AN: Trigger Warning there is topic of rape in this chapter. Nothing too graphic.

Three years Later.

September 1995

Greenwich Village

"Take her underwear off you idiot," the older blonde guy laughed and slapped the arm of one of his drunken fraternity brothers. They were all dressed in clean cut jeans and polo shirts. Some of them wore hats that said Hudson University on them.

"I…can't," the freshman recruit slurred as he fumbled around on top of an unconscious young woman. "I can't get it."

"You can't get it in or you can't get it off," one of the other upperclassmen made what he thought was a hilarious joke, and they all laughed.

"Can't I just find a girl in the bar that's not passed out," the recruit said from the ground. He lifted himself off the ground and then puked everywhere.

The older guy pushed the recruit out of the way.

"It's this slut or you're out, Ringworm," he paused, and the kid he called ringworm walked away.

"Sheffield, you in this year or you gonna sit in your dorm and wack off like Ringworm," he pointed to another recruit. "show this panty waste how to put this poor bitch in her place."

Sheffield didn't even hesitate. Filled with ego, booze, and a hit of cocaine, he unzipped his pants in the back alley next to the bar, and had his way with the girl they roofied at the beginning of the night.

Her eyes flickered back into consciousness as soon as he started, but that didn't stop him or any of them from cheering Sheffield on and finishing the job.

Olivia was on her way home from a long day at the Bronx SVU when she heard the young men laughing.

She looked over from across the street and could overhear some of what was being chanted.

"Yeah, nail that bitch."

"You got a coke can, dude. Holy shit!"

"She's waking up."

"Slap her and keep going."

"Sheffield! Sheffield!"

"Hey, what's going on over here," she yelled as she ran across the street revealing her shield. "NYPD."

The boys saw her and busted up running in all different directions.

She grabbed for her gun and was able to apprehend Sheffield before he could pull up his pants and follow the group.

"Freeze," she ordered him, and he put his hands up. "Don't even think about running. I will shoot you."

"Ahhhrr," he grunted, and kicked at the ground. He got his underwear up, but his pants wouldn't stay up, and Olivia wasn't in the mood to let him fasten his belt.

She cuffed him pants less to a street sign and rushed to the girl, who was half conscious but starting to move around.

"I've got you," she softly spoke as she checked her pulse. Olivia's heart was beating faster than ever, it was hard for her to think the blood was rushing so quickly behind her flushed face. This was the first time she'd ever witnessed an actual rape in action, and the first time that she apprehended a perp alone without a more a experienced officer walking her through it all or taking over.

She grabbed her phone and dialed 911.

"This is Detective Olivia Benson with the Bronx SVU. Calling in a rape…an attack at the corner of 6th and Washington Place. I'm next to a bar at the corner of 8th and 25th. I need back up and a bus?"

"Shwoo," she sighed heavily. The girl was scantily clad and out of it. She had a bruise on her face and a cut across her lip and forehead where the boy had clearly hit her.

Olivia pulled her jacket off and covered the girl.

"Am I under arrest? I didn't do anything," Sheffield yelled from the pole he was cuffed to.

"I saw you rape her with my actual eyes," Olivia yelled back.

"Whoa! I didn't rape anybody. She asked for this. She wanted it," he insisted.

"Sure she did. And let me guess you bought her dinner and opened the door for her too. If there's even a drop of your semen on this girl, you'll be in jail before I can even testify."

"Yeah and if you don't read me my rights, I'll have my lawyer sue you for false arrest," the guy pulled on his cuffs and spit, hitting her on the leg.

"Oh you want your rights read. You think that's going to matter when the rest of the NYPD gets here and sees your pants around your ankles and that girl over there drugged with her face all busted up. That's what card you want to play? Fine. You're under arrest for the assault and rape. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. You have the right to stop answering questions at any time until you talk to an attorney. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

"I want my attorney right now," the guy laughed. His face was red and his eyes were slanted shut from drinking too much. He spit at her again, missing this time.

"Spit again and I'll add harassing a police office to your rape and assault charges."

