Outside Gwen Munch's Apartment
Olivia decided to wait outside the apartment in the hallway. She explained what she'd found to the female officer who was on guard outside the apartment, and then she slid down the wall and tried to make herself a little more comfortable. The wait for CSU and the bomb squad seem to be taking forever, although Olivia knew that it really hadn't been that long, it was just that she was tired and worried for her friend. She supposed that John had made it to the hospital by now; she wondered how that was going. She'd been leaning against the small bag of Gwen's things and her head was just starting to nod when she heard the Bomb squad and CSU start coming up the stairs. She quickly stood up and got ready to brief them. Then she saw something that made her smile, her partner with two big cups of coffee.
She briefed the bomb squad guys on what she'd seen and they headed in, the CSU guys contented themselves with dusting the entry door, saying they'd go over surfaces inside when the bomb squad gave the all clear.
"So why'd you call in the bomb squad guys?" Elliot asked.
"OK, maybe I'm overreacting, or something but when a purse the victim tells you was taken from her shows up just hanging from a chair in the kitchen of her apartment, don't you think that's kind of weird?" she asked.
"Yeah, of course maybe Munch has just rubbed off on you and you're getting paranoid. What?" Elliot asked, having noticed a look flicker across Olivia's face.
"Oh El, after listening to Gwen talk and seeing her apartment, Elliot she still has pictures of John up in her apartment and," Olivia stopped uncertain what to say next.
"What?" Elliot asked, trying not to get impatient with Olivia but growing irritated with her manner of relaying the information she had about John and his ex-wife.
"It's just so sad, the pictures she has of John, he looks so happy. They look so happy together."
"Any idea what wrecked the bliss?" Elliot asked, but before Olivia could answer the bomb squad guys appeared.
"It's all clear now. You've got good instincts detective, if you'd knocked that purse over, kaboom," the bomb squad tech reported.
"So it did have a bomb in it?" Elliot asked somewhat astonished.
"Yep, we're gonna take it back to the lab for some analysis, but it's pretty likely the stuff is run of the mill C-4, the detonator, which was designed to be motion sensitive, was rigged to mercury switches. You know, it was a good design, but the plant site was poorly chosen," the bomb squad tech explained.
"Why's that?" Olivia asked.
"Well, from what I know of most women, it's pretty unlikely that she'd have moved that purse enough in the regular course of her daily activity to set the bomb off," he answered.
"Maybe he didn't want it to go off. Maybe he wanted her to find it and be scared by it," Elliot speculated.
"Could be, well let's hope that CSU or you bomb tech guys turn something up to give us a clue. I need to go to the hospital," Olivia said, picking up the bag with Gwen's clothes and things. "We need to get a sketch artist to Gwen's room this morning too," she added.
"I'll drive you over there," Elliot offered.
On the drive over to St Vincent's Olivia filled Elliot in on the story of John and Gwen.
"I suppose losing the baby and Gwen probably had a lot to do with making John the man we know today. That sort of loss will leave some pretty serious marks on your soul," Elliot observed.
"Yeah," was all Olivia could think to say.
At the SVU stationhouse
Fin Tutuola looked around and wonder where everyone was, generally his partner and Olivia and Elliot were all at the stationhouse about the same time he was, but none of them were there and there was no sign they'd been there and had gone somewhere, like on an early call. He decided to see if the boss was in.
He knocked on Cragen's door.
"Come in," Cragen said gruffly. He barely looked up and continued listening to a phone conversation, throwing in the occasional uh huhs and oks. Finally he said, "OK, I'll have Fin round up a sketch artist and get over to St. Vincent's. If you and Olivia can't convince him to go home and get some rest maybe he can," he said and hung up.
"Convince whom to go home? What's going on captain?" Fin asked puzzled.
"John, his ex-wife Gwen was raped and beaten last night at her diner in Hell's Kitchen. Olivia and Elliot caught the case. The perp's a real piece of work too; he took her purse, let himself into her apartment, and then left the purse in the apartment with a nice little bomb in it. Fortunately, when Olivia went to Gwen's apartment to check it out and get her some clothes, she saw the purse. She had a weird feeling about it, so she called the bomb squad. They're going over it now. Maybe we'll catch a break, so we can figure out who this psycho is before he does any more damage," Cragen said, obviously worked up.
