The ride in the car was relatively silent. Of course, carrying on a normal course of conversation was usually rather challenging considering the iron bars separating the front seat from the back area, where Alicia was forced to sit. After all, she was a prisoner. A criminal.

Alicia crossed her arms and looked out the window, watching snowflakes begin to fall gently to the ground. She hurriedly wiped a tear she hadn't even realized had fallen. It was all so overwhelming. The anxiety, the fear, the injustice of it all was enough to leave her dangling on the edge, helplessly drowning and frantically flailing to grasp a sense of security.

"Alicia?" the detective uttered from the driver's seat, interrupting her thoughts of hopelessness and anger.

"What?" Alicia asked, trying to come off as defensive and annoyed, her voice instead betraying her, the response coming across as more of a broken whimper.

She saw the detective look in her rearview mirror. What was her name again? Olivia, that was it. She saw Olivia glance in the mirror, and she knew she wasn't looking at the road behind them. Her eyes were filled with concern and something else she couldn't place. Pity? Pain? Regret? She didn't know for sure, but she knew that it went deeper than just concern. She was fighting her own internal demons as well.

"How old are you, Alicia?" she asked, shaking her head and refocusing her eyes on the road.

"Nineteen," she replied, albeit a beat too late, making it rather unconvincing.

Olivia looked back into the mirror again, her eyebrow raising and the semblance of a smirk playing on her lips. That same look never left her eyes, however. "How old are you really?"

"Sixteen," she mumbled, caught. Alicia's eyes went downcast, and she began to pick at a loose string in her skirt. She rubbed her legs together in an attempt to warm them up. Thankfully she still had Olivia's jacket, pulling it even tighter around her upper half.

Apparently Olivia was satisfied with this answer, because she didn't ask another follow-up question. In fact, she didn't speak at all the rest of the ride there. That was just as well, Alicia thought, it gave her more time to ponder things in silence. Sort out what had so rapidly occurred in the past few hours, and attempt to make a plan to minimize their consequences in the future.

SVU SVU SVU

Olivia was in desperate need of a nap. Or a Xanax. Or a week long vacation to somewhere warm and isolated and far away from here, but she supposed the cup of coffee in her hand would have to do.

It broke her heart shutting and locking that holding cell, leaving behind a face only guilty of being young and confused. She knew the girl was innocent, but she arrested her because she technically could. Did the end outweigh the means? She tried to convince herself that tough-love was the only way to go, but did she take it too far? She was just trying to keep the girl safe. Hoping to coerce a healing process with handcuffs. But is that really the way she wanted to operate? Was she guilty of victim-blaming? Was she being selfish by using these scare tactics?

She stirred her coffee and shook her head, trying to clear these thoughts from invading her brain. She couldn't think about it anymore, and deep down she knew there was no easy answer. It was a lose-lose situation, and she would have regretted her decision regardless of which she chose. Red pill, blue pill, it was all the same. And now she had to live with this one, and do whatever she could to make it worthwhile.

She made her way into the back part of the precinct where her coworkers were gathered, by the coffee machine and away from the holding cell. Olivia had briefed Cragen and the rest of the squad while Alicia was getting fingerprinted and going though the preliminary steps that came with being arrested.

"How should we do this, Captain?" Nick asked, taking a sip out of his Styrofoam cup filled with Munch's practically intolerable coffee blend. At least it was still somewhat warm.

Cragen pinched the bridge of his nose. "Haven't decided. Liv, you were with her awhile? Any ideas?"

Olivia sighed. There would be no easy way to deal with this. "She's stubborn, so she's going to need a little push."

"So you're suggesting Nick take the lead?"

Olivia reluctantly shrugged. "But underneath you can tell she's fragile. We can't push her too hard."

Cragen sighed, "Well you can't have it both ways, Olivia."

"Unless we do a joint interrogation," Olivia suggested.

"Wouldn't that overwhelm her?" Amanda asked.

"I don't see a better option…all right, we'll try it. Nick, Olivia, go ahead. See what you can do."

SVU SVU SVU

"I'm not talking to you," Alicia said as she slumped down in the chair of the interrogation room, stubbornly folding her arms across her chest.

"Oh we're not asking you to talk. Nothing you say is going to change the fact that you're a criminal, Alicia. Plain and simple," Nick said, rolling up his sleeves.

Alicia raised her eyebrows, her mouth forming an almost amused expression. "Okay."

"What's so funny? You think you can get away with this? Because if so you're in for a rude awakening. You treating this like a joke is going to land you in even more serious trouble."

"A joke? You know what the real joke is? That fact that I'm even sitting here in the first place. I'm the victim."

