Chapter 23. I do not use a beta, so please, forgive any typos I may have missed.

This chapter contains material involving a minor that some of you may find as unsettling as I did while writing it. So please, know your limits and take caution when reading.

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"Please stop, you'll hurt the baby!" The detectives at the Lancaster police department watched a badly-beaten Olivia scream while scurrying backwards into a corner, terrified and wiping blood from her nose as she curled herself protectively around her small bump in a bid to ward off Harlan's attack in the bathroom. The man had beaten the bloody hell out of her yet again and even though she tried to fight him off, there wasn't much she could do against a man of his size and strength.

"I'm out!" Officer Sweeney said, using the remote to pause the video that was playing on the large monitor before tossing the remote onto the table that was piled high with the evidence that had been collected from Harlan's home.

"What do you mean out?" Arlow asked. He, Sweeney and a couple other officers had been tasked with watching the videos found in the search and they were all nauseated and angered beyond words. They didn't have things like this happen in their town and even when they did, It was never to this degree.

"…just what I said" Sweeney reiterated as he stood up "…out; I can't watch anymore of this!" for hours they watched video after video of Olivia being raped over and over; brutalized and degraded in ways that would make hardened criminals flinch and Harlan made sure that the camera's he had wired to those rooms recorded everything he did to her.

"Like we get a choice." Arlow reminded him. The abduction was all on Holmes but there were at least twenty other men involved in raping this woman over the three months she was in that house; all of them possibly local men and we have to comb through this shit to identify them, hopefully she can tell us who they are."

"Chief…"

"Sweeney, I know"

"She's pregnant! He beats her like a fucking animal and she's pregnant – with his kid!" The young detective couldn't stop his tears and cried them unashamed as the other detectives watched in silent empathy. We've watch how many of these videos? And in one after the other this sick fuck beats her till she can't pick herself up then rapes her till she's damn near unconscious… I've seen him slice her open at least five times so far and we're not even halfway through this shit! She's pregnant…"I got a mother, I got sisters who are mothers, the oldest... She's pregnant; this could've just as easily been one of them!"

"…or my wife, or my daughters or any of the women any of us love; we never know what's out there, the best we can do is try to make the world a little safer by locking these monsters away from society. Holmes or Lewis, or whoever the hell he was, is dead, we can't make him pay for what he's done but I looked sergeant Benson in the eye and I promised her that we would get the rest of these bastards and we will!

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"What are you trying to tell me, dad?" Sam was unnerved by his father's tone, worried, and he braced himself for what might follow as he took a seat on the basement stairs.

"Son… do you remember how I told you that things aren't always what they seem?" Doc asked, his mouth dry and his dead spinning as he thought about how to spin this as the words left his mouth.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, son… things that went on in this house… I found out too late the kind of man Lucius Holmes really is."

"What does that mean?"

"I…" Doc started, taking and releasing a deep breath before continuing. "Son, I…knew that that woman was in this house." He confessed.

"WHAT?" Sam couldn't believe the words that had just left his father's mouth.

"It's not what you think…"

"Then what the hell is it? Huh? My father just told me that he had knowledge of someone being held against their will and hurt- terribly hurt; a pregnant woman no less!" he yelled as he stood and stepped toward his father, hands bawling into fists as he looked down angrily at the man he loved more than anything, only second to his mother. His rage was quick and Doc, for the first time, found himself afraid of his own son.

"Pregnant? I- I had no idea" Doc stammered, remembering when he'd found out that Olivia had escaped, how some of his primary worries had been that he and his buddies wouldn't get to fuck her once her belly grew big or nurse on her milk. "How did you…?"

"I overheard the doctor when I got her to the hospital. So you tell me how – better yet WHY you did nothing to stop what Sheriff Holmes was doing to her if you knew!"

"I only found out the day she escaped!" More lies. "Lucius called me that morning… asked me to come over right away, said he needed me. When I got to his house he took me upstairs and there she was, it was the first time I lay eyes on her. There was blood everywhere and he needed me to stitch her up."

"Why?"

"Her leg… it was in bad shape – sliced open almost to the bone and she was losing a lot of blood. I knew something was wrong; her face looked like she just got out of a boxing ring – eye black and swollen shut, lips split…" that part was true. "she was begging me to help her, to stop the bleeding and so I did, I stitched her thigh as best I could and I told Lucius that we needed t get her to a hospital. He said I was right but then as I was packing my bag, I felt a something cold against my neck and…" he began pretending to cry.

