I own no one but my own people

It had been an hour since Elliot had left to call his wife leaving Amanda to sit and wait for news on Olivia. Her phone had finally gone silent except the occasional text from Amaro asking for an update on his partners condition. After about the fifteenth text in half an hour Amanda promised him that if she had any word whatsoever on Olivia's condition he would be the first to know.

Amanda tried busying herself with magazines and Angry Birds but her mind kept drifting to seeing Olivia burnt, bloody, and beaten tied to her bed and Cassidy with his head bashed in and bleeding all over her floor. How could anyone be that evil? Who would abuse and hurt someone as good as Olivia that bad? It was inhuman...

Amanda felt tears well in her eyes as she thought of what was to come for her friend. Not even thinking about the physical aspect, the doctor assured them she would heal eventually, forever scarred from the cigarettes and brands but she would survive.

But what he had put her through would ruin her emotionally. Olivia was strong but Amanda had no idea how the hell she was going to pull through this.

"Here. Thought you might need this."

Amanda jerked out of her thoughts and glanced up at the person who owned the voice. It was Elliot and he was holding out a paper cut full of coffee and several packs of creme and sugar to her. Amanda eyed him curiously as she looked between him and the coffee. "Have I been gone that long that cops don't like coffee anymore?" he asked, a small attempt at a joke.

Amanda shook her head and took the coffee and the creamers and sugar from him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he said as he sat down beside her with a soft sigh and ran his hand over his face. A

Amanda glanced over at him as he leaned back in the chair. She swallowed hard and nodded towards his hand where his wedding ring was proudly displayed. "So how long you been married?"

"Thirty five years next month," Elliot answered.

Amanda let out a low whistle "Congratulations. That's quite a feet for our line of work."

Elliot chuckled softly as he took a sip of his own coffee. He swallowed it hard before he shrugged. "Twenty in SVU, eleven in uniform, four in the marines," he explained. "We've had our problems and she's put up with a lot but we're still going strong so we must be doing something right."

Amanda nodded and raised her glass to him. "Well anyways congratulations. Olivia said you had kids?"

Elliot eyed her carefully and she almost wanted to shrink under his gaze. "Liv talked about me?" he asked curiously.

"It used to be almost every day but eventually she just stopped even mentioning you."

Elliot swallowed hard as he turned back to his coffee and took another sip and they were launched into an uncomfortable silence that lasted for several minutes before he spoke again. "She still seeing Calvin?"

Knowing the subject had been changed off of him Amanda nodded. "Yeah. He's actually supposed to be visiting her this summer."

Elliot shook his head and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Why the hell would she keep torturing herself like that? She should have handed him off to child services the second he was dropped off at her apartment instead of playing mom."

Amanda narrowed her eyes, trying to hide the anger she felt with him. Olivia had never given him the full story but all she knew was Olivia's eyes lit up when she talked about Calvin the same Nick's eyes lit up when he talked about his children. "I can't believe you. I thought you were her friend," she snapped.

"He isn't hers and she was setting herself up for heartache when she took him in."

Amanda shook her head and Elliot narrowed his eyes at the blonde sitting beside him. "You weren't there when he was literally ripped from her kicking and screaming and she started sobbing in the precinct afterwards. I was and I had to see her suffer because that bitch blamed her for everything so she decided to take Calvin away just to get back at her for something she didn't do. The fact that she's putting herself through hell when she has to give him back to his grandparents isn't worth it for a few weeks a year of her being happy."

"She loves him."

"She shouldn't have gotten attached."

Amanda shook her head in disgust. "You know you-!"

"Detective Rollins?"

Elliot and Amanda turned towards the voice and saw the Doctor who had come out and told them the news earlier. The pair got up and made their way over to the Doctor. "No change in Brian's status but Olivia's set up in the ICU, one person's allowed to visit at a time but only for short increments. She's been through a lot and we don't wanna overwhelm her."

