Disclaimer: Dick Wolf owns Law and Order SVU and the characters. I only own the idea for the story and the new characters.

Chapter 106: Work and school

Down at the 16th precinct, the detectives had interviewed Malik. At first, he'd been reluctant to work with them, but as soon as he realized he was a suspect, he'd complied. In fact, he'd wanted them to find the killer, because 'he couldn't have some lowlife killing off his girls'. Apparently, it was bad for business.

This would've meant they were without a lead on the case once more, if it wasn't for the fact that they'd slowly started noticing a pattern. Malik pointed out to them that all the victims worked in the same area and the killings were all done at the same time at night. And then there was the one girl that got away and managed to injure her attacker. Now all they had to do was narrow in on him.

'He's methodical, right?' Elliot was thinking out loud, while going over the files at his desk.

His partner nodded, 'Every killing was planned. We know he doesn't just take them out in the spur of the moment, but he seeks them out and makes sure they're on their own, always at the same time.'

'So... another pimp? Someone who knows the trade?' He ventured.

'You're forgetting the obvious here,' Munch looked at Olivia and Elliot from over his glasses, 'The similarities that are there for all to see.'

'What?'

'Ask Hannah, she spotted it.'

Olivia shook her head, 'Hannah's off the case, for good.'

'Why?' Munch questioned, 'This precinct needs her more than that fancy school of hers does.'

'Because she's just a kid, who needs to be just a kid for now,' her mother explained.

Bravo, Elliot thought, internally applauding Olivia's parenting. So he said to Munch, 'Why don't you enlighten us?'

'Whitechapel?' The older man said, '19th century London? Jack the Ripper? Does any of this ring a bell?'

'Vaguely...'

'Well, the similarities are all there. In 1888 and active serial killer terrorized the impoverished East End of London...'

'Okay, we get it,' Olivia interrupted him, 'you and Hannah read the same stories. So, who was this Jack the Ripper?'

'They never found him.'

Elliot threw down a file and sighed, 'That's great, real helpful, John.'

'The point is,' Munch continued pointedly, 'that he most likely was someone highly educated, with a lot of knowledge of anatomy etcetera. A doctor of some kind. Also, he seemed to carry some deep personal grudge against prostitutes. Our man's the same: intelligent, methodical as you said, angry, but never losing control of what was planned... And the fact that he always comes out at the same time probably means he has a job that takes up a lot of his time. My guess would be we're looking for a doctor as well.'

Captain Cragen had joined them, 'So you want us looking for a doctor all based off a few similarities with some Victorian serial killer.'

'That, and because Hannah thinks so too.'

'Alright,' Cragen sighed, 'it's the best we've got right now. Go check it out.'

Elliot and Olivia nodded and got up go to the nearest hospital in that area. As they gathered their stuff, Elliot carefully asked, 'How's Hannah? Did you two talk?'

'Yeah,' Olivia smiled, 'we're good.'

'That's great!' Elliot said, a little too enthusiastic.

She picked up on his tone at once, 'You should talk to her as well, Elliot.'

'Nah,' he brushed her off, 'I'm hardly her favorite person right now.'

'You're the closest thing she has to a father. And she misses you.'

'Did she tell you that?' Elliot's head shot up hopefully.

'Not in so many words...' But then Olivia's phone rang and she had to pick up. Elliot paused and tried to listen in on the conversation unsuccessfully.

'Yeah. Yes...' he heard Olivia saying, which didn't give him much, 'No, it'll take a while. I'll let you know, alright? Don't do that. Just don't. And stop asking me about that, it's none of your business. We'll manage. Are you back from school yet? You did go, right? Okay, good. I'll see you in a while. Bye.'

'Hannah?' Elliot smiled.

'Yeah...' Olivia mused, with worry written all over her face.

At once he demanded, 'What's wrong? Did something happen to her? What did she do?'

'She's doing the dishes...'

'So?'

'So, either she's in a lot of trouble or she wants something.'

When Olivia walked up the stairs to her apartment, she could hear the sound of the vacuum coming from inside her place. Her frown deepened at the sound.

'Oh, hello!' Hannah greeted her enthusiastically, dropping the machine at once.

Olivia stared at her with narrowed eyes, 'What did you do?'

'I was cleaning,' her kid replied innocently.

'And why were you cleaning?'

'Because the place was a mess.'

'Since when do you care if...'

But Hannah interrupted her, 'What? Can't I take some pride in my own home?'

'Fine,' Olivia sighed, 'don't tell me just yet.'

'How was your day?' Hannah asked sweetly.

'Long.'

'I can make dinner,' she offered, 'I can even make a salad if that's what you want?'

'Sweetheart, your scaring the shit out of me. Tell me what you want,' Olivia demanded now.

'Who says I want anything?'

Elliot had given Olivia some advice on how to deal with teenagers, back at the precinct. He'd told her his daughters used to do this all the time. The most important thing was: try and find a way to make it last as long as you can. Don't demand to know what they want until they tell you. Let them do the housework, let them kiss ass, because as soon as you'll say 'no' to whatever they want, it stops, and they go back to their usual sulking.

The problem was, Olivia didn't have the patience. So, she just glared at Hannah and waited for an answer.

