August 7

The Station House

12:00 P.M. (noon)

Elliot passed John in the hallway as he was heading home for a quick lunch with his family. Munch caught his shoulder.

"How'd it go talking to the dad and siblings?" he asked.

"One of the twins witnessed a rape," Elliot said, sighing.

"I'm not sure if I'm happy or upset about that," Munch said.

"I know what you mean."

"Which one?"

"Huh?"

"Which kid saw it?"

"Oh, the boy. James." Elliot looked at him. "What does it matter which one saw it?"

"Why do you think Nellie didn't tell us her brother saw one?"

Elliot raised an eyebrow. "What does that matter? We got it now. She didn't have to tell us."

"Would have been easier..."

"Yeah, it would have," Elliot agreed. "But we have this guy, John. He's going to jail for the rest of his life. It doesn't matter what would have happened."

"I guess you're right," Munch sighed, just as his beeper went off. He checked the number. He didn't recognize it, but the name before it was Rivers.

"It's Nellie. I'll see what she wants, then I'm going to lunch. I'm starving."

"Don't tell me, tell Cragen," Elliot ordered. "I'm going home for lunch today. Lizzie made it."

"Oh, yum," Munch smirked. Elliot nodded and smiled. "See ya after, then."

"Yeah."

Munch left Elliot and walked to his desk where he picked up his phone and dialed the number on his pager.

"John?" said a sniffing voice on the other end.

"Nellie? I got your page. Did something happen?"

"N-no. I just.. you said I could call you if I.. needed to talk."

"And I meant what I said," Munch agreed. He leaned forward and put his elbows on the desk. "So tell me your troubles, the doctor is in."

"Well, um, my dad took James and Laila out for ice cream, and I didn't want to go. I don't really like ice cream..."

"You don't like ice cream?" Munch said, amazed. "Well, there's your problem. No kid doesn't like ice cream."

"Well, I don't," Nellie laughed.

"She's nuts..." Munch muttered, just loud enough for Nellie to hear. She giggled again.

Fin walked up from behind his partner. "Who's nuts?"

"On the phone, Fin," Munch said, holding his hand up to the receiver. "It could be business."

"You were talking about ice cream," Fin argued. "It's not business."

"No, it's not," Munch admitted. "But it might have been."

"Fin?" Nellie asked.

"Huh?"

"Were you talking to Fin?"

"Yeah, but don't mind him," Munch said, giving Fin a smirk. "He lost his brain on the highway on the way in this morning."

Fin just rolled his eyes.

"So, anything else wrong, besides the fact that you're the only child I know who doesn't like ice cream?" Munch asked.

"Yeah, but, I think you can do the math," Nellie prompted. "My dad took the twins out for ice cream and that would make me..."

"Home alone," Munch realized. "Gotcha. And you're scared?"

"I'm not scared!" she contradicted. "I was... uncomfortable."

"Sure you were," Munch said, sarcastically.

"You don't believe me."

"Did I say that?"

"You didn't have to," Nellie teased. "Just because you wear those sunglasses all the time doesn't mean I can't read you like a book."

"You're thirteen," John said.

"And you're a hundred and nine," Nellie joked. "Doesn't mean I don't know exactly what you're thinking."

"So, what am I thinking?"

"You're thinking that I'm not going to guess what you're thinking."

Munch sighed. "All right, so you had a lucky guess."

Nellie laughed. "Luck ain't got nothing to do with it. Pure skill."

Munch smiled in spite of himself.

"There was another thing I wanted to ask you," Nellie informed him.

"What's that, kiddo?"

"Did you talk to the People's Attourney about me testifying?" Oh, crap, Munch thought. He'd forgotten all about that.

"No, not yet," Munch said. He heard Nellie sigh. "But I'll see her this afternoon, I promise."

There was a pause.

"But what if she needs me to testify?"

"Then I guess you have to testify."

"John!"

"Look, I don't have all that much control over Casey Novak. She wants you to testify, she's got you. But I'll see what I can do."

Nellie sighed. "Okay. I guess that's all right. Oh, hey, my dad's back. I can go now."

"All right. You take care of yourself."

"Will do. Bye." Click.

When Munch hung up, he found Fin staring at him. "I know I'm handsome, but staring sometimes even makes us gorgeous people uncomfortable, Fin."

"Did I hear right?" Fin asked, ignoring the comment.

"Hear what right?"

"I thought I heard you tell a victim you'd get it so they didn't have to testify." Munch looked away. Here comes trouble. "And, I know that you know that's a really stupid thing to tell a vic."

"She's not a vic," Munch said, quietly. "She's a girl."

"Was she raped?"

"Yes."

"Then she's a vic." Munch glared at him. Fin continued to study him. He wasn't intimidated by his partner, especially since he had just done something really dumb.

Finally, Munch stood up. "I'm going to get lunch. Then I'm talking to Novak."

Fin shook his head as his partner walked away.

August 8, 2004

Casey Novak's Office

1:30 P.M.

Munch walked into the office, unannounced. Casey looked up from a file, saw who it was, and looked back down again.

"Knocking is always a good idea, Detective," she said, simply.

"Nice to see you, too, Counselor," Munch greeted, sitting down opposite her. "I actually needed to call in a favor on the Rivers case."

Casey looked up again, this time intruged. "I wasn't aware I owed you a favor."

"Well, you don't," Munch answered. "But that's never stopped me before. Why start now?"

Casey sighed. "What is it you want?"

"Nellie Rivers doesn't want to testify."

"So you need a subpeona?" casey asked, not fully understanding. "That's a given, Detective."

"No, actually, I was wondering if you could make a case without putitng her on the stand."

"Of course I could," Casey said, "but I'm not going to."

"Why not?"

"She'll get to the jury better than any evidence I can provide. She's the victim here, you know that..."

"She's not a victim!" John said, his voice raising.

"She's a thirteen-year-old girl who was raped," Casey said."

"So, do we really have to put her through that again?"

"John, I think you know the answer to that." Casey sighed. "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing."

"Look, it's hard to keep your personal feelings out of some cases, I know that..."

"No, see, you don't. You'd have to have feelings for you to understand, wouldn't you, Counselor?"

They glared at each other, they're eyes dueling. They could pratically see the sparks fly between their gazes. Casey breathed in, steadily, trying very hard to control her anger.

"She's going on the stand, Detective," she informed him. "And I suggest you control yourself while she is."

Munch glared at her a little while longer, then stood up, angrily, and huffed out of the office.