Casey was all smiles as she headed down the hospital corridor to Maddie's room with a teddy bear in one hand and a balloon in the other. She had already taken a few minutes downstairs to give Cheryl some flowers and thank her for making her week in the hospital bearable and now she was on her way to spend a little time with Maddie. As she stepped into the hospital room, she spotted Kim Donovan seated in the visitor's chair, reading a book to the little girl.

She stopped short, almost causing Olivia, who hadn't quite been paying attention, to crash right into her. What the hell's she still doing here? she thought, panicked. ACS was supposed to have taken over by now. It would be harder for Maddie the longer Kim stayed there, pretending to care. At Olivia's comforting touch on her shoulder, Casey took a deep breath in and put on a smile, then entered the room. "Hey, kiddo. Good morning, Kim."

"Casey!" Maddie exclaimed. "You're better!"

"Hi Casey," Kim said with a forced smile. The tone of her voice reminded the ADA of a sleazy car salesman: that fake, sickly sweet inflection that made Casey's eyes roll.

"I drew you another picture!" Maddie spoke up, thankfully interrupting Casey's thought process before she could get even more agitated and on edge. "I did a lake this time, though. I hope you like it."

Casey switched the balloon to her other hand and took the paper from Maddie. Once again, she was amazed at the details the little girl had added: the reflections of the trees in the water of the lake, a small fishing shanty on the shore, and a rowboat tied to a dock. The fact that it was all done in crayon was even more fascinating. The first thing I'm going to buy her is a watercolor set, Casey thought happily. "Maddie, this is absolutely amazing. I love it!"

"Really?"

"Really!" Casey handed the picture to Olivia and then turned her attention again to the little girl. "And I brought you something. Charlie needed a brother."

"Oh, thank you!" Maddie accepted the teddy bear from Casey and hugged it tightly. "His name is going to be Jonathan."

Casey gave the little girl a smile as she tied the balloon to the guard rail of the bed. "Charlie and Jonathan. I like it."

"Me too!"

As Casey tousled the little girl's hair, she looked over and saw the slightest hint of a dirty look cross Kim's face. The ADA felt her cheeks grow hot as the anger surged through her veins. What the hell is her problem! she thought, livid.She almost spoke the words aloud, but she caught herself before she could say something she'd ultimately regret. Count to ten, Novak. She's not worth it, she's not worth it.

Olivia, sensing Casey's frustration, stepped forward and gave Maddie a warm smile. "You look so much better, Maddie."

"I feel a lot better," she answered, grinning. "Now I just want to go home."

"And I can't wait to get her home," Kim spoke up, smiling down at Maddie.

Casey tensed again; she wanted to scream. She couldn't comprehend how someone could just pretend to love her child. How could anyone string along a child and play with their emotions like that? Why couldn't Kim see how unfair she was being to Maddie? After taking a couple deliberate breaths, Casey put a gentle smile on her face and looked down at the little girl. "Did they say when you can go home?"

"They said they have to keep me another day for … observation?" The little girl looked to her mother for confirmation. Kim nodded, and upon realizing that she did indeed have the correct word, Maddie continued. "So, I hope it's tomorrow night, but it might not be until the day after that."

"That's great!" Casey said, smiling happily.

"Isn't it?" Kim asked. "The apartment has been so quiet without her."

All right, that's it! Casey thought furiously. She felt her fingernails dig into her palms as her hands clenched into fists. Just as she opened her mouth to say exactly what was on her mind, Olivia put her hand on Casey's shoulder. It was meant to be comforting and supportive, but it also served to bring her anger down from blinding to just seething under the surface. I need to get out of here before I blow. "Sweetie, Olivia and I have to get going; we have to run a couple of errands." At the little girl's pout, she quickly added, "Want me to call you later, though?"

Maddie nodded.

"Okay. I'll give you a call later." She gave the little girl a kiss on the top of her head, not caring what Kim thought about it. "I'm so glad you're feeling better, sweetie."

"I'm glad you're better, too!" Maddie said, grinning. "Bye, guys!"

"Bye!" Casey replied. "Goodbye, Kim."

