A/N Another update! I've nearly finished this story now, just need to settle on a suitable ending :-S. I have a few ideas…. Apologies again for quality, suffering from complete lack of sleep still!
"Your witness," Abbie said. The words jarred Alex off auto-pilot. She needed her wits to go toe-to-toe with Whitaker. When Jason Whitaker had arrived at the precinct as Olivia Bensons defence attorney, Casey had mentioned that she had gone up against him previously, and that he was shit.
Unfortunately, she had later clarified that she meant his morals and attitude were shit.
As a lawyer, he was actually quite proficient, and handsome, Alex noted as the young lawyer strode up to the witness stand, hands in pockets. He flashed her a broad smile, dimpling his clean-shaven cheeks.
"Miss Cabot, that is quite the catalogue of injuries you claim you have sustained." He said.
"I don't just claim to have sustained them. My medical records were submitted into evidence, haven't you had a chance to look at them yet?" Alex asked curtly, leaning forward to give him her favourite, condescending over-the-glasses look.
"Yes, I did Miss Cabot." He nodded, walking over to his desk and picking up a black binder. He returned to the witness stand, leaning an elbow on the bench in front of her as he licked his index finger for purchase then began to page through the contents. "Terrible." he said, scrunching his brow sympathetically. Alex curtailed the urge to tell him to just get the hell on with it.
"It says here that you sustained two broken ribs, and badly bruised another three, you had have your arm in a sling for a few weeks, god. I bruised two of my ribs playing football in high school, and that was bad enough. That must have been painful."
Alex nodded, "It was."
"It also says in your records that these injuries were sustained falling down the stairs." He added.
"That is what I told them at the time." Alex agreed.
"So, you lied?" He asked.
"I did."
"And when you sustained a deep gash above your left eye, requiring stitches, and you told hospital staff that you walked into an open cupboard door, you were lying then also?" He asked.
"Yes." Alex agreed with a heavy sigh. She knew where this was going, she almost felt like finishing the cross-exam for him.
"Miss Cabot, didn't anyone ever think that these explanations for your injuries were a little flimsy? I mean, you could have hid some of them, but having your arm in a sling for a few weeks, the stitches, and several other facial injuries, you couldn't have covered those up." Whitaker said, staring intently at her. Alex avoided his gaze and cast her eyes to the jury.
"No. My relationship with Olivia Benson was common knowledge both in the squad room and the DA's office. No one ever suspected that she was capable of that. I know it sounds incredulous now, looking back at it all." Alex said "but everyone found it easier to believe my lame stories than to believe that Olivia would hurt me."
Whitaker nodded, "why wouldn't they believe that?"
Alex shrugged, "she's a she for starters. It's not something people think of."
Whitaker tilted his head to the side, then strode over to address the jury himself, "I suppose. But isn't it also because it is just not in Olivia Benson's character to hurt another human being? This woman," he pointed back at Olivia who was sat, looking impeccably docile at the defence desk, "is a Police Detective who has dedicated her life to defending the weak and mistreated. She works in the special victims unit, locking up the very kind of person you Miss Cabot are claiming she is. Now doesn't sound the tiniest bit incredible to you?"
Alex crossed her arms, "no Mister Whitaker, it actually sounds utterly ridiculous."
He turned back toward her, thrown off balance. It obviously wasn't the answer he was expecting.
"Right," He said, fidgeting with his tie, trying to find his bearings.
"When the truth is that unbelievable, do you need to wonder why I felt I had to lie about it back then?" Alex said, striking back before he had a chance to adjust to the change in pace.
"So, what's to say you're telling the truth right now?" Whitaker asked, voice having more than a slight 'I-meant-to-do-that' ring to it.
"Because it's happened to someone else." Alex said.
"Allegedly." Whitaker added. "No further questions."
"Re-direct your honour," Abbie said as she approached the witness stand.
"Miss Cabot, Mister Whitaker made the point that you lied about these injuries you sustained."
"Yes," Alex nodded, not sure where Carmichael was planning on taking this.
"But now you claim to be telling the truth." Abbie said.
"Correct."
"Back when you were with Olivia, had you told what you claim to be the truth, what would have happened?"
"I don't know. She thought I had told someone once, she punched the hell out of me. I don't know what she'd have done if I had told someone for real. And I never wanted to find out."
"Right," Abbie said, "so you had motive to lie about the multiple injuries, fear that is."
Alex shut her eyes, grimacing, "yes." she managed eventually.
"But now, what possible motive could you have for making up this story? We're passed the statute of limitations on the rape, and we can't even prosecute Miss Benson for the assaults on you. You don't really stand to gain anything, do you Miss Cabot?" Abbie asked.
"If I had come forward about this back when we were together, then Casey would never have been assaulted." Alex said, keeping her voice tight, the last thing she needed was to break down on the stand, no matter how much sympathy it might elicit from the jury. "I blame myself for that, and I always will. That's why I'm here. I stood back and let it happen to me, and now someone else has gotten hurt. What I stand to gain from this is closure. I didn't stop her from hurting me, and she wound up hurting someone else. I can't let it happened again, and I won't."
Abbie nodded, they hadn't rehearsed this part, but she had definitely said the right thing, "no further questions."
Whitaker remained sat.