"And what? Dad what happened"

"I'm so ashamed of myself"

"Tell me what happened." Sam insisted.

"Son… it was a gun. He uh… he m-made me take off my clothes and…" Now he wept, determined to convince Sam. "And then he put the gun to her head and threatened to pull the trigger if I didn't get on top of her. She started to cry but you have to understand, he said he'd kill her and I had to try… I didn't want to do it but I couldn't let him hurt her and she begged me to do it. She said she knew he was serious and she didn't wanna die, so I…"

"No!" Sam was suddenly sick to his stomach.

"I was trying to save her life!"

"BY RAPING HER?!" Sam screamed and before he could stop himself, his fist was flying at his father's face and he hit the older man with furious strength, knocking him into the cinderblock wall and sending him sinking down to the floor leaving Doc cowering as he looked up at his son with shock and terror in his eyes as Sam got down and straddled him, grabbing him by the collar with both hands and shaking him. "How could you? After what happened to Ashley…"

Ashley was Sam's older sister and they were extremely close, but when Ashley was thirteen and Sam was eleven, something in her changed and she became withdrawn, a change that lasted for weeks and had their parents afraid and not sure how to help her, especially when she began lashing out. finally, nearing the end of Summer that year, Ashley ran away from home, leaving behind a letter to her parents that revealed that she had been raped and couldn't deal with it anymore. She left and told everyone they shouldn't bother looking for her and that she'd never return. That was thirteen years ago.

"Ashley could still come home one day, we don't know…but this; Son, neither of us had a choice!" Doc cried while holding his jaw, blood pouring from his mouth. Sam released his grip on his father and slowly got up and began pacing back and forth, his mind trying desperately to process this insanity while doc scrambled to his feet.

"She knew it, and I knew it - he would have killed us both and she begged me; BEGGED ME not to let him hurt her. He took pictures and video with his phone, said it was for insurance that I'd keep my mouth shut and then he made me get dressed and threw me out. That's why I'm here, I knew he had to have it stashed somewhere in this house and I wanted to find it before the police did."

"You didn't do this, my father did not take part in brutalizing that woman… oh god!" he cried with a sudden realization hitting him hard. "That's why she was so interested when I said your name; she was remembering what you did to her!" Doc never even saw the next punch coming but went down just as hard on impact, stumbling backward into a plywood bookshelf that smashed under Doc's weight before the man hit the floor.

"I was only trying to help…Son, please!"

"Why didn't you go to the police?"

"He said he'd kill her and show them the video and that if he went down, he'd tell them I raped her and take me down with him."

"And so you did nothing? You just left and went on with your life while she stayed locked in that house having God-knows-what done to her and you justify this how?"

"Samuel"

"No! You stay the hell away from me! And as far as finding whatever twisted evidence you're looking for, the police have swept this place clean so whatever it is you're looking for, they have it!" Sam yelled before heading back up the basement stairs.

"Son, where are you going?"

"Away from you!"

"Samuel..." He called after his son but Sam ignored him and continued his ascension. "Son, you're the only one I trusted with this... THE ONLY ONE!"

Doc heard the upstairs door slam and he agrily kicked the wooden crate that sat at the base of the stairs.

"He's upset right now but at the end of the day, he's loyal to his dad. he won't sell you out Doc, just give him space, and in the meantime, you gotta silence that whore before she identifies you!"

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"…then one night, He took me downstairs – it was the first time he'd ever allowed me out of that room since he'd taken me. I didn't know why, he…he wouldn't tell me but I… we um, I ended up in a room in the basement. I was gang raped by twelve men while he watched… it went on the entire night and it took me a week to recover…"

At the hotel, after a hot shower and dinner in his room, Fin lay in bed trying for the last couple hours to sleep, but sleep wouldn't come. Now that the quiet had set in and he wasn't preoccupied with talking to anyone or holding things down, he couldn't get his mind off Liv's statement to Arlow and he wished to god that he hadn't heard it but was, at the same time glad that she felt she could trust him enough to let him. Finally deciding to give up on sleep, Fin got rolled over and got out of bed, deciding to turn on the television and find something to watch. He wandered into the living room area and parked himself on the couch. There was a marathon playing of some old 1970's sitcom that he remembered watching as a kid and so he made himself comfortable as he dialed Nick to check on things at the hospital.

Twenty minutes and another episode later, Nick had assured him that everything was good and Liv was still sleeping. Fin was grabbing a drink when there was a knock at the door he made his way ver, opening it and surprised to see Amanda standing there.