"I'll go," said Elliot before Amanda could even open her mouth. "Someone's gotta be out here to explain what happened to Cassidy if his mom shows up," he reminded Amanda. "When I'm done, I'll come out and sit and see if she comes. Call Cragen, Fin, Munch, and... and her partner and update them on what's going on."

Normally Amanda never would have left something like this to someone she didn't necessary trust but Elliot hadn't been a first grade Detective in SVU for nothing.

Reluctantly Amanda nodded and sat back down in the chair she had called her spot for the past two hours. "I'll take you to her," the Doctor told Elliot before the two males headed off down the hall.

The retired cop's palms began to sweat, his heart pounded unbelievably hard against his chest as the doctor stopped outside a room just outside the nurses station.

Elliot swallowed hard as the doctor opened the door and motioned for him to come inside. Swallowing hard he walked inside the small room, gasping as his eyes fell on an unconscious Olivia.

Elliot had tried to prepare himself earlier but what he saw, he never expected

Her face was covered in bruises and cuts and several small cigarette burns littered the side of her neck and up behind her ear, exactly the same place someone would kiss and nuzzle while in bed together. Her arms, the only thing not covered by a hospital gown or blanket was littered in bruises with a brace on her left wrist and her right had a bright red line encased around her wrist that looked like severe rope burn.

Elliot swallowed hard as he walked over to her slowly, the heart monitor beeping in a steady rhythm. He sat down in the overstuffed chair next to her bed and looked down at her face as tears gathered in his eyes. The doctor put on a fresh pair of gloves and injected a clear liquid into her IV.

Within moments a soft moan escaped her lips and her eyes fluttered open. "Brian," Olivia moaned softly. "Brian. Bri. Bri..."

Elliot leaned forward and grabbed a hold of the metal rail. "Olivia," he spoke gently. "Liv, can you hear me?"

"Brian," she groaned again.

"Liv, its me. It's Elliot."

Olivia blinked her eyes open and glanced over to Elliot and narrowed her eyes in confusion. "El?" she spoke softly. "Wha... what are you doing here?"

"They called me. I'm still your emergency contact," he explained. "How you doing?"

Olivia shook her head as she leaned away from him. "Whe- where am I?"

"The hospital," he explained. "Fin and Rollins found you."

Olivia's eyes went wide and tears filled them. "Aman- Amanda saw me?"

Elliot nodded. "Yeah. She's outside waiting right now."

Olivia let out a sob as she covered her mouth with her hand. "No no no no! She wasn't supposed to know that happened!"

Elliot swallowed hard as he watched tears leak down her face. "Liv, it's fine."

"No it's not," said Olivia as she wiped away her tears just to have more appear. "It's not okay."

"Liv-."

"Where's Brian?" she demanded, caring less about interrupting him.

Elliot bit his lip and hesitated for a long moment before he answered. "He's doing fine," he lied. "He's still in surgery but Doctors said he'll be fine."

That one bit of news soothed and calmed Olivia more then she ever thought possible. She wiped more of her tears away before she cleared her throat. "Where's Nick?"

"I don't know."

"I want him."

Elliot swallowed hard as he looked down at Olivia "Liv, I'm here."

"I need to see Nick," she told him as she wiped away her tears.

"Olivia-."

"I'm not fighting with you right now," she snapped. "I don't care about you right now. In fact the only things I DO care about is that Brian Cassidy, the fact that the woman who looks up to me will never see me as anything more then a rape victim, and seeing my partner."

"I am your partner," he argued.

"Not anymore. You left. I changed my emergency contact and if Brian wasn't attacked then you wouldn't have even known. I don't wanna see you, I don't wanna talk to you, I just want to see Nick."

"You're tired and angry and not yourself right now, Liv," Elliot told her. "Just let me talk to you."

"I don't wanna talk to you, I wanna talk to Nick. Tell Amanda to call him and get him here now."

Elliot swallowed hard as he stood up from the chair. "You're not yourself right now," he told her softly. "I'll be here when you get back."

Without another word Elliot turned and left, shutting the door behind him.

Six Days Earlier

Deciding that any more sleep was easily out of the question, Olivia showered and readied herself for work. She was there nearly an hour early and was more then surprised when she saw Amaro sitting at his desk.

"Couldn't sleep?" asked Olivia as she approached their desks.

Amaro shook his head. "That interrogation just got to me last night. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing what he was doing to her."

"Welcome to SVU," she said with a sad chuckle before she sat down. "Any luck with finding information on Lewis?"

"Nothing," Amaro groaned as he ran his hands over his face. "But I talked to Cragen last night who assured me that she was ready and willing to go through with the lineup."

"She's a tough woman. She has to be to survive what he put her through," Olivia muttered as she turned on her computer and waited for it to boot up. She glanced around the room and noticed two distinct people absent. "Where's Fin and Amanda?"

"On their way to the holding cell to collect Lewis," Amaro informed her. "They only have a female CO available to transfer and she said she doesn't feel comfortable."

"CO's are all lazy and incompetent," Olivia told Amaro as she logged on. "She didn't wanna do it because she was afraid she might actually have to get off her ass and do some work."

Amaro narrowed his brow in confusion. "What is it with you and hating on CO's? This isn't the first time you bad mouthed them."

"Long story," she told him without glancing away from her computer screen.

"I got time."

"Yeah but I don't. No new Emails from anyone about Lewis but one email telling me I can enlarge my penis for only four easy payments of 9.99."

"Better then a pill I can take that'll stop me from getting ED if I had it. I mean not like I need it but maybe I should just turn my spam filter on like Amanda does." Amaro asked with a slight laugh.

Olivia looked over at him and furrowed her brow in confusion. "Rollins has her spam filter on?"

"Yeah. Why what's the big deal?"

"The big deal," Olivia groaned in annoyance. "Is that we work sex crimes. We have words like penis or ejaculate or climax or orgasm or whatever filtered out, you're gonna miss a lot of critical emails from other cops, victims, lawyers, the ME... I don't even wanna think about how many reports or statements she has in her spam in box."

"Want me to talk to her?"

"No I will. It's a common mistake, a simple button click will fix it, no use giving her shit about it," Olivia said with a shrug "Plus if a email was that important it would have been forwarded somewhere else."

Amaro nodded in agreement as they settled into a comfortable silence that was only broken by the ding of the elevators.

Both Olivia and Amaro turned towards the elevators and saw Alice Parker walk out of the metal lift with a cane. Both got up at once and hurried over to assist her. "Am I late for the lineup?" she asked as she glanced around the nearly abandoned precinct.

"No, you're actually early," Olivia said with a soft smile. "But that's good, it shows the prosecutor how willing you are."

Alice managed a feeble smile. "I've always been an early bird. Even when I was younger all my girlfriends at sleepovers would sleep until eleven a clock, noon and I'd be having coffee with their parents at six." Alice offered another attempt at a grin before she turned towards Cragen's office. "Is- is Don here?"

"Not at the moment but he should be coming in fairly soon," Amaro told the older woman. " He's actually quite the early bird as well. Do you wanna take a seat?"

"I'm good, thank you," Alice told him as she gestured towards the cane. "It's hard for me to get back up once I've sat down."

Amaro gave her a soft smile. "I understand. Do you want some coffee or something?"

"Black with two sugars if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course," Olivia told her with a smile as she got up from her chair. Just as she began to pour the coffee the elevator dinged again and Cragen walked in and his eyes instantly fell on Alice.

"Ms. Parker, hello. Have you been waiting here long?" asked Cragen as he walked up to her.

"Not long," Alice told him with a soft grin.

Cragen cleared his throat and nodded towards is office. "Do you... do you wanna wait in my office while we wait for the line up?"

Alice gave him another smile. "Sure."

Cragen led her into his office and shut the office door behind them with Amaro and Olivia staring after the closed door.

"He has it for her BAD," Amaro chuckled as he made his way back to his computer.

"And vice versa," Olivia said with a smirk as she poured herself and Amaro a cup of coffee. She made her way back to their desk when the elevator dinged again and Fin and Amanda came storming in with storm clouds in their eyes.

Olivia furrowed her brow at the two of them. "What happened? Where's Lewis?"

"Damn bastard prick bastard asshole!" Amanda barked as she stormed towards the break room. Olivia and Amaro eyed one another before they turned towards Fin who slumped down in his chair.

"So... hows it going?" Amaro asked as she looked between Fin and Olivia.

"Lewis was getting ready for transport and he choked himself with the damn daisy chain!" Fin snapped. "They had to taze him to get him to stop!"

"What?" Olivia yelled as she stood up from her chair. "Are you kidding me right now?"

"I wish I was. Lewis is now on suicide watch at Bellevue," Fin finished with a sigh and slumped off towards the break room. "I gotta go make sure Amanda doesn't throw the fridge off the balcony."

Fin went up the stairs and Olivia shook her head in disgust. "This... this is just... UGH!" She stood up from her chair and paced back and forth shaking her head. "This guy is... GOD! How the hell did he pull that off! He's not suicidal, he's cheating the system!"

Amaro stood up as well and walked over to Olivia and took her by the shoulders. "Liv, Liv, calm down okay? Look I'll go get Cragen, Fin will go calm Amanda down, you talk to Alice."

Olivia shook her head in disgust. "This... this is just..." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Fine. Fine, you get Cragen and tell him about the predicament."

Amaro nodded and headed into Cragen's office while Olivia finished making coffee for Alice. Moments later Amaro and Cragen left his office and Olivia took a deep breath as she took the coffee for Alice and walked into the office.

Alice glanced up at Olivia and smiled at her. "Is everything okay?"

Olivia sighed as she walked to the couch and sat down beside her. "No, actually, it's not."

Alice's face fell. "Is everything alright? When's the lineup gonna happen?"

"Its... it's actually not going to happen. Lewis... he pretended to be suicidal and they took him to belleview."

Alice's face fell as she swallowed hard. "He... he's suicidal?"

"No. No he's just trying to skate the court system on this but I promise that we're gonna get this guy for everything he did to you."

Alice felt tears welling in her eyes that she quickly wiped away. "But... but I mean if the courts think he was psychotic when he did it and he wasn't responsible for his actions-"

Olivia shook her head. "Alice, that is not going to happen. I will make sure he does. This guy is just trying to delay the proceedings a little bit but your lawyer is the best one I have ever met and he will put this psycho behind bars okay? But for now go get some rest and I promise you to contact you the moment I hear anything okay?"

Alice offered a sad smile and nodded before she and Olivia stood up. The older woman began walking out of the room before she turned back to Olivia. "Can... can you tell Captain Cragen I said goodbye?" Alice paused for a moment before she laughed, the sound marred with tears. "I know it isn't right, especially after what's just happened, but do you think it would be too much to ask him to... maybe call me? On an un case related note perhaps?"

Olivia let out a soft laugh and a soft grin. "Of course. And everyone heals in their own way and honestly if I was thirteen years older and he wasn't my boss and hadn't been my boss for the past fifteen years." Olivia clicked her tongue and winked at the older woman, already trying not to grimace at the mere thought of speaking her next words, "I'd take a run at him."

Alice chuckled and gave the Detective a polite nod and walked out of the office and shutting the door behind her.

Please Review :-) And I have an eye exam today so please fill up my in box with reviews so I have something encouraging to read before I get to hear 'well, your eye sight is getting much worse then last time, nothing we can do for you except shoot this sharp puff of air into your eyes for the hell of it and charge you 150 for an exam and 100 for contacts.'