Chapter 9
"Jessie's Story"
Jessie sighed and looked back to the victim that was now staring at her wide eyed as if she had suddenly grown a third eye. Great, Jessie thought.
"You were…"Angela almost choked on her words as she said them. Jessie mentally prepared herself and hoped everyone else was doing the same. I just hope their ready to hear this, she thought.
"Yeah… I was raped." Jessie said softly.
"How old were you?" Angela asked. Jessie smiled sadly and thought here we go.
"It was seven months ago." She heard a collective gasp from everyone in the room. Jessie visibly flinched.
"Were you a…" Jessie nearly laughed.
"Yep, I was a twenty-five year old virgin, as pathetic as that may sound to some." And then Jessie did laugh. At least I can laugh about it now, she thought.
"I was back in Dallas P.D going to inform a family that I'd just arrested their sixteen year old son for murder. The only reason I went personally is because the kids older sister was a good friend of mine." Jessie shook her head. She never made it to her friend's house that night.
"At first they just hit on me, you know? Being jerky kids." She paused for a moment. "I never knew what hit me. I woke up a few hours later in an old abandoned building. So old that they had nasty dirt floors, broken glass, and rusty nails all over the place." Jessie shuddered as she went on with the rest.
"The two oldest ones, about seventeen, were the only two that did any damage." Jessie caught Angela's eyes and saw the tears running down her face. It was then Jessie wished she could cry, but Jessie never cried. She'd wanted to let herself break down so many times but her pride would never let her. Jessie just didn't cry.
Angela urged her to go on. Jessie wasn't sure if she wanted to hear anymore but Angela let her know she needed to hear this. So Jessie continued.
"The two older guys beat the crap out of me. Handcuffed me with my own cuffs and just wailed on me. Punching, kicking, whatever they could. And they raped me over and over for three days. The third kid was younger, sixteen I think. He wouldn't rape me or hit me so the other two beat the hell out of him too…" Jessie trailed off thinking about the guy that saved her life. She had more sympathy for him then she did herself in the situation. He was so young…
"The fourth night the two older guys left the younger one to look after me. He told me that some cop in my precinct had paid the two older guys to kill me and they had drug him along for the ride. Some dirty cop that was tired of me interfering with his drug trafficking plans that he was using the local gang members for."
" The kid found my gun and the keys to my cuffs and let me loose and gave me my gun back. I was so beat up that I couldn't walk… By the time he found the keys to the car it was too late."
"The two guys came back and they saw that I'd gotten loose and that I had my gun. They both drew down at the same time." Jessie chocked on her words. She didn't like this part.
"I shot the first kid right between the eyes. Death was instant. The second guy got one shot off but, lucky for me, he had terrible aim so I got him three times in the chest." Jessie's eyes hit the floor. She'd killed two kids… that bothered her more then the fact that she was raped. She could still almost hear the shots ringing in her head.
"The younger kid ran for help and got me a bus and I was in the hospital for two weeks. I never found out what happened to him." Jessie sighed. "He saved my life."
"Did they catch the dirty cop?" Angela asked, sitting on the edge of her seat.
"Oh hell yeah they caught him all right," Jessie laughed. "This is where the story gets interesting." Everyone looked at her strangely. They didn't understand how she could talk about it so lightly.
"I'd been dating this guy, a detective for homicide, named Adam right? Well, I hear from some pals of mine when I get sprung from the hospital that an IAB agent pulled himself off of my case because he had a personal conflict with me." This earned Jessie an over the glasses look from John.
"So I go down to the IAB office to see who had beef with me, you know? Well, guess who was walking out right as I was walking in?"
"No way!" Olivia gasped. Angela was confused. Jessie explained to her about how most cops felt about IAB or "the rat squad."
"Yep, Adam! The guy I'd been dating for almost six months!"
"What'd you do?" Angela asked. Jessie flashed an evil grin.
"I let him explain. He told me he'd been undercover IAB since the academy… and then I broke his nose." Don chocked on the coffee he had just taken a big swig of.
"You broke an IAB agent's nose!" John exclaimed. Jessie shrugged.
"He told everyone someone hit him with a door but no one believed him. Needless to say I dumped him and never saw him again." Angela sighed.
"How did you get over it?" She asked quietly. Jessie thought about the question hard before she answered.
"I haven't gotten over it. You never get over things or people that break your heart. I guess rape is more like trying to break your soul. I've moved on but I'll carry those scars on my soul forever." Jessie answered honestly.
"The point is Angela… we're alive. Yeah, life is hard, but that's the point. If it weren't then all the wonderful things about it wouldn't be worth fighting for. In the end it didn't kill us so why let it break us?" Jessie rolled her chair over to Angela and put her arm around the girls trembling shoulders. She'd begun to cry.
"It's a beautiful life Angela. Are you enough of a fighter to keep living?" Jessie felt Angela take a deep breath and then exhale as if pushing all of the horrible things that had happened to her that night out of her mind.
