Chapter 21
AN: Thank you for the support. I really hope you like this chapter.
April 6th 2021
It's been a few days since Olivia found out the truth about what happened with Simon, and it is more than clear that Olivia is relieved to know what happened to her brother. It's late on a Tuesday evening and Olivia and Alex are both on the couch in Olivia's apartment, having already put Noah to bed.
"It was a lot, but I'm glad Carisi and Rollins are both okay," Olivia admits, as she and her team have just been working a case where someone they arrested as a child, who is now an adult and has been in a facility, started killing again.
"That's good," Alex admits.
"You seemed stressed," Olivia says, sounding concerned, as Alex has seemed distracted all night.
"I'm tired," Alex admits. "I'm dealing with a complicated client situation and I'm trying to figure out the solution," Alex admits, as she tries and fails to hold in a yawn.
"You didn't have to come over if you need rest," Olivia tells her girlfriend.
"I wanted to," Alex explains.
"Do you mind that we always spend time at my apartment rather than yours?" Olivia asks curious, as she has realized that she and Alex spend more time at her apartment than Alex's.
"No, it makes more sense for us to spend nights here. It's between both our works, and it's easier on Noah," Alex explains. "And I like it here," Alex admits.
"You're incredible," Olivia informs her girlfriend.
"I try," Alex says, and Olivia smiles in a loving way.
A few hours after Olivia and Alex were talking on Olivia's couch Olivia and Alex are in bed together. As she suddenly wakes up Olivia is confused about what woke her up, as no phone is ringing, and Noah's not screaming or crying. After a few moments of confusion Olivia realizes that Alex is tossing and turning, and whimpering.
"Alex," Olivia says worried, as she turns on the light. "Ally, wake up," Olivia says, and the second she puts her hand on Alex's shoulder she bolts up right with a terrified look on her face. "Ally?"
"I'm okay," Alex says, even though she is clearly not.
"Nightmare?" Olivia asks, as she sits up so she is right next to Alex, and Alex gives a slight nod. "Can I put my arm around you?" Olivia asks, as she isn't sure how Alex will react if she just does it, and once again Olivia sees a nod and so she puts her arm around Alex. "Do you want to talk about it?" Olivia asks and Alex shakes her head. "Okay, I'm here Ally," Olivia tells her. "It could help you to talk about it," Olivia admits, knowing that.
"We were…. We were back on that street," Alex explains, her voice barely above a whisper, and Olivia knows exactly what street Alex is talking about. "But when the shots came, I was fine… you were hit, you were bleeding out," Alex admits.
"That's not what happened, Ally," Olivia assures Alex as she kisses her neck. "I'm okay, you're okay, we made it through that," Olivia assures Alex.
"When you said you were shot at, I was so scared…" Alex admits, and why Alex had nightmares makes sense to Olivia.
"I know, but I'm okay Ally," Olivia assures her. "I wasn't hurt," Olivia says.
"I know," Alex admits. "But I was still scared," Alex admits.
"I know," Olivia says, kissing Alex's neck once more and the two of them drift into silence.
A couple of days after Olivia woke to Alex having nightmares, she is working a new case. Due to the nature of the case, she is working Olivia is walking out of the elevator at Vita Nova as she needs some advice, and from what she knows Alex has more experience than her when it comes to these types of matters.
"Hey Liv," Antonio greats, from where he is sitting, the only one in the bullpen.
"Hey Antonio," Olivia greats. "No Liz or Barba today?" Olivia asks curious, as while she is here to talk to Alex about a case that doesn't mean she's not going to talk to Antonio.
"They're in court," Antonio explains, as in the lead up to Liz needing to take the bar she is going to court with Alex and Barba as much as possible.
"And you're holding down the fort?" Olivia asks curious.
"Yeah, I have an online class I have to sign into soon," Antonio explains.
"Ah right," Olivia says in understanding. "How's law school going?" Olivia asks curious.
"Good, I really love it," Antonio admits. "And it's been interesting because if feel like I'm learning so much by working here too. Like I'm learning the theories, and the history of laws in school, but I'm seeing the application here, which is incredible," Antonio admits. "Mami, Rafa and Liz are great to learn from," Antonio explains.
