My Sister's Secret
(Chapter Seven: Coming Clean)
It was nearly ten o'clock at night and Bailey now rested on the bunk in the holding cell. Elliot paced the floor trying to think of some way to fix this mess and Olivia had walked Aubrey back to the cribs to lay down for a little while.
Olivia walked back into the bullpen as Elliot poured himself another cup of coffee. "How is she doing?" He asked.
"I sat with her until she fell asleep. She knows something, Elliot. But she isn't talking."
"There seems to be a lot of that going around," he mumbled handing her a coffee cup as well. "Maybe you should take her home and the two of you try to get a little rest. I can stay here with Bailey tonight."
"I am not leaving here until this mess is at least under control and I know what is going on."
"Maybe she can help," Elliot nodding toward the elevator as Casey stepped off and walked into the room with them.
"Casey," Olivia sighed.
"I heard what happened. I am so sorry. I know it is late but I figured you guys would be here. I wanted to come over here and tell you in person that my boss has asked me to work this case."
"Oh thank God," Olivia replied with a smile. "We were really starting to worry. We had not found her an attorney yet."
Casey stared at her for a moment and blinked her eyes. "No, Olivia. He asked me to prosecute Bailey for that boy's murder. I don't have much of a choice. He sensed my hesitation and told me that I either try the case or lose my job. I just wanted you to hear it from me and not be hit with it in the courtroom. I'm sorry."
Olivia closed her eyes and held her breath for a moment as she turned and walked back to her desk. "Thank you for coming here, Casey."
"Elliot," Casey said looking up at him.
"We understand. And in some sick twisted fate sort of way I guess we probably should have seen it coming. You are a prosecutor. That is what you do for a living. Now, if you will excuse us….we have some work to do."
Casey nodded with tears in her eyes as she turned and walked back to the elevator. Never would she have thought that her career would cause her to betray two of her closest friends.
It was almost one in the morning when Olivia walked Aubrey into their house. She followed her daughter up the stairs toward her bedroom.
"Bailey has court in the morning. It is not the actual trial, just kind of a run through of what they have so far. Then they will decide if they will let her come home or hold her in jail until the real trial. Do you want to go?" Olivia asked watching the tears rise in Aubrey's eyes.
"Yeah. I think I need to be there. To support her. She needs us."
"You are a really good sister, you know that?"
Aubrey curled up on her bed and began to cry. Olivia exhaled softly and laid down on the bed beside her. She combed her fingers through Aubrey's hair and stared into her eyes.
"It's going to be alright baby," She whispered softly as she kissed her daughter's forehead.
"It's all my fault mom," she sobbed. "I was the one who talked her into going to that party. She didn't even want to go."
"Aubrey this isn't your fault because you encouraged her to sneak out. Your sister makes her own decisions."
"No mom, you don't understand." Aubrey looked at her and took a deep breath. "Something happened at that party," she said softly looking up at her mother from her pillow.
"Aubrey, what is going on?"
"Mom….he raped me," she breathed.
"What baby?"
"I said he raped me," she gasped. "Jeremy Briggs raped me at that party."
Olivia tried to hold it together for her little girl, but she could feel the heat of her tears as they streamed down her face. "Baby, I am so sorry."
She leaned forward and wrapped Aubrey tight in her arms, holding her as they cried together. They laid quietly together for a little while until they had both calmed.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Olivia asked brushing her fingers through Aubrey's dark hair and kissing her forehead.
"I was so stupid, mom. We went to the party because I wanted a tattoo. I talked Bailey in to sneaking out with me. She really didn't even want to go. Now she's in so much trouble and it is all my fault!"
"Shhh. Aubrey, calm down sweetheart. Tell me what happened."
"When we got there Jason, he is Jeremy's cousin and he goes to school with us, he introduced me to Jeremy. Bailey wanted to leave, but I wanted to talk to Jeremy about the tattoo. I followed him upstairs to Jason's room where he showed me a book of tattoo pictures to get ideas for mine. Bailey waited for me downstairs. The next thing I know he had his hands around my throat and was choking me. He threw me on the bed and tore my clothes off. And he…he…he raped me."
"Aubrey, honey…."
"I begged him to stop mom. I tried to scream and I hit him and told him, no. But nothing worked. He held his hands on my throat and I could barely breathe. Bailey got bored and came up looking for me. He was still….she walked in while he was…."
"Aubrey, what did she do?"
"She screamed at him and jumped on the bed. She hit him in the back with her fist until he let go of me. There was an ashtray beside the bed and she picked it up and threw it at him. It hit him, but he didn't die mom. He ran out of the room and back downstairs to the party. Bailey helped me get dressed and we took a cab home. But he was alive when we left mom. Please, you can't let her go to prison over this. It wasn't her fault. I made her promise not to tell anyone. She was trying to protect me and now she might spend the rest of her life in prison."
"Sweetheart, you could have come to me and daddy. We would have helped you."
"I know mom," she sobbed. "I just felt so ashamed. And so stupid for letting it happen. I knew I wasn't supposed to be at that party. I snuck out and then I went upstairs alone with a guy I didn't even know."
"You made mistakes, Aubrey. But that does not give him the right to rape you and hurt you the way he did. That does not mean that you in any way deserved this or that it is your fault."
"But it isn't Bailey's fault either. We have to help her mom."
"We are going to do everything we can to keep her out of prison. But I think for right now you should try to get some rest."
Olivia scooted in beside Aubrey holding her for a while until she had closed her eyes and fallen asleep. She sighed softly and kissed the back of her daughter's head as she slipped from the bed.
