So if you haven't already noticed, I have changed the title of the story from 'The Night that Everything Changed' to 'Saving the Lost Ones'. I feel like this title is more meaningful and interesting and related better to the story. I just felt like the old one was kind of cheesy in my own opinion. I just feel like this one is more professional. I hope you all think so as well. I am TRULY going to start treating this story properly, checking for errors and everything! I'm also very sorry for the lack of updates. School plus the extra curricular activities I do like dance and cheer and such haven't left me a lot of time to upload stories. I'll be updated on the weekends when I can! Now, onto the story!
Sonny Carisi Jr. had only felt true fear twice in his life. The first time he ever had a gun pulled on him in the line of duty, and when Amanda was having labor complications with Jesse. Now, he was having that feeling for the third time, and that was with not knowing if Delaney was dead or not.
It made him fell sick to his stomach. He was feeling so confused. He didn't understand why she did it, yet he knew exactly why she did. He told himself that he would protect her, and he failed not only himself, but Delaney as well.
Carisi sat in the passenger seat of one of the squad cars. His elbows were propped up on his knees; his hands clasped together as he silently prayed that Delaney would be just fine. Olivia drove as fast as she could to the hospital. She had turned on the sirens and the lights to get them their quicker. Amanda sat in the backseat, just trying to comprehend what happened.
"I just... I can't believe I let this happen." Carisi said as he rubbed his face.
"Sonny, you had no idea this was going to happen." Amanda said from the back seat.
"I should have figured it out. She was acting so stranged after lunch." Carisi shook his head. "This is all my fault."
"Carisi no one could have predicted this would have happened. Don't blame youself for this." Olivia said to the nervous man.
Carisi sat back in his seat, and kept his mine on Delaney. "Dear Lord, please let this little girl be okay." He prayed to himself. "She still has so much to live for. Please don't take her away from us. Don't take her away from me!"
A little less than thirty minutes later (due to late night Manhattan traffic), Olivia pulled into the parkinglot of the hospital. She had barely park the car when Carisi jolted opened the passenger door, got out, and slammed the door shut. He raced to the automatic sliding doors that entered into the emergency room part of the hospital.
The receptionist behind the counter stood up when she noticed the shaking Carisi enter the building. "Sir, can I help you?"
"Laney... where is she? Please tell me she's okay... please!" Carisi panted.
The receptionist looked at him confused. "I'm sorry sir. Who are you talking about?" She asked carefully.
Amanda and Olivia came into the building not a moment later. Amanda took Carisi over to the side to calm him down. Olivia turned to the receptionist and flashed her badge.
"Lieutenant Olivia Benson from the Special Victims Unit." She pointed behind herself. "This are my Detectives, Rollins and Carisi. We got a call saying that Delaney Rosenberry tried to commit suicide. Is she okay?"
The receptionist face became long. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Olivia stared back at the woman; all the blood draining from her face.
Carisi overheard the receptionist and felt his heart sink. "Oh no, please don't tell me she's gone." Amanda placed her arm around her secret lovers shoulder.
"We aren't really sure how she's doing. When she was brought in her pulse was very weak. She was completely pale and her heart rate was low." The receptionist explained. "We believe she swallowed multiple painkillers that were not prescribed to her." She sighed heavily. "We're flushing the drugs out of her system, but we're not sure if she's going to make it."
Carisi felt like he was hit with a ton of bricks. He felt as if his entire body went numb, but he was still able to stand. He turned away from his colleagues and faced towards the long hallway that entered into main part of the ER; the sugery rooms, patient rooms, and the waiting area. Delaney was back there dying and he couldn't do anything to help her. He felt Amanda's arm wrapped around his torso.
Olivia cleared her throat before speaking again. "Can we see her?" Her voice cracking a bit towards the end.
"I would recommend waiting until we've gotten all the drugs out of her system, or if she..." The receptionist paused as she glaced over at Carisi, carefully choosing her words. "The waiting room in right through those doors." She pointed towards the big double doors towards the left. "The social worker that takes care of her home should be in the waiting room."
"Thank you," Olivia nodded as the receptionist sat back in her seat. Olivia turned towards her two Detectives. She put her hand on Carisi's shoulder. "Let's go sit in the waiting room." Carisi nodded in response, and he gathered himself together as he walked into through the doors with the two women.
Tessa Sims was in the waiting room, pacing back and forth; her high heels clicking against the concrete floor. She was on the phone with someone, most likely one of the older girls from the home. She had a folded up paper in her other hand. She looked at the officers once they entered the room. "I'll call you back, Lindsey." She said into the phone and hung up. "Oh thank goodness you're here Detectives! These past few hours have been so overwhelming!"
Carisi put his hand out. "How did this happen? How was she able to do this?" He questioned.
Tessa let out a ragid breath. "When Delaney came home, she stayed in her room the whole time, which is kind of unusual for her. She likes to stay in the living room area and talk to the other girls." She paused to catch her breath. "She didn't even come down for dinner. When she finally came down, she said she was just getting a water out of the fridge. It turns out she stole some painkillers out of the medicine cabinet."
