Disclaimer: Not mine, only wish they were. Belong to Dick Wolf, etc.
Category: Drama, Case, Angst
Rating: PG-13 (reference to rape, some language (not a lot) ).
Spoilers: None in particular but I suppose there may be some little ones up to and through Season 5.
Author: Traci - traci_ann@yahoo.com
Summary: I can't say too much because it will give things away… Maureen Stabler is at college. When her roommate is raped, Elliot will find out more than he wanted to know about what really happened and with an impending divorce, is the stress too much for him?
Again a huge thanks to Tracy for looking over it and letting me know honestly if things are horrific or work! I appreciate it!
One of Their Own
Detective Elliot Stabler quietly walked into the precinct and sat at his desk.
His partner looked over at him when he did not acknowledge her. "Elliot?" When he remained lost in his thoughts, Olivia Benson called his name a little louder. "Elliot!"
"Oh, sorry, Liv." He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts.
The tall brunette gave him a small smile. "You okay?"
After a moment's hesitation, he took a deep breath. "Not really."
Benson looked down at the papers she had been working on then pushed them aside. "Have you had breakfast yet?"
Shaking his head, he said. "No, but seeing as we just got to work…"
Benson got up and reached for her coat. "And we worked late last night so they owe us." She tossed Stabler's coat over to him.
****************
"Do you want to talk about it or do you want to keep massacring those pancakes?" Olivia softly asked.
"Kathy asked for a divorce last night," Elliot blurted out.
Olivia sat across from him, stunned. "I'm sorry, Elliot."
His blue eyes looked up and found hers. "You don't sound surprised."
She just looked at him.
"I guess I'm not really surprised either. Our marriage hasn't been going well for awhile now."
"What about counseling?"
"We're beyond that. Honestly, Liv, I think the marriage lasted a lot longer than it would have without the kids."
She nodded. Being married to a cop was never an easy thing but a marriage that occurred under the circumstances that Elliot and Kathy's did… "What are you going to do?"
"Give her the divorce. What else can I do? My only other option is to quit this job and that's not even a guarantee that it will help."
"What about the kids?"
"We're going to tell them this weekend but something tells me they already have an idea, especially Maureen." He sighed. "I'm just worried Maureen will think that Kathy and I only got married because of her."
"Maureen knows better, El." Olivia gave him a sympathetic smile. "Why don't you talk to Cragen about taking some time off."
Shaking his head, he said, "I need to keep working. It helps keep my mind off things at home."
They finished eating with only light conversation. As they were waiting for the check however, Olivia spoke.
"You've been a cop for a long time, why did it only recently become a problem?"
Opening his mouth to answer, he quickly closed it unsure how to tell her that some of the problems began when he became partnered with Olivia. That Kathy had a hard time dealing with the fact he talked more to Olivia than with his own wife. "I guess it just got harder as the kids got older," he lied.
Olivia did not believe him but was not going to push him to tell her. She knew he would tell her when he was ready.
********************
Cragen called them into his office when they returned. "I just got a call about a rape." He looked at two of his best detectives. "It was an officer's daughter. Eighteen." He handed them a folder. "I want this bastard."
"Where did it happen?" Stabler asked while his partner looked over the folder.
Cragen did not respond. He waited for Benson to find out.
She looked at Cragen then up at Stabler. "Hudson University. Elliot, it's Maureen's roommate."
"Let me know now if it's going to be a problem for you," Cragen told him.
Stabler shook his head. "No, Captain, it won't be." He left the office.
"Olivia…"
"I'll keep an eye on him."
With a nod, he dismissed her.
******************
Stabler and Benson sat in their car for a moment. She turned to him from the driver's seat. "Are you sure about this?"
"We have a job to do," he stated.
"Elliot…"
He looked into her eyes. "You try to protect your children. You do everything possible and then…"
Benson reached across and covered his hand with hers. "There's only so much a parent can do and you and Kathy have done a great job with all your kids. But no one can protect their children from reality forever."
"What would you know about parenting?" he hissed, stepping out of the door and slamming it shut leaving a very stunned partner behind.
**********************
"Dad! What are you doing here?" Maureen Stabler's face was a mixture of embarrassment and anger.
Elliot glanced back at Olivia who had just stepped up behind him. "We're here to talk to Aimee."
