"The Unwanted Guest"

The Bensons were eating breakfast in the kitchen and the girls were excited because today is the last day of school. Olivia phone rings, it's Fin. He told her about another burglary/rape case Cragen just gave them. Olivia and Fin had been working this case together and it's drained Olivia. She's been extremely exhausted trying to catch the perp.

"Ok Fin, I'll be there in 20 minutes. I have to drop Kenzie and Taylor off to school" Olivia said.

"Liv, I'll drop the girls at school, I'm off today" Melinda tells her.

"Ok" Olivia says to Melinda. "Fin, I'll be there in 10 minutes".

Olivia rushes out the door and gets into her car. Melinda runs after her and yells out her name.

"Liv, aren't you forgetting something?" Melinda asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry" Olivia says as she gets out the car and goes back into the house. Olivia kisses the girls on the forehead and tells them she loves them. Olivia turns and pretends to walk out the door.

"I can't believe she's going to leave without giving me a kiss goodbye" Melinda thought to herself. Melinda starts to walk towards the kitchen.

"Mrs. Benson, do you know how much I love you?" Olivia asked Melinda as she pulls her in close.

"No, tell me" Melinda says sarcastically smiling at Olivia.

"How about I show you, tonight? I'll call Gabby and ask her to watch the girls for us tonight"

"Liv, Gabby and I aren't on good terms. She said some things I didn't like the last time she was here, we got into it and I haven't spoken to her since".

"Mel, she's called about ten times and asked for your forgiveness. You should forgive her, besides, she's your sister. I gotta run, Fin is waiting on me" Olivia says before cupping Melinda's face and kissing her passionately.

The girls' finishes their breakfast and Melinda takes them to school. She stops by the Market before going home.

"Olivia loves seafood" she thought to herself. "Yeah, I'll make this a seafood night with wine, strawberries, chocolate and whip cream". Melinda purchased the items from the store and went home to clean up.

Melinda walks into the house and is grabbed from behind and knocked to the floor.

Meanwhile back at the victim's house. Olivia and Fin couldn't believe what they saw. The perp had changed his MO. The perp would break into women homes, rape the women and leave with their valuables. This victim was raped, beaten and dead.

"Fin, we gotta catch this perp before he strikes again"

"Liv, it's like we're one step behind him all the way. Hopefully, he left DNA on the victim. Can you call Melinda? We need her here"

"It's Mel's day off" Olivia said to Fin.

"Liv, if the perp left any DNA Melinda will find it. I don't trust anyone else" Fin says.

"You're right Fin, I'll call her"

Olivia calls her house but there's no answer. So she calls Melinda's cell phone and again no answer.

"No answer, Fin. She's probably in the shower" Olivia tells Fin. "I'll try calling her back in ten minutes".

Olivia tries calling Melinda again and again and again, still no answer. Olivia becomes a bit concerned but not too worried because it was Melinda' day off. Fin calls the M.E. on-call to check out the victim. Fin and Olivia heads back to the precinct. After an hour passes Olivia tries calling Melinda and again no answer.

"Still no answer" Fin asked Olivia.

"Yeah" Olivia says with a concerned look on her face.

"Well, you did say it was her day off. Maybe she doesn't want to be bothered. Did you two get into a fight last night?"

"No" Olivia says. "We're fine, just fine"

"Ok, are you going to keep calling her or are you going to check on her?" Fin said to Olivia.

"I'll try one more time and if she doesn't pick up, I'm going home to check on her"

Olivia calls home, the phone rings and rings and rings and rings.

"If I don't answer the phone, they will keep calling" Melinda says to the intruder.

"Go ahead, but I'm warning you. One false move and I'll hut you like a fish" The intruder told her as he held a knife to her back.

Melinda walks over to the phone and picks it up. "Hello" she says.

"Mel, are you ok" says a concerned Olivia.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Why?"

"I've tried calling you all day and you never returned any of my calls"

"Yes mother, I know. I was busy cleaning the house and baking the boys a birthday cake. I can't talk right now, the cake is burning. I'll call you tomorrow" Melinda said in a frightening voice.

"Wait Mel, what's going…." was all Olivia could get out before hearing a dial tone.

"I hope you didn't say anything suspicious to your momma. If so I will kill you". The man grabs Melinda by the hair and drags her into the living room where he slams her on the couch.

"If its money you want, you can have it" Melinda says. "My purse is in the…."

"Shut up bitch" the man yelled as he paced back in forth. He notices the family photos of the Bensons.

"You're a fucking dyke?" he says to Melinda as he walks towards her holding the Benson's family photo in his hand. Melinda doesn't say anything, she just sits there.

"Are…you…a…fucking…dyke…" he asked Melinda again as he pulls her up from the couch, shoving the photo in her was scared; all she could do is cry.