Olivia furrowed her eyebrows. "Painkillers?" She questioned. Medicine cabinet's should have been locked away so the girls couldn't get to them. "We see how well that worked out." Olivia thought to herself.
"They belonged to Kayla Turner; she was taken by a family a couple months ago. She had a broken arm from an attack and the doctor prescribe them to her when she was in pain." Tessa explained. "When she left she didn't take them, so I guess Delaney picked her poison." Her cell phone buzzed in her hand. She slightly scoffed and answered the phone. "Yes?" She paused a moment to hear the other person on the line. "Okay Lindsey, can't you take care of that youself..." She paused another moment as she was interrupted, and rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll figure it out." She stated and hung up her phone.
Amanda raised her eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Tessa?"
Tessa sighed. "The police are there to question. Some of the younger girls are having a meltdown. I could hear them crying in the background." She rubbed her temples. "The older girls are trying to get them to sleep and the police need to talk to me." She put her hands on her hips. "I have no idea what to do."
Olivia faced her palm out. "Okay, why don't you go back to the home and try to calm the girls down. My detectives and I will stay here with Delaney for you."
Tessa's face brightened up a bit. "Really?" She asked as she grabbed her car keys from behind a car. "Thank you so much Lieutenant Benson."
Olivia shook her head. "It's no problem, Miss Sims."
Tessa walked over and faced in front of Olivia. She lowered her voice in courtesy towards Carisi, whom Amanda was standing next to. "If Delaney doesn't make it while I'm gone..."
Olivia nodded. "I'll give you a call if I get any updates."
Tessa sighed in relief. "Thank you again, Lietenant Benson." She said. She walked over towards the door and pushed it open, but she didn't leave. She looked over towards Carisi, who was leaning up against the wall, and closed the door shut. She walked over to him and asked. "You're detective Carisi, right?" Carisi nodded in response, not able to say any words. Tessa cleared her throat and continued. "Delaney wrote this letter to you right before she swallowed the pills. I didn't read it but I brought it just in case."
Carisi took the letter from Tessa's hands and looked at the address. "To Sonny, From Delaney." He whispered to himself.
Tessa gave him a half smile. "Delaney really loves you, detective." She said and walked out the door.
Amanda was the first one to speak after Tessa left. "Are you okay?" She asked Carisi.
Carisi's face had gone completely pale. His whole body was numbed with the shock, and if it weren't for the wall he was propped up against, he'd feel like he'd fall to the ground. Having the letter in his hand didn't make him feel any better. Delaney could have written to anyone she had ever come into contacted with, and out of all those people, she choose Carisi. It made his stomach churn to think that Delaney's last thoughts... no, possible last thoughts were of him. His hand that was holding the letter starting to shake.
He finally answered back to Amanda saying. "I'm not really sure how I feel right now."
Olivia noticed her young detectives hand starting to shake. "Carisi, maybe you should take a seat."
Carisi nodded, and slowly guided himself to one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs. Amanda followed and sat next to him, wrapping her arm around him once again. He held the letter in his hand; just staring at the address part. "I'm too scared to open it." His voice shook.
Olivia stood in front of her Italian detective. "It's okay Carisi; you don't have to open it now. Open it when you are ready to see it."
Carisi nodded, and placed his elbows on his knees and his face in his palms. Amanda's hand slowly went down to the middle of his back. Olivia noticed the strange affection between her two detectives, but decided that Amanda was just trying to be caring towards Carisi. After all, the girl who was practically a little sister to him just tried to end her own life.
Olivia stared for a moment before speaking. "I'm going to go get a cup of coffee. Do you guys need anything?"
Carisi looked up at his Lieutenant. "No thank you, Lieu." He said and placed his head back down.
Amanda shook her head. "No thank you, Liv." Olivia nodded her head in response and went to go look for a cafeteria of some sort.
Carisi let out a frusterated breath as he picked his head up and slumped back into his seat. A part of him desperately wanted to open the letter to maybe try and get some answers on why Delaney would try to kill herself. Another part of him wanted to keep the seal closed and keep Delaney's last possible words in peace. Either way, he was conflicted with feelings.
"I wish I could have saved her." Carisi said sorrowly.
Amanda looked into her lover's baby blue eyes. "Sonny, she's going to be alright. She's gonna pull through." She encouraged him.
Carisi let out a heavy breath. "But what if she's not?" He noticed Amanda's face become long and expressionless. "She had her whole life ahead of her. She never had a chance in this world for fourteen years. Now she was finally given a small chance, and she kills herself."
"Sonny," Amanda said and put her hand around the back of Carisi's neck. "Delaney is going to be okay! Thinking like that's only going to make things worse on you and especially her. I know you love her and you want what's best for her, but the only thing we can do right know is pray and have faith."
Carisi's heavy heart slowly started to feel lighter. He gave Amanda a crooked smile before their lips were tied together. For a short moment, he felt a bit of relief and compassion. After their short and sweet kiss, Carisi gently tore his lips from hers, and gave her a small smile. It wasn't much, but it was there.
Carisi looked down at the letter and suddenly felt different. Something changed and he wanted to open the letter. No doubts or fears or anything. He wanted to open it, but he had to do it a certain way.
