SVU - elliot/katie - sleepless nights - part 1 - PG
title: Sleepless Nights - Part 1
fandom: Law & Order SVU
pairing: elliot/katie (ofc)
letter: g for guilt-stricken - table # 11 for a_to_z_prompts
summary: Katie gets a surprise visit from her sister, which turns her night upside-down.
rating: PG.
word count: 2328
warnings/spoilers: none really ;)
a/n: Katie Summers is an original character of mine who I'm pairing with Detective Elliot Stabler for my fic's in this challenge. You'll get to know more about her as you read :) SVU timeline wise is set during the time Elliot is separated from his wife.
disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Law and Order SVU. This is purely written for entertainment only.
Sleepless Nights - Part 1
Sunday night dinner with her next door neighbour, Alexis, had become a highlight of Katie’s week. In the three years the pair had known each other, they were now great friends and shared everything together. So, with Ben away for the weekend on a business trip, Katie and Alexis had been having a blast for almost the whole day.
“This wine is gooood, Katie.” Alexis cooed as she poured a third glass of red for herself.
“I know, right?” Katie said, giggling contentedly with her second glass of wine in her hand. Both women could hold their alcohol very well, so they weren’t drunk, just... merry. “I’ll have to save the bottle, I never pick good red wine.”
“Oh, did you read that book I lent you?” Alexis asked as Bono, Katie’s older cat jumped up into the couch beside her, curling his completely black body around in a circle on the pillow at her side.
“I’m halfway through, I swear.” Katie replied, scratching Bono’s head. “You know how I feel about Agatha Christie.”
“Yeah, yeah, hit-and-miss,” Alexis said with a roll of her eyes. “But this one’s good, right?”
Katie sighed. She was generally more interested in the Miss Marple novels, but she had to admit that whilst reading Murder in Mesopotamia, she was actually enjoying reading Hercule Poirot; unusual for her since most of the stories with him as the detective bored her. “Yes, alright, you win. It’s good.”
The tinkling doorbell echoed into the living room, alerting both women to look at their watches. It was after eleven o’clock at night. “Who the heck could that be?” Alexis wondered out loud. “Ben?”
“He has a key.” Katie reminded her, setting her glass down and heading for the door. They had a doorman who worked until midnight at their building, after that you needed a key to be let in, but Donny, the doorman, wouldn’t let anyone up that didn’t have permission, or that he didn’t know, like a family member, for example, which is why Katie’s heart fluttered excitedly. It was her little sister, Bonnie. It had to be! The girl had been MIA for almost six months with only a couple of vague emails as communication; she’d been teasing. She was coming back to town as a surprise for Katie - yay!
Tip-toeing excitedly to the front door, Katie brushed her blonde hair from her eyes and peered through the keyhole. Yep, that was definitely the back of Bonnie’s head, with an almost trademark streak of colour in it. Apparently she’d tired of the blue; and now it was bright red.
Giddy to hug her baby sister, Katie fumbled with the deadbolt lock and chain, but then managed to work it like a normal person and fling open the door. “Bonnie!” She cried happily.
But her smile disappeared the moment her sister turned around.
Bonnie’s face was almost completely bruised. Her right eye was so swollen it couldn’t stay open, and there was blood smeared across her cheeks and down her bare arms. Her formerly thin, lithe fingers were tattered with broken nails as she cradled what appeared to be a five month pregnant baby belly in her hands.
“Bonnie!” Katie cried, grabbing her sister in her arms.
“Ah!” Bonnie winced in pain, but welcomed her sister’s hug.
“What happened to you?” Katie pulled back and gently inspected her sister’s face. “Jesus, Bonnie, what happened to you?!”
Bonnie’s face just crumpled in agony and exhaustion, and she just burst into tears, falling heavily into her sisters arms and sobbing into her shoulder.
“It’s ok, honey, its ok,” Katie directed Bonnie inside the apartment, locking the door securely behind them.
“Who was it Katie - ohmigod!” Alexis dropped her wine glass when she saw Bonnie. “Bonnie?” She knew Katie’s sister from the few visits she’d made in the years before. “Oh, Bonnie!”
“She’s okay,” Katie tried to keep her voice calm; she had to take control here. “Al, can you please get me whatever first aid stuff is in the bathroom?”
“Of course,” Alexis quickly grabbed a cloth from the countertop and mopped up her mess, sweeping the glass shards into a corner for now. “I’ll be right back.”