"Why didn't you call me in sooner?" Fin asked, obviously feeling a bit put out that the Captain hadn't brought him into the loop immediately.
"I thought about calling you last night, but I thought we might need somebody in the squad who was fresh enough to be thinking with a clear head this morning. From what I saw last night, your partner is really going to need you," Cragen explained.
"What did you see?" Fin asked.
"A man who is still deeply in love with his ex-wife and torn up real bad that someone has hurt her."
"Damn, that could really spell trouble," Fin observed.
"My thoughts exactly, we have to find this sleaze bucket and quick, before John finds him and kills him," Cragen said.
"You don't think John would go that far do you?" Fin asked, startled that Cragen would suggest something like that.
"I don't know. I heard rumors about John, from his Baltimore days," Cragen hesitated, and Fin gave him a look that implored him to continue. "People say John offed a perp who shot his partner and a couple of other cops. I guess there's no solid proof and nobody's too eager to pin this guy's murder on a cop, so it just remains a rumor, but if it's true, well then I guess I wouldn't put it past John to go after her rapist."
He and Fin just looked at each other for a moment.
"I'll go round up that sketch artist," Fin said.
"Yeah, you do that, and remember you've got 2 assignments, deliver that sketch artists and get John out of there and back to his place for some rest," Cragen ordered.
"Yes sir, Captain," Fin replied.
At the Hospital
She didn't want to wake the sleeping couple, but she did need to take her patient's vitals. The night nurse had felt that the husband's presence had done a lot towards calming the patient, allowing her to get restful sleep, which was what she really needed. She was a lucky woman, a lot of men didn't handle the sexual assault of their wife or girlfriend well, and that just added to the trauma, but seeing as this woman's husband was a detective in Special Victims, he was handling it very well.
"Mrs. Munch, Gwen?" the nurse said trying to get her to wake up. John woke with a start and instinctively held Gwen closer to him, as if to protect her. His sudden movement jostled her sore ribs and not only woke her, but caused her to cry out in pain.
"Gwen, did I hurt you? Oh baby, I'm sorry. I was just startled," John started apologizing immediately.
"No, I'm sorry. I just wanted to take her vitals. I didn't mean to startle you, Mr. Munch," the nurse apologized.
"It's OK, I know you didn't mean to hurt me, and it wasn't that bad. I was more startled than anything," Gwen said, trying to sooth John's guilty conscience.
"Here let me extricate myself," John offered.
"No that's OK, your wife has been sleeping very comfortably in your arms, and as long as you feel OK there, I'd encourage you to stay with her," the nurse said. She then proceeded to take Gwen's pulse, blood pressure, respirations, and temperature.
"What's the verdict?" John asked, when the nurse was done.
"Everything looks good," she answered.
"You should check him. I'll bet he doesn't check out that way," Gwen challenged.
"Oh, and just what do you suspect I'd find wrong with him?" the nurse asked.
"I'm willing to wager that from too much coffee, too little sleep, and a crappy diet, his blood pressure is way above where it should be," Gwen predicted.
"Hey, I'm not the patient here," John said, holding a hand up to fend the nurse off.
"Well, I'd love to check, but I've got a lot of other patients on my rounds," the nurse said before leaving the couple alone.
"Well, now that we're both awake, I better get going. I need to check in at the station house, see how Olivia and Elliot are doing on your case," John said, as he slid himself out from beneath Gwen and retrieved his glasses from the bedside table.
"Do you have to go?" she asked. John sat down on the edge of the bed as he put his shoes on.
"Well, no, Cragen said I didn't have to come in today, but I need to help find out who did this to you. Can you understand that?" he asked gently.
"Yes, but John, promise me, you won't do anything foolish. This guy's not worth it," she said, her voice starting to break.
"But you are," he said, taking her hands in his and then he leaned forward to kiss her gently on her un-bruised cheek.
Before she could say anything Elliot and Olivia arrived.
"Hi Gwen, John," Olivia said trying to be cheery.
"Hey Olivia, Elliot," John replied. "Gwen, you've met Olivia Benson, right?" John asked. Gwen nodded and smiled at Olivia. John continued, "This is her partner Elliot Stabler," John introduced the other detective; it was an offbeat tableau, if it were not for the fact that she were a rape victim, whose case they were investigating, he could be introducing his colleagues to his spouse.