"They really are," Olivia confirms. "I'm really glad you're enjoying it all," Olivia says, smiling at how happy Antonio is.
"I really am," Antonio confirms. "It feels right to be doing this," Antonio admits.
"I'm glad to hear that," Olivia admits. "Your Mom in?" Olivia asks curious.
"Yeah," Antonio confirms. "You should be fine not to knock," Antonio explains.
"Thanks," Olivia says, before heading to the office. Once Olivia gets to Alex's office she opens the door slightly, just enough so that she can look inside. "Hey, you busy?" Olivia asks.
"Not particularly," Alex responds, from where she's sitting and Olivia walks in. "I like these middle of the day visits," Alex says, smiling slightly.
"Me too," Olivia admits. "But I'm here about a case," Olivia admits.
"What's going on?" Alex asks, knowing it must be serious for Olivia to be here.
"You help victims of identify as male, right? Even when their abuses are females?" Olivia asks, as that's the impression she is under.
"Yeah, they're often the hardest cases," Alex admits. "There is a lot of unconscious bias, self-hatred, they're usually complicated ones," Alex explains, as she has worked one of those cases fairly recently. "Is that the case you're working?" Alex asks interested and knowing that if that is the case then things are going to get extremely complicated.
"Yeah, a neighbor of Chief Garland's," Olivia admits. "The nurse at the hospital saw the wounds, told the chief he should call me, theirs evidence of abuse," Olivia explains. "I talked to him, and he slipped up, mentioned his wife, and immediately tried to backtrack," Olivia explains.
"I'm not surprised," Alex admits. "Liv, is your victim on the bigger side? But not menacing?" Alex asks.
"Yes actually," Olivia admits, wondering how Alex could have realized it.
"And his wife, career driven, successful?" Alex asks.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Olivia asks confused as while Alex is good this seems like even more.
"I've seen it more than a few times since Covid begun," Alex admits. "Kids?" Alex asks.
"A son," Olivia answers.
"Like I said I've seen this, more than once," Alex admits. "Before the pandemic the husbands worked in industries like arts were taking time off and having time away from work wasn't suspicious, but since the pandemic begin, they had to move into other industries and the abuse became clear, but of course, they still have a lot of trouble admitting it," Alex explains.
"Sounds a lot like this situation," Olivia admits. "I haven't worked many male victims of female abuser cases," Olivia admits, as while she is sure it happens a lot it is not often something that gets to her. "What am I looking at? What the best things I can do?" Olivia asks, as she wants to handle this in the best way possible and she knows the best way to make sure she is doing things the right way is to get Alex's advice.
"You're looking at a lot of denial," Alex admits. "He's likely going to say that he he's bigger and could have stopped it if he tried, so there will be a lot of self-hate, and shame," Alex explains. "The best things you can do is assure him that it's not his fault, and explain that what he's experiencing is abuse," Alex says. "And keep my number on speed dial," Alex admits. "If there is anything I can do I want to help," Alex assures Olivia.
"Thanks, I may just take you up on that," Olivia admits, as she suspects that she might need Alex's expertise as at the moment the majority of her squad doesn't even believe that it is abuse.
For the next day Olivia continues to work the case, and it becomes clear that a lot of the squad, and Carisi aren't on the same page as her when it comes to who the victim is. Due to everything that has happened Olivia has placed a call to Alex and is waiting by the elevator for her girlfriend.
"Hey, thanks for coming," Olivia says, as Alex steps out of the elevator.
"When I said I was happy to help I meant it," Alex admits. "What's going on?" Alex asks curious.
"Things are getting a lot more complicated," Olivia admits. "And this is your area of expertise, so…"
"You need guidance," Alex realizes, as they walk towards Olivia's office.
"Yeah, and I need backup," Olivia admits, as they get to Olivia's office where Carisi is.
"Counsellor," Carisi greats surprised.
"Counsellor," Alex responds.
"What are you doing here?" Caris asks, feeling confused.
"This is Alex's specialty. We need her insight," Olivia explains.
"What are they saying?" Alex asks, looking between the two windows that go into the interview room and the interrogation room.
