Author's Note: You guys might hate me after this chapter. Sorry! I promise it will get better in chapter 8! ... Sorry it took so long to post this. My computer crashed and I just got it back from the repair shop.
Olivia sat next to Elliot on her couch, staring at him in disbelief as he repeated to her what Calvin had told him.
"What?" she finally managed to choke out. "No!"
Elliot just looked at her, his eyes filled with pain.
"No," she repeated. "No, no, no, no." She began shaking her head violently.
Elliot tried to pull her body into his. Olivia started hitting his chest before collapsing into his embrace.
"I'm sorry Liv," he whispered into her hair.
Olivia did her best to hold herself together. She wasn't sure when Calvin would wake up and she didn't want him to catch her crying. She wanted to be strong for him.
"Will you stay with us today?" Olivia asked.
"I'll stay here as long as you need me to," he answered. Olivia buried her face in Elliot's shoulder. He rested his hand on the back of her head. He looked up to see Calvin standing in front of the couch looking at them. "Hey Buddy," he said gently.
Calvin started chewing on his lower lip. Elliot smiled at Calvin. "Come here," he said, scooting over on the couch. He patted the cushion between him and Olivia. "Sit down."
Calvin sat down on the couch and looked up at Elliot. "Did you tell her?" he whispered.
Elliot shook his head, "Yah. I told her," he said putting his arm around Calvin. "It's ok."
Calvin hung his head, too embarrassed to look at either of them. Olivia knelt down on the floor in front of Calvin to catch his eyes and put her hands on his knees. "I'm not upset with you Calvin. Not one bit. You didn't do anything wrong. Ok? And I'm not going to send you away. Don't even worry about something like that happening."
Calvin wrapped his arms around Olivia's neck and Olivia pulled him into a hug. "What's gonna happen to me Olivia?" he asked, worried.
Olivia sat next to him on the couch and let him rest his head on her shoulder. "Well," she said, "as soon as you're ready, we're going to go down to the precinct and have Detective Munch take your statement. Then, he and his partner are going to arrest the boys who did this to you."
"Will I have to see them?" Calvin asked, starting to fidget.
"It depends. If they make a deal and plead guilty you won't but if they go to court, you'll have to testify. You'll be safe though. We'll be right there with you."
"Can I have some spaghetti before we go?"
"Sure," Olivia laughed. She gave Calvin another hug before heading into the kitchen to make lunch.
Elliot and Olivia sat with Calvin while he told John Munch about the boys in the locker room. After he gave his statement they decided to take him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Calvin seemed to show a real interest in art and Elliot and Olivia wanted to do something fun with him. When they got home Olivia helped Calvin with his homework while Elliot made dinner.
The rest of the weekend passed quickly. Olivia contemplated keeping Calvin home from school on Monday but he wanted to go and she couldn't think of any reason why he shouldn't. His grades were still poor and Olivia wanted to make sure he graduated to the next grade in the fall so she sent him to school.
Olivia was scheduled to be in court for the better part of the day, leaving Elliot to work at the precinct. Just as he was getting ready to leave on his lunch break his cell phone rang.
"Detective Stabler," he answered.
"Detective Stabler, this is Principal Sweeny at Calvin's school. We can't get a hold of Detective Benson and you're listed as Calvin's emergency contact."
"Yah, she's in court today. What's going on?"
"Calvin is being transported to the hospital via ambulance. We need you to meet us there."
"What!" Elliot yelled into the phone. "What happened?"
"Please just meet us at Mercy General Detective," the principal said in a hurry before hanging up on Elliot.
"Damn it!" Elliot screamed, both furious and worried.
He raced down to the courthouse and grabbed Olivia before heading to the hospital. They arrived in the emergency room in time to see Calvin being wheeled by on the ambulance stretcher. He had a cervical collar on and was strapped to a backboard. Olivia called his name and he called out to her but she was prevented from entering the room they took him in.
Elliot and Olivia quickly found the school principal.
"I'm so sorry Detectives," the principal told them.
"What happened?" Olivia asked, with both fear and anger in her voice.
"We found Calvin on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I think he was beat up," the principal told them.
"What the hell is going on at that school?" Elliot screamed, slamming his hand into the wall.
"We have 800 students Detective," the principal said, getting defensive. "We are doing the best we can but we have a lot of troubled children."
"That's no excuse," Olivia said, completely disgusted at the situation. She had to walk away before she did something she would regret. She headed down to the nurses station to try to get some information but was directed to the waiting room to wait for the doctor to call her.
Elliot sat down next to Olivia after dismissing the principal.
"I should have never let him go to school today," she said, on the brink of tears. "I was going to keep home."
"Liv, this is not your fault," Elliot said sternly.
"I haven't even had him a month and look at everything that has happened to him," Olivia snapped back. "What good am I if I can't protect him?" she asked, sounding defeated.
"No parent can protect their kids from everything, Liv. You haven't done anything wrong."
"I feel like I've let him down Elliot," Olivia said, hanging her head.
"I bet Calvin feels like he's let you down," Elliot replied, remembering Calvin's fear that Olivia was going to be angry with him and send him away.
