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Olivia ran down the hospital corridor frantically. She was brought into hysterics when she received a call telling her that Alex was in the hospital. The nurse on the other side of the call wouldn't give any information over the phone. Olivia never ran so hard in her life.
As soon as she turned the corner to Alex's hall, she saw Serena. Her face was buried in her hands as she quietly sobbed to herself.
"Serena!"
Her head snapped up as she watched Olivia run the few feet left in the hallway. She received her with a hug and Olivia immediately felt Serena's tears soak her shirt. She rubbed her back and slightly rocked her back and forth.
"I shouldn't have let her go to the office by herself!" Serena sobbed, "I should have gone with her!"
"What happened?"
"I told her that she could come to my house and cool down after everything that transpired at the restaurant. She said she rather just bury herself in work to keep her thoughts straight. It was too late at night for me to let her go alone…."
"It's not your fault, Serena. It isn't." Olivia said wiping the tears from her eyes.
"The doctors won't tell me anything. All they are saying is that she was assaulted. They said they called the first person on her emergency contact list from work. I assume that's you."
"I was the first on her contact list?"
"Yes." Serena sniffled and wiped her nose with her sleeve.
"Then how did you get here before me?"
"Excuse me. Are you Olivia Benson?" A doctor in green scrubs walked up to the two of them with a clip board in hand.
"Yes. Yes, that's me."
"Great, then you were the one I talked to over the phone. Alex… she's going to be ok, but she is going to need time to heal."
"What happened to her?" Olivia asked quietly.
"Well, I'm not sure if we should talk about it here. From what the Detectives that came earlier were saying, Rosalie was the cleaning lady that works in the D.A. building and she's the one that walked in on them. She…"
"Hold on. Wait a minute. 'On them'? Who else?"
"An unidentified man that fled the moment Rosalie walked in. She found them… in a peculiar position where Alex was supposedly taken advantage of." The doctor stated cautiously.
"Taken advantage of?" Olivia's heart dropped. A lump formed in her throat that became impossible to swallow. "My God… was she… was she raped?"
The doctor swallowed visibly and sighed before giving her an answer. "We really won't know until we perform the rape kit."
"Of course…" Olivia trailed off and lost herself in her thoughts.
"She's in the room a couple doors down if you want to see her."
"I,umm… I think I'm gonna wait." Olivia said.
Serena stood up and laid a hand on Olivia's shoulder. "Are you sure? I'm pretty sure she wants you in there."
"I am. We both know who did this, Serena. I'm gonna call Elliot so we can get to the bottom of this. Plus… I can't see her right now." Olivia ran her trembling hand through her hair and let out a breath.
"Olivia…"
Not wanting to hear what Serena had to say, Olivia quickly turned to walk to the nearest exit. Before she turned the corner she threw over her shoulder, "Make sure you call me when the rape kit is done."
As she ran and neared the parked car in the parking garage that happened to belong to Alex, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Elliot's number from memory. The phone rang twice before Elliot's concerned voice came through the small speaker.
"Liv, how are you feeling? I wanted to give you space but-"
"Elliot, Alex has been assaulted."
"What?" His gasp was audible through the phone.
"That bastard Cliff fuckin touched her. I'm gonna pick him up." She said as she opened the car door.
"Olivia, calm down. What do you mean touched?"
"I mean 'they're currently running a rape kit' touched."
"Oh my gosh…" Elliot was in a state of shock. He knew from the dinner that Cliff was definitely unstable, but he never thought he would rape. "Where are you picking him up?"
As much as Olivia hated the thought, she knew his hotel address was probably already stored into Alex's GPS. She could already assume by Cliff's personality that he was very repetitious and knew that if he had ever left he would probably come back to the very same hotel. She turned it on and searched through it. As she suspected, the most recent address saved was one of a hotel. "Central Park South at 59th street."
"The Plaza? How do you know that?" Elliot asked.
"Just meet me there in 30."
"Shouldn't we figure out who the responding officer was and notify them?"
"I'm not waiting for that!" Olivia yelled, "This bastard is smarter than he looks. I'm not waiting for him to skip town."
"Maybe you should calm down before you go to the hotel, Liv. I want this guy as much as you do, but beating him to a pulp before he gets to the precinct isn't going to help us any."
"Just meet me there."
Olivia hung up the phone and slowly let her head hit the steering wheel in front of her. Her feelings were mixed. Her mind felt disoriented as if she were having an out-of-body experience. She gripped the wheel and turned on the ignition.