She stood in his face and he pulled his head away. "Fine."

Olivia walked away from him to attend to the girl again. "Sweetheart, if you can hear me I'm Detective Olivia Benson. You can call me Olivia. Police are on the way."

"Ehhhhh," she said and blinked, and started to sit up and look at herself.

"You've been drugged. Best to sit where you are. I got you," Olivia wrapped an arm around her. "Can you tell me your name?"

"What happened," she whimpered, looking at her ripped dress and her underwear on the ground."

"You were attacked by a group of young men, do you remember anything about the night?"

"Mmmm…maybe. Just that I was supposed to meet Aaron here."

"Is that Aaron?," she pointed to Sheffield.

"No. He came with Aaaron. One of his fraternity brothers. I agreed to…," she stopped herself and Olivia could sense she was clamming up.

"The more you tell me, the easier it's going to be to convict these guys," she softly spoke.

"I don't remember. I just want to go home," she cried and then tried to lift herself off of the pile of garbage she was laying on.

"Okay sit tight," Olivia stopped her. "An ambulance will be here soon."

"An ambulance. No, I don't need that."

"You've got cuts on your face. We'll have them check you out," Olivia tried a different tactic. "And then they can get you home safe."

"No, they'll make me do a rape kit and I don't want to do a rape kit."

"Okay," she held Stacey's hand. "Can you at least tell me your name?"

"Will I be in trouble if I do a rape kit?"

"Why would you think that?"

The girl held her head and started to move herself around. "I can't."

"Let's just relax for a minute. Can you tell me your name? Let's start with that."

The girl looked up at Sheffield and then back to Olivia. She whispered her name.

"Stacey. My name is Stacey."

"Stacey. That's a nice name. You can call me Olivia, and I'll be with you the whole time so you don't feel pressure to do anything you don't want to do, okay."

"Okay."

"Does that boy look familiar?"

"Yes, he was with Aaron."

"Is Aaron a friend or a boyfriend?"

Stacey sighed. "No. Ha. God no. I just let him and some of his friends pay me to…you know…have sex with them. It's never been like this before, though. And I needed to pay my tuition," She started to cry. "My dad lost his job. Oh god, he's going to be so mad at me. I can't do a rape kit or my dad will find out."

Sirens could be heard blocks away.

"Shh, shh, shh," Olivia held her up and calmed her as best she could. "Your dad doesn't need to know about any of this right now."

"Because I'm not a prostitute. Aaron is a friend. I've known him since High School. And I told him I needed money and he said he would help."

Stacey was starting to get upset and Olivia continued to calm her. "Stacey, even if you were a prostitute it doesn't give anyone the right to drug you against your will and assault you in an alley while you're passed out. That is a crime. Now take a deep breath the ambulance is close. This Aaron, can you give me Aaron's last name?"

"Kirkland. He goes to Hudson U," she nodded.

In seconds Olivia and Stacey were surrounded by activity. The EMT's helped Stacey into the back of the ambulance while they took her vitals.

"What do we got…here," Elliot Stabler appeared from behind Olivia. He started to ask about the crime when he realized who she was.

His heart stopped for a moment as she turned to look at him.

"Hu…," Olivia half responded in shock. She knew one day she'd have to run into him. Today was that day. "Hi," she said again, this time fully acknowledging him professionally. Her energy hit him like a ghost that had come back to life.

"We were called about an assault possible rape" he started.

"I called it in. I was on my way home from work. This is my neighborhood-"

"I know…."

Both of them froze as he said it. He knew? Unable to figure out who should continue, they spiraled in the silence.

Cragen came up from behind Elliot and broke their thoughts. "Captain Cragen, with Manhattan SVU. You call in the rape?"

Olivia's eyes flickered from Cragen to Elliot and then back to the victim, who was now ready to be taken to the hospital. "I'll meet you at the hospital," Olivia waved as the doors closed up.

"Captain Cragen, we met last year when I applied for your open detective position."

"Oh yes. I remember. Officer Olivia Benson. You're still on my radar."

