Buzz. Buzz.

Kate groaned.

Buzz. Buzz.

She cracked one eye open. Even that much light was too much for her. Her eyes screamed at her to pull the covers over her head and shut out the world.

Buzz. Buzz.

Her hand snaked out from under the sheets and grabbed her phone. She peaked at the screen, then pressed answer.

"Hello?" she croaked. She cleared her throat. "Walker speaking."

"Kate, it's Carisi. Where are you?"

Kate sat upright in bed. Her head spun, her stomach churned and her eyes burned. As her eyes adjusted, she took in the unfamiliar room. Her mind ran, trying to piece together the night that was covered in a haze of alcohol.

"What do you mean where am I?"

"It's nine."

She struggled to see the small clock on the nightstand. When she did, she groaned. Nine A.M. "Crap!"

She jumped from the bed. She was sure she was going to throw up, but she managed to keep her stomach under control.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes."

She threw her phone down on the bed without even saying goodbye and ran into the bathroom. She looked terrible. Her make-up was smudged. Dark circles had formed under her eyes. Her hair was messy.

She tried her best to tidy herself up by washing off all her make-up and combing her hair with her fingers before pulling it into a pony tail. She sighed. It was the best she could do.


Kate hurried into the squad room an hour late. She tried her hardest to sneak past Amaro, Carisi and Finn who sat buried in paperwork at their desks.

"Here she is!" Carisi announced.

Kate froze. "God damn it," she whispered to herself. She spun around to face the three of them.

"Hot date last night?" asked Carisi as he threw a ball into the air and caught it again.

"If by hot date you mean drinking by myself, then yes."

Carisi chuckled, but Nick and Finn looked solemn. They knew she wasn't drinking for fun.

"Kate." Olivia appeared at her side. "Can I see you in my office?"

Kate grimaced and followed Olivia. Her Sergeant closed the door behind her. Instead of sitting behind her desk, she sat beside Kate in one of the two chairs.

"Do you need time off?"

Kate shook her head immediately. "No. I'm good. I just needed a night to get myself together."

"You're a good detective. I don't want to see you go downhill because you haven't been looking after yourself and knowing your limits."

"I've had cases lost before, Serg. I've just never been personally blamed."

Olivia put a hand on Kate's shoulder. "We don't blame you at all. Finn, Rollins and Nick are staying on the case to find something to get Bradley."

Kate nodded.

Olivia rose from the chair and pulled something from under her desk then tossed it to Kate. It was a plastic bag with jeans and a sweater.

"Thanks, Serg."


Two days passed. Kate tried to get herself back to normal, but she couldn't. She only went home for an hour or so a day to shower and change then the rest of her time was spent doing monotonous 309 forms. She hadn't slept in forty-eight hours. At seven in the morning, she sat in an empty office. The night owls and the rest of the overtimers had called it a night at four, while the early birds didn't normally start arriving for another half an hour. Her one hundredth and fourth seventh 309 form sat in front of her, half finished.

"How long has it been since you slept?" The voice made her jump.

She looked over to see Rafael kneeling beside her. Dark circles had developed under his eyes, his hair was messed up and his scruff had developed well past a five o'clock shadow. He wore no tie and his shirt was unbuttoned to show the small tuft of chest hair.

Kate rubbed her eyes. "A while. How long has it been since you slept?"

A frown developed on his face. "I need to get this guy off the street, but his legal bubble is too strong to break." Rafael's eyes closed. "I should have seen this coming. Bradley is smart." He leant his hip against the desk, his arms crossing over his chest.

They sat in silence for a few moments. There was so much Kate wanted to say to him: thank you for being there for her, thank you for working so hard, thank you for not giving up. Instead, she uttered a simple "Thank you for the hotel room, Rafael."

He looked at her with a sad smile. His lips parted, but before he could answer, Olivia came into the room, coffee in hand. Rollins and Finn hurried in after her, like two ducklings following their mother.

When Olivia saw them, she frowned. "How long have you been here, Kate?" She also noticed Barba's scruff. "Jesus, did you two get any sleep?"

"We need to get Damien Bradley back behind bars." Barba said sternly.

Olivia sighed. "Neither of you are going to be worth anything to anyone if you don't get some sleep. Kate go into the bunks and get a few hours. Barba, you should go to."

"I'm sure he's got a four poster bed he can go sleep in at home," joked Rollins.

Barba smirked at her. "I do, but I'm getting it replated in gold right now so your bunks are going to have to do."

Kate let out a short, sharp laugh. She realised that it had been days since she had even cracked a smile. Together, the two tired souls hobbled into the bunks. The room dark room was lined with bunk beds and lockers.

The nearest bed to Kate was the place she collapsed. Rafael flopped down on the bunk next to her and kicked off his shoes. The blankets on the bed were scratchy and the pillows had no support whatsoever. Nevertheless, her body was so tired and so relieved with the chance to recharge, it only took her seconds to drift into a sleep.


