The Path to Love: A Sonny Carisi Love Story

3: Closed but Open

"Dr. Huang!" I smile to the familiar small man I've known since I was a child.

He smiles back to me, "Maddison, hello!" He opens his arms for a hug and a smile and I lean down to give him one. "It's such a pleasure seeing you here." He says once we separate. "You'll do a great job here at SVU. Are you settling in nicely?" He asks.

"You two know each other?" Olivia asks with a small smirk and curiosity behind her eyes.

I smile back to her, "he and my father go way back. He was there at my communion."

"And confirmation" He adds on.

I laugh along with him. "Yes, I am settling in just fine." I inform him.

"Very good, tell your father I said hello." He nods his head to me and steps away to leave the hall we are all in.

"What was his evaluation?" I ask now that he is gone, curious what Dr. Huang thought.

Murphy exhales to explain, "he's sick, never got treatment and is bound to injure somebody at some point. Let's get going, we have a trial to prepare for." He looks to Barba and the two of them leave the hall with Benson and I trailing behind.

The next day after Nick is off the stand he meets us in the hall "that lawyer sandbagged me." He hums out with anger. I can see his eyes tense as he fights spewing more words out, clearly enraged with how his cross was done.

"It's alright, I'm sure you did just fine." I say, not sure what he is referring too. I wasn't in the courtroom during his or Fin's testimony, in case they decide to pull Amanda and I in later.

"The jury see's you're a good cop and was just protecting your family, it's alright." Olivia encourages him to relax in a low soothing tone.

Barba comes out soon after and we all huddle together in the middle of the hall, "did you get a read on the jury?" Amanda asks.

He says, "they're sickened by the details, but our emotional case is stronger than our legal one is." He looks over to Murphy, "Simon's taking the stand tomorrow?"

My phone pings and I go to grab it as Olivia says back, "jury's gonna see him for who he really is."

"I hope so." Barba responds, "He's compartmentalized this part of his life for all those years. He may be able to hide it from them."

"Not from his ex-wife." I say as Amanda looks over my shoulder, wondering what I'm talking about, "she's willing to talk to us." I look over to Murphy who nods to me and Amanda telling us to go. We quickly leave the courthouse and drive to Simon's ex wife's place.

Once we are let inside, the older women holds onto her arms in disbelief, "I don't know how you found me. I changed my name, got off the Internet. I don't think Simon even knows where I moved after I remarried." She tells us worries.

I say back to her, trying to tell her we understand, "sounds like you needed a clean break."

"When we met, I found Simon magnetic. But he has a darkness inside of him." She tells us.

"You knew about these fantasies?" Amanda asks, getting right down to it.

"Not the extent of them, not at first, but then I started to notice how he would shut the laptop whenever I came into the room. One time, he left it open." She goes on.

"And what did you see, Ms. Walker?" I ask, urging her to go on.

"He was messaging with these other people, talking about Bobby and me, about things he'd let them do to us." She explains to us about that night. "Our child was six. He said it was just a game, but he knew, he knew he had to go. I told Bobby, "daddy has a sickness. He can't be around other people. I made a deal with Simon. As long as he promised to never see Bobby again or be around other children, I would keep quiet." She hesitates for a moment, a thought coming into her mind. "This room of his, it's across from a grade school?" She asks at the end, fear showing through her eyes.