The Path to Love: A Sonny Carisi Love Story

36: Body

When I walk into work the next day, Sonny and Nick are already there. As I enter, Sonny stands up and asks "Can I talk to you for a second Maddison?" He asks.

Luckily, Benson walks in behind me "hey, how'd it go last night?" She asks the two of them.

Nick answers his phone, leaving Sonny to respond. His eyes shift from me to her "heartbreaking. I mean, Briggs is aware just enough to know that he's lost it."

Nick hangs up his phone and comments "not anymore, he isn't. That was the hospital. He died earlier this morning up in Westchester. Another heart attack."

Sonny shakes his head "maybe it's for the best. You know, wife like that, the end game was gonna be pretty brutal."

"You know something about wives?" I spit harshly towards Sonny. Benson and Nick both give me a strange glare and I shrug it off, keeping my cold eyes on Sonny.

Benson breaks the silence "well, it already was. Look, we need Warner or any other New York City M.E. to perform the autopsy." She gives direction "make sure his wife's actions didn't contribute."

I respond to her "but the judge put off ruling on guardianship."

"Charmaine still has control of everything." Nick adds.

"Including the body." Sonny finishes "that's not good."

"All right, get up there." Benson directs us "I'll call Barba." She moves and the three of us leave the precinct.

The ride up to Westchester is silent and awkward, I sit in the backseat keeping my eyes averted from Sonny's general glare as we talk through the case. I know Sonny wants to talk to me, but I guess he's not willing to inform everyone on the squad about his marriage or divorce. Lucky for me because I don't want to talk about it. We arrive at the hospital just as they are wheeling Mr. Briggs' body out to a car with Mrs. Briggs close behind. We get out of the car quickly "Hey, hold up. Is that Mr. Briggs?" Sonny asks, stopping them from putting him in the van.

"Yes, I'm taking him to a beautiful place." Mrs. Briggs responds.

Nick holds up his phone, showing the paperwork to her "actually, you're not. It's a court order."

Sonny comments "No more hide and seek. Trip's off, boys. The world isn't done with Walter Briggs."

Charmaine looks at us in bewilderment as we wheel him away from her and to the ambulance we got to come with us stuttering "wh-what."

We drop him off at the morgue and make our way back to the precinct. Once the doctor is done with his preliminary autopsy, he calls Benson and she sends Carisi and I down there. I start the car and try to get there as soon as possible "you're really just going to ignore me Maddison, come on."

I keep my eyes on the road "Listen, I'm not ready to talk about this yet, alright? Just give me some time to sort this through." I try to stay calm.

"You don't even know what happened, if you let me explain--" He tries to say but I cut him off.

"Explain what? That you were married. I don't know why you felt the need to keep it a secret Dominick." I give him a death glare, urging him to keep pushing it.

He sighs heavily and throws his hands up "fine, let me know when you're ready to talk."

We get into the room with Mr. Briggs' body and the doctor starts reviewing his report with us "his arteries were clogged, his heart enlarged. Since when does SVU investigate death by heart attack?" He asks us.

"Well, his wife took him on a road trip after he had a smaller attack yesterday." I start to explain to him "we just want to know if it contributed."

"Well, it certainly didn't help." He answers back. "The gentleman was in no condition to go sightseeing."

"So you would draw a connection between that and his death?" I question for the answer we need.

"I mean, doc, she took him out of the hospital against medical advice with an IV hanging from his arm." Sonny elaborates the situation further for him.

"Well then, ipso facto." He comments. He thinks for a moment then adds on "by the way, it looks like she pulled something else out of him too."

"What?" We both ask, looking at each other with wonder.

"There's semen in his urethra." The doctor tells us.

"He had sex?" I question a bit shocked and confused how he'd do that in his state.

The doctors clarifies "a final ejaculation shortly before or after he died."

Sonny tries to make sense of it "his wife climbed into the hospital bed with him?"

The doctor disagree's "I don't believe he was in any shape to be that fortunate. If you care to observe, I could show you the intrarectal trauma." He walks back over to the body and holds the cover.

"No... no, thanks. I'm good." Sonny declines.

"Really?" I ask, knowing what he's referring to "rectal probe electroejaculation?"

Sonny looks at me then the doctor "wow. Guys, I'm— I'm lost here."

The doctor puts it easy for him "It's a technique for grieving wives to procreate with their loved ones, even posthumously."

Sonny looks at him then to me and we both have looks of shock on our faces. We leave the hospital and call Benson right away. She directs Carisi to drop me off at the precinct then meet her at Barba's office. Once we get to the precinct, I go to get out of the passengers side. Before I shut the door I lean back in and say to him "look, I'm sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have made a comment like that in front of everyone."

"Thanks." He says back, with a smirk I just love to look at.

I sigh looking down, knowing I need to have a conversation with him "come over after work tonight? We can talk then?" I ask, hoping he's not the one mad at me.

"I'll see you then." His smirk turns to a smile and he waves as he drives off after I shut the door.