Chapter 78

I received a comment from a guest reader asking if in light of Mariska announcing her own rape, will I be continuing this story. The answer is, yes. The story is about Olivia Benson, a fictional character, not Mariska, so I don't see how one instance correlates to the other. With that being said, back to the story.

…

Stanley was a wreck.

He sat alone in a back booth at a diner in the city, nervously fingering the now-bandaged scratch that adorned his neck, his hat low and sipping a cup of coffee (mainly Gin).

According to the time that the cunt had been found and taken to the hospital was about two hours after he'd fled the scene. Is it even possible to get DNA from under its fingernails after all that time in the rain? He wondered.

"You tucked up!" He screamed in his head as he held his coffee mug so tight it was a wonder that it didn't crumble. "How could you not know that the bitch scratched you? What if they got it from under its nails?

…even if they did manage to, it wouldn't be easy identifying me… who the fuck are you kidding, man? Your DNA is in the system, you willfully gave it to the FBI before all of this started; before you took your first slit! You have to finish this before-

"Will you be having anything else?" The waitress, Tina asked as she stood before him, a full pot of coffee in hand.

Stanley quickly looked her over; a nice, big pair of tits- thick nipples too. "uhh, yeah. A slice of cherry pie if you have any left. And another cup." He said of his nearly empty coffee mug. As the waitress began filling him up, she leaned in to him.

"I'm off in a half, you wanna do somethin?"

Stanley was amused, not to mention having his ego stoked. He smiled cockily and got closer to her ear to whisper something to her, and the look on her rapidly face went from interest to horror. When he was finished talking, he sat back, satisfied and still cocky as hell, the smile still on his face while she had all of the color now drained from hers.

"On second thought, I won't have that pie." And he took a twenty from his pocket. "Keep the change." He said as he got up from the booth, fixed his cap and walked out.

The other waitress, who noticed the odd exchange, walked over to Tina. "What'd he say to you?"

Tina took a minute to come back, trying to shake him off. "He asked…he asked, if I ever been tucked with a cock-sleeve," she said, sickened and shaken.

"A what?"

"He has one with barbs that would tear my- excuse me!" She said teary eyed and obviously upset. She put the coffee pot on the table then excused herself to the back.

…

"We need to talk about this,"

"There's nothing to talk about. It's obvious that you don't see me as anything other than a victim,"

"Liv comeon, you know that's not true,"

"Do I? You say you love and respect me, but time and again you're secretive-"

"To protect you,"

"I don't need to be protected…"

Elliot's jaw clenched and he let out a deep breath. He had to say something to her that she was not going to like and he wanted it to come out as easy as he could make it. "I'm gonna say something that'll probably make you hate me, but it needs to be said… you did need protecting! And I think the real problem is, you're just too proud to admit it."

"You know what I need, Elliot? I need you to trust that I could've handled myself!"

Circles. They'd been doing nothing but going in circles. He knew he'd hurt her and he'd apologized so many times. He would apologize a million more if it would set things right. Elliot hung his head, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking it side to side. Just say it.

"In the past," he started again as he looked at her. "...and im not condoning or excusing it, but, when I've kept things from you to protect you, you've always been forgiving, even if you were angry. In the end, you understood why I had to do it and we got past it, but this…"

"What are you trying to say, Elliot?" she asked, annoyed.

With tears in his voice…v"You're packing bags, about to move out of our home; our home, Olivia. It's never gotten to this point before and I'm starting to- is all of this even about Bronwyn?" He asked softly to which Olivia grew quiet.

"To hell with you, Elliot!" She said near a whisper as she hastily went upstairs to get the kids, but Elliot stopped her at the first landing, gently grabbing her hands to hold them in front of her.

"Liv-"

"Let go of me!" She demanded angrily, looking him dead in the eye. She was suddenly having memories of all the times Harlan held her down and she was fighting hard to not lose it; not to just scream. Elliot saw the look in her eyes and realized his mistake. He quickly released his hold on her hands as she started to cry angry tears and inhaled deep, panicked breaths. Elliot felt like a moron!

"That was stupid of me, I-"

"Yeah, it was!" She said as she turned away from him and headed up the stairs while he stood in place.

"...please don't take them tonight,"

Olivia stopped at the top of the stairs, but didnt turn around.

"...I know that you're angry with me, but please, just let them sleep."

No sooner than he got that out, the baby woke and started to cry.

"I'll get him-"

"he needs to be fed… first thing tomorrow, I'm out of here, WITH the children!" She said and stormed off to go the crying baby.

…

"Detective, any word?" Haru asked Detective Jones of Kathleen's condition. Although, they still didnt know her name.

"I'm not sure, she's still in surgery. That's all I know,"

"So she is alive?"

"She is. For now. You didn't see anyone leaving that alley?"

