"After seeing those old injuries in her rib X-rays, I ordered some more scans to see what we were dealing with. She has several healed arm fractures, and I took a look at her growth plates. We guessed her age to be ten or eleven when we brought her in, but her growth plates have nearly matured. I'd say she's probably twelve or thirteen. She's small, but based on her obvious injuries…"

"Neglect," Elliot finished.

"Probably. Or purposeful withholding of food from a young age." Dr. Adams turned the x-ray light off and slid the scans back into a folder. "I'm not sure what sort of cases you see in the city, but this is the worst case I've come across out here. We have a few elementary schools, but with abuse as obvious as this, it would have been noticed. I'm willing to bet the family probably never sent her to public school."

Through the years, Elliot had become well aware of cases where even the worst sorts of abuse flew under the radar and remained unreported even under the supervision of overtired and overworked public school teachers. He wasn't ready to eliminate the schools as a potential place to obtain the girl's identity.

"The local precinct should have some records of any CPS or DV reports in the area." Elliot thought out loud. "I'll check in with them. Maybe we will get lucky."

The doctor nodded. "We will cooperate as much as possible if they have record requests. They can be difficult to navigate, but we will do our best with what we can legally release."

"Thanks." Elliot turned to leave the room, but as he reached for the door handle, Dr. Adams stopped him.

"There is one... I guess you could call them a family... You might want to look into them."

Elliot released the door handle and turned back towards the doctor. His description of the non-family family was intriguing. "Yeah?"

"Uh yeah. There's a survivalist group that lives out there. I don't know a lot about them. I try not to get involved with rumors, but maybe it's something to look into."

Elliot made a mental note to check in with the locals to find out more about this "group." "Thanks doc." He paused before reaching for the door again. "You'll let us know when she wakes up? My…" my son, "Uh, my boy is, uh, he lost a friend a while back, and I think he's pretty anxious over this girl. He's pretty invested in her being okay."

"Of course. I think we will be weaning sedation in an hour, and we will go from there." He scribbled something on a piece of paper and held it out in Elliot's direction. "Here's my personal number. Call if you have questions or pass it along to our local police guys. I'm sure you guys probably need to get back to the city, but I appreciate you taking the time to coordinate everything on this girl's behalf."

Elliot nodded and took the paper from the doctor's outstretched hand. He hadn't given any thought to returning home yet, and while he knew he had zero jurisdiction in this rural town, he itched to work this girl's case.

Elliot lifted the paper and gave him a quick nod, "Thanks."

-000-

Olivia was three unanswered calls deep when she finally pulled into the hospital parking lot. She tried to tell herself that he was probably drowning in coordinating calls with law enforcement and meeting with doctors on the girl's behalf. Still, he knew she was going to call.

Maybe she was still a little touchy from their terse conversation earlier in the day, but it felt like he was deliberately dodging her calls. The whole thing left her feeling miffed and even more frustrated than when she left this morning.

She sat in her SUV for a moment before turning the engine off, trying to mentally prepare for whatever messy nightmare was coming next. On the drive, she worked out an apology, but that wasn't the only reason she wanted him to pick up the phone. She wanted more context. She needed more information so instead of reacting like she did earlier, she could actually proceed with full understanding of the situation.

Her eyes drifted to the automatic doors at the entrance to the hospital. She stuffed her frustration down, knowing that there were obviously things she and Elliot needed to address, but now wasn't the time. Their personal relationship had always been a field of active landmines, but their professional relationship worked like a well-oiled machine. Maybe she could default to their professional setting while working to hand off the case that had fallen into their laps.

She finally turned the ignition off and reached for her door handle. Just as she began pushing the door open, her phone buzzed repetitively in her pocket. She stepped out of her SUV, wind catching her loose waves and tossing them across her face. Without seeing the screen, she lifted the phone to her ear and answered, "Benson."

"Hey, I'm sorry. I know you've called. I've just been trying to get this mess figured out."

She nodded even though he couldn't see her. "I figured." The wind blew through the phone speaker, and she knew he probably couldn't hear her well. "Look, I'm here. We can talk once I'm inside."

"God, I didn't even see the time. I'm sorry." He apologized again, but she understood.

"It's fine. Where can I find you guys?"

"Cafeteria. I'm with Eli and Noah. We left Dickie in the ER in case they needed to find us."

"Okay. I'll be there in a minute." Another gust of wind kicked up the leaves at her feet.

"I can't hear you. I'll see you in a sec. "

She ended the call and dropped her phone into her purse. She wrapped her arms around herself. The sun was out, but the wind seemed to carry the cold straight through her sweater.

She jogged towards the hospital entrance and, once inside, tried to tame her hair a little. A few steps in from the doors was a campus map, so she moved closer to see where she could find the cafeteria. Her finger found the cafeteria, which appeared to be close, and she quickly followed the line from the entrance, quickly burning the short route into her brain.

