It had been a few hours since Seth was cut loose. Elliot and Olivia sat at their desks trying to finish up some paperwork before they went home for the night. Things had fallen into a comfortable silence when the phone on Olivia's desk rang, quickly capturing the attention of Elliot and herself.
"Benson" She answered, picking up the phone.
"Olivia?" The voice on the other end of the line asked timidly.
"Emma?" Olivia asked back, her voice laced with concern. This also earned her a glance from Elliot, who wanted to help their latest victim as much as she did.
"I know I ran out on you and I probably shouldn't be calling right now" Emma began rambling, not giving Olivia time question her. "But I really don't want to get in trouble by saying I was lying and he already saw me talking to you so he'll be mad at me either way. I'll tell you the truth, my parents just left, can you please come?"
"Emma slow down. Where are you?"
"I'm at my house." She answered tears evident in her voice. "Look I shouldn't have called you guys, never mind don't come over."
"No, it's ok." Olivia began to answer before realizing that Emma had hung up on her. She put down the phone with a sigh.
"What was that all about?" Elliot questioned.
Olivia quickly filled him in knowing that they had to figure out what to do. "This girl really can't make up her mind, can she?" Elliot asked aloud. "Cragen had her parents fill out papers, let's go get the address off of them." He walked over and knocked on Cragen's door before entering his office. He explained the situation and that they were going to go check on Emma. Cragen agreed with their plan and Elliot walked back out to Olivia address in hand.
The ride to Emma's house was quiet as both detectives anticipated what they would find upon arriving. About 15 minutes from the time they left the station they pulled up at the home. Olivia was the first out of the car looking up at the three story home before Elliot joined her and they walked towards the door. Olivia rang the doorbell and waited. After a minute had passed she rang it again. This continued for about 10 minutes with no sign of Emma.
"She was upset when she called me. I don't want to leave without checking on her." Olivia told her partner.
"Given what she confessed to you earlier today I'm worried about her to." Elliot replied, while trying to peek into the side windows, searching for any signs of movement. "Maybe we can look around back?"
Olivia agreed and followed him into the Steven's backyard. Elliot immediately found a patio door and tested the handle to see if it was unlocked. When the door opened to reveal the inside of the home he stepped back to allow Olivia to enter first.
She took a quick glance around and noticed that everything seemed to be in place. Elliot followed close behind as Olivia proceeded to call out to Emma. There was no reply. They walked around the first floor and stopped at the bottom of a staircase. Olivia was almost positive that she could hear a faint cry coming from one of the bedrooms at the top of the steps. "Emma!" She decided to yell out giving it one more shot. She didn't get a response but the crying got louder confirming her earlier suspicion that someone was upstairs. She followed the cries up the stairs and to a bedroom door with Elliot close behind.
"Emma, its Olivia, Detective Stabler and I came to make sure you were ok."
It took a minute but Olivia finally got a response. "I told you on the phone not to come over. I'm fine." Emma cried out.
"Ok, we just wanted to make sure. Can I come in?" Olivia asked, hoping Emma would cooperate. When she didn't get a reply she gently turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door. She glanced around the room and once she was sure that no one else was there turned around to Elliot, silently letting him know that she could talk to Emma alone. He understood and didn't enter the bedroom.
Emma was sitting on her bed, back to Olivia, and didn't pay any attention to the fact that someone had just entered her room. Olivia could still hear her crying. "Emma, are you ok?" She said softly so as not to scare her. The teen made no effort to show that she had heard her.
Olivia decided to walk around to the other side of the bed so she could face her. As her hands came into view Olivia noticed that she was holding something. She got closer and realized that it was a razor blade. She grabbed a hold of Emma's wrist, gently, and the girl dropped the blade onto the bed. "Are you cut?" Olivia asked quickly, needing to first assess if Emma was hurt physically. As she asked this she was trying to roll up Emma's sleeves to look at her wrists.
"Just a few" Emma muttered as Olivia pulled her sleeve up further to reveal a few shallow cuts. They were long but not deep enough to require immediate medical attention. "I was going to do more." She continued "But I guess I took too long to get the courage to do it. It was too late by the time I heard you guys at the door."
"Do what?" Olivia asked her eyes meeting Emma's. Then she understood. The young girl was considering ending her life for the second time that night. "Did you take anything?" She asked and when Emma shook her head no Olivia sat on the bed beside her.
"Well, we can't leave you here by yourself." She waited for Emma's reaction, hoping it wouldn't be like the one from earlier today when she was told she couldn't leave the station.
Instead Emma just nodded. "I was expecting that. Where's detective Stabler?"
Slightly taken aback by Emma's response Olivia quickly regained her composure and answered her. "Downstairs waiting"
Emma got up and Olivia followed her out of the bedroom. She led the way down the steps and found Elliot in the living room. "We're ready to go." Olivia told him and he just nodded and smiled at Emma, knowing his presence may be making her uncomfortable.
Olivia opened the back door to the car and Emma climbed in. Once the door was closed and they were out of earshot Olivia walked over to Elliot. "We need to go to the hospital. She needs to be evaluated again and I don't think it's best if we let her wait for a doctor at the station this time." Elliot agreed before getting behind the wheel.
Once all three were in and buckled Elliot pulled the car away from the curb and headed toward the ER. Emma was under the impression that they were headed to the station and back to the room where she had been held in before. Neither Elliot nor Olivia wanted to tell her the truth just yet.