Maureen looked to Olivia.
"Elliot, why don't I talk to Maureen while you talk to Aimee," she said softly, her eyes falling upon the average height redhead curled up on the far bed.
He whirled around, ready to tell Benson to stay out of it when he felt Maureen push past him and stand beside his partner.
"Please, Dad. I don't really want to talk to you about it."
His heart dropped. "Alright," he whispered.
Maureen led Olivia to a private corner of the common room of her dorm.
"Are you alright, Maureen?" she asked.
The young girl nodded. "It didn't happen to me…" Her gaze fell to her hands. "But it should have."
Olivia reached over and touched her hands. "Why do you say that?"
Sniffing, Maureen slowly looked over at Olivia. "Because Aimee stopped him from raping me."
********************
Stabler left the dorm room opened and pulled a chair up to Aimee's bed. "Aimee, I need you to tell me what happened." He forced himself not to look around the room. He forced himself not to see the family pictures Maureen had hanging on the wall beside her bed.
The teen continued to sob into her pillow.
"Aimee, we need to know who did this to you so we can arrest him."
"No," she choked out. "It's not worth it."
He bit his lower lip. It could have been Maureen in that position. It could have been his own daughter…
"Please. Leave."
"Aimee, he will only do this to someone else."
Slowly she lifted her head and looked at him.
************************
"What happened?"
Maureen's eyes filled with tears. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell my dad. Please, Olivia."
"Honey, you know I can't make that promise. We're cops. We're working on this case. If it's something that will help us nail him…"
"Please. Dad and Mom are going through enough right now."
Benson stared at the blonde.
"They're getting a divorce," Maureen whispered.
In an instant, Olivia got up from the chair and sat beside Maureen, sliding an arm around the sobbing girl. "How do you know that?"
"Kathleen overheard them last night. She left a message on my phone. If they know where I was and what I was doing last night…" Her blue eyes pleaded.
"I can't promise he won't find out, but I will do my best to keep unnecessary details out of it."
Satisfied with the answer, Maureen continued. "Aimee and I got invited to a frat party last night. We thought it would be a great way to meet people, the football team and such. We knew there'd be drinking but really each of us only planned on one drink all night to make it look good."
When she hesitated, Olivia nodded for her to continue.
"One of the guys there was following me around all night. It wasn't scary at first just annoying. Anyway, I guess I can't really handle alcohol and started to feel a little woozy after just half a beer. I was trying to find Aimee when this guy grabbed my arm and pulled me upstairs."
Instinctively, Olivia pulled Maureen closer.
"He shoved me into a bedroom and shut the door. I think he thought he had locked it. He pushed me onto the bed and jumped on top of me." She stopped to take a few deep breaths. "Aimee opened the door, I guess she heard me screaming over the music, and yelled at him to stop and get off me. He laughed. She managed to push him off and told me to run, which I did. I thought she was behind me." Her tears flowed once more. "But when I got downstairs, she wasn't. I ran back upstairs but the door was locked this time and I could hear her in there. I tried to get someone to help but everyone was too drunk to care." Throwing her arms around Olivia, she hugged her tightly. "I didn't know that would happen. I really didn't."
"Shh, it's alright. Do you know who this guy was?" Olivia asked, fighting back her own tears.
"No. I've never seen him before."
Benson asked no more questions as Elliot's daughter continued to cry.
**********************
Stabler left Aimee alone and went to find his partner and his eldest daughter. He stopped short when he saw Maureen crying in Olivia's arms. Fighting the instinct to run in, he decided it best to trust them and turned and waited in the hallway.
It was a good ten minutes before the two women returned to the dorm room. Maureen stopped in front of her father and, after a moment's hesitation, she hugged him. "Daddy, please get this guy."
He swallowed hard. She only ever called him 'daddy' when she was terrified. "We will, honey, I promise."
Looking to Olivia, she smiled and retreated to her room to take care of Aimee.
Stabler turned to Benson, who was wiping tears away. "What did she have to say?"
"She doesn't know who the guy was," was her only reply. She had promised Maureen she would keep as many details as possible from Elliot, however, most of what she had told her was pertinent to the case. One thing she would not do, though, would be to fill him in while they stood outside Maureen's dorm room.