"Wait, I know that bitch" the intruder says. "She's a cop, she was on TV. Your dyke girlfriend is a cop?" the intruder says to Melinda. Melinda just continues to cry.

"Maybe this will get you to talk" the intruder tells Melinda as he slaps her and then throws her against the wall. Melinda hit the wall so hard she bounced off and falls to the floor. He then walks over to her, straddles her and began to choke her. Melinda saw her whole life flash before her as she gasps for air. Before she knew it, Melinda had blacked out.

"Oh my God" Olivia thought to herself. "Fin, something is wrong. I gotta get over to the house" Olivia said running out the precinct.

Fin runs after her, "Wait Liv. What's going on?"

"She called me mother and she said she was baking a birthday cake for the boys"

Fin and Olivia hurried over to the house. When they pulled into the driveway they notice all the curtains were closed.

"Fin, you take the back" Olivia said a she exited the car.

"Ok, got it" Fin said.

Olivia walked up unto the porch and tried to see through the curtains, she couldn't see anything. So, she walked around the side of the house and peeked into the window. She sees blooded Melinda lying face down on the floor with her hands and feet tied together. Olivia begins to panic. She runs to the back of the house where Fin is.

"Fin, its Mel. She's tied up on the floor bleeding" Olivia says with a frightening tone in her voice.

"Calm down Liv. Is there anyone else in the house?"

"I didn't see anyone. I'm sure someone's in there" Olivia said.

"I'm going to call for backup" Fin tells her.

"Backup? I'm not waiting on backup" Olivia said with tears in her eyes. "My wife is in there, she could be dying for all we know. I'm going in"

The intruder walks over to Melinda and unties her. He drags her upstairs and throws her on the bed in the guest room.

"Help…help me…somebody…help" she screams.

"Did you hear that?" Fin says to Olivia. He kicks in the door and they enter the house.

The intruder then punches Melinda several times in the face knocking her out. He attempts to take off her clothes when Olivia and Fin busts into the room.

"Freeze you son of a bitch" Olivia says. "Get away from her"

The man holds the knife close to Melinda's neck. "Freeze or what? Are you going to shoot me? I don't think so" he said smiling. "I knew that was you on the photo I seen".

"Put the knife down" Fin tells him.

"No, you put the guns down" he says, as he presses the knife against the neck of an unconscious Melinda; she starts to bleed.

"Ok, Ok" Olivia says. "We'll put the guns down"

"Liv, what are you doing?" Fin asked, as she placed her gun on the floor.

"I'm trying to save Mel's life. Put the gun down Fin" Olivia tells him.

Fin places his gun on the floor.

"Now, kick them over here" The man said.

Fin kicks the guns away from them, towards the man. Fin and Olivia starts to argue.

"I told you this was going to happen, I told you we have to be smart about this" Fin says to Olivia.

"Oh, you're blaming this on me" Olivia says. "I will do anything to save Melinda's Life.

"You never listen, you're a hot head. Working with Elliot has rubbed off on you"

"You bastard" Olivia says.

"It takes one to know one" Fin says.

Olivia gives Fin a fat slap across the face.

Fin and Olivia's back and forth confuses the man and throws him off. As the intruder loses focus, Olivia quickly grab the gun she has in her back holster and shots the intruder in the chest.

"Good shot Benson, I'll call for a bus" Fin says as Olivia rushes over to Melinda.

"Melinda, can you hear me?" Olivia says. "Melinda…baby…can you hear me?"

"Fin" Olivia says as she starts to cry.

Fin walks over to Melinda and checks her pulse. "Liv calm down, I got a pulse. The bus is on its way".

Melinda is still unconscious when the paramedics arrive. They take her to the hospital and Olivia goes with her. The intruder was also rushed to the hospital. Fin heads to the hospital after calling Elliot, Munch and Cragen.

They all meet at the hospital.

"Where's Liv" Cragen asks Fin.

"She's in the room with Melinda"

"Has Melinda regain consciousness?"

"Not yet" Fin answered.

Fin, Cragen, Elliot and Munch all sat outside Melinda's room waiting to hear news on her status. A doctor walks up to them. "Captain, the suspect surgery was successful. He's in room 312B" the doctor said.

"Elliot, I want you to go cuff the bastard to his bed" Cragen says.

"Sure thing Captain" Elliot replied.

Meanwhile in Melinda's room Olivia was sitting by the bed holding her hand.

