Lucy was in police custody for two weeks. Detective Benson could be found arguing with social services workers either in person or one the phone almost constantly. Lucy still hadn't given anyone all the details pertaining to the friends she had been forced to leave behind, but she'd made it clear she thought they were in trouble. Her protective instincts that came with her job, along with the sheer desperation that came to the teen's eyes whenever she asked to go home made the detective dead set on granting that wish. Social services said otherwise however; they wanted her back in the system where she belonged, and a reminder that Lucy was likely to run again only resulted in the offered possibly of a juvenile detention center taking her in. Lucy was tough, but she was far too subdued to be able to survive in prison.
Despite the rest of the SVU squad also wanting to help the girl, they were more worried for their colleague at the moment. Oliva had a habit of getting overly invested in deeper cases like this. They liked Lucy though; she a kind and gentle girl once you broke through the hardened shell. She also seemed to have a knack for their line of police work – though the Captain had scolded her for going through the files. As a child of trauma herself, she could connect with victims in a way most of them couldn't; sure they cared, but they didn't share the experiences.
Munch and Finn were the only ones who consistently brought her in on their cases. They were better at going behind their Captain's back, and cared more for a job to be done well instead of by the book.
Lucy was teaching a five-year-old boy how to make shadow puppets while his mother was being questioned in a different room, when Oliva came in. She smiled at the pair before drawing Lucy's attention.
"Lucy." She said, making the girl look up. "I have some good news." She bent down and placed a folder with a pair of plane tickets tucked into it. "You and I are going to Colorado."
Wide green eyes looked down at the tickets, then up at the detective in shock. Then a smile that could've put the sun to shame lit up her face as she threw her arms around the woman, making her stumble back slightly.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" she repeated over and over.
I'm coming for you. She thought to herself. Don't worry, I'll be home soon.
******
Detective Benson was allowed to take Lucy to Colorado on the sole condition that the girl was now in her custody. If she ran off on her watch, it'd be her head on the chopping block.
Running away seemed to be the last thing on Lucy's mind however, despite the fact that she could hardly sit still. The plane, the trolley, and the car all couldn't seem to move fast enough for her liking. When things out the car window began to look familiar, Oliva was sure she'd have to restrain the girl from jumping out before they pulled over.
Instead of going for the door like the detective had expected when she let out a joyous cry of 'This is it!' and ran towards one of the buildings, she headed towards the fire escape in the alley. Climbing with a practiced ease that even she didn't have, she darted up the levels like something was chasing her from down below.
Something was after a moment, as Oliva was forced to huff and follow after her, yelling for her to stop.
By the time she caught up to Lucy, she had already gone in a window. "Lucy, you need to stay with me. You can't run off like that again, or you'll get us both in trouble. Lucy didn't appear to be listening, fingertips running over one of the crayon scribbled drawings that had been taped up on the wall. This one in particular depicted a tiny Batman and a blonde Robin. "What is this place?"
"Home." Lucy said simply, her voice a thousand miles away. Blinking out of her thoughts, she turned on her heel to face the detective. "They aren't here."
"Your friends you told me about?" Oliva had gotten more information about these mysterious friends in one plane ride than she had in the entire time she'd known the girl; Lucy wouldn't shut up about them, she was so excited to see them again.
"If they aren't here, they've got to be with their mother." Lucy's face went pale. "Oliva we gotta rescue them!" and there was the scared, underdeveloped little girl hiding behind the face of a teenager.
"Rescue them from what?" Oliva asked. It had been the one question Lucy still refused to answer.
Lucy's fingertips, which were beginning to shake, lifted up to ghost over the scar on her cheek. "Bad…." She whispered, shaking her head. "Oliva, please…."
The detective sighed, once again surrendering to the desperation in her eyes. "Where do they live?"
******
Mrs. Crumb was extremely unhappy to come to the door of her apartment, and even less happy to see Lucy. Part of it was because she recognized her, and part of it was because Lucy pushed her aside and ran into the apartment the second the door was opened wide enough.
She ignored Oliva calling for her and instead proceeded to the back room of the living space. "Kevin! Dennis! Trisha, Hed-" she froze in the doorway. "wig…."