She grew flush and changed the subject. "Ah, yeah. yeah, so let me quickly fill you in," she answered professionally.

"There were about 8 young men, college aged, 19-22 years in age, grouped at the opening of the alley. I heard them getting loud. Sounded like an assault. Went to check it out, and our man Sheffield over there."

She pointed to the drunk boy who was trying to sleep standing up.

"Jerk off with his pants around his ankles," Elliot asked.

"That'd be the one. He was on top of our vic, who's name is Stacey. I didn't get much from Stacey. Except that she was supposed to meet up with one of the boys, a Aaron Kirkland at this bar. Aaron brought his friends. She apparently has been having sex with these boys for money, but tonight they decided to roofie her drink. No consent."

"So they decided to get a freebie," Elliot added.

"Exactly," She finished.

"So let's start with finding Aaron Kirkland and locking up pantsless Peter," Elliot started in.

Cragen stopped him "I'll have Munch and Brian take over the perps. Thanks for getting those details, Olivia…ah what jurisdiction are you," Cragen asked.

"She works with my old partner in the Bronx," Elliot answered for her, and she gave him a strong look. He answered her glare ",I still talk to Marlow. We dated a bit, and were able to leave on mature terms," he made sure add.

Cragen was now giving him a curt look.

"Great. Glad you could catch us all up. I assume you know Detective Stabler," Cragen gave Elliot a serious brow.

"I do," is all Olivia wanted to say in front of a man she respected and wanted to work for someday.

Cragen finished his thoughts ", Manhattan SVU will take it from here, Olivia. Thank you for everything-."

"Actually," Olivia stopped him. "I'm a Junior Detective for Bronx SVU now, not a beat cop. I know it's not my jurisdiction, but I promised the victim I'd stay with her through the rape kit. I'd like to tag along if that's okay."

"Up to you," Cragen said. "Why don't you ride with Elliot, and I'll meet you both at the hospital as soon as I get Sheffield started in interrogation."

"On it, Cap," Elliot responded. He went stiff towards Olivia the second his boss was gone. She hurt his feelings three years ago, and he hadn't gotten over it. In fact, the whole thing utterly confused him. Yet the gentleman in him still opened the car door for her, and minded his manners. They followed the ambulance to Mount Siani in silence for a moment.

Elliot tossed a feeble attempt of professional her way. "Did you get a good look at any of the other guys?"

"It was dark. I remember a tall blonde. He was clearly calling the shots. But my eyes were immediately pulled to the victim and the guy on top of her. We can only hope Stacey can pick some of them out, and that your captain finds this Aaron."

Elliot nodded and bleeped the siren a few times to clear the streets of pedestrians and traffic.

"How long you been with Bronx SVU?"

"You tell me. You clearly know everything about me," she gave him side eye.

"Marlow left Manhattan SVU 6 months ago, so you've been there at least 6 months."

"About a year," she answered, disgusted to know he and Marlow were a thing. She could barely stand Jo Marlow. She was full of herself, and she never let Olivia get in on the action. "I…applied for Manhattan SVU, but…looks like they filled the position," she said looking at him.

"Oh I've been with SVU 2 years. Brian the Putz beat you out on that. They only take grade 1 in this unit. Too bad too. You're already better than he is."

"Was that a compliment?," she jabbed, half attempting to ease the awkwardness of this car ride and half out of habit to joke around with him.

"Yeah it was. See, I'm not a bad guy," he sniffed, seriously so.

Olivia softened her edge. "I bet you're good with SVU victims."

Elliot swallowed hard and kept his eyes on the road. He could give a compliment but he wasn't good at getting one. "Probably," was all he could say.

They sat in silence some more and Elliot finally said it. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"What, just now?"

"That time we met up at the cafe. I probably shouldn't have taken you to the gym. That was…I wasn't thinking. It was a bone head move. That was insensitive."

Olivia's brow furrowed. "oh, that date was amazing. I still think of you every time I have to do a chock hold…not that it's often or ever that I'm chock holding, but when it comes up, you…probably saved my life with that move. Best date I've ever been on."

