Chapter 11
When they arrived at the precinct, Fin was the first one that noticed that they were there. He got up, walked over to them, and placed a hand on Olivia's shoulder. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," she said matter of factly. Fin gave her the same look that Elliot did. "I'm good."
He approved of her answer and said "we can go to the lounge to talk." They headed to the stairs and Fin stopped and said "the cap wants to sit in, you have no say on that one, but you can choose if you want Elliot to stay with you. You also get to choose who you want to do the interview."
Olivia thought for a moment then quietly asked "can we go to the cribs instead? It's a little more private." Fin nodded and then she continued "you can do the interrogation, and Elliot can stay if he wants to." She looked at Elliot and he saw something in her eye that instantly provoked him to nod his head in firm agreement to stay.
The three of them headed up stairs and into the cribs. Olivia automatically went to her favorite bed and sat down. Elliot sat down next to her and Fin across on the next bed. They had an awkward moment of silence before their Captain walked in. "Sorry, I had to deal with IAB. They are trying to get your badge Liv, but I'm going to fight like hell to get them to stop."
There was another moment of silence. Fin was the first to speak "Liv, you know how this works. If you want to stop just tell me and I will, but Liv, we need to know everything that happened. Okay?"
She nodded her head numbly. She didn't want to tell them anything; she liked the little bubble she built around herself. She couldn't say nothing happened when there were obvious bruises on her face, writs, ankles and stomach. She had to tell them and hope-more like pray-that they didn't see her any different after she told the story how her dad tried to kill her.
"Anytime you're ready Liv, you can start anytime you want." Cragen said to her in a calming voice, one he rarely used when he and Elliot were in the same room together.
Olivia grabbed Elliot's hand then started her story. "After all the Simon stuff, I had to get out of here so I went home. When I was passing by the alley I heard moaning. I went in and saw a woman brutally beaten. I tried to help her and call 911, but I was hit on the head by something before I could. How is she anyway?"
Elliot looked at Fin and Fin looked at Cragen then simultaneously they all looked at Olivia. "She didn't make it; she had lost too much blood." Elliot admitted sadly before he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
She looked down at her feet and then continued, not saying another word about the victim, Samantha Mills. She continued the story- this time in quieter voice. "When I came to, I was in a room tied to a chair. I don't remember much else besides the fact that he came in everyday and beat the pulp out of me and almost raped me, like he did that woman!" The last part she shouted and raced out of the room.
Elliot got up from the bed and apologized to Fin and Cragen and then ran after her. He went outside of the precinct but couldn't find her. He assumed that she had gone home. He waved down a cab, got in and told the man her address; he needed to go see if she was okay. When he arrived at her apartment he saw that all the lights were off, so he assumed that she had gone to bed. Elliot told the cab driver his address and went home to his 4 lovely kids and his pregnant wife, Kathy.
After Olivia bolted out of the cribs she ran out of the precinct and hailed a cab. She told the cabbie her address and the taxi started driving towards her house. She felt bad for running out like that- but she just couldn't handle anymore. When she arrived at her apartment she raced in and locked all the locks on her door. She went into her bedroom and changed into a pair of comfy sweats and an old NYPD tank top. She looked at the time and noticed in was 10:30 at night; she turned off her lights and decided she had to try to get some sleep. She closed her eyes but within minutes she had a torturous flashback and instantly woke up.
Elliot got home and decided to try to get some sleep. He laid down and closed his eyes, but he was flooded with "what if's" and couldn't sleep. He just laid there for about two hours. He looked at his wife and gently woke her up and whispered "I can't sleep. I need to go check on Liv." Elliot knew that Kathy hated Olivia and that she was close to her due date-but he just couldn't shake the growing worry he felt for Olivia. He got up, got dressed, and headed to Olivia's for the second time that evening. He arrived there in ten minutes and entered her building. He walked up the stairs to the fourth floor and knocked on her door. He waited for a moment before he heard shuffling. Then the locks turned to unlock the door.
"Hello?" Olivia questioned as she slowly opened her front door. She poked her head out and saw her tall, dark haired partner and best friend, Elliot Stabler.
He looked at his partner's bruised face. "Hi." she opened the door wider so he could enter. Elliot stepped in and asked "did I wake you?"
"No," Olivia said as she walked over to her obviously worn in couch.
"How could I sleep after what happened?" She sighed, sat on the couch and pulled her knees up to her chest.
Elliot walked over to the couch and sat close to her. "Are you okay? Because I'm not." She gave him a questioning look and he continued "What if I lost you today? What if I didn't find you in time? What if..."
She cut him off. "But you did, I'm fine." She refused to let her tears fall again that night. "Is that why you couldn't sleep?"
"Not just that, but yeah." Olivia put her head down on her knees and pulled her knees closer to her chest when Elliot said that.
"What are the other things?" She mumbled into her knees.
"I couldn't stop worrying about you. You haven't returned any of my calls or texts, and I got worried. That's all I could think about." He moved closer to Olivia and moved her hands and knees and lifted her chin to see her face. Elliot cupped her face and then the brushed the tears that have fallen with pad of his thumb. Elliot pulled her into an embrace. She laid her head down on his chest and cried silently.