Katie led a still-whimpering Bonnie to the couch and sat her down gently. She cleared the coffee table and sat down on it in front of her sister. “What happened, Bon?” She asked quietly, taking her sister’s hands. “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant? You know you could have come to stay here.” Tears welled in Katie’s eyes as she carefully tucked a stray piece of hair behind her sister’s ear.
“I...I didn’t kn-know what to s-say.” Bonnie said through sniffling sobs. “He doesn’t do this, he’s not like this,” Her one good eye was focused on her sister, trying to show some confidence through her weak facade. “I wouldn’t let him do this to me, you know that, Katie, you know me.”
“I know, honey, I know,” Katie said slowly, not bothering to argue with her sister right now; she needed to calm down.
“Here,” Alexis arrived with an armful of bandages, peroxide and a bowl of clean water. “I’ll finish cleaning up the mess I made...” She looked pitifully at Bonnie. “Should I call an ambul-”
“No!” Bonnie suddenly hollered. “No! Don’t call anyone! No one! I don’t want people to know!"
“Okay, okay,” Katie kept her sister from jumping up to her feet. “Okay, we won’t call anyone just yet...”
Silently, Alexis left the sister’s alone and went back to the kitchen.
“Bonnie...” Katie took a piece of gauze and dunked it in the water. “You have to tell me what happened.” She carefully started wiping her sister’s face, realizing there was a lot more dry blood then she’d previously thought. There was also dirt and soot, like she’d crawled out of a fireplace.
“I can’t, Katie,” Bonnie sniffled, grimacing as the cool cloth pressed against her bruised eye.
“Listen... you know where I work, right? Special Victims. They can help you so much, honey, just let me call them.”
Bonnie shook her head. “No! Katie, I don’t want people to know!”
“Not people! Just two, I promise. Two friends of mine, okay? They’ll come here and talk to you; so you don’t have to go anywhere, alright?” Katie shuffled forwards and squeezed her sisters knees. “Come on, Bon, you obviously came here for my help. So let me help you.”
Bonnie started to say no, but the worry in her big sister’s eyes made her re-think her answer. She did want help; and she desperately needed it. “Okay.” She agreed in a whisper.
xxx
After assuring Alexis that Bonnie was fine, and that she would update her as soon as she could, Katie sent her friend home and waited by the front door. Bonnie was curled up on the couch under a blanket. Katie had tried to get her to talk some more, but after agreeing to let Katie call help; she shut down and said nothing else.
A gentle knock on the door made Katie jump; she quickly unlocked the door and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Olivia and Elliot standing in the hall. “Hi, guys, thanks so much for coming.” She stood aside and let them through.
“Where is she?” Olivia asked quietly.
“In the living room on the couch. She’s not speaking to me anymore, she won’t tell me what happened, just that some guy did this to her, and that he wasn’t normally like that.” Katie knew she was speaking quickly, but the weight of the situation was starting to sink in. Her sister had been beaten bloody, was pregnant, and had travelled God knew how far to get to Katie; why hadn’t she called? Katie would have driven night and day to go and pick her up.
“It’s okay, Katie,” Elliot put his hand on her back as Olivia ventured further into the apartment.
“It is not okay, Elliot,” Katie said, heading after Olivia, but Elliot pulled her back. “What?”
“Let Liv talk to her alone for a minute,” Elliot said gently. “She knows what she’s doing; you know that. It’s why you called us, right?”
Katie took a few deep breaths, holding her hand to her chest, glad Elliot’s hand was still on her back because she felt like she might faint. “Yes, thank you. I didn’t drag you away from anything did I?”
“Nope, I was finishing up paperwork at the precinct.”
“And Olivia?”
“Well... she was on a date.” Elliot smirked. “I’m sure you can make it up to her.”
Katie appreciated his attempt at dry humour to cheer her up, but it didn’t help, and she was sure the smile she gave him came across as some sort of wonky frown.
“Come on, let’s go sit down,” Elliot led her into the dining room, pulled out a chair for her and guided her into it. “So she didn’t give you any indication that she was coming back into town?”
Katie dropped her head into her hand. “No,” She said. “She was still in Pennsylvania by her last email; after she graduated at Penn State she was so in love with the place she just stayed.
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“Christmas.” Katie answered. “She stayed here for New Years, too. And she didn’t mention any boyfriend.”
“Would she?”
Katie shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno... maybe... maybe not. Not if she didn’t think I would approve... but Elliot, I know my sister, she would never let a guy hit her. Never.” She kept thinking of Bonnie’s bruises, all that blood; the pain she must have been in. “She’s my baby sister,” Katie muttered in a teary voice. “How could I let this happen to her?”
