Chapter 31: Peace Negotiations

The next day after school, Araeyah called Charles and said she needed to meet with him. He tried to brush her off and say that his schedule. She told him she could either show up and interrupt whatever meeting he had going when she got there or he could save himself the embarrassment and just make time to talk to her. He told her to be at his at four thirty sharp. She arrived and went inside, bypassing security. They all knew her there so she was able to skip the formalities. She got up to his office, said hi to his secretary and walked right in. He was sitting at his desk on the phone. When he saw her he held up a finger, telling her to wait, and finished his phone call.

"Araeyah, what is so important that you have to interrupt my work day?" he asked leaning back in his chair.

"I want you to leave Olivia and me alone" she said simply. Her voice was strong and firm and she was standing tall. If she was gonna get what she wanted, she couldn't show him an ounce of fear.

"Oh. The cop? Excuse me, I mean detective" he said sarcastically correcting himself. "Yeah, my buddy came through. I've got all the information I need." He was cocky like always and just made Rae want to knock down him a few pegs on his pedestal. She was going to enjoy watching him sweat.

"Maybe you do but using that information, whatever it is, might not be the best decision you'll ever make" Rae said. She wasn't being cocky but she was confident that what she had to say would stop Charles from doing whatever he had planned. "Oh yeah, why's that?" He wouldn't even look at her. He just sat there looking over paperwork like she wasn't worth his attention. "Because I have some information too. The kind that you'd be embarrassed to have known to the public" He dropped the pen in his hand on his desk and looked up her. The serious expression on her face told him that she wasn't bluffing. "What information would that be?" he asked finally giving her his undivided attention. Rae had decided not to tell Charles about Jimmy. He could be unpredictable and he didn't care about Jimmy like she cared about him. The uncertainty of his reaction made her uncomfortable. "Like I'm gonna tell you" she said chuckling, "where would the fun be in that?" Charles got up from his chair and walked over close his office door. He returned and stood in front of Rae with his hands in his pockets. "You don't wanna go to war with me sweetheart. It won't end well for you" he said towering over her. Rae remained calm and stood her ground. "Charles, I've been at war with you since I was twelve. I think I've held my own pretty well so far" She could tell he was getting flustered and if she pushed a little bit harder he would cave. "So either you leave us alone or I will make life very hard for you in this place. I've done it before. Remember?" she said alluding to previous events with his clients bailing because of things she'd said and done. She was an asset to him and he knew it but he didn't respect her and she knew that. One day she'd had enough of his shit and she bad mouthed him to one his clients and word spread. They left him and the company and took their money with them. She knew he wouldn't want to go through that again. He took a step closer and Rae could see the fire in his eyes. "Are you threatening me?" he snarled. "Yes" she said simply. He turned as if he was going back to his desk and before Rae knew it she felt a stinging sensation across her cheek. Her head whipped to the side from the force behind Charles hand. "Nobody threatens me. Do you hear me? Nobody!" he yelled. Rae turned and looked him straight in the eye. She had him right where she wanted him. "I just did. You either leave Olivia and me alone or you'll suffer the consequences. The choice is yours. Let me know what you decide, but don't take too long. See you Saturday." She turned and walked out his office and left the building. She thought about calling Olivia and telling her what happened but she decided against it.

Meanwhile, Olivia was at work wondering how Rae's meeting with Charles went. Rae had told her she'd be meeting him at four thirty. It was now five fifteen and she still had no word from her. She tried to focus on the work on her desk. If something important happened, she knew Rae would call. The entire team was sitting at their desks doing paperwork when a woman came in, practically dragging a younger girl behind her.

"Excuse me" she said interrupting the light rustle of papers and quiet chatter. "The man down at the front desk said I need to talk to an SVU detective." Elliot stood up from his desk and faced the woman.

"You're in the right place", he said. "What can we help you with?"

