AN: Once again, thanks for all these wonderful reviews. I'm glad you all are as entertained reading this as I am by writing it, and here's three more chapters for you. My muse is telling me to screw this whole plot development thing, and just dive right into the action. She's impatient like that. I've told her I'm having none of it and now she's giving me the look.

Lia - I'm glad you are glad :)

Finally, I figured it's a good time to mention that explicit self-harm stuff is not slated for the rest of the story, for any inquiring minds. Ok... and scene!

*

As Olivia watched A.J. approach his apartment building, and her and Elliot by simple fact that they were standing beside the door, she thought he didn't look the type to give someone an old childhood toy. Or to admit he still owned it in the first place. His hair was spiked up, with a sturdy hoop through each earlobe. He wore a t-shirt, despite the chill that had started clinging to the air, but both forearms were half-hidden by multi-colored bracelets. The look was capped by baggy jeans and the backpack slung over one shoulder.

He saw them watching him, and the closer A.J. got the more curious his expression became.

"Who're you?" he asked when they were finally in conversation range.

Elliot pulled out his badge. "I'm Detective Stabler, this is my partner Detective Benson. We'd like to talk to you about a friend of yours."

"Sara," he easily concluded. A.J. continued when they both looked at him. "I heard about the whole arrest thing. She ok? I haven't heard from her yet."

"She will be," Olivia assured him.

"Good."

"Sara tells us that you two are best friends," Elliot said.

"Yeah. We get each other."

"How so?"

A.J. lowered the bag to the ground, still clutching the strap. "We had one class together last year. When I saw her I knew she had problems like me. She looked at me like she saw the same thing. And when we started talking we actually understood each other."

"Why don't we continue this inside?" Elliot suggested. They were going to enter some pretty personal territory, which wasn't the sort of conversation one had on the street corner.

A.J. nodded, showing them to his apartment. "Sure. My parents won't be out of work for a while anyway."

Olivia shared a look with Elliot. It was clear from the sentence that he would have been uncomfortable inviting them up otherwise. She wondered if it stemmed from embarrassment or fear, guessing it was more of the latter.

The apartment wasn't as large as the Holden's, or as neat. Not a sty, but the space definitely showed it was more lived in. Despite the cleaning it did receive, she saw many once white surfaces were yellowing with tar, and could smell the nicotine still lingering in the air. She hid her grimace and tried to ignore the smell.

A.J. tossed his bag against the door to his room, unless his parents were so enthralled with Rammstein that they would hang a poster on their door. He came back and leaned against the side of the couch.

"So what do you want to know?"

"The two of you ever been intimate?" Elliot asked.

"Sex? No, it's not like that. We listen to each other, help get through the bad days." A.J. frowned a little, remembering some of the bad days.

Olivia wondered what his bad days looked like. She decided to save that for another time. "Sara says you helped her to stop having sex with boys."

"She's not a slut," he returned immediately.

"We know," Elliot assured him.

Accepting the sincerity, A.J. continued. "She didn't really like it, it just helped her forget about her dad. The first night she stayed over she mentioned it 'cause it made her feel so guilty. I told her that us talking and hanging out must've felt better, and she didn't need to do that other stuff anymore."

It didn't take much for Olivia to realize that Sara's fondness for this kid was well founded. He must have been the first person to ever try to help her out and not try to use her for something.

"She spent the night here?" Olivia asked for clarification. It didn't seem like Sara would spend many nights away from home, something told her that there was some sort of rule about it.

"Yeah," A.J. replied, "sometimes. Not often 'cause her dad got mad if he found her gone. But sometimes she just had to anyway, you know?"

"And your parents were ok with that?" Elliot continued.

The boy lowered his head and gave a small laugh, a guilty laugh. "They don't know."

"Then how does she get in?" Olivia asked.

"She calls me on my cell when she wants to come over. I go down and drop the fire escape for her, it comes right up to my window."

"What do you two do?"

A.J. shrugged. "Whatever. Talk, listen to music, watch TV. Just hang out, you know? She just comes over so she can feel safe for a night."

"All right, thanks for your help, A.J. We'll let you know if we have any more questions," Elliot said as they migrated towards the door.

A.J. nodded emphatically. "Whatever I can do to help Sara."

Olivia stopped before crossing the threshold, turning to A.J. She pulled out her card and handed it to him. He eyed it curiously before looking back to her for an explanation. "We can help you, too."

Folding up the card, he tucked it away in a pocket. "Maybe."

Olivia didn't move for a few more moments, just to make sure he knew she meant it.

Elliot stood waiting for her at the stairs. He looked back to the closed door when she had caught up. "Good kid."

"Yeah," she agreed.

They were at the car before either spoke again. Olivia was opening the driver's side door when Elliot rested a hand on the roof. "I just need to say one thing, as a concerned partner."

"And what is that?" Olivia couldn't help the slight edge in her voice. She was pretty sure she knew where he was going.

"You're pretty invested in this whole case. I think you might want to take a step back and rethink things."

She shut her door, needing to do something with her hands. It slammed just a little harder than it needed to. "Jesus, Elliot, I'm not stepping down!"

"I didn't say that!" He ran a hand over his scalp. "I'm just saying I've seen you get wrapped up in a victim before, and it's really bitten you in the ass when things go down the drain."

"And you think something's going to go wrong?"

"I don't know. I hope it all goes well, he gets locked up and the key gets lost and she goes off to live happily ever after. Olivia, I know you're just going to tell me to go to hell. And you're not going to give Sara any less than all you've got. But I couldn't let you do it without reminding you where it could lead."

Even though he was looking out for her and giving her free reign to do what she was going to do, Olivia gave Elliot one last glare before finally getting into the car.