He stood up from his chair and started walked down towards the hallway. Amanda gazed at him confused. "Where are you going?" She asked, a bit concerned.
Carisi turned back to look at her. "I'm going to read this; I want to see what she said to me."
Amanda furrowed her brow. "Why can't you read it here?"
Carisi gave a long, sad pause. "I can't read it here. I need to be alone."
Amanda stood up from her chair as well and walked up to him. "You don't have to do this, you know that right?"
Carisi nodded. "I know, but it's better this way."
Amanda gave back a tiny smile and gave Carisi another small kiss on the cheek. He let Amanda fall into his arms as he rocked themselves from side to side for a short moment. He gave her a kiss on the head as he let go of their embrace, and walked down the hall to find somewhere to be in peace. Amanda watched as he left, and felt her love for him grow even more.
Carisi slowly paced himself down the hallways of the hospital. He felt his skin shiver as he walked passed the blood donation section, remembering both times he gave blood to save someones life. One was dead, and the other one was nearly there.
He walked a couple more steps before he found another small waiting room behind a giant glass window. It had about a dozen chairs and a receptionists desk, so it was most likely a waiting area for people about to get an X-ray or something along those lines. Nobody was inside and the door wasn't locked, so Carisi let himself in. He flipped on the light switch as he walk in; the crystal colored lights turned from dim to bright in a matter of seconds.
Carisi sat down in the first chair right next to the door. He took in a nervous breath as he looked at the address once more. "To Sonny, From Delaney." He read to himself like he had before. His fingers shook as he unraveled the folded paper and straightened it out. He took notice of the words being written in a black ink pen; just like the one she used to doodle with on the scratch paper in the office. He closed his eyes to prepare his emotions to read Delaney's word. After a short moment, he gentally lifted his lids back up and followed the words written on the paper.
"Dear Sonny,
I know that once you read this you're going to be very disappointed in me. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't stay strong. I REALLY tried, but I couldn't live like this anymore. Always in constant fear, flinching when someone comes up behind me, having weird hallucinations and embarrassing myself in public; I couldn't live the rest of my life like that. I apprecitate that you and everyone at SVU tried to save me, but I was already long gone. It's not anybody's fault but mine. Please tell Amanda, Lieutentant Benson, Fin, and even Mr. Barba I'm sorry and that I love them. Also, give a kiss for Jesse and Noah for me, too. Even though I never got to met them, I loved them anyway. And Sonny, I love you most of all. I've only known you for about four weeks, but you've been a better father to me than my own dad has been for the past fourteen years. I hope I'll always be in your heart.
Love Always,
Your Laney-bug."
Carisi wasn't sure when the tears started to rain down his cheeks, but he noticed they had when he finished the letter. He folded the letter back up neatly and put it back in its envelope. He put it on the chair beside him and rubbed his face, trying so desperately not to just scream in anger. He couldn't even imagine what was going through Delaney's head as she was writing! All he wanted to do was to run to her, hug her, and make sure she was safe. What scared him most is that he might not ever get to do that again.
It had been almost three hours since they had gotten to the hospital. Fin had eventually came to be there for Delaney and his co-workers. He didn't know Delaney very well, but figured that she needed as much support as she could get. After all, she didn't really have anybody to care for her. It was the least he could do.
"So she just picked out some pills from the medicine cabinet and swallowed a bunch of them?" Fin asked, summarizing the recent events.
"To put it mildly, yes." Amanda replied to Fin.
Fin raised an eyebrow, still confused. "Aren't they supposed to have some sort of lock on all of that stuff so situations like this don't happen?"
Olivia shrugged. "They are suppose to, but somehow that locked came off."
"Or if there even was a lock on the cabinet." Carisi added in. He had lost count of how many times he had prayed in the last few hours. He was nearly killing him inside that there still hadn't been any updates on Delaney. It only worried him more.
A nurse in blue scrubs and and clipboard came into the waiting room. "Is somebody here for Delaney Rosenberry?"
Carisi was the first to stand up. "We're all here for her." He took a breath to prepare his mind. "Is she okay?"
The nurse nodded. "Delaney is perfectly fine."
The women, plus Carisi, sighed in relief as Fin nodded in respect. Carisi felt a huge weight come off of his shoulders. The moment he felt as if his prayers hadn't worked, God shows him everything was alright. He took a mental note to remeber to visit his church this Sunday.
"Can we go back and see her?" Olivia asked.
"Only one person is allowed back at a time right now. Delaney is still asleep and we don't want her overwhelmed with a bunch of people in her room, especially cops." The nurse said, pointing out the exposed badge clipped to Amanda's pants. The nurse turned around and walked back down the hallway.
Fin came behind Carisi and slapped his back lightly. "You should go back, man. You're the one who's been stressing out about this the most."
Carisi sighed. "I want to Fin, but I don't know if I can face her."
"Sonny," Amanda said as she followed up next to the men. She stood in front of Carisi as they looked into each other's eyes. "You need to do this for Delaney. When she wakes up she's going to be scared and confused and probably embarrassed, and she's going to need someone who loves her to be there for her." She paused as she placed her hand on Carisi's shoulder. "Just do this for her. Do this because you love her."
