Chapter 7

Surprisingly Andrea had, had a restful night. The presence of Olivia had kept the worst of the night terrors at bay, and the blonde hadn't woken up during the night. Olivia on the other hand couldn't say the same. The small bed and the need to comfort the girl in her arms had left her awake for most of the night. It was because that lack of sleep, that Olivia had noticed her partner's occasional whimpering, caused by nightmares.

Olivia didn't say anything to let her new partner in on what she had heard during the night. Now was not the time, but she would find some way to address the younger woman's possible night terror. Olivia suspected that Jen, like the rest of them, had her reasons for wanting to join SVU, and the brunette wasn't about to demand answers. If Jen wanted her to know, she would say something. You couldn't expect someone to tell you their life story the first day you met them. No Olivia would offer her help, she did believe that Jen would be a good addition to their team.

Cragen had managed to arrange a meeting with ACS first thing in the morning. The plan had been to find a solution that would work for both ACS and SVU. What he hadn't taken into account was Andrea's caseworker, David Blake, accusing SVU of the leak that gave the location of Andrea to the perp. More specifically Detective Benson, as she had been the one who had escorted Andrea to Charlotte's home.

When David had started in on Olivia, Cragen had know what was coming. He wasn't about to risk his skin by coming David to the rescue. The SVU Captain knew Casey was used to the blame tossing, but there was always a line that shouldn't be crossed. He had on several occasions seen the ADA scare big-short lawyers or seasoned detectives, when they insulted the work of the SVU squad. Especially when it was something about Olivia. It was not likely that Casey would let something as offensive as this slide.

David Blake hadn't thought this day could be worse than yesterday had been. He found that being yelled at by a detective and ordered to a meeting by his supervisor was a minor ache compared to having the wrath of ADA Novak directed at him.

Casey didn't feel the need to hold anything back, she had spend her evening calling in a favor or two before she gotten the director of ACS on the phone. With that accomplished, Casey had convinced the man of the importance of keeping Andrea safe and her location quiet. She therefore didn't need the good will of Andrea's caseworker or his supervisor. She could let them know what she thought of the colossal fuck up they managed to make of this case.

Casey had only agreed to come to this meeting because she didn't want to ruin future workings with ACS, because of what she had thought to be a mistake. It wouldn't be the first time information was leaked to the public, and it probably wouldn't be the last either. It happened from time to time, and it was something they all felt the effects of. When the ADA had found the caseworker denying any wrong doings on ACS's side, but instead blamed everything on SVU, Casey had lost what little patience she had, going in to this meeting.

It had taken the redhead only a short moment to dress down David. Before any of the men knew what had happened she had turned to go, telling Cragen that they didn't need to waste any more time on these twats, as she had already made arrangements with the director for Andrea to go into protective custody. She didn't go into any details before they were well on their way back to the precinct, not wanting any information in the hands of the ACS workers.

Walking into the squad room, Cragen noticed that quietness of the room and turned his pointed look toward the only detective presence at the time. The look alone was enough to get Munch to hastily leave the coffeemaker, and return to his desk to continue his search.

"Fin and Elliot left to follow up on a new lead that came in after you left, Capn'."

As Cragen was about to close his office door behind himself and Casey, he could hear Munch's version of a joke.

"Haven't heard anything from the sleeping beauties."

"Good, that means Andrea was able to sleep."

That wasn't the answer John had expected. When he thought about it, he didn't know what he had expected Cragen to say, but it had definitely not been that.

Olivia had been awake for some time, but had given up on trying to untangle herself from Andrea without waking the young girl. She thought that the blonde's sleep was more important than her own discomfort of having spent another night trying not to fall out of the bed, as Andrea took up most of the space. It was quite surprising that the young girl took up more room than the detective. Olivia knew that Andrea needed to sleep but if she didn't get to stretch her back soon, she doubted she would feel like a human being for the next couple of days.

"Hey Jen are you awake?" She spoke softly as not to disturbing Andrea. Even without being able to get a look at her watch Olivia knew it would be late. Cragen wasn't all that forgiving or pleasant when it came to his detectives being late. She wasn't sure, though, if the Captain thought Jen would be excused in this case or not. "Time to get going if you want to avoid Cragen's anger directed your way on your second day here."

The muffled reply she got from the other woman was enough to show that Jen had actually been asleep when Olivia had first spoken.

"You do know that shift normally start at 8, right?"

"It can't be 8, my alarm would have gone off."

That had Olivia laughing, "I think you forgot you're in the crib and not at home."

That got Jen's attention. Forgetting that she was on the bottom bunk in a bunk bed she sat up and bumped her head into the top bunk. "Aww, it's not nice to scare a person like that, this early in the day." The dark blonde had managed to get out of the bed without further accidents and was softly rubbing her head.