About 10 minutes later Elliot pulled into the garage of the hospital and glanced over at Olivia, silently asking her how she wanted to approach the situation. She responded by getting out of the car, copying her, he did the same. She opened the back door to allow Emma out. She was hoping that Emma may understand why they came here and she wouldn't have to worry about explaining it and dealing with another outburst if Emma was afraid.
She had no such luck, however, when Emma looked up at her and asked "Why didn't we go back to the station?"
"You have to talk to a doctor again." Olivia answered as nonchalantly as she could manage.
"Please Olivia; Dr. Carter said I could ask you to call her. I won't run this time." Emma begged.
"This will be quicker." Elliot cut in trying to defuse the situation before it escalated any further.
Emma surprisingly and reluctantly agreed and began walking beside the detectives toward the hospital entrance. Things were calm for minute or so as the detectives and Emma walked in silence when they heard the echo of footsteps as someone began walking right up behind them. "Again Emma?" A boy's voice said and the detectives turned around.
"Seth…" Emma began, shocked at his presence, when Elliot decided to butt in.
"What are you doing here?" He asked nearing the boy.
Seth looked up at him, not an ounce of fear in his eyes, as he said "I was never charged with anything detective. As far as the law is concerned I've never laid a hand on her."
"I'll tell them." Emma spoke up, gaining courage, and then quickly losing it.
"No one will believe you; you already admitted you're a liar once. Why don't you just kill yourself and get it over with?"
Elliot stepped in front of Seth so he could no longer see Emma, as Olivia wrapped her arm around Emma in an attempt to lead her towards the hospital and away from Seth. Emma was crying and shaking as Olivia gently led her away. "He told me to do it Olivia." She cried out.
Olivia stopped walking and gently turned Emma to face her. "Told you to do what?"
"Kill myself, after he saw me at the prescient he sent me a text saying that no one would believe that he did that to me and that I should just kill myself to save me from the embarrassment of accusing him."
Emma was near hysterical again and Olivia wrapped her arms around her, hugging her. "Emma, do you still have that text?"
"Yeah, it's on my phone."
"Can I see it?"
Emma pulled away from Olivia and reached into her pocket pulling out her cell phone. She scrolled through messages for a minute before finding the right one and handing the phone over to Olivia. The detective quickly read it over before calling over Elliot, who was still talking to Seth. He came over and Olivia handed him the phone.
He quickly read over the message as Olivia caught him up on what Emma had told her. Elliot handed the phone back over to Olivia and gave her a quick smile before walking towards Seth who was walking away. He ran up and caught him putting his hands behind his back and cuffing them. Seth screamed obscenities at him as Elliot read him his rights. Olivia and Emma watched as he was put into the car and driven away.
"Do I still have to go?" Emma asked, referring to the hospital.
"Yes, I know you don't want to but you need help." Olivia replied, trying to get through to her.
"But Seth is gone. Why would I try to do it now?"
"You told me that you were about to kill yourself before Seth even came over to your house." Olivia calmly reminded her, while holding her arm in case she decided to try running again.
"But if I have to stay in the hospital then I won't stand a chance at trial. Everyone's going to assume that I'm crazy and unreliable."
Olivia paused, staring at Emma. What she had said could be accurate but her wellbeing had to come first. "I have to make sure your safe. If something happened to you we wouldn't be able to go to trial at all." Olivia then again began walking toward the entrance, still keeping a light hold on Emma's arm so she couldn't run.
Emma reluctantly followed. She knew that if she was admitted that she would be torn apart at trial so she spent the walk towards the entrance and the time spent waiting for the doctor to come speak to her scheming ways to convince everyone that she wasn't a danger to anyone, herself included. When the doctor finally came to talk with her she had a plan figured out.
About 20 minutes later the doctor walked out of the room and over to Olivia. "Is she going to be admitted?" The detective immediately asked.
"No, she claims that she's never wanted to kill herself. Apparently the cuts were done by accident, although she did admit to being raped. I don't entirely believe her about the accidental cutting and no thoughts of suicide but if she won't tell me the truth there isn't much I can do."
"Thanks Doctor." Olivia said as she began walking towards Emma's room. She was relieved that Emma hadn't recanted her rape accusation however she knew that lying about how she was feeling wasn't going to help Emma at all. She entered the hospital room and saw Emma ready to leave.
"The doctor said I'm free to go." She said as she got off the bed and headed to the door.
"Hang on Emma." Olivia stopped her. "Will you talk to me for a minute?" Emma nodded and sat back down on the bed as Olivia did the same. "I know what you told the doctor. I also know that it wasn't entirely the truth."
"Yes it was." Emma maintained.
"No it wasn't, and lying is only going to make you seem less credible in court. Seth knows that you were about to kill yourself and I'll have to testify that's what you told me as well."
Emma was quiet for a moment, her gaze fixed on the floor. "Let's just get out of here. Do I have to go back down to the station?"
Olivia sighed and stood up. "Yes, Elliot should be here by now and we're both going to ride back with him."
They exited the hospital and met up with Elliot, who upon reaching the car opened the back door for Emma to get in. "How'd it go?" He asked Olivia.
"Not very well, she's going to get torn up at trial. Seth is going to walk."
Elliot smirked at her as he walked around to the driver's side door. "I didn't tell you what happened when we got Seth down to the station."