Part 4

Elliot didn't understand why this was happening. He was going to work in a couple of hours, as long as Kathleen didn't need him at home. Kathy had offered to stay home with her, but a part of him wanted so badly to be there, as well. He wondered if he would have been able to protect if Kathy hadn't left. It wasn't his wife's fault, he knew that well enough. He just wanted her to understand why he had to keep this world from them.

It was 5:32. He still wasn't sleeping; he hadn't been all weekend. And he didn't really feel like lying down in an empty apartment until it was time to leave. He was thinking too much. It was time for him to take action.

He was out the door fifteen minutes later.

Kevin Lennox wasn't getting much rest these days. Finals week was coming up, and he was running out of ways to relax. That's what he had planned to do on Friday night – before Kathleen walked out on him, that is. He couldn't worry about that, though; he had to focus on graduating college. He couldn't be the first person in his family to not get at least a Bachelor's degree.

He hadn't been asleep long when the pounding started. When his eyes opened, he realized he had huge headache. The person at the door did not let up. Whoever it was, he was angry. "Damn it. I'm coming!" he yelled, slipping on a t-shirt and preparing to get the crap beat out of him. He never backed down from a fight.

Unless, of course, it was Kathleen. She had been pretty pissed at him.

When he opened the door, he wasn't that surprised when Kathleen's father stormed in and slammed the door behind him. He knew one thing for sure about Elliot Stabler: the man had a temper.

"What was it?" he asked immediately.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Kevin.

Elliot grabbed the front of Kevin's shirt and slammed him against the wall. He should have known not to play dumb with this guy. "Now, listen, this is going to go a lot easier on you if you just tell me the truth, now."

Kevin closed his eyes and relaxed a bit. The man still had him pinned to the wall. "What was it?" he asked again, and this time Kevin felt one hand leave his shirt and grab his neck so hard he could barely breathe.

"Rohyp…rohypnol," he choked out.

Elliot took his hand off of his neck, but he pushed against the wall again, hard. "Can you tell that to a judge?"

"You're crazy – "

Elliot's fist collided with Kevin's face before he could say anymore. Kevin reached for his face, and felt the blood flowing from his nose. "I could do a lot worse to you if you don't agree," he threatened. He let go and backed away, but never took his eyes off of Kevin. "You have until four this afternoon," he said. "And don't even think about fleeing. I will find you."

At this point, Kevin knew that he should just let the man leave. He shouldn't push him any farther, because there was no telling what he would do. But, he just couldn't stop himself from having the last word. "And if I tell the cops that you coerced a confession out of me?"

Elliot slowly walked toward him, and his hand went for his belt. "You don't know how close I am," he said. His voice was a deadly whisper, and he made sure that Kevin could see his gun. "You don't know how close I am," he repeated.

Kevin put his arms up in surrender. "Fine, I'll go. I'll go."

Elliot looked at him, as if he didn't know whether or not to believe him. Finally, he headed toward the door. Before he left, he turned around and pointed his index finger at him. "You be there," he said. And then he was gone.

That was when Kevin noticed how heavily he was breathing. His throat hurt, probably because that bastard almost choked him to death. He shook it off. That cop thought he could get what he wanted by threatening him? Kevin wasn't about to let that happen. He'd go ahead and make his confession…it wouldn't send him to prison. It wouldn't even brought to trial once he told his lawyer what happened, and Detective Stabler would be fired, maybe even sentenced to serve some jail time for assault.

He, on the other hand, would be a free man.

He planned on going to the precinct to turn himself in after his first class. He wondered why Kathleen's dad didn't take him down himself, but he figured that he didn't want to look suspicious. Bringing in a guy with a bloody nose who had tried to slip Rohypnol to his daughter? Something like that would send so many red flags. Coming of his own volition, or at least the appearance of that, would be safer for Stabler.

It was cold that morning. He made sure to put on a leather jacket of his hooded sweatshirt before he went out to his car. He heard the commotion just as he was about to leave. There was a loud knock on the door. "Kevin Lennox!" someone yelled from the other side. "This is the NYPD! We have a warrant to search your apartment. If you do not open the door, we will open it for you."

Kevin immediately pulled the door open, a bit frightened. Had Stabler actually gotten a warrant, just in case he decided not to confess?

But as the group of cops began searching through his belongings, he realized that this had nothing to do with Kathleen. He was in much deeper trouble now. When one cop came out of his bedroom with his open gym bag, he knew he was busted.

The detectives took him outside of his apartment. That's when he felt the cuffs tighten around the wrists, behind his back. "Kevin Lennox, you're under arrest for possession of illegal substances with the intent to sell. You have the right to remain silent…"