Haven't proofread. (Hey, at least I'm honest)

PS: SVU TONIGHT. OH. MY. GOD.

As soon as the nurse that had been bandaging Casey's wound left the room, Casey finally let herself break down. She couldn't even fathom how she had gotten so deep in this mess. How could she have allowed this to go on for so long? All of the pain, both physical and emotional, finally was at the surface, and with no more reason to conceal them she broke down. Her body wracked with sobs as she shook as she grabbed the pillow from under her head and held it over her face to smother the sound so that she wouldn't cause attention to herself even as she heaved and sobbed.

She had never loved another human being like she had loved Jake, and she had never been more hurt by another human being all in the same. He had hurt her repeatedly, physically and emotionally, and all of it was taking a toll on her.

"Casey?"

Casey froze as she heard a voice acknowledge her from the doorway. She groaned inwardly, blushing in humiliation that she had been caught breaking down like that. She slowly pulled the pillow off of her face and laid it across her stomach, wiping her eyes as well as she could even though she knew they were red and bloodshot.

"You know you have every right to cry right now. You don't have to hide it." Olivia slowly entered the room and lowered herself onto the foot of the bed, keeping her distance from the young attorney. Casey just shrugged and began playing with the edge of the blanket on top of her.

"Casey, I…"

"I'm sorry," Casey blurted out, cutting the detective off midsentence. She dejectedly kept her gaze down so that she wouldn't have to face the detective, but she could feel the detective staring at her.

"Why on earth are you sorry?" Olivia asked. Casey just shrugged again and kept her eyes focused on the blanket. What didn't she have to be sorry for?

"Casey… I don't even know how to respond to that," Olivia began. Casey looked up curiously, meeting Olivia's eyes for a second before looking away again. "I don't know what the hell you think you have to be sorry for, but you have nothing. I'm sorry—we should have taken all of the signs more seriously. I think we were kind of going on false hope that everything was okay. I'm sorry you had to live with that, and I'm sorry we couldn't stop him from hurting you."

Casey felt tears forming at her eyes and hastily shook her head, trying to keep them from falling. When more tears continued to spring, Casey wrapped her arms tightly around herself dug her nails into her skin to try and stop the tears.

"Casey, stop it," Olivia demanded gently as she reached forward and grabbed both of Casey's wrists, lightly placing them down in Casey's lap without letting go. "Honey, it's okay to cry. He hurt you."

Casey could only shake her head as she desperately tried to stop being so weak. "How would you have known?" Casey finally managed to ask. "It's not even like we're friends."

An awkward silence filled the air and Casey momentarily regretted her last statement, but then realized if she didn't ask she wouldn't be able to think of anything else.

"You don't think we're friends?"

"We work together," Casey whispered.

"How could you think that's all? You're all of our friends… you're part of SVU."

"You know that's bullshit. I'm just your ADA, Olivia. I really, really appreciate everything you did for me tonight—you probably saved my life—but that doesn't change the fact that we weren't friends before this. You guys never liked me to begin with."

"Casey, what the hell did he do to you?" Olivia asked, her voice weak, causing Casey to look up and finally hold the older woman's gaze. "Did he make you think this way? You don't work in our squad room, Casey, but you're just as much part of our squad as anyone else. I don't know what kind of crap Jake has been filling your head with, but we wouldn't be here right now if we didn't care about you."

At Olivia's words Casey couldn't keep the tears contained anymore, and she didn't object when the older woman carefully took Casey in her arms and held her as she cried, being cautious not to disturb her wound.

Suddenly a knock on the door interrupted them, and Casey jumped and pulled away as she realized that Elliot was standing there.

Sydney nervously clung to Elliot as she waited for him to knock on the door to her mom's room. Elliot had told her all about how her mom would have a lot of machines making beeping noises around her. He even told her that her mom would have a huge needle in her arm connected to a bag.

A huge smile appeared on Sydney's face as she heard her mom's voice telling her that it was okay for her to come in. She skipped over to the bed where her mother was lying, but stopped abruptly and took a sharp breath in as she observed her mother.

Elliot had warned her about the machines, but she didn't realize everything would be that scary. Her mom looked so little lying in the hospital bed with crisp white sheets pulled up to her chin.

"Come here, baby, it's okay," her mom said quietly as she used a button on the bed to sit up more. Sydney slowly approached her mother on the bed, being extra careful not to mess up any equipment and not to hurt her mom. Olivia stood up and left the room with Elliot as Sydney came to the bed and let Sydney take her spot.

"I'm so sorry, Syd," her mom said softly. Sydney looked up to see that moisture had formed in her mom's eyes. She curled up next to her mom and nestled her head into her mom's neck, smiling as her mom kissed the top of her head.

"Honey, I am so sorry about what happened tonight. I'm so sorry you had to see it and I am so sorry for what daddy did."

Sydney kept her head buried as tears of her own began to form.

"I'm so sorry I let him hurt you, Syd. I promise you, I will never let anyone hurt you again. I never thought he would hurt you, sweetie, and I'm so sorry I was wrong. I just wanted you to be happy."

"He's hurt you before, mommy," Sydney said softly as she pulled away so that she could talk to her mom. She saw something flash through her mother's eyes before her mom looked away.

"How did you know that?" her mom finally asked.

Sydney took a deep breath. "I hear him. Sometimes I peek, too."

"Sydney, honey, why did you never say anything?" her mom asked. Sydney said nothing and just waited for her mom to continue. "I stayed with Jake because he started being bad right after he came to live with us. You were just getting used to him being there, and I didn't want to make him leave right when you got used to him. I just wish I had known, I would have made sure you were safe."

Sydney sat silently, utterly confused by her mother's words. She stared blankly at her mother, waiting for some sort of explanation. She sort of understood what her mom was trying to say, but she was pretty lost.

Suddenly her mom started laughing, and then she wrapped her arms around Sydney and pulled her closer to herself, wincing slightly but ignoring the pain in her abdomen. "I'm sorry, hun, I forget I'm talking to a five-year-old sometimes. Anyway, I'm so sorry about everything. I promise, honey, I will protect you. Daddy is going to go away and I won't let anyone hurt you, okay? I love you so much, Sydney."

Sydney threw her arms even tighter around her mother and buried her face in her mother's chest. She felt her mom flinch as she squeezed maybe just a little too hard, but she ignored it and held her mom tighter.

Although she was crying a small smile appeared on Sydney's face as she held her mom. Things didn't work out with her dad, but as she clung to her mother she realized that she already had everything she needed in the world, just in that bed.

Ending?? More?? Let me know.

Eh kind of hate this, but I'm leaving for two weeks and wanted to at least have something up! I'd love feedback. Criticism works (constructive, of course… or any really).