Manhattan, June, 1979

Don Cragen strolled down the busy sidewalk with his wife Marge. But he felt like leading her in a waltz: in the past two weeks he had celebrated two years of sobriety and passed his lieutenant's exam. So, lacking a ballroom floor, he suddenly stopped and swept her into a deep, long kiss.

"Help! Please, somebody, help me pleeese!"

Accustomed to responding to urgencies in their respective roles as police officer and flight attendant, Don and Marge immediately broke apart and hurried to the wide-eyed preteen girl standing in front of a nearby subway entrance. Her knees were oozing blood, and her yellow dress was smeared with dirt. Of course, most of the night crowd was ignoring her, but Don showed his badge as he leaned down kindly.

"What's wrong, honey?" he asked avuncularly.

"M-my mother fell down the steps, and she's not moving!" She began to sob.

"Marge, stay with her and get to a phone!" Don descended quickly.

Reaching the bottom, he dispersed the expected crowd with a firm "Police!" and halted abruptly. On the hard floor below him was a professionally dressed woman, her neck twisted in such grotesque manner that he suspected she was past help. A routine check of her pulse, respiration, and pupils confirmed his sad hunch. Further, she smelled of alcohol. Sighing, he shook his head and reached for the woman's satchel, still with her due to the strap tangled around her arm.

Removing a wallet, he learned a few things. First, the victim was one Serena Benson. Second, she was a college professor. Third, her emergency contact was a woman with a different surname and address.

I hope it's a relative, Don thought. That poor little girl is in for a rough time.

Meanwhile, above him, a different drama was unfolding. Having called for help from a nearby pay phone, Marge turned her attention to the dark-haired girl fretting beside her. By now tears had started to fall from her brown eyes. Marge also noticed that there were some scrapes and bruises on her bare arms.

"OK, dear, the ambulance is on the way," she said, carefully putting an arm supportively across the child's back. "My name's Marge; what's yours?"

"Olivia. Olivia Benson." She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands.

"Olivia, I'm going to see that those nasty cuts get taken care of. Now what's your mother's name?"

"Serena---Professor Serena Benson. She's an English professor…" Olivia turned her head in the direction of the approaching sirens. Just then a patrol car pulled up to the curb, and turn uniformed officers, one of them holding a first aid kit, dashed down the subway stairs. Olivia looked towards Marge hopefully.

"Yes, Olivia, they're going to look after your mother," Marge reassured as the approaching ambulance cut its sirens and slowed to a halt.

"I want to go with them."

"No, honey, you might get in the way," Marge said calmly, hiding her worse fears for the girl. "Besides, don't you think we should call your father to let him know what's happen---Olivia, what's the matter?"

Her head was hung so low that her long hair hid the tears that were in her voice. "I… I don't know…where he is."

Marge took the weeping child into a gentle embrace. "It's all right, sweetie," she soothed, "You know I'm here, and I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm going to stay with you as long as you need me. I promise."

Olivia looked up at her inquiringly.

"Yes, I promise." Marge smiled reassuringly, wiping a tear from the girl's cheek.

Just then the two uniforms rush out of the entrance and over to the pair.

"Are you Marge Cragen?" asked the elder of the two.

"Yes---"

"We're taking you and the girl to hospital so she can get checked out." He gestured towards the police car.

"What about Mother? How is she?" Olivia asked anxiously as they moved to the vehicle.

"She's being taken care of," said the partner quickly.

As the car pulled away and moved down the street, a transit officer solemnly watched from the now-blocked off entrance. When the car had disappeared from his field of vision, he spoke into his walkie-talkie: "They're gone, so we can take care of business."