Olivia was impressed, and strangly suprised at her detective's words. "She's right, Carisi. Delaney needs you more than ever."
Carisi looked from Amanda's eyes to down the hallway. Delaney's room was so close, yet so far from him. He wanted to see her more than anything, yet he was terrified to see her. The last time he talked to her, she was so depressed and lost at will. What will she be like after this? He'd never know if he didn't see her.
"Okay," Carisi said as he nodded his head. "Alright, I'll go and see her." He pulled himself away from his friends and made his way down the hallway.
It didn't take long for Carisi to find Delaney's room. He took in a ragid breath before putting his hand on the knob and slowly turned it. As he gentally pushed in the door, he felt his heart sink. His eyes were automatically fixed onto Delaney. She was laying completely still in the bed. A nasal cannula was put inside her nostrils to help her breathe better. She was hooked up to multiple machines that looked generally uncomfortable. Her skin was pale and the area around her eyes were purple. If the machine checking her vitals wasn't steadily beeping, Carisi would have thought she was dead.
Carisi bit his lip to hold back the tears trying to force themselves out. The day before, Delaney was so happy and bubbly. Sure, she wasn't perfectly fine, but she was still so lively and thriving. Until she had that moment in the pizzaria and the office, and then she changed. Just like that... she was nearly gone.
"Hey... Laney-Bug." Carisi stuttered. "It's me, Sonny." He walked away from the door and stood next to the bed Delaney was in. He placed his hand on Delaney's cheek. "I love you, sweetheart. I'm sorry I couldn't help you." He leaned down and placed a small kiss on Delaney's forehead.
Carisi felt a twitch under his hand. He looked down at his hand as Delaney's face became more alert. Delaney's eyes slowly fluttered until they were fully open. Her eyes were filled with fear and confusion, almost like Amanda said she would feel. "Sonny?" She asked in confusion.
"Yes, yes Laney it's me, it's Sonny." Carisi almost panted. He kept his hand on her cheek and he grabbed her hand with his free one. "You're okay, you're going to be okay, Delaney."
Delaney blinked her eyes a couple times before a tear fell from her eye. "Sonny, I'm sorry."
Carisi shook his head. "Delaney, you have no reason to be sorry. You were under a lot of stress and you lost sight of getting justice for yourself." He paused for a moment to gaze upon Delaney, who had multiple tears falling down her face. He wipped a couple of them away from her cheeks.
"Please don't be angry at me, Sonny." Delaney cried out.
Carisi shushed her to try and calm her down. "Calm down, Laney. I'm not angry with you at all." He let Delaney calm down a bit before continuing. "I just want to know, honey, what made you want to die? What put that thought into your head?"
Delaney slowed her breath down before speaking. "After I had that moment at the pizza place, I was so embarrassed, I thought about running away that night. Then, you told me about what happened to Sergeant Dodds, and I thought that death sounded better than running away. If I died, at least I wouldn't have to go through a life where I was constantly in fear."
Carisi brushed back a piece of Delaney's hair that had fallen in front of her face, regretting telling her about Dodds' death, and sighed. "Was there a lock on the cabinet where the medicine was stored?"
Delaney nodded her head. "Yeah, I picked it with a bobbypin. Nobody saw me." She choked on a couple more tears. "Oh Sonny, I'm so sorry!" she cried out as she placed her hand over her eyes. "You probably hate me!"
"Hey," Carisi said and removed Delaney's hand from her eyes. Her eyes were becoming red and glossy. "I could never hate you, okay. You're my Laney-bug. You're like my little sister, and I love you."
Delaney sniffed back more tears that were threatening to come forward. "I love you too, Sonny." she pulled herself up and wrapped her arms around Carisi.
Carisi gentally put his arms around Delaney's torso, careful not to pull or hit anything attached to her. He let the young girl cry into his shoulder as he rubbed the back of her head. He was greatful that he was able to have that affection with Delaney again. All of his worries about losing her were gone, but newer worries were surfacing. How would this suicide attempt effect the trial that was coming up soon? How was Barba going to explain what happened to her? Could Buchanan take advantage of this situation to better Richard's chances of getting out?
As Delaney pulled back from their embrace, Carisi decided that none of those things mattered right now. What mattered right now was Delaney and her well-being. She almost died and only the Lord knows what was going on inside her head. Delaney needed Carisi more than ever.
Delaney kept her arms wrapped around Carisi's neck. She pulled herself onto her knees so she would be face to face with him. "Did you read my letter?" She asked innocently.
Carisi nodded. "I did," He said shortly.
Delaney pointed her head down. "I just wanted you to know that all of it's still true. Every single word."
Carisi gave her a light smile. "I know, kid." He picked her head up by placing his hand under her chin. "I know you meant everything."
"I especially meant the part about you being a better father to me than my own father has." Delaney replied with. "My father hasn't given me even one ounce of love in fourteen years compared to what you alone has given me in four weeks." She looked back down for a moment. "That was the last thought I had before I blacked out."
