YAY, MISTY!!! I FINALLY GOT YOUR UPDATE FINISHED!!! ;0P

My Sister's Secret

(Chapter Ten: Fool Proof)

Casey and Kathleen sat at a table in the front of the courtroom and watched as Richards tried his best to tear her apart on the stand. He asked her the same questions numerous times and everything he said seemed to circle around his insinuated disbelief of Aubrey's rape.

"So you have no actual proof that Jeremy Briggs raped your sister?"

"I saw him."

"You saw Jeremy or you saw someone."

"I saw the someone on top of my sister."

"For all you know the sex was consensual."

"That isn't true!"

"You walked into a dark room to see two people having sex in a bed. Was the woman screaming?"

"No."

"Was she pleading for him to stop?"

"No."

"What was she doing?"

"Aubrey would never…"

"WHAT was she doing?"

"She was moaning."

"Now, you are a smart girl. When woman moan during sexual intercourse, does that automatically mean that they are being raped?"

"No."

"How do you know she wasn't moaning because she was enjoying it?"

Bailey looked up at her sister now in tears.

"He raped her. Jeremy raped my sister. She was moaning because he was choking her and she could barely breathe. I screamed at him and went after him, trying to get him off of her. When he got up she was crying." Bailey sniffled as she wiped a tear from her eye. "Aubrey was raped by Jeremy Briggs at the party that night. She would never lie about something like that. He got up and ran and I threw the ashtray that hit him in the head."

"Did you see his face? How do you know for sure that Jeremy is the man who raped your sister?"

By now both girls were in tears and Casey had no way to help her.

"I…I…"

"Your honor, it is obvious that my client is upset. Can we have a brief recess to give her the chance to calm down?"

"So you can feed her lines, Ms. Novak?" Richards spat at her.

"She is a fifteen year old child," Casey argued as the judge slammed her gavel down.

"We will have a half hour recess to regroup. But I expect to see all of you back in this courtroom in exactly thirty minutes. Am I understood?"

"Yes, your honor," Casey said as she escorted Bailey from the stand.

"Why doesn't he believe me?" She asked through tears looking up at Casey.

"Because we have no physical proof that it was Jeremy who attacked Aubrey. There was no rape kit and no report to the police about the attack. As far as the jury is concerned the rape never happened. And that is really bad for you."

"But it did happen, I swear. Aubrey and I didn't just make this up."

"I believe you, honey. But they need something stronger than the word of two fifteen year old girls to believe it." Casey stepped around her and walked to the table.

"Wait," Bailey said looking up at Casey. "I have proof."

"You do?"

"Yes," she said as she turned to look at Aubrey. "Aubrey, that night I put your clothes in a bag and hid them in my closet because we didn't want mom and dad to find them. They are still there."

"The clothes she was wearing during the attack?"

Bailey nodded her head. "When we got home she took them off to shower. They were all bloody and torn so I hid them."

"We have to get those clothes," Casey said looking at Elliot.

"I'll take Aubrey back to the house and grab them."

"We have twenty two minutes," Casey said looking down at her watch.

"You stall them, I will be back here as soon as I can."

Eighteen minutes later Casey paced the floor as she watched the door for some sign of Elliot. Olivia sat on a bench holding Bailey's hand and praying this would be enough evidence to prove their defense.

"I got them," Elliot said as he pushed the door open with the plastic freezer bag in his hand.

"Good," Casey said as she took the bag from him and moved toward the front of the courtroom.

"Your honor new evidence has just been made available that could prove that Jeremy Briggs was the one who attacked and raped Aubrey Stabler."

Casey turned to watch as McHale Richards made his protest. "The prosecution never received notice of this evidence."

"It was only made available to the defense moments ago."

"You said this evidence could prove the he was the attacker?" The judge asked covering her microphone. "What exactly do you have there, Ms. Novak?"

"The torn and bloody clothing that Aubrey was wearing when she was attacked. I would like to request a little more time to send them to our lab to have the DNA typed. But I believe that Mr. Briggs DNA will be found on them as well as that of Aubrey Stabler."

The judge looked at the plastic bag in Casey's hand.

"Your honor, you can not possibly be considering this request," Richards said in disgust.

"I am and I will give you forty eight hours to prove to me that the victim's DNA is Infact on the clothing, or the jury never sees it."

"Your honor!"

"But I have a few conditions of my own. I want a signed affidavit from Ms. Stabler stating that the garments do infact belong to her and were worn during her attack. And the bag will be turned over to the court and analyzed by our specialists. I will put a rush on this order and we will meet back here in forty eight hours to discuss the results and continue the trial. With or without the new evidence."

