Charlotte attracted some strange looks as she walked into the precinct the next day, she looked like something out of a horror movie. Olivia stood up as she saw her walk into the squad room, and was at her side in seconds.

"Charley, what are you doing here? Take some time off. You shouldn't be here right now."

Charlotte gave her a determined look, "Liv, I need to be here. Please, let me do my…"

She didn't get to finish, as Murphy beckoned the two women into his office. "Charlotte, you know I can't let you work after what you've been through. You need to take some time, heal and then we can talk about you coming back."

"Murphy, I'm fine, really. I just need to work. I don't do well when I have time to get inside my own head."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't. You need time to rest, to deal with what happened. You need to heal both mentally and physically before I can let you come back."

Charlotte sat with a blank look on her face. "Fine. If that's what you've decided, I'll be going now." She rose from her chair with great difficulty and left the office without another word, marching straight past her co-workers and to the elevators. Once out of the building she proceeded to the nearest bar and ordered three shots of tequila. It was her intention to get herself rat arsed drunk.

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Nick was pleased to be back as Olivia's partner, however he was pissed as hell over what had happened to Charlotte. He didn't like people messing with a member of the team. Even if he had treated her like crap. They were headed towards the penthouse of Nathanial Tanner, intending to question him further. But on the way they received a call from Murphy saying that they had a third victim. Nick and Olivia raced to the scene and when they arrived they were immediately ushered under the police tape by a very green looking uniformed officer. He didn't look much more than nineteen so it was quite possible that he had never seen a dead body before, and they were unsurprised to see that he was not looking his best. They entered the bar, which, technically was out with their borough, however, given the similarities in the pattern between their attacks and this one, the local SVU had called them in. A young red haired girl was on the floor of the ladies room, with handprints and a small cut on her neck. Olivia sighed at the picture before her, there was blood and broken glass everywhere. A nice footprint was left in blood, there were fingerprints all over and according to Melinda there was ejaculate left on the victim.

"This can't be ours then, he had the snip," Olivia thought aloud.

"Liv, I said there was ejaculate, not that there was sperm," Melinda said patiently. "It looks just like the other two attacks. I had just hoped never to have to meet one of this bastard's victims."

"Fuck," Olivia exclaimed. She had been hoping that they would catch this guy before he killed someone. Unless this print matched Nate, or his fingerprints were in this room, they still probably wouldn't have enough evidence to arrest him. But maybe enough to compel a DNA sample.

"What was the time of death," Nick asked.

"Between three and four this morning, I think she was closing up when she was attacked."

They collected their evidence and left after Melinda told them when the autopsy would begin. Back at the car Nick asked Olivia, "is Charlotte going to be ok? She looked pretty banged up."

Olivia manage to cover her expression of shock as she responded, "she's strong, she'll get through it, she just needs time."

Nick nodded, "I've been a jerk," he said, "she didn't deserve it."

"Charlotte's tougher than she looks, I'm sure she doesn't hold it against you. I never have," Olivia said with a smile.

Nick knew she was referring to the numerous times he had given her grief about dating Cassidy. The situation had been extremely difficult and there had been fault on both sides, but he had jumped to conclusions as a result of his paranoia, and it turned out he had been wrong. Olivia knew it was just his way of protecting what mattered to him, and that was all his animosity towards Charlotte really was. He was protective of the team and was wary of this new girl.

"You think this Tanner guy attacked her?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, he kept trying to goad her whenever we spoke to him. And he doesn't like hearing the word no. Charlotte humiliated him, so maybe he took out his anger on her.

"Maybe," Nick said thoughtfully, "you know, if he's going after people who have humiliated him you might want to be careful. He can't be happy that you've questioned him twice, and from what I hear you were pretty tough with him and he won't be used to that."

Olivia cast him a glance, "Nick, I can handle myself."

Nick looked genuinely worried, "Charlotte thought that too, but look at her now."