"No, I'm sorry. I wish I could be more helpful,"

"You found her, that's more than enough. It's late, Haru, why don't we get you home? We'll be in touch if we need any more information. Officer Lockhart, Please…"

"Sure thing, detective." The young female rookie said as she approached Haru and they exchanged niceties before they walked off together.

"Dr. Johnson, can I have a word?" Dt. Jones called to the doctor.

"You've already tried to poke around before we got her into surgery,"

"And believe me, I'm so sorry I had to, but we couldn't risk losing potential evidence and so for that I'm grateful… I take it she made it through?"

"She's suffered a lot of trauma to her body. But yes, she made it through."

"How soon can we perform a forensic exam?"

"Are you insane? The next twenty-four, hell even forty-eight hours are going to be hell for her! That woman just went through hours of delicate surgery to put what was left of her guts back in, on top of dealing with infection from being left out for so long, plus a miscarriage…"

"Miscarriage?"

Dr. Johnson gave a long sigh. "Yes, miscarriage- spontaneous abortion that was as brutal as her injuries. We can't even touch her right now out of fear she'll code, so I'm sorry but your forensic exam can wait. You wanna help her? Find out who she is and contact her family, if she has one; it doesn't look good for her."

"We are running her DNA as we speak. I'm just trying to put together what happened here. From the looks of it, the boyfriend- or who we think was the boyfriend, thought he killed her before he turned the knife on himself. Now that you're saying she was pregnant… We'd like access to the fetus." the doctor made a face. "look, our Jane can't give her consent right now, and to hear you tell it, she won't be able to anytime soon if at all. I'd like to test the baby's DNA against our dead guy, at least get a start on piecing this together."

…

"Fin… What are you doing here?" Amanda asked as she locked her door after letting him inside.

"I know it's late,"

"You've come later," she smiled as she took his hand. She could see that something was bothering him. "You wanna talk about it?"

"There's just so much on my mind between Nick and Olivia…"

"Olivia?" She'd already known about the Nick-Carolyn situation, but what could he be talking about that concerned Olivia. "Have I missed something?"

"You missed a lot and I don't know if you'll believe it,"

"Okay, Fin what are you talking about? You're scaring me!"

"Bronwyn Freed, she's alive."

Amanda went absolutely pale, "Christ on the cross!"

…

That night, neither Elliot or Olivia slept a wink. Elliot lay in the guest bedroom, going over in his mind, in retrospect how stupid he was for not telling her sooner. But now that she knew, he had to fix the damage. She was threatening not only to leave, but to take the kids…

"This is ridiculous!" He said aloud, as he threw off the covers and headed for the door. But he stopped just as he grasped the handle. "She doesn't want to talk to you. Whatever this is-"

In their bedroom, Olivia just lay there crying silently, the sheets smelling of Elliot. She reached and grabbed his pillow, curling up to it as tears trailed the sides of her face.

"...he did what he did because he was afraid of pushing you even further over that edge you were already on. He did it to protect your peace…"

"What about my peace?" She froze at the voice she heard, slowly turning over to see Harlan standing in the corner. Immediately, Olivia closed her eyes and began wishing him away. "He's not real… he's not real…" she prayed but quickly found it to be in vain as Harlan stepped closer, allowing her to see the blood seeping from his neck where she stabbed him two years ago, as well as the bullet hole between his eyes. She quickly turned and scurried backwards in bed.

"You can't keep me out, whore. And Bronwyn'll see to it!" He threatened, coming closer, putting his gnarled hand on her knee.

"NO!" She screamed as he grabbed her legs and pulled them apart.. She was suddenly on her back, her hands pinned to the bed, and as she started to eye the room she noticed that she was no longer at home; it was that room that she spent three hellish months in, and here she was, pinned to that bed!

"Wake up, Olivia!" She cries as she struggledto free her hands to no avail.

"I'm gonna fuck you seven ways to Sunday until I put one in you and then after you squeeze him out of that pretty little pussy, I kill you! He said and climbed onto the bed, on top of her and pushed her gown up, settling himself between her thighs.

She'd heard those words before. He said them to her that first night… "This isn't real, you're dreaming! WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

She screamed in real time, drawing Elliot's attention as he passed the bedroom door while going to the landing.

"Liv, I'm coming in!" He said urgently, while opening the door. He was barely inside before he saw her, tossing and turning in bed; she was obviously in the throws of a nightmare, and Elliot quickly went and gently shook her awake. Disoriented and afraid, she threw herself in his arms, in tears.

"Don't let go!" She cried, clutching his body as if it were her life-raft in this sinking storm that was her mind.

…

"I know that you don't want a junior, but, if we ever have a daughter, I wanna name her Nicolette." Carolyn whispered to him as she lay in his arms. They had just made love and were drifting off to sleep.

