SVU: Let me remodel your thinking

Disclaimers: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and its characters-Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson, Donald Cragen, Odafin ‘Fin’ Tutuola, John Munch, M.E Warner, George Huang and Alexandra Cabot- belong to Wolf Films, Universal Network, and NBC Studios. No copyright infringements whatsoever are intended. I own the original characters and the story. And no, I am not making any money off of this, I am just having some fun.

-“Thank you guys so much for coming “, said the woman as she held the little Tom Cat in her arms.

They smiled and nodded at her as they took off. Elliot stayed behind to help her with the clean up. He was setting some of the glasses and plates in the dishwasher when the phone rang. Nessa hurried to pick up the phone and answered in a happy voice.

-“Hello!”

That was all he head from the kitchen. Apparently she kept her voice low while speaking. A mumbled “I’ll be right there” was heard coming from the living room and then she stepped into the doorway. She seemed pale, concerned, eaten out by something he could not exactly point out.

-“You ok ?” he asked and walked up to her.

-“Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just .. I am a little tired. It has been a very long day”, she murmured and smiled at him. “Look I appreciate you helping me but, I can take it from here. I am really tired and I’d like to get some sleep”

Elliot was dumbstruck but he did not let it show. She was literally asking him to go home and leave her alone. What was going on with this woman? One moment she’s allowing him to kiss her, flirts with him and the next she politely hints that it would be best for the man to take a hike. Yet she seemed nervous, her eyes kept moving to the clock on the wall and she fidgeted with her bracelet almost constantly.

-“Are you sure yer alright?”, he asked once more in an attempt to get more than a simple Yes from her.

-“Yes yes… perfectly sure. I just have to go to bed, that is all”

-“Ok. I’ll see you in the morning then”, said the man and grabbed his coat.

She followed him to the door with a faint smile. How she hated to keep this from him, but it could not be helped. No one could know, not even him. He turned to look at her while one hand pulled the door open. Maybe he wanted to kiss her but the way she was acting made him think twice. If this was a game then he was not going to play it. A glacial hug was exchanged and he stepped through the door.

-“Good night Nessa”

-“Night”, she murmured and closed the door behind him.

-“GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!” she cursed and slammed her fist against the wall. “Why me?!!”

With quick moves she entered the large bedroom and slid out of the dress and shoes. A pair of thick leather pants replaced the dress and it was adorned with a tight leather top, her jacket and the boots. Her racing costume was on. On her way out she slid her personal gun around her waist, grabbed the helmet and the key and dashed out of the apartment. On the lower levels rested the garage. Within, the Hayabusa seemed to await peacefully for its rider. Nessa mounted it, fired up the engine, grabbed the gloves from the helmet, slipped the SHOEI helmet on and then her gloves. She kicked the kickstand and made her way out of the garage. The moment the motorcycle reached the street she sunk her hand over the acceleration and the large machine tore down the street with a menacing sound.
Elliot knew something was wrong. He parked his car around the corner from where he had a good view of the garage exit. The moment he heard the motorcycle he knew something was up. The lazy Ford took in after her at a safe distance. He found it hard to keep up with the woman on the quick vehicle but he did his best. He was just a couple of blocks behind her, but he could still make out the tail light of the bike. Soon Elliot found himself passing through Manhattan and heading down to 14th street. She pulled her machine to a stop, leaned it on the kickstand and slowly dismounted. She took off her helmet and looked around briefly to see if anyone followed her. Her footsteps took her inside the building.
Elliot found himself waiting and waiting. He sat there for a couple of hours but she didn’t come out.He decided that maybe she just went up to meet a friend, some boyfriend she did not want anyone to know about. With that thought in mind he just cursed slightly to himself for being so silly and falling into her little trap, as he considered it. Sure he was not going to stick around and wait.