I'm going to kill him…
Olivia pulled up to the hotel realizing that Elliot was already parked. She shot out of the car quickly and started heading for the hotel door without addressing him.
"Olivia, wait." Elliot jumped out of his car and ran up to her. "Maybe I need to go get him."
"No, Elliot. I'm fine." She brushed past him and entered the extravagant hotel. She spotted the receptionist who immediately greeted them with a smile, but once he saw the look on Olivia's face the expression quickly changed on his.
"May I help you, ma'am?"
"Yes, I'm looking for a Cliff Galanger. Is he staying at this hotel?"
"Ah, you almost missed him. He just called down ten minutes ago to let us know he was checking out early."
"What room." Olivia could feel her heart pounding in her chest so hard she could have sworn the receptionist could hear.
"475."
"Ok. I need a key." Olivia said hurriedly.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but we don't just hand out other guest's keys. Are you an authorized-"
Olivia flashed the young man her badge and without another word he handed over the key quietly.
She grabbed it and started walking towards the elevator in the overly large lobby. Elliot hit the button and dared to take a sideways glance towards Olivia. She noticed this, but kept her eyes forward.
"What."
Elliot slightly shuffled his feet before answering. "Olivia, are you sure about-"
"About what, Elliot? He's an average perp and we're picking him up. That's it."
Elliot kept quiet as he stepped into the newly arrived elevator. As it was going up to the fourth floor he tried to think about what his partner was going through. He dared another glance, but this one was never seem. He could tell just by the expression on her face that her mind was far away from the present. Before he could say anything, the elevator sounded its bell as the doors slowly opened. They took a left out the elevator and followed the direction arrows displaying room numbers and took another left down a hall. Immediately they saw a man come into view. Olivia squinted as she saw the man standing outside his door with two large suitcases by his side. Her eyes went wide as she finally recognized the tall figure.
"Freeze, Cliff!"
Cliff snapped his head up and took off running in the opposite direction. Olivia and Elliot immediately reached for their guns and followed him at top speed. Cliff ran to the stairwell and swung the door open hard. He descended the stairs rapidly, skipping three to four steps at a time. Olivia was hot on his trail as she too swung the door open. She pointed her gun, but quickly noticed her metal surroundings and thought better of it.
"Cliff, stop!"
Cliff kept running, finally reaching the exit that led into the hotel's lobby. It was full of Plaza guests, but Cliff sped through them, weaving in and out of people. Olivia came through the door seconds later spotting him through the medium sized crowd. She saw him running towards the main exit and gave Elliot the signal to cut him off, but quickly realized he was no longer behind her.
Cliff blew past the receptionist desk and finally made it out of the entrance until he felt a sharp pain at his throat.
Elliot closed lined him and watched as Cliff hit the ground hard. He struggled to stand up, but Olivia came behind him and shoved him down to the ground hard.
"You have the right to remain silent you son of a bitch!" she grabbed his wrists and forced them behind his back, but his right hand broke free as he swiftly turned and threw a punch that connected with Olivia's cheek.
Elliot without delay grabbed him and yanked him off the ground and slammed him into a nearby pillar. "First you're going for rape now assaulting a police officer? You know, for a lawyer you're not that smart." He cuffed him and walked him to his squad car and pushed him in. He turned back to Olivia who was following close behind and rubbing her cheek. Elliot immediately saw the small bruise that was forming and reached for her chin to lift it for a better view.
"He got you pretty good." He said rubbing it lightly with his thumb.
"Believe me," she said shrugging his touch off, "I've felt worse."
They didn't waste any time once they arrived at the precinct. Olivia threw him in an interview room and left him. She had just sat down at her desk when Fin walked towards her.
"Dad's not happy." He said in a whisper.
"I don't care." She said not bothering to give him eye contact as she went through a drawer in her desk.
"You should have called the responding officer."
"Whom we don't even know. To go through the process to find the detectives linked to the case would have been time consuming and pointless since we already knew where he would be. So, we picked him up." She said noticing Elliot coming up to her.
"Let's go, Elliot." She said picking up her newly found folder and walking pass him.
"Go where?" He said folding his arms.
Olivia stopped in her tracks and looked at him perplexed. "To interrogate him."
"No the hell you're not." Captain Donald Cragen said as he emerged from his office with his hands in his pocket.
"Captain…" Olivia tried to respond, but was cut off.
"You must be crazy to think I'm going to let you interrogate the man that is suspected of sexually assaulting Alex."