Olivia pulled the throw blanket form the chair across the room and covered Aubrey with it then turned to leave the room. She had to somehow call and explain this all to Elliot.
"Elliot, we have a big problem," she whispered.
"Liv, what's going on?" He could tell by the sound of her voice that she had been crying.
"Elliot, Jeremy Briggs raped her."
"Bailey was raped?"
"Not Bailey," she said softly. "He raped Aubrey. Bailey walked in on him doing it. She tried to run him off. She threw the ashtray at him to get him away from Aubrey. Aubrey said he ran out of the room. She said they didn't realize he was even dead until Bailey was arrested."
"This boy raped Aubrey. And Bailey killed him accidentally while trying to protect her?"
"That is what Aubrey says."
"We have got to get a damn good lawyer."
"Have you heard back from Kathleen?"
"She can't reach this guy she recommended. She is going to be there tomorrow. She'll try to get him in here before the actual trial. Baby you should try to get some rest tonight. How is Aubrey doing?"
"She is good, considering. She is asleep."
"Court is at ten."
"She wants to be there for Bailey."
"Liv, we need to introduce this information about the rape. I know it is going to be hard on her, but Bailey really needs the whole truth or she doesn't stand a chance. Olivia, you know that."
"I'll talk to her."
"You should bring her in a little early and let her walk through the events with Kathleen. They might want to put her on the stand anyway because she was at that party with Bailey."
"How did this get so far out of hand, Elliot? How could our babies be in so much trouble and we didn't even know? How could she have been raped and we never noticed? What kind of aprents are we?"
"Olivia, getting all worked up about it is not going to help Aubrey. It wont help either of them. They need us right now. Get some rest honey. All we can do right now is be there for them."
"I guess you're right."
"Give Aubrey a kiss for me and tell her I love her."
"I will."
"Olivia, I love you, too."
"And I love you."
"Good night, baby."
"Good night, El."
She hung up her cell phone and walked back down the hall to Aubrey's room. She watched for a moment as her daughter slept. Olivia leaned across the edge of the bed to gently kiss Aubrey's forehead.
"Good night baby girl," she whispered softly. "Daddy and I love you so much."
She made sure Aubrey was tucked in good then turned to go to her own room for the remainder of the night.
"Momma," she heard softly from behind her.
"Yeah sweetheart?"
"Can you stay with me tonight?"
Olivia walked back to the bed as Aubrey stood up and pulled the blankets down then climbed back into it.
"Okay," she answered as she laid down beside her daughter and pulled the blankets up around them both.
Aubrey looked into her eyes for a moment. "You told daddy, didn't you?"
Olivia wasn't sure what to say to her.
"It's alright mom. He needed to know. And before long everyone will know. You and dad know. And before long grandpa and uncle Fin and uncle Munch will know. And once it comes out everyone at school will know, too."
"Aubrey, listen to me. Daddy and I, grandpa and uncle Fin and uncle Munch, we all love you. No one is going to judge you. We all want what is best for you. We are all going to be here for you, we want to help you get better and heal from this."
"I don't think I will ever get over this."
"I know baby."
Aubrey laid her head against her mother's chest as Olivia closed her arms around her daughter. Olivia kissed her forehead as she combed her fingers through Aubrey's hair and just held tight to her.
"I know people from work. People you can talk to. And they can help you through this. I know sometimes it is hard to talk to your mom about things."
"I talk to you. I like talking to you."
"I like talking to you too, honey."
"You think I should go into therapy?"
"There is nothing wrong with talking to someone if it helps you. It is your decision. But if you think it is something that you would like to try, I just want you to know that it is an option. We should also take you to the doctor. Just to have them check things out and make sure you are alright. I can call in the morning and make you an appointment with my doctor."
"A gynocologist?"
"Yes. She will just examine you and make sure that you are okay on the inside. Probably give you some antibiotics to prevent infections and something to help prevent pregnancy."
"I don't really need birth control mom. I mean, I don't have sex. And after this I am sure it will be a long time before I ever even think about it."
"This will pass, honey. You will heal. It might take a long time, but you will. And some day down the road you will meet your Prince Charming and fall in love. And he will treat you good and love you and it will happen for you. And when you are ready and it does, it will be wonderful. You just have to wait for the right guy to come along."
"Prince Charming, mom?" Aubrey asked with a smile.
"Hey, daddy is still my Prince Charming. It is so good to see you smile again."
"I guess I am feeling a little better."
"We should try to get some rest. We should go to the courthouse a little early so that we can talk to Kathleen and you can tell her what you told me."
"What if I can't do it mom? What if I can't get up on the stand and tell a bunch of strangers what he did to me?"
"Tomorrow it will just be the lawyers and the judge and some of the family. If you are worried then we could practice it."
"Practice?"
"Yeah. You just tell me, over and over again until you are comfortable telling the story. Sometimes that helps. It is not going to be easy, Aubrey. For you or for Bailey. The prosecuting attourney, in this case Casey, is going to ask a bunch of questions. Tough questions. Sometimes she will ask the same thing several different ways just to see if your story will change."
"Casey doesn't believe us? Why would she try to put Bailey in jail?"
"She doesn't have a choice. That is her job. But as long as you tell the truth, you have nothing to worry about."
"I hope you are right."
"Me, too."
Aubrey yawned. "I love you, mom."
"I love you, too. Good night, baby."
Aubrey nestled her face in against her mother like she used to do when she was a toddler and moments later mother and daughter were both asleep.