"He was tall. Abnormally tall. Really dark hair and he was wearing glasses…"
Don pulled Elliot into his office while Jessie took Angela's statement. Don sat on the edge of his desk while Elliot paced around the small room, rubbing the back of his neck. Over the years Don noticed Elliot rubbed the back of his neck when he was stressed, worried, or tired. After the story they had all just heard Don was sure he was feeling a little of all the above.
"I haven't been a virgin since high school Don!" Elliot collapsed in a chair. Don couldn't help but chuckle.
"I'm sure Jessie understands that a forty year old divorced man with four kids is not a virgin." Elliot shot him a shadowed look.
"I've never taken someone's virginity." Elliot said quietly.
"Never?" Don asked surprised.
"No, never. I married Kathy when I was twenty and she wasn't a virgin. I'd only been with two other girls before her and neither were they."
Don was shocked. A good-looking guy like Elliot, he'd always assumed he'd been something of a Casanova in his younger days, but he'd also forgotten he'd married so young. Jessie's lucky, Don thought. At least she didn't get one of us typical males.
"Cap'n… I just don't know what to say to her." Elliot put his head in his hands and stared at the floor, trying not to let himself get too emotional in front of the Captain.
The most kind hearted, beautiful, wonderful woman he'd met in years had been raped. She was pure! Elliot never believed that someone's virginity could be taken. It was a gift. Jessie was still a virgin…
"What do I say to her?" Elliot lifted his head and saw Don giving him a sad smile.
"Elliot, just be there for her. I don't think she expects you to know what to say right now." Elliot knew Don was right. He was just so angry! Who could do that to Jessie? To the woman he loved!
"Woah!" Elliot said aloud. Don cocked an eyebrow.
"I love her…" Elliot said in astonishment. "I'm in love." Don laughed.
"I may not be the smartest man alive but even I knew that." He chuckled.
"I can't tell her yet." Don shook his head.
"Now wouldn't be the best timing. Just wait and let her tell you." Don put a friendly hand on Elliot's shoulder. "Come on. Lets get back out there."
After Angela's statement was taken Jessie called Angela's older sister to come to the station and pick her up. Angela left the address and phone number to her sisters place in case they needed to get a hold of her again, which they knew they would. Angela was going to stay with her sister for a little while.
There wasn't anything the detectives could get done that late so they all sat around in silence, eating their cold burgers. Jessie knew the story had come to quite a shock to everyone and understood that they probably weren't sure what to say to her.
"Was there any DNA?" Jessie asked, desperate to break the silence. John nodded.
"All over the skirt she was wearing. This guy wasn't too brilliant."
"No prints though?" She asked. John shook his head. Jessie took a look at Angela's written statement.
"She didn't mention him wearing gloves." She mused.
"Probably didn't notice." Fin pointed out.
"He's careful enough to wear gloves but blows his wad all over her?"
"Its not unheard of." Don said.
"Sounds like a first timer to be and a dumb-ass to boot." Jessie said, taking a final bite of her burger. She'd been starving! Everyone nodded in agreement with her.
John took a fry off of her plate and stole one of her ketchup packets.
"Hey! You've got your own!" She exclaimed.
"I'm hungry!" He whined.
Jessie picked up a fry and chucked it at John, hitting him in the forehead. From then on the tension was lifted as John and Jessie commenced in a miniature food fight.
About half an hour later everyone finished their burgers and the detectives and the Captain decided to call it a night. Fin was driving John home, as he did every night, but this time it was different. Fin didn't make any comments about John needed to find another driver. In fact, Fin was tense and usually quiet.
"Are you trying to strangle the steering wheel?" John asked, giving Fin a concerned look. Fin simply grunted.
"Oh, I get it. Pretending it's the neck of one of the guys who raped Jessie." Fins glanced at John quickly and then back at the road. John sighed, took off his glasses, and rubbed his temples.
"Fin, trust me, if I could I would resurrect those pieces of useless garbage if it meant I could pulverize them beyond recognition and send them back to hell, but I can't." John put a hand on Fin's shoulder. "She's deal with it. She's okay. Now we all have to let it go too, my friend." Fin sighed heavily.
"I know man, I know."
Elliot and Jessie had a quiet ride to Queens. When they arrived home they switched on the television and both cuddled up together on the couch. Jessie knew Elliot had been upset by what had happened to her. She knew that he didn't know what to say.
Jessie snuggled closer to his chest and buried her face in his neck. Elliot wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could without hurting her. He ran his fingers through her hair.
"I'll never let anyone hurt you again," He whispered. "I'll never hurt you baby." Jessie pulled Elliot into a long passionate kiss. When they broke away Jessie looked into his eyes and smiled.
"I know Ell, I know."
Authors Note: Uh oh, so everyone knows her secret! But I bet you don't know what's gonna' happen next! Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing! I wish I had a few more! Glares at all the people that don't review lol just kidding. Kind of OO…. Well anywho, any pointers ya'll out there have lemme know! I know this ones a little shorter but it was jus to get her story told! Let me know folks-Ali!
