Ashes, Ashes
by Z.E. Grockle

Disclaimer: Law & Order: SVU belongs to Dick Wolf and the writers, not me. I think you'd notice if I started writing for the show.
Summary: The SVU squad realizes just how little they know about everyone's favorite shrink. Slight spoiler for "Coerced" in chapter one. Huang/OC.
Rating: It's somewhat of a casefile, so T.
Author's Notes: I wrote this after my cable went out in the middle of one of my favorite Huang scenes. The one in "Chameleon," you know, when he smiles at some wisecrack the suspect made, and then realizes she's playing him and smiles with just his eyes? Yeah, I was ticked when I didn't get to see that, so I went searching for fan fiction to fill my craving, and I discovered something quite distressing. There just aren't enough Huang-centric stories out there for addicts like me to get a fix. My name is Z.E. Grockle, and I'm a Huang-oholic.

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Special Victims Squad Room
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
7:12 PM
Chung, chung!

"She's deteriorating," Huang said, the tone of his voice and set of his head reeking of 'how-can-I-make-this-any-more-clear?' "If we push her more today, she might shut down completely. She needs rest and medication."

"Well, what about your bag of tricks?" Elliot asked, as much exasperated as the doctor was.

"Haven't we been over that before?" Huang said, raising his eyebrows. Elliot sighed. He remembered only too clearly what had happened the last time he forced Huang to medicate a suspect.

"Alright," said Cragen, "I'll call Bellevue to come pick her up, and we'll try again tomorrow." He glanced from Elliot to Olivia, and then over at Fin, Munch, and Lake. "It's late; why don't you all go home for the night?" he said, before turning to go into his office.

"Guess you'll make that date after all," Elliot said to Olivia, picking up his suit jacket.

"Miracles do happen," she replied with a grin.

"You got any wild plans for tonight?" Lake asked Munch.

"Yeah. There's a civil war documentary on the History Channel," the older man replied.

"That's pathetic," Fin said. "Not that I've got anything exciting going on, either," he added ruefully.

"Well, I get to go home and change diapers," Elliot said as they boarded the elevator. "Just when I thought those days were over."

The door was almost closed when Huang ran around the corner and stuck his hand in it. It opened again, and they all stared at him. Never in anyone's memory had the doctor run anywhere.

"I just got a call. There's a case at Mercy General," he said, stepping onto the elevator with them and sounding strangely tense. "I'm coming along."

"Why'd they call you?" Fin asked.

"It's my partner's niece. He called me," Huang explained as he hit the button to close the door several times in rapid succession. Elliot blinked. He definitely hadn't seen the shrink this rattled before.

"You have a partner?" Lake asked, clearly confused.

"My domestic partner, Andrew Azrael. His niece's name is Lily Azrael. She's five. She's staying with us because her mother's out of town for the week," he said, then paused to take a breath and looked around at their surprised faces. "Well? Why aren't you writing this down?" he demanded.

Olivia pulled out her notepad. "Sorry," she said. "Could you spell the last name?"

"A-z-r-a-e-l," Huang said as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. He stepped off it and led them outside.

"Go back upstairs and tell Cragen where we're going," Elliot said to Lake, Fin, and Munch under his breath as he opened the driver's side door of his squad car and got in. "We'll call you after the interview."

Huang got into the back seat, still talking. "Lily's mother, Sarah, had to go to London on business. She left this morning; she's supposed to be back on Friday. Andrew took Lily out for the day. When they got back, he started to give her a bath, and he noticed that her genital area was red and inflamed. He asked her what happened, but she started to cry and refused to talk about it. They're in a cab to the hospital now."

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This is a short chapter, so I'm going to post the next one right away. You could be lazy and go read it before you review, but I'm offering a cookie to anyone who reviews this chapter, and an extra cookie to anyone who can tell me what '90s TV star would be Andrew's identical twin brother. The hint is in his name. :holds plate of delicious cookies just out of reach: