Immediate Danger

(Chapter Twenty One: Taking Control)

Olivia was already up when Elliot entered the living room the next morning. She was sitting at the table wearing blue jeans and a green form fitting tee shirt. She had one leg folded under her and her hair was twisted up and held into position with a pencil. In her hand was the black ink pen she had been using to scribble little messages all over the legal pad that laid on the table in front of her. She was on the phone and it looked like she had been for the greater part of the morning. She looked up at Elliot as he entered the room shooting him a warm smile and motioning for him to come to her.

"Thank you so much Casey," he heard her say as he approached her and she hung up the phone. Olivia took a deep breath and looked up at him. He could tell she was feeling much better, he hadn't seen this confidence in her in a long time. "I have news," she said with pride.

"You do?" He asked still trying to figure out what was going on.

"Get dressed, we have to go," she replied as she handed him a cup of coffee.

"Wait, I missed something. Where are we going?" He asked still confused about what was taking place around him.

"You are taking me downtown to file formal charges against Nick," she said as she turned him toward the hallway.

"When did you decide this?" He asked. Elliot was glad she wanted to go through with it, but wanted to make sure that this was not something she was going to kick herself about later.

"I woke up early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep," she said.

"Liv, it is barely seven o'clock how early did you wake up?" Elliot said looking down at his watch.

"Ummm…. Four. Anyway, I had a lot on my mind. So I got dressed and went for a run. I always feel better after running. It just helps me think so much more clearly. I thought about this whole Nick thing and I realized that I have not been myself lately. Infact, I have not been myself since I got involved with him. Elliot every moment of the last four and a half months I have been racking my brain trying to think of what he wanted me to be. What I could do or how I could change to please him. That isn't me at all. I am tired of letting him hurt me, Elliot, and if I don't do something about it now he will keep hurting me for the rest of my life." She looked at Elliot and he could not believe he was hearing her say this. "El, it isn't just about me anymore. I have to break free of him once and for all. It's what is best for my baby. Nick is in no way fit to be anyone's father. I wanted so badly to have him in this baby's life because I know what it is like to grow up without a father. But what good would that be if my child grows up watching him hit me, or worse what if he hit the baby. I know that you have known this was the right thing all along and I know what it took for you to stand there and watch me make so many wrong ones, but I needed this to be my decision. Thank you for understanding that." Olivia placed her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. "Now, you'd better go get dressed."

Elliot started down the hallway toward his bedroom, then turned back to look at her. "Hey," he said and she raised her head to look at him. "I'm proud of you," he stated. "None of this has been easy, but you are doing the right thing." She smiled back at him and he walked into his bedroom.

Olivia walked into the police station and stopped to look around for a minute. Because the attack had taken place in her apartment and she lived in the vicinity of another precinct under normal circumstances the report would have had to be filed there. But these were not normal circumstances. Olivia was a Manhattan Special Victims Unit Detective, so they gave her the choice to file the charges in her own department if that was what she wanted. Determined to keep her personal life and work separated as much as possible she decided to file the charges across town. This would be better, she thought to herself, especially since her case would have been considered an SVU case.

Olivia felt a little foolish for a minute. What the hell had she been thinking these past few months. She had let herself fall into a trap and become one of the victims she had spent her life trying to help. And now her child was a victim as well. Olivia paused while filling out the form on her clip board and placed her hand on her barely visible belly as she felt tears start to build up in her eyes. She had to fix this, she had to make things right.