SVU in Chicago

Back in New York

I was discharged from the hospital after two days. I then flew back to New York with the rest of the SVU squad. My mood was melancholy since I was happy to be home but instantly missed Elliot. It took me so long to finally move on from his first absence and part of me hated to admit that I never fully moved on. I let him back into my life, fell into bed with him, and now we were separated again. We had been talking on the phone and via text, but I yearned to be back in his bed. He told me that he was looking to transfer back to NYPD, but nothing was open yet and these things took time. I wanted to believe him when he said he would move back to New York, but I knew that he would never leave Eli and I'm sure he still had a connection to Kathy. I decided to do what I do best and bury myself in my work again which was always easy to do since criminals never took a vacation.

Two months had passed since I left Chicago when a high-profile case came to our precinct. I was called to the Ritz Carlton hotel where I was told our victim was staying in the penthouse. She had flown to New York for a three-night concert performance with her first concert being last night. I arrived at her hotel room and spoke with the cop that arrived first. He told me that the victim was Tiana Smith, and she says someone broke into her hotel room last night and physically and sexually assaulted her. I found her sitting on the couch in the large hotel suite and introduced myself to her. She looked up at me as I tried to hide the shock at her bruised and swollen face. She had a large cut across her left cheek and her right eye was swollen shut with a purple hue already starting to form around hit. She was shaking all over despite being wrapped in large blanket. I sat down next to her and placed my arm around her shoulders and felt her flinch at the touch. I said to her, "I know exactly how you feel right now and as much as you want to put all of this behind you, I really need you to tell me what happened." She shook her head and started crying, "I can't do this right now. I have a concert tonight that I need to get ready for. I'm fine. It's not a big deal."

I closed my eyes remembering back to how I felt immediately after being rescued from Lewis. I just wanted to be alone since everyone around me just stared at me with pity. Everyone treated me like fragile glass that would break at any moment, and I hated it. I was determined to not treat Tiana like that and said, "Tiana, look at me. You have been assaulted and you need time to process this. I would cancel the rest of your New York tour and focus on your healing inside and out. We need to catch the bastard that did this to you. I can speak from experience that you are not fine, and you will need help to work through this." She then looked at me with her one blue eye that was open, "I'm scared. I thought the penthouse was safe. I had ordered room service and thought that was who was knocking at the door. I opened the door and a man dressed in all black with a ski mask shoved his way into my room before I even realized what was happening." I responded, "A tray of the food you ordered was found outside the hotel room so he must have posed as a hotel employee to gain access up here. We are checking cameras and investigating all the staff here. Can you tell me what happened after he pushed his way in?" She swallowed hard and said, "He turned me around and grabbed my hair. I tried to fight back by kicking him in the shin, but he got angrier and shoved my face against the wall so hard I was dizzy. He then shoved me towards the bedroom and threw me down on the bed. He climbed on top of me and held my wrists above my head with one hand while pulling out a knife with the other. He then told me that I was his soul mate, and we were meant to be together. He said he didn't understand why I was fighting back when he knew I wanted him. I tried to wriggle out from his grasp but then he used the knife and cut me across the face." She let out a loud sob and I wasn't sure if she was going to say anymore when she uttered, "He told me if I continued to fight, he would gut me. After that, I just froze just trying to survive. He ripped off my pants and raped me." I told her how sorry I was she had to go through that. I told her that she did everything right since she survived, and this wasn't her fault even though I knew she felt some guilt. I still feel guilt at times about Lewis asking myself why I let him take me hostage and what could I have done differently to prevent what happened to me. I then explained how important it was to get a rape kit and we would need to take her to the hospital. She fought me at first but then hesitantly agreed after I said that I would stay with her the whole time. While Tiana was gathering her things to get ready to ride to the hospital, I had a sudden wave of nausea overcome me. I ran to the bathroom and got sick. I really hoped I wasn't coming down with this stomach bug that had been going around.

Tiana's rape kit was positive for semen. There was no match in CODIS but that would make the case too easy. Tiana finally did end up cancelling the rest of her New York tour so she could physically and emotionally start to heal. The media was all over this posting about a superstar getting raped in her own hotel room in New York. Someone must have gotten paid to leak the story. I headed back to the precinct to see if there were any open rapes with similar motives to what happened to Tiana. I was finding it very hard to concentrate since I still felt nauseous and then a text came through that made me smile.

E: "Hey Beautiful, thinking about you and missing you."

O: "Miss you too. Having a tough day and wish you were here."

E: "Wish I could be there to make it better. Have to stay in Chicago a little longer until something opens up with NYPD."

I let out a deep sigh. I knew I should have never let him back into my life. Things were always so complicated with us, and it felt like the universe was always keeping us apart. He stole my heart again and now was breaking it again. Part of me just wanted to move on and the other part of me knew deep down I could never move on from Elliot Stabler.

O: "I am feeling a little under the weather today, so I am going to try and get some rest."

E: "Sorry to hear that. I will check on you later."

I went home and locked myself in my apartment and laid down for a nap. I was exhausted and pretty sure I was coming down with something. Little did I know what the next week had in store for me.