Room 104

6 PM

"Okay," Alex said grabbing a sheet of paper from a manilla envelope that she had extracted from her briefcase, "The trial is scheduled for Thursday."

"Today's Wednesday," Olivia stated, "They won't even let me leave the hospital. I can't even walk. How am I suppose to attend the trial?"

"A wheel chair," Alex said quickly, just like ripping off a band aid. "It will work out best for us. The jury will be able to plainly see that he hurt you."

Olivia sighed. The thought of being in a courtroom full of people while she was in a wheel chair made her stomach churn. People would look at her like she was weak and how was she going to argue with that?

"Let's just get this over with," Olivia sighed, "Before my headache gets too bad."

"You have a headache?" Alex asked, her voice filled with concerned.

"It's not... too bad," Olivia explained, "I just want to get this over with though."

"Okay," Alex said glancing over the sheet of paper, "If at any time you need a break just let me know."

"Okay."

"Miss Benson, is it true that Mr. Pena has been in jail after being wrongly convicted and you were one of the detectives on his case?"

"Yes," Olivia said quietly.

"Can you explain to me what happened?"

"The officer who collected evidence... was color blind. He thought the scarf was green but it was red. Pena must have heard someone say the color green so he admitted to it."

Alex nodded and glanced up from the paper to see how Olivia was holding up. She didn't seem to bothered too much yet but her head seemed to be really hurting. Alex could tell by the way she squeezed her eyes shut tight and rubbed her temples.

"Liv," Alex said gently putting her work files away, "Do I need to get Lana in here?"

"Mmm."

"I'm getting Lana," Alex said taking Olivia's non-answer as being serious.

Alex went into the hallway to find Lana and Lana had been with another patient but quickly finished up so she could get to Olivia.

"What's the problem?" Lana asked rushing into her room, "Alex told me you had a real bad headache."

Olivia's face was flushed with pain and she didn't understand what was happening. Her head was pounding and she had never experienced a headache like this before.

"I can give you some more medicine," Lana said, "But it just seems to be a tension headache."

"How are your ribs feeling?"

"Aching," Olivia answered, "But I can handle it."

Lana gave her a sad smile, "Okay, the medicine is going now." As the clear liquid slowly dripped into Olivia's IV, she slowly grew more fatigued and she finally drifted into a slow slumber.

"Her trial is in two days," Alex explained to Lana who was checking Olivia's vitals just to make sure she was doing okay. "Do you think she will be any better physically?"

"Honestly," Lana began wrapping her stethoscope around her neck, "No. She took a pretty brutal beating. Her bruises haven't seemed to have faded any... her ribs are still cracked and although they don't bother her much during the day they really hurt her at night and in the morning. We haven't worked on walking yet because I don't want to hurt her anymore than she already is."

Alex sighed. She hated hearing how much pain Olivia was in. She knew that Olivia masked most of it but Lana wasn't lying. Olivia had to be in a world of hurt. "That could help our case," Alex said, "There's no way the jury is going to believe that she would do this to herself."

Lana tucked a loose piece of hair that had fallen from her pony tail behind her hair and sighed, "The night she came in... she was so unrecognizable. It wasn't until I learned her name that I remembered her... she's really a great person. She doesn't deserve this."

"You knew her before this?"

Lana nodded, "She was the lead detective on my case..."

"You were raped..."

Lana nodded, "She was there with the me every step of the way. The rape kit... the trial... at night when I woke up from a nightmare. She helped me get my life back together."

"Does she remember you?"

Lana shrugged, "I'm sure she has a lot on her mind right now. It doesn't bother me if she doesn't... she's been through a lot more than I went through."

Alex picked up her briefcase as an escape so Lana wouldn't see her glossy eyes, "I'm sorry," she whispered. Then she turned to leave.

Squad Room

7:30 PM

"How's Liv holding up?" Fin asked Cragen as he slouched down into the chair that sat in front of the captain's desk.

He sighed, "I talked to her earlier today and she said she was holding up fine but... I don't really believe her."

"She'll be fine," Fin said, "She's Benson. She can get through anything."

Cragen shook his head. He didn't doubt that Benson couldn't get through this. He didn't doubt how strong he was. However, he did doubt the jury. He was sure Pena would have a damn good lawyer and he didn't know any of the people on the jury so he wouldn't know how their mind's worked. He was praying that they could see that Olivia wasn't making this up. She was pulled into an alley, attacked, beaten to near death, and raped. How much more did they need? They should be able to see it as soon as they took one look Olivia. The bruising that swelled her face. The way she breathed because breathing regularly hurt. They way she would be in a wheel chair... He cringed at the sight. Olivia was like his child and cases with children were never easy.