A/N: Flashbacks are in italics.
To the nurse's annoyance, Olivia let Alex take several breaks during the rape kit, making an already very long process even longer. Alex was now resting quietly in her hospital bed in her room with Olivia sitting by her side texting on her phone with her squad. Now that Alex had been found, the next step was finding Michaela and bringing the people who had kidnapped and tortured them to justice. The problem was that Michaela seemed to have disappeared into thin air. After Alex had been rescued, they had scoured every square inch of the warehouse, but Michaela was nowhere to be found, so now they were questioning every single person they had arrested, which was going to take some time. Nobody seemed anxious to talk. The only person who seemed to not be afraid of Dave Kloss was Steve, the man that had given them his name, but Steve was refusing to give any further information unless he was given full immunity, and there was no chance in hell that Olivia was going to let that happen. If she had it her way, Steve was going down hard just like every other creep in Dave Kloss's illegal circle. Olivia looked up when she felt tugging on her sleeve.
"Hey, baby, you're awake. What do you need, angel?" Olivia smiled lovingly.
Alex pointed over to the calendar on the wall.
"Do you want me to bring you the calendar?" Olivia asked.
Alex shook her head and pointed at the calendar again. It took a moment, but Olivia finally understood what Alex was asking.
"Today is the seventeenth of October, sweetheart. You've been missing for six weeks." Olivia said gently.
Alex was actually surprised to hear this. She could have sworn it had been much, much longer than that, and she realized that she'd spent her birthday in captivity. The blonde flinched violently and cowered when a man walked into her room pushing a food tray with a variety of trays on it.
"It's okay, sweetie, he's just here to bring you lunch. He's not going to hurt you. It's okay." Olivia soothed.
"Room 206, no allergies, no dietary restrictions." the man pulled a tray off the cart and put it down in front of Alex, then he left.
"Let's see what we have here. Looks like beef stroganoff, broccoli, milk, a roll, and peaches. And chocolate pudding for dessert. Shall we have that first? I think we deserve it." Olivia commented with a smile.
Alex smiled and nodded, handing Olivia the spoon to let Olivia feed her. She couldn't kneel at Olivia's feet to be fed right now, but Olivia could still feed her. Olivia fed Alex her lunch carefully, showering Alex with praise as if she were trying to make up for all the praise Alex had missed out on for the last four weeks. Alex's plate was nearly empty when she turned her head away, indicating that she was full.
"One more bite of broccoli, then you can be done, baby. Such a good girl." Olivia praised as Alex opened her mouth to receive the last bite of food.
Alex began to cry and reached out her arms, begging Olivia to hold her. Olivia moved the food tray out of the way, climbed into the bed to sit next to Alex, and carefully cuddled the crying blonde close to her heart, being mindful of Alex's various injuries. Alex sometimes liked to climb on top of Olivia to be held, but she couldn't do that today.
"I'm right here, baby, you go right ahead and cry it out. I will always hold you for as long as you want. You're my good girl and nobody is ever going to hurt you again. You're safe now." Olivia cooed lovingly, gently stroking Alex's long blonde hair that had finally received a proper wash after her rape kit was complete.
Olivia insisted on being allowed to stay the night in Alex's room. A cot was brought in for her to sleep by the window, and she glared daggers at anyone who dared to look at her sideways about it. It would have been impossible for Olivia to leave for the night anyway, since Alex burst into hysterical sobs if Olivia wasn't in her sight at all times, and Alex bursting into sobs set off the various hospital equipment she was attached to which brought the nurses running to check on her. Olivia had to leave the door cracked open and talk the entire time to let Alex know she was still there just to be able to go to the bathroom. At one point, while Alex was sleeping, Olivia was able to sneak down to the giftshop and returned with a pink and yellow balloon that said 'Get Well Soon' in big blue letters, a lemon bar as a special treat for later, and a stuffed cat with a blue collar holding a big red heart in its paws. The cat's collar had Alex's name stitched on it. When Alex woke up, she smiled seeing her gifts and her eyes lit up when she saw the cat, chuckling at the cat's big, silly eyes gazing at her. She immediately took the cat in her arms and cuddled it close to her heart.
"That's for my good girl to remember that I will always love her, protect her, and come back for her." Olivia smiled.
Alex pointed at the lemon bar and Olivia chuckled.
"Yes, my love, you can have your lemon bar now. Open. Bite." Olivia carefully fed Alex the lemon bar.