Olivia glared at him, but said nothing. That hit home. Charlotte, while she didn't look very tough, was an extremely capable cop, but there's not much anyone could do when ambushed by four guys, one of whom has a knife to your throat.

Eventually she responded, "I promise I'll be careful."

They entered the impressive building and bypassed Roy by flashing their badges at them, he was less obstructive than he had been on Olivia's first visit. The elevator ride to Nate's apartment was quick and soon they were in the extravagant foyer.

"Mr Tanner," Nick called.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here," Nate asked as he thundered down the stairs.

Nick showed his badge and it was only then Nate noticed Olivia standing a couple of steps behind.

"Oh it's you Olivia, where's Barbie? I have to say this partner is a downgrade."

"Where were you last night Mr Tanner," she asked, ignoring his question.

"I was here."

"Alone," Nick inquired.

"Yes, well unless you count yourself being in my dreams Olivia, and I have to say you are a wildcat in the sack."

Olivia rolled her eyes, "well the only way I would ever touch you would be in your dreams Mr Tanner. And you have no one to vouch for your whereabouts last night."

Nate's face clouded over. He was not used to being spoken to in this manner. In fact he was, and that was what made him angry. These women had no right to think that they were better than he was.

"I don't need to explain myself to you," he said angrily, "now please leave. Tell Barbie I said hi."

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They searched through the security cameras to see if they could see Nathanial Tanner on them, to prove that he had not been at home, but they couldn't see him anywhere. Maybe they were completely wrong, maybe it wasn't him. Olivia's gut, however, told her that they had their man, they just needed to prove it.

A CSU tech walked into the squad room. "Hey Olivia," he said, as he approached her desk, "we got a hit on the prints on Detective Van Horne's gun."

"And…," Olivia looked at him expectantly.

"We have one Daryl Valeno. 22." He handed her the report. "Address is Brooklyn."

She called to Nick, "get your coat, we have a lead on one of the bastards who attacked Charley."

It took them almost an hour to get to Valeno's apartment. He wasn't there. His neighbour told them that he had pretty much moved out, and had no idea where he went.

"Dammit," Nick raged as the very unhelpful neighbour slammed his door.

"We don't have enough for a warrant," Olivia said, "there is nothing more we can do."

They heard a noise behind the door of their suspect's apartment. Olivia looked at Nick as she drew her weapon. "Exigent circumstances," she asked.

"Damn straight," Nick said as he kicked the door down, just in time to see their suspect headed out the window and down the fire escape. Nick followed him, while Olivia ran back through the building and out, hoping to catch him before he made it to the street below.

When Olivia and Nick met in the alley he was nowhere to be seen. "You take the street, I'll go down here," Olivia said and she began to search for their suspect. She was almost at the end of alleyway when Valeno crept up behind her and clamped his hand down over her mouth and wrapped his other arm around her torso. She struggled against him but he was surprisingly strong, and she was unable to pull an arm free. He pulled her back deeper into the alley, and through a door that was open into what looked like a storage cellar. Before he could go any further she managed to work an arm loose enough that she could thrust it back into his stomach and he let go of her grunting in pain. She spun around and trained her gun on him, and shouted, "get up and put your hands in the air."

He complied and took a couple of steps towards her, but only so he could rush her and slam her back into the wall. He grabbed the wrist of her gun hand and hit it against the wall until she released it and it landed on the floor with a clatter. He punched her a few times in the ribs and a couple of times in the head. Not willing to go down without a fight she aimed a kick at his gut but he caught her leg and threw her to the ground before he took off running.

Groaning she pulled herself to her feet, grabbed her gun and began after him, only to find that Nick had apprehended him at the mouth of the alley. "Great you got the bastard," she said, glaring at Valeno. Nick noticed that she had a cut on her cheek from his ring when he punched her and around her eye was slightly swollen.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, and he's lucky that it was you who got him and not me," she said as she roughly thrust him into the squad car. "The sooner we get this asshole to an interview room the better."