'Fine,' her daughter gave in, 'I may need you to talk to Head Penguin for me.'

'Why?'

'I may have missed one to many classes?'

Olivia looked down to hide a smile, 'Is that a question or have you definitely missed way too many classes.'

'Way, way too many,' Hannah sighed, 'And now they're saying I need to get a parent to come in and go over the 'ramifications of my behavior', whatever that may mean...'

'I'll give them a call, on one condition,' Olivia said, as strictly as she could.

A halo practically became visible above Hannah's head, as she said, 'But I've already done the cleaning and the laundry...'

'Not that.'

'Fine, I didn't do yours anyways,' Hannah quickly lost the innocent act, seeing as it wasn't working, 'You can do it yourself.'

'I need you to stop skipping school. Just, do me a favor and don't run away again, at least not for a while. And if you do feel you want to, you call me and we'll talk about it.'

'You're never here,' Hannah sulked a little, 'You're always busy with work. If I ever want to see you, I'd have to get down to the precinct, only I'm no longer allowed there because you don't want me interfering with the case...'

Olivia stuck her head inside the fridge and emerged holding a lot of lettuce, 'You're always welcome at the precinct, but just as my daughter, not as a junior cop.' Hannah scrunched up her nose at the prospect of that green stuff being dinner.

'You need me to be home more?'

'No, I don't NEED...' Hannah evaded.

'But you want us to hang out more often?'

Hannah nodded almost imperceptibly, 'That'd be nice.'

'I'll be around more and I'll talk to this Headmistress, okay?'

'Thanks,' Hannah smiled. After she and Olivia had talked last week, Hannah had decided she wanted to do better in school. Up to this point, she'd always seen school as just another necessary evil, but if she wanted to have options, she knew she had to make an effort. All of this wouldn't be possible though if they kicked her out.

'Did you like school, mom?' She suddenly asked.

'Not really,' Olivia sighed, 'I was a bit of a loner.'

Hannah thought about it for a second, 'I kinda wanna join the softball team again. Do you think you can ask her when you talk to her?'

Olivia turned around, 'Again? Did you quit?'

'Got kicked off the team when my grades slipped after all the missed classes. Basketball too.'

'When was this?' Olivia had no idea, and a sudden pang of guilt went through her: she really wasn't involved enough in her daughter's life.

'A few months ago?'

'I'll ask.'

Hannah scraped her foot across the floor uncertainly, 'Are you mad?'

'No, baby,' Olivia planted a kiss on de top of her head, 'Just a little worried.'

'Why? At least I'm not a loner like you were,' Hannah joked.

The detective smiled and suddenly remembered, 'Whatever happened to Victoria? I never see her anymore.'

'Neither do I,' Hannah looked away, 'But that was bound to happen. She's like perfect, she's smart and gorgeous and everyone loves her, so she's way too good for me.'

'Bullshit,' Olivia threw back.

'It's true though,' Hannah looked genuinely sad now, 'Besides, she spends all her time with her college boyfriend Sunny.'

'Victoria has a boyfriend who's in college,' immediately the cop came out, 'Fifteen-year-old Victoria is sleeping with a grown man?'

Hannah quickly shut her mouth and rolled her eyes. She'd just wanted to talk to her mom about it, not file some official complaint.

Olivia picked up on it, 'Okay, but you let me know if you think Victoria's in any danger or if you don't trust this Sunny, alright? Just tell me if you do.'

Hannah shrugged, 'She's probably madly in love with him and he's probably just as perfect as she is...'

Olivia tried to search her daughter's face for clues, but she couldn't quite place the emotions Hannah had just conveyed. Something more was going on here.

'I'm here to help, you know that, right?' She offered, 'Just, talk to me.'

Hannah shrugged again and eventually walked off towards her bedroom.

With a sigh, Olivia sat down and started eating the salad Hannah apparently wasn't interested in. But then Hannah appeared next to her again with a book in hand, asking, 'You speak Spanish right?'

'I do.'

'Well, I wanna take extra Spanish in school, but I need to pass some kind of test first. Can you help me with that?'

At once, Olivia jumped up at the chance to be involved in her kid's life. After they'd sat down together, she did question, 'Why the sudden interest in Spanish?'

Hannah shrugged again, and Olivia wondered: is this a teenager thing? What's with the constant shrugging? But then she replied, 'I'll be working at the shelter, right? So, I figured apart from English, a lot of people around here speak Spanish. Might be useful when they need help or whatever...'

Olivia blinked, dropped her pencil, pulled Hannah head towards her and hugged it to her chest in a sudden outpouring of emotion.

'What's up with you?' Her daughter asked, obviously very confused.

Olivia felt like she was about to burst with pride. Here she was, her kid, recently sentenced to community service, but already thinking about how to make the best of her time there. It was just amazing to her how Hannah always seemed to think of ways to help others, even in the most practical sense, even if that meant learning Spanish. What an absolute treasure this little girl is, Olivia thought.

So she blinked away a few tears and said, 'I am just really, really proud of you, that's all.'

The comments really are so motivating for me to keep posting these, you have no idea! Thank you all so much Xx