Disclaimer: Since the only lawyer I ever want trailing me is Alex Cabot (BRING HER BACK), I don't own SVU. The only things that belong to me are the guest characters and Detective Caroline Schmidt.

CHAPTER ONE

DOINK-DOINK

Detective Elliot Stabler yawned his way into the 16th precinct. His colleagues were milling about, drinking coffee and finishing up paperwork from the night before. Detective Caroline Schmidt, the newest edition to the unit, was enjoying a large cream-filled donut from a box on her desk.

"May I?" asked Elliot, gesturing to the box.

"Help yourself," said Caroline.

Elliot selected a donut and his partner, Olivia Benson, came up from behind him and snatched one as well. Caroline glared at her in mock indignation, then smiled and returned to her papers. A desk away, John Munch hung up the phone.

"That was the hospital. They just brought in a twenty-three year old rape victim."

The unit's captain, Don Cragen, gave Munch a nod. Munch and his partner, Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, grabbed their coats and left. Olivia had stopped chewing.

"Swallow, please," said Elliot. Olivia did. "Some morning greeting."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Good morning, have a donut and a rape victim!" said Caroline. "Do you ever get used to it?"

"Didn't you ever have early-morning homicides in Albany?"

"Sure, but it's not like the corpses woke up and told their stories."

"True. You'll get used to the whole living victim thing, but it doesn't get easier," said Olivia.

Caroline sighed. "I'm just still a little burnt out from the last case."

Olivia didn't blame her. The first case SVU had handed Caroline involved the rape and murder of a six-year-old, the murder of her babysitter, and the discovery that the father was the perp who was also abusing his adopted son and wife…and, as if that wasn't enough, Caroline had been poisoned by a booby trap the perp had set up at his house.

"You okay?" asked Cragen.

"I think," said Caroline slowly and deliberately. "This may be a two-donut file."

DOINK-DOINK

"She okay to talk yet?" Fin asked the doctor who had updated them about their victim, Stephanie O'Neill.

"She should be. She's very edgy, but that's to be expected," said the doctor. She pointed them to the room. "She's right in there."

"Thanks," said Munch. He and Fin entered the room. "Stephanie O'Neill?"

The young woman had flaming red hair, very curly, pulled into a ponytail. Her green eyes were swollen from crying, and the right was even more swollen from a nasty bruise. She had a split lip and it looked as though some of her hair had been ripped out. When Munch addressed her, she looked up very slightly and nodded, sniffling.

"Yeah," she said.

"Stephanie, my name is Detective Munch and this is my partner, Detective Tutuola. We need to ask you some questions."

"Okay."

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"It was last night," she started, biting her lip. "I was…I was in my room, asleep. I heard someone banging on my door and I thought the building was on fire or something. I asked who it was and they said it was the police. I saw a badge. So I opened the door and…"

Stephanie took a moment to try and regain her composure. Munch noticed that she had begun to quiver. He sat down opposite her and looked her right in the eye.

"Take a breath. What happened when you opened the door?"

"He was right there. He just came in. I tried to run into my kitchen because I have a window in there that's really easy to open…but he got to me right when I got to the doorway…and he grabbed me and put me on my couch and just…I had on a nightgown. It was easy for him."

"What happened then?" asked Fin.

"He just left after that. Just walked out the door like it was nothing. I just stayed there until the sun came up."

"How long was that?"

"Only an hour or so. When I answered the door it was almost five o'clock."

"What did you do after you got up?" asked Munch.

"I went and had coffee. I thought maybe it had been a bad dream, but then I looked down and saw my arm."

She showed them her left forearm. There were dark bruises on it where her rapist had grabbed her.

"Then you called the police?"

"No, then I had more coffee. I just kept saying to myself that I just needed to wake up and then I'd realize it was okay. But then I saw the blood and I just knew."

"Blood?" Fin repeated.

"On my nightgown. Not a lot, but just a little bit. And I just knew it had happened. And that's when I called the police."

"Okay. Thank you," said Munch.

"Can you describe the attacker?" asked Fin.

"It was really dark, but he was tall…probably six-foot-one or so. And he was pretty muscular."

"Any tattoos or anything like that?"

"Yeah. He had a tattoo on his forearm."

"Could you see what it was?"

"No, it was too dark."

"Anything else you can tell us?" asked Munch.

"Just…no. I don't think so. I'm not sure."

"If you think of anything," Munch continued, handing Stephanie his card. "Call me."

"Okay. Do you have to look in my apartment?"

"If that's okay," said Fin.

"Oh, yes, yes, it is. I was just wondering. Because I don't think I'm going to be there for a few days. I'm going to stay with my parents in Alphabet City for a while…until I feel a little safer."

"We'll go there now," said Munch.

"Will you feed my cat when you're there?" asked Stephanie, blushing slightly at the request. "I wasn't able to…you know, because…"

"Sure," said Fin.

"Thank you."

Munch and Fin left the hospital room. Fin shook his head as they stopped to talk.

"Damn," he whispered. "Someone used that girl's face for a punching bag."

"So let's find out who it was," said Munch.

"Way ahead of you."