PREVIOUSLY:

"Abbie, I'm so sorry for your loss and I promise we are going to do our best to catch who did this."

Abbie was hesitant but turned to Olivia. "I….think….I think I know who did this Liv. But you can't tell Jack."

Olivia was taken aback by her answer. "I….I don't know if I can do that Ab."

She grabbed Liv's hand. "Please…..please Liv. Jack…..Jack can't know why this happened."

"Ab you're not making any sense. This is not your fault."

"Yes….yes it is."

Olivia could see how upset this was making her friend, but this was a rape investigation and she had to do her job to help her friend. "Abbie no matter what you think, rape is never anyone's fault no matter what the reason. Were you threatened before this happened?"

Abbie grabbed Liv's hand. "Pleas Liv you have to promise me that you can't tell Jack why this happened…please."

The desperation and fear in Abbie's voice was heartbreaking. She didn't want to make such a promise, but this might be the only way to catch her attacker. "I promise I will not divulge any investigative information to Jack. Go on sweetie; tell me what's going on."

Abbie seemed hesitant, but she needed to get this off her chest. She winced in a little pain, but could see in Liv's eyes she wanted to call the nurse. "Give me a minute Liv." Abbie composed herself while Olivia patiently waited.

"I was prosecuting a old case that had new evidence to go to trial. A old friend asked that I give it to someone else, that it was not in my best interest to pursue this case. You know me Liv, when someone tells me not to do something I dig deeper. I did and….found something disturbing."

Olivia poured Abbie some water. Abbie thanked her and continued. "The case was an old case that Jack had not prosecuted for lack of evidence in a murder case concerning a state Judge. But with this new evidence I found out that someone had deliberately left out there was a witness. When I tried to find the witness, I was approached the next day by two men in my office. They told me to back off or Jack would face the consequences of my actions and left. I've been threatened before Liv, but not so close to home. But I couldn't let it go. Something about the witness name sounded familiar, so I dug deeper and found out….found out that the witness was Jack's dead wife, Ellen."

Olivia was taken aback writing this information down. "How did you find out that it was Jack's dead wife?"

"Jack has made a lot of enemies through his career and he was once targeted for disbarment when it was found out Ellen hired a illegal as a maid. Jack was running for New York District Attorney's office and it would have been a scandal for Jack. But his opponent had a scandal himself and bowed out of the race. By then Jack won, but his wife divorced him and later found dead by suicide."

"So what's the connection to this attack Abbie and Jack's dead wife?"

"I think someone wanted revenge against Jack and his wife was going to blow the whistle on someone big in politics in 1991. The new evidence supported facts that Ellen's death was not a suicide but murder to keep her mouth shut."

"But this still does not connect to why you were attacked. I mean why not go after Jack?" Olivia knew how her statement sounded, but it was common sense.

"Because of what I did Liv. I kept digging and digging and this was turning out to be a bigger case that stepped on someone's toes. I've done this before and relied on the law to prosecute those regardless of their status in life. But someone wanted to send Jack a message and I ignored the warning signs. I have a wonderful life with Jack and the baby…..the baby...

Abbie was still upset over the loss and Liv held her hand to reassure that she could stop or continue. "You can rest Ab. I don't want you to strain yourself."

"No….I'll be ok. I just need to get this out."

"Ok…just take your time, I'm here, ok." Olivia smiled back at her friend and Abbie appreciated her sincerity.

"Anyway, I just knew in the back of my mind that something was not right about this whole case. A Judge was murdered and supposedly there were no witnesses. There still should have been more Detectives assigned to cover the case. But nothing shows there were any further actions after 1991. There should have been more determination on catching this Judges killer. Then last year this new evidence indicated there was a witness. Now the witness is dead with forensics showing up at another case attached to the Judge years previously. I think who ever attacked me knew this would affect Jack from running for Governor. It's too….

"Coincedental; someone knew you would not back off this case."

"Yeah….I'm sorry Liv, I….want to protect Jack. He's had enough pain in his life that I don't want to add by blaming himself. You see that don't you?" Abbie was beginning to tire and Olivia noticed.

"You rest and Elliot and I will take over this case and catch who did this to you Abbie. You're my friend and no one hurts my friend, you hear?"

"Just…just let me sleep Liv and I'll figure out what to do. I….I just can't think right now what to do."

"Rest, I'll send a nurse in and then Jack. Just get some rest and heal. We'll figure this out together. You're not alone in this Abbie. I hope you know that. You have friends who care about you and I know from what I've already seen, Jack cares about you a great deal."

Abbie nodded sleepily and with a weary brow fell back to sleep. Olivia rang for the nurse and let her know Abbie was asleep. As she left to go find Elliot and Jack. But in the back of mind she knew that Abbie's attack had something to do with Jack. She knew the DA reputation for stepping on highly political toes and this time his career may have put his wife's in danger. She could smell the connection from what Abbie had told her. She also had a forbidding that this case would affect them in more ways than one.

TBC

A/N: I'm spurred on to continue this by some great reviews. I plan on updating as soon as possible. Thank you everyone who has read for their reviews and comments. As usual your feedback is heartfelt.