Simply Sonny: An SVU love story

Chapter 11: Evidence

"Baby, we're home!" Bella bubbles into the apartment with a smile on her face, "Sonny? Addison?" She calls out afterward just as the door opens.

"Hey! How was the wedding?" I ask her when she comes into the door, her fiancé close behind her.

"Fancy! Had a nice steak for dinner and everything." She tells me, leaning down to pick up her daughter, "did you have a good time with Uncle Sonny?" She bounces her up and down as she coo's.

"We went to the park yesterday, it was great." I inform her, "do you mind if I shower? Sonny left early this morning and I wasn't able to get one in before he left." I ask her shyly and explain a few minutes later.

"Of course, you don't have to ask Addison." She smiles gently to me and I nod gratefully. After showering, I get dressed and start to blow dry my hair. When I am done, I head out of the bathroom and to the kitchen to ask how I can help around the apartment. I feel bad just hanging around here and want to somehow make it up to her. As I walk out of the bathroom she lifts up her head, "Sonny called, they need you to go into the precinct."

"Oh, okay. Did he say what for?" I question back.

She shakes her head no, "no just told me to you he asked you to come in when you could."

"Okay. Thanks!" I smile and put my shoes on so I can head out. The cold air hits me hard as I walk to the subway station. I wait for the car to arrive in the crowded underground terminal. The smells and sounds keeping me distracted from reality. I don't know why they called me in but it obviously has to do with the case. I want to believe they found who did this to me but I don't know how fast that could've actually happened. The train car pulls into the station and I scoot past the many people piling in and out before the doors closes again. When I get to the station, I walk the familiar hallway to the crowded room and look for any one of the detectives I have met. I spot detective Rollins first and make my way over to her, "hi, detective Rollins?" I utter lowly.

She turns at the call of her name, "yes? Oh, Hi Addison. We're glad you were able to come in so quickly." She puts her arm behind me and starts to walk me to a room, "we have somethings to go over. Why don't you take a seat in here and I'll go tell Benson you're waiting." She opens the door to an interrogation room.

I wait for half an hour before the two of them return, a file in lieutenant Benson's hand. They sit down across from me and Benson speaks first, "so, I know detective Carisi told you about what happened with the DNA." I nod, letting her know I remember "well, we can't use anything we got from that evidence but I can tell you we did get something useful."

"What?" I ask, sitting closer to the table eagerly.

"So even though it wasn't Jason who raped you, the DNA matches someone related to him." Detective Rollins says this but I don't process it right away. Someone related? I think to myself, how do they even know that? "Does Jason have any brothers, cousins?" She asks me.

I shake my head, trying to think back to the year we dated, "no, no. He's an only child. I think his father is too. I don't, I don't understand." I say to them.

Benson addresses me, "I know this is hard, but I really need you to think about that night. Was there anything else distinguishable about him besides the tattoo?" She encourages me to think back to the worst day of my life.

I close my eyes, trying to push it out from my head, "I can't, please." I plead with them.

Rollins tries, "I know, but any detail you could give us that you may have forgotten would help us. Let us walk you through it." She suggests.

"Walk me through it?" I raise my voice "I speak to you only when something is wrong and you want to walk me through the worst day of my life?"

Benson looks to detective Rollins who bites her upper lip. Benson leans in and whispers something and Rollins stands up and leaves the room, "would you be more comfortable talking to detective Carisi?" She asks.

I eye her, thinking about how to answer that question. Of course, I won't be more comfortable talking about my rape to anyone, but I do want to help get the guy who did this to me off the street. If I have to go through it all again, going through it with him there would be better then with any of the other detectives I've met. I nod my head to agree and the door opens as if on cue and Carisi walks in, leaving the door open and sitting where Rollins just was. As he sits, Benson stands and leaves us there. "Addison, take your time. You don't have to go there if you're not ready." He starts off, already seeing more gentle than his partner and boss.

I nod frantically, trying to prepare myself for this, "I just, I don't know what else I'm going to be able to offer. I told you everything." I tell him, looking down at my fingernails.

"Details are tricky" he explains, "there could be things that seemed like nothing at the time but can give us more information then you would think. You might have seen something that you don't realize is relevant."

"Okay." I exhale, seemingly as ready as can be to go into that dark place.

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"How'd I do?" I ask, tears sliding down my face. I went over every detail with lieutenant Benson weeks ago when I first made the report but this time was worse. More questions, more time spent frozen in the moments, more visuals.

Sonny's hand rests on mine, "you did great." He encourages with a small smile. He turns his head over his shoulder and Benson walks back into the room.

She returns to the same seat she was in before and pushes over a box of tissues, "you gave us something, thank you, Addison." Her voice is low and sincere but it's her eyes that tell me I did what I needed to do.

"What? What did I give you?" I ask, looking between the two not sure what I said that will help them.

"He has a tic." She smirks.

"A tic?" I question, not following.

Sonny tries to explain, "you said his blinking was rapid, that he was focused but his eyes just wouldn't stop blinking." I agree with a head nod, "that's more than likely a tic, something involuntary, a medical condition." He puts it simply.

"How does that help?" I question further.

"We can't use the DNA we have, but we can start looking through medical records. We'll pull in Mr. Charles, figure out where this connection is and move forward. Great work Addison." Benson says again before standing and going to leave the room to get to work.