"Nicolette? That's-" he grinned. "That's a name,"

"You don't like it?" She said as she turned on her stomach to face him. "What's wrong with Nicolette?"

God, she had a smile that stole his heart.

"Nothings wrong with it, my love," he moved a loose lock of her hair out of her face and put it behind her ear.

"it's just so…Nick-ish." He laughed.

"That's exactly how I want it…if."

"What would I do without you?"

She smiled, he eyes twinkling beautifully. "Ruego al cielo que yo pueda ir contigo..."

"¿Si?"

"¡Oh, mucho! Vivirías de rodillas…" she laughed, craning to kiss him and landing it softly on his lips. "But, you never have to worry about that, because I'm not going anywhere."

"Good to know," he looked up at her, lying there on his chest. She was an angel and he still couldn't believe that he got to call her his, every day. "I'm so in love with you, cariño…"

2:28 am and he woke up reaching for Carolyn, only to sadly realize once again, she wasn't there and he slowly sank back down amidst the pillows with tears in his eyes.

In a few hours, he, along with Carolyn's brothers would go on television asking for her safe return and now he didn't know if he could do it. His nerves were all over the place and he didn't think he could just sit there and beg whatever bastard had taken her to let her go when he wanted to kill whomever was responsible!

He remembered the day he'd just dreamt about so clearly. He and Carolyn had been dating a whole year and he thought then that she was the one. It's funny because back then, he didn't even know that he was searching for the love he'd found in Carolyn. Hell, in the beginning, he only wanted Carolyn because she reminded him so much of Olivia, he thought with guilty tears flowing.

"...and now I can't imagine life without you though these last couple days…" and he began to weep. "Just come home! I know you can feel how much you're loved, how much you're missed. Please, baby. Please come back to us!"

If only he'd known that it was already too late.

…

"...he said that I shouldn't freak out…nothing could've prepared me for what I'd see; he looks so much like Harlan, I froze. When I was finally able to move was when it registered that Harlan couldn't be at our door, and that's when I opened it,"

"You could've been hurt; or worse!"

"I took precautions… besides that guy was afraif of his own shadow. He has the look, but thats all."

"Man I wish I would've been here…why didn't you tell me? What kind of man just agrees to do something like this without knowing-"

"Elliot…"

"I'm sorry, I just… you know, now and that's what matters. What are you going to do with all of this?"

"With Joanie? I already told her to fuck off!"

"You?" Elliot laughed uncontrollably. "I…wow! What about Serena?"

"I don't know, I haven't thought that far ahead yet but we'll deal with it as it comes. I just can't have that woman anywhere near my daughter. And as far as telling you, I wanted to, but then you came home…"

"and I hit you with Bronwyn."

Olivia grew quiet ss she snuggled closer to Elliot. The whole thing still sent shivers down her spine. "It still doesn't feel real; to know that she's alive…" She said, alost in a whisper.

"I'm so sorry, for everything! I was an ass for not letting you know what was going on sooner and an even bigger ass for not paying more attention,"

"I knew that Fin was right, but I was so hurt and so angry with you I wouldn't let myself see it. You only did it to protect me," She sniffed back the new tears that had fallen and Elliot reached out and wiped them away.

"I only ever wanted to spare you pain,"

"I was in a bad place when Serena was born. Dealing with the kidnapping, Harlan being alive…the rape, the arrest, Brian, Joanie…it seemed like the world was falling down around me, and I just wanted to let it bury me,"

"Why would you say that?"

"Because it's true…" She wiped her tears. "and I'm okay with it now, but then…then, I wished that the ground would open up and swallow me. I couldn't have handled it, El; I thought the monsters were finally gone and I could start to rebuild my life. If you had told me that Bronwyn was alive then, I never would have found any peace of mind, knowing she was out there. But now it feels like I'm back there all over again, I'll never be free of her!"

He held her in a his arms, hugging her tight. "Olivia, don't think like that. You have been free of her for a long time, and finding out that she's alive doesn't change that,"

"l- I saw her," she said in a whisper.

"You saw-"

"I saw Bronwyn, outside her room-"

Elliot was concerned, and he pulled away . "Liv, baby, tell me you didn't go to that hospital,"

"I had to- at the time I thought I had to… it was stupid of me, but the way she stared at me through that window; it was like evil reaching out to touch my soul! El, she may look like a shell, but she's in there; whatever song and dance she gives the FBI, Bronwyn Freed is in there, and you have to promise me that she won't get away with what she's done!"

Elliot didn't even think a second before he held her close, kissing her head as he swore, "that woman will never have a free moment as long as she lives, I promise you that with everything inside me!"

"...Bronwyn'll see to it!" She heard Harlan say in her head.

…

I had to give you guys something to tied you over. Be back sooner with the next installment. Tbc…