About three am on Monday, Olivia had gotten a call about a 14-year-old girl that had been raped near her apartment building. She had been left in an alley near an electronics store. When the owner was closing out for the night he found the girl huddled behind a dumpster in what remained of her clothes. He gave her a jacket to cover up with and called the police.
When Olivia arrived at the hospital the girl was hysterical and wouldn't let anyone touch her. She spent the better part of an hour gently talking to the shaken teen trying to calm her down.
"Honey you're not doing yourself any good right now. I need you to settle down. I'm here to help you. What's your name?"
"Alicia Thomas, my friends call me Ali."
"That's a good start. Ali honey, my name is Olivia. I'm a police officer with the Manhattan SVU. Do you know what that is?" The girl shook her head no.
"That means that I help people like you. I need you to listen to me for few minutes, can you do that?"
The girl nodded. "I know you're scared, and I know that the last thing you want is anybody touching you, but it's very important that you let these doctors take a look at you. They just want to help. They want to make sure that you're okay… physically and to do that they are going to need to examine you. " Ali began to cry again.
"I know sweetie, but this will help us find and put away the person who did this. Also the doctors can give you something for pain, and some drugs that will prevent an STD and pregnancy."
At this the girl launched herself into Olivia's arms. "I don't think I can. Please don't ask me to." Olivia wrapped her arms around the young girl and stroked her hair.
"I'll stay with you through the whole thing, I promise, but we really need you to do the exam."
Finally, the girl agreed. Olivia quickly called Ali's parents then rejoined the girl in the exam room. As promised, she stayed with the girl during the exam, gently coaxing a statement out of her and waited with her for her parents to arrive. Only after Olivia felt the girl had settled and the parents were over the worst of their shock did she leave. It was now eight am.
Olivia and Elliot spent the rest of the day going over the girl's statement and working up some leads. She waited late at the station in hope of getting any news about the forensic evidence collected. Just as she got home she received a frantic call from Ali's mother, she could hear Ali crying in the background. Olivia spent the rest of the night talking to her on the telephone.
About four thirty Ali's mom whispered into the phone, "She's asleep. Thank you Detective Benson, I didn't know what else to do."
This was the schedule of Olivia's life for the next four days. Long days chasing down lead after lead and nights on the phone with Ali until she went to sleep which left her with precious little time to sleep herself. She was able to grab some time in the crib but by the fourth day the wear was beginning to take its toll.
"Good morning," Elliot greeted cheerfully handing her a cup of coffee, "And how is my favorite partner today?"
Olivia eyed him suspiciously as he stood there and grinned. "What has you so happy today?"
"I just called Alicia Thomas to come in for a lineup."
"You got someone?"
"Yeah I stayed a little later last night. I got a call from Warner saying they got a DNA match on a Mikko Cannila. Two time loser, both for rape of young girls."
"If I didn't think it would give Cragen a heart attack, I'd kiss you." She laughed.
"I might worry more about Munch than the Captain." Elliot smirked.
A little while later Ali Thomas stood leaning heavily on Olivia as the men filed in behind the one-way glass. After looking for a few moments she turned and buried her face in Olivia's shoulder. "It's okay, you can do it, you already survived the attack and made it through the exam. All you have to do is say a number if he's there."
Ali gathered all her strength and turned back toward the window. "It's number three."
"Good Ali, thanks so much." Olivia walked out with the family.
"What happens next? Will she have to testify?" Ali's dad asked.
"We are going to try to get him to confess, if he does Ali won't have to endure a trial."
"Thank you very much Detective, you have helped us so much." Mr. Thomas started to extend his hand to Olivia but gathered her into a hug instead.
After he released a surprised Benson, Olivia asked Ali, "You going to be okay?"
"My first counseling session is today. It's a group session, I thought it might be easier to talk if there were people around me who had gone through the same thing."
"Take care." Olivia made a quick run to the bakery down the street before returning to the bullpen.
"What's this?" Elliot asked pulling out a slice of carrot cake.
"A thank you for helping and all your patience this week. I think I might be able to get some sleep tonight."
Elliot nodded, getting ready to dig into his cake.
"After we get a confession." She pulled the cake away and grabbed his arm, dragging him to an interrogation room.
It was eleven pm before they extracted a confession and went their separate ways home.
Olivia stopped only long enough to put her pajamas on before collapsing into her bed. It was just before midnight.
