Elliot sighed as he dialed the familiar number on his phone.

"What?" he heard a barely recognizable voice slur on the other end of the phone.

"Casey…?" he asked cautiously.

"No, the easter bunny," Casey slurred back sarcastically.

"Casey, your trial is tomorrow!" Elliot exclaimed, already turning his car around and in the direction of the young attorney's apartment.

"But that's tomorrow, not now," he heard her voice distantly from the other end. Then he heard a loud crash and immediately sped up.

"Casey? Casey, what happened!?" he exclaimed.

"Nothing. Bye Elliot," was all she said before the line went dead.

---

"Casey, open this door!" he yelled as he pounded on the wood. He heard her moving around inside, then heard another crash before she flung the door open. She lifted up her drink as a greeting and motioned him into her apartment.

"Why are you here?" she asked him immediately, as his eyes fell on the empty bottle of vodka already sitting on the coffee table. His eyes scanned the rest of the apartment, and he noticed that she had dropped a picture frame that had shattered.

"Give me that. Stay there, don't walk anywhere," Elliot demanded as he grabbed the bottle from her hands before she even had time to react.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as she tried to reach for it, only to be stopped by Elliot. He carefully walked over to the kitchen and placed the bottle on the counter, then walked back to her front door to retrieve her shoes for her.

"Come on, I'll go make…" he started before he was cut off by Casey sprinting to the bathroom. He heard the negative results of her drinking as he stood outside the bathroom, waiting patiently for her to finish. She lazily walked out, zigzagging from side to side before she began to fall. Elliot rushed to catch her right before she hit the ground, passed out.

"Casey, come on, we're getting you in a cold shower." Elliot said. He started to lift her up before he realized that when she woke up and was in the shower—even with her clothes on—and Elliot was there, she would most likely start hyperventilating before he even had a chance to explain what was happening.

He pulled out his phone again while keeping one arm and the remainder of his body devoted to supporting Casey's.

"Liv, can you get over to Casey's?" he asked as soon as she answered.

"Is everything okay? What's wrong!?" she asked with obvious panic in her voice.

"Nothing, just get here."

---

"Open this door!" Olivia yelled as she pounded on Casey's apartment door with no response.

"Use your key," she heard Elliot's muffled voice call from inside. Panic rose within her as she pulled out the spare key to Casey's apartment that she kept with the rest of her keys. She inserted it into the lock and pushed it open.

"What happened!?" Olivia gasped as soon as her eyes fell on Casey.

"She'll be fine, she'll just have one hell of a hangover tomorrow. Can you get her in a shower? I didn't want her to worry when she saw me…" he said. He didn't need to explain; Olivia knew that Casey would have freaked out if Elliot had been there standing over her.

She approached her carefully as Elliot gathered her in his arms and carried her into the bathroom. He gently placed her in the shower then left the room to give her privacy. Olivia reached in and turned on a cold stream of water. Casey immediately gasped and her eyes flew open.

"What the hell!" she exclaimed as she jumped up from where she was laying, only to fall back down. Olivia tried to stifle a laugh as she reached in and helped Casey up. She turned the water so it was warmer and helped Casey to stand.

---

"I'm soaking wet now!" Casey yelled as she stepped out of the shower, shivering, and once again almost tripping over her feet.

"You're also trashed," Olivia said with a smirk. Casey said nothing as she grabbed a towel from the closet and stomped right past Olivia. She was on her way to her room when she saw a man sitting on her couch. She froze, paralyzed in fear before she let out a strangled cry and fell to the ground as she tried to inch herself away from the man. She was stopped when she felt hands grab her, and she screamed and lashed out at the person next to her as though it were Eric.