"Bye, Casey. Bye, Olivia." Kim gave them both a smile as they headed for the door. Casey looked over her shoulder and caught Kim's smile turn into a sly smirk. Casey narrowed her eyes at her. Kim just raised an eyebrow and went back to reading to Maddie.

As soon as Casey and Olivia were out of earshot of the room, Casey stopped walking, turning on her heels and facing the detective. "What the hell was she doing?"

"She was playing you, Casey," Olivia replied. "She knows she's in deep shit and after seeing you and Maddie together, I bet you anything she's figured out that you're the one who called ACS."

Casey set her jaw and bit her lip, nodding. "Trying to make me doubt my first instincts."

"No. She's trying to show you that she can play the system. That she can pretend to be the caring, attentive, loving parent and fool ACS just as easily as you can tell them she's abandoning her daughter."

Tears of frustration welled in the ADA's eyes without warning. She quickly swiped at her eyes before Olivia could see the tears. "But she's not just playing with my emotions! And that's what pisses me off the most. She simply doesn't give a shit about that little girl. She's sitting there using her daughter's affection to play mind games with me."

Olivia slid her arm around Casey's shoulders and nudged her forward. The two of them, having memorized the hospital's layout from having been there so much over the past week, expertly made their way back to the elevators. Olivia hit the call button and surprisingly, the doors opened immediately. Even more surprising was that there was no one else in the car. As the doors closed and she and Casey were left with some relative privacy, she turned to face the ADA. "Kim Donovan's a manipulative bitch, Case. She pisses you off, she makes you angry. Hell, even I wanted to smack that look of smug satisfaction off her face. But it's going to do you no good confronting her directly. Use your anger and take it out on her where it counts … channel it into the best argument you can for ACS."

Casey glanced up at Olivia, slightly confused. "Why are you giving me advice? I thought you didn't want me to do this."

"I don't," Olivia replied with a small shrug. "But I will support you."

A shy, grateful smile played across Casey's lips. Oh, she is so in, and she knows it. "Thank you."

Olivia gave the ADA a knowing smirk. "You're welcome."

-----

Olivia stood in the corner of the room, trying not to listen in on the conversation between Casey and Jennifer Lowe, the social worker assigned to Maddie's case. Though, the discussion was loud, and Olivia couldn't help but overhear some of it. From what she could discern, Jennifer and Casey knew each other from college, and Casey was losing the argument. It was just as she had suspected: Jennifer didn't doubt for a minute that Casey would give the little girl a loving home, but the sticking point was her schedule.

Biting her lip in disappointment, Olivia decided to give up pretending not to eavesdrop and try to hear everything she could. Casey was just getting to the impassioned part of her argument. "I would love nothing more than to take that little girl home and--"

"Casey, it's just not realistic," Jennifer interrupted.

"Jen, you know that Kim Donovan is full of shit."

"Kim Donovan is full of shit, yes," Jennifer answered. She tossed a file folder aside and picked up another one, then scooted around both her desk and Casey and walked over to the file cabinet. "That's why we're taking custody of Maddie as soon as she gets out of the hospital."

"It's not soon enough!" Casey exclaimed. "Kim's sitting in the hospital right now, reading to that little girl. She's not going to understand this at all, Jen. Let me take her and I can explain--"

"I can't let you take her." She put the folder away and pulled out another, then walked back over to her desk and sat down in the chair. "The whole point of taking her away from Kim is to put her into a stable, caring environment."

"It would be a stable, caring environment!"

Jennifer just shot Casey a withering look. "I don't doubt that it would be caring, Casey, but it would be far from stable. What time did you get home on Friday?"

"I've been in the hospital, remember?"

"Okay, fine, the last night you worked. What time did you get home?"

Casey raised her eyes to the ceiling and tried to remember back that far. "Almost eight-thirty."

"And the night before that?"

Frowning and knowing she was beat, she grumbled, "Seven."

"And what about the night before that?"

Casey rolled her eyes and slumped down in the chair in front of Jennifer's desk. "You've made your point, Jen. I just … I care about her, and I want to help. And it's not that I don't trust you or ACS, it's just--"

"You care so much that you want to make sure it's done right. I understand that." Jennifer rested her arms on her desk and leaned forward. "Casey, you know you can trust me; she's not going to fall through the cracks. I'll make Maddie my special project, all right? I'll place her with a great family and I'll make absolutely sure they love her and treat her as though she were their own."

"I want full updates."

"You'll get them."

Casey sighed, standing up and nervously running her fingers through her hair. "Maybe if I ask to cut my hours back--"

Jennifer stood as well, rounding her desk and standing in front of the ADA. "Do you really think you could do that? You're the kind of person who likes to give their all, Casey. You think the judges are going to care that you suddenly have to be home by five to get your adopted daughter from her after-school programs? Do you really see yourself being able to ignore the two-in-the-morning emergency phone calls because otherwise you'd have to drag an eight-year-old to the squad room with you? And I'm telling you right now, my boss'd have my head if she found out I placed an eight-year-old with someone who drags her out at two a.m."

Casey closed her eyes, biting her lip in disappointment. "Why is this so hard?"

"Because you care," Jennifer replied. She touched Casey's arm comfortingly, then grabbed another file from the drawer. "It's a curse."

"Jen--"

"Casey, I'm sorry."

Casey set her jaw and nodded, exhaling deeply. "Yeah, me too. Thanks for your time, Jen."

Olivia saw Casey turn around and she quickly busied herself with looking around the office so that it wasn't as obvious that she had been eavesdropping. As the ADA walked up to her, she gave a bitter chuckle. "Give it up, Liv. I know you heard everything."

"Not everything," Olivia said, blushing. "Just most of it." She wrapped her arm around Casey's shoulders as the two of them headed for the exit. "I'm sorry, honey."

"Yeah." Casey shrugged out of Olivia's grasp and pulled ahead of her, hurrying out the door.

Olivia wrinkled her brow and ran a little to catch up with the ADA. "Casey, wait up." Frowning when Casey didn't stop walking, she reached out and grabbed the younger woman's hand, tugging her to a stop. "Casey--"

"Go ahead, say 'I told you so,'" Casey muttered, ripping her hand out of Olivia's. She blinked back the tears welling in her eyes, because dammit, she was not going to cry in front of Olivia.

"I don't want to say 'I told you so.'" Olivia stood directly in front of Casey and forced the ADA to meet her eyes. "I know how much you wanted this, Casey. I would never dismiss it with an 'I told you so.'"

"You know, I knew there was more than a good chance that I wouldn't be allowed to take her. I just didn't expect that it would hurt this much." Rolling her eyes at herself, Casey started walking back to Olivia's car. "Well, now I know what I'm doing with the rest of my day."

"What's that?"

"Spending it with the television and some vodka."

Ordinarily, Olivia would have put a stop to that course of action, but the pain written all over the ADA's face made her agree to it, with a condition or two. "Okay, fine, but I'm going to be there, too."

Casey stopped walking about five paces away from the car door, whirling on the detective. "Why?"

"Because I'm not letting you get drunk by yourself and wallow in your own self-pity." She put her hand on Casey's shoulder, ignoring for a moment the fact that they were standing in the middle of a busy New York sidewalk. "I know you're hurting but that really isn't the way to deal with it. So you have two choices: drink with me or go without the alcohol."

Casey, figuring that Olivia's experiences with her mother's drinking were just as much a factor in this ultimatum as her concern, just nodded. "Yeah, all right."

Olivia sighed in relief and gave Casey a small smile. "It's going to be okay, you know."

"Sure as hell doesn't feel like it now."

"I know." She gave the ADA's shoulder a quick squeeze and then made her way to her car. She got in on the driver's side and then unlocked the door for Casey, who slid into the passenger seat sullenly.

Without a word, she started the car and carefully eased into traffic. Her heart broke when she glanced over at Casey, who was staring down at the crayon drawing Maddie had made her, blinking back tears of frustration and disappointment. I knew this was going to happen, she thought, turning her attention back to the road. Damn it. Elliot had been right: as hard as Olivia had tried to prevent it, Casey had still gotten hurt. And though no one could really heal Casey's wounds except Casey herself, Olivia was determined to try to help.