Several days passed in very much the same monotonous fashion. Alex and Olivia spent their time watching TV or having one-sided conversations, with Alex doing her best to either point, use hand signals, or write to communicate what she wanted to say. Olivia had Amanda bring several books to the hospital and she read aloud to Alex. The doctor was pleased with how well Alex's various injuries were healing and one day announced that the next day, Alex was scheduled to start physical therapy. The next day, Alex was put in a wheelchair and taken to the PT room, clinging tightly to Olivia's hand as they passed through the halls of the hospital.
"Hi, Alex. My name is Monique, I'll be your physical therapist. Who do you have with you today?" a woman offered a friendly smile.
"I'm Olivia, I'm Alex's Mis- I'm Alex's partner." Olivia smiled. Monique chuckled.
"I'll let you ladies in on a little secret. I'm a switch, so while you're in this room with me, you can feel free to refer to yourselves however you please. Alex, I'm going to ask you to lie down on this table over here on your back, and if you're okay with me putting my hands on you, I'll start stretching your muscles so you don't hurt yourself while you're exercising. You are very malnourished and your muscles need nutrition and exercise to heal properly. I know you're still healing, and I won't ask you to do anything you can't do. If you get a cramp or you just need to take a break for whatever reason, let me know and we'll take a break."
Alex whimpered and squeezed Olivia's hand tightly.
"I'm right here with you, sweetheart, I'm not going anywhere." Olivia assured her kindly.
An hour later, Alex was panting and sweating as Monique carefully paced her through several exercises. It had been going well, and Alex was proud of herself as Olivia showered her with praise. Suddenly, Alex turned and her eyes caught a flash of light on the wall that sent her mind back to a day several weeks ago. She let out a blood-curdling scream as a hand touched her shoulder and she crumpled to the floor, bursting into sobs and trembling violently in fear. Monique recognized the signs of a flashback and immediately took her hands off of Alex. Olivia heard Alex scream and saw Alex fall, and immediately stood up from where she had been sitting watching Alex exercise and offering encouragement and praise.
"I said shut up. Don't make me cut out your tongue. Filthy bitches like you don't get to talk unless you're begging for more."
Alex screamed as the whip lashed cruelly across her back, sending drips of blood down her back and onto the concrete floor. The man she was with was hard, growing more and more aroused the more Alex screamed in excruciating pain and pure terror. He undressed and pushed himself into her, raping her yet again as she begged and pleaded for him to stop, but her pleading just turned him on even more. She caught a flash of light on the wall and tried to focus her attention on it, pretending that she was that light, shining where no darkness could touch her. Finally, the man climaxed and pulled out of her. She sagged against her restraints that were digging cruelly into her delicate skin and sobbed.
"Alex." Olivia's voice broke through Alex's memory.
Alex looked around, unsure of what was going on. She had somehow ended up on the floor, but she couldn't remember how she got there. Olivia was by her side holding her hand securely and a nurse was taking her blood pressure and checking her various wounds. Alex looked at Olivia with fear in her baby blue eyes.
"It's okay, Alex. You passed out." Olivia explained kindly.
"Your session is pretty much over, Alex, so as soon as the nurse clears you, you can go back to your room and rest. You did so well today. I'll leave you alone for the rest of the day and I'll see you again tomorrow afternoon." Monique said.
Alex was taken back to her room and settled into her bed to rest. She cried herself to sleep in her Mistress's strong arms and while Alex slept, Olivia picked up her phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Cragen." Don Cragen's voice came over the line.
"Daddy, I need a favor."
"Anything for you, baby. How can I help? Is Alex okay?"
"She's sleeping. She had a flashback or something during physical therapy and passed out. Do you still have the phone number for Declan Murphy? Alex needs all of my attention right now, and somebody needs to be in charge of SVU to make sure Munch and Kat don't kill each other until I can go back to work, and the last time I left Elliot in charge he begged me to never make him do it again."
"I can't guarantee Murphy, I think I heard he's undercover again, but let me make a few calls and I'll get back to you. Oh, and while I have your ear, I got a call from one of the coordinators at SPS. I'm doing everything I can to hold them off, but they are insisting on speaking with Alex."
"What the hell for?" Olivia growled.
"They won't say, but you'll be hearing from them in the next few days."
Olivia hung up the phone and cursed under her breath. In Olivia's arms, Alex was starting to wake up. She heard Olivia curse and immediately went tense, whimpering, convinced that she was about to be hit. Olivia heard Alex whimper and relaxed her muscles so that she was more comfortable for Alex to snuggle against.
"I'm sorry, angel. It's okay, you're safe. I'm not mad at you. You just rest now, my princess." Olivia cooed lovingly, gently stroking Alex's long blonde hair to soothe her back to sleep.