Little Girl Lost
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This story is on an AU track.
Chapter 15: It'll Be Okay
"Benson. Oh, hello, Doctor. How are -" She broke off abruptly, her face visibly falling as she listened to the voice on the other end. "I understand," she said more softly. "Thank you for calling me."
"Liv?" Nick asked as she set the phone back down with a shaking hand. "What's wrong?"
The brunette woman put her face in her hands, taking several deep breaths before she spoke, and even then she sounded on the verge of tears. "That was the hospital. Suzie Doe just died."
A sudden silence fell over the squad room as the four detectives digested the news. Two of the girls that had been pulled from the burning basement had died within a day of the rescue, which had been a bitter pill to swallow already, though an expected one. But the third serious injury case - a girl who had been awake long enough to tell her doctor that her name was Suzie, but like many of the others didn't know her last name - had been in critical care, her odds of survival going up and down and back up again almost every day, for the three weeks since.
Amaro bent his head down, pressing his forehead to his hands where they lay clasped on the desk. They had all been watching the little girl's progress, hoping desperately for a positive outcome, but no one more than Amaro, who had carried her to safety from the inferno in the basement prison. Rollins got up slowly from her desk and walked around behind him, laying a hand on his back.
"Nick," the Sergeant said after a few moments. "If you need to take the day..."
"No." He slowly picked his head up off the table, running a hand across his eyes. "I'll, um, I'll call Victim Services, see about arranging the funeral."
"Okay." Olivia nodded, understanding that the simple task would do more for Nick than forcing him to take time off. "I'll drive down to the DA's office, touch base with Barba."
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"A couple of the guys we picked up off the videos are cutting deals," Barba reported, "but the six from the house won't budge. They're either scared or overconfident."
"Or both," Olivia offered.
"Or both," he agreed.
"How'd it go with the motion to sever this morning?"
"Oh, didn't I mention?" He shook his head slightly, apparently startled that he'd let himself become so distracted. "Judge rejected it. All but laughed in their faces for trying it."
"Good," she said firmly. "Not that I don't think they'd all be convicted even if they were tried separately, but it'll be a lot easier on everyone to have one trial instead of six. Especially the witnesses."
"Speaking of, how are we doing on witnesses?"
"Andrea's agreed to testify, against her assailants and against Linda. And Mike Logan called me, he's offered to give any testimony he has that might help - not that there's much," she added, "given the limited extent of what he actually saw and heard. The rest of the girls are extremely questionable, though. They don't trust us, and I'm not sure they'd be up to facing their attackers in court anyway."
"I don't love this," Barba admitted. "We're putting a pretty substantial amount of this case on the shoulders of one nine-year-old girl. I know she's strong, but still..."
"I know. But what choice do we have? Besides," she added, "from what Zach told me, it's not the first time the office has done that. I can't explain exactly how, but...I'm oddly confident that despite all that, the trial's going to go okay."
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"Andrea?" Zach knocked gently on the bedroom door.
"Come in."
She was sitting on her bed, leaning back on the headboard, a book in her lap. A familiar sight, he thought with a smile as he sat down in front of her. "I have something to tell you." He hesitated a moment, trying to decide how to come at the subject. "Do you remember," he said finally, "before...before the bad things happened, I told you I had a surprise for you."
A moment of consideration, and then a flash of memory in her eyes. "Yes."
"Well...I still do. I just wanted to make sure everything was still together. Andrea...how would you feel about me adopting you?"
Her eyes lit up, and then he saw it; the delighted smile he loved so much, the same smile he'd seen on the day he'd told her she would be living with him, the smile that had come so easily to her once but that he hadn't seen since he'd said goodbye to her on that fateful day just before Christmas. "Really?"
He nodded, matching her smile with one of his own. "I talked to Heather, and she says everything is in place. It may take a few months before it's official, but..."
He was cut off by Andrea flying into his arms. Her arms wrapped tightly around his ribcage, but unlike so many times over the past month, it wasn't a desperate or fearful embrace, but a joyful one. "I don't care," she said into his shirt. "I'll wait as long as it takes." She settled herself more comfortably in his arms. "I love you, Dad."
He held her close, his fingers running through her hair. This...this is right. It's the most right anything has ever felt. "I love you too, sweetheart."
The End
Yes, I know, I'm ending this story without tying up all the loose ends, but honestly, they'd never all be tied up completely. If we had the trial, there would then be the question of any of the abusers who might still be out there, and so on, so I decided that this would be the place.
Of course, this being me, the end of one thing is always the beginning of another. Check out the sequel, Thought Police, on my profile.