Thanks to everyone who decided to give this story a go and thanks for the reviews so far. Just to avoid any confusion this chapter takes the story back to the very beginning, three days earlier from the happenings of the Prologue.

Disclaimer: Not mine

Chapter 1

3 days earlier.

Elliot stepped out of the lift and into the bullpen. He was tired, really tired. In fact he couldn't remember the last time he had had a decent nights sleep, he just knew it was sometime before he was told that Mac Dempsey had been released from prison. Overcrowding and his exceedingly good behaviour made him a prime candidate for early release.

Mac Dempsey was a man who Elliot had been involved in capturing when he had first started out as a cop, in fact Elliot had been the one to capture Mac with his hands bloody for once. Mac was thought to have killed dozens of women but no bodies were ever found so there was no physical evidence and very little other evidence of any kind to use in a trial against him. Mac Dempsey was also a very enthusiastic rapist who never let a victim live to tell the tale so there were also never any victims to go with the lack of evidence.

Mac had made it quite clear to Elliot back then how he felt and he knew his opinion hadn't changed in the years he had been in prison. That's exactly why he hadn't hesitated in sending Kathy and the kids on holiday to Ireland. Kathy had begged Elliot to join them but he had told her he was staying, he knew if he wasn't with her and the kids they were safer. He knew they couldn't stay there forever but for now it was the best he could do to keep them safe.

Elliot hung his coat up and then walked over to his desk and sat down. Olivia looked away from her computer screen and at her partner. She could instantly see how drained he looked. Cragen had filled her in briefly on Mac and she had then done some research of her own, she had even managed to pull Mac's file, it was safe to say she already hated the prick. She secretly wondered why Elliot had never mentioned him before.

"They get away ok?" she asked, knowing Elliot had sent his family into hiding.

"Yeah." he said simply and a little coldly.

"At least you know they're safe there." she said, trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah, but walls have ears so you wanna drop it." he said even more coldly.

Olivia smiled, it was that or tell him to lose the attitude, but part of her figured he was entitled to it. She knew him and she knew he was scared for his family and from what research she had done, he was smart to be scared. However, he'd had an attitude with her for the last week and she was getting a little sick of it by now.

She stood up and walked over to the coffee machine and proceeded to make herself a drink, having then done so she walked back over to her desk and sat down. She looked up when she felt Elliot's eyes burning holes into her. "What?" she asked him.

"I always make you a drink, would be nice for you to do the same every now and again." he snapped, pushing himself up, loudly scraping his chair along the floor.

"You, know what El, go join your family, Getting away from this case for a while might help you to stop being such an arrogant prick!" it was a little harsh she knew, but she had had enough of him taking his shit out on her when all she had done was try to be supportive.

She stood up from her desk, ready to leave the room before she said something else she regretted but Elliot's next words stopped her.

"Maybe if I didn't have to work alongside such a selfish bitch all the time, I wouldn't be such a prick."

They were both now stood right in each others faces, something that always seemed to happen when they argued. Olivia knew it was Elliot's way of intimidating people and he knew it was her way of saying 'think you intimidate me?' Not really a great mix.

"I can't win with you Elliot," Olivia said, deciding to step back slightly, "I don't know how to deal with this one. I try to help you out with this and you push me away, so then I stay back but then I'm a selfish bitch."

"Well then here's a clue, stay out of my fucking business!"

"That's not going to happen!" Cragen's voice boomed above them, shutting them both up but not stopping them from glaring at one an other. "You two get your asses to Jenny Grant's apartment." he told them.

They both looked at him a little puzzled. Jenny Grant had been a victim in a case they had closed last week. Her rapist was in prison and Jenny was doing brilliant because of it, why would she need them both there.

"Is she ok?" Olivia asked.

Cragen looked at them with sad eyes, "She's dead."

~0~0~0~0~

When they walked into Jenny's apartment Olivia and Elliot went off in different directions. Elliot went to check out the bomb site that was Jenny's living room and Olivia went over to where Warner was crouched over her body.

Jenny was lay on the floor, her naked body a bruised and bloody mess. Olivia didn't even have to ask the obvious, 'was she raped?'. It was evident, the knife still stuck between her legs.

"She survives one horrific rape to then go through this." she thought out loud. "Please tell me she died quickly?"

"I really wish I could, but she suffered, no doubt about it. She has multiple stab wounds. Some of them are fresher than others. This attack went on for hours. I would say she was raped multiple times."

"Cause of death?"

"Blood loss." Warner said, knowing Olivia already knew that.

Olivia nodded and had to turn away, she'd find out the rest from Warner later. Hesitantly she walked over to Elliot. "Raped, bled out." Olivia summarised.

Elliot was staring over at Jenny, his eyes wide open. He was fixed on her eyes that seemed to be staring at him.

"El, what is it?" Olivia asked him.

"This is Mac's work." he said knowingly.

~0~0~0~0~

It was sometime later when they were stood in Warner's office, both silent as she told them her preliminary findings. "So far I've counted 8 stab wounds and from a guess so far I would say she was raped…"

"Eight times?" Elliot said.

"Yeah, wanna tell me why you're finishing my sentences?" Melinda asked.

"This is Mac Dempsey's work. I don't know why he went after her, but I'm telling you this is his doing."

"El, we don't know that yet." Olivia said.

"I know it." he snapped matter-of-factly.

"I'll tell you more when I'm finished." Melinda said, noticing the tension between the two.

"Did you scrape her nails?" Olivia asked.

"No use, there won't be anything. He always wears complete body gear, not a bit of flesh on show. He rapes with a foreign object to avoid any risk of transfer. I'm telling you he's not changed his ways now." Elliot said before he walked out leaving Olivia to hear the rest alone.

TBC

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