Title: "Telling"

Author: Honey Johnson

Summary: After a report of incest made by a fifteen-year old girl, The SVU team investigates.

Disclaimer: The characters of SVU are not mine. Other characters are mine, but Dick Wolf's Law and Order SVU inspired them and the story.

Original Publish Date: Nov. 22 204

Complete or To Be Continued: To Be Continued.

Telling

She had entered the police station. Ashley started shaking as soon as she saw the uniforms, she turned to go but a woman stopped her, a woman who wasn't wearing a uniform."May I help you?" Olivia asked. She had a stack of reports on her desk, but on her way out to grab lunch she saw the girl. A teenager, blond curls pulled back by a white headband, a light blue jacket that seemed both too big for her and too warm for the weather.

She saw her enter, hesitate, and turn. Something in the girl's manner...she already knew the case the girl was walking away from filing belonged to SVU.Ashley was startled. The woman was staring at her intently.

"Um...I want to make a report. But can I find out what will happen before I report it?"

"What do you mean, what will happen?"

Ashley fought the urge to chew on her jacket sleeve, one of her many nervous habits. Suddenly it was hard to breathe, her chest hurt, and the floor didn't seem so level."Are you okay?" Olivia asked, and then moved with trained reflexes to keep the girl's head from hitting the floor as she passed out.

Smelling salts from the first aid kit brought Ashley sharply awake. "Do you have any medical conditions?" A policeman at her side asked her. Ashley shook her head."Have you taken any drugs?" he asked. Ashley shook her head again no. The dark-haired woman was kneeling on her other side.

"Are you police?" Ashley asked.

"Yes."

"Can I talk to you?"

Olivia knew then it would be one of those days without lunch.

Ashley shifted in her chair. She'd only wanted to talk to the woman, Detective Olivia Benson. But as soon as they entered a sparse room with a table, a window and a few chairs another plainclothes officer followed in behind them. Detective Benson introduced him as her partner, Detective Elliot Stabler.

The look of distress and sudden change in posture were not lost on Elliot. This was routine behavior, a sign he trusted for its truth but made him sad all the same. How old was this girl? He wondered. He leaned back, standing a bit removed from where they sat."Ashley, how old are you?" Olivia asked. They thought as one person sometimes, Elliot smiled to himself, swirling the old cold coffee with the bit a fresh he'd added in the Styrofoam cup. Still tasted awful no matter what. And awful was what the cases in SVU often were. But he still held on to what drove him in his work, the thought that he could make a difference and perhaps make one child's life better than it would have been.

"I'm fifteen." Ashley said. She paused. "I think this was a bad idea. I think I should go home."

"You can go if you want, but you must have had some reason for coming here." Elliot's voice was gentle but firm.

Ashley stared at her hands, clasping them on the table so the shaking wouldn't show. "It's my dad. He won't leave me alone."

"What does he do?" Olivia asked.

"Is he going to go to jail? I don't want him to go to jail. I just want him to stop."

"Stop what?" Olivia leaned forward. "Ashley, in order for him to stop it's important that you tell."

"He touches me. He..." Ashley couldn't stop the tears and was furious at herself for crying. Detective Stabler gave her a kleenex. Ashley shivered in her jacket. "He makes me sleep in his bed. At first he said it was because the loveseat wouldn't be comfortable to sleep on all night...I wanted to sleep on the floor but then he got so angry..."

"Can you tell me how old you were when this first began?" Olivia asked.

"I guess about six months ago. I just moved here, Mom wanted to move in with her boyfriend when I used to live with her on Long Island and there wasn't much space for me...Dad wanted me to live here with him and I never got to see much of him before. I thought it would be so cool to live in the city but...now I know why Marlena left."

"Who is Marlena?" Elliot asked.

"My cousin. She was living with dad but then she just moved in with her boyfriend. At least that's what dad said. But she never called or anything...she just left. I thought I'd see her, that she would come by at least, but dad says she's too busy with her new life in the city. It hurt my aunt's feelings, hurt me too. But now that I live with dad, I think I know why...This is her picture." Ashley pulled a black and white photo-booth photo of her and Marlena out of her wallet, dark-haired Marlena smiling and Ashley caught laughing-Ashley's freckles showed and she hadn't liked the picture as much before Marlena left. It was the last photo she had of her.

"How old is Marlena?" Olivia asked.

"She'll be seventeen next month."

"Did anyone in your family file a missing persons report?" Elliot asked.

"I don't think so."

"Did you ever meet Marlena's boyfriend?"

"No....are you going to tell my dad I came here? Please don't tell him, I don't want him to get mad." Ashley was suddenly very panicked.

"Ashley," Olivia spoke slowly "It's good that you came here. We can help you, protect you. But we need to ask you detailed questions. Can you tell me, did your father ever threaten you or anyone else in your family?"

Ashley stared at her hands again. "He said if I told he'd hurt me so much I'd wish I was dead. He said he'd cut my face." Ashley's hands were shaking.

"Ashley, when was the last time your father touched you?" Elliot asked.

"Last night."

"I know this is hard but can you tell us what happened?"

"I was supposed to go to school today but I just couldn't. It still hurts." Ashley covered her face in her hands and told, told them everything.

"Ashley, we are going to get you to a hospital. A doctor is going to make sure you are okay, okay? And they are going to do something called a rape kit." Olivia explained. Ashley nodded, numb.