"Hey," Carisi said as Delaney picked her eyes back up. "Everything's going to be okay now. You know why? Because we're gonna get through this together. The both of us; me and you. We're partners in crime, now. You got that?" He chuckled at his last comment.
Delaney chuckled with him. "Alright partner," She said and gave him a wink and a smile. That smile warmed Sonny's heart, given him some sort of since that there is hope.
As Delaney kept her smile, her eyes were suddenly fixed onto a figure in the corner of her hospital room. Her smile faded away as she realized it was her father, standing there with a smude look on his face. He had another camera in his hand. Delaney felt small, like she was six years old again.
"Smile for the camera, my little Laney-bug." Richard mocked his daughter as he flashed a bright light in her eyes from the camera. Delaney felt herself go blind momentarily as she heard her father laughing menacingly.
Delaney was suddenly snapped back to reality when Carisi started to talk to her. "Okay, let's take your mind off of all this for a while." Carisi said and turned his attention towards the TV hanging up. "You wanna see if a late night movie is on?"
Delaney gave a skeptical look. "Um sure, but Sonny?"
Carisi turned back towards Delaney. "Yeah Laney?" He asked.
Delaney squirmed uncomfortably and tucked in her bottle lip. Carisi started to feel worried again. "I don't feel I've been completely honest with you and your squad... and even Mr. Barba."
Carisi came closer to Delaney. His eyes were nearly out of their sockets and his heart was pounding like a drum. "What is it, Delaney? What's wrong?"
Delaney sighed. "Well," she pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. "When I was talking about how my dad used to abuse me... I left something, and someone, out of it."
Carisi's heart felt like it was going to burst out as his knees went weak. He sat in the chair that was next to Delaney's bed and grabbed her hand. "Delaney," He said slowly. "What all did you not tell us?"
Delaney swallowed hard. "When I was really young, about six or so, my father used to do something to me if he felt I deserved a 'punishment'." She cleared her throat to occupy her mind from crying. "He would call Samuel over, and he would bring a disposible camera with him. My dad would lay me on his bed... and he'd... slide my pants off..." Her tears wouldn't hold back anymore as they flowed freely from her eyes.
Carisi was on the edge of his seat, his hand grasping Delaney's till both their hands turned red. He himself started to breath heavily, still unsure if it was from the shock or from the anger. He took in a breath before asking, "What did he do to you?"
Delaney bit her lip as she continued. "He took my pants and my panties off, and he'd touch me while Samuel took pictures." She let her cries come out as she felt free from her secret. She had kept it inside of her for so long she didn't know how to feel afterwards, so she just let her cries be free. "Sonny, my dad even raped me!" At this point she was hysterically crying. "Samuel took pictures while my dad molested me! Sam said if I ever told he would put them on the internet to show how much of a dirty little girl I was." She pulled her hand away from Carisi to hide her face.
Carisi felt his whole body shaking with anger. His teeth gritted together like he was biting on a brick. He stood up from his chair and clutched his hands together in a fist. To say he was angry would have been an understatement, and to say he was furious would be putting it mildly. He wanted to rip off Richard and Samuel's heads. They both caused Delaney so much pain. Here she was in a hospital bed, sobbing her eyes out after trying to kill herself, all because of those two sadistic pedofiles who ruined her life.
In the mist of his fit out rage, Carisi stormed out of the hospital room. "Sonny, where are you..." was the last thing he heard from Delaney before he slammed the door shut. He dashed himself down the hospital hallways, still in a mood of fury. He was biting down on his bottle lip so tense he started tasting blood. He nearly ran into the corner as he turned to go into the waiting area where is Lieutenant and fellow detectives were placed.
They all looked up at him, waiting for some sort of news from Delaney. Their looks of questions turned into looks of concern when they realized that Carisi was angry. Amanda was the first one to stand from her seat.
"Carisi, what's wrong?" She asked with seriousness and a hint of fear behind her voice.
"I'm gonna kill them." Carisi's voice was a low growl.
Olivia and Fin stood up next. "Who are you going to kill? What happened, detective?" Olivia asked in her professional voice.
"Richard Rosenberry and Samuel Wooden. Richard molested Delaney when she was little while Sam sat back and took pictures." Carisi explained, still infuriated.
"What?" Fin asked, almost getting as infuriated as Carisi was.
"She was molested?" Amanda questioned.
Olivia put her hands out. "Woah woah, hold on." She walked towards Carisi. "Delaney is saying her father molested her?"
Carisi nodded. "Richard raped her when she was six." His voice sounded hoarse. "Delaney said Samuel took pictures while he raped her. I want them dead!" His body was shaking from the tension.
Amanda covered her mouth with her hands. Fin had his eyebrow raised as Olivia's eyes widened. "Wow, okay," Olivia said in suprise, not really knowing what to do next. "Alright, first off, we need get a search warrant for Samuel's place and see if we can find any pictures." She pointed towards Fin. "Fin, go call Barba and see if he can get anything this late." Fin nodded as Olivia pointed her attention to Amanda. "Rollins, go with him."