"Liv…"
"Hey, I'm not a parent. What would I know about handling children?" she hissed then turned and walked away.
Watching her walk away, Elliot sighed. His marriage was over. His daughter's roommate had been raped. His life was falling apart and for some reason he seemed to be taking it all out on his partner.
Benson was already behind the wheel of the car when he got in. "I…Liv, I'm sorry about that comment I made earlier… Olivia?"
Without a word, she turned to him.
Numbness coursed through his body. She had been crying. She had been the one to talk to his daughter and now she was crying.
With a turn of the key, she drove them back to the station.
***********************
Pulling into the parking garage of the station, Benson turned off the car but made no effort to move.
Neither did Stabler. "Do you want to tell me what's going on?" A chill ran through his veins when she looked at him. Never had he seen such devastation consume her eyes. "Is it about Maureen? Olivia, I have a right to know."
As hard as she tried, she was unable to hold back the new tears as they filled her chestnut eyes. "Not here. My apartment isn't that far."
He stopped her when she went to start the car. "Let me drive."
Not wanting to fight, she merely opened the door and switched sides with him.
All the way to Olivia's apartment, Elliot's mind raced with questions. What had his partner so upset? What had Maureen told her? What had happened to Maureen? If anyone had touched his daughter….
"El, you just went past my building," she whispered.
"Huh? Oh." He turned down a side street and found a parking space there.
Not a word had been spoken between them until they were inside her apartment.
Stabler sat on the couch while Benson paced the floor. "Elliot, I… I don't know how to tell you this. I promised Maureen I'd keep out any insignificant details but…"
"What is it?" he demanded a little harsher than he had meant to.
Sitting across from him, she forced him to look into her eyes. "Maureen is no longer a child, she's eighteen and in college. She's an adult."
"Just tell me."
"On one condition."
He stood up. "On one condition? I can't believe you, Olivia. This is my daughter we're talking about. As a father I have a right to know what she said to you."
Olivia stood up and faced him. "And your reaction is exactly why Maureen didn't want to talk to you about what happened. My condition is that you don't go off ranting to Maureen!"
They stood facing each other, daring the other to continue. Finally Elliot sighed and sat down again. "Something tells me as a father I don't want to know but as a cop I have to know."
This time Olivia sat beside him. "That's exactly what it is. Are you ready to hear it?"
He glanced over at her. "I don't think I have a choice."
She nodded but waited. "Maureen told me she and Aimee went to a frat party." She felt him tense beside her. "They weren't going to drink, they were going to fit in."
Elliot's jaw clenched.
"She said some guy had been following her all night. He eventually pulled her into the bedroom and tried to attack her…" She paused and waited for a reaction.
"I'll kill…"
"Elliot."
"Sorry, go ahead."
"Aimee came in, pushed the guy off and told Maureen to run. She did, thinking Aimee was behind her. When she wasn't, she went back up to the room but the door was locked. She tried to get someone to help Aimee but no one would."
Stabler remained silent.
Reaching over, she placed her hand on his arm.
He jerked away, stood up and walked over to a wall in silence.
She jumped when his fist connected with the doorframe. "Now do you see why she didn't want to tell you?"
"She's not your daughter, Olivia," he snarled.
Olivia stood up but kept her distance. "No, she's not. But you want to know why she wanted to talk to me? She knows about the divorce. She didn't want to make things even more difficult for you," she snapped back.
He froze and stared at her. "How does she know?" he asked softly.
Taking a few steps towards him, she said, "Kathleen overheard you and Kathy. She called Maureen."
Stabler closed his eyes and threw his head back. "This is just great."
"Elliot."
Opening his mouth to yell at her, he suddenly stopped. With all that had been going on in his life at the moment she was the one who was still there. The one who, despite the horrible way he had been treating her lately, had not walked away. Suddenly he felt guilty. He closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "I'm sorry for taking this all out on you, Liv."
She smiled. "That's what I'm here for."
Pulling back, he shook his head. "No, you're not. You've been nothing but supportive and understanding. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I shouldn't have said those things to you and I should be grateful that Maureen opened up to you."
Any other conversation was cut short by the ringing of his cell phone. "Stabler… We're on our way back now."
Olivia had already retrieved their coats and handed one to Elliot.
"Cragen wants us back at the office right now," he told her.