"Gwen I brought you some clothes and other things from your apartment," Olivia said, moving closer to Gwen, at the same time Elliot pulled John aside.
"John let's talk, OK?" he suggested.
"Gwen, honey, I'm going to go get some coffee with Elliot. I won't be gone too long," John promised, he then reached into her bedside table and reclaimed his gun and holster.
"OK, that will give me a chance to see what Olivia brought to me," Gwen answered.
"So you got something on the case?" John asked as they exited Gwen's room and he finished putting his holster on, and then shouldered his way into his jacket.
"Yeah, a little, but I'm not so sure I should be bringing you in on this," Elliot said.
"Excuse me?" John said, and stopped walking to look at Elliot.
"Well, it's not like you're a totally disinterested party here. I mean I know you and Gwen are divorced, and have been for a long time, but from what I just saw in there, it looks to me like you've still got some pretty deep feelings for her," Elliot explained his reluctance to fill John in on the case as he usually would.
"Yeah well, your right about the feelings but let me ask you something. If that was Kathy in there, would you want me to keep you out of the investigation?" John asked him earnestly.
"No, no and I probably wouldn't take too kindly to anyone trying to keep me out of it, even if it was SOP, and probably a damn good idea to boot," Elliot admitted and then sighed. "Come on, let's get that coffee, and I'll fill you in before Finn gets here and tries to follow Cragen's orders."
"What orders," John said, staying rooted to the spot.
Elliot was amazed that a guy as scrawny as Munch could actually make himself into a fairly good imitation of an immovable object.
"Fin's suppose to bring a sketch artist by, and then get you to go home to rest," Elliot explained.
"Fat chance," John said. "I might go home, take a shower and get some fresh clothes, but then I'm going to the station and help out with the investigation," he stated in no uncertain terms.
"John, don't you think you should get some decent sleep?" Elliot asked kindly. "You couldn't have gotten much sleep sitting up in a chair next to Gwen's bed all night."
John grinned, "Who says I slept in a chair?" John sighed. "El, I had the best 3 or 4 hours of sleep I've had in, I don't know, 25 years," he said shaking his head a little.
"Huh," Elliot said, "what gives?"
"Last night Gwen didn't think she could sleep without having nightmares, so she asked me to hold her, said she always felt safe in my arms. So I got up in the hospital bed and held her like I used to back when we were married. I don't think it was much more than a minute after her head went down on my shoulder until we were both sound asleep," John seemed to almost be lost in his memories.
"When Kathy used to do that I'd always wake up with pins and needles in my arm," Elliot said with a bit of a chuckle.
"Yeah, with every other woman I've ever been with that happens, but not with Gwen, she fits perfectly, like she was made to be with me," John said wistfully.
Elliot looked at John, he was worried for his friend, he had the feeling that John thought that his ex-wife's rape might bring them back together, and Elliot knew that even if it did, it wouldn't be the happily ever after affair that they might want it to be, they'd have to deal with the trauma of the rape and what broke them up in the first place would still be there too.
'Uh, so you want me to fill you in on what we found at the diner and at Gwen's apartment?" Elliot asked.
"Yes, of course," John said, shaking off the dreamy state he'd been in.
Elliot proceeded to explain that they'd found little evidence at the diner but then explained what had happened when Olivia went to Gwen's apartment.
"Wait, your saying he returned her purse and left a bomb in it?" John asked in a controlled but agitated manner.
"Yeah, the bomb squad technicians aren't sure if the guy really meant for it to go off, or if he purposely placed it where it was, to be found and put a good scare into Gwen," Elliot answered.
"Son of a bitch, this guy is a real sadist. It's not enough what he did to her, he has to invade her home and terrorize her and why, what's this guy's game? If he went through all this trouble then Gwen's not a random target," John had begun to pace as he was thinking outloud.
"John, calm down, when we get all the forensic data and when we get a sketch of the guy to go with then we'll have a better shot of figuring out who this guy is and nailing him," Elliot said trying to calm John down. He didn't dare say what he was thinking, that perhaps someone had gone after Gwen as a way of getting back at John for something he'd done in his long career as a cop. br /