The next day Olivia walked into the precinct with the infamous coffee for Elliot and herself. She sat down at her desk and started looking over some papers. It seemed to be a nice and easy day. He was not there yet and she smirked at the thought of him probably spending the night over at Nessa’s place. Fin stopped by and called out at her.

-“Where’s lover boy?”

-“Huh? Oh I don’t know, he’ll be here soon. Why?”, asked Liv and quirked a brow at Fin

-“Nothin’ important. She ain’ here either?”

-“Nope. “, she answered blankly and just left it at that.

About 10 minutes later Elliot came in. He ran for the coffee and grabbed it immediately. Liv looked at him with a smile and a little bit of mischief in her eyes. Elliot returned the looks and folded his arms over his chest as he leaned against the desk.

-“What?”

-“Nothing”, chuckled Olivia and sipped her coffee while still eyeing Elliot. “So, how did you sleep last night?”

-“I didn’t”, he said and sighed. “This headache kept me up all night. “

-“That’s what they call em nowadays?” , giggled Olivia and probed her partner with her glance

Elliot rolled his eyes at her and looked around searching for Vanessa. She was not one to be late, but maybe after her little escapade she felt tired and needed more sleep.

-“Yeah. I left her place a few minutes after you guys did”

-“Really?”, she asked and eyed him suspiciously “How so ? You guys kept exchanging sweet glances all night”.

-“Yeah, she was nervous about something. I left”

Olivia was very forward with him. He did the same with her when it came to Casey. They both knew it was pointless to hide certain things from each other. Besides that, he seemed quite concerned with something. She didn’t ask him any further questions.
Time passed quickly. Little loose ends needed to be tied with some cases. It kept them busy. When it was about 10 in the morning Fin finally got pissed.

-“Ok, ya gotta tell me something. Where the heck is that woman?”, he asked rather upset. He did not appreciate people slacking off and missing hours at work. Some of them pulled long hours like mad, went out for a drink and still got in on time. He cared only to little if she was good at what she was doing. They all were and they were veterans in this and yet never got in late for work.

-“I don’t know”, admitted Liv and then looked at Elliot.

-“Let me call her”, he said and picked up the phone. He dialed her number and waited. The phone rang but soon he got nothing but her voice mail. “No answer”, he stated clearly concerned.

-“Stabler, Benson, got a call. “,said Munch and handed Liv the address.

-“Got it”, she said and grabbed the piece of paper.

They both headed down to the parking lot. Elliot got in the car and buckled up. He was silent and seemed as if his mind was somewhere else. She watched him and then looked over the paper.

-“Elliot I’m sure she’s just tired. Maybe she slept in and didn’t realize it “

-“Where’re we going?”, he asked totally dismissing her remark and trying to change the subject.

-“330 14th street”, she answered

-“Are you sure?”, he asked as his face turned pale.

-“Yeah”, said Liv and looked over the paper once more “Elliot are you ok?”, she inquired after seeing her partner turn white.

-“I’ll be when we get there”.

The car tore down the road at an unearthly speed. Liv looked over at him but did not feel it was needed to say anything else. Maybe he knew some one down there. He was livid. His hands gripped the steering wheel and his eyes were locked onto the road. It seemed like hours to him. Each minute passed painfully slow and each mile appeared to be endless. He pulled the car to a stop in front of the yellow tape. Without another word the man jumped out of the vehicle and made his way towards the entrance of the building.

-“Stabler, SVU. “, he called and pushed the officers out of his way.

-“3rd floor”, came the voice of an officer.