“Stop it; don’t start that,” Elliot said firmly. “You know this has nothing to do with you, alright? She came to you for help; and you’re helping her. You’ve done everything right.” He reached out and rubbed her shoulder. “Alright?”
Katie sighed and let her hand rest on top of Elliot’s, thankful for his compassion. “Alright.” She nodded.
“Is there anyone else who needs to know? Your mum?"
“No, no... she’d be asleep now, and she wouldn’t be able to come to Bonnie right away which is what she’d want to do, it’d just make her crazy,” Katie shook her head. “No, no, I’ll call her when things are...” She searched for the right word, but Elliot didn’t ask for one, he just squeezed her hand more tightly.
xxx
Katie managed to convince her sister to go to the hospital, the worry that her baby may be injured being the push Bonnie needed to get her head into gear, so Elliot drove the sister’s and Olivia to the hospital rather than call an ambulance.
When Katie was busy with Bonnie and the doctor in one of the exam rooms, Elliot pulled his partner aside, now being the first chance he’d had to find out what Bonnie had told Olivia. “How is she?”
“Scared.” Olivia replied. “Confused... she’s concerned for her baby, though, so she’s got her priorities in order.”
“Yeah, and she came to Katie for help, but she said she came from Pennsylvania, out of our district.”
“Well, maybe we’ll get lucky and he beat her up here.” Olivia said flatly, it went without saying that the luck would be that they could prosecute the bastard on their own terms, not wait for someone in another state to do it. “I’m gonna check with the doctors, make sure they do a tox screen.” She stuffed her hands into her pockets and strode to the nurse’s station.
Elliot cast his eyes down the hall to Katie; she was worriedly pacing in front of her sister, chewing on her thumbnail, she didn’t seem to notice him watching her. She was wearing jeans, again, but Elliot’s mind didn’t wander into those seductive thoughts that they normally did when he thought of Katie, instead he was just concerned for her. When Kathleen had been picked up for a DUI; Elliot had been petrified and his daughter had been fine. Hung-over, but fine. He couldn’t imagine what he’d be like if something like what had happened to Bonnie, happened to one of his children.
Katie suddenly came out of the exam room, looking annoyed and worried at the same time. She sank into one of the plastic chairs just outside the room and let her head hang between her knees.
Elliot went right towards her. “Katie, what happened?” He asked as he sat beside her.
“The doctor told me to leave.” Katie mumbled angrily. “My own sister; and she tells me to wait outside? The nerve of these people.”
“They’re just doing their jobs,” Elliot said reasonably. “Did they give you any news?”
“The baby’s kicking, so that’s good,” Katie said, inhaling a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “But they think her eye socket’s broken, maybe her jaw and at least two of her fingers. And that’s just on the surface...” Katie lifted her head and rested it back against the wall, cursing that stupid doctor who had pulled the curtain around Bonnie’s bed so now she couldn’t even see her sister.
“Everything’ll be okay.” Elliot patted Katie’s knee, but his hand settled there and he didn’t move it. “She’s gonna get through this.”
Katie sniffled and exhaled loudly. “Oh... I’m going to be an Aunt... why wouldn’t she tell me that?” She let out a dry laugh. “She knows how much I love kids...”
“Well, you can talk to her about it when she’s feeling better.” Elliot reasoned. “You just have to keep calm, be strong for her.”
Katie smiled half-heartedly at him, and set her hand on top of his again, letting their fingers intertwine. He was asking her to do something she’d been doing her whole life; be strong for Bonnie.
xxx
fandom: Law & Order SVU
pairing: elliot/katie (ofc)
letter: g for guilt-stricken - table # 11 for a_to_z_prompts
summary: Katie gets a surprise visit from her sister, which turns her night upside-down.
rating: PG.
word count: 2328
warnings/spoilers: none really ;)
a/n: Katie Summers is an original character of mine who I'm pairing with Detective Elliot Stabler for my fic's in this challenge. You'll get to know more about her as you read :) SVU timeline wise is set during the time Elliot is separated from his wife.
disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Law and Order SVU. This is purely written for entertainment only.
Sleepless Nights - Part 1
Sunday night dinner with her next door neighbour, Alexis, had become a highlight of Katie’s week. In the three years the pair had known each other, they were now great friends and shared everything together. So, with Ben away for the weekend on a business trip, Katie and Alexis had been having a blast for almost the whole day.
“This wine is gooood, Katie.” Alexis cooed as she poured a third glass of red for herself.
“I know, right?” Katie said, giggling contentedly with her second glass of wine in her hand. Both women could hold their alcohol very well, so they weren’t drunk, just... merry. “I’ll have to save the bottle, I never pick good red wine.”