"You thought I had somehow made in into your apartment for a wakeup call or what? You're giving me all sorts of ammo for future jokes, Thomas."

Olivia had trouble stop laughing, and even though she was able to keep the sound to a minimum, the movement had been enough to softly wake Andrea.

Andrea seemed to handle having to talk about her experience from yesterday better than last time the girl was at the precinct.

That didn't mean that she spoke freely and opened up to everyone. Andrea was adamant about her refusal to look at or let alone talk to any man. It didn't matter that the girl had been somewhat comfortable in Huang's presence only some days previously. Now she curled herself into Olivia's body as much as possible if any man came close.

It did cause some problems, as Olivia was taken off the case, now that she would be taking care of Andrea. That left Jen to try to get the story out of the young girl. In Cragen's opinion that was a good learning case for the new member of the SVU squad. Olivia would be in the interview room and the brunette had already won the girl's trust, which usually was the hardest part.

The SVU squad hadn't put much hope into Andrea giving them a description that would lead to the perp. After all she was only four. In it self not the most reliable witness. And taking into account what Andrea had been through, they were glad that the blonde remembered something, even if it was only bits and pieces.

By the time Andrea had told everything, the two females could get the young girl to remember it was well after noon.

"Benson." Cragen hadn't taken into account that his usual gruffy self would be scary to Andrea. That was until he noticed the young blonde flinch at his tone."You two get out of here. I'll keep you up to date, but I don't want to see you for at least a week if we haven't found anything."

Olivia hadn't had the opportunity to talk to the Captain about what would happen now that she would take care of Andrea. The detective had not expected that Cragen would throw her out of the precinct. They all knew that most of these rape cases, where there was a lack of evidence, was hard to solve and took time. What Olivia had understood from Casey was that she would be on paperwork and shorter days while she had Andrea. But she hadn't imagined that the Captain had practically put her on suspension for an undetermined amount of time.

"But Capn'..."

"No, we'll talk about this in a week Olivia. Right now you both need to feel safe."

It didn't leave the brunette with much of a choice. Olivia would leave now, but she was adamant that she would try to convince Cragen about letting her help the squad.

It wasn't late enough that Casey would be out of court for the day. So Andrea and Olivia were on their own until the ADA could get away from work.

Olivia would have loved to go home and try to get the blonde settled. That was, however, not possible as she needed not only food but also clothes for the young girl to make that work.

Andrea's possessions were all locked up in the James' apartment. ACS had given Andrea some clothes, when the blonde went to stay with Charlotte.

Olivia hadn't heard about Casey's run in with ACS, but the brunette didn't even consider asking ACS for clothes or anything else for Andrea. Part of that was the Detective's wish to keep Andrea's location known to a limited amount of people. Preferably only people she trusted. That meant that they would need to buy some clothes for Andrea. The blonde only had what she was wearing.

Normally Olivia would take the subway or a cab home. Seeing as Andrea hadn't reacted all that well to the few people in the squad room, the Detective wasn't about to subject the girl to any unnecessary crowds. If she could have, she would have gone straight home. With no food in the house and no options clothes wise for the girl, Olivia didn't really have a choice. The brunette knew Casey wouldn't be able to get home before late that night.

The ADA and Olivia had hardly been home in the last month. Never long enough for any of them to even consider restocking on groceries. The few moments they were both home at the same time, they had spend concentrating on more important things than groceries.

Now that Olivia would stay home with Andrea, the Detective guessed it would be a great opportunity to get everything up to date in their apartment. Including the state of their kitchen. It wasn't only perishable they were low on. They were almost out of something as fundamental as coffee. Olivia knew from experience that Casey became impossible to live with if there was no coffee in the house. Coffee wasn't the only thing they were low on, but with the ADA's addiction it was the most critical.

Since she was technically still working, Olivia didn't think Cragen would object to her taking an unmarked car for the day. Olivia could always get one of the guys to pick it up later. Either way she wasn't wasting time asking.

It was a good thing that there was available booster seats, for when an officer had to transport a child, other wise the idea of using a department car would have been of no use.

Getting in the car and going to the store was no problem. It wasn't until they were inside the store that Olivia really noticed how bad her idea was. She had started out with Andrea sitting in the shopping cart, but it soon became apparent that, that wouldn't work. The girl wasn't as loud as some of the other children in the store. But Andrea was trying hard to be as small as possible while tears were running down her checks.

It didn't make shopping easier or more enjoyable for Olivia as she had to walk with Andrea placed securely on her left hip. It was awkward trying to push the cart with the blonde in her arms, but it did make Andrea feel more secure. That made up for any discomfort it caused Olivia.