The room was an absolute wreck, which spoke to how recent the damage was, as both Dennis and Mrs. Crumb would never have stood for a mess like this. The mattress on the bed had been flipped over, exposing Kevin's hiding place. There was a small pile of paper in between the bed slats that was burnt in many places, but Lucy could still recognize her own handwriting on them.
The worst part however, was the large blood stain on the carpet that looked fresh.
Lucy choked on air, tears blurring her vision as she fell to her knees. "Oliva!" she screeched when she finally found her voice, sounding like a wounded animal.
'I-Is thith theat taken?'
'…..You thwear you'll never tell?'
'I-….I've got this, other person, in my head. He's older, and thtronger. He protects me.
'H-How are you fine, you don't look fine.'
'Lucy, tell me what's wrong."
'It's okay. It's all gonna be okay. You've got me to protect you.'
'Lucy, you've done tho much for me. Can't I just do this one thing for you?'
'You're amazing.'
'You're a thpecial kinda thomethin', you know that?'
'What do you believe in?'
''Night Luce. Love you.'
'You already have me. All of uth. We're not goin' anywhere.'
*Four Years Later*
It took forever, but eventually Lucy got back to being a functioning member of society. She'd been bounced around over a dozen psychiatrists, Dr. Wong helping her find someone to guide her through her trauma. She'd actually stayed close with all of the SVU squad, she'd even made friends with the new members that circled in within the years.
They'd been an amazing help. Because after that day Lucy was just a shell. Dr. Wong had been right; basing everything she was on returning home wasn't healthy, and the fact that finally returning to….well, it just made everything worse.
She didn't deny still missing her friends. Her heart ached every time she thought of them; a few of Hedwig's drawings were still pinned to the fridge in her apartment, and many of her own drawings depicted one or more of the group. The apartment itself was always tidy. It wasn't quite up to Dennis' standards, but there wasn't anything that would make him actively squirm had he been there.
The most recent thing was the new location of her apartment. After SVU had helped her become her own legal guardian, she'd taken up residence in New York. Perhaps it was the fact that the squad had finally come clean about her mother – they'd wanted to wait until she was stable enough to handle it – or perhaps it was Lucy's desire to put herself out into the world with less of a safety net. Depending so heavily on people was what had broken her in the first place; she needed to find some independence.
This was how she had ended up in Philadelphia. Having grown accustomed to living in a bigger city, Lucy considered it the perfect place as it held just the right balance between new and familiar. She had even gotten a job teaching art at a local community center.
This, was how she had come across a group of children in the center's playroom jeering at a small girl with curly black hair.
"Hey!" she called their attention with her 'teacher' voice. "Leave her alone. How would you like it if someone picked on you?" she received a medley of mumbled replies, the children's eyes of the floor. "I don't wanna see it again. Disperse." They all ran off in different directions, leaving Lucy to kneel down beside the girl, who was crying into her knees. "You okay, sweetie?"
"I want my mama!" she whimpered.
"She'll be here to pick you up soon."
"No she won't! She's dead! She died when I came; they said she wanted to get away from me!"
"Oh, sweetie I'm sure that's not true." The girl whimpered and placed her head back on her knees. "….I don't have a mother either."
"….You don't?" she looked up, sniffing and rubbing her eyes. "Where is she?"
"In heaven, along with my baby brother." Lucy informed. "But that doesn't mean I can't talk to her; I tell her everything." Indeed, Lucy had formed quite a strong relationship with what she imagined her mother to be. Childish fantasy, sure, maybe, but it was nice to have one parent she could actually talk to. "I know she hears me."
"How?"
"Because that's what angels do."
"Your mama's an angel?" the girl's gray blue eyes lit up in wonder. Lucy smiled fondly, half at the girl's innocence, half at the memory of a similar pair of blue eyes.
"Mmhm. Yours is too. They live all the way up in a secret place in the clouds! And they watch over us to make sure we're alright. And sometimes they send messages to us! You have to listen really well though. But they always try again. Just in case we've missed it."
The girl smiled at her, the only sign of her previous mood the red rings that lingered around her eyes. "What's your name?"
"Lucy." She smiled at the girl. "Lucy Collins."
"I'm Casey! Casey Cooke!"