"She's claiming he held a knife to her, and the EMT's confirmed that she was cut," Olivia explains.
"And I'm assuming he's going along with that?" Alex asks, as that's what she assumes.
"Yeah," Olivia admits. "Part of the reason I called is because I didn't know what to think," Olivia admits. "My gut tells me that he is the victim but now…" Olivia starts to say, before trailing off.
"I can tell you what I suspected happened, what I assume happened," Alex admits. "But I would like to hear them both talk, if that's okay," Alex says, looking at Olivia.
"It is," Olivia says.
"You know, when I was a detective, I felt like if I put in enough shoe leather, I could solve any case. But Sussing out somebody's marriage," Carisi says trialing off as he isn't sure what to think.
"You said theirs a child?" Alex asks Olivia.
"Yeah, a son, Charlie, he was in his room and he's at Garland's now," Olivia explains.
"He could give insight," Carisi realizes. "Has either parent said we can't talk to him?" Carisi asks curious.
"No, but he's only eight," Olivia explains. "It seems like both parents want to protect him, even if they don't want to protect each other," Olivia explains.
"That's not good, I know what tends to happen next," Alex admits, as she walks over to the window to the interview room where Kat and Rollins are talking to the wife.
Over the next five minutes or so Olivia and Alex watch as Kat and Rollins talk to the wife while Fin and Carisi talk to the husband.
"What are you thinking?" Olivia asks her girlfriend as she can see the wheels turning in Alex's mind.
"I'm thinking that he's been under her control for so long that covering for her is as natural as breathing," Alex admits. "Liv, it's not going to be easy to get him to admit the truth," Alex tells Olivia, as she walks away from the window.
"I'm seeing that," Olivia admits as the wife asks for a lawyer, so Kat and Rollins get up. As she sees Kat and Rollins get up Olivia walks over to the interview window and knocks on it. "This is going to be a hard fight," Olivia says.
"Beyond hard," Alex corrects, from where she is sitting on Olivia's desk, as Fin, Rollins, Kat, and Carisi walk into the room.
"Alex, I didn't know you were here," Rollins says surprised.
"I thought we could use her help and insight," Olivia explains, once more giving the same reason she gave before.
"Well, it's good to see you girl," Fin tells her.
"What is your insight?" Kat asks curious.
"That Diana knew that an investigation was coming and so she did this to gain sympathy," Alex explains.
"I thought we believed the victim here," Kat says, sounding confused, as that is what has been drilled into her since her first day at SVU.
"I do not believe she is the victim, Andy is," Alex explains, assuming that that is hard for someone new at SVU to grasp.
"Fin said you're a crusader for Domestic Violence, how can you believe that? Andy is insisting that he did this," Kat tells Alex, and because she knows both Kat and Alex Olivia doesn't intervene she just lets Kat and Alex talk this out as she suspects it's what is needed.
"Which I have seen many times from many victims, of any gender," Alex explains, keeping her voice even. "When someone is being hurt by someone they love, or once loved, there is so much guilt, so much shame, so much self-hate, that often the hardest thing is to get them to admit the truth," Alex explains, looking around at everyone as she explains. "That's what we've got to do, get Andy to admit the truth," Alex says.
"We?" Rollins asks curious.
"I would like to talk to him, with you, if that's okay," Alex says, looking at Olivia, as she really doesn't want to overstep.
"I'm game," Olivia admits, as she suspects that Alex might just be able to get through to him. "Unless we can clear this up it's mandatory arrest," Olivia says, and her phone goes off. "Garlands talked to Charlie, he said his mother hurt herself," Olivia explains. "Now it's up to us to get Andy to admit the truth," Olivia explains.
"After you," Alex says and the two of them head into the interrogation room.
"Is Liv really letting a civilian into the interrogation room?" Kat asks shocked, looking around and seeing Carisi also looks surprised while neither Fin nor Rollins look surprised.
"Alex isn't a civilian," Fin says as he walks over to the window as he wants to see this as he suspects he knows exactly what is going to happen.
"Andy, this is Alex Cabot, she's an expert in Domestic, and Family, Violence," Olivia says as both she and Alex sit down across from Andy.