"Oh…" now it was Elliot's turn to be confused.

They pulled into the hospital valet and Olivia got out with him close behind.

"So," he chased after her with a million questions on his mind. "Why did you ghost me for 3 years?"

Olivia clipped down the hallway toward the elevator not wanting to respond. "Oh…I…just have been so busy. I got lazer focused."

She clicked the elevator button four times fast.

Elliot stood next to her. They were shoulder to shoulder. "Mm…," he thought and let the silence take over.

Which drove Olivia mad. The silence.

"I mean, you…" she broke it. "have your hands full with…your career and mom and…everything."

The doors opened and they went to the third floor.

"I didn't read the room wrong though, we…had a good time right?," he genuinely needed to know.

Olivia squirmed. "We did. And in a parallel universe we'd be…a great couple."

Elliot tried to stop her. "Hang on. What's wrong with this universe?"

Olivia flipped out her badge for the nurse behind the desk to see. "We had a vic brought in just now. Stacey."

"Room 401."

"Thanks," she turned to Elliot. "I don't know what kind of arrangement you and Kathy have, but I'm not into polygamy."

Elliot silently mouthed the word "polygamy.," as he walked behind her dumbfounded.

"Liv-now hang on."

"Detective Benson," she corrected. "I worked hard for that title and we're on the clock. Can we talk about this some other time," she stopped him and gave him her wide serious brown eyes.

"Sure, I'm just not sure I understand what you mean-"

She turned and pushed the door to 401 open.

"Hi Stacey," she smiled.

The girl was tripping. "I thought you left me! They want to do a rape kit. I don't want to do that," she panicked.

"Stacey, I know you're scared, but this really needs to happen. I'll be with you the whole time."

"But I told Aaron, he and his fraternity boys could meet up with me tonight, so it's not rape."

"Did you know you were drugged?," Elliot chimed in.

"No. Aaron usually meets me alone and then we drive to a hotel," she whimpered, looking at him for the first time.

"This is…my partner, Elliot Stabler," Olivia made up quickly on the spot, the second she saw the fear in Stacey's face.

"So I'm your partner now?," he mumbled, taking his notebook out, licking his finger to flip open the pages, all while locking his stealy blue eyes onto her every move.

"You see Stacey," he continued talking. "if you know what the status of the date is you can consent. It's a free country. If you're drugged and you can't consent to 8 guys in one night, that's being violated or assaulted. You could go further and say, even if communication is…off, and that person takes advantage of you. Like say, they drop your name to get a job, but won't pick up their phone to talk to you. That's called poor communication and being taken advantage of. Showing up at their job to get a job. Possible violation."

"Knowing a woman's address before you've been invited to her house. Stocking," Olivia added.

And the two of them glared at each other from both sides of the bed.

"Are we still talking about rape?," Stacey mumbled.

Olivia slapped the side of the bed and turned her eyes away from Elliot. "Stacey, what Stabler is-"

"Detective," he cleared his throat. "I worked hard for that title too."

Olivia was seething. "What Detective Stabler is trying to say is that it doesn't matter if your intention was to have sex with these boys. You were drugged by them and unconscious. That is rape. They could have really hurt you, Stacey, killed you even. And studies show, that your friend Aaron, who probably came up with this idea, is not likely to stop these actions. He could do this to another woman or multiple women. So it's important for us all to do as much as we can in this moment to stop the cycle. You want to stop the cycle right?"

Stacey nodded.

"Great should I get the rape kit started?," she softly asked.

"Yes," Stacey nodded.

"Give me a moment to find a nurse."

Olivia and Elliot walked back into the hallway.

"What is wrong with you?," Olivia snapped.

"That was really good bedside manners," Elliot genuinely wanted to tell her.

"Well, I've done better, but someone was monologuing a feeling he should have gotten over in therapy," she whisper yelled at him thinking he was being sarcastic.