"Captain, I can handle it."
"You are too personally involved in this, Olivia. I will not allow it. Even you have to step out of yourself for just a minute and realize this isn't a good idea."
Olivia stood there quietly and thought about his words.
"Elliot, get in contact with the responding officers and let them know the suspect is in custody and can be interviewed here. Fin, pull Cliff's phone and financial records and see if anything sticks out and links him to Alex. Munch, get in contact with the janitor that stopped the attack. Olivia… go home."
"Captain!"
"I will not have you around and jeopardize this case by reacting to him. Go home."
Olivia stood in silence and looked into his eyes.
"How did you know Alex was sexually assaulted?" she asked in a whisper.
"When it's our own that is targeted the news travels fast."
With that, he went into his office and closed the door. Elliot put a hand on his partners shoulder to comfort her knowing that if the positions were reversed he would feel the exact same way. Olivia turned towards him with tears building in her eyes and a look on her face that concerned Elliot.
"Come on."
Elliot walked her to the crib and closed the door behind them. Olivia sat on a bed and ran her trembling hand through her hair.
"Talk to me. What's going on?"
Olivia sat there for a second in silence, not really knowing how to put her feelings into words. It was a mixed set of emotions that ranged from anger to hurt to concern.
"Elliot… I don't know how to feel. I… this is hard." She said taking a big breath.
"I know how you must feel." Elliot said taking the bed opposite of her.
"No. No, you don't." She said blew out in frustration. "This guy that has sexually assaulted… possibly raped Alex is the same man she could have had an affair with behind my back. A man of whom Alex has lied to me about. Tonight at dinner I was… hurt to say the least. Not really from the things Cliff said, but from the fact that I didn't know wither to believe him or not. If Alex would have been straight forward with me about him all along then it wouldn't have even been a question, but now…" She blew out another shaky breath.
"Liv, this guy is a creep and would do and say anything to break you two apart. He showed that by his actions tonight. Alex has made it very clear that she wants to work this out and any fool can see that she is in love with you. I wouldn't question that."
Before she could respond, Fin entered the crib holding Olivia's cell phone.
"It's Serena. She says they are done with Alex's rape kit."
Elliot looked at her and could tell she was weighing in her head wither to go to the hospital or not.
"Liv, go. She needs you right now."
Olivia gave him a look that he couldn't quite place and stood up.
"Tell her I'm on my way."
As Olivia walked down the same exact hallway she left not only two hours ago, she realized her emotions were very different from the first time she walked it. When she first came here she felt panicked. Her mind full of questions and her heart pounding. Now, she was apprehensive. She didn't know why, but she was scared. She was scared that she was going to find a different woman in that hospital room. She had seen rape transform joyous, happy women into soulless vegetables that never return to their previous state. She wanted the Alex that yelled at her every time she wanted a shaky warrant. She wanted the Alex that made her blood boil, both for good and bad.
Olivia was pulled out of her thoughts as Serena caught her eye exiting the room that was sure to be Alex's. Serena gave her a sympathetic smile as she approached her.
"She's been asking about you." She said crossing her arms.
Olivia stayed silent and avoided her eyes, subconsciously straightening her jacket.
"Well, I'm going to go. Let me know if you two need anything ok?"
"Yeah… thank you, Serena."Serena gave her a small smile and walked down the hallway towards the exit.
Olivia continued to walk to the door and felt her heart beat faster as she reached the threshold. She closed her eyes in silent prayer as she forced her legs to walk through.
When she opened her eyes she saw her.
Alex was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed with her hands firmly gripping the matters and her legs hanging off. Her head was down and her hair was draped around her face making none of it visible. Olivia tried to swallow the large lump in her throat that threatened to choke her.
"Alex."
Her head looked up into Olivia's mocha brown eyes and her facial expression slowly softened. She slowly and carefully stood herself up alongside the bed, still holding onto it for support. She looked fragile, like something that needed to be treated with absolute care. Her skin was paler than normal, the bruise on her face was immediately noticeable against her complexion.
"Olivia..."
The sound of her name coming from the blonde broke her down. A string of tears fell from her eyes as she slowly walked towards Alex. She lifted her thumb to her face and carefully traced the bruise that told the story from earlier that night.
"He did this… he hurt you."