They got some strange looks as they worked their way through the store. Olivia was in her usual work clothes, though a little more crumbled than when she had left for work yesterday morning. To top if of the brunette was clearly displaying her shield and gun. Not as much because Olivia wanted to show it, but because having Andrea on her hip disrupted her clothes. Andrea was also still a target and the detective didn't want to take any changes of being caught unaware. That meant the gun would have to stay and the other customers would just have to deal.

After Andrea had gotten out of the cart and close to Olivia, the young girl had been okay with the experience of shopping. Shopping for groceries or any other form had never been a favorite of the brunette's. Olivia had decided to combine the need for clothes for Andrea and food into a one shop experience to shorten the shopping trip. She would only get the most important clothes for Andrea. There wasn't anything that said she couldn't beg Casey to go shopping for what else they would need. Olivia was sure it wouldn't even be necessary to beg, the redhead usually jumped at the change to go shopping.

Finding the food she wanted to buy had turned out to be more tricky than the few items of clothes Olivia had gotten for the blonde. It had, however, proven to perk Andrea up and the girl had happily participated in choosing what groceries Olivia put in the cart.

It had taken some time for the detective to draw anything but yes and no answers out of Andrea, but when Olivia succeeded there was no stopping Andrea. Choosing a breakfast cereal was apparently a big decision and the young girl had difficulties settling on one kind. Resulting in Olivia buying the two kinds Andrea had wavered between.

Shopping had turned out, much to Olivia's surprise, to not be excruciating. They had ended up buying much more stuff than Olivia had first thought they would need. Including a children's book and a puzzle that had caught Andrea's attention.

It had been more fun looking at the different toys with Andrea than the detective usually had trying to find presents for Elliot's kids.

If she tried hard Olivia could almost forget what her old partner used to say. Elliot had always claimed, whenever the brunette had complained about having to shop for gifts, that it was different when it was your own kids. It wasn't like Andrea was her's anyway so that couldn't be why she had enjoyed today.

No matter the reason, they had a lot more bags as they left the store, than the detective had anticipated. Olivia had thought it was awkward trying to push the cart around with Andrea on one hip. She quickly changed her mind when it came to getting all the purchases and Andrea up into the apartment at one time. The blonde was not exactly willing to walk on her own. Andrea did, however, hold the bag containing the book and puzzle.

Parking the car out front, Olivia had to go back and forth to the lobby a few times to get all the bags.

They had arrived home at the same time as the two doormen were changing shifts that day. The doormen saw Olivia put down a handful of bags and head back outside. The second time Olivia made the trip in with more plastic bags, the oldest doorman hurried to help the struggling woman.

"Detective Benson, let me help you with your bags."

Both of the doormen liked the ADA and Olivia. Not two weeks after the couple had moved into the building, Olivia had caught the, at the time night shift doorman selling drugs to one of the tenants children, when she was coming home in the middle of the night. It had taken Olivia less than one hour to make sure that the building would get a new doorman. Olivia hadn't exactly been popular with the building manager for waking him. Not that, that was enough to hold back an angry detective, that had just spent the last 48 hours trying to find a pedophile.

Now they had a man in his early twenties doing the night shift. He wasn't book-smart and had barely made it through high school. But he more than made up for that with a friendly demeanor and a willingness to learn.

"Oh, would you Howard, that would be great."

The dayshift doorman, Howard, was an older man. He enjoyed following the tenants lives. Especially after his youngest child had left for college some years earlier.

"No trouble at all Detective. Who is this little beauty you have the pleasure of accompanying this fine day."

He knew what the detective and ADA did for a living, but neither of the women had taken someone form work home with them before, except for colleagues.

"This is Andrea, she will be staying with us for some time." Olivia didn't tell the old man why the blonde would be staying there.

The elevator ride had been quiet. Howard had quickly gotten the picture. He was used to the Detective not being all that talkative, but today was an all time low.

He also noticed that the girl seemed to hang on even tighter when he had stepped into the elevator. Prompting Olivia to step closer to the side shielding Andrea. He didn't quite understand why the Detective was seemingly protecting the young girl from him, or why Olivia was even more quiet than usual.

Though the Detective's reasoning didn't matter to him. Olivia was a detective after all and he didn't think he was one to question this police officer. He was, however, attentive enough to notice the fear rolling of the young blonde and was considered enough to keep his distance on the way to the apartment door.

On the entire ride up with the elevator, Andrea had been shaking. The blonde's hold on Olivia had tightened every minute they had to stay in the small space. There wasn't much Olivia could do while they were in the elevator. Olivia was just glad that Howard had enough sense to stay behind them, even when she fumbled with her keys. It wasn't easy to unlock a door with a child in one arm and groceries bags in the other.