"My daughter has been raped" she said pulling the girl forward by her arm to stand next to her. "That not true" the girl said annoyed. "She doesn't know what she's talking about." Olivia stood up and went over to them. "Ok, why don't we go and discuss this somewhere more private." Mother and daughter both nodded and Olivia escorted them to the interview opposite Capt. Cragen's office. They told the Captain what was going on and he, Fin and John decided to watch through the mirror while Elliot and Olivia did the interview.

"Ok", Olivia said sitting down. Elliot sat down with his pen and pad ready to take notes while Olivia did the questioning. "Let's start with names" she said looking at the mother.

"I'm Maria Lanatti. This is my daughter Brittany" she said. She had a noticeable accent, maybe Italian, definitely Brooklyn and she was not happy. "Ok, Maria. Why do you think that your daughter was raped?" Olivia asked nicely. "Because I walked in on them. She was supposed to be at her after school tutoring. I got off work early, came home to do some laundry and get dinner going and I hear her giggling in her bedroom. So I go upstairs to see what she's doing home...I see in bed with another woman." Olivia could tell that the part about it being another woman really upset her. Still she didn't understand why she thought her daughter was assaulted. "Uh, ok. If you have a problem with your daughter seeing other girls that one thing but it's not rape" she explained in the nicest way possible.

"I said woman, not girl. It's her tutor. She in her thirties and my daughter is sixteen. I know the laws. That's rape" she said firmly. Elliot nodded his head in agreement while Olivia got a sinking feeling in her stomach. "We weren't doing anything. My mom is overreacting." Brittany seemed desperate for this whole thing to just go away but the way her mother was talking, it wasn't likely that was gonna happen. "What do you mean you weren't doing anything? You were naked...in bed!" she yelled. Brittany looked completely embarrassed and Olivia felt for the girl. Her mother was making a spectacle of her situation without regard to how she was making her daughter feel. "So what! That doesn't mean we were doing anything!" she yelled back. "I'm your mother. Don't raise your voice to me!"

"Ok, ok. Alright, let's just calm down here" Elliot said ending the back and forth between them. "I want this woman arrested. She's been molesting my kid" Maria said not letting up. "Oh my god, you are so dramatic. She hasn't done anything to me!" Olivia and Elliot both realized that they weren't going to get any where with the two of them in the same room. Olivia leaned over and said she'd take the girl and Elliot could talk with the mother. He agreed and broke up the argument once again so Liv could escort the daughter to a different room to get her statement. Olivia talked with Brittany for a while who told her a bit about her relationship with her tutor, who was thirty four. They had the exact same age difference between Olivia and Rae. They'd been together a little longer than she and Rae have been. Brittany decided to invite Erin back to her house instead of staying at her school like they usually did. One thing led to another and they were in bed.

"Nothing happened" Brittany said softly. "My mom walked in and interrupted us. She got so mad when she saw I was with another woman and then she got even more mad when she saw it was Erin. She didn't do anything wrong. I pursued her. I wanted to be with her." Olivia opened her mouth to say something but Brittany kept talking. "I know what you're gonna say; that she's too old for me and she's in a position of power and she's taking advantage of my young, naïve mind but that's not true. We have a lot in common. We can talk for hours about anything and laugh and it's just...so easy to be with her, you know?" Olivia smile lightly and nodded knowing exactly what she meant.

"I get it" she said softly, "but you're sixteen Brittany. Legally, she can't have sex with you. That's called statutory rape and she could get into a lot of trouble. In New York, you have to be seventeen to be considered a consenting adult." Olivia explained. "I'll be seventeen in two weeks" Brittany said quickly. "Then it shouldn't be hard to wait. You don't want to get Erin in any more trouble right?" she asked. Brittany shook her head. "Then it'd be best if you two just cool it for a bit." This was different for Olivia. She felt like she was encouraging this sixteen year old girl to have a relationship with a thirty four year old woman. She would have never done that before but she was different now. Now, she had Rae and she understood that sometimes age wasn't a determinate for maturity. She and Brittany talked for a while longer and she could tell that the girl was happy to talk to someone who understood her situation. Olivia let on in not so many words that she was in a similar situation and not to worry. In two weeks it wouldn't matter what her mother or anyone else thought. Once she'd gotten all the info she needed from Brittany, they went back into the squad room to find her mother waiting for her. She seemed to have calmed down some and Olivia wondered what Elliot had said to make that happen. Brittany thanked Olivia again for their talk before she and her mother left. They all gathered in the Captain's office to talk about how to handle the situation.

