Disclaimer: The characters in this story are the property of Dick Wolfe and NBC.
Two hours later Olivia was sitting on a stool next to Casey who was lying on an exam table in a curtained off room in the ER. Looking over at Casey she saw the young woman staring blankly off into space. It was the same look she had in her eyes during the ambulance ride to the hospital when Olivia could do nothing to comfort her except hold her hand.
Olivia thought back to the squad room. As soon as she pulled Casey from the restroom the men immediately jumped up and ran over to help causing Casey to panic and stumble backwards in fear. Luckily Olivia had been there to steady her, wave off the men, and calmly ask for Elliot to call a bus. She could see the question in Elliot's eyes that seemed to be asking her what had happened but all she could do was slowly shake her head and return her attention to the young woman in her arms.
Now that they were alone in the hospital the detective in Olivia was telling her to push Casey to tell her what happened knowing that the more time that ticked by the lesser the chance was that they would catch the person who had caused such terror in the young woman. The other side of Olivia though was looking over at the hurt woman who she had just begun to start to consider a good friend. It was that part of Olivia that knew the ADA was not ready to talk about what had happened. Unfortunately though it was the detective in Olivia - the same detective who had sat in this very position more times than she could count - who had a pretty good idea as to what happened to her friend.
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It seemed to Casey that she had been lying in the ER forever now. She was vaguely aware of Olivia's presence next to her and vaguely aware of Olivia's hand on her shoulder. She was more aware, however, that she was lying down wearing only a flimsy hospital gown and feeling incredibly exposed. She knew she was in a hospital. She knew Olivia was with her. She knew she was for all intensive purposes safe... yet she still couldn't seem to swallow the panic that was intermittently causing her body to tremble.
As she lay in silence she heard someone pull the curtain aside and approach her. Her stomach clenched and she felt bile rising in her throat when she slowly looked over and saw a man standing over her.
The man picked up her chart from a nearby table and gave her a terse fake smile.
"Miss Novak?", he said without looking up.
It was more of a statement than a question.
Knowing her fear was unfounded, Casey swallowed hard and nodded.
"I'm Dr. Bergman", he continued. "I'll be examining you. It says here that a nurse has already taken your blood work and sent it to the lab?"
Again more of a statement than a question.
"Do you remember if you hit your head during the attack?"
Casey slowly shook her head and Dr. Bergman ignored her slight recoil as he quickly moved his hands to her face and held her eyelids open as he shined a bright light in her eyes.
Casey knew Olivia must have sensed her discomfort because she felt Olivia's hand slip into her own briefly squeezing it before rubbing her thumb slowly over the back of Casey's hand. Casey glanced over and even in her somewhat dazed state thought she saw Olivia shooting the doctor daggers with her eyes.
Casey attention focused back on Dr. Bergman when she heard him ask if she was in any pain. Casey's hand instinctively moved to her neck where dark purple bruising was beginning to form. The doctor's hands followed and Casey winced both in pain and in fear as he probed her neck and made a note on the chart mumbling something about x-rays.
"Okay, I'm going to take a look at your stomach now and check your ribs for any broken bones", he stated as he pulled a sheet up to her waist and lifted her gown to just below her bust line. She felt his cold hands running over her ribs and she squeezed her eyes shut tight and looked away as he pushed down on different parts of her stomach starting near the top and working his way down.
Noticing her reaction for what seemed like the first time since he start the exam he asked if she was in pain but then continued when she shook her head.
Once again Casey felt Olivia squeeze her hand and was grateful that she wasn't alone with this man. As an attorney who prosecuted sex crimes on a daily basis she knew how important exams were and knew the importance of collecting any and all evidence. Yet as this doctor (whose bedside manner left something to be desired) continued to touch her it took all the self-control she had to resist screaming for him to stop. The feeling of his large cold hands on her stomach was all too familiar and she found herself silently pleading for him to stop and for Olivia to protect her and throw him out of the room.
Lost in her inner battle Casey had missed what the doctor had said but noticed that her stomach was once again covered by her gown. Her relief didn't last long however when she saw him wheel a stool over to the end of the exam table. When she went to move her legs they were trembling and she felt his cold hands once again as he guided them into the stirrups.
