized why it hurt her mother so much, why it had her mom staring at her in a way that made her feel like she was dying, that one day she'd just be gone and Amanda would be on her own. And now her mom's worst nightmare was coming true, her own daughter was falling victim to the men she hunted for a living.

She wandered in and out of a state of awareness and eventually the pain numbed and she felt nothing, just the hot breath of the man against her skin. He laughed at her then, and she heard him zip up his pants. The knife he'd used on her neck earlier was pulled back out of his pocket and she heard him flick the switchblade open. Thinking he was just going to make another threat, she felt herself weaken and that was when she came to a shock, as he suddenly dragged it across her forearm. In shock from the pain she couldn't even find her voice to let out a scream. Instead, the hot pressure boiled up underneath her skin, and she let out an involuntary whimper instead. The pressure from his arms released then and she leant against the wall, struggling to hold herself up. He was still stood in front of her, and he watched her for a moment, as she blinked heavily, the shadows clouding her vision.

He turned leave then, and she caught sight of the army style pants that he was wearing, heard the heavy thud of his boot against the concrete. Meredith felt herself begin to sway, and as she started to sink to the floor he whirled around, striking out with his leg and kicking her square in the gut.

Winded, she fell to the floor, landing on her stomach. She watched him walk away, and heard him laughing. The childish sound of the young boy laughing cut straight to her core. And as the alley turned silent she began to cry, and then she started to sob as the numbness gave way to the pain. She tasted blood, she felt it dripping down her forehead. Slowly she reached up to where the pain radiated from the back of her head and felt a sticky matted patch of hair underneath her fingers.

She didn't know how long she'd lay there for, but in between breaths she soon realized that she had two choices. Either continue lying there, and rot. Or find a way to help herself, and get out of this mess.

Trying not to move too much, she glanced about for where her bag had been tossed. It was difficult in the dark, and at one point she figured she would just give up, and wait for someone else to save the day.

That was when she spotted it, the small outline of the red clutch was a mere 10 meters away and inside, was her phone, was help. All she had to do was find the strength to reach it.

Not knowing any better way to do so, she began dragging herself forward with her arms, feeling the concrete graze them with every push and pull. The pain was excruciating, and she had to stop at one point, needing time to breathe, before she tried again.

Eventually she reached it, and pulled it towards her, tears rolling down her cheek. She rummaged through her bag as best she could with one arm, trying to hold herself up with the other. Her fingers closed around it soon enough, and she brought it out, the screen illuminating her face. Rolling onto her side, she unlocked it and paused. Who was she supposed to call? She couldn't call her mom, Ainsley would be sitting with her face in the toilet at this point and she didn't really have anyone else, apart from Jamie. She thought about it for a moment before deciding that she couldn't do that to him. He wouldn't be able to get to wherever she was as his car was in getting fixed at the moment.

It was funny, that Amanda had told her all about what to do to avoid these situations, but she'd never once mentioned what the hell to do if she did fall victim one night.

Scrolling through her contacts, she finally got to the name that she felt she could call. She lingered on it for a moment before checking the time, completely unaware at the time she'd spent in the alley. 10:47pm. She knew Nick would still be awake, whether he was at work or not. Taking a labored breath she pressed the call button and held the phone to her ear, feeling herself shaking.

After moving up from Atlanta, she'd had a hard time settling in, having no friends for months apart from Jamie. At work, her mom hadn't been the only new detective and Meredith had quickly made friends with detective Amaro. She hadn't had any kind of father figure growing up, and even though she was embarrassed to admit it to herself, she knew she felt like Nick was starting to take that place.

She didn't have to wait very long for him to pick up and when he did his voice was laced in concern and confusion.

Sorry for it being so short, but I did decide that I wanted this scene to be one chapter of it's own and I think it works!

I'll have chapter 4 up in the next few days, but the more reviews - the faster the upload!

Let me know your thoughts! What do you think Nick's going to say?

Thanks,
Liv