A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been taking this journey with me; I really appreciate your support and encouragement. I know I said that this was supposed to be the grand jury chapter, but I forgot a few of the investigative details. That being said, the investigative parts end with this chapter, and I'll be moving into the law chain of events starting with chapter 7. As always, I'm sorry for any SVU or court errors that I make; the only thing I can say is that this is what things were like for me. All names have been changed to protect those involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Law and Order: SVU. That honor goes to the good folks over at NBC.

Spoilers: None.

Summary: An eleventh grader is sexually assaulted at school. Will Olivia, Alex, and the rest of the gang be able to help her cope?

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Present, Alex and Olivia

Taking several more deep breaths to steady my nerves, I finally stopped walking, turning to gaze at Alex. "Thank you," I told her. "Really, thank you for everything. I appreciate your concern and kindness, and I owe you one."

"You would do the same for me," Alex tossed me a genuine smile. "I know that our jobs are difficult, Olivia, but I truly believe that we're in the right field; I have to believe that we're in the right field, and that we're doing some good."

"It's definitely a calling, and I think that we are," I replied, leading the lawyer toward a local coffee shop; the least that I could do to repay her for trudging out into the rain to collect me was to buy her a hot drink. "Julia gave us the names of some other students who might have been assaulted by the perp, so Elliot and I will continue to investigate."

"Good," Alex nodded her approval, pushing her glasses a little bit further up her nose. "And now she has the restraining order, so that should help."

"I just hope she knows that we're there for her," I mused.

"I'm sure she does," Alex gently rested her hand on my shoulder.

"Good," I replied with a sigh. "Very good."

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Lakewood High School, twenty-four hours prior (school psychologist's office)

"But that's not fair," Julia whispered to her principal and the school psychologist. "You're joking, right? Because that isn't fair! How is that even possible?" she asked, her face pale and her lips tightly pressed together in frustration and anger.

"I'm sorry," Mr. Lewis uncomfortably stared at the floor, his hands clasped in his lap. "Like I told you yesterday, we haven't had to deal with anything like this in quite some time. That's no excuse, but it's the truth."

Julia clutched Hoot in one hand, squeezing the beanie baby as tightly as possible. "So… so he just gets away with it?"

"Not exactly," the principal murmured his reply, glancing over at Mrs. Simon for help. But the school psychologist wasn't going to help him with this one; she was too upset with what had happened.

"'Not exactly?' How do you figure? That's exactly what you're saying," Julia sniffled, taking a deep breath. Although she had never talked back to an adult before, she felt extremely overwhelmed and defeated by what she had just heard.

"The police will continue their investigation," Mr. Lewis pointed out.

"Yeah, but the school isn't going to do an investigation of its own? Why not?" the eleventh grader wanted to know.

"We, uh, didn't start the investigation soon enough," Mr. Lewis uncomfortably cleared his throat, "And now we need to stop." In a sense, the school had been told to stop its own investigation while the police did theirs. Because they couldn't investigate, they couldn't do anything to Mark.

"So he won't get suspended?" Julia persisted.

"I'm afraid not," Mr. Lewis quietly replied. "But we've talked to him."

Oh, good, Julia bitterly thought to herself. At least he's been talked to; I'm sure that will solve everything.

"We're going to give you a different bus route to take home in the evenings, too," the principal continued, "And a different lunch period."

Great, so are you going to change my locker so that I'm not near him every day? Or are you going to give me different classes so that I won't have to see him in the hallways? Do you even understand what you're doing? How could you?

"Just let us know if he says or does anything else to you," Mr. Lewis got to his feet, "And we'll take care of it."

Right, just like you took care of the original assault? she felt like asking, feeling like her entire world was crashing down around her feet. Although she knew that she would probably be safe at school, the fact that she had to breathe the same air as Mark did made her feel sick to her stomach. She was still having a very difficult time focusing, and the fact that he was in the same building with her made her feel even more uneasy and uncomfortable.

"So I guess I'll see you later," Mr. Lewis muttered, walking out of the office.

The moment that he was gone, Julia burst into tears. Not only had her school minimized what had happened to her, they botched the investigation to the point where they couldn't even investigate. Thanks to their mistake, she would be forced to see Mark every day until everything was over with.

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16th Precinct, 20 hours prior

"Hi, Julia," Olivia brightly smiled at the student as she walked into the precinct. "How are you holding up?" she wanted to know, pointing to a chair.

"I'm okay, I guess," Julia half-heartedly shrugged, Hoot now in her jacket pocket. "Did you hear?" she took a seat, uneasily glancing around the room. There were a lot of people around, and the precinct was loud.

"I did," Olivia nodded, "And I'm sorry, honey. For lack of a better word, your school screwed up."

Julia morosely nodded. "I wish I could just drop out and fade away," she admitted. "I used to like school, but now I don't even want to go."

"It'll get better, I promise," Olivia gave her a sympathetic smile, gently patting her on the shoulder. "But try to hang in there, okay? You don't want to let them win by dropping out. You've got a bright future ahead of you, you know."

"Yeah," she sadly stared at the ground. "But it's hard to focus sometimes, especially when I get tired and sad."

"I understand, honey," Olivia quietly replied. "But just know that you aren't alone." Julia nodded, lifting her gaze to meet the detective's. "Really," she smiled, "I mean it. I'm there for you, and so are Mrs. Simon and your parents."

"I know," Julia let out a shaky breath, "And I appreciate that fact."

With another small smile, Olivia grabbed Julia's file from the large stack of folders on her desk, flipping it open. "I'm sorry to bring you to the precinct, but I wanted to go over your statement with you once more before you signed it."

"Okay," Julia reached into her pocket, fidgeting with Hoot's tag.

Olivia handed the student a type-written report, glancing at the two sheets of paper. "Why don't you take a look at it before you sign it? I can change anything that you want, too."

"Okay," Julia repeated, hesitantly reading over the document. Her face paling even more, she sighed when she got to the bottom of the second page. "Yeah, that's fine," she mumbled. "Where do I sign?" she asked, scrawling her name on the line when Olivia pointed to it.

Replacing the document in Julia's file, the detective leaned back in her chair. "I hear you're meeting with Alex tomorrow."

Julia nodded. "I'm nervous, but you said that she's nice. She is nice, right?"

"She's one of my closest friends," Olivia confirmed with a smile, "And I would trust her with my life. Just trust her, Julia, and you'll be fine. I also have this for you," the detective added, handing her one more document.

"What is it?" Julia asked, glancing down at the paper.

"This is a temporary restraining order, good for six months. This states that Mark cannot come within one hundred feet of you, or we can throw him in jail."

"What about school, though?" Julia's forehead creased with confusion. "We're going to see each other every day."

"I know," Olivia again leaned back in her chair, "And that's where things will get a bit tricky. But this says that he can't talk to you. In fact, if he even looks at you funny, I want to hear about it."

"Okay," Julia folded up the paper, carefully placing it in her jacket pocket. "So will I see you again?" Although she was intimidated by Olivia's badge, she truly liked the woman, feeling safe around her.

"Of course," Olivia smiled, getting to her feet. "And like I said, Julia, call me if you need anything at all. Anything, understand?"

"Thanks, and I will," Julia shyly stuck out her hand, changing her mind at the last second. Lightly wrapping her arms around the detective's waist, she instead gave her a gentle hug. "Really, thank you," she murmured before darting out of the precinct.

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TO BE CONTINUED