The two detectives went off to go call Barba. Olivia directed her attention to Carisi, who was breathing heavily from the anger. She walk in front of her detective and put her hands on his forearms. "Carisi," she said slowly. "You have to calm down. This isn't good for you and it's certainly not good for Delaney."
Carisi started to slow down his breath, but his body was still shaking. Olivia grabbed a styrofoam cup filled with water and gave it to him. "Here, drink this." She said as Carisi took the cup from her hand. He put the cup in between his teeth and gulp most of the water down in a few seconds, leaving a bite mark rim on the side of the cup. He bent over and put his hands on his knees as he tried to regulate his breath again.
Olivia bent down to face him. "How was she able to tell you?" She whispered to him.
Carisi sighed. "I don't know. One minute she was okay; the next, she's sitting there crying telling me how he dad used to touch her as a kid." He blew out a harsh breath. "It just makes my blood boil."
After a couple short moments, Fin and Amanda arrived back into the waiting room. "It was a rough chance, but Barba's getting the warrant for Samuel's apartment." Fin explained.
"And afterwards if we need to search Richard's apartment again, we have that permission." Amanda added in.
"Great," Olivia replied shortly. "Rollins, I want you to stay here with Delaney while Carisi, Fin, and I search the apartment."
"Lieutenant, I can stay here instead." Carisi tried to argue, respectively.
"That's not up for debate, detective." Olivia replied sharply, to prove her point.
Carisi nodded his head forlorn, and pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. "Yes ma'am." He spoke barely above a whisper.
The SVU detectives and Lieutenant, with a small handful of other fellow officers, made it to the apartment of Samuel Wooden. Carisi felt his adrenaline rushing through his body as they made it up the stairs to the second floor. They stopped in front of apartment 902; Samuel's apartment.
Carisi was the first to bang on the door. "Samuel Wooden, we have a warrant to search your house!" He yelled through the door. When there wasn't a reply, Carisi banged his shoulder into the door and broke the hinges, sending the door wide open.
The police officers flooding into the apartment. "This is the NYPD, come out with your hands up." Olivia yelled out with her gun in hand.
"This room is clear." One of the fellow officers said, looking into one of the rooms.
"So's this one." Fin said from the other side of the apartment.
Olivia nodded her head. "Okay, first we search for the pictures, then we search for him."
Carisi made his way into Samuel's bedroom. He pulled off the sheets on his bed and flipped over the mattress, trying his best to find those pictures. He pulled out the clothes in the drawers and even checked under the drawers for anything. He was still coming up short, and was getting frusterated that he wasn't getting anywhere.
"Hey Carisi," Carisi turned his head around to see Fin standing at the door. "You might want to come and check this out."
Carisi obeyed those orders and followed Fin back into the living room area. A white and beat up box was sitting on top of the pine wood coffee table. The dents and dirtiness of the box indicated that it was a definite old box. Black sharpie writing was sribbled on top of the lid. DQR:NOV 23, 2007-MAY 18, 2009 was witten sloppy and unaligned in big letters. Grey Duct tape was wrapped around the lid and the box itself to secure it.
Fin pointed to the words as he spoke. "Delaney Q. Rosenberry, November 23rd, 2007 through May 18th, 2009. I'm scared to know what that means." He said bluntly.
Olivia took out a knife and started cutting the duct tape off. "I'm guessing Q stands for her middle name."
Carisi nodded. "It does: her middle name is Quinn."
Olivia looked back up at him and gave a straight smile. She looked back down at the box and continued her cutting. Once she finished, she slowly took of the lid and revealed the sickness. Hundreds of thousands of polaroid pictures of a half/almost completely naked six year old Delaney, crying while her father molested her.
Carisi felt his stomach turn as Fin took a patch of the pictures and turned to read the writing on the backs. "Delaney Quinn, January 13th, 08; Delaney Quinn, March 9th, 08; Delaney Quinn, December 24th, 07." Fin got so angry that he slammed the pictures back into the box. "What type of sicko does this?"
Carisi bit the inside of his cheek as he pulled out a handful of homemade DVD's. "Delaney's 6th birthday surprise, November 23rd. Delaney's Christmas present, Christmas of 07." As Carisi's face started to turn red, Olivia took the DVD's out of his hand.
"We're sending out a warrant for Samuel's arrest." Olivia stated as she put the DVD's back inside the box and reached for a couple somewhat decent photo's. "I want you to meet Rollins at Rikers and ask Richard why in God's name he did this and if he knows where Samuel is." Carisi raised his eyebrow, and Olivia automatically figured what it was about. "A social worker is going to the hospital to stay with Delaney for a while."
Carisi nodded as he was handed an evidence bag. Olivia slid the pictures into the bag as Carisi put them in his coat pocket. "I'll do more than just ask him why he did it." He said in a irritated mood and walked out to call Amanda.
"Oh you've GOT to be FREAKING kidding me!" Richard Rosenberry exclaimed as he was drug out of his cell by two CO's. "Who could possibly want to interigate me at 10:00 at night?"
"Just shut up." The female CO told him.