"So where are we on this? Is the mother right or is she just overreacting?" Cragen asked from behind his desk.

"I think she really believes her daughter is being taken advantage of. She walked in on them naked in bed together. There aren't too many things they could've been doing" Elliot said. "Ok. Liv, what'd you get from the girl." he said turning his attention from Elliot to her. "Brittany swears that nothing happened; that her mother is blowing things out of proportion. She says that yes they were in bed together but they didn't do anything; her mother interrupted. They've been seeing each other, officially, for about two months but her tutor started working with her over the summer. She seems really broken up about the possibility that she'll get in trouble for this." Elliot shook his head and interrupted Olivia. "Seeing each other? What, so your telling me that you think that this "relationship" is ok?" Elliot asked using air quotes around the word relationship. "I'm saying that I talked to Brittany and maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge. We can't know anything about their relationship until we talk to Erin." She got a confused look from the Captain. "Erin is the tutor" she explained recieving an understanding nod. "She'll be seventeen in two weeks anyway and none of this will matter." Olivia was trying hard to stand up for Brittany and Erin. She was defending their relationship the same way she knew that soon she'd have to defend her own. Cragen, Munch and Fin quietly listened as the two detectives debated what to do about the mother's complaint. "Come on, do you hear yourself? Two weeks from now doesn't matter. Right now, the girl is sixteen and the tutor is in her thirties, the law says they can't be together" he said. "You can't just reduce people to their age, Elliot. There's more to a person than that. That's why discretion is left up to the prosecutor when it comes to stat rape." Fin caught on to how personally Olivia was taking this and figured there was more to it that she wasn't telling. It was amazing to him that Elliot, after all these years of being her partner, was oblivious to it. "I'm with Liv on this. I say bring in the tutor and have a talk with her, write it up and send it to the DA with all the facts. Like Liv said, the girl..." he looked to Olivia as if to ask for her name. "Brittany" she said softly. "Brittany will be seventeen in two weeks. How much is gonna change about her in that little bit of time? If she's able to make the decision then, she should be able to make the decision now. There's more important cases on our desks right now than this. Plus there's nothing to prosecute if she's saying nothing happened."

"Elliot your points are taken but they're right" Cragen said leaning forward onto his desk. "It doesn't matter what the mother thinks happened, only what the daughter says happened and she says nothing happened. There's no evidence to prove otherwise. Besides are we really ready to ruin this woman's life over a two week difference?" Elliot didn't say anything. He knew what his colleagues were saying was true. Still, it didn't sit right with him letting this slide. "So, let's talk to the tutor and do the paperwork and get this one off our plate." With that they all left his office and went out into the squad room. Fin and Munch said they'd take the tutor so that left Elliot and Olivia to write up their fives on their interview with the mother and daughter. Olivia finished her paperwork and was heading out when she saw Fin at the vending machines.

"Hey" she said stopping next to him. "Thanks for that. You know, having my back in there" she said referring to the showdown in Cragen's office. "It's no problem. You were the one who talked to Brittany and I trust your judgement. I also noticed that your opinion comes from more than just the facts of the case; from something more personal I assume" he said quietly. Olivia opened her mouth to explain but Fin stopped her. "You don't owe me any explanations, Liv. Like I said, I trust your judgement." She gave him a thankful smile. "Have a good night" he said as he walked away. "Yeah, you too." She turned and walked toward the elevators.

