Low Rent Whore

Never Get Assaulted on a Saturday Night

[Author's Note: The Dialogue In Italics and Bold are lyrics from a song called "Solider, Poet, King" by The Oh Hello's. I kept hearing the song while scrolling through TikTok and everytime I heard it I felt it was something Kat would sing to the kids if she ever got to babysit. Go check out the song, it's delightful.]

Red feet padded out of the bathroom, their owner toweled at her dark waves as her bare feet kept slipping into the one size too big pair of jeans that her host had so kindly provided to her. Instinctively she turned a doorknob, peeking her head just far enough into the room to check on the two children.

"Shoot! The babysitter!"

Katriona quietly closed the door, padding to the living room where she'd left her phone. Sliding it unlocked, Kat stared at the number on the paper in her opposite palm. Another glance toward the door had the woman tossing her phone back down and slipping the paper in her pocket. Glancing around the room something caught her eye, a black case leaned against the far wall somewhat hidden by the arm of the sofa.

"Hello there.."

She whispered, sliding over on the sofa to grab and unlatch it. The strings had been tuned but not recently, the dust on the case simply confirmed that. Officer Tamin gently lifted the thing, situating it on her lap and strumming softly.

Office of Captain Olivia Benson

Saturday April 25th

"Hey! Sorry, I had to make sure Kat was-"

Captain Benson waved a dismissive hand, she understood without the explanation. She was surrounded by the rest of their understaffed squad, Fin was unusually quiet and Carisi stuck to the back wall without a word himself.

"Hadid's locked down.. she gave us the go ahead for now but she's-"

"She's afraid Kat cried rape."

Amanda Rollins' eyes met those of her former partner, they shared a single understanding but that didn't mean that she was happy. The hatred she felt for Hadid in that moment was strong, what in the world was the Bureau Chief thinking of their youngest?

"Pretty much.. she's wary. Kat's new, inexperienced.. out late on a Friday night, she's just trying to cover her bases"

Amanda rolled her eyes but said nothing, it wasn't worth biting Carisi's head off for something he had no say in. It wasn't his fault and they all knew it.. didn't mean they had to be happy about it.

"Okay well, we work with what we got and go from there. Here.. The security camera footage from the bar last night."

Benson flipped the tablet so her squad plus Carisi could see, it was pretty dark but Fin could just make out Tamin's stumbling form being pushed against the brick.

"Okay so, there's Kat. And there's the dumpster you found her near.. He's smart, knows to avoid facing security cameras but just bold enough to keep them both in the line of sight the entire time."

"The bastard wanted her to be filmed.."

Sergeant Tutuola turned from the video, fists balled at his sides as he stormed out. Kat was more than a coworker, she was a little sister. The contents of his desk hit the floor, hands falling atop his head in another second. Eh, whatever.. he'd pick it all up later. His eyes traveled to Kat's empty desk, feeling her absence heavily for the first time that day. She'd sit on that desk with one leg crossed over the other, she radiated GenZ energy despite being a Millennial which was, come to think of it, probably because of the younger kids she'd become a big sister to in her Projects building. She would have caught him staring by now and made some smart-ass remark before looking down and away from him. She would have tossed a pen at him or made some vine reference that just barely pertained to the situation at hand. That was Katriona Azar Tamin in all her glory. Her absence was felt, seeing her like that had nearly killed him and thinking of her in any way that wasn't her strong willed, always-has-a-joke nature was destroying him.