Hi all,
Here is chapter 8 and this story is slowly making it's way toward the end.
I hope you're all still enjoying this.
Also hope you are having a good holiday season!
Disclaimer: I do not own SVU or its characters, nor am I making a profit from this work
Enjoy
Chloe had debated whether or not to behind her friend's back for a week or so, and had eventually decided it was in her best interest to do so.
A quick google search had told her where to go and it was a snowy morning that she found herself running for cover in the precinct building that housed the Special Victims Unit.
She had no idea what to say, but she knew her friend needed help. The last she'd seen or heard from Lia had been three weeks ago. It hadn't been planned. Lia had been out running and Chloe was coming out of a coffee shop. It had been hard enough to get Lia to stop, let alone get her to talk to her.
It didn't take long for Chloe to figure out Dan had been beating her and the fact Lia seemed to think it was okay was beyond her. But she wasn't in her position so she wasn't prepared to judge. She just wanted to help, or rather get Lia the help she needed.
Glad for the warmth of the building, she removed her duffel coat before clipping on her visitors badge and after asking the security guard the floor number she needed, she was on her way to the seventh floor.
A desk sergeant took her request and after five minutes of waiting for someone to talk to, she was introduced to Detective Amaro. He was kind and smiled a lot.
He wrote down her name before asking what she needed to help with.
"This isn't really about me, but I need some help with a friend… I don't know how to help her and God she needs it."
"What's happening with your friend, or how old is she?"
"Ah she's 18, like me and I think… I know her partner's hitting her. I'm not sure if they have to be married, to class it as domestic violence…" Chloe shrugged and Amaro shook his head.
"Abuse is abuse." He said quietly and at her faint smile he continued, "I take it you've tried talking to her…"
"I saw her a few weeks ago. I think she's blocked my number now though. She doesn't see anything wrong in the way he treats her, but he's just taken over a big work position and I don't know, she's blinded by him."
Chloe didn't know how else to explain it and her attempts at that were cut off by Detective Carisi who at that moment entered the squad room and recognised the glasses wearing women from his sister's dorm room hallway.
"Chloe, right?" He asked, hurrying over and instantly thinking the worst.
"Lia's brother." She sighed as Amaro came to the realisation that they knew each other and that the 'friend', Chloe had been talking about was Lia.
"Did something happen, have you heard from her?" Carisi asked quickly and she gave a slow shake of her head.
"Not for a few weeks. She never contacted me about leaving college or anything. I thought she was dead." Chloe admitted only a little louder than a whisper.
"It's gotten worse, though?" He tried to forget what Chloe had said. He would never forgive himself if Lia died, if Dan killed her.
"Yeah I guess, I mean that's why I'm here. She might not want help from me, but she needs it from someone. The way she used to talk about you, I would have thought she'd have gone to you."
He looked at the floor. The last time he'd seen her he was convinced the same, that she wanted help and was willing to let him do that for her.
The way she'd fallen apart in his arms was a moment he couldn't shake and it was honestly one of the most raw moments of her life, where she'd let herself feel every damn emotion that was bubbling beneath the surface.
"I mean I can try and keep calling, emailing, messaging you know, but it just feels so…"
"Hopeless." He finished and she nodded and stood from her chair.
"Don't let him break her. Lia's worth so much more than him, I just wish she saw that."
"I know. I'll try my best Chloe."
Chloe gave a small smile before throwing her coat over her arm and following Amaro back over to the entrance, where she thanked him and left the precinct.
He watched from where he stood at Amaro's desk and when the other detective returned he sighed.
Lia didn't see it, she didn't know how bad it really was and the fact Sonny knew where it was going made him want to track down Dan and beat the living shit out of him.
Violence wasn't the answer, but maybe payback was.
X
It was early the next week, when the detectives were overrun with cases. The holiday rush. They were all tired and overworked and Sonny had hardly a moment to dwell on Lia's situation.
"Just got a call from a responding officer…" Liv came out of her office, and they all stared at her for a moment, almost too exhausted to comprehend what she was saying.
"Nick, you come with me. Fin, hold down the fort here."
Amaro stood, pulling his overcoat from the back of his chair and grabbing his badge and gun from his desk drawer.
The two left, and began the slow drive to the address they'd been given.
Snow fell as they hurried to meet the officer waiting for them in the doorway to the brick apartment building and the three of them moved inside.
"Neighbours called it in a little over an hour ago. Told operators they heard yelling and the sound of something breaking."
Liv and Nick shared a look before they followed the officer up to the apartment door on the top floor.
"I told you, I'm fine!" They heard a familiar voice yell and Liv sighed as her detective's sister noticed the two of them.
"I don't need you." She muttered, as Liv made her way over to Lia after telling Nick to talk to Dan and get his side of the story.
"Why don't you sit down, Lia. We can just talk about what happened."
"There's nothing to talk about." She held her hands up in defeat.
"We can't just leave this alone, your neighbours called the police, they were concerned." Liv countered and after standing her ground eventually Lia made her way to sit on the couch.
Liv didn't miss the way she limped, or the way she had her hair positioned in a way that shielded her from everyone. She thought she noticed bruising on Lia's neck and before she followed the young woman she turned to face the female officer who'd been with her.
"Call a bus, she looks like she needs medical attention, even if she says she doesn't." Liv told her and the officer nodded before moving away to radio it in.
"So Lia, do you want to tell me what happened?" She asked as she sat down opposite her.
"No." Lia snapped shortly, before wincing and looking away, a wave of nausea coming over her. "We had a fight, okay. Nothing to get worked up over."
"Just walk me through what happened, yeah?" Liv spoke softly and after an eye roll Lia began talking.
"I got home and Dan was home early and… We slept together and he was angry…"
Lia was absolutely terrified. The police had been called to their house, by their neighbours. It made it all seem more real and the fact Dan was talking to a detective in the current moment made her angry. That surprised her, she'd never felt such anger toward him before.
She knew he'd be telling lies without a second thought. He was smooth like that. He could think on his feet and something like this would be swept away tidily without a fuss. This time he'd hurt her, her soul and her body
Unless she fought back and that made her feel sick with dread.
Nothing could take away what he did to her and nothing could make it better.
Lia went to stand, needing to pace, needing to gain control, needing everything to just, stop.
Everything did stop, as when she stood, a shooting stab of pain radiated through her body. She could remember every little thing that he'd done to her and the panic that raced through her mind at the horrific memory made her shake.
"Lia? Lia, honey are you okay?" She heard a voice say, but she couldn't see who it was coming from.
Why couldn't she see?
The voice was snuffed out by the growing shadows in her mind.
Why couldn't she see? Why couldn't she hear?
She just wanted it all to stop and it did.
Lia didn't flinch as arms reached forward to catch her. She just wanted to stop, she wanted people to stop expecting the world from her.
Everything stopped spinning and as she lay in silence with her mind, in a painless place she just stopped fighting.
It took me a long time to figure out where to end it, but I figured here was an okay spot - Otherwise this chapter was twice as long.
Please, let me know your thoughts in a review.
5 reviews for chapter 9.
Much love,
Liv x
