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

Chapter 107: Chance

Hannah was on her way to the shelter. By court order, she had to be there every day after school for at least two months. Luckily, it was close to her home.

Once she arrived there, a pang of familiarity went through her: she'd been here often as a kid, back when she was still living rough. The outside looked both inviting and off-putting at the same time to her. But as soon as she walked the familiar corridors, Hannah felt herself become a little calmer.

'Hey, Hannah!' A woman called out to her, who evidently knew her from long ago, 'What are you doing back here? Last I heard you got adopted.'

Hannah turned around and smiled when she recognized the lady. This mother of four had taken her under her wing more than once, having lived a hard life and being in and out of shelters with her kids herself. So, she replied, 'I did. It's just that I got myself in a bit of trouble and the court ordered I do some work here...'

The woman frowned and shook her head in a motherly fashion, 'You got community service? What for? For being an idiot? What did I tell you about getting involved with bad people?'

'You told me to stay away,' Hannah let her head drop in shame, 'I know. I should've listened...'

Smiling warmly, she tilted Hannah's head upwards again with one hand, 'Don't go feeling sorry for yourself, you hear me? Just remember second chances don't last forever.'

Hannah nodded and after talking to her some more, she walked over to the office where she had to report for work. When she was called inside, the residential counsellor looked up and shock was written all over her face when she saw who it was.

'You?' She questioned, 'I recognized the name Hannah, but last time I saw you, there was no last name.'

'I got adopted.'

'Well, good for you,' the counsellor looked down at her file and added, 'Still, I can see you haven't changed much.'

A feeling of hopelessness had started to settle in the pit of Hannah's stomach. Sometimes it felt like there was no one left who had any faith in her. Everyone seemed to think she was born a rat and she was going to die a rat. What was the point in even trying? But then she remembered Olivia, telling her how proud she'd been of her. She lifted her head up and told the counsellor, 'I plan on changing. That's why I'm here.'

She looked at the girl skeptically, 'You're here because otherwise the judge will throw your ass in jail.'

'True, but I do wanna try this time.'

The counsellor scoffed, 'I'm guessing I don't need to show you around this place, do I?'

Hannah shook her head, 'I know my way around.' She knew this place better than anyone in here probably. Hannah knew all the ways in and, more importantly, all the ways out. She knew where the food was kept and the supplies were locked in, and she knew which locks could be forced. She knew the routes the supervisors walked and the hiding places no one knew of. No, there was no need to show her around.

'Good,' the counsellor closed her file and looked at Hannah with a look full of judgement, 'You can start by cleaning off the graffiti you sprayed on the wall outside. You can get a bucket and sponge...'

'...from the kitchen, I know.' Hannah finished her sentence.

'When you're done, report to the kitchen, where you can help with the meals.'

'Yes, ma'am,' Hannah nodded obediently.

But as she opened the door to leave, the counsellor added, 'Oh and Hannah? You might've gotten away with God knows what when you were still a kid coming to the shelter, but those days are over. Any sign of trouble, and I'll report you back to the judge.'

Hannah nodded again and as she walked down the corridors on her way to the kitchen, she thought sarcastically to herself: well, that wasn't quite the enthusiastic greeting I was hoping for. How about: Hey kid, welcome home? How have you been? We heard you got adopted, that's so great! Congratulations!

Daydreaming and in her own little world, Hannah walked into the kitchen. There she saw a familiar face and the cook dropped his big knife as soon as she saw her. With a big grin all over his face, he pulled Hannah into a hug before she could protest, and he whispered, 'Welcome back, kid.'

'I need to talk to the girl,' Malik demanded, completely out of the blue.

The detectives had brought him back in for questioning, there were a few more details to discuss and they had a deal to sort out with him: his help in exchange for leniency on the charges of pimping and pandering, as well as child endangerment. When the interrogation was as good as finished, he'd come out with this unexpected comment.

'What girl?' Elliot asked.

Malik pointed at Olivia, 'Yours.'

'Absolutely not,' Olivia laughed, 'What makes you think you're in any position to demand talking to a minor?'

He shrugged, 'Wouldn't you rather I talk to her here? With you all watching over my shoulder. I mean, it's either that or I look her up on the streets again.'

'Is that a threat?' Elliot narrowed his eyes and got up aggressively.

But Olivia still just smirked, 'Buddy, there's no way you'll be back on the streets again.'

'I have people who are still loyal to me.'

'This son of a bitch,' Elliot turned to Olivia, before quickly gaining on Malik and pushing him up against the wall, 'You really wanna go there? Threatening the family of a police officer, right here in the precinct? Are you that stupid?'

But Malik didn't seem impressed in the slightest, 'There's no need for this and I don't want to come after her. I know Hannah, like really know her, she used to run errands for me. I just need to talk to her.'

'No,' Olivia said determined.

Elliot let him go and with his partner he started making his way out the door, 'This conversation is over.'