Rae was at home packing a bag to take with her to Olivia's place for the night. She went into the bathroom and looked at her face in the mirror. It had started to bruise and it hurt like hell. She couldn't believe Charles had hit her. That was something new. He'd done a lot of things, said a lot of things, but he'd never laid a hand on her. He knew her mother wouldn't put up with that. She loved him but she loved her daughter more and if she ever found out that he'd laid one finger on her he would be sorry. She went and grabbed her phone and took a picture of her face and saved it. If the bruise wasn't gone by Saturday her mother would definitely want to know what happened to her face. It would be up to Charles what her answer would be. Olivia texted her to tell her she was on her way home and that she could head over to her place. She put on her coat, grabbed her bag, phone, and keys and headed out the door. She was nervous on the drive over to Liv's place. She knew Olivia would be pissed when she saw her. She parked her car and took a deep breath. "Here we go" she thought as she grabbed her stuff and headed up to Olivia's apartment. She knocked on the door and a moment later it opened and Liv greeted her with a smile. It didn't take long for her face to fall. She grabbed Rae's hand and pulled her inside.

"What the hell happened?" she asked slightly yelling. She grabbed Rae's chin and turned her face to the side to examine her cheek. "It's nothing" she said pulling her face from Olivia's grasp. She went to drop her bag in the bedroom before returning to the living room and sitting on the couch. Olivia went to the kitchen and got an ice pack from the freezer. She hurried to the bathroom and grabbed a small towel and wrapped it around the pack so that Rae could ice her face. She sat beside her on the couch and took a deep breath. "What happened?" she asked again more calm this time.

"I went to see Charles to talk to him about leaving us alone. He didn't like what I had to say" she said. "He said that the friend of his came through and got information about you. I told him that it would be a bad idea for him to use it; that I knew things about him that could hurt him if people found out. He got angry when I wouldn't tell him what it was. He said I didn't want to go to war with him. I told him that if he didn't leave us alone that I'd make things hard for him. He slapped me; said nobody threatens him. I was trying to push his buttons but I didn't think he'd hit me" she said wincing as she put the ice on her face. "Oh baby" Olivia whispered caressing Rae's hair. "Why didn't you call me?"

"Because I knew you'd probably want to kill him. That wouldn't be very helpful for what we're trying to do here." Olivia chuckled and shook her head. "Yeah, probably not. Has he ever hit you before?" she asked turning Rae around so that her back was to her front. She leaned back against the arm rest, pulling Rae back with her so she could lay on her chest. "No. Never. But I've never challenged him as much as I did today. I just hope this was the right move. Charles can be really vindictive. One word from him and I could lose my apartment." Olivia caressed Rae's hair as she talked. "What do you mean? You pay for it don't you?" she asked. "Yeah but Charles' name is on the lease. He had to sign with me because I'm not twenty one and I don't have any credit history. Danny insisted I have a co-signer even though he knew that I could pay. I think he just didn't trust me, you know, thinking I was just another irresponsible kid wanting to be out from under my parents. Anyway, I have to wait six months before I'm able to release him as my co-signer and it's only been four."

"Well, that's ridiculous. No matter what happens, you're not gonna lose your loft. You can take Charles off of the lease and I'll sign for you if I have to." Rae sat up and looked at Olivia. "You would do that for me?" she asked a little surprised by Olivia's offer. "Of course I would" she said. Rae smiled and laid back down on Olivia's chest. She replayed her confrontation with Charles in her head. Rae smiled to herself remembering the confrontation. "You should have seen me. I was...so strong and he was so weak. He could see I wasn't afraid of him."

"Yeah. That's why he hit you; to make himself feel more powerful" Olivia explained. "Well it didn't work. I held my ground. I wasn't intimidated. I didn't show any pain; not one ounce of fear. I had all the power." Olivia could tell from her voice that Rae was proud of herself for standing up to Charles and not backing down. She sat up and turned to face Olivia. Olivia lightly touched her bruised face, careful not to hurt her. She leaned in and kissed her firmly on the lips then rested their foreheads together. "Come on, let's get you to bed" she whispered. She took the ice pack ice and put it back in the freezer. Rae stood and met her, taking her hand up and going into the bedroom to go to sleep.