Chapter Text
“NYPD open up!” Gun drawn, Lieutenant Olivia Benson banged on the door of an unassuming house on the outskirts of Queens. There was no response so she shoved her shoulder against the door, breaking it off its hinges. Inside, she and her detectives were faced with an immaculate scene, with no trace of the five foster children who supposedly lived there.
Though everything in the house was normal, it was what the house lacked that put Detective Sonny Carisi on edge. There were no personal photos or knick knacks. As they moved into the kitchen, everything was arranged just so, glasses lined up the same distance apart and hand towels crisply folded.
Amanda Rollins moved quietly up the stairs, thinking she would find some evidence of individual life there, but found none. Despite five children allegedly living in the house, there was only the master bedroom and two other rooms. Despite clearly being designed for a child, they too were immaculate in a way that no normal minor would ever keep them. Opening the drawer on one of the nightstands, she found dust coating the surface, indicating it hadn’t been touched for some time. So where were these children sleeping?
They had received a report from the school of one of the children, citing heavy bruising that was found when her shirt sleeve was pulled up to attend to a playground scrape. Their investigation had revealed a short-tempered foster father who was unwilling to allow his other foster children to speak with them. When the girl had then failed to show up at school for the past few days, the unit had been able to obtain a search warrant for the home.
Now that they were in the residence, which for all intents and purposes looked like a model home, things seemed like could be even more complex than a physical abuse case.
Then Fin shouted from the downstairs hallway, “We got a locked basement!” The detectives gathered around the doorway where stairs led downward to another door, this one with a series of locks and deadbolts on it. The squad descended down the stairs and quickly opened the door, which was sealed from the outside. As the heavy door opened, a dimly lit room was revealed.
Olivia entered first, shining her flashlight around the space. Her movement ground to a sudden halt when her light illuminated the face of a teenage girl. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m a police officer, we’re here to help.” The Lieutenant made a show of putting away her gun and slowly approached the girl. As she stepped forward, Amanda interrupted from behind her. “Uh, Liv? You might want to hang on a second there.” Benson stopped, turning around to ask why when she got her answer.
The various cleaning supplies and junk that lined the walls of the basement were rattling on their shelves, many threatening to crash to the floor. Olivia whirled back around to face the teenager. The girl’s jaw was set, but her shaking hands and wide blue eyes betrayed her fear. In her head, the Lieutenant cursed. An enhanced minor would bring a whole other layer to this case, not to mention her staff didn’t even have the personnel to deal with something like this.
But nevermind that. For now, she would have to make do with what rudimentary knowledge and training she had. “I’m Olivia. Do you want to tell me your name?” Seemingly ignoring her question, the girl clenched her fists together even more tightly. “You have to go away. If he comes back and there’s a mess he’ll be so mad; we have to clean everything up; you shouldn’t be here; you, you, you…” she trailed off, becoming even more panicked. Somewhere in the basement, glass shattered. Behind their commanding officer, the detectives exchanged unsure looks.
Then Amanda spotted a tiny hand curl around the teenager’s bicep. “Nadi, you gotta stop. Please Nadi.” The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The items on the shelves settled.
A small face peeked around the older girl’s side, one that Amanda recognized as the girl that had sparked this case. Amanda squatted down, attempting to look as non-threatening as possible. “Hey sweetheart, you think you can tell your friend that we really want to help you guys?” Her eyes met the teenager’s directly. “Tell her she doesn’t have to worry about the man. We’ll take care of him if he’s mad.” The child tugged ‘Nadi’ down to whisper in her ear and Amanda couldn’t help but crack a small smile.
Reluctantly, the teenager pulled herself taller. “You’re sure we won’t have to deal with him? You have to be sure.” Olivia nodded. “You have my word. It’s over.” All the tension seemed to flood out of her body and she sagged forward. “Oh my god.” She breathed. Now that her body wasn’t straight up, the detectives could see the three other children of varying ages that the teenager had been hiding with her body.