“Oh, did you read that book I lent you?” Alexis asked as Bono, Katie’s older cat jumped up into the couch beside her, curling his completely black body around in a circle on the pillow at her side.
“I’m halfway through, I swear.” Katie replied, scratching Bono’s head. “You know how I feel about Agatha Christie.”
“Yeah, yeah, hit-and-miss,” Alexis said with a roll of her eyes. “But this one’s good, right?”
Katie sighed. She was generally more interested in the Miss Marple novels, but she had to admit that whilst reading Murder in Mesopotamia, she was actually enjoying reading Hercule Poirot; unusual for her since most of the stories with him as the detective bored her. “Yes, alright, you win. It’s good.”
The tinkling doorbell echoed into the living room, alerting both women to look at their watches. It was after eleven o’clock at night. “Who the heck could that be?” Alexis wondered out loud. “Ben?”
“He has a key.” Katie reminded her, setting her glass down and heading for the door. They had a doorman who worked until midnight at their building, after that you needed a key to be let in, but Donny, the doorman, wouldn’t let anyone up that didn’t have permission, or that he didn’t know, like a family member, for example, which is why Katie’s heart fluttered excitedly. It was her little sister, Bonnie. It had to be! The girl had been MIA for almost six months with only a couple of vague emails as communication; she’d been teasing. She was coming back to town as a surprise for Katie - yay!
Tip-toeing excitedly to the front door, Katie brushed her blonde hair from her eyes and peered through the keyhole. Yep, that was definitely the back of Bonnie’s head, with an almost trademark streak of colour in it. Apparently she’d tired of the blue; and now it was bright red.
Giddy to hug her baby sister, Katie fumbled with the deadbolt lock and chain, but then managed to work it like a normal person and fling open the door. “Bonnie!” She cried happily.
But her smile disappeared the moment her sister turned around.
Bonnie’s face was almost completely bruised. Her right eye was so swollen it couldn’t stay open, and there was blood smeared across her cheeks and down her bare arms. Her formerly thin, lithe fingers were tattered with broken nails as she cradled what appeared to be a five month pregnant baby belly in her hands.
“Bonnie!” Katie cried, grabbing her sister in her arms.
“Ah!” Bonnie winced in pain, but welcomed her sister’s hug.
“What happened to you?” Katie pulled back and gently inspected her sister’s face. “Jesus, Bonnie, what happened to you?!”
Bonnie’s face just crumpled in agony and exhaustion, and she just burst into tears, falling heavily into her sisters arms and sobbing into her shoulder.
“It’s ok, honey, its ok,” Katie directed Bonnie inside the apartment, locking the door securely behind them.
“Who was it Katie - ohmigod!” Alexis dropped her wine glass when she saw Bonnie. “Bonnie?” She knew Katie’s sister from the few visits she’d made in the years before. “Oh, Bonnie!”
“She’s okay,” Katie tried to keep her voice calm; she had to take control here. “Al, can you please get me whatever first aid stuff is in the bathroom?”
“Of course,” Alexis quickly grabbed a cloth from the countertop and mopped up her mess, sweeping the glass shards into a corner for now. “I’ll be right back.”
Katie led a still-whimpering Bonnie to the couch and sat her down gently. She cleared the coffee table and sat down on it in front of her sister. “What happened, Bon?” She asked quietly, taking her sister’s hands. “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant? You know you could have come to stay here.” Tears welled in Katie’s eyes as she carefully tucked a stray piece of hair behind her sister’s ear.
“I...I didn’t kn-know what to s-say.” Bonnie said through sniffling sobs. “He doesn’t do this, he’s not like this,” Her one good eye was focused on her sister, trying to show some confidence through her weak facade. “I wouldn’t let him do this to me, you know that, Katie, you know me.”
“I know, honey, I know,” Katie said slowly, not bothering to argue with her sister right now; she needed to calm down.
“Here,” Alexis arrived with an armful of bandages, peroxide and a bowl of clean water. “I’ll finish cleaning up the mess I made...” She looked pitifully at Bonnie. “Should I call an ambul-”
“No!” Bonnie suddenly hollered. “No! Don’t call anyone! No one! I don’t want people to know!"
“Okay, okay,” Katie kept her sister from jumping up to her feet. “Okay, we won’t call anyone just yet...”
Silently, Alexis left the sister’s alone and went back to the kitchen.