Casey kept repeating to herself over and over that this man was a doctor and wasn't going to hurt to her but she couldn't manage to calm herself down. All she could think about was feeling trapped by the man in the bathroom stall. His body crushing hers. His hands roughly making their way up her skirt...
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Olivia watched the young attorney's legs tremble as the doctor put them in the stirrups and found herself about to stop the exam for about the 10th time since Dr. Bergman first walked through the door. She couldn't believe the way he was treating a rape victim. His bedside manner was terrible to put it mildly. He had yet to even make eye contact with Casey. He abruptly reached for her and grabbed her without taking the time to warn her what was coming. The woman lying before him had just been violated a few hours ago in the worst possible way and this man was now essentially violating her all over again. Olivia knew Casey was trying to be strong but the pain in Casey's eyes as the doctor probed her stomach broke Olivia's heart. She could tell by the death grip that Casey had on her hand that she wasn't going to be able to hold it together much longer and Olivia knew she had to speak up for her friend.
"Excuse me? Dr. Bergman?", Olivia said abruptly.
The doctor snapped his head up clearly not pleased with the interruption. "Yes, detective?"
Olivia looked hard at the doctor. "I'm sorry to interrupt but could you please give us a minute before you start the pelvic exam?".
Glancing over at Casey she thought she saw a flicker of relief in the young woman's eyes. Olivia returned her hardened stare to the doctor. It was a stare usually reserved for suspects and perps but a stare Olivia felt the doctor deserved even after only meeting him ten minutes ago.
"Detective..", the doctor began somewhat more pointedly than necessary, "it really is important that we finish this exam as soon as possible". He half stood for a second and looked over at Casey. "Miss Novak, is it alright with you if we continue?"
Olivia saw Casey nod slowly and despite the fact that she was overcome with rage and ready to throttle the doctor she knew Casey was trying to be strong and trying to get the whole thing over with.
Ignoring the look the doctor gave her as he sat back down, Olivia pulled her stool closer to the attorney and massaged her shoulder with one hand while placing her other hand on the young woman's head brushing nonexistent hairs off her forehead with her thumb. Leaning in close to Casey's ear she whispered, "It's almost over sweetheart. You're doing great".
"Okay, Miss Novak, you're going to feel my touch", the doctor stated.
Olivia felt every muscle in Casey's frail body tighten. She tried to move as close as possible to comfort the ADA. She started to whisper "It's okay. I'm here. You're okay." but was interrupted by the doctor's booming voice.
"Miss Novak, I'm going to need you to relax so I can examine you."
Olivia avoided the urge to shoot the doctor another death glare and instead focused her attention Casey by continuing to whisper soothing things into her ear and not breaking physical contact. Olivia felt Casey's body slowing begin to relax a little.
"That's better, Miss Novak. I'm going to check for tearing. You may feel some discomfort".
As the doctor began probing, Olivia felt Casey's body start to tremble. She looked to Casey's face and saw that her eyes were squeezed shut and her face was contorted as if she was trying to bite back a scream. A few seconds passed and Casey began to whimper and shake more severely. Tears were streaming down her face when Olivia heard her whisper "Stop. Please stop." Casey's voice was filled with pure fear when she repeated more loudly, "Please. No! Stop! Please!".
Olivia immediately jumped up and put a stop to the exam. Dr. Bergman, looking somewhat thrown, stood up surprisingly without any resistance and nodded as he backed out of the room.
Olivia rushed back over to Casey's side and climbed onto the table next to next to the woman who was trying to suppress her hysteria. Casey had withdrawn her feet from the stirrups and was now lying on her side curled up in a tight ball. Olivia wrapped her arms tightly around the woman and held her close as Casey's body shuddered violently with each sob.
"I'm sorry, Olivia. I'm sorry.", Casey whispered over and over again while her body inadvertently rocked back and forth. "I'm sorry."
"Oh Casey..", Olivia replied biting back tears of her own. "You have nothing to be sorry about sweetheart. I'm so sorry I put you through that. I should have stopped it sooner. It is NOT your fault. Dr. Bergman is an ass and I'm going to make sure his superiors are made aware of it."
Olivia sighed holding Casey tighter, "I'm so sorry, Case. You did NOTHING wrong. Please don't ever think that."
As Olivia tried to comfort Casey she silently berated herself. She had promised Casey that she would take care of her and wouldn't let anything else happen to her and that's exactly what she had just let happen.