"Detective Benson," the doctor called out. Olivia and Elliot hurried over to the doctor.
"Aaron Bartlett, Calvin's doctor," the man said. "I had to put a few stitches in Calvin's head and he has a broken rib but he is..."
"Wait, a broken rib?" Olivia interrupted. "He broke his rib a month ago. Is it the same one or another one?"
"Ok, that makes sense," the doctor said nodding his head. "It's the same rib. A month wouldn't give it enough time to heal completely. When he went down the stairs the fracture opened again."
"Can we see him now?" Elliot asked.
"Yes," the doctor answered, walking them towards the exam room. "He's ready to be discharged. I have a prescription for him, to help with the pain. Just bring him back in 10 days to get the stitches out. I'd keep him home from school for a couple days and let him rest. He is going to be very sore."
"Thank you Doctor," Olivia said.
"Hey Buddy," Elliot said, entering the room.
"How do you feel?" Olivia asked.
"I didn't start the fight, Olivia. I promise. I didn't fight back," Calvin said, panicked.
"I know Sweetheart. It's ok," Olivia said, trying to calm him.
"What happened Calvin?" Elliot asked.
"I, I don't know," Calvin stuttered.
Elliot studied Calvin's body language. He knew Calvin was lying to him, most likely because he was afraid.
"Calvin?" Olivia asked. "Who pushed you down the stairs?"
Calvin shrugged his shoulders and became increasingly nervous.
"We can help you, Son, but you've got to trust us," Elliot told him, patting Calvin's shoulder.
"No!" Calvin yelled, startling both Olivia and Elliot. "If I say anything they'll just beat me up again."
"Who Calvin?" Olivia asked.
Calvin shook his head as tears welled up in his eyes. "Please don't make me tell," he pleaded.
"Calvin, listen to me. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you from Mason, from the boys in the locker room, and from whoever did this to you today. I let you down." Tears started streaming down Calvin's face as Olivia continued. "Please Honey, help me help you. I'm going to transfer you to a different school. You're never going to see any of those kids again."
"You didn't let me down," Calvin cried. "It's my fault, it's all my fault."
"No Baby," Olivia said, hugging him. "None of this is your fault."
"They beat me up because I told," Calvin said.
"Who beat you up?" Elliot asked.
Calvin hesitated before continuing. "The boys from the locker room, it, it was their friends. They, they said I would pay."
"Ok," Elliot said. "It's going to be ok." He ruffled Calvin's hair. "Get dressed Kiddo, let's get out of here," Elliot said as he and Olivia stepped out into the hall.
"I can't believe this is happening," Olivia said once they were out in the hall. "I can't believe how cruel kids are these days."
"Schoolyard brawls have turned into full blown assaults," Elliot added.
Calvin opened the door.
"Where's your shirt?" Elliot asked.
"The paramedics cut it off," Calvin said.
"Here," Elliot said, unbuttoning the top few buttons of his shirt. "You can borrow mine." He pulled his shirt over his head and put it on Calvin. "Good thing I wore a T-shirt under my dress shirt today, huh?"
"Thank you," Calvin said as he buttoned the top few buttons Elliot had undone.
"Do you want me to drop you off at the courthouse?" Elliot asked Olivia once they were in the car.
"No, El, I really just want to stay with Calvin," Olivia told him.
"Do you trust me?" Elliot asked her. Olivia nodded her head. "Let me drop you off at the courthouse. I'll take care of Calvin. That way, you won't have to return to court tomorrow. You can spend the whole day with him. Is that ok with you Calvin?"
"Mhmm," Calvin said, nodding his head.
"Ok. That's probably a good idea," Olivia agreed.
Elliot dropped Olivia off at the courthouse and took Calvin back to the precinct. He sat Calvin at Olivia's desk and let him play games on her computer while he met with Detective Munch and Captain Cragen in Cragen's office.
"These punks are making my job easy," Munch said after Elliot told them what happened to Calvin.
"Take his statement, John. Add it to the file," Cragen ordered. "How's Liv?" he asked, turning his attention to Elliot.
"Frustrated, upset. She blames herself for all of this," Elliot explained.
Cragen nodded his head in understanding. "Let's help her out by putting an end to this situation," he instructed. Munch and Elliot nodded their heads as they exited Cragen's office.
"I think you need to find a new tailor," Munch teased Calvin, trying to lighten the mood. "That shirt looks a little big for you," he smiled at him.
"The people in the ambulance took my shirt," Calvin explained.
"And now you have the misfortune of borrowing that shirt," Munch said, harassing Elliot.
"Hey! What's wrong with that shirt?" Elliot asked, squeezing Calvin's shoulder. "I think it is a fine looking shirt."
Calvin giggled at the two grown men spatting back and forth. Their mission was accomplished, Calvin was smiling again.
Elliot sat with Calvin while he told Munch what happened. After that he took Calvin out for a snack since both of them had missed lunch. Elliot bought two coffees for himself and Olivia and a hot chocolate for Calvin and the two headed to the courthouse to pick up Olivia.