"Couldn't sleep either?" she asked as she walked in.

"Nope. You okay?" Fin asked as they walked back to the couch and took a seat.

"Yeah, I just needed to hear somethin other than the sound of my own breathin. I feel like I'm losin it!"

"I could use the company"

"What are we watchin?" she asked, noticing the tv was on.

"Good times! My favorite show growin up." Fin said with a smile.

"I know this show! Nick at Nite used to play this when I was a kid." She said with a fond smiled as she pulled her feet up under her and got comfy on the couch, laying her head on Fins shoulder.

"What about you, how you doin?" She asked, eyes cast upward to look at him.

"You know me…" Fin shrugged

"Yeah, I do, which is why I need you to take care of yourself."

"Hey, I'm good. I just want Liv to be okay, that's my only concern." There was a brief silence as Amanda turned his words over in her head.

"Fin?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think she will be?" Rollins asked. Fin gave it some thought before finally answering.

"You know, it's… she's never... I just don't know at this point. I'm so... But then I remind myself that it's only been a couple days since she got away. In her head she's still there and I..."

"They put her through it."

"You don't know the half." Amanda looked down, noticing the bandaging in Fin's forearms.

"So what happened?" She asked.

"I don't really know. That Sam kid came by and I guess he said something that triggered..."

He replayed in his mind, with terror, watching Olivia tearing at her own skin while gripped in the throes of the flashback, pleading with some unseen force to stop hurting her. She was wide awake but trapped in a nightmare, not realizing that her nails had dug out her own flesh as well as Fin's and having a meltdown when she snapped out of it and saw the damage she'd done.

"She just..." Fin bit the inside of his cheek hard trying to keep his tears at bay. "I don't know what to do for her." His voice was quiet, cracking with the emotions that were strangling him as he leant forward and hung his head.

"Fin..."

"Every day for the last three months; especially these last two days, I been asking myself how this happened again; how we let another sick fuck get his hands on her, how we didn't protect her... After the first time there's no way it should have happened again but we let it and I don't know if she can come back this time."

"You sound like Nick... Just like Nick. Do you really think this will keep her down? Because the Olivia Benson I know and love, that woman's a fighter and you've known her a lot longer than me. I know how bad it looks right now, god I know, and I'd be lyin if I said it doesn't scare the hell out of me but she'll come back...I mean she has to."

"Honestly, with what she's been through, I wouldn't blame her if she decided to check out and settle for a straightjacket.

Fin looked over when he heard Amanda's sniffles and saw that she was crying.

"Hey, come on, don't do that." he soothed as he pulled her close. "Don't cry."

" I can't help it." She wept, her head resting against his chest as he wrapped both arms around her. "I been trying to swallow all of this cuz I know how much Liv needs us but Fin, it's wrong! All of this is just wrong!"

"I know"

"I've been trying so hard but I don't know what to say to her or how to even look at her without falling apart... she dun need that. I hate that son of a bitch for what he's done!" She sobbed angrily.

"Shhhh, it's okay. Just let it out" Fin gave Amanda the shoulder she needed and they continued talking well into the early hours of the morning until finally, Amanda fell asleep in his arms and he carried her to his room and settled her in his bed before he grabbed his things and headed back to the hospital.

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Doc arrived home well after midnight, surprised to find his wife wide awake in their living room, going through pictures in an old family album.

"You're home... I was expecting Sam." Grace said, having looked up upon hearing him enter the room. " Robert, what on earth happened to your face?" She asked worriedly as he sat beside her.

"I stopped the car short so I wouldn't hit a deer and my face slammed against the steering I'm okay...turns out they didn't need me the the whole night after all." He lied, remembering his excuse about being at work. "So Sam's not home?" He asked.

"Not yet, I just assumed you were him. Are you sure you're alright?" Her fingers gently skimmed his badly bruised face.

"I'll be fine, and I'm sure Sam'll be here soon." He said with a kiss to her hand. "What's this?" He asked of the photo album in her lap.

"I couldn't sleep. Ashley was really heavy on my mind tonight so I decided to torture myself with old pictures."

"Honey..."

"I know. I just miss her so much... Sometimes the pictures help... She would have turned 27 this past spring." She said as she swatted the tears that always came when she spoke of her only daughter.