"I did it, I hurt Diana," Andy says, still seemingly out of it as he had been drinking.
"Andy, I don't believe that," Alex assures him.
"Andy, Christian talked to Charlie, he said that he saw his mom cut in the kitchen after you went into your room," Olivia explains.
"He did?" Andy asks surprised.
"He did," Olivia confirms. "Your wife is setting you up, Andy," Olivia tells him.
"No, she's not… I…." Andy says, clearly struggling to find the right words.
"Andy, you don't have to keep lying, you don't have to keep this inside anymore," Alex says, leaning forward. "And you don't have to keep protecting her," Alex says.
"She loves me…. I know she loves me," Andy says, looking between Alex and Olivia.
"She tells you that after she hurts you, doesn't she? And she says she is never going to do it again?" Alex asks and Andy nods. "You've seen that she will, and it's going to keep going like this," Alex explains. "You love her, and you want to keep pretending that everything's okay, because you think you can handle this, but you shouldn't have to," Alex explains. "Andy, things aren't going to get better, they're not going to change," Alex reveals. "Not unless you break the cycle," Alex tells him.
"If you can't do this for yourself then think of your son, I know you love Charlie, that you want to protect him," Olivia says.
"I don't want Charlie to know about any of this," Andy admits.
"Andy he already knows," Olivia says gently. "Kids know more than you think,"
"Andy, I know that Diana has spent a long time making you feel unworthy, that you don't deserve to live your own live, but you do, you deserve to live your life the way you want, to live a life where you feel safe," Alex tells him. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life waiting to be hurt again? Or waiting for her to take Charlie away? Or do you want to be free?" Alex asks.
"I want to be free," Andy admits. "But do you want me to do? She said that if this ever goes to trial this jury's gonna take one look at me, one look at her, and no one is going to believe me," Andy admits
"We believe you," Alex says. "I've worked with a lot of survivors, and I know you are one. I believe in you, believe your story," Alex assures Andy. "And I'm going to do whatever I can to help you," Alex assures him.
"And juries are smart, they figure things out," Olivia says, not overly sure exactly what Alex is planning, and not sure she wants to know.
In Olivia's office Carisi, Rollins, Fin, and Kat are all watching what is going on in amazement.
"Is this normal? I've never seen Liv like that with anyone," Kat says shocked. "It's like they can read each other's minds, they're in perfect sync," Kat says, feeling beyond amazed.
"That is what Alex and Liv are like, they either act like they are reading each other's minds or having screaming matches," Fin reveals. "Back in the day it was often the two of them against me, Stabler and Munch," Fin explains. "They made a formattable team," Fin says, knowing that.
"They've gotten Andy to admit the truth, that alone is incredible," Carisi says. When he started as the SVU ADA he read about a lot of Alex's cases, so he knew she was an incredible lawyer, but this is completely different than what he has read about.
Hours later Olivia and Alex are at Olivia's apartment drinking glasses of wine while Noah is in bed.
"It was nice, working together on this," Olivia admits, as despite in the situation working with Alex in that interrogation room felt right.
"Yeah, it was," Alex admits. "It reminded me of the old days," Alex says. "With less yelling in the squad room of course," Alex adds.
"Thankfully," Olivia admits.
"I don't know, so many of those times we were yelling at each other all I could think about was kissing you," Alex admits, causing Olivia to laugh.
"I thought the same," Olivia admits. "Elliot once said I spent all my time watching your lips," Olivia reveals.
"Wow, I knew the squad had their suspicion, but I didn't realize we were that obvious," Alex admits.
"I don't think we were I just think they spent enough time around us to realize," Olivia admits.
"And yet it took us twenty years to admit it," Alex says, looking a little amused.
"We took the long path," Olivia says, and Alex laughs. "Ally, Andy's got a long path ahead of him, doesn't he?" Olivia asks, her voice turning serious.
"Yeah, he does, and it's going to be difficult, but after what I saw today, I think he can make it," Alex admits, knowing that she already put into place things to help him.
"I hope so," Olivia responds, as the two of them drift into silence as they cuddle up together, both thinking about the long day they had and the long path they have traveled on to get them to this moment.
