Olivia groaned as the incessant ringing of her phone ripped her from unconsciousness. For 3 days now she could count her hours of sleep on one hand. Her whole body protested any movement. She was exhausted, and her phone was the absolute last thing she wanted to hear.

She rolled over and blinked the sleep away from her eyes. Her hand found its way to her phone, guided by the bright backlight of the screen. Mercy Hospital. Damn it. The hospital rarely used her as a first point of contact, so this was either an emergency or a loved one.

Her kind immediately ran tabs on all of her people. Noah, sleeping. Amanda, vacationing with Carisi and the girls. Fin, hopefully sleeping. Her stomach dropped. Elliot. God, it could be Elliot. He had been under for several months, and she had no information on the case, his location, or anything really. Images of him bleeding out on the sidewalk made her stomach clench. She felt her chest tightening and she reminded herself to breathe. It was probably nothing. It could have nothing to do with him, and she could be vastly overreacting. The only way to know would be to answer the phone…

"Captain Benson." Her voice resonated deeper than normal, fresh from sleep.

"Hi Captain. It's Janelle." She was one of the SANE nurses she frequently worked with at the hospital. "Sorry to call this early." Olivia hadn't even seen the time, 3:05am.

"No problem," she said simply. "What can I help you with?

"I have a patient here, she's… pretty despondent. I have one of your detectives here, but she can't really get much from her either." Janelle hesitated briefly. "She keeps saying she wants you."

"She requested me specifically?" Olivia flipped the comforter away from her legs and slipped out of bed. She stopped handing out her cards to every woman on the street years ago: she left that job to her detectives now.

"That's about the only thing we can get her to say actually. She was pretty adamant. She wants you, and no one else can touch her until you get here." Olivia nodded to herself. Janelle had nearly a decade of experience working as a SANE nurse and if she couldn't get the woman to calm down and trust her, then no one could.

Olivia was already digging through her drawers while keeping the phone pressed to her ear. "I can be there in about thirty minutes.." She pulled a bra on and dug out the first reasonable outfit should find in her closet. "Don't let her leave. Don't leave her alone." She knew Janelle knew what to do, but she didn't want to get to the hospital and find a missing patient.

"Of course," Janelle agreed. "I have your detective with her now. She wasn't really taking to her so when I get off this call I'll stay with her."

"Thanks," Olivia said quickly while she pulled her blouse over her head. "Be there soon."

-000-

"Oooo," Liz's eyes danced, "third date huh?" She tossed a handful of freshly popped popcorn into her mouth.

Kathleen rolled her eyes and turned her back to her sister. "Zip me please?"

Liz pushed herself off the small bench at the end of Kathleen's bed, and pushed Kathleen's long blonde hair away from the zipper teeth. She zipped her sister's dress and pulled the shoulder seam over a bit to cover Kathleen's very black bra strap.

Kathleen glanced over her shoulder, "thanks."

"Of course," Lizzie waved her off before making herself comfortable on the bench again. Her sly smile returned, and she asked, "You really like him?"

Kathleen smiled. "I really do." She tossed some red lipstick into her sparkled clutch. "And I'm not sure that's going to happen tonight," her smile rose to her eyes, "but maybe," she dug through her closet for a pair of strappy shoes.

Liz nodded. Katie never let other people determine her timeline in a relationship. If the time was right for her then she would go for it, but if it wasn't then she had no problem changing the plan. She could care less about expectations, and Liz admired her for that.

Kathleen sat next to Liz on the bench to pull on one silver strapped shoe. The open toe showcased her perfect peach pedicure they got together earlier in the afternoon. Once her shoes were secure, Kathleen dropped a hand on her sister's knee. "You okay?"

Liz wanted to curse out loud. Her sister had always been far more perceptive than she should be, and Lizzie struggled to keep the smile plastered on her face. "Yeah. I'm okay." Kathleen's ocean blue eyes bore into hers, and Liz knew she could never keep anything away from her. "Fine, okay enough, I guess."

Kathleen, ever the empath, pulled out her phone. A determined look flashed across her face. "I'm canceling. I can hang out with you tonight."