"She could still be out there"

"No. She's not." Grace wept "I'm her mother... I carried her inside me nine months, I nursed her at my breast for two years... We had a bond that was unlike anything in this world, one that I've only ever experienced again with Sam. If she were alive I'd feel it but she's gone. I felt it two weeks after she left... A light died in me and I knew it was her... She was such a beautiful girl. Just starting to become a woman..."

Doc knew all-too-well what his daughter was becoming and staring at the picture of her on her thirteenth birthday... it was almost as if she were right in front of him.

Ashley had definitely need a daddy's girl. She loved her father more than the whole world, he was her hero and Doc loved his little girl - but not as a father should. He never dreamed of looking at his daughter in an unclean way - until she turned 12 and her body began changing; suddenly there were bumps and curves taking away her little girl appearance - curves that developed beautifully over Ashley's slender frame. He couldn't help but notice her supple breasts, tiny waist and newly ample hips and backside. He fought the urges to look, feeling himself becoming aroused whenever she came near him. Her plump, rosy lips and dark, thick hair that hung to her waist... He'd begun imagining those lips around his shaft, her huge blue eyes looking up at him while he was in her mouth, or him grabbing a fistful of her hair while pounding mercilessly into her from behind, her perfect porcelain skin turning bright red from the force with which he'd take her. He'd grow hard just imagining what her moans would sound like.

He ignored his urges for as long as he could but eventually the boys began to take notice of his stunning daughter and Ashley noticed right back and began dating just after her thirteenth birthday that April. This didn't sit well with Doc and every time she'd go out with a boy he'd spend the evening wondering if the young man was touching Ashley and jealousy would consume him to the point where one night after he picked her up from a date, he pulled the car over and inspected her body to see what she'd been doing. He'd found a secluded area and made her undress, then took his time and searched and searched her naked body while she trembled in terror beneath his touch as tears ran down her face.

"Almost done princess" he cooed as he dropped to his knees and spread her lips apart with his fingers. He had already thoroughly inspected her backside this way.

"Daddy please..." she sobbed, her arms crossed over her chest to cover her nakedness. "I promise w-we didn't d-d-do anything!" Her tears came in torrents; her nose dripping globs of snot as she cried uncontrollably while her father violated her. Doc could remember exactly how she tasted the second he put his mouth to her clitoris, explaining to her that he'd be able to tell from her taste if she'd let a boy touch her there. Against her will, brought on by her own father, Ashley experienced her first orgasm that night and she'd never felt so filthy in her young life and would spend the next week trying to scrub his touch from her body. Doc however, was fueled by that night and his fantasies grew sicker until finally he could take no more and decided that he would be his daughter's first and one week later, while Sam was at a sleepover and Grace was at bible study, he raped their daughter in her perfect pink bedroom in her princess canopy bed, taking no care to be even slightly gentle with her while she cried and begged him to stop. When he was done and Ashley lay naked and sobbing in her bed, sheets now stained with her virgin blood and she, unable to comprehend what her father had just done to her...

"You were so good, princess. Ohhh but I knew you would be!"

"Daddy... You hurt me!"

"Don't worry" he said as he stroked her hair and kissed her tears. "It only hurts the first time, but soon it's gonna feel so good, you're gonna want your daddy inside your sweet little cunt every day. I promise. Now you get cleaned up and get some sleep." He said as he turned to leave.

"Oh and, Ash, do you love you mother and brother?"

"Yes..."

"Well if you ever tell about us - if you ever tell anyone, I'll kill them both" He said with complete nonchalance and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"She was absolutely perfect!" He agreed. ..."our princess!" He wiped away the false tears he'd forced and pulled his wife into his embrace. "We'll see her again. I know we will!"

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Meanwhile, at the Lancaster police department, the desk sergeant greeted the young man who entered the station.

"What can I do for you?"

"Chief Arlow, is he here?"

"He is. Who shall I say..."

"Uh, Taylor... My name is Sam Taylor." Sam said nervously.

"Okay Sam, why don't you have a seat and I'll get the chief." Peters said as he picked up the phone. Moments later, Arlow appeared.

"Sam?" He called as he approached the young man. Sam immediately stood to his feet and shook the older man's hand.

"Sir."

"What brings you by?"

"I...I um...I might have something for you in sergeant Benson's case" he couldn't believe what he was about to do but even if his father couldn't live by the principles he'd instilled in Sam, Sam would and had come to do the right thing "...but first I um, I need to speak with her as soon as possible... and I need you there when I do."

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Gotta love Sam! See y'all soon.