His feet couldn’t have carried him faster up those stairs. He was running. His heart was sinking, he felt scared. That was her motorcycle and it hadn’t been moved since last night. She was there, he saw her come in but didn’t wait for Nessa to come out. If anything happened to her it was his fault. Him and his pride, his doubt, all that could have harmed her. The apartment was filled with doctors and cops. On one side of the room, on the tattered bed lay a woman and 3 medics were hovering over her. He couldn’t see who it was. She had a mask on her face to help her breath, an iv in her bruised arm and the doctors were trying to get her on a mobile bed. As soon as they had moved the woman, they made their way past him in a hurry. He caught a glimpse of her. That perfect face was all messed up, she wad cut and bruised, her delicate arms bore the marks of a fight. Elliot felt sick to his stomach. He had let that happen. His rage was building, he could barely control himself. Every part of his body demanded that he follow the doctors and ask them about her, ask them if she was going to be alright. A comforting hand touched his shoulder.

-“I’m sorry Detective”, spoke Warner and looked at him with sad eyes.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm, to keep his composure for her sake and his own.

Olivia pulled the keys out of the ignition and calmly moved to the scene. As she passed under the yellow tape her eyes rested upon the black motorcycle. Her heart sunk for a few seconds . ~It’s not her~, she told herself and then decided it was best to go find Elliot.. and fast. She follow a cop to the 3rd level of the building and when she was about to go through the door she was met by a hysterical man. He was shouting something about murder, about blood everywhere but she could not hear him. Her eyes locked upon the beaten frame of Nessa and instantly she knew Elliot needed her and some answers.

-“Take care of him”, she quickly said and motioned to an officer. The cop took the hysterical man off her hands so she could go in the room.

Elliot looked at her with empty eyes. No one needed to be a shrink to realize just what was going on in the man’s heart. Liv was walking on thin ice, and so was everyone else. For some reason he felt responsible but she did not know why. Warner motioned for her to come closer. In the room the smell of death was intoxicating. The body of a woman was in a chair, a blood pool formed under her. She was tied to the chair with thick rope, gagged.
-“What happened?”, Olivia finally asked and kept looking back from Elliot to Warner.

-“Your partner was badly beaten. She has suffered multiple fractures to her arms and legs, several cuts and bruises.”, started Warner but Elliot interrupted her.

-“What she raped?”, asked the man slowly.

-“I wouldn’t pronounce just yet Detective”

-“Was she raped?”, he asked once more stressing out each word. It was clear he was trying hard to keep his emotions at bay.

-“Probably yes”, admitted Warner.

Elliot just lowered his eyes and walked out of the room. Liv turned to look at the doctor and nodded. She knew that he needed help. This was hard on him , perhaps due to those growing feelings he had for the woman. He hadn’t been himself all day. She followed him outside the apartment.

-“Elliot she’ll be fine”, stated Liv and placed a hand upon his shoulder. “look, why don’t you go to the hospital and check on her, I’ll take care of business here”

He turned to look at her and lowered his eyes. The pain and guilt he was feeling was almost unbearable. Duty before everything. To hell with that.

-“Elliot, go”, Liv continued as she got no answer from him.

A few hours later Stabler was clinging desperately to a cup of coffee. His restless form moved up and down the corridor. He was waiting on the doctors. They had been working on Vanessa for the past couple of hours. His phone rang and immediately he brought it to his ear.

-“Stabler”

-“Hey, it’s me”, said Olivia “How’s she doing?”

-“I don’t know. They finished stitching her up , got her on an IV and that is about all I know. The doctor’s preparing a report for us and getting the rape kit results in”, he said in a clearly upset voice. “What’d you find out ?”

-“Look, it can wait”

-“No, I waited enough. Tell me what ya got Liv”

-“Maybe you should come down to the station”, she murmured and hung up the phone.

Elliot was met by the doctor. He handed him the file and the results from the rape kit. All they could do was wait for her to wake up and give a statement. The doctor assured him that the woman was in good hands, he also promised to give a call the moment she was out of her sleep. Elliot took the file and sighed. This was so surreal. He let this one slip between his fingers. Yes, he had the power to stop her from going out that night, had the power to probe her until she finally came clear with him… but no… he had to be proud.. so fucking stupid and proud.
It wasn’t long and he had arrived at the station. Olivia, Fin , Munch and Cragen were there, waiting for him. By the looks on their faces this was not good. Fin seemed enraged, Liv was in pure disbelief , Munch kept it to himself and Crage.. well he was just dumbstruck at the news. Stabler walked up to them and cast questioning glances towards the squad members.

