Rebel (SVU Fanfic)

4

"Okay so I'm wrong. I'm wrong about everything, I know. I just want to be right."

"You are just like your mother," Elliot said.

"Don't remind me."

"But she doesn't admit she's wrong. So you're better than her in that sense. But she loves you. And your brother and your sist-"

"More than me," the teenager commented.

"That is not true. She loves you all equally and more than anything. You have to give her a chance to make things right."

"How can she when she's always at work?"

"It's hard. But I find time to go out with my kids. They're right over there."

Nicole looked up the slightest bit to see the twins sitting not too far away. She looked back down almost immediately.

"I just...I don't know. I don't trust people. Anymore."

"Why not?"

That was fairly simple question that had a fairly simple answer, but like she said, she didn't trust people. She only ever talked to this man for 3 minutes at most. How was she just supposed to openly explain herself?

Instead of answering, she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"Come on, it stays between us," Elliot told her.

"Don't treat me like a victim. I get what you're doing. Mom does it to me."

"Does what?" he asked incredulously.

"Gets all understanding and quiet and tries to be up close and personal and relate to a victim, which I am not!"

"Never said you were," he said with a nervous laugh, trying to pretend he had no clue what she was talking about.

"Sure."

"Does it have to do with your father?"

Nicole's entire body froze up at the question. How did he know?

"No," she lied. It had everything to do with her father. She just wouldn't  admit it. "I should probably get home. I'm not supposed to be out."

The teen started standing up, but felt Elliot's arm on her shoulder. Her body jerked at the touch.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Oh, no!" Nicole said, trying to sound real. "It's not you. I just...me and trust aren't very good friends."

"You've gotta trust someone sometime. It won't even leave this table."

"Does this table include Mom?" she asked, knowing Olivia could figure anything out of nothing. It was her job for gods sake.

"No. Of course it doesn't."

They say back down again, but Nicole just stared at her half-drunken drink.

"My dad left like two years ago because Mom was never home. He loved us but couldn't handle it anymore. Mom blamed him for everything but I blame her. Now, I have to watch the younger two. I'm playing parent and I don't want to! I'm sick of it. I love my brother and sister but I can't be a mom for them."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"A million times."

"I could say something," Elliot offered.

The teen's eyes bugged a little and she quick said, "No, you can't! Please, don't."

"Why not?"

"She has her...her moods," Nicole admitted. "When things get hard for her, she bottles it up until she breaks. When the divorce came around, my parents still loved each other. But she lied and said she was going to be okay alone. She laid in bed for three days once he moved out!"