****************
"What did you find out?" Cragen asked as the two detectives walked into his office.
"Not much," Stabler mumbled.
Benson looked at him before speaking. "Maureen was the intended victim."
Cragen sighed. "You two are off this case."
Stabler turned around to face his boss. "You can't do that…"
"I can and I just did. It's too close to you, Elliot."
"But…"
"What about me?" Olivia asked. "There's no reason I shouldn't be able to stay with it. I can get Munch or Fin." Off Cragen's look, she continued. "Maureen trusts me."
Cragen stared at her for a few moments. "Alright." His eyes found Stabler once again. "But you are off. No argument."
Defeated, Stabler silently nodded and walked out of the office.
"Any idea who did this?" Cragen asked.
Benson shook her head. "Neither girl recognized him. But it's a big campus. We're having Maureen and Aimee working with a sketch artist." She paused. "We both know it's very possible that whoever it was had just walked in off the streets and no one knew him."
"I know," Cragen agreed. "But I'm trying not to think that way."
An officer stopped in the doorway. "Detective Benson, the sketch artist is back."
********************
As she walked past Stabler's desk, she stopped, touched his shoulder and whispered, "You okay?"
He nodded. "Just get the guy for me."
Smiling, she nodded and continued walking.
The artist looked up with a grim expression when Benson walked in. Her heart fell. "They couldn't give a description?"
"They did," he told her and turned the drawing towards her.
She gasped. "Are they sure?"
"Their expressions were all I needed to know this is the right guy."
Benson stared at the picture. There was no way she could tell Elliot, but he'd find out so probably better to find out from her than someone else.
"I called the 4-3 but they haven't seen him for two days," offered the artist.
She nodded. "Thanks."
"You going to tell Stabler?"
"I don't think I have a choice."
****************
Heavy-hearted, Olivia Benson walked into her boss' office and closed the door. "We have the ID of the suspect."
Cragen looked up from his papers. "I thought they hadn't seen him before."
"They hadn't." She hesitated. "We have."
"Someone we put away?"
Olivia fought back tears at the knowledge of who had put not only two girls, but two cops daughters through this. "No. It's an undercover officer from the 4-3. Detective James Chimon."
Cragen's face turned red. "Please tell me they got him."
"No. No one has seen him in two days."
Unable to remain seated, he began pacing then stopped short and turned towards Benson. "Aimee's father is a Sergeant at the 4-3. Have you told Elliot yet?"
Benson shook her head. "But if Chimon isn't caught before Elliot or Aimee's father get hold of him…"
"Send Stabler in." Cragen returned to his seat.
"Uh, I was thinking maybe…"
His eyes met hers. "Are you sure you want to be the one to tell him?"
"Not really, but I know I have to be the one he hears it from."
*******************
Benson sat down at her desk.
Stabler glanced over at her but said nothing.
A few moments later, she looked over at her partner. "Elliot, I have to talk to you."
He put down his pen and gave her his full attention.
"Not here. Cragen gave us the rest of the day off." She got up, grabbed her keys and jacket, and waited for him.
Quietly he followed her.
When they reached her car, she turned around. "Do you want to take your car too so you can go home later?"
A sad smile formed on his lips. "Home to where?"
"I'm sorry, I forgot. Where are you going to stay?"
"Probably the hotel down the street. But if you'd rather me drive separately…"
She smiled at him. "Just get in."
As she drove she found her mind pre-occupied with thoughts of how to tell her partner that his daughter was nearly raped by a fellow officer. How to keep him calm and to keep him from running out the door on a one-man huntdown? How to keep him from killing someone in cold blood?
"Liv? Is there a reason we keep showing up at your place?" he asked as she pulled up to the curb.
"Huh? Oh, geez, I didn't even realize… We can go somewhere else if you'd rather."
"No." His eyes met hers and all she found was fear and concern. "Here is fine. Liv, I have to admit you're really scaring me."
"I'm sorry."
"Did you find out who raped Aimee?"
Her chestnut eyes answered.
"Who?"
"Inside." She got out of the car and waited for him to catch up at the front door.
Once inside her apartment, she immediately went to the kitchen and returned with two beers, handing one to Elliot.
He looked at her.
"You're going to need it."
She sat beside him on the couch, sipping her beer.