Lizzie reached out and snatched her sister's phone. "No way. I'm not ruining your date night. You have fun." Lizzie bit her lip, "It's okay if I stay here though?" She had no desire to return to her apartment for the night. Or ever.

Kathleen watched her sister sadly. "Of course Liz. Crash on my bed, eat my snacks, and watch a movie or something." Kathleen sighed. "I wish I could stay here with you tonight." Her fingers played with the clasp on her clutch.

"No you don't. You will have so much fun with Nick and you'll forget about poor old me." She tried a sad smile. "I'll be fine. I'm just not ready to go home…and deal."

Kathleen wrapped an arm around her and laid her head on Lizzie's shoulder. "It'll get better," Kathleen reassured her.

"I know. It's just," she sighed, and struggled to keep her voice even, "just gotta get through the crappy part."

"I know the feeling," Kathleen commiserated. Her phone pinged and Lizzie watched Kathleen's face light up. "He's downstairs. I gotta go." She stood and smoothed her navy blue dress out. "How do I look?"

Liz stood and gave her an over exaggerated appraisal. "You look perfect, of course." Kathleen was flawlessly beautiful without trying. Sometimes it wasn't fair. Katie was beautiful, fun, and confident, and Lizzie always felt like she was…not those things. She felt a little guilty at that thought because Kathleen had more than her fair share of struggles, and some of them were serious. She always had to be vigilant with her mental health, and that had significantly changed what she had thought her life would be.

"Thanks," Kathleen said with a nervous smile.

Lizzie tilted her head towards the door, "Get outta here."

Kathleen turned towards the door, but turned back one last time. She looked hesitant, like she was second guessing the night, the man, or something. She quietly shook it off, gave Liz one more smile, and headed out the door.

Suddenly, Liz felt very alone in the brightly lit apartment. Maybe she should get some air, a drink, something. She lifted Kathleen's keys from their perch on a hook in the kitchen. She would be back soon. She just needed a few minutes to get out of her own head.

-000-

Churlish met her at the hospital entrance. She appeared to have worn down the carpet in the area she had laced for the past half an hour. "I'm sorry Cap. I know it's early, and I would have taken care of it, but she says she won't talk to anyone but you, and the nurse called before I could…"

Olivia lifted her hand to end Churlish rambling, "It's fine." Churlish kept pace with her long stride as they moved down the hospital hall. "She didn't give a name?" It wasn't abnormal, especially among more transient women they often encountered. Young girls usually used a fake name too. She wondered which she would encounter on the other side of the door.

Churlish shook her head. "No. She didn't want her name on a record or anything. She kept saying she only wanted to talk to Captain Benson." Churlish's voice belied her frustration.

Olivia tried to encourage her. "It's probably someone I've worked with before." Olivia gave her a smile, hoping to convey her confidence in Churlish's abilities. She was good at the job, but intelligence and willingness was no substitute for experience when working with victims. Building trust with victims wasn't exactly something that could be taught, it was more of an innate skill set.

"Maybe," her head dropped a little. As much as she wanted to give her detective a pep talk, there was a woman on the other side of the door, living the worst day of her life. That woman came first.

Olivia gave Churlish's arm a reassuring squeeze before squaring her shoulders to the door and reaching for the door handle. The door swung open, and she felt herself take in a sharp breath. Tears immediately clouded her vision. Her limbs felt paralyzed, and she knew she needed to move, say something, do something, but her mind was blanked. She felt frozen. Damn it damn it damn it. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening, but one thing she knew, one thing she understood, sexual violence could find anyone. No one was immune or exempt. When her eyes finally cleared, and she felt herself breathing again she was met with a pair of blue eyes. Eyes the color of the ocean. Both sunny and turbulent. They were a blue she knew well. A blue she loved. Her heart wrenched when her soft voice broke through her nonstop stream of consciousness, "Hey Liv. Sorry it's so early, but I c-can't do this alone," her voice shook. "I d-didn't know who to call, and…" her eyes filled with tears. "I really needed someone I knew here f-for all of this."

Suddenly Olivia snapped back into reality, and was instantly at the woman's side. "I got you baby." She brushed her hair away from her face. "I got you and were going to do this together."