Olivia woke up with a start. She groaned as she looked at the clock. 12:45am. "Dammit" she cursed. She had only got to bed a little less than an hour.
She quickly located the source of the interruption. Yanking her phone off the nightstand she looked at the caller ID. It was Cragen. "Benson." She growled. Whatever it was, he better have a good explanation for calling her.
Cragen knew she was going to be angry, after all she was running on about six hours of sleep in the last 96."Olivia," he stuttered, "I'm sorry to wake you, I know it's been a long week, but Fin and Munch are already handling a rape homicide and I could really use you on this."
"What about Elliot?" She could already feel a headache coming on.
"Elliot's already heading to the scene,"
"If Elliot's already on his way why do you need me?"
"We got a domestic. Neighbors called after they heard a crash and a little girl screaming. When the unis got there they found the mother lying at the bottom of the stairs, no sign of the girl. They finally noticed a small trail of blood to the basement. No one has been able to get near her. They even tried some female officers to coax the girl out of hiding but it didn't work." Cragen left it at that, believing Olivia would understand. It was a fact. Munch and Fin could handle children okay and Elliot was pretty good with them but Olivia had an uncanny ability to get children to respond to her when they wouldn't to anyone else. Maybe they could sense her pain and felt that she was someone who could understand what they went through or maybe it was the compassion and empathy that you could see in her eyes but either way, Olivia was the best when it came to children. With only some background noise greeting him from the other end of the line, Cragen began to wonder if she had fallen back asleep. "Olivia?"
"Yeah Cap, I'm still here. I'm just heading out the door right now; I should be there in about 20 minutes. I'll call and get the address and rest of the info from Elliot."
Cragen smiled to himself as he hung up the phone. "Up almost continually for four days and still willing to help."
About a half hour later Olivia found herself standing in front of the address that Elliot had given her with no recollection of how she got there. She couldn't even remember why she was there. All she remembered was a phone call telling her to be there.
"Liv?" Elliot found her still standing in front of the Brownstone looking puzzled. "Liv, you okay?" God she was pale and she looked like she had lost some weight. She didn't really have any weight to lose. He hated that she had to respond but Cragen was right, if anyone could get this girl out it would be Liv.
"Elliot I don't…." She knew if she said that she couldn't remember why she was called she would be immediately sent home and she knew there was a very good reason for not letting that happen. Then it came to her, "Have you gotten her yet?"
Elliot shook his head, "I tried but she just retreated. I also talked with the mother briefly before the ambulance took her off. She said that it was her daughter who pushed her down the stairs."
"What do we know about the mother?"
"The neighbors said that if the girl did push her mother down the stairs that it was self-defense. The lady is a raging alcoholic and takes out all her frustration on her daughter."
Olivia shook her head sadly, "Okay lead the way."
They were stopped just inside the doorway by a crime scene technician. "Detectives I'm not sure what to make of this." He produced part of a toothpick in one bag and a small swatch of duct tape in another.
He held up the bag with the duct tape. "This was taped near the bottom of her bedroom door, the toothpick was on the floor near the door."
"Why would a child tape a toothpick to the frame of her door?" Elliot asked.
"It's a door alarm, when someone opens the door the toothpick snaps making a sound." Olivia explained.
"A door alarm? Why a toothpick and not a bell or something?"
"It's a warning for her, not for anyone else."
"What, to warn her if her mother is coming?" Elliot was beginning to wonder how Olivia knew all of this.
"It's easier if you know what's coming." Olivia noticed the questions in Elliot's eyes and realized she had said too much. "I…I learned about it when I volunteered a little time at a children's shelter."
Elliot let it go at that. He knew that it was a lie but he knew now was not the right time to explore that issue.
A tall officer with broad shoulders and a military hair cut walked over to the pair of detectives. "Officer Frank McCabe, sir." He extended a hand to Elliot. "I'm the senior officer on sight. If you need anything just let me know."
"There are a few drops of blood on the stairs leading down also. We couldn't find a light switch so you'll need a flashlight." McCabe took his own flashlight and handed it to Elliot.
Even in her exhausted state, Olivia did not fail to notice she was being totally ignored by the officer, so she edged past him and approached a young officer standing by the basement door. He was tall with blond hair and pale blue eyes. He was also grinning like a Cheshire cat at her. She flashed him a dazzling smile before asking him, "Do you have a flashlight that I could use?"
Without hesitation, the officer produced his flashlight and handed it to Olivia, though a blush took over his face. "I would be happy to help you if you'd like."