"Do you remember our first kiss?" Olivia says to an unconscious Melinda. "I had a crush on you for months and I was too afraid of being rejected so I never said anything to you until the Policemen's Ball. I was at the party for about two hours and I saw you sitting out on the balcony all alone. Although I had already had a few drinks in me, I wasn't drunk. I just wanted you to think I was. I walked over to where you were and handed you a glass of Merlot. We sat, talked and drink wine for hours. You afford me a ride home but what you didn't know was my car was inside the parking garage across the street from the Ball. When we got to my apartment building, I invited you in for coffee. You accepted and then we went up to my apartment. I gave you a cup of coffee and we talked for two hours after that. You told me it was getting late and you had to go, but I didn't want you to go. When you got up from the couch, I stood up and faced you. I took a step closer and I could see you were nervous. I told you, I had a crush on you and I would like to take you out to dinner sometime, then I kissed you. At first you pulled away. You said, you had never kissed a white girl before. I told you, there's always a first time for everything. You smiled and I started kissing you again. You cupped the back of my head in your hand and deepened the kiss. After a minute you broke the kiss and said, Dinner huh, I'll think about it" Olivia recalled as she reminisced about their first kiss.

There was a knock at the door.

"Who's picking up Taylor and Mackenzie from school?" Fin asked Olivia.

"Fin, I forgot about the girls. Could you get them, I want to be here when Mel wakes up" Olivia says.

"Liv, I'm not on the contact list, they won't let me get the girls. You go ahead and pick the girls up, we'll stay with Melinda" Fin says.

"Thanks Fin"

Olivia kisses Melinda on the forehead and leaves the hospital to pick up her daughters. She arrives to the school.

"Mommy, you're late" Taylor says.

"I know, mommy was very busy" Olivia tell her daughters. "I'm going to drop you two off at Uncle Elliot's house.

"I thought we were going to Aunt Gabbie's house tonight?" Mackenzie says. "I don't want to go over to Uncle Elliot's house".

"Me either" says Taylor. "I want to go to Aunt Gabbie's"

"Look, I don't have time for this right now" Olivia says. "You two are going to Uncle Elliot's house and I don't want to hear anything out of you"

"Mommy…."

"TAYLOR, WHAT DID I SAY" Olivia yelled.

"I'm sorry mommy" says Taylor.

"No, I'm sorry" Olivia tells her daughter. "I shouldn't have yelled at you".

Olivia drops the girls off with Kathy and heads back to the hospital. She walks in Melinda's room and hear Munch telling one of his lame jokes.

"Is she awake?" Olivia asks.

"I'm alive and kicking" Melinda says softly.

"Hey guys, do you mind?" Olivia asked.

"We were just leaving" Cragen says. "Melinda make sure you get some rest".

Fin, Elliot, Munch and Cragen all leave the hospital.

"Hey babe, you gave us all a scare" Olivia says to Melinda.

"Liv"

"Yeah, hun"

"Did he rape me?"

"No, Fin and I got there in the nick of time. I also approved a rape kit on you, there was no sign of rape" Olivia tells a relieved Melinda. "Mel, he was the serial rapist we were looking for".

"Liv"

"Yes"

"I was scared" a tearful Melinda says. "For the first time in my life, I felt helpless. I didn't know what to do"

Olivia gets in the hospital bed with Melinda and places her arms around Melinda.

"Sweetheart, don't think about. You need to rest, get some sleep" Olivia tells her wife.

"Liv, I don't want to be alone. Will you stay with me?"

"I will be here when you wake up. Kenzie and Taylor are at Kathy and Elliot's house tonight. Do you want me to call your parents?"

"No, I don't want to worry them. I just want you here with me" Melinda tells Olivia.

The nurse comes in and gives Melinda a pain pill. She takes the pill and goes fast to sleep. Olivia falls asleep as well. Olivia wakes up early the next morning. She goes home to shower and grab a bite to eat. She returns to the hospital an hour later. Melinda is still asleep. Munch and Fin stops by with flowers for Melinda.

"How she's doing?" Fin asks Olivia.

"She's okay"

"Well, we gotta go, tell Melinda we stop by" Munch said.

As Munch and Fin leaves, Melinda wakes up.

"Hey baby, how're you feeling?" Olivia asks.

"I'm better, now that I see you" Melinda says. "Did you tell the girls I was in the hospital?"

"No, I didn't want to scare them"

"Good. I don't want them to know" Melinda says.

"They're going to release you today. Are you ready to come home?" Olivia asks Melinda.

"Yeah"

"Kathy said, she'll watch Taylor and Kenzie for a few days if we need her to"

"No Liv, I need to see my girls. I want them home with me" Melinda says. "I just have to come up with an explanation for this black eye and busted lip"

"You can always say you tripped and fell" Olivia says.

"Olivia Benson, our daughters are too smart for that one"

"You're right" Olivia says. "We'll just tell them…."

"The truth" Melinda said.

"Mel, are you sure"

"Yes Liv, I'm sure"

"Liv, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure babe"

"Why did you have me to believe you were drunk the night of the Policemen's Ball?"

"Huh" Olivia replied.

"You heard me"

"I knew that was the only way, I'd get you to take me home and it worked, didn't it?" a smiling Olivia says.