Telling Elliot V2

Chapter Seven

A few weeks later

Olivia paced the floor of the witness room inside of the courthouse, her mind racing with possible questions.
"What if they bring up Lewis?" She asked, her hand tensing where she gripped the back of a chair.
"What about him?" Carisi asked.
"He falls under sexual history doesn't he? They'll say I have a fear of men that I'm making this up because of that"
"All that will do is break down your character to the jury but we can fix that. We have the evidence against him. All we have to do is break down his character and build up yours" Carisi told her.
"What if they ask about my daughter?"
"We'll handle it Liv-"
"You keep her out of this. I don't want her being dragged into court because of him"
"We've got it Liv" Simone assured her as Liv began pacing again.
"Liv, why don't you take 5? Go for a walk, I'll come get you when it's time" El assured her.
"I can't. My head won't stop racing" she sighed. El reached for her hand, interlocking their fingers.
"You've got this, Liv. We've got your back 100 percent" he assured her. The door opened, revealing a cop.
"Captain Benson. We're ready for you" he smiled before closing the door behind him. El rose from his seat, his free hand going to her shoulder.
"You get jittery or scared in there, you keep your eyes on me. Okay?"
"Truthfully, I don't think I want you in there" she admitted.
"You told me about Lewis and I didn't flinch. I'm not going anywhere, Liv. I'm not going to leave you again" he assured her, squeezing her hand lightly.
"You'll be there all the way?"
"Always, partner" he smiled.

Liv headed into the court room, only dropping El's hand from hers when they moved to take their seats.
"We've got your back, cap. All the way" Carisi assured her earning a small smile. Liv reached for his hand that lay on top of the table and squeezed lightly.
"If you don't Carisi, I'll have Rollins kick your ass" she smiled, earning one back.

"Captain, can you tell us how you met Burton Lowe?" Carisi asked.
"I was at the University where my mother worked, I was waiting for her when Burton came up to me"  she explained.
"I understand that your relationship moved quickly?"
"In a space of a few months we got engaged" Liv looked down briefly at her moving hands.
"We're you happy?"
"I was. Yes. I raced home to tell my mom"
"How did your mother take the news that her only daughter was getting married?"
"She went crazy"
"Crazy?"
"She was an alcoholic. She was half way through a bottle when I told her. She dropped it" Liv met El's eyes across the room "She picked up the jagged edge and came at me with it. She was screaming 'I'll never let anyone else have you'"
"I'll never let anyone else have you?' What did she mean by that?"
"That she wouldn't let any other men hurt me like she had been hurt"
"In what way was your mother hurt?"
"She was raped. She became an alcoholic because she kept the reminder of her rape. She kept me" she told them.
"I understand that after you told her you ran to the safety of a friend's dorm room?"
"Yes. Simone Bryce's dorm room"
"And she convinced you to go home?"
"Yes. When I got home she was stone cold sober and all she said was that Burton was no better than my father"
"And you believed her?"
"I don't remember a time when she was sober or able to look me in my eyes. Yes, I believed her"
"Your engagement ended there and you didn't see Mr Lowe again?"
"Not for 30 years, no" she nodded.
"What happened when you say Mr Lowe again?"
"He wanted to help free a wrongly convicted man, which he did with the help of SVU"
"I understand you had a witness out cry to you"
"Yes. She claimed that Burton had raped her"
"It's interesting that you use the word claimed, why is that?"
"When we starting looking at her allegation we uncovered 26 other women who claimed that Burton raped them on a couch in his office at the University where he worked" she explained.
"So you had no evidence?"
"No"
"But 27 women can't be lying can they?" Carisi asked the jurors "You went back to back to his hotel room to confront him after you investigation"
"Yes"
"Why did you speak to him in his hotel room?"
"Because of my personal history with him and the events of the night before I thought it would be better to speak to him informally"
"The events of the night before?" Liv's eyes dropped back to her lap.
"We slept together the night before I found out about the other women"
"How did that conversation go?"
"He said that a couldn't call myself a victim because I consented back when I was 16 and again that night in his hotel room. He was drinking. He threw a glass at my head. It didn't go very well"
"You met with him again at his request?"
"Yes. He was going to A.A. One of the steps were to make amends, he asked me to forgive him"
"And did you?"
"No. I couldn't"
"Why not?"
"When you grow up in a house like mine, when someone shows you just an ounce of love you seize it without hesitation. You don't think that that person could fake it. When Burton didn't try to come back for me, when he didn't fight. For me. Or for our daughter. He lost my forgiveness"
"But you still slept with him, knowing about your daughter and who he is"
"I chose to see the good in someone despite it not being there. I stupidly believed that my mother was just bitter over my happiness"
"You said 'Our daughter.' Yours and Burton's?"
"Yes. Two weeks after our engagement ended I found out that I was pregnant. I couch surfed for nine months"
"Do you remember the birth?" Liv's eyes rolled shut.
"5:45. That's the time she left my body. The clock was on the wall across from me, I stared at it the whole time" Liv opened her eyes again, her eyes welling with tears "I didn't want to hold her. I was afraid that if I held her, I wouldn't give her up and I couldn't take the chance that my mom wouldn't hurt her. But Simone convinced me. I held her for 5 minutes. Felt her entire fist wrap around the tip of my finger. I felt her kick. I heard her cry. I looked into her brown eyes and I told her that I loved her. Then I watched her be carried away" Liv wiped away her tears.
"You loved her?"
"More than life"
"But you gave her up, why?"
"Because if my mother was right about Burton I didn't want my daughter questioning her own DNA like I did. I just wanted her to be loved"
"When the organized found Burton he was at a human auction?"
"Yes"
"He said something in interrogation that made you think that he was at the auction to buy a 16 year old. What was it that he said?"
"He talked about 16 year old me. Like he wanted to relive it all"
"Your a captain with New York's special victims unit, you've seen hundreds of these types of cases. What do you think Burton should be charged with?"
"We have no evidence that he raped any of those 27 women but, you have DNA evidence that my daughter was conceived when I was 16. Rape in the first seems fitting because Burton used the things mother mother did in order to get me to trust him and eventually sleep with him. It could be rape in the second because I was 16 and he was 21 at the time. Seeing as he was accused by 28 women in all I would ask you to go for the harsher sentence"
"Thank you captain"