Outside of the box, Cragen had been listening to the interrogation. He looked at his two finest detectives and mused, 'Why not let him talk to Hannah?'

'Captain!' Olivia protested.

'He's right, you know, in here is probably the safest option,' Cragen continued, 'At least we'll know what he's saying to her.'

Elliot laughed humorlessly, 'Why in the hell would that animal want to talk to her?'

'She snitched on him,' Olivia answered, 'Or at least that's what he thinks. There's no way I'm letting my daughter near him.'

'Well, what does he want?'

Like a woman on a mission, Olivia barged back into the interrogation box, 'Why do you want to talk to Hannah?'

'Just need to get some things straight...' Malik evaded.

'Not good enough. Tell me what you want to know from her, and then we'll decide.'

For a moment, the pimp thought about it. Then he decided, 'I need to know why she led you to me. Because she used to be about that life too, so if she starts snitching on everyone, well...it won't be good for her.'

'She's with us now,' Olivia folded her arms across her chest, 'Why wouldn't she help us?'

'Because she used to be one of us.'

'Not anymore.'

'Okay, so if you won't let me talk to her, can you do me a favour?' It was like he suddenly changed his mind, 'Can you let her know there's no hard feelings? Not from me that is.'

Olivia frowned, 'Why would I even mention you to her at all? And why do you care what she thinks or what happens to her?'

Malik softened visibly, 'You know, detective, when she was six years old, she used to come in with the girls. They'd baby her and make sure she had something to eat and whatnot... You may think you've successfully taken some scum kid of the streets, your own little perfect puppet, but you're wrong. She's still a part of it, she is New York in a way, you know? But I'm glad she's out and I just wanted to check in on her. Warn her. Make sure she's good.'

Olivia didn't trust him for a second though, 'So what do you want from me?'

'Just, take care of her. She deserves better than the rest of us. I mean, she still has a chance.'

Olivia opened her mouth to reply but decided against it. Once back outside, Elliot said, 'There's no way he's just interested in Hannah's welfare. He wants something, some kind of retribution.'

'I don't know...' Olivia thought out loud, 'These people all really just like her. I don't know what it is, but it's like half of the city wants to look out for her.'

'She has that effect on people,' Cragen smiled a little.

'So now what?' Elliot demanded, still full of distrust.

'Now we take him down to lockup,' Cragen said, 'and pray to God Hannah will end up as a police officer one day, because we could sure use her on the force.'

Elliot laughed after their captain had left, 'There's no way Hannah would ever join the NYPD, is there?'

'I don't know, Elliot,' Olivia raised her eyebrows, 'I mean if you'd asked me a few years ago I'd have said there's no way she'd willing go a Catholic school, yet here we are...'

Down at the shelter, Hannah was helping in the kitchen. With pain in her heart, she'd removed her own art, sprayed across the wall out front. Now, she was serving food and seeing a lot of familiar faces come by.

Suddenly, a shock went through her as a very familiar face passed her by. Angrily, the boy looked at her and as she served him, he whispered, 'snitch.'

Hannah decided to ignore him, but she couldn't stop looking at him from the corner of her eye. She'd known Devon for years and he was just a few years older than she was. Hannah and Devon had never gotten on well, he'd robbed her a few times because she'd been an easy target on the streets. Hannah knew he'd been in and out of shelters his whole life, sometimes alone, sometimes with his mom. Still, she didn't trust him and kept herself guarded.

After the meals were done, Hannah had to go out back to take out all the trash. As she walked out of the kitchen and made her way to the backdoor, Devon suddenly popped up in front of her.

'Give me the watch,' he demanded. Hannah looked down at her wrist, Olivia had given her that watch, and shook her head. She wasn't nine years old anymore and had no intention of getting into a fight over something so stupid. 'Will you just let me get through?' She asked him.

'What, you so high and mighty now that you wanna start saving our sorry asses? Come in here, do some good, as a good little cop's kid? We don't need your fucking pity!'

'Trust me, you don't have my pity. You're perfectly capable of feeling sorry for yourself,' Hannah threw back, 'I just wanna get my community service hours done. Just stay out of my way if it bothers you, alright?'

Devon raised his voice, 'Why don't you stay out of MY way, you little bitch! We don't need you in here reminding us of how fucking far you came. You're just lucky, and that's fucking it!'

Couldn't agree more, Hannah thought, but she sighed and tried to push passed him again. The scene had attracted some attention and a few people had walked out into the corridor to see what was going on.

Somehow, Hannah's not responding seemed to enrage Devon even more. From his pocket, he suddenly flashed a knife and Hannah backed away against the wall. He was swinging the weapon around and she held up her hands in an attempt to appease him, but it wasn't working much.

'Call the police,' one of the social workers told another one, 'Now!'

'No, wait!' Hannah called out, holding up a hand, 'Don't call the cops!'

But they didn't listen to her.

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