Sometimes it wasn't so bad being seen as a woman…sometimes "Thanks we could always use a hand, but not too close, Officer…?"
"Mathews, ma'am. Lee Mathews."
"Officer Mathews. Let's drop the ma'am okay? It's…" she glanced back over her shoulder directly at Officer McCabe, "Olivia. We don't want to scare this little girl anymore than she already is."
"Yes ma…Olivia," Mathews' smile grew.
"Elliot, you ready for this?" She looked at McCabe, "We'll be sure to let you know if we need anything else Officer."
Elliot had to repress his laughter. He could swear he saw steam coming out of McCabe's ears.
Elliot pointed toward the back wall; "She's over here at the far end, on top of that tall cabinet."
"You may want this Olivia," Mathews offered her a step stool, "The cabinet is kinda tall."
"Easy boy." Elliot muttered only half to himself.
"Thank you Lee." She shot Elliot a playful glare.
Olivia slowly stepped up onto the stool. The girl whimpered pressing herself closer the wall behind her.
"It's okay. I'm just trying to help you. Can you tell me your name?"
"Megan." She said, still pressing herself against the wall.
"Megan, that's a pretty name. My name's Olivia, how old are you Megan?"
"Seven."
"Are you in first grade?"
"Yes." Megan began to show signs of relaxing.
"Do you like school?"
"It's okay I guess."
"What's you favorite thing to do at school?"
"I like story time."
"Does your mommy read stories with you too?" Carefully steering the conversation.
Olivia watched the girl's face crumple. "I hurt my mommy!" she sobbed. "I didn't mean to, but she was scaring me."
"It's all right sweetie. What was she doing to scare you?"
"She was trying to hurt me with a broken bottle." Olivia's heart broke. Sickening memories hit her like a freight train.
"Where did the broken bottle come from?"
"I was fixing her dinner. She asked me to bring her something to drink."
"Alcohol?"
"Yes. When I walked into the living room I tripped over mommy's purse and fell." Megan's cries increased. "I told her I was sorry but she grabbed me and picked up the broken bottle. She cut me a little but I got away."
"Did your mommy follow you?"
"Uh huh. She caught me at the top of the stairs. I was scared. I just wanted to hide for a while. I pushed her just a little to try and get around her. I'm sorry."
"Megan, honey, it's not your fault." Olivia slowly reached for Megan's hand.
"Yes it is. It's all my fault. I'm bad. Mommy had something bad happen to her and then she got me. I try really hard to be good but I always screw up." Olivia felt like she was talking to herself as a young girl. "Don't go there Olivia, you don't ever want to go there. Some things are better left buried."
"Sweetie, no one has the right to hurt you like this. Your just a little girl, it's okay to mess up sometimes."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure." Megan managed a small smile, "Now I need you to do something for me. I need you to let the paramedics look at you. I want to make sure that your okay."
Elliot and Officer Mathews were too busy watching Olivia coax the child down from her perch to notice that Officer McCabe had snuck down to the basement. He was standing off in a shadow near Olivia and Megan.
"Can I call you Livvy?" the girl asked cautiously.
Olivia wondered what it was that made kids decide to call her Livvy. "Sweetie you can call me anything you want if you'll come down and let the paramedics look at you."
Just as she was sliding off the cabinet into Olivia's waiting arms, McCabe grabbed for the girl. Megan screamed and began to thrash. This caused Olivia to lose her balance and fall. Thinking quickly, she gave Megan a toss toward the closest body, (which was unfortunately McCabe), to keep her from getting any more injuries.
Elliot was already moving but it was too late. He felt his stomach lurch painfully as he watched his partner's head strike the hard concrete of the basement floor. He called to Mathews. "Get the paramedics."
Megan ran to Olivia after squirming out of McCabe's hand.
"Liv…Liv, talk to me." Elliot said.
"I'm here El." Her voice was weak and distant.
Elliot took of his jacket, folded it and placed it under her head. When he pulled his hand back there was blood on it.
"See I am bad. I hurt her." Megan said, visibly upset.
"No, no sweetie it wasn't your fault."
"Yes it is." She cried.
"No honey, trust me." Olivia tried to sit up but it hurt too much.
"Stay down Liv." Elliot gently laid her back down. "No Megan it's not your fault. It was Officer McCabe's fault and I am going to see that his superiors hear about this."
Usually he would have been up in the guy's face but he was too worried about Olivia to