A rough shake awoke Kate. Through squinted eyes, Olivia stood over her. "Kate, we've got something. Something on Bradley."

Kate jumped from the bunk and looked across to where Rafael should have been sleeping. The bed was empty. Kate ran into the squad room where the entire team, including Rafael, stood in a circle. As soon as Kate joined them, Nick pointed to the television.

"I went and talked to Maddison's psychologist that she saw before being admitted to Handon." Nick used the remote to open up a document. It was the copy of a prescription. "He said that he prescribed her an anti-depressant that would have put her in a sound state of mind. I got Warner to test the blood from the rape kit. It was in her blood stream at the time."

"So her testimony can't be called into question?" questioned Oliva.

Nick nodded.

"That's all well and good," Carisi interjected. "But, correct me if I'm wrong, that information is covered doctor-patient confidentiality."

"That's the thing," Nick continued. He pressed a button on the remote and a form appeared on the screen. "When we were investigating, we were given permission from Maddison and her mother to access all medical records and reports."

"Then it's in," Barba said.

"Will that be enough?" Carisi asked.

"It's enough to get the ball rolling on Maddison's trial," Barba explained. "Hopefully, we can get him off the street with this, and once Maddison's testimony is deemed reliable, we can re-introduce the other girl's reports."

"So we've got him?" asked Olivia.

A sly grin came over Barba's face. "Fish in a barrel."

"Unfortunately, this doesn't clear Kate's name…" added Nick.

The team turned to stare at her. She crossed her arms in front of her. "I'm here to catch the bad guys, not to make myself look good."

Rafael ran to grab his briefcase and coat. "Good work. If I can get this past the judge, we are back in the game." He hurried out of the squad room toward the elevator.

Kate felt a relief she had never felt before overtake her body. High fives, back slaps and hugs were being thrown around the squad room for the next minute, before Olivia spoke.

"Good job, Nick." She praised, then turned to the team as a whole. "Alright guys, we need this evidence to be perfect. Get the paperwork started."


Three hours later, Finn, Rollins, Carisi and Kate pulled up in front of the large Bradley house. The warrant had come through within the hour, and she had begged Olivia to let her go, even if she didn't get to arrest him. The sergent agreed, but ordered her to stay in the car and she wasn't to have any interaction with Bradley. In Olivia's words, she wanted Kate to "pretend like she wasn't even there".

Finn pointed to a large, black SVU parked in the driveway. "Looks like he's got company."

Kate was ordered to stay in her and Carisi's car. She watched through the window as the three detectives walked to the front of the house.

Finn knocked on the door. In a stern, harsh voice he yelled, "Damien Bradley, NYPD."

Muffled bumps and scraps came from behind the door. "No, no, please!" A desperate voice pleaded, before a loud "BANG" resonated throughout the house.

Rollins, Finn and Carisi ducked. They flattened themselves against the bricks beside the door.

Kate sprang into action. The gun from her holster was instantly in her hand and by her side as ran to give back up to her team.

She joined Carisi on the left side of the door then yanked her radio from her shoulder. "Shot fired, shots fired. Send back up to 103 46th Street."

Finn used well-learned hand gestures to communicate the plan to the team. Kate nodded. Finn moved in front of the door and with one, powerful kick, forced the door open. Carisi and Rollins swung in, guns pointed, followed by Kate and Finn.

"NYPD." Amanda announced.

The house was eerily quiet. Each member of the team took a different part of the house. With slow, determined steps Kate ventured into the left side of the house. Her heart slammed against her ribs. The house was so still it made her feel uneasy.

"Guys! We've got something!" Finn yelled.

She shook off the uneasiness and ran into the kitchen. Her eyes were assaulted with the sight of blood. The red substance was all over the floor and sprayed up the walls. In the centre of it lay Doctor Francine Handon. She was spluttering and convulsing. With as much pressure as he could, Finn pressed a tea towel to her shoulder to stop the bleeding.

"Call a bus!" Finn instructed.

Kate radioed in for the ambulance. As soon as her finger released the radio, she heard a crash come from the other end of the house.

Carisi met her eyes and they communicated that they would investigate. Kate raised her weapon.

With tentative steps, they cleared the lounge room and study. The last room in the house that she could see on this floor was the laundry. They flattened themselves against the wall. Her breath was calm, as were here hands, but her brain was running a million miles an hour.

Kate swung into the room. It was small and white, with no places to hide. Her brow furrowed.

A yelp of pain came from behind her.

Before she even had the chance to turn, a hand clamped over her mouth. There was a white cloth in the palm. With all the might she had, Kate struggled against her attacker. She thrashed and tore her limbs left and right in an attempt to fight him off. Panic exploded in her brain. Her blood pumped in the veins so hard she could hear it in her ears. She was determined not to give up, but dizziness overtook her very quickly. Her head felt light and her arms and legs were heavy and unstable.

Thud.

Kate hit the floor.