Part way down the hall, her phone pinged with a message. She stopped walking so she could dig the thing out of her purse. To her surprise it was from Elliot.

E: Can I meet you in the hall? I need to talk to you about something.

E: I get it if you just want to take Noah and get out of here. I'll make it quick.

O: It's okay. I'm out here now.

She locked her phone and tossed it in her bag and waited for Elliot. In less than a minute, he emerged around the corner, stopping when he saw her.

His hesitation gave her a chance to look him over, and he looked like he had walked through hell and back again. The haunted look in his eyes reminded her that Noah hadn't been the only person who dealt with a trauma the previous year. Elliot had too.

At nearly the same time, they moved toward each other until they met somewhere in the middle. He stopped at the last second, but she didn't. She let her body fall into his, wrapping her arms around his torso.

His arms snaked around her as he pulled her against him tightly. For a moment neither spoke, both reveling in the comfort the simple presence of the other person provided.

She rubbed her hands up his back, noticing how tense the bulky muscles of his upper back seemed to be. She turned her head, and her lips inadvertently brushed the hollow of his neck as she spoke. "I'm sorry, I know he's safe with you, I just..."

He pulled her impossibly closer. "I get it. I do. It's just," he sighed. "Truth hurts, I guess."

She wanted to challenge his idea of truth because the angrily spoken words of the morning were not their truth, but now wasn't the time. She gave him one more tight squeeze before pulling back. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

He lifted his hand and cupped her cheek briefly. His eyes worked over her face with an adoring expression that never failed to leave her breathless. Finally, he cleared his throat and stepped back, letting his hands fall to his sides.

"The girl made it."

Her hand pressed to her chest in relief. "Thank god."

"Yeah," he agreed. "But it's not all good news. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I haven't talked to the boys about any of it, but I need... I don't know." He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "I guess I was hoping for some input from my partner." His blue eyes lifted to her face, and his half smile brought out one of her own.

"Alright." She squared her shoulders. "Hit me with it, Stabler."

His boyish grin broadened until he pulled his phone from his. He sighed as he pulled up his photo reel. All flirtation was gone as he handed Olivia his phone.

"I snuck some photos from the girl's file. I wasn't sure the doc would let me show you even though he already told me everything." He hovered near her shoulder, and she zoomed in on the first x-ray.

"Damn," she muttered under breath. She didn't need to be a medical professional to understand what the scans were showing her. This girl was being abused. Horribly. She scrolled over the next couple images before asking, "How old is she?"

"Doc says thirteen. No younger than twelve."

Olivia zoomed in on the next scan, detailing several healed arm fractures. "Has anyone suggested a rape kit?"

She felt Elliot tense next to her. No matter how experienced one was with SVU, it still felt wrong requesting a kit for a child. "I didn't." He scrubbed his hands over his face. "I should have thought of that. I mean these physical injuries alone."

She reached out and gripped his forearm lightly. "It's fine, El. You've had a lot thrown at you in a short amount of time."

He blew out a slow breath. "That's sort of why I wanted you to look at everything. I'm just, I'm out of practice with this, and let's face it, you were always better with victims."

She didn't try to contradict him, but her brow furrowed. "I want to help, but what's the deal with the local department? Are they going to be territorial on this?"

He shook his head. "I've been in contact with them from the moment we got to the hospital. This city doesn't have its own department. Just a sheriff's office with a couple deputies. I get the feeling they know they aren't equipped for this and would like to pawn it off on a better organized department. They talked about contacting the department in the town twenty miles from here."

"Would they be open to having our team take a look? Sometimes these rural cowboys don't want us anywhere near stuff like this."

To her surprise, he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him. He leaned in and kissed her temple. "I knew you'd be on board."

She shook her head. "Only if they want us on it. I'm not tangling myself in a jurisdictional fight that we would lose."

"I'll make sure they are all in, but I don't think they will fight for this one." He paused before adding. "I also think they want to avoid a confrontation with some apocalyptic group living in the mountains."

"Wait, what?" She wasn't sure she heard him right.

"Yeah, the doctor mentioned this survivalist group that lives a sort of nomadic existence on the federal land out there. I asked one of the deputies about it." He chuckled. "I got the impression they didn't want to go anywhere near that potential disaster."

She rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm for a case that could turn into a messy nightmare. Hell, if it involved crimes on federal land, then they might be pushed out by the Feds before the whole thing was over. "Do we want to be near it?" She asked seriously.

His expression sobered and his hand sought out hers. "That girl," his voice cracked, and he shook his head. "She deserves more than an understaffed team that doesn't want to go to bat for her."

Olivia nodded. He was right. Some powerful twist of fate dropped this case into their laps, and she'd be damned if she let the system fail this girl.

"Okay. I'm in."