Over the next two days Casey and Kathleen searched for something more on Briggs. Cragen cam across an old report from when he was sixteen years old and physically attacked, Amanda Grey, his girlfriend at the time, beating her up. They looked the girl up and went to speak with her. After talking to Munch and Fin about how Jeremy beat her up, she had agreed to testify to this in court.

The next morning Casey and Kathleen met in the judge's chambers with McHale Richards an hour before court was scheduled to begin. The judge pulled out an envelope to reveal to all of them the results of the DNA test from the clothing.

"It seems that two types of blood and semen were present on Aubrey Stabler's torn underwear and her jeans as well. One of the blood samples was a match for Aubrey Stabler. The other sample as well as the semen were a perfect DNA match to Jeremy Briggs. It appears that Mr. Briggs was infact our rapist. And I will allow the clothing and lab reports to be admitted as evidence in this trial."

"All that proves is that the two of them had sex," Richards argued.

"That is a point that you will have to argue in front of the jury. You are all dismissed."

Casey took a deep breath as she and Kathleen walked down the hall to speak to Elliot and Olivia about the results.

"This is good news, right?" Kathleen asked. "Now we have proof."

"It could go either way. It proves there was sex. But without a rape kit or a statement from a doctor, there is still no proof of rape. And Fin just sent me a text that Amanda Grey has not shown up and has moved from her apartment."

"So we are right back where we started?" Kathleen asked with tears in her eyes.

"I am doing everything that I can," Casey replied turning to look back at Kathleen.

"These are my little sisters. We cant let Bailey go to prison!"

"And I am doing my best to prevent that!"

"Your best is not good enough," Kathleen snapped. "You have to think of something! She is just a kid!"

Casey stared at her with tears in her eyes then turned and walked away.

Several minutes later Kathleen found her standing in a hallway of the courthouse staring out the window. She walked up behind Casey with out her even knowing she was there.

"She is going to be a doctor," Kathleen said looking at her. "She has had the highest GPA in her school since she was in kindergarten and already has colleges offering her scholarships and she isn't even a sophomore in high school, yet. She has so much life ahead of her, Casey. We have to help her."

Casey turned and looked at Kathleen.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Kathleen said softly.

"We need something more on Jeremy Briggs. More history on him. We needed Amanda Grey to give that to us. Without her testimony we are in deep trouble. Right now that jury is going to see a scared fifteen year old girl who doesn't want to admit to her parents she was sexually active. Because that is how McHale Richards is going to paint her. We have to beat him at his own game. Help them find Amanda. We have to get her in here."

"Okay."

"I have to get in there and make sure he doesn't attack Bailey."

Casey sat listening to Richards as he interrogated Bailey on the stand once more. This time the girl was holding up really well. He repeated the same questions again and tried to get her to change her story, but it didn't vary at all.

"How are you sure that Jeremy Briggs is the man who raped your sister if you did not see his face that night during the attack?"

"Because, I was arrested at school later for killing him. I was arrested because the ashtray I threw at the man who raped my sister that night in that room killed Jeremy Briggs!"

"No further questions," he said as he walked off allowing Casey control of the floor.

Casey took a deep breath and exhaled as she closed her eyes for a moment. She stood up and opened her eyes to look toward the back of the room where Amanda Grey now stood.

"I have no questions for this witness," she said softly. "The defense would like to call Amanda Grey to the stand."

Casey watched as the girl was sworn in and took her seat.

"Can you explain to the courtroom your relationship to the victim Jeremy Briggs?"

"I used to date him."

"You dated him until when?"

"Until he beat me up a year ago."

"Can you explain to us what happened?"

The girl stared at Casey for a minute as tears rose in her eyes.

"He had been drinking and he wanted sex, but I wouldn't sleep with him."

"Then what happened?"

"He hit me in the face and slammed me against the wall. He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me into the bedroom and locked the door."

"Then what happened?"

"Then he threw me down on the bed where he held me down and raped me. I was a virgin before that."

"Did you report your attack to the police?"

"Yes, I did."

"And did you have a rape kit done?"

"Yes."

"Then why wasn't Jeremy ever charged with your rape?"

"It went to court. But the lawyer pretty much had everyone believing it was my fault. He told them that I must have had sex with Jeremy and then just said it was rape."

"But this is not what happened?"

"No," she said shaking her head and crying. "He raped me and he took something from me that I will never get back. And that man," she said pointing at Richards, "is the reason that Jeremy never went to jail for raping me."

Casey turned and looked at Richards then rifled through her pile of papers to the court documents from Amanda's trial against Jeremy Briggs.

"He defended Jeremy at that trial, too?"

"Yes. And if Jeremy had gone to jail for raping me, he wouldn't have been around to rape again. This is all his fault!"

"Objection, your honor!"

"Sustained! Control your witness Ms. Novak!"

"No further questions," Casey said as she returned to her seat.

That afternoon they sat for two hours waiting for the jury to reach a decision.

"What do you think our chances are?" Bailey asked Casey.

"I'm not really sure. It was going good until Amanda's little outburst in court."

"But she is proof he raped before."

"And I am hoping that the jury will see that and look past her emotional distress in court. But she verbally attacked an attorney in there."

"But she was right, you know? If Jeremy had gone to jail for what he did to Amanda, then he would have still been there and wouldn't have had the chance to rape Aubrey."

"I know that, honey." Kathleen said. "Anyone with a conscience could see that. But McHale Richards is a defense attorney. It is his job to defend his client to his best ability, guilty or innocent. That is how the law works."

"Well, the law sucks. Because that is wrong. That is why I am not going to law school."

Kathleen smiled. "It's better you didn't."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because if you became a lawyer, who would cure cancer?"

Both girls laughed.

"Good point," Bailey said pointing at her sister.

The following afternoon Casey, Fin, Munch and Cragen, joined the entire Stabler family for a celebration dinner after the jury read their verdict of not guilty. Well, almost the entire clan.

Scott and Maureen were there with the Dylan and Gabby. Kathleen and her handsome lawyer friend, as well as Elizabeth and Eli with his Jennifer.

"The only one missing is Dickie," Bailey said as she picked up her glass to take a drink and tried not to look disappointed.

Work and the military kept Dickie away so often that they barely got to see him anymore. It had been nearly eight months since his last visit and they all missed him like crazy. But of everyone in the family Dickie was closest to Bailey. It had been this way since she was a baby and he was her favorite person in the world. As she got older they stayed close and the day he left for the Army and she realized she couldn't go with him, Elliot had to carry his broken hearted four year old back into the house in tears.

"Bailey," Elliot said as she raised her eyes to look at him. "Why don't you go into the living room, your mom and I have a surprise for you."

She smiled and tossed her napkin on the table as she ran into the living room to see her brother standing there in his uniform.

"Oh my gosh!" She squealed as she jumped into his arms and hugged him tight. "I didn't think you were coming. I am so glad to see you!"

"I'm glad to see you too, bug. I am sorry I could be here earlier, I hated not being here for you through this. But this was the earliest I could get leave."

"You were here," she said holding up a little heart necklace he had gotten her for her birthday. "I never took it off. That way you were with me the whole time. But it is a lot better to actually get to see you in person."

She hugged him again and dragged him by the hand to the dinner table forcing Elizabeth to scoot down so he could sit beside her.

"Now the entire family is here," she announced with a big smile.

Elliot raised his glass to make a toast. "To the Stabler family, my beautiful wife and all of my seven of you children, even my two grand babies, I am so proud of all of you. Bailey and Aubrey, you girls make your mother and I so proud of you. I know you have both had to grow up a lot over these past few weeks, we all love you both so much. To our dear friend of many years, Casey Novak for crossing over from the dark side to do what you knew in your heart was the right thing. Without you….well, I don't want to think of how bad this could have gone without your help. And to everyone, family and friends for coming together to help out in our time of need. Thank you, we love you all."

That night before heading to bed themselves, Elliot and Olivia looked in on the girls. Olivia smiled as she found Bailey curled up beside her sister and both girls sleeping peacefully.

"We have the most amazing family," she said softly as Elliot wrapped his arms tight around her.

"Yeah, we do."

"Did you get Dickie settled in the guest room?"

"Yup."

"I am so glad he got to be here. It is so good to see him and I don't think anything else in the world could have made Bailey smile like that."

"They were going to wait and fly him out tomorrow. But I really wanted him to be here for the dinner tonight. So I got online and ordered his ticket. He flew eighteen hours to get here and made it just in time for dinner."

"I think it is so wonderful that he and Bailey are that close. She really looks up to him."

"He's a good role model."

"Yeah, he is."

Elliot smiled. "He still calls her Bailey bug. If anyone else did that she would have a fit."

Olivia laughed softly. "Dickie gave her that nickname when she was just a baby. She couldn't even crawl yet, but it didn't slow her down. She rolled around like a little rolly polly bug."

"They are great kids."

"They are. We have seven amazing children."

"And they are all asleep," he whispered as he closed Aubrey's bedroom door and leaned his wife up against the wall to kiss her.

Olivia laughed. "Well, maybe if we keep it quiet," she whispered back as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.