"I meant that as a compliment, by the way, but now that you've brought up my untapped feelings," he mirrored her whisper yell. "You. You ghosted me after, and I quote, 'the best date you've ever had,' for years! Years I walk around thinking that I lost a….a…"

"Me," she finished for him in hushed anger.

"You! And never got an explanation why. Got your answering machine."

"Which, I never gave you my phone number!," she jumped.

"Yeah, You think I'm not embassarased now after that fact that I violated your privacy," he got slightly louder.

She stepped closer to him. "Well you should be. That is a violation!," she hissed.

He stepped in closer to her. "Which wouldn't have been had you answered your phone. I had to cab to Riker's practically, and bribe the front desk at the academy to get that, thinking you'd think it was 'magical' to hear from me. And nothing. Ghosted."

"You wanted to make it magical," she said in her normal calmer voice this time. She was violating every inch of his space as she searched his sweet eyes.

"And then used me as a reference behind my back to get a job," he responded in his normal calm voice.

Their lips were inches from each other. Their hearts beating wildly under their shirts.

"Tell me what I did. You like to give second chances. Give me a second chance," he asked. His young overly confident personality took over the doubt he sometimes carried, but not tonight. He had nothing to lose tonight. He wanted all of the answers, and the girl.

Olivia pulled away and headed to the nurses station.

"Can we get a rape kit in 401 please," she asked the busy nurse.

"We're low on staff tonight, but yeah sweety. Give me 30-40 minutes."

Olivia nodded and then turned to find Elliot still there, now in her bubble.

She thought about answering him, but there was that damn necklace with the wedding band on it again. She was so annoyed that she had to explain herself. Wasn't it obvious to him that she didn't date married men.

She pushed past him and sat outside Stacey's room.

He shook his head, followed, and sat on the other side of the hallway.

"You should go in there and tell her it's gonna be awhile. She might need to call family. 30-40 minutes easily means 60-90 in this place," Elliot coldly said from his hard seat.

She leaned forward in her chair and let her head rest in both hands for a moment. She needed to recharge. She'd just gotten off of a 10 hour shift in the Bronx to come home to this and now a brooding man from her past.

"Sure," she sighed "I'll do that. You don't have to babysit me, you know. You can go home to your wife and kid…or is it kids now? I've got this."

Elliot's brow practically ate his eyes. "I don't have a wife and kids."

"I saw them after our date."

"So it was a date."

"Kathy and your little girl who you were holding. You wouldn't talk about you, because you're married. It's right there on your neck."

Elliot looked down at his necklace and then thought about how the end of that date went with Kathy showing up hysterical about Joey never being home.

He leaned in towards her.

"Liv, Kathy's married to my brother Joey and that little girl is my niece."

Olivia's mouth dropped and she froze in silence.

"You seem pretty wiped," he finished. "If you want to go home. I have plenty of experience and can handle the vic in my own jurisdiction."

Elliot puffed up his chest, stood up, and walked into the room with Stacey.

A minute later he came back out. Olivia was still there. He sat on the chair next to her this time.

Her head was against the wall and her eyes were closed.

"You really thought I was married?," Elliot softly asked.

"Because you had a wedding ring on your necklace," she said with closed eyes and then lifted her face to look him directly in the eye. "And you were vague about your life. You never once explained what happened with Kathy or the baby, and it felt too personal to ask outright. Also…I have daddy issues…so I suppose I didn't trust you."

"Hmm…" Elliot nodded, his eyes glued to hers. "You could have asked."

That didn't make this better, though. He wiggled around in his chair. He had to say more than that. He had to get vulnerable.

"Also…I'm not real great about sharing things...I guess I have daddy issues too, so…we both have our thing."

"That's what I'm gathering," she half smiled. She then sighed and pulled her hair away from her face.

"we're a real pair here, aren't we," he warmly added.

She slowly smiled back. "You want a coffee?"

"Only if you're buying," he said half joking. "I'll also take dinner too, maybe on a different night when we aren't working…"

"Like a date?"

His soft grin formed, and she couldn't resist it.

"Third times a charm," he winked.