-“What’s goin on ?”

-“Elliot I’m afraid we have a problem”, Cragen said and handed him a ballistics report on a weapon.

-“What’s this ?”, asked Elliot and narrowed his eyes at Don.

-“Annie Marquise is our victim. 35 years old, part of the Farlern Motorcycle Racing Team, former student at Tri State, currently unemployed. She was shot in the chest with a Magnum Black Talon right after she was raped. The body was found on a chair. She was tied to it with some sort of rope, gagged with a sock. “, Liv started and kept her eyes on him

-“The gun that popped our vic open is registered to Vanessa Carter. He prints are on the gun, said Fin and snarled as he pointed the information out for Elliot.

-“That doesn’t mean anything”, Elliot said and put down the report. “Some one could have taken the gun from her and shoot the woman. IF the perp wore gloves then there would be no prints except hers”

-“We’ll know soon enough”, said Cragen and paused for a second. “You got the file from the hospital?”

-“Right here”, answered Stabler and handed over the report.

Cragen opened it and looked through the pages slowly. His features seemed to darken and sadden. He sighed and looked up at them.

-“I asked for a residue test on her hands, it came out positive. “ He lowered his eyes and inhaled “ When she wakes up get there and arrest her”

-“Hold on, she’s a victim here just as that woman is. We can’t just arrest her”, Elliot snapped.

-“Calm down. I don’t like to do this either but the evidence indicates her. One shot, one bullet one victim and the blood is on Carter’s hands”, said Cragen and then walked away.

He stopped after a few steps and then turned to them.

-“If anyone has a problem with this care feel free to walk now. I now it’s hard when it hits home, but we gotta do our job”

Stabler was in shock. How could he deal with such a turn of events. One moment she is the victim, the other she is the murderer. IT couldn’t be. Something was wrong.. very wrong. He sat down and looked up at Liv and Fin. Tutuola was not happy and he just turned around and made his way to his desk. Munch sighed and did the same.

-“Hey.. we’ll get to the bottom of this”, said Liv and smiled at Elliot.

-“This doesn’t make sense.”

-“What?”

-“I left her apartment around 1. I told you she got a call from some one. It made her all jumpy and almost threw me out of the house. So I left her alone. Took the car and parked it around the corner. 20 minutes later she’s flying out of the garage on her motorcycle . I followed her till 330 14th street. She got off the bike, walked in. Guess I waited there for 2 hours.. got tired and decided that she was with some friend so I just went back home”, Elliot said.

-“I’m on it… hold yer horses”, Fin mumbled and cast a cold glance at Elliot and Liv.

A couple of minutes later the man returned with a long list of numbers. All the phone calls she had made or received in the past month were listed there. The three of them sat down and Liv grabbed a marker. They went through the list several times. Call to and from her parents, from the office and most importantly from Annie Marquise.

-“2 calls yesterday, one at 12:50. I was there.”, Elliot said and inhaled deeply. “So she calls Nessa and then Nessa turns around and kills her?”

-“Maybe, maybe not”, said Munch as he came to the gathering “ Listen to this. Both her and Annie went to the same university, same major, same classes. I just got of the phone with their advisor. He said he remembers them because they were joined at the hip. He says they came to the University together, so maybe they knew each other even before that time.” Munch paused to catch his breath then continued “ They both raced. He recalls them getting into trouble with some of the teachers for missing days in school due to races”

-“I’ll call the Farlan Team. Call me crazy but I think our girls raced together”, said Liv and moved to the phone.

Thank you for reading.
NEXT CHAPTER – Some interesting facts about Nessa’s life surface. See how her team members will deal with that.