************
After Alex had stepped down, Abbie had called a Medical Expert, a doctor she often called on in such circumstances, to confirm that it was highly unlikely that Alex's catalogue of injuries had been sustain through sheer clumsiness on her part, and were most likely inflicted during an attack. After that, Whitaker had called a few old cops that Olivia had worked with when she was in uniform. He had also called Detective Tutuola, who had divided the squad by being on Olivia's side when he'd found out about her arrest. Abbie had done her best on the cross-exam, shooting down the witnesses with (true) accusations that they in fact knew very little about Benson outside of work. Overall, it had been a successful day as far as the Prosecution was concerned.
************
They had agreed to meet up at a bar nearby, Casey and Elliot had arrived first. Alex Cabot had snuck off to call Eames and try to do some damage control, Abbie needed to finish up on some paperwork before the end of the day. Elliot had gone to the bathroom, leaving Casey alone at the bar. She was there for a few minutes when she practically leapt out of her skin when someone pinched her shoulders from behind.
"Hey, easy titch!" A familiar voice called out behind her. The unexpected visitor sat on the barstool next to her, grinning at her jumpy reaction. He ordered himself a bottle of European lager.
"How the hell did you find me?" Casey asked, frowning.
"You're new hair is visible from several states away." He said, ruffling her blonder locks. "Seriously, titch, not a good look. I liked your red hair." Casey swatted his hands off.
"You're one to talk Zach, nice highlights." She mocked. His closely cropped brown hair had a white-blonde tips all over. He pulled an absurdly shocked face.
"These are high fashion at the moment, not that I'd expect you to know." He said, nudging her with a large elbow.
"How did you find me?" Casey asked again, starting to worry that she had some sort of GPS system installed unbeknownst to her.
"I went to your office, a lady called Abbie sent me over." He explained.
"God, Novaks need to start calling before just showing up." Casey said moodily.
"I left five messages on your phone. And I'm not a Novak anymore, remember." He said.
"Dent." Casey rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you changed it, Zach Novak had a great ring to it." She accentuated the 'ack' in both words.
"I didn't want any reminders," He said, seriously this time. "Case, you are the only member of the family who doesn't pretend I don't exist." He sounded thankful, but Casey always felt awkward when he brought that fact up. She didn't need to add that if any of the rest of the Family knew that she was still in contact with him, they'd disown her too. She remembered trying to hide at the back in his wedding pictures, where she had been honorary 'best man', just in case they were ever seen by their parents. She was twenty-one at the time. She remembered feeling sad when she looked at her brothers partners side of the church, packed with people, his parents on the front row, both had shed a tear during the vows. Zach's side had a few of his friends from college, and she was the only Novak present.
That in itself had nearly made her cry.
"No offence Zach, but why are you here? I'm not exactly in your neighbourhood." She asked.
"Can't I visit my kid sister?" Zach asked, decanting his beer into a glass and taking a sip.
************
Elliot paused as he returned to the bar from the bathroom. Casey was sat at the bar, accompanied by a mysterious man, he looked around Elliot's own age, he was tall, smartly dressed with closely cut highlighted hair and a neatly manicured goatee. It was entirely possible he was trying to pick Casey up, but Casey seemed to be conversing animatedly with him, not giving him the brush off. Elliot approached stealthily, just catching the end of their conversation,
"for the last time, I am not having your baby!" Casey exclaimed. Elliot looked between the two, confused. Casey blushed deep and her visitor began to laugh loudly.
"Elliot, this is my brother Zach, Zach, this is…" Casey's words fell away again, so Elliot interjected.
"Her boyfriend."
"Nice to meet you," Zach said, holding a hand out. Elliot gave it a firm shake. "Sorry if that sounded a little wrong, my partners sister has just decided to be a surrogate, which I'll be the father of, so that it's as close to us having a baby as possible, I keep trying to convince little Casey to lend us her womb, but she's not so keen."
Casey nudged her brother hard, "he talks about it like he's asking to borrow my car or something. And stop calling me little."
"You are Casey Junior." He ribbed. "Anyway, you wouldn't be carrying my baby, it would be yours and Dave's."
"I know." Casey sighed. "But it's still a no."
"Okay, okay," Zach said, holding his hands up. "Right, I've beat around the bush long enough. What's happened to you?" He asked.
"Nothing." Casey jumped in, a little too quickly.
"Dad called, ranting as usual. He wanted to know if I had been getting you 'involved' in my kind of 'lifestyle'." Zach said. He cocked an eyebrow at Casey, and Elliot finally saw the resemblance.
"You know Dad." Casey said absently.
"Don't try to bullshit me Casey," Zach said. "I know when something's up, and something's up right now."
Elliot cut in, "Zach, I don't know if now's the time to talk about this."
"El, it's okay." Casey said. "Zach, I'm involved in a court case right now..."
"Right…" Zach said, willing her on.
"I was raped. By a woman who I work with. Her Lawyer called Dad, god knows why." Casey fired out, all in one go. She found it was easier that way, the weighty pauses beforehand just bred apprehension.
"Oh my god." Zach said, staring at Casey, mouth open. He quickly pulled her into a hug. Elliot decided he liked Casey's brother. At least more than he liked Casey's father, but that wasn't saying much.
"How did it happen?" He asked, when he eventually relinquished his vice-like hug.
"I don't want to talk about it right now, I've just come from court, had to recount the whole thing backwards and forwards a million times." Casey said. She ordered another drink, a double Southern Comfort, no ice. Her brother was still reeling from the news. Elliot took the seat on the other side of Casey and put an arm around her.