Chapter Five: Atonement

Olivia was awakened by the sounds of horns blaring from outside. The sun beamed directly in her eyes and it hurt when she opened them. Her vision was blurred but it quickly straightened out and after it adjusted to the morning sunlight. Her head was throbbing with pain. Usually, she was instantly hungry as soon as she woke up; this time she wasn't. The very thought of food made her nauseous. Olivia was perfectly healthy in the morning and never felt like this; except when she was hung-over. She struggled to remember what happened the previous night. It was her birthday but no party. She was alone except for one other person. Olivia's eyes scanned down to the gold bracelet that made a print in her wrist from the pressure when she slept on it. It still glittered and her eyes searched for an answer. When she heard a groan, she looked over her shoulder to see Elliot sleeping soundly. Neither of them were naked so nothing related to intercourse happened. If they didn't have sex, what did they do? She remembered the kiss they shared in the rain. As soon as the thought came back, her lips began to tingle from Elliot's lips. She smiled involuntarily. Then she remembered Gabriel and the smile vanished. Olivia needed answers and she needed them now.

"Elliot! Elliot!" Olivia said sharply and nudged Elliot.

His azure eyes opened and he smiled. The first person he wanted to see in the morning desire came to reality but she didn't look happy. Her brown eyes were wide and full of worry. His smile vanished when he caught that something was wrong.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" She questioned. She stared off in thought, her eyes widened, then returned to him, "Did we….?" She trailed off, hoping he'd catch her implication.

He did and he sighed when he remembered, "No. We kissed and we were going to but I noticed you had a little too much to drink so I wasn't going to take advantage of you like that. I stayed the night because the rain got too heavy for me to drive all the way back to Queens at night."

"Elliot, I can't do this. I can't-" Taking a deep breath, Olivia ran her fingers through her hair and looked around for something helpful, anything to make her feel better about this. She calmed down when she felt her head throb.

"Okay," She sighed, her fingers still embedded in her hair. "I'm going to take some aspirin and you…just-"

She was about to tell him to leave but there was a knock on the door, multiple frantic knocks. Olivia grabbed her robe and tied it at the waist. The knocking got more and more rapid. Olivia finally opened the door.

"Kathleen, what happened? Is everything okay?" Olivia asked but quietly so Elliot wouldn't hear.

"You were supposed to protect me! You promised we'd work through this together!" She snapped.

"What happened? Did somebody find out?"

"Yeah! The boys who attacked me found out. They knew I went to the police and they found me and raped me again!" She was crying at this point.

"When, Kathleen?" Olivia asked.

"This morning. Just a few hours ago. I thought you wanted to help me."

"I do and I'm going to right now. I'm not going to make the same mistake."

"Liv? Is that Kathleen?" Elliot asked, emerging from the bedroom. Fortunately, he put his shirt on. He stood in puzzlement when he saw his daughter at Olivia's door.

"Dad?" She looked at Olivia, "You've been screwing my father? Is that your idea of helping me?"

"No, we weren't sleeping together. He just spent the night. Go wait in the car and we'll go down to the hospital."

"Kathleen-" Elliot began.

"Dad, it's okay." She replied sharply and left.

Olivia turned and went into her room, Elliot quickly followed.

"I asked you if you knew something I didn't. What the hell is going on Olivia?"

"There are a lot of things you don't know right now." Olivia pulled on a pair of NYPD sweatpants and a white v-neck shirt. She rushed into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"Yeah? Like what?" Elliot followed her, "More of my family's secrets?"

"Besides your wife and daughter, your family is foreign to me." Olivia quickly ran the toothbrush along her teeth and rinsed out the excess toothpaste. Elliot began to get dressed as well.

"I'm going with you." Elliot said and put on his jacket. "She's my daughter. I should've known from the beginning what's been going on."

Olivia sighed, "I'll meet you downstairs." She said and left. When she got in the driver's seat of the car, Kathleen stared out of the window. She noticed the anguish on Olivia's face. She was obviously worried about something other then Kathleen's rapes.

"You know he really likes you. It's obvious." Kathleen said, "I think he might be in love with you Olivia." She looked at her, "Don't you love him?" She asked with a bit of hope, as if she wanted them to be together. Olivia only stared at her then leaned her head back on the headrest in deep thought.

"No." She exhaled, aware she was lying to Kathleen and herself. Kathleen looked back out of the window, disappointed. She noticed Elliot walking down the stairs, out of the building, and up to the passenger side of the car's window.

"What's going on here?" He demanded.

There was silence, Olivia and Kathleen looked at each other before Olivia focused ahead on the other parked cars in front of her. Kathleen sighed and looked away.

"I was raped, dad. Twice." She said fearfully.

The tension was thick, it was obvious Elliot was trying to stay as calm as possible.

"By who?" He asked; his hands werein tight fists.

"Thomas Ranes the first time and Joey Ranes the second time. I met them at a party I went to the other night."

"They're related." Olivia declared with surprise. She felt a new kind of sickness in her stomach knowing that there is a pair of brothers teaming up to rape a defenseless girl.

"They're twins." Kathleen added.

"Liv, you go with Kathleen to the hospital. I'm going to go to the precinct. I need to find these pricks who did this to my daughter." Elliot said.

"Just drop me off, Olivia. I can do it on my own. You help dad." Kathleen ordered. Olivia looked at Elliot to see if it's okay. Kathleen rolled her eyes and spoke up.

"I'm old enough to make my own decisions. Just hurry up."

Olivia exhaled, "I'll meet you at the squad room, El." She stated and drove off to the hospital.