After a short walk to the meeting room, Richard was stopped at the door as one of the CO's unlocked the cell door and let him in. Richard's eyes were fixed onto Amanda and Carisi, who were already in the room. He scoffed, and gave a smuge smile. "I should have known..." He paced around the room. "The 'Special Victims' unit who took away my daughter."
Carisi stood up from his seat. "Like you even cared about her." he almost hissed.
Amanda stood up next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Sonny, sit down." She said calmly. Carisi bit his lip and sat back down, Amanda following him.
"Yeah Sonny," Richard mocked as he sat in front of the detectives. "Sit down." He began to chuckle as he saw Carisi's face become red from anger. "Okay, I see now. You came her to entertain me."
"Alright, I'm gonna have to ask you to shut up and listen!" Amanda exclaimed, her southern accent slipping through her tounge.
"Oh, a fiesty one." Richard chuckled even more. "I bet that's ten times better under the sheets..."
Carisi slammed his hands down on the metal table and grabbed Richard's shirt collar. "Hey!" He yelled in his face. "Don't EVER... talk to her like that again..." He tilted his head. "Do I make myself clear?"
Richard gave an annoyed glance, but nodded anyway. "So why did you two decide to come down this late? Figured that torturing me during the day wasn't enough, so you thought you'd come at night?"
"Right, that's exactly why we came by." Carisi said under his breath.
Richard rolled his eyes and pointed towards Carisi. "Does he have to be here? I'm pretty sure he has some type of vendetta against me."
"Yeah, and why do you think that is, Richard?" Amanda asked loudly. "You abused your daughter and nearly killed her! You raped and molested her when she was six! She is destroyed because of you!"
Carisi glanced over towards Amanda. He never realized how much Amanda loved Delaney, just like he did. Amanda was like a big sister to her; like how he was a big brother to her. It didn't occur to him until now, but they were almost like a little family.
Richard sat dumbfounded, his mouth wide open and his eyes popping out. "Are you kidding me?" He scoffed in the middle of his sentence. "I never touched my daughter!" He defended himself. "If she said anything about my raping or touching her, she's lying!"
"Oh, she's the one that's lying!" Carisi exclaimed as he reach inside his coat pocket. He took out the photo's out and slammed them onto the table. "So I guess this photo's are lying as well?"
Richard looked at the bag and brought it closer to himself. He moved the pictures around in the bag, looking at the past photo's of himself and his daughter. He remembered those moments like it was yesterday. He scrunched his face together. "Those are taken out of context."
"Context?" Carisi stood up from his seat once again and got close in Richard's face. "I don't think of photo of you raping your naked six year old daughter was taken out of context." He took in an angry breath. "You know you are going to be charged with even more counts now. Statutory rape, insest, child sexual abuse... the list goes on. You are gonna be put on the sex offenders registry for life and die in prison!"
"And your buddy Samuel? Yeah, he's going to jail for child pornography." Amanda added in. "If your lucky you might get to be cellmates."
Richard sat with his arms crossed, a look of both anger and defeat danced across his face. "So what did you come down here for, huh?" He wondered out loud. "To throw in my face I'm gonna be in prison the rest of my life? I didn't even do anything wrong in the first place!"
It took every fiber in Carisi's body from not snapping the man in front of him's next and stomping on his organs. Was he seriously so blind he didn't realize what he did was wrong? Or did he have to much pride to admit he was a pedofile and a rapist?
"No, we came here to ask you why you did this." Amanda replied to his false accusation.
Richard's face perked up. "Why, so I can get more time on petty crimes like this one?" He said and held up the photo's.
"Alright, that's enough!" Carisi finally snapped. "You and your buddy Sam raped Laney and abused her all her life and destroyed her! You've caused so much pain to your own daughter and you don't even care!" He raised his finger. "I don't care why you think what you did was okay, but I can guarantee for a fact that you and Samuel are NOT gonna get away with destorying Laney's life."
Richard sighed, and looked over towards Amanda. "See, I told you. He has some type of vendetta against me."
Amanda gritted her teeth and took the photo's out of Richard's hands. "You know what; I think we're done here." Once she said that, she looked at the time on her cell phone that was lying on the table. Richard glanced at it, and noticed the background picture was of a baby.
"Is that your baby girl?" He asked Amanda. He could obviously tell it was a girl from the pink bow in her hair.
"Hey," Carisi said. "That's none of your business."
Richard ignored Carisi's command and continued to speak. "I bet she's wonderful. Babies have to softest skin to cuddle up to." Carisi felt Richard's mood shift from ingorant to morbid. "She looks just like her beautiful mother." He licked his lips. "I bet if I touched you both at the same time, you're little girl would scream even louder-"
"HEY!" Carisi screamed and pushed Richard out of his seat. "Don't you EVER make a threat like that again! Alright I will MAKE SURE it's the end of your life if you do." Carisi felt his veins pumping blood so hard they pulsed out of his skin.
Richard layed on the floor, trying to catch his breath from the sudden fright. He sat up trying to reach more air. "What a... jerk you are,... huh?" He panted.
