29. Assaulted

"Wow, I've got four missed calls from Jen," Noah said, looking at his phone with surprise as he and Catherine walked out of the movie theater and into the street.

"Who's Jen?" Catherine asked, feeling an instant pang of jealousy at the mention of another girl's name.

Noah raised an eyebrow when he looked at her, and gave her a sly smile.

"Jealous baby?"

Catherine huffed and continued walking briskly towards the subway station, but she had to admit she was pretty possessive of her boyfriend. Her lover. He was her lover now … That had such a grown-up ring to it. She took a deep breath and tried to shake off her jealous feelings, but she was still relieved when Noah told her Jen was Sarah's best friend, and totally not his type.

"How come?" Sarah asked as casually as she could, remembering the petite blonde now that was always with Sarah. "She's a blonde too, just like me, so why isn't she your type?"

Noah caught up with her and shrugged, grinning sheepishly.

"Because she's not you, I guess."

Catherine bit her lip and tried to suppress a smile but her heart was soaring again already.

"I wonder why she's calling you though," Catherine mused and they stopped walking when Noah decided he'd better call her back.

"Maybe Sarah needs me," he said while pressing the callback button on his screen.

Catherine liked her man in protective big brother mode and smiled, but her smile soon faded when she heard Noah's conversation with Jen. Or rather Jen's monologue, explaining why she'd been calling him.

"Noah! I'm at this dorm party and I can't find Sarah anywhere. I've called her number a thousand times and she's not answering. Her date is out here getting drunk and he's not talking. Has she contacted you at all? Do you have any idea where she could be and why she isn't picking up her effin' phone?!"

Noah was baffled. It wasn't like his sister to take off without telling Jen. She and Jen had basically been joined at the hip since they were five. Plus she never went anywhere without her phone. It was understandable that Jen was panicking.

"And Dave won't tell you where she is? Or doesn't he know?"

"I don't know, Noah. He's a drunken mess. Looks like he's trying to drown his sorrows or something, and his creepy roommate is helping him drown. Won't let anyone near him."

"You think she dumped him?"

"Could be, but why would she just take off and not let me know? She knows I worry when I don't know where she is!"

Jen's concern was now transferring to Noah and Catherine, and Noah tried to think of a reason why Sarah would leave without telling her best friend, and why she wouldn't answer her phone. And where she would go.

He knew only one place both he and Sarah went whenever they needed a safe haven. Their mother's. So he told Jen,

"Jen, I'm gonna call my mom to see if she knows anything, okay? And then I'll call you back."

"Thanks Noah," Jen said. "I'm really worried about her."

Sarah was breathing heavily and Olivia encouraged her to take a sip of water and try to calm down a bit before continuing. Olivia felt nauseous. Sarah's story was bringing back dark memories. She knew exactly what it felt like to be overpowered. The fear was paralyzing and she couldn't process or accept yet that her daughter now knew what that was like as well. Elliot had retracted his hand, that had been resting on her shoulder, and she immediately missed the contact. His presence was such a comfort right now and when that realization hit her, she wanted to break down and cry with Sarah. She didn't though. She focused on her daughter's needs. Her own confusing needs could wait.

"You're doing great Sarah," she heard Elliot say comfortingly to her daughter and she could see Sarah responding to his kind, reassuring presence, just like she'd seen hundreds of victims relax with him.

Victims. No. She couldn't put her own daughter in that category. He didn't, she'd said. She'd gotten away. Just like you, her inner voice told her and she hung her head. It was true. She hadn't been raped physically either, but she had been violated. Being touched and restrained against one's will was a violation so her own daughter had just joined her and so many, many other people who called themselves survivors. A survivor with a capital S, Noah had called her, and she knew Sarah would be too. She was strong and fierce. She would get through this.

And just like that, Elliot's comforting hand was back, moving from her shoulder down to her back, and then back up.

"You okay?" he asked softly, and Olivia lifted her head to look at him.

She wanted to scream no, that she wasn't okay but she didn't. She just nodded slowly and told him,

"I will be."

Elliot squeezed her shoulder gently and she saw pain in his eyes for an instant, but then he focused on Sarah again.

"Are you ready to continue Sarah?" he asked her, and Sarah nodded, clutching her water glass but sitting up straight.

"Yes. Yes, I am."

Sarah had squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't look at Dave anymore and she didn't want to see Evan either. When Dave finally gave up on trying to pull her bra down without using his hands, he sat up a little.

"Hold still," he told her, straddling her hips to keep her down while he released her wrists.

The instant she could move her arms, Sarah started fighting again. Dave was reaching for the straps of her bra and Evan was mumbling something about showing him the goods for posterity when Sarah grabbed Dave's forearms and dug her fingernails in his flesh.

"Hey!" Dave said, "what are you doing? Come on, it's only me babe."

But Sarah kept squeezing until Dave grabbed one of her wrists and pulled it away, pinning it to the mattress again. Dave was now off balance and the instant Sarah felt him lift off of her a bit, her leg shot up. Her thigh hit his ass from behind, making him topple over and then she brought her other knee up, hard, hitting him straight in the groin.

