This continued for an indeterminate period of time. Alex lost all conceptualization of time and space as days melted into months, maybe even into years. She didn't know.
Alex was kneeling on the cold, damp ground, her eyes downcast as her master had his way with one of the women. She was trying to hear Olivia's voice in her head as she watched the scene before her. "Don't pay attention to them, baby," Olivia would soothe. "Listen to me. When you get out of here, what's the first thing you're going to do?"
Alex was getting better at answering the Olivia in her head promptly. "Shower," she said right away.
"What about after that?"
"Go shopping," Alex told the Olivia in her head. "I'm going to buy new clothes."
Olivia would nod approvingly. "What kind of clothes, baby?"
"A new dress."
"Good. Where are you going to get it from?"
"Sachs Fifth Avenue!"
Olivia would laugh. "That's a good idea. You deserve to be pampered, Alex."
Alex was startled back to reality when she heard a door being smashed and then, "Police! This is a raid!"
Her heart skipped a beat. Was it true? Were there really police officers here? Had they really found her? Or was she just hallucinating again, just as she hallucinated Olivia?
Her master was clearly thinking the same thing because he stopped for just a moment, then clearly decided there was no imminent threat and went back to raping his captive.
Alex strained her ears and sure enough, she heard footsteps approaching. She wanted to cry out that she was here, and to please come save her before her master realized what was going on and killed her, but she hadn't spoken in months and she wasn't sure she remembered how. She couldn't force the words past her lips.
And suddenly, they were there. Two men and one woman were standing in the room with her, ordering her master to put his hands where they could see them and kick the gun to them. To Alex's surprise, he obeyed. One of the men slapped handcuffs on him and led him away. The other man went to the woman whose name Alex didn't know, although she knew Alex's. Everyone did. They spoke of her in almost reverent tones, because in a way she was lucky, that she was alive and had nearly enough to eat, but most of the other women pitied her even more than they pitied themselves and each other. They knew that she was abused even worse than they were, that she was raped every night and beaten arbitrarily for the most minor of infractions, some legitimate and some imagined. They saw her being led around on a leash attached to her collar and they saw her eating from her dog dish. They knew that she'd lost the ability to speak, that she never even screamed anymore. They heard the muffled cries that came from the bedroom at night because they were directly below her, and they knew all that went on.
The female police officer knelt down beside Alex and wrapped her jacket around the trembling blonde's shoulders. Alex still hadn't moved a muscle; she was too well-trained for that. She knew that if she moved without being commanded to do so, she would be punished, and she didn't want that. "It's going to be okay, honey," whispered the female police officer. "My name's Jaclyn. Can you tell me your name?"
Alex opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't say a word. Instead, she hung her head in shame.
"That's okay," said Jaclyn quickly. "We're going to get you out of here. Can you stand?"
"Her name's Alex," the other woman said helpfully. "She doesn't talk."
"Okay, Alex. Can you get up? There's an ambulance waiting outside for you." Jaclyn gave Alex's broken body a quick once-over, visually filing away the bruises, the cuts, the burns, the scars. She wrapped her coat more tightly around Alex and unclipped the collar and leash, taking them off Alex's neck. "Come on," she said gently, holding out her hand.
Alex took it and mutely let Jaclyn lead her outside, the first fresh air she'd seen in what might have been years. There were EMTs waiting outside and they helped Alex into a stretcher. Jaclyn climbed in behind her.
"I'm going to ride with you, Alex," she said gently, and it reminded Alex so much of Olivia's quiet authority that she began to cry.
Jaclyn squeezed her hand. "It's going to be okay."
When they reached the hospital, Alex was limp and silent as the doctor examined her and did a rape kit. She closed her eyes and thought of Olivia, smiling as Olivia's face floated in front of hers. "See, honey. I told you you'd be okay. I told you you could do it. You're okay now. You're safe."
She had three broken ribs and she was malnourished, but other than that, she was physically okay. The bruises would heal – at least, the ones on the outside.
When the doctor was finished with her, Jaclyn, who'd held her hand throughout this entire ordeal, knowing instinctively that she needed it, perched on the edge of Alex's hospital bed. "They're going to keep you here overnight, just to make sure you're okay. Alex, is there anyone I can call for you?"
Alex tried to speak, but she couldn't. She wanted to tell Jaclyn to call Elliot Stabler at SVU and have him come get her, but she couldn't find the words.
Jaclyn seemed to understand. "Can you write it down for me, Alex?" she asked gently, handing Alex a pen and a piece of paper.
Alex took a deep breath. The pen felt odd in her fingers. She hadn't held one in a long time. Instead of writing Elliot's name, she wrote what she really wanted to know. Where am I?
Jaclyn smiled sadly. "You're in Brooklyn, at a hospital. Where do you live?"
Manhattan, Alex wrote, then hesitated before asking, What day is it today?
"September 21," answered Jaclyn. Reading the question in Alex's eyes, she added, "2004."
Alex's mind raced. She'd been gone for almost two years. And in those two years, she'd changed so much that she was sure her old friends wouldn't recognize her now.
"Now, Alex," Jaclyn prompted. "Can you write down the person you want me to call?
Detective Elliot Stabler, wrote Alex. Manhattan SVU. 313-555-3492.
Jaclyn looked a bit surprised, but she nodded and managed a small smile. "I'll call him. Can you tell me your last name?"
Alex hesitated before writing, Cabot.
Jaclyn seemed to recognize the name, because she raised her eyebrows. "You're Alex Cabot?"
Alex bowed her head in shame as she nodded. This woman knew her name. Once upon a time she had been Alex Cabot, Ice Princess. She'd been able to reduce child molesters to jelly at her feet. She'd been strong and determined and passionate and smart. Now she was broken. The Alex Cabot lying here today bore no resemblance to the old Alex Cabot.
"You have a lot of people who really miss you," said Jaclyn gently. "They're going to be so glad you're safe."
Not the one that matters, Alex didn't say.
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