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Nadia’s hands trembled as she was helped up the stairs by the blonde detective. Knowing that this nightmare was over, she was left with this deep ache in her bones, like she had been tensed for months and had finally let it all go.
Soon she found herself in the back of an ambulance, wrapped in a blanket. The woman who had brought her up from the basement (Amanda, wasn’t it?) stood next to her, a notebook in hand. “Okay hon, can I ask you a few questions before you head to the hospital?” The teenager nodded numbly.
“First, can I get your full name?”
“Nadia Adair.”
“Alright Nadia, how old are you?”
“Seventeen.”
“Are you one of Jeff Hunter’s foster children?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you lived with him?”
“Uh, a few months I think.”
Amanda noted her flat, detached tone. She looked over at Olivia, silently asking if the other woman thought it was a good idea to continue. Her lieutenant nodded at her but mouthed “Tread lightly.” The detective turned back to Nadia who was picking at her nails.
“Can you explain why you were in the basement?”
“It’s where we live. Upstairs has to stay neat.”
“Why does upstairs have to stay neat?”
Nadia shrugged. “Dunno. But Jeff gets mad if everything isn’t where it’s supposed to be.”
Her head shot up, the most animated Amanda had seen her so far. “You didn’t move things, right? You gotta put them back if you did. It’s not allowed.” Her voice turned pleading. “It’s not-” Amanda cut her off, moving to place her hands on Nadia’s shoulders in comfort but stopped when the teenager flinched backwards. The detective’s brow wrinkled - another thing to take note of.
She backed off, holding her hands in the air in a show of retreat. Nadia relaxed, if only slightly. “It’s okay, honey. I promise you, the house is fine, you don’t need to worry. Why don’t you tell me why you’re so worried about Jeff finding out things were moved?”
Nadia stared down at her shoes- ratty sneakers with soles separating from the uppers. “He just gets mad.” Olivia walked over to the two. “Nadia, Ashley’s school saw her bruises. That’s why we’re here. You don’t have to hide anything from us.”
Nadia took a shaky breath. “He beats on us if we don’t do it right. I tried to tell him it was my fault, not Ashley’s, but he didn’t listen! You have to believe me, I tried to keep her from getting hurt.” She was growing frantic, tears brimming in her eyes. “I tried to do everything to keep him away from them. I was so good for him.” The teenager folded forward, her head going into her hands. “I didn’t want to, but it was better me than them. I can take it.”
Olivia and Amanda exchanged a look. “What do you mean ‘it’?” Olivia asked. “What did you do for him?” Nadia’s expression closed off. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” “Nadia,” Olivia said gently “we need to know everything so that we can punish Jeff for what he’s done. Because what he did was wrong.”
The teenager wrung her hands uncomfortably. “I had sex with him.” She swallowed, hard. “If I have sex with him then he gets less mad and doesn’t take it out on the kids.” Her expression hardered just slightly. “Call me a slut. I don’t really give a shit.” Amanda frowned. “No, no, no. Honey, that’s rape. We’re gonna take you for a rape kit at the hospital.” Nadia shook her head. “No it wasn’t. I let him. I could’ve said no but then he might’ve done it to Ashley or the other kids.” She looked up, her expression confused. “I thought I was helping them.” Olivia smiled sadly. “I know, and that was very brave of you. But it doesn’t mean that what Jeff did was okay.”
Nadia’s hands started shaking, and her nails scratched her arms up and down, leaving long red marks. The ambulance vibrated slightly. “No, no, no,” she muttered “I’m sorry, I’m trying to stop. I’m sorry.” The two detectives stepped back. “It’s okay.” said Olivia “we don’t have to talk about it anymore right now. Just take a breath. You’re okay.”
Amanda nodded to a nearby EMT. “Let’s get her to a hospital. Heads up, she’s enhanced.”