The final chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF RAPE AND MURDER

MERCY HOSPITAL

"Was he injured?" Olivia asked.

The nurse- a petite woman with dark skin and black hair tied back in a pony tail- shook her head as she examined the clipboard.

"Physically, he's fine," she answered. "Not even a bruise. If he hadn't found a way to defend himself, though, he could've been."

"Physically," Olivia repeated, "and mentally?"

The nurse shrugged. "Too soon to tell, but I do know a few things. He's definitely traumatized, but the first thing he did when he woke up was ask to give his official statement to the police. Didn't ask for friends or even his girlfriend. That seems like a good sign that he wants to talk about what happened, which can help his mental state."

Olivia nodded. "That's good. What about Speck?"

"Badly burned chest, a few bruises, and some rope burn from when Leo tied him up, but beyond that, he's fine. Unfortunately," the nurse muttered. "You can see Leo now."

"Thank you," Olivia responded.

The female detective pushed open the door to Leo Valdez's room, and she found him sitting up in his bed. He was still pale and his hands were shaking, slightly, but when he looked up, she didn't see the look of a traumatized child, at least over all. She saw determination, strength, courage, readiness.

She saw life.

"Leo, are you sure you're ready for this?" She asked.

Leo nodded. "I've been putting it off for five years. After five long years, I'm finally ready."

Olivia nodded, giving him a slight smile, before sitting in the chair beside his bed.

"The first time Speck molested me was the first night I lived in his house," Leo said, his voice strong and unwavering. "A long time after I went to bed and fell asleep, I woke up when I felt someone sit on the edge of my bed. I turned over and saw Speck sitting there. I went to ask what he was doing, but he... kissed me before I had the chance.

"I kicked him, and I hit him. He told me to stop fighting, or he'd tie me to my bed for three days with no food or water, and somehow, I knew he would do it. I obeyed him, and he did as he pleased before leaving.

"He snuck into my room every night after that. He didn't actually rape me until the second week I was there, and after the first time, it was every night.

"Every weekend, he would have sessions, as he called them. Him and the three of us would come into the living room, and he would rape each of us in front of the others, video taping it. He would do this from the time the sun went down on Friday to the time the sun rose on Sunday. Over two days of endless rape. Then, sometimes, he'd make us watch the videos. He never made us do anything with anybody else. We were his, and only his.

"The night Chance died, we were having a session. I went first, and then, he called up Chance. Chance stood taller than I've ever seen him, considering the disability in his legs, and he told Speck no. Speck didn't like that. He threatened him, hit him, but Chance didn't back down. Eventually, Speck picked Chance up and threw him into a wall. Chance hit it hard, and it snapped his neck.

"Speck made us repaint the wall to cover the blood, and he hid the body. He threatened us and Sarah into doing what he said. At the hospital, I heard the police saying that Chad and I would be going back to him, so I got my clothes, jumped out the window, and ran. My broken leg was still healing, but even with a broken leg, I can run pretty fast."

Leo sighed. "That's it."

"You're very brave, Leo, and in the midst of this, I do have good news," Olivia stated. "As of tomorrow, it has been five years since you moved into that house. It falls within the statue of limitations. We can try himself for everything. Child abuse, molestation, child endangerment, both Chance and Chad's murders, lying under oath in court several years ago. Everything," Olivia clarified.

Leo smiled. "That's great."

"How are you holding up?" Olivia asked.

Leo shrugged. "Pretty good, considering everything that happened. Chance and Chad would've wanted me to be brave. They always called me the brave one. Chad even did it before he died. I'm going to get justice."

Olivia nodded. "In my opinion, that's the best thing you can do."

Leo nodded. "It is in mine, too."

Olivia stood. "I'm going to go give your official statement to the precinct."

"Wait," Leo called as she placed her hand on the door knob. "Could you do something for me?"

Olivia turned. "What is it?"

"Um," Leo stammered as he grabbed a pen and paper off the bedside table and jotted down a few numbers. "This is my friend's cell phone number. Could you call her to inform her of where I am? I think I owe them an explanation."

Olivia smiled and took the paper.

"Of course. Take care and get some rest," Olivia advised before leaving the room with the paper in her hand.

Leo glanced around the room. He'd just brought up so many memories, but there was something missing.

No Chance.

THE PRECINCT OF THE SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT

Olivia picked up the phone and dialed the number on the slip of paper.

"Yes?" A girl's voice asked. It wasn't Leo's girlfriend.

"My name is Olivia Benson. I'm with the Special Victims Unit. Are you a friend of Leo Valdez?"

"Yes. Why? Did something happen to him?" The girl demanded.

"He's at Mercy Hospital. Physically, he is unharmed, but he was involved in a dangerous incident. I believe Leo would want to explain it to you; he asked me to deliver this message."

"All right. We'll be right over. Nico!" The girl called before the line went dead.

MERCY HOSPITAL

The seven, Nico, Will, Harley, Nyssa, Calypso, and Jake raced through the halls of the hospital. They got some weird looks, which was expected since there were thirteen of them and they weren't afraid to knock anybody out of their way.

Annabeth pushed her way to the front desk and stared at the woman standing there.

"Excuse me, we're here to see Leo Valdez," Annabeth informed her.

"Room 102," the woman replied.

"Thanks," Annabeth blurted before the thirteen demigods were off again, dashing through the building to find their friend.

Percy arrived at the door first, and he opened it without knocking (did you expect any different?).

The thirteen children filed into the room, and Nyssa practically tackled Leo in a hug.

Leo looked paler than usual, but other than that, he didn't look much different. One other difference, though, was very obvious.

Leo's eyes were not filled with humor. They displayed happiness, but they were also flooded with determination, bravery, and the readiness of a soldier. He looked like he was ready to go into battle and fight for whatever he was fighting for. That kind of determination.

The thirteen of them took turns hugging him and promising to punch him as soon as he got out of the hospital for 'being a noble, stupid idiot and getting himself into a dangerous situation without asking for help from his friends and family'. Their words, not his.

"Now, Leo, what exactly happened?" Jake questioned as the thirteen of them found chairs from various parts of the hospital and pulled them into Leo's room.

"Don't tell me you stole those from some poor elderly man?" Leo joked as they sat down.

"Don't change the subject," Percy said, "and for your information, it was a poor elderly woman."

Leo shook his head with a smile before it dropped so suddenly, the thirteen jolted a bit.

"Okay. It's about one of my foster homes," Leo said. "I moved in with a guy named Jordan Speck, and he already had two foster kids. One was Chad, a shy, timid, obedient kid, and the other was Chance, who was sweet, but he wasn't afraid to fight if he had to. He had a muscle disability in his legs.

"Our foster dad, he... he raped us."

The twelve gaped. Whatever they'd been expecting, it hadn't been that.

Annabeth was a calculating and analyzing person. She examined Leo's movements and his eyes to determine Leo's true feelings about this. She found grief, and he was obviously traumatized, but above all, he looked like he wanted justice and he would do anything to get it.

Annabeth wanted to help him, and she felt awful about what had happened to him, but she couldn't but feel proud of Leo. Not many people would be able to be so strong after something so traumatizing. Leave it to Leo Valdez, I guess.

Leo sighed. "Yeah. Well, he killed Chance and made Chad and I cover it up. I've been running from the memories for years, and when Chad decided to stay in one place, the memories started coming back. The guilt came with it, so he mailed a letter to Detective Olivia Benson, telling her to find me. I told them everything.

"Chad went missing, and I knew where he was. I should've told the detectives, but this was my fight, not theirs. I went to Speck's house, and I found Chad pointing a gun at him. I managed to talk the gun away from Chad, and while we had our backs turned, Speck grabbed the gun and pointed it at Chad.

"He was going to... r-rape me, but I used my powers to burn his chest. When Speck stumbled back, the gun went off, and a bullet went into Chad's chest. He died within minutes.

"I thought you guys needed to know. I'm done running from the memories; I'm done hiding them. Besides, I'm going to need your help getting through court. Court is not fun."

Despite the tears in his eyes, Percy forced a weak laugh.

"Speaking from experience, Valdez?" He chuckled, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Leo's sadness automatically evaporated (at least externally).

"It's not my fault that police officer had it out for me! Man, that guy was a jerk," Leo muttered. "Once, he tried to pin losing his badge on me by saying I stole it. I called him stupid in front of the entire station. It was hilarious."

The twelve demigods and Calypso (demi-titan?) laughed.

"So... are you going to start telling us about your past?" Piper asked, hesitantly.

Leo nodded. "I'll tell you some stories right now, but let's hold off on the bad memories. You just got a pretty heavy one. How about the time I pulled the best prank in history? Okay, I had help, but still."

The half bloods leaned forward in anticipation.

"So my friend Carson and I covered the floors of our boarding school in honey. We placed hundreds of paper cups all over the floor, and when people slipped, they'd instinctively reach for the ropes dangling from the ceiling, which rigged boxes of feathers and marbles and dirty socks and tons of stuff to fall on them. Then, I'd press a button that would work a machine to spray silly string all over them."

By the end, all of his friends, his girlfriend, and his half siblings were practically rolling from laughter.

"Best... prank... ever!" Jake gasped.

"You want to know the best part?" Leo smirked.

They all calmed down and stared at him with raised eyebrows.

"We were in a military school."

That only increased the hilarity.

SEVERAL MONTHS LATER- COURTROOM

"Jury, have you reached a verdict?" Judge Miller asked.

A female member of the jury- a middle aged woman with dark hair and circles under his eyes- stood.

"We have, your Honor," she told her.

"Defendant, please rise," Judge Miller addressed Dr. Jordan Speck, who obeyed.

"On multiple counts of rape in the first degree, we find the defendant guilty. On two accounts of murder in the second degree, we find the defendant guilty. On a count of lying under Oath, we find the defendant guilty. On multiple counts of child abuse, we find the defendant guilty. On multiple counts of child endangerment, we find the defendant guilty. On multiple counts of child neglect, we find the defendant guilty."

Judge Miller turned to Dr. Jordan Speck with barely concealed disgust in his eyes.

"Dr. Jordan Speck, I hereby sentence you to life in prison with the possibility of parole after twenty-five years. If you are paroled, you are not to live within a hundred miles of a school, park, playground, or any facility that revolves around children. You will be on the registry as a sex offender, and you will surrender your medical license, considering you treat children. You will also have to remain at least a hundred feet from Leo Valdez."

Judge Miller banged the gavel, and Speck was dragged from the room.

Leo hugged his friends, and when he glanced over Jason's shoulder, he spotted both Chance and Chad standing in the corner of the courtroom.

They nodded at him and vanished.

It was finally over...

Or was it?

There will EVENTUALLY be a sequel. I'm going to work on some of my other Leo Valdez stories first (Pop Quiz! and Mother Teresa, to be more specific), and then, I'm doing the sequel. I'll let you know when the sequel is posted.

Also, this was meant to be short. A Law and Order episode is 42 minutes. 1 chapter for minutes 1-10, another for minutes 10-20; a chapter for minutes 20-30; and then I evened it out to five chapters. Basically, it's suppose to be written like an episode (except it's mostly written from the victim's point of view)

Thanks for reading!