"CASEY! Casey, sweetie, calm down, okay? That's just Elliot, Casey… Eric's in jail, he's not going to hurt you. It's just Elliot." Olivia tried to reassure her as she tried to gather her in her arms, but Casey just pulled away. She heard their voices as they talked to each other, but she refused to acknowledge either of them. She knew it was Elliot now, but Eric wouldn't stop haunting her; he was everywhere. She just wanted to be alone. She just wanted it all to end. She couldn't understand how this could happen to her… how she could have let this happen to her. How she could have been so weak…

---

Once Elliot had left and after a great amount of coaxing, Olivia finally managed to calm Casey down. The pain in her piercing green eyes as she stared with shame into Olivia's nearly shattered her heart into pieces. She couldn't believe the man she had loved could cause anyone—especially her best friend—so much pain. She felt so guilty… not only had she introduced Eric to Casey in the first place, but also she made Eric drive Casey home. If Eric hadn't driven Casey home, this wouldn't have happened. She wanted to make it up to Casey, but Casey just refused to let her in.

"Sweetie, please come with me, okay?" Olivia asked for what seemed like the hundredth time as she laid a hand on the young ADA's shoulder. Casey immediately flinched at the contact. Olivia pulled her hand back suddenly, silently admonishing herself for her forgetfulness.

"I'm sorry," Casey choked—the first words she had said in almost an hour.

"No, Casey Novak I do not want to hear those words from you. You have nothing to be sorry about… nothing. I'm sorry Casey. If I hadn't made you go with him that night, none of this would have even happened. Do not say you're sorry," Olivia said harshly but lovingly. Olivia finally gathered Casey in her arms, and for the first time Casey didn't pull away.

---

"Please state your name and occupation for the record." Judge Donnelly said to Casey, who was sitting in the witness stand. She had never been at a trial from this angle before, and what normally seemed like a daily activity was not one of the scariest things she'd ever faced.

"Ms. Novak?" Judge Donnelly called, bringing Casey back to reality.

"Casey Novak, Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan Special Victim's Unit." She said flatly.

"Thank you… now Casey, did you know the defendant, Eric O'Neil, before the night that he raped you?" Abbie began.

"Object—" Trevor began, but was instantly cut off by Abbie, who knew what he was going to say.

"Excuse me, alleged rape." Abbie corrected herself as Trevor sat back down.

"No, he was my friend Olivia's boyfriend." Casey replied, staring straight at Olivia. "He was going to drove me home that night."

"When he 'drove you home', where did he really take you?" Abbie asked.

"Objection! Leading." Trevor yelled.

"I'll rephrase. When he drove you home, did he take you straight to your apartment?" Abbie corrected.

"No."

"Where did he take you?"

"To a house about twenty minutes away."

"Did you try to stop him?"

"Yes, I kept telling him it was the wrong way, but he wouldn't listen."

"When he stopped the car did you try to run away?"

"I couldn't… he had a gun. He held it to me and wouldn't put it down." Casey struggled to keep her emotions in check so that she wouldn't break down in front of everyone, but it was getting harder and harder with each question. She couldn't believe she had to go through the humiliation of telling an entire courtroom full of people, plus a jury and the judge, about her rape. She immediately felt guilty for all the victims that she had to question who had been in her position.

---

Olivia watched her best friend suffer on the witness stand, and immediately felt a wave of guilt wash over her once again. She couldn't believe she trusted a man like this, and she certainly couldn't believe that she had believed him over Casey.

Seeing Casey sitting on the witness stand made Olivia's heart break all over again. She looked so tiny, sitting fragile and broken on the stand. The strength and radiance that Casey usually possessed clearly only shown from one side of that witness stand. Sitting on that side of the stand she just looked broken and destroyed, all of her confidence gone. It took all of Olivia's effort to keep herself together and not break down in tears.

"So Casey, you voluntarily went with Mr. O'Neil, is that correct?" Trevor Langan began as he stood up and immediately planted himself directly in front of her, obviously to intimidate her. Olivia watched as Casey shrunk back in fear, unable to look him in the eye. The fear was evident on Casey's face, and Olivia wanted to run over and punch the slimeball right there. Casey nodded weakly.