"Are you going to tell me what happened or am I going to have to guess?" Elliot snapped, his patience wearing thin.
"Do you know a James Chimon?"
He nodded. "Young looking detective over at the 4-3. I worked with him on a case a few years ago involving a high school drug bust. Why?"
"El, Aimee and Maureen didn't recognize the suspect, but I did. So did the sketch artist."
"Who was it?"
She looked deep into his eyes.
"No." He slammed the beer bottle on the coffee table and stood up. "That son-of-a-bitch! He's a cop!"
Olivia stood up and touched his arm. "El, he's not going to get away with it." Her heart clutched in her chest when he turned back to her. Tears ran down his cheeks.
"He raped a cop's daughter, Liv. He nearly raped *my* daughter!" Swallowing hard, he choked on the words as he continued. "What will I tell Kathy? As if the divorce wasn't bad enough. As if the kids wouldn't be going through enough…"
"I don't know that you should tell Kathy."
"How can you say that?"
Sitting down again, Olivia looked at her hands. "Maureen wouldn't have told either of you if you weren't the one assigned to the case. Odds are, you never would have known about this." She lifted her head and met his pain-filled eyes. "It should be Maureen's decision to tell Kathy."
Grabbing his coat, Elliot headed to the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Out!"
Benson jumped up and pulled him back.
When he whirled around, he faced her with an anger she had never seen in him. It scared her. "Leave it to the police."
"We are the police, Olivia."
"He's not worth losing your job or your life over. If you hunt him down you will never see Maureen graduate college. Or Kathleen at her prom. Or Elizabeth and Dickie starting high school. Don't. If nothing else, think of your kids."
Elliot stood in her doorway staring at her, contemplating what she had said when his cell phone rang.
Olivia stood aside to let him back in and she closed the door behind him.
"Stabler… Kathy, calm down…" He looked to Olivia who went to the kitchen to give him some privacy. "Yes, I know. No, I didn't think it was my place to tell you. The case was assigned to me…" He sighed and sat down. "Kathy, Maureen is eighteen now. She is legally an adult. If it weren't for me being assigned the case and her thinking I had told you well…there's a good chance we might never have known in the first place." Elliot sat back and rested his head against the couch. "It's still an active investigation, you know I can't tell you anything. Kathy… Kath…" Sighing, he looked at the phone. "You can come back out now. It's safe. She hung up on me."
Handing him another beer, she stood before him. "I take it it didn't go well?"
"She thinks I'm keeping things from her purposely." He glanced up at her. "What are you looking so smug about?"
"Nothing. Just that you listened to me." She sat beside him. "And not only did you listen, you repeated what I said."
He nudged her with his elbow. "Don't get used to it. It won't happen often."
"But it happened and that's all that matters." Her expression turned serious. "Are you still planning on going after him?"
Elliot shook his head. "What you said made sense. We know who he is. It's only a matter of time till they catch him." He sighed. "I really thought Kathy and I could have an amicable divorce but… That phone call. She really sounded as if she hates me."
"She needs someone to take it out on. You were always that person. The two of you have known each other for far too long to truly hate each other, divorce or not. Maureen isn't just *your* daughter you know."
They sat in companionable silence on her couch, occasionally sipping at their beers.
"Sometimes… and I know this is going to sound horrible, but sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if Kathy hadn't gotten pregnant when we were eighteen. Sometimes I wonder if we even would have gotten married if there hadn't been a kid involved."
Olivia had only partially been surprised by the statement.
"I love my kids. I love Kathy. I really do… but…"
"You had dreamed of going away to college, of trying new things, of exploring the world around you," she stated.
"Yeah."
"El, did you ever think that maybe Kathy had dreams too?"
He smiled. "She wanted to be an artist. She used to paint the most amazing things."
"You weren't the only one who had to sacrifice."
He looked at her. "For someone who has never been married you certainly understand it well."
"Years of observation," she grinned then yawned.
"I should let you get some sleep. I'll get a cab back to the hotel."
"Don't be ridiculous. I can either drive you or you can stay here. The couch is pretty comfortable."
Laughing at her as she tried to stifle another yawn, he shook his head. "You are not driving anyone anywhere. A cab isn't that bad."
She walked him to the door. "Okay, but my door is always open for you, you know."
"I know. And I appreciate that. Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah."