As soon as Olivia hung up the phone with Elliot she grabbed a duffel bag out of her closet and filled it with various clothing and necessities she would need to spend the night somewhere else. She finished gathering her attire and walked out of her apartment. As she turned the corner of her apartment and headed for the elevator she thought of Elliot. Suddenly the elevator door opened. When Olivia looked up she saw him standing there right in front of her.
"Liv, we need to talk." He was entirely seriously
"What's there to talk about Elliot? Oh, I know, maybe we should start by talking about you not trusting me to come to you when I was ready, or maybe we should talk about your betrayal of me, by snooping around in my personal business." Olivia was clearly angry. The doors to the elevator began to close so Elliot stuck his arm between him allowing enough time for him to step out of the elevator.
"Olivia: I love you so mu..." Elliot was cut off by something other than Olivia's words. There was something about hearing him say he loved her, something about him knowing and still loving that enraged her. Before she could calm down she balled her fist and swung at Elliot. Her fist collided with his lip. Elliot's head snapped back the opposite direction, throwing him off balance and onto the floor.
"Okay, alright, Liv, I deserved that. Now can we talk? Please?." Elliot stood to his feet and looked at a clearly shaken Olivia. She stood there with her right arm folded as her other hand covered her bowed face.
" I am sorry." she whispered. "Would you like to come in and put some ice on that?" She didn't wait for a reply, instead she gathered her belongings and began walking to her apartment door.
"Only, if you have enough ice for my ego too." Elliot was trying to ease the situation, but was also half serious. Guys had hit him and it did far less damage then her love tap did. "Where did you learn that liv?" He asked as they walked in to her apartment.
"Karate class...ten years now...no one knows, I'd like to keep it that way if you don't mind." She smirked at him.
"Hey no problem here, I suppose that explains those submission holds you love to put perps in but when you kick Munch's butt, let me watch, I can make a lot of money off of others not knowing." Elliot was smiling as she handed him an ice pack from the freezer. He put it on his face and grimaced at first. He sat down on the couch and called out to Olivia. "Liv, please come and sit with me, let's talk this through." Elliot made room for her to sit next to him. She sat down and Elliot couldn't help but notice she was shaking. He wondered if that was because of what was about to happen or if it was from her laying him out in the hallway.
"Your right Liv, I should have waited for you to tell me. When the doctors told me about your scar though, they were accusing you of doing it to yourself. I knew you couldn't do that so I starting poking around. I had no right, I am so sorry, please forgive me. If you can find room for forgiveness ple..." Olivia cut him off.
" I am glad you know. It's a load off. I wanted to tell you so many times but I thought you would leave me." Olivia was facing Elliot but she couldn't look at him, not eye to eye, not after knowing that he knew.
"What all do you know El?" She asked ready to expose to light, the areas that were dark to him.
"Just what's in this file...Liv?" Elliot couldn't bring himself to say it. "What?" She whispered. "You were a virgin weren't you?" He asked her. She lowered her head and noded yes. "I wanted to wait untilI was married." she was trembling more.Elliot grabbed the folded file from his jacket and handed it to her. "I know they never caught him." Olivia shook her head no, she was fighting back tears "I am sorry Liv." "Olivia took the files from Elliot and stared at the cover knowing full well that everything she hid from the world was summed up in two files.
"Liv, open it." He reached out and held her hand "I'm not going anywhere." Olivia had never seen the contents of these files, she never wanted anything to remember the rape by, but here it was, right in front of her. She took a deep breath and opened the hospital report. The doctor report did a good job on the summary. Vaginal tearing, torn hymen multiple stab wounds...stitches...head trauma...rape kit...rape kit?
"They did a rape kit?" She questioned out loud.
"You don't remember?" Elliot asked.
"No, I was admitted unconscious from the loss of blood." She looked at Elliot, "If there's a rape kit...there's DNA evidence. I could find him Elliot." She stared at him, "I can find him." She repeated.
"Are you sure you want to? The statute of limitations is up, what would it do for you to find him Liv?" He wanted her to think the whole situation through before she subjected herself to more pain and possible let down.
"Elliot, my mother was raped by my father, they never found him, they never found the man who did this to me. I need some type of closure, it's ruining my life. Please understand me." Her eyes were filling with tears, but this time she did not look away. "Elliot, the statues of limitations are up for the rape, not the attempted murder...he left me there to die El." She was crying now, silently, but nonetheless she was finally crying.
Elliot had been so preoccupied by the rape that he hadn't stopped to think that Olivia almost died. That bastard had left her there bound and bleeding to death.
"What's the police report say?" He asked. 'Its pretty thin, not a lot of leads' he thought to himself.
She opened up the file and flipped through the detective's notes. Her eyes came to the crime scene photos. It was incredibly painful for her, when she looked at the pictures memories flooded back. The blood on the bed, the handcuffs still on the headboard, the gag still lying on the bed. The gag. Olivia stared at that gag.
"Elliot, this looks familiar to me, I've seen it somewhere." She showed him the picture.
"Liv, maybe it looks familiar because you are now seeing for the first time what he used."
"Yeah, maybe...but I remember it vaguely from the attack... I think Iv had enough for now." She closed the files and put them on the coffee table.
It was almost four O'clock in the morning and Olivia was exhausted. She had to get up early for work, which reminded her...
"Elliot, you still haven't told me about your family what's wrong? She asked as she laid her head on his chest.
"Liv,..."he paused "There was no emergency, I wanted to spend some time, looking for the guy who hurt you. I am sorry I lied to you... I am so sorry." Elliot began to cry silently as he gently squeezed Olivia in his arms.
" I forgive you" She said as she closed her eyes for rest. "But guess what?" She asked
"What?" he was curious as to what form of punishment she would ask for so that he could be reconciled to her.
"You have to go to work now detective Stabler." She said facetiously as she fell asleep.
" Spending the day with you, isn't work, its what I look forward to." He told her as he pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and laid it over them. They slept there for the one-hour they had left before work. For Elliot he was happy just to be close with her, he almost lost her and he didn't want to ever lie to her again. For her, it was the most peaceful sleep since the attack.
