Law & Order: Special Victims Unit


Summary: Detective Olivia Benson's next case leads her to a 16-year-old rape victim. While investigating her case, the two become close. But what Olivia discovers about this girl's past shocks the whole squad. Is this girl the key to bringing back Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot?

Reviews welcome, but please be nice.

SVU Squadroom

Detective Olivia Benson sat at her desk in the empty squadroom looking at a picture she had sitting in a frame on her desk. It was a picture of her and the former Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot. The picture was taken at the Cabot's summerhouse up in York Beach. It was a bright, sunny summer day in early August almost two years earlier. They were celebrating the one-year anniversary of their first date, so Alex's parents had let them have the house for the week. Luckily, they both had so much unused vacation time that they were able to go without arousing suspicion.

Olivia sat there thinking, as she always did when she looked at the picture. Naturally, she began to think of Alex and a million and one questions flew through her mind. Where is Alex? Is she safe? What is she doing? What is she thinking about? Is she happy? Has she found someone new? Is she still alive? Those are just a few of the long lists of questions that haunted Olivia every day. But the truth is, she didn't know and she wouldn't until Alex came back, if she came back.

Then she got to thinking of how life had changed since Alec's 'death'. For one thing, she didn't spend half the time at Alex's apartment that she used to. To go along with the story that Alex had died, the Feds had turned Alex's apartment over to her parents and they had, in turn, given it to Olivia. As much as she loved being in the spacious apartment rather than her own cramped apartment, it was just too painful at times. Sometimes when she was there, her longing for Alex became unbearable, but at other times being in the apartment made her feel close to Alex.

She had also become more distant from people at work. She couldn't even remember the last time she confided in Elliot. Before Alex's 'death', they had shared everything, even that she and Alex were together. She also didn't feel like yelling at Munch when he voiced his conspiracy theories or when he claimed to be sick when there was a case that needed immediate attention in the middle of the night. Fin's jokes didn't seem funny anymore and when Cragen yelled at her, she just turned a deaf ear.

Although, she had befriended Casey Novak, the new ADA assigned to Special Victims. They had a lot in common and had become good friends, but Casey wasn't Alex.

Olivia used to love life and live every day to the fullest. She went horseback riding, swimming, rock climbing, kickboxing and to other similar activities a few times a month. She and Alex also would go to the movies, out to dinner or to a club at least once a week, in addition to their morning runs through Central Park. But now all she does is work, eat, sleep and repeat the process over and over, day after day. But now all of her free time was spent trying to find a way to bring Alex back, by working on any and all cases related to Alex and Cesar Valez.

She felt a single tear roll down her cheek and immediately wiped it away. No one was in the room, she knew that, but she also knew that there were other people in the building and seeing as it is a police station, anyone could walk in at moment. There were also security cameras through out the squadroom. It would be bad enough to have someone see her crying, but it would be an entirely different ballgame to have it on tape.