Disclaimer: No es mio... literally: no is mine

Author's Note: This chapter is a little stupid, but it will get better. I promise…just read it and review…

Time and Secrets

Chapter 4: Arraignment and an ID

By: Nimmireth

Special Victims Unit

"You are so busted, Ross," Elliot told the criminal after they had been allowed to arrest him. Elliot put the pictures of Melissa's injuries on the table in front of him. "Recognize anything?"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. I swear I was at work the whole entire day. I don't know what on earth made you think that I raped people when my own sister was raped. I wouldn't do something like that—"

"Well, a fingerprint match says that you did," Elliot explained.

"What are you talking about!"

"A fingerprint was found next to the victim's body," Olivia began. "It was yours, Ross. If I were you I'd try to explain why it was there or, if I did it, confess."

"I didn't do it!"

"Then why were your prints there?" Elliot demanded.

"I don't know!"

"Reasonable answer," Olivia said sarcastically.

"Look, I don't know why you guys think that I would commit a crime like that! I was so pissed of at the guy who raped my sister!"

"I'm sure you were, you were selling drugs to him before," Olivia told him. "But then he got really annoying so you stopped selling to him, but he thought it was time for a little payback so he went for the thing that you were closest to and caused great pain."

Ross took a deep breath. "I don't know how you found out about that, but that little bastard raped my sister. This also explains why I wouldn't rape someone. I love Kristen so much and I spent almost every hour in the hospital with her. She was bawling like a baby and I cried a couple times myself. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone."

Elliot leaned into Ross's face. "Then why was your fingerprint at the scene of the crime?"

"I. Don't. Know. Detective," he said.

"All right, guys, come on. We're going in circles. Ross you need to tell us why your prints were there," Olivia told him.

Ross breathed angrily before saying. "I want a lawyer."

Courtroom

"Docket 31247, People vs. Ross Delani; two counts of rape in the first degree."

"Mr. Delani, how do you plead?" Judge Lawrence asked.

"Not guilty, you're Honor," Ross said.

"Bail, Ms. Novak?"

She wasn't thinking about bail, she was thinking about the fact that the person who raped her was in the same room with her. All she could do was stare at him; she didn't want to, but she did. The second he entered the room she thought that she saw a look of panic in his eyes, but that thought soon faded when she remembered the knife penetrating through her body. She brought her hand up to her wounded stomach.

"Ms. Novak?" the judge asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked, coming out of her trance.

"Bail?"

"No. Why would there be?" She wondered.

"Well, because he has the right to have it. Tell you what, defendant is remanded and bail is set for one million," and the judge banged the gavel. The bailiffs brought the defendant back into custody while Casey was trying very hard not to think about him. She just began packing up as fast as she could so that she could leave.

However, when she was putting some files into her briefcase she stared at the pocket that contained the semen sample. That would always be her constant reminder that she had been raped. Violated. A victim. She felt the tears in her eyes again. She tried to blink them away and wiped her eyes. She was going to make him pay for what he did to her. She was sure of that. No matter what, it was going to cost him.

Special Victims Unit: Identification

"Just take your time, all right, Melissa?" Olivia told the victim later that day in identification.

"Yeah, I'm ready," she said. Elliot was standing on the other side of her with Ross's lawyer, Michelle Landenberg, behind him. Casey was waiting in the far back, determined not to see the face of her rapist.

The six men filed into the room and they each held a number in front of them. Ross was number 5, and when Casey saw him, she gasped. But it wasn't heard over Melissa's immediate reaction. "Oh, my god! That's him, number five! He raped me!" The victim turned away from the window and tears drifted down the side of her face.

Olivia took the victim around her shoulders and Elliot walked out of the room talking to Michelle. Casey kept staring at the mirror; at the rapist. He had hurt other people. Oh my God, she thought to herself, it's all my fault. If I had said something then maybe he wouldn't have hurt these other girls. But I can't. I can't tell them. It's so embarrassing. Why should I tell them? It's hurts enough to think about it, but to talk about it is so much worse. I can't. I can't do it…

"Casey?" Olivia beckoned. "Are you all right?"

Casey was brought out of her stupor; she had just realized that she had been trembling. "What? Y-Yeah, I'm fine. No worries."

Olivia gave her a look of disbelief. "Casey, what's going on?"

"Nothing," she replied a little too quickly. "Really, there's nothing. I'm all right." And with that she turned to the door and walked out of the room, the tears forming in her eyes again.

Special Victims Unit

"This is insane," Michelle Landenberg was saying to Elliot after Melissa made the identification. "My client has an alibi for the rape of Amelia Robbins, he couldn't have done that. As for the rape of Melissa Albert, I'm sure he has a valid alibi for that, as well."

"The victim clearly identified him and his fingerprint was found at the scene of the crime," Elliot told her. "If that's not sufficient evidence then I don't know what is. AND the DNA is being tested right now so if it matches then your buddy, Ross, is screwed."

"Elliot," Olivia interrupted, walking up to her partner. "Can I speak with you for a moment?"

He nodded. "Excuse me," he said to Michelle. "What's up?" he asked his partner.

"It's Casey," she told him.

"Yeah, what about her?" he wondered.

"Have you noticed that she's been acting differently lately?"

"Differently how?"

"Well, she's just not herself. You know how she's normally mentally with us? I've noticed that she's just become a space case and with that a little paranoid."

"Like when?"

"Well, remember when we brought Ross in the first time?"

"Yeah."

"Well, she came up to me and asked what he was arrested for. I told her he was here for rape. She became all panicky and asked who. I told her it was Amelia and she then pretended like nothing was wrong. Then when I told her that we had to let Ross go she panicked."

"You think this has something to do with him?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll ask her after the trial tomorrow."