Carisi pursed his lips. "Yeah, I'm the jerk." He said and put his arm around the shaking Amanda. "Come on, lets get outta here." The two detectives walked out of the waiting room together, leaving Richard still gasping for more air on the floor.
Olivia and Fin had spent nearly an hour tracking down places where Samuel Wooden could be. The convenient store he worked at, the bars around town; He seemed to be no where. It was like he just got up and vanished into thin air.
As Olivia and Fin got off the elevator into their precinct, they noticed someone standing next to Dodds' good luck sign. Olivia made her way closer to the person standing next to the sign to discover it was Chief Dodds.
"Oh, Chief Dodds. What brings you here?" Olivia asked, a bit suprised to see the Chief at the precinct so late at night.
"I came to talk about the young girl who tried to kill herself." Chief Dodds explained. He put his hand on the side of the sign.
"Word travels around fast, doesn't it?" Olivia asked half-jokingly.
Chief Dodds didn't seem to amused. "I heard that she was 'inspired' by my sons death." He put quotations with his fingers around the word inspired.
Olivia nodded her head. "We are believed that is why she tried to kill herself." She said in a professional tone.
Chief nodded his head as well. "Well, is she doing okay?"
"Physically she's doing a lot better; mentally, she's not doing so good." Olivia replied, sadened. "Detective Carisi is staying the night at the hospital tonight to be with her."
Chief Dodds looked skyptical. "Don't you think a female detective, like Rollins or even yourself, should be there instead of a male? After all this girl was raped by her own father?"
Olivia's eyes nearly popped out. Word really DID travel around fast. "Delaney Rosenberry trusts Detective Carisi more than anyone else in the precinct. He was the first one to go back and see her in the hospital and she was completely fine." Chief Dodds still didn't look completely satisfied with Olivia's answer. "A female social worker is staying at the hospital as well in case anything happens."
"I would have prefered a female detective to stay with her tonight." Chief Dodds said, a bit icy. Olivia bit her lip, unknowing of how to respond. Chief Dodds turned his attention back his late son's good luck sign. "I think it would be best if we took this sign down."
Olivia raised her eyebrow confused. "I'm sorry Chief; I don't understand."
"I don't want my son's death to cause anymore harm than it already has." Chief Dodds said, keeping his eyes on the sign the whole time. Olivia could hear the anger in his voice. Still, she couldn't help but feel compassionate for the graying man.
"Sir," Olivia said slowly. "I understand where you are coming from on this... but I don't thinking taking the sign down will-"
"I said take the sign down!" Chief Dodds snapped back. Wetness balanced itself in the corners of his eyes. "Mike wouldn't want this; he wouldn't want any of it!"
Olivia's eyes were still very wide, and a bit shocked. "Yes sir, I'll take the sign down." She didn't really know what else to say. What could she say, after all?
Chief Dodds stared back at Olivia for a short moment before making his way to the elevator. Olivia watched him leave, mixed feelings contained inside her body. She was frusterated that he was making her take the sign down, but yet she knew why he wanted it down, and felt somewhat compassionate for him. Against her own will, she took the sign of her late Sergeant off of its stand and moved it into her own office. What she was going to do with it, she had no idea. All she knew it that it was, hopefully, for the best.
"Thank you so much for letting your babysitter take care of Noah tonight." Olivia thanked Amanda as they walked inside Amanda's apartment. Lucy had been out of town that night for family matters, and Amanda's babysitter for Jesse had been so kind enough to watch over Noah as well.
"Oh it's no problem at all." Amanda said locked her door back. "Taylor loves taking care of little kids."
When Amanda turned on the lightswitch, it revealed a massacre. In Amanda's living room, her furniture was flipped over, dishes were smashed and broken, dropplings of blood led into the hallway. The two mothers felt a huge adrenaline rushed filled with fear.
"Oh my God." Olivia said as she walked into the living room.
"Jesse!" Amanda screamed out. She started running into Jesse's nursery, but stopped when the lights in her apartment turned off. She heard both Jesse and Noah crying and still tried to run into the nursery, but what stopped once again. This time, it was obvious it was a person. She felt herself fall onto the floor, as well as the weight of the unkown person infront of her. "Olivia!" She screamed out.
"Amanda!" Olivia screamed back, trying to make her way through the dark apartment. Olivia herself was stopped when she felt something cold touch the back of her neck. She had felt that feeling only a handful of times in her life. The muzzle of a gun was digging into the back of her neck.
"Goodnight, Lieutenant Benson." The voice said to Olivia.
Olivia focused on the crying of the children in the other room. Her son was in there, and right now she couldn't do anything about it. She was completely helpless, a feeling she rarely ever felt. "NOAH!" She cried out before she felt the gun hit the back of her head. Olivia fell onto the floor as the cries of the children seemed to get more distant, before she couldn't hear anything else.
Oops... I spilt out another cliffhanger. Who do you guys think the unknown people are in Amanda's apartment? Once again, I'm sorry I haven't been around to upload much. My schoolwork has to come first before this does, (every student knows the struggle) and schoolwork in highschool sucks so I haven't had much time to do anything but breath basically. Again I'm sorry, and I'll post asap the next chapter. See you all then!
~PrettyFlower99