"Yes, he was supposed to drive me home," she said timidly, her voice cracking slightly.

"And you say this alleged house he took you to was about twenty minutes away?" Trevor continued.

"Yes, about that I think…"

"And in those twenty minutes, you didn't once think about getting out of the car? Can you honestly say that you didn't want to be with Mr. O'Neil?" Trevor demanded.

"Objection!" Abbie exclaimed, not even needing to justify her objection.

"Mr. Langan, watch it," Judge Donnelly said as she glared at him.

"He had a gun," Casey whispered.

"When did he show you this alleged gun?" Trevor challenged.

"When… when we pulled up…"

"What about on the ride over? Huh? You didn't try to get out? Call for help? He took you on a drive for twenty minutes and you didn't try to do anything about it!?"

"OBJECTION!" Abbie shouted. "Your honor…"

"Mr. Langan, I warned you once. Don't make me say it again or trust me you will not want to deal with the consequences. Be careful, Mr. Langan, and stop this nonsense," Judge Donnelly said sternly, glaring at Trevor once again.

Olivia sat in shock, her heart aching for her friend as she watched her trembling on the stand. She was shooting daggers at Trevor with her eyes, but she wished more than ever that killing people could be legal, just long enough for her to shoot Trevor Langan.

As Trevor's vicious questions continued, Olivia sat practically paralyzed; she couldn't believe that even Trevor Langan would have the indecency to treat anyone—especially a rape victim—that way. By the time Trevor finally left, Casey sat on the stand, shaking and sobbing so violently she was having trouble breathing. Abbie had to physically help a trembling Casey back to her seat, and she still had to continue on with the trial. She knew how hard Casey had been trying to keep everything in, but a person can only keep in so much before they break.

---

"Please state your name and occupation for the record." Judge Donnelly said to Eric as he took the stand.

"Eric O'Neil, accountant," he answered nonchalantly.

"So Eric, you admit to having sex with Casey Novak?" Abbie asked him as he approached.

"Yeah, what she said about the house was true. Just nothing else," he said with a smirk.

"May I remind you that you're under oath, Mr. O'Neil," Abbie said sternly. He smirked again and nodded.

"I'm telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me god," he mocked.

"So the sex was consensual?" Abbie asked him.

"100 percent consensual," Eric said smugly. Casey's mouth fell wide open, and it took all of her strength to keep from shouting out, although she knew that would just hurt her in the long run.

"People's exhibit A, your honor, images of Casey Novak's injuries sustained from the alleged rape." Abbie said, stressing the word alleged to keep Trevor from shouting out. She walked back to the table and gave Casey a small, reassuring smile as she pulled pictures out of her file folder. She carried the photos over and stood in front of the jury.

"In this photo, you can clearly see the bruises caused by the force of fingers on her wrists, due to them being pinned down. You can even see the indents of the fingers themselves. You will also notice a slight rope-burn over the bruises. In the next photo you can see the bruising on Ms. Novak's legs, from where Mr. O'Neil held his weight during the attack. Finally, although it obviously would not have been appropriate to provide images, the medical reporter also showed that there was severe bruising around the inner thigh and genital region. Now, Mr. O'Neil, tell me… is that usually a result of consensual sex?" Abbie demanded. The room stood silent, and Eric just cracked an amused smile.

"She likes rough sex," Eric answered smugly. Abbie sighed as she moved closer to Eric so that she was practically leaning over him.

"And one more thing, Mr. O'Neil… if you were having consensual sex with Casey Novak in a house that you were legally allowed to be in, how on earth could you be at your friend's house watching movies, as you previously claimed when you were first accused?" Abbie practically yelled as a hushed murmur rose within the crowd.

-----

Hey guys, I'm going away for a week, but I will have updates when I come back! Leave lots of reviews for me:)

ps I think this is my longest update ever, but I tried since I won't be updating for a while.

(No time to proofread… have to wake up in four hours!)