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

Chapter 108: Blame

'Are you okay?' Olivia came running up to Hannah and worry was written all over her face.

Hannah was sitting on the curb outside the shelter, chewing on a bit of bread leftover from lunch. 'Yeah, I'm fine,' she casually waved a hand.

'What happened?' Her mother demanded, still panting a little from sprinting down the street.

'Oh, that? It was nothing...' Hannah dismissed, 'Some kid I used to know got pissed and pulled a knife, but I managed to convince him to drop the thing. All's good. Only the pussies from the shelter here called the cops.'

'Yeah, I know, that's why I was informed,' Olivia said, 'But did you get into a fight with him?'

The director of the shelter appeared behind them, 'Actually, she really did just talk him out of it. Hannah managed to calm him down and relate to him in the same breath, which led him to drop the knife.'

'Told ya,' Hannah mumbled with her mouth full.

'Wow,' Olivia was impressed, 'Not a single punch was thrown?'

'Not by me. I'm an angel, me.'

The director opened her mouth as if she was about to say something in protest, but closed it again. Seconds later, a large black man approached them and sat down next to Hannah on the curb. He completely ignored Olivia, 'Let me take a look at that arm of yours.'

Hannah held out her arm and the shelter's cook rolled up her sleeve carefully. Only then did Olivia notice the blood.

'What the hell is this?' She called out, 'You told me you were fine!'

'She'll be fine,' the man told Olivia sharply, 'Go on and see about that boy, officer, I'll take care of her. She's none of your concern.'

Angrily, Olivia's voice rose in pitch, 'Excuse me? She's my...'

Hannah coughed a short laugh, 'This is Olivia, Marcus, my adoptive mom?'

Marcus immediately stopped what he was doing and held out a hand for Olivia to shake, 'Oh, my bad! You got a great kid, you know, managed to ward off a knife and only got slashed once!'

Olivia had a hard time focusing on Marcus, so she turned to Hannah again, 'So this kid pulls a knife and just starts attacking you?'

'Well, not really,' Hannah looked down at the wound and decided she didn't need a doctor, 'We got history and all that.'

She looked at her daughter's arm, 'Is it bad?'

'No, it's fine.'

Marcus looked from Hannah to Olivia and said, 'She's gonna need a couple of stitches.'

'I'm gonna kill him,' Olivia fumed, thinking about whoever it was that cut her kid, 'Is he still here?'

'If you're not here to pick him up, he's still here,' Marcus shrugged.

At once, the detective got up and started making her way inside the building. Hannah sighed and got up to follow her, 'Mom? Mom, just leave him, okay?'

But evidently Olivia had no intention of doing so. She marched up to Devon, who sat in a chair with two of the social workers guarding him, and demanded, 'You the kid that pulled a knife on my kid?'

'No?' He reacted defensively, 'Who the hell are you?'

'Get up,' she demanded, getting out her handcuffs, 'I'm taking you down to the station.'

The boy scoffed and showed no signs of getting up, 'Bitch, I don't know what your problem is...'

Olivia slapped him once, hard, 'You're the one with the problem, buddy. My name is detective Benson and I'm arresting you for the assault of Hannah Benson. Now, GET UP, you little prick.'

Devon sighed and stood up. As Olivia turned him around and put the cuffs on him, Hannah barged in, 'Mom, what are you doing?'

'I'm taking him in.'

She rolled her eyes, 'This isn't even your case. Why do you have to butt in?'

Devon struggled a little and Hannah tried to avoid eye contact with him, but still said, 'I didn't even want to press charges.'

'No, but we did,' one of the social workers said, and she told Olivia, 'It's not the first time either.'

'I'll get him booked,' Olivia roughly pulled the boy along and Hannah ran after them.

But Olivia told her, 'Where do you think you're going?'

'With you?'

'No way,' her mother shook her head, 'I'm calling Elliot and he's gonna take you down to the hospital for that arm of yours.'

'Are you fucking kidding me...'

'Nope,' and she marched off, as she was reading Devon his rights.

So, Hannah let herself fall down onto the curb once again and rested her head in her hands, sighing deeply. Elliot was the last person she wanted to see right now.

Elliot sat at his desk at the precinct, burrows behind a mountain of paperwork. Often, people seemed to think being a detective was all high chases and lots of overtime because of some risky situation that had to be investigated, but most days weren't like that. That was just what you read in books and saw in tv shows. Most days were slower, going through a lot of files and filling out paperwork and more paperwork and then some more paperwork. Bureaucracy, he sighed.

His cellphone rang and eagerly he picked up, anything to get away from this, 'Stabler.'

'El, I need a favor. I need you to take Hannah to the hospital, it's nothing major, but she needs a couple of stitches.'

He'd heard about Hannah getting into a fight after someone from the shelter had called the cops, which had then warned Olivia. He asked her, 'Is she alright? How's the other kid? Still alive?'

'I'm taking him in right now. He's fine, not a scratch on him. And she's fine, just needs someone to go with her.'

He was silent for a little while, 'Are you sure it's a good idea I take her? I'm not exactly her...'

'Yes,' his partner interrupted, decidedly.

'Okay, I'll pick her up at the shelter.'

On his way, Elliot thought about how to approach Hannah best in the car. From experience, he knew that he could have the habit of becoming a bit too aggressive in his protectiveness. More than once, his daughters had told him to back off and they weren't nearly as difficult as Hannah. Still, the thought of her getting hurt made his blood boil. Maybe I'll let her do the talking, he thought.

All his good intentions were immediately tested though when he got to the shelter. Elliot saw Hannah sitting on the curb outside and opened the door to his car for her, calling out, 'Let's go!'

The teen didn't respond and obviously tried to pretend he wasn't there.

'Come on!' Elliot became aggravated already, 'Liv told me you need stitches and I don't plan on waiting all day out here until you're ready.'

'Marcus can take me,' a grumbling reply came.

Elliot frowned in confusion, 'Listen kid, I have no idea who this Marcus is. So, you're coming with me. NOW!'

Sighting dramatically, Hannah got up and got into the car, slouching down as deeply as she could.

As they drove, Elliot tried to get a look at her arm, but Hannah held it hugged to her chest.

'The kid pulled a knife?' He finally asked, 'Out of nowhere? Or did the two of your fight first?'

'I didn't do this,' Hannah snapped, 'I know that's hard for you to believe, but this wasn't my fault.'

'I didn't say that,' Elliot tried, 'I just meant...'

Hannah interrupted him again, 'I know what you meant. I'm the problem child so it has to be me, right?'

Elliot sighed. This was going very much in the direction of the same discussions he often had with his own children. Teenagers, he thought, what a joy.

They didn't speak again until they got to the hospital. Once there, they had to wait for over thirty minutes in the ER, and finally Hannah broke the silence, though not in the way he'd hoped, 'Can I use your phone?'

'What for?' He demanded, at once realizing he still sounded like a cop.

'Mine's dead. And I need to call someone about something.'

Elliot opened his mouth to ask more questions, but fortunately decided against it. Instead, he just handed her his phone.

Hannah walked off with it and started dialing a number. Elliot remained in the chair and tried his best to pick up some pieces of the conversation, without her noticing.

He heard Hannah say, 'No, not the mom... I don't know... I think so? The shelter of 59th... Last week...Williams, first name Devon... A brother? Attica last I heard... Yeah... I know... Yeah... Thanks a lot.'

When she sat back down, he carefully asked, 'Who was that?'

'None of your business,' she bit.

But when they got called up and walked along the corridors with a nurse, he checked his phone. Last number that was used was the number of CPS. She'd been talking to someone in the foster care system.

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