"Are you sure she's ready for this?" Olivia glanced into the Captain's office where Emily Crawford sat, spinning around and around in her Godfather's chair.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Captain Cragen nervously smiled.

"Did you bring in the medical report?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah, the whole record of her hospital stay is in this file." Cragen said, holding up a manila file folder.

"What about the documentation of all of her injuries?" Olivia squinted her eyes.

"I didn't get that." The captain admitted.

"Captain, it's required that in any child abuse case you have to have the child examined and any injuries or other indications of abuse have to be documented by a medical professional." Elliot basically quoted the rule.

"I know…. I just wasn't up to it. I didn't think she'd be comfortable with me taking her." The Captain looked down, ashamed.

"Don't worry," Olivia reassured him. "I'll take her in after a little while. Why don't you just take a couple of hours off, let me and Elliot take care of Emily."

"Ok. I need to stop by the house anyway and get some cloths for her." Captain turned back into his office and told Emily what was going on. She smiled, dismissed his insecurity, and went back to reclining in his chair.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Did you know that frogs can't swallow without blinking?" Emily matter-of-factly stated. She followed it up with an intelligent smile. For over an hour, Olivia, Elliot and Emily had been sitting in balcony of the squad room. They had talked candidly about numerous subjects- just getting to know each other. Olivia and Elliot had been searching for perfect little tidbits of conversation that could lead them onto more information about the abuse.

"No, I didn't." Elliot laughed. He found fascination in her.

"My dad taught me that. He knew tons of little facts about the most random things. I always enjoyed hearing them." She reached her fingers into the edge of her cast to itch the skin beneath.

"Tell us about your dad." Olivia requested. "If you don't mind."

"I was really close to him." Emily smiled, remembering her father.

"What kind of things did you guys do together?" Elliot grinned at her, supportively.

"Everything." She laughed. "He was like my best friend. But my favorite thing to do with him was run."

"Why is that?" Olivia asked curiously.

"Because it was something we could do together. He needed to stay in shape for work. I'd tag along. We would run and talk at the same time. 'Easy bonding'- that's what he called it." Emily talked openly.

"Do you still run?" Olivia asked delicately. There was a pause, but Emily lit up again almost immediately.

"Not really. I tried. After my second or third time alone, I realized it wasn't as fun anymore. Its way easier when there's somebody cheering you on." Emily looked over the balcony and at the other detectives working at their desks.

"I'm sure you miss him a lot. What about your brothers… do they miss him?" Elliot rubbed the back of his neck.

"My dad wasn't as close to them as he was to me. What we had was special, and I was lucky to have it." Emily looked Elliot in the eye. She was confident in her relationship with her father.

"Why didn't Michael and Andrew have the same bond as you did with your dad?" Olivia crossed her legs under the table, gently brushing Elliot's.

"He was always busy working. Being a Sergeant is hard work. My dad took his job very seriously." Emily's eyebrows arched defensively, like she was defending Sergeant Crawford.

"I don't doubt that." Olivia leaned her head down to Emily's level.

"I wish he was still here," Emily's voice cracked. "When he was still here, things weren't as bad as they are now. With my mom."

"Emily, are telling us your mom abuses you?" Olivia slid her hand over the able and onto Emily's. Elliot moved forward in his seat, closer to them both in an attempt to make their table more private. Even if they had evidence of the abuse, nothing could help them more than Emily admitting it. After taking in a deep breath, Emily cocked her head slightly to the side.

"Yeah. I guess that's what I'm getting at." A single tear rolled down her check, but she didn't lower her head in shame or embarrassment. She was strong.

"Do you have any idea why your mother acts this way?" Elliot asked delicately. Emily sat there for a couple of seconds, thinking.

"I don't want to talk about it any more right now." She sighed. "Is that ok?"

"That's fine." Elliot assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"We can talk more about it later." Olivia explained. "Something else we need to do is take you to the hospital for an examination."

"An examination?" Emily asked, confused.

"It's just where they document and take pictures of all of your injuries, bumps, scratches." Elliot smiled as an attempt to comfort her.

"I have to do it by myself?" Emily asked.

"We'll go with you. There'll be nothing to worry about." Olivia hoped she would oblige.

"Will you stay with me the whole time?" Emily studied the table for a moment. Then she looked up at Olivia.

"Of course," Olivia answered warmly. And Emily Crawford took comfort in that. She didn't feel so alone anymore.