A tear fell from Alex's eye which was caught by the thumb present on her cheek. She slightly nodded in answer to Olivia's question. She visibly gulped before saying, "Olivia, you have to believe me. I never EVER slept with him. I have no idea how he sent that text message from my phone, I-"
"Alex… stop." She said wiping away the fresh tears that were falling from Alex. "I don't care about that right now. I'm just happy you're safe."
Alex leaned into Olivia's touch. She took a step forward wanting to be held by her. She needed to feel that Olivia believed her. Loved her, but she sensed apprehension from her.
"What's wrong, Liv?"
Olivia took a deep breath and looked into Alex's crystal blue eyes. She tried to regulate her breathing, but it kept coming in shallow pants. She swallowed for courage.
"Alex… did, ummm, did he… did he…" She couldn't say it. The surrealism of her saying this to the woman she loved felt bizarre. She saw the look in Alex's face as she realized the question that she was struggling to ask. The look in her eyes made Olivia think that this man had actually gone through with it. He had done the unthinkable.
"Did he… did he rape you?"
Alex took a deep breath and looked into her lovers eyes.
"No. No, he didn't."
Olivia immediately broke down in tears. The breath she didn't realize she was holding blew out of her. Her emotional wall was crumbling and Alex realized that this assault didn't just affect her. She pulled Olivia into a hug and stroked her hair. She kissed it as Olivia sobbed into the hospital gown that was given to Alex. She held her there for a while slowly stroking her hair until they were joined by another person in the room.
"Errm. Sorry to interrupt. Ms. Cabot I have your discharge papers and the spare set of clothes Ms. Southerlyn brought you. As soon as you're ready you can go." He handed the clothes to Olivia and gave Alex a smile before leaving and closing the door.
Alex gave Olivia a shy smile. "Could you help me… take this off?"
Olivia wiped her eyes and didn't answer, but grabbed a handful of the cheap fabric as Alex slowly lifted her arms. Olivia brought the gown over Alex's head and gasped at the black and blue blotches that covered her body.
"Alex…"
They were everywhere. Several were on her arms showing the fight that Alex put up in the struggle. Some were by her rib cage, but a large gauze that was strapped to her side covered the rest from view. She traced the bruises lightly with her fingers, but Alex hissed in pain and grabbed Olivia's wrist, stopping her exploration.
"I'm sorry." She said still staring at the bandage that took up most of her side. "Are your ribs…"
"Broken? No. Bruised, but not broken." She said in a whisper.
Olivia snapped herself out of her gaze and handed Alex the shirt out of the bag Serena brought. Alex carefully put the shirt on then reached for the baggy sweatpants that also emerged from the bag.
Once Alex was dressed, they stood there in silence. Olivia found herself avoiding Alex's eyes even though she could feel hers on her. Alex felt her uneasiness and tried to decipher what was going on inside Olivia's mind, but stayed silent.
Finally she looked Alex in the eyes and said barely in a whisper, "You know… I'm not the responding officer… You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to…"
Alex bit her bottom lip and sighed, knowing that they would eventually have this talk, but didn't have enough energy to do it now.
"Thank you, Liv. I appreciate that." She gave her a small smile and reached for her hand and softly played with Olivia's fingers. Olivia turned her palm around and took her hand in hers.
"You ready to get out of here?"
Alex rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "God, no. I want to stay here forever."
They both gave a light laugh as they exited the room.
Hand in hand.
"Wake up."
Detective's Shaw and Conver walked into the small dingy interview room and threw a stuffed manila folder on the table.
Cliff was resting his head in his folded arms and slowly lifted it at the sound of the folder coming dangerously close to his head. When he caught sight of the two detectives that entered the room he was disappointed.
"Who are you?"
"Detective Shaw. This is my partner Detective Conver." Shaw said as he took a seat at the table, "We're the responding officers to a rape of an A.D.A. at the D.A.'s office. Would you happen to know anything about that?"
Cliff stayed silent before responding through gritted teeth, "You are not the officer that arrested me at my hotel of which I was in all night."
"Hmmm… that's funny. The A.D.A. that was the victim states otherwise. Alex. You know her don't you?"
Cliff stared at Detective Shaw and stayed silent.
"So we're playing the silent game?" Said Conver as he walked further into the only light in the room.
"I'm not saying a word to anyone except Detective Benson." He said quietly.
Conver gave a puzzled look at his partner. "Well, she's not here and is not an officer on this case."
"I don't care. I'll talk only to Olivia."
Shaw glanced over at Conver who folded his arms. "That's not possible and is not going to happen."
"Then you get nothing." Cliff leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.
"I want Olivia."
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