The Affair

One

In the early hours of the morning, Elliot Stabler was attempting to be quieter than a mouse as he got ready for work. He'd gotten a call from Liv twenty minutes ago to meet her at Mercy for a victim that was raped and beaten nearly to death. Kathy had shifted when he got up, but didn't wake. Luckily enough, no one had woken up, even Eli. 

At the Hospital, Liv was waiting in the lobby of the ER pacing. She tended to do that on days that there was a bad case. "Liv, whats up?" Elliot breathed a sigh as he pulled his badge to show the nurses to let them through the doors. 

"Fourteen year old girl raped at school then beaten afterwords and dumped in the park," she stated as they got to her room. "Names Lydia Viret."

A badly bruised girl was sitting up staring at her hands out of one eye. The other was swollen shut and black as night. Her lip was bloodied and several other bruises covered her arms. "Lydia, I'm Detective Benson, this is my partner Detective Stabler. We'd like to as you what happened today."

She looked at them and sighed. "Greg Williams and his posse raped me in the locker rooms." She stated with a sour face. 

Elliot listened intently as she recanted the story of how Greg Williams and his gang took turns raping her in the showers and then beat her up. His question was how did they get her to the park without anyone seeing how bad she looked. What was worse was this Greg was her boyfriend. As they left the room, Liv sighed. "You okay?" Elliot asked as they made their way to the cars. 

"Yeah, just that girl seems so broken, but at the same time so in love with the guy. How can you be in love with a guy that raped you? Not only rape you has his friends rape you." She shook her head. 

"Denial. They think their loved ones can do no wrong. What's worse is the people that know their loved ones can make mistakes and do wrong, but still deny that they had done anything bad that time.  Remember Cleary? The wife didn't believe that her husband was a rapist for almost two years." Elliot stated. 

Liv walked to the SUV as Elliot walked the opposite to his car. "I just don't understand why she wont press charges though."

"She loves him, Liv. Love makes you do stupid things." He responded simply. 

She didnt respond to that. "See you at the precinct."

Elliot watched as Liv got into the car and drove off to the office. Love makes you do stupid things. In his case, love makes you hide your feelings from the one person who you want to be with. Kathy and he still wasn't getting along after Eli was born. Oftentimes he goes out to have drinks with Liv instead of going home early. 

He'd rather be with Liv than his wife, and that makes him feel sick to his stomach. However at the same time he cant help the way he feels. He tried with a new partner and all it did was cause chaos in his life. With Liv in his life, as his partner, there was no chaos. They were best friends and could hangout for hours on end teasing each other with bits of flirting hidden within. 

"El, you okay?" Liv asked. They had gotten to the station house and started to write up reports as Cragen walked in looking tired. 

He jerked his head from where he was leaning watching an ant crawl across his desk. "Yeah, just thinking about what you said."

She halted from writing her DD5s and looked shocked at her partner and best friend. "What did I say that caused such a headache?"

"Lydia is a broken girl, that can't be from the rape only. Can it?" 

Liv tapped her pen to the desk. "Well Munch and Fin aren't here yet, wont be for a few hours. And the school doesn't open for five hours, so we can't go get any background yet on anyone."

Elliot grunted in response, tapping his fingers on the desk. "Coffee?" He asked her hopefully. 

She smiled her sweet smile that made Elliot smile. "Sure, lets grab some breakfast too. I'm starved." 

They headed out to their favorite vendor that was always open at their hours. "Hey, Stabler and Benson, your usual?"

Liv chucked, "Yeah, thanks." 

"No problem, on the house today guys. Only time you guys are here at this time is usually bad thing." He stated, grabbing two bagels with jelly and medium coffees. 

Liv and Elliot both nodded their thanks and went to a table at a local bistro to sit and eat. The bistro was closed but the chairs were still open to sitting. They ate in silence except when the vendor brought over a large plate of hash rounds for them to share. "Thanks Frank, we owe you."

Frank waved it off with his bright smile. It made both Elliot and Liv smile at each other and laugh. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Frank was trying to make this a date for us."

Elliot swallowed hard. He wanted nothing more than for this to be a date. But the metal on his ring finger was burning his hand. He glanced down at it, twirling his finger around it. "Franks a great guy, Liv and with our coffee addiction, he knows us way to well."

Liv faked a gasp. "Me, coffee addiction? Never in a million years." 

Laughing loudly, Elliot responded, "Then you won't object to me never bringing you coffee again."

She stopped laughing with Elliot to look at him seriously. "Please say you're joking," she looked at him worriedly. 

"What's wrong Benson? Already having withdrawls?" Elliot asked slyly with a grin. She took a hash round and threw it to Elliot. He caught it and popped it in is mouth, still grinning. 

"How's things going with Kathy?" Liv asked after a while. 

Elliot gritted his teeth for a moment. He didn't want to lie to her, but at the same time he did. Deciding to never lie to her, he said, "Still having problems. She accuses me of sleeping with another woman." He didn't name her name. He didn't want to upset her. 

"Who does she accuse you of sleeping with? You're always with me working." She responded shocked. He stared at her straight in the eyes, still fooling with his ring. "Oh," was all she said.