"You're a prostitute, Alicia! You broke the law, and you deserve to be punished. And you can bet I'll be more than happy to do so considering who I'm dealing with."

Alicia let out a cynical chuckle. "You think I'm actually stupid enough to fall for that one? You insult me so I become defensive and spill my heart out? Nice try."

"This isn't a trick, Alicia. This isn't some game. You're looking at hard time here. Unless you change your attitude and cooperate with us, you're going to land yourself in jail."

"Oh will I?"

"Damn right you will!" Nick slammed his hand on the table for emphasis. Alicia didn't even flinch, instead looking at the hand. "Is that what you want? To be in a cage for a good portion of your life? Because that's the reality. You know what jail is like? It's dehumanizing. It's restrictive. You get no time for yourself, no peace, no decisions. Nothing. Is that where you want to be?" he said, getting close to her face and squinting his eyes at her.

"Honey," she leaned forward to match his gaze, "I'm already there." They all knew she wasn't just talking about tonight.

"You're throwing your life away," Nick continued in a threatening voice. "You're making this one stupid decision and it could ruin your life. All you have to do is talk to us and this would all go away, but you're choosing this. You're bringing it upon yourself. Maybe it's because you know you're guilty. You know deep down you deserve it and you're too dumb to stop it. Or maybe you like this attention. Is that it, Alicia? You've got issues and you need act like this to get it? You'll get plenty of it in prison, that's for sure."

"Don't you get it? You don't scare me. There's nothing you can do to me that could be worse than what's already happened. So do what you want with me. I don't care."

"Alicia," Olivia said, deciding it was time to step in. Obviously Nick's tactics backfired, and she supposed she was the last resort. "We're here to help you."

"You can't help me," Alicia said softly.

"Well maybe if you talk about things, you'll feel better," Olivia suggested.

Alicia shook her head. "You won't understand."

"You may be surprised."

"I highly doubt it."

"Well can you try? Nick can leave if that'd be more comfortable for you," Olivia glanced at Amaro, giving him a look that told him to exit the room.

"Sure, I can go," he complied, smiling to let her know that he was truly on her side.

"He doesn't have to leave," Alicia said, making Nick stop in his tracks and turn around. "Don't you two understand? You're never going to get it. No one is. It's complicated, and there's no way you're ever going to be able to know. It won't make sense unless you've been in my shoes. I'm not trying to come off as some self-centered drama queen who's complaining about how life is oh so hard, but it's the truth. I'm sorry, but I just don't see the point."

"I can try to understand, Alicia. I swear to you I will try my very hardest, and maybe this can go somewhere. Maybe it would help."

Alicia closed her eyes. They weren't getting it. They wouldn't be able to identify with her, and that was the key to helping. She didn't need someone yelling at her. She didn't need someone to say they were sorry. She needed someone to connect with her. Someone that had shared some experiences and could appreciate her thoughts. Because to any onlooker, no matter how open-minded, it wouldn't make sense. It couldn't. "I'm sorry," she said, denying her once again.

Olivia took a deep breath, racking her brain to try and find a solution. There had to be one. And then all of the sudden, an idea flickered into her brain. A glimmer of hope, and a trace of excitement. She was getting ready to throw her Hail Mary pass, and praying that it would be caught.

"Alicia, I have an idea. And I really need you to just be open to it, okay? Can you do that?"

"I guess that really depends, doesn't it?" she asked rhetorically.

"I'm not promising you anything. And I'm not asking you to promise me anything either. Only agree that you'll give it chance, all right? Listen and think about it, and don't shoot it down, all right? Can you agree to that?"

"Fine," Alicia said, although she couldn't imagine what fix-all plan Olivia could have cooked up in all of approximately five seconds. "I'll try."

Olivia nodded and got up from her seat.

"On one condition," Alicia said, stopping her.

"Anything," she pledged.

"Have someone go check on my sisters first. Somebody has to make sure they're okay. Tell them not to worry, that I'm fine, I just had some errands to run. And have someone see to it that they get to school all right. Can you do that?"

"Absolutely," Olivia assured her, giving her a small, reassuring smile before closing the door to the interrogation room, leaving her behind with only her thoughts for company.

"Captain, can we send someone to check on her sisters and make sure they get to school okay?"

Cragen nodded. "I'll send Fin and Rollins. How'd it go?"

"It was interesting. I need to make a call."

"What?" he asked, but she was already on her way outside to make a call.

She dialed the number and held up to her phone, cursing to herself as it rang a third time.

"What the hell? It's three o'clock in the morning for Christ's sake," the heavily accented voice on the other side of the line greeted.

"Jeannie, it's Olivia. I need a favor."