Dave screamed in pain and let go of her arm while dropping to the side, and Sarah kicked him again. Evan was still filming while Sarah managed to get onto her hands and knees and turned away from Dave to get off the bed. When Dave grabbed her shoulder from behind, she whipped her arm back, hoping to hit him with her elbow. Evan was catching on, and he approached the bed, the camera in one hand while he tried to grab Sarah's hair with the other. Sarah was quicker though, and although she had missed Dave with her elbow, he had released her shoulder. She lunged forward and pushed Evan away with both hands while she fell forward off the bed herself. Dave had crawled after her and grabbed one of her legs by the ankle, but Sarah twisted around, kicked him in the face with her free foot and he released her. She heard him grunt and swear but she was already on her hands and knees again, ready to plow straight into Evan. Evan jumped out of the way just in time but managed to grab her hair now, yanking her head back while he was still pointing the camera at her face with his other hand. Ignoring the pain, Sarah tried to pull away so she could get up on her feet, but before she could stand up, Dave wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and hauled her up. Sarah knew that he'd have her immobilized in a second and acted on impulse, kicking her feet as high in the air as she could, knocking the camera out of Evan's hand.

"Nooo!" Evan screamed, diving after his camera.

Dave was distracted momentarily and Sarah managed to plant her elbow firmly in his stomach this time, one, two, three times. She then turned half around, grabbed his face with one hand and squeezed, hard, until his face was bleeding where her fingernails were digging into his cheek and just underneath his eye. Dave cried out in pain again and pushed her away from him. This was her one shot to get away. She grabbed her tank top from the floor and ran.

Olivia was rubbing Sarah's back with one hand and held one of the girl's hands with the other. Elliot felt a burning rage in the pit of his stomach against the two losers who had thought they could hurt Sarah like this. He jumped up and started pacing the room. He'd only just met the girl but his heart went out to her and her mother. Especially her mother. Sarah had been very brave but she would still be traumatized for a long time, and her mother along with her. His greatest fear in life had always been that someone would hurt one of his children, and he knew that it was the same for Olivia. He knew for a fact that she would have prepared her daughter to the best of her abilities for what the world had to offer, but unfortunately, creeps came in all shapes and sizes.

"I left my purse behind mommy," Sarah said in a small voice. "My phone, my wallet, my makeup. Even my shoes."

"We should go over there and get your things," Elliot stated. "And have a little talk with Dave and Evan."

Olivia seemed a little shocked at his suggestion, but then she looked at Sarah.

"Honey, do you want to press charges? They assaulted you."

"As..saulted? Is that … what it's called?" Sarah stammered, looking from Olivia to Elliot and back.

"Yeah. Sexual assault actually," Elliot said, ignoring Olivia's frown.

They shouldn't sugarcoat the truth. The intent of the assault was crystal clear. They even had it on tape. On tape …

"And while we're there, we should get that camera, or what's left of it. The memory card," he said, looking at Olivia.

He could see the exact moment where Olivia finally switched from mother mode to detective mode. She gave him a short nod and then turned to Sarah again.

"Honey, Elliot and I are going to go to the party and get your things, okay? Do you want me to call someone to stay with you? Jen maybe?"

"Jen!" Sarah exclaimed. "Oh God, she's going to be worried sick."

"She's at the party too?"

Sarah nodded and jumped up.

"Yeah. I never told her I was going upstairs with … with …"

The reality of what had happened was beginning to hit Sarah and she stopped talking, pressing a hand against her mouth again. Olivia stood next to her and wrapped an arm around her daughter.

"We're going to have a talk with Dave, Sarah."

"I'm coming too," Sarah suddenly said firmly and Olivia exchanged a glance with Elliot.

While it could be very therapeutic for Sarah to confront the boys, they had to wonder if it wasn't too soon. But Sarah was adamant. Having a goal seemed to help her regain her balance, and there was no way of talking her out of it. All three of them were going to the dorm to get her things and to confront the two boys.

Olivia's phone rang and she checked the caller ID before answering.

"It's Noah."

Sarah started shaking her head furiously.

"No no no. Please don't tell him, mom," she begged.

"He's gonna find out sooner or later, Sarah," Elliot said.

"I know, but … not now. I don't want him to do anything stupid."

Olivia answered the phone, hoping her son wouldn't be able to tell she'd been crying. He seemed to sense that something was up though but Olivia hoped she was convincing enough when she told him,

"Sarah is here Noah, she's alright. She just had a fight with Dave and took off without telling Jen. She'll call her soon."

Noah seemed to accept her explanation for now and Sarah called out to him, so he'd hear her voice himself,

"I'm okay Noah. My phone is dead. Tell Jen I'm sorry."

After ending the call with Noah, Olivia looked at Elliot and they silently agreed to go to Dave's dorm right away.

"We can take my car," Elliot said, and when Sarah went to her room to change Olivia breathed out slowly.

Elliot walked up to her and wished he could just take her in his arms and make her pain go away. But she was standing tall, already preparing herself for the confrontation with her daughter's attackers.

"We should call my squad," she said. "If we barge in there on our own, we may damage the case."

Elliot nodded and glanced at the hallway to the bedrooms.

"She's not gonna like it," he said.

"She'll be fine."

"She's a Benson."

"You better believe it."

Elliot smiled and one corner of Olivia's mouth tugged up as well. Despite the circumstances, or maybe because of them, they were finally relaxing a little around each other. A few minutes later, Sarah reappeared, her hair pulled back in a bun and wearing a pink t-shirt, blue jeans and pink sneakers. If they didn't know any better, they'd think she was just a happy eighteen-year old on her way to meet her friends. But they did know better, and left the apartment in silence together.

No evil cliffhanger this time. More soon. Reviews are always appreciated.