"If you put the bags down, I can take them in for you Detective." Howard offered to help as the always considered gentleman he was.

"Thank you Howard. You can put them down in the kitchen." Olivia had finally managed to get the door opened.

The brunette knew that the doorman knew the way to the kitchen. It wasn't the first time he had helped carry bags into their apartment. Casey had on several occasions had help from the old man, when she had come home from a shopping trip.

Olivia trusted Howard enough to leave him to put the bags in the kitchen, while she took Andrea in the other direction.

Olivia could hear the muffled "Goodbye Detective," and "It was nice to meet you Andrea" from Howard right before he closed the door.

"Hey sweetie, I guess it's just us now. What do you say we get your new clothes in the washer?"

Olivia hadn't expected an answer. When she went to put Andrea down, so they could both walk, the girl whimpered and tightened her grip yet again.

"Huh, guess that's a no to you walking."

Olivia would have liked to be able to put the child down. Her arm was beginning to hurt. But that wasn't the way it was going to be. Olivia could live with that. It wouldn't be the first time she had to ignore muscle fatigue. At least now that they were home, she could put her gun away and would be able to use her other arm.

As it turned out it wasn't as bad as Olivia had expected. Andrea, when she was sure that the doorman was gone, was willing to sit on the counter while Olivia took the tags of the clothes. It was easier to get anything done now that she had the use of both hands.

That Andrea had willingly sat next to the bags on the counter, didn't mean that she was ready to let Olivia leave her sight. Olivia ended up carrying the blonde around the apartment with her.

They had gone from one place to another as Olivia tended to the cleaning of Andrea's clothes and putting the rest of the purchases away.

As the afternoon wore on Andrea was becoming more secure. By the time that Olivia had to use the bathroom, the girl was okay with staying just outside the door. It was a definite improvement, though it felt strange knowing there was someone right outside the door when you were using the bathroom.

Olivia had babysat Elliot's kids at different times during the time she had worked SVU. But that had in no way prepared her for taking Andrea in full time. On the nights that Olivia looked after the Stabler children Kathy had always made sure that the twins were bathed. Leaving Olivia to tuck them in, but otherwise Kathy had taken care of everything. Olivia was more like a favored aunt to the Stabler kids than a parental figure.

When the new clothes was finally clean and dry, Andrea got to take a bath before changing into her new pajamas. The blonde hadn't been all that happy about being put into the bathwater. Not that it was too hot or cold, but Andrea was nervous of the water.

The girl's reaction to Olivia starting to wash her hair had been louder than the detective had, at any time, heard Andrea be that day.

"No Livia, don't wanna."

Olivia's first thought was to smile. She barely suppressed the feeling as to not appear as she thought the girl's distress to be a laughing matter.

She wanted to smile because Andrea's loud objection came so freely.

When they had managed to get Andrea's hair washed, Olivia willingly indulged the blonde in the water splashing that left her almost as wet as Andrea.

Andrea was sitting wrapped up in one of the fluffy bath towels. The ones Olivia usually avoided. The girl was waiting patiently, sitting on the bed watching Olivia change out of her wet clothes.

Olivia was usually great with children, and it wasn't any different with Andrea. But that was a long way from knowing what a four year old liked to eat. Olivia knew what Andrea should preferably eat, but that didn't mean the girl would actually eat it.

Andrea's natural pickiness about food, combined with her being tired, caused the blonde to refuse most of what Olivia had made for dinner.

Olivia knew looking back that she should have expected Andrea's reaction at bedtime. The young girl had been refusing to let her out of her sight for more than a few moments during the day.

Every time Olivia tried to sneak out of the room, the young girl would wake up again. Forcing Olivia to start all over again. This went on three times before Olivia gave up on trying to get Andrea to sleep alone. Olivia would either have to stay with Andrea in the guest bedroom, or the girl would get to sleep in Casey and Olivia's bed. Since the guest bad wasn't all that big or for that matter the most comfortable, especially when it had to shared. Besides Olivia didn't feel like sleeping anywhere other than her own bed.

So there was really no question as to what the brunette wanted to do. Olivia had no doubt that Casey wouldn't be trilled by having to share her bed with a four year old. She couldn't really blame her. Last she had heard Casey wouldn't be home before 10pm and would probably head straight for bed. Finding someone besides your girlfriend, even if it was just a young girl, in your bed was hardly a good way to end another long day in a line of long days.

Olivia tried for some time not to let the sounds of Andrea sleeping besides her lull her to sleep. It didn't matter that it was early, it didn't take long before the brunette was sound asleep too.