More spoilers for 'Night' in this chapter.
All of My Regrets are Nothing New (XI)
Silas didn't say anything. Didn't even look at Cragen or Stabler. Didn't even grab the file. He just stormed into the interrogation room.
Nina's brother, of all people. Casey had tried to help her, and this stupid fuck goes and almost beats her to death. Silas hated him. He wanted to strangle the scumbag with his bare hands.
"Do you think it's ok for him to be doing this?" Elliot asked quietly, as he and Cragen looked into the interrogation room.
Cragen sighed, and looked at the scene unfolding before their eyes. Silas looked terrifying, the dim lights throwing shadows across his face, his dark clothes accenting his pale skin. "I don't think any of us should have to do this."
The men's eyes met in the interrogation room. "I was tortured by murder squads in Yugoslavia." He said. "I don't scare easily."
"Well, maybe a hard twenty-five in Attica will." Silas said, each of his words coated with venom.
They were both quiet. "Why?" Silas asked at last. "What did she do to you? She was trying to help your sister!"
"She made my sister untouchable!" he shouted.
Silas took a threatening step forward. "How so?"
"She made Nina relive her humiliation in public!" They were both in each other's faces. "Now no man will have her. I got our honor back."
"By beating a woman up when her back was turned?" Silas' voice was rising. "Yeah. Real honorable."
He lunged at Silas, but the agent easily countered he blow and pinned him the table. "Beating that lawyer wasn't enough was it?" he snarled. "I should have killed her!"
Silas leaned over and whispered slowly, "If you had killed her, I would have made sure you died a horrible, painful, awful death in prison."
A cop came in to take him away, and Silas roughly the man shoved away. "Get him out of here."
Without saying anything to Cragen or Stabler, Silas just left to go back to the hospitable. Hopefully Casey hadn't woken up yet.
XXX
God, Casey loved how gentle he was with her. Every time he went to move her, whether it was from the bed to the wheelchair, or the wheelchair to the car, or even now as he carried her up the stairs to their apartment, it felt like she wasn't moving at all. The world's best shock system, Casey thought.
"We're home." He said and she felt a small bump as he shouldered open the door. A few paces and he laid her on the bed; Casey let out a sigh of relief, glad to be back in something familiar. Silas put his hand on the bed by her shoulders and smiled down at her.
"Hey." She smiled weakly at him (the split lip didn't help her cause).
He smiled back down at her. "Hey." He gently caressed her face with his hand. "Do you want to shower, or go to sleep, or do you want something?"
"I want to shower. But first," she reached up and took his face in her hands. "I want a kiss."
Silas smiled and pressed his lips to hers; Casey's fingers wound themselves in his black hair, pulling him closer.
"I'm so sorry." She gasped when they broke, "For all of this…"
"Casey, if anyone needs to be sorry it's me." Silas said. "I'll go get the shower started."
Casey whimpered a bit at the loss of contact as he unwound himself from her. She heard the shower start, and then felt Silas' arms under her knees and shoulders. He lifted her up, easily, and carried her to the bathroom. He set her down on the counter, and in the light Casey saw how upset he looked.
"What's wrong?" she asked, pulling him closer to her.
Silas sighed. "This is all my fault."
"Silas, no…" she kissed him. "It's not your fault."
"If I had stayed two extra minutes you would have been fine; Casey I passed the son-of-a-bitch coming out of the elevator!"
"Silas, you had no idea…"
"I'm a profiler Casey, I should have read his body language! I'm supposed to see things like that!"
He looked her over. It had been a few days after the attack, and her bruises were beginning to turn to darker shades of purple and red. It killed him to see them on her porcelain skin.
"Shut up." Casey said firmly. "Now, do what you do best."
"We just established that I'm losing my touch."
"Not profiling. Getting me naked."
He couldn't help but smile a bit as he began to undress her.
"You know, because of my knee, you're going to have to help me shower." Casey said.
Silas looked at her sharply. "You don't need to prove anything." he said.
"What am I trying to prove? I just asked you to help me." She moved closer to him, and began to undo the buttons of his shirt, kissing the skin she revealed.
"Casey, you were attacked. You don't need to jump right back to sex if you don't want to."
"But, I need you." Casey wrapped her legs as best as she could around his waist, wincing a bit.
"See what I mean." Silas unhooked her legs and lifted her up a bit so he could slide her sweatpants off. "If you still want to, we can try later. But in the shower? To dangerous right now. I'll help you shower, but you try to seduce me and I swear…" he tried to think up a good enough punishment. "I don't know yet, but don't try it."
Casey frowned. "Fine." But the things that Silas was saying were true. Did she really want him right now, or did she just want to prove that she was strong enough to take it, after what had happened?
After the shower, Silas helped her get dressed into a pair of warm pajamas, and then laid her down again.
"So," he said crawling into bed, next to her. "I'll understand, Casey, if you don't want to."
Casey sighed. "I just want you to hold me, tonight."
Silas smiled and pulled her close. "That I can do."
XXX
Though Casey wouldn't admit it, she was still skittish after the attack. If someone got too close to her without her realizing it, she would jump a bit, as if startled. Silas always let her initiate physical contact; he never touched her without her permission. The cane was gone, but the bruises still lingered, yellow and green now, along with the memories of the attack, which had come rushing back to Casey about a week after.
She was happier then she'd let him know too, when he gave her a Bureau issued temporary gun permit, and his snub-nosed .22 to keep in her purse.
Sleeping was the worst for Casey; She could only fall asleep if Silas (and his service piece on the nightstand) was there to keep her safe. And even when she did fall asleep, she would shake, mumble things, clinging onto Silas like a lifeline.
Then the inevitable call came, when Silas had to be called out to a crime scene in the middle of the night. The next day when he saw her, Casey looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep.
He wanted to help her, even when he wasn't there. One day when he jogged by a window display, he found his solution.
It was one o' clock in the morning, when Silas slipped in, home late from first the nine hour interrogation he and Fin conducted on a suspect, second from picking up a present for Casey. As predicted, Casey was still up, putting together something for a trial scheduled a week from now.
"Still working?" he asked.
"Yeah." She patted the spot on the couch next to her. He sat down and put the bag on the floor. "Hey you." She said kissing him.
"Hey." Silas said. "How was the doctor?"
"Good, he cleared me."
"Fantastic, no more complaining about how you can't do anything because of your concussion."
"Hey!" she playfully hit him, and then leaned against his body. "I missed you."
"I know." He said, as he reached over and grabbed the bag. "I know you're still having a tough time coming back, and I don't like how you don't sleep when I'm away so I got you this…"
He put the bag in her lap. Casey gave him a look. "If this is another gun…"
"It's not." He smiled. Casey tore open the bag and pulled out a small stuffed German shepherd.
Casey smiled. "Silas, it's adorable!"
Silas smiled back. "Glad you like it."
"Why a dog though?"
"Well… It could be a precursor to getting a live guard dog…" Silas shrugged. "So you have a bit of protection when I'm not home."
Casey smiled and hugged him. "I would love to get a guard dog. Thank you… For everything."
Silas hugged her back. "I love you, Casey. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."
XXX
A bit of a sappy ending to this chapter, but you know me, the sappier the better.
I couldn't remember the name of Nina's brother…sorry.
Next chapter, you'll all get to meet our furry little addition to the Shnovak clan. Suggestions for names for our four-legged friend?