“Bonnie...” Katie took a piece of gauze and dunked it in the water. “You have to tell me what happened.” She carefully started wiping her sister’s face, realizing there was a lot more dry blood then she’d previously thought. There was also dirt and soot, like she’d crawled out of a fireplace.
“I can’t, Katie,” Bonnie sniffled, grimacing as the cool cloth pressed against her bruised eye.
“Listen... you know where I work, right? Special Victims. They can help you so much, honey, just let me call them.”
Bonnie shook her head. “No! Katie, I don’t want people to know!”
“Not people! Just two, I promise. Two friends of mine, okay? They’ll come here and talk to you; so you don’t have to go anywhere, alright?” Katie shuffled forwards and squeezed her sisters knees. “Come on, Bon, you obviously came here for my help. So let me help you.”
Bonnie started to say no, but the worry in her big sister’s eyes made her re-think her answer. She did want help; and she desperately needed it. “Okay.” She agreed in a whisper.
xxx
After assuring Alexis that Bonnie was fine, and that she would update her as soon as she could, Katie sent her friend home and waited by the front door. Bonnie was curled up on the couch under a blanket. Katie had tried to get her to talk some more, but after agreeing to let Katie call help; she shut down and said nothing else.
A gentle knock on the door made Katie jump; she quickly unlocked the door and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Olivia and Elliot standing in the hall. “Hi, guys, thanks so much for coming.” She stood aside and let them through.
“Where is she?” Olivia asked quietly.
“In the living room on the couch. She’s not speaking to me anymore, she won’t tell me what happened, just that some guy did this to her, and that he wasn’t normally like that.” Katie knew she was speaking quickly, but the weight of the situation was starting to sink in. Her sister had been beaten bloody, was pregnant, and had travelled God knew how far to get to Katie; why hadn’t she called? Katie would have driven night and day to go and pick her up.
“It’s okay, Katie,” Elliot put his hand on her back as Olivia ventured further into the apartment.
“It is not okay, Elliot,” Katie said, heading after Olivia, but Elliot pulled her back. “What?”
“Let Liv talk to her alone for a minute,” Elliot said gently. “She knows what she’s doing; you know that. It’s why you called us, right?”
Katie took a few deep breaths, holding her hand to her chest, glad Elliot’s hand was still on her back because she felt like she might faint. “Yes, thank you. I didn’t drag you away from anything did I?”
“Nope, I was finishing up paperwork at the precinct.”
“And Olivia?”
“Well... she was on a date.” Elliot smirked. “I’m sure you can make it up to her.”
Katie appreciated his attempt at dry humour to cheer her up, but it didn’t help, and she was sure the smile she gave him came across as some sort of wonky frown.
“Come on, let’s go sit down,” Elliot led her into the dining room, pulled out a chair for her and guided her into it. “So she didn’t give you any indication that she was coming back into town?”
Katie dropped her head into her hand. “No,” She said. “She was still in Pennsylvania by her last email; after she graduated at Penn State she was so in love with the place she just stayed.
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“Christmas.” Katie answered. “She stayed here for New Years, too. And she didn’t mention any boyfriend.”
“Would she?”
Katie shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno... maybe... maybe not. Not if she didn’t think I would approve... but Elliot, I know my sister, she would never let a guy hit her. Never.” She kept thinking of Bonnie’s bruises, all that blood; the pain she must have been in. “She’s my baby sister,” Katie muttered in a teary voice. “How could I let this happen to her?”
“Stop it; don’t start that,” Elliot said firmly. “You know this has nothing to do with you, alright? She came to you for help; and you’re helping her. You’ve done everything right.” He reached out and rubbed her shoulder. “Alright?”
Katie sighed and let her hand rest on top of Elliot’s, thankful for his compassion. “Alright.” She nodded.
“Is there anyone else who needs to know? Your mum?"
“No, no... she’d be asleep now, and she wouldn’t be able to come to Bonnie right away which is what she’d want to do, it’d just make her crazy,” Katie shook her head. “No, no, I’ll call her when things are...” She searched for the right word, but Elliot didn’t ask for one, he just squeezed her hand more tightly.
xxx
Katie managed to convince her sister to go to the hospital, the worry that her baby may be injured being the push Bonnie needed to get her head into gear, so Elliot drove the sister’s and Olivia to the hospital rather than call an ambulance.
When Katie was busy with Bonnie and the doctor in one of the exam rooms, Elliot pulled his partner aside, now being the first chance he’d had to find out what Bonnie had told Olivia. “How is she?”
“Scared.” Olivia replied. “Confused... she’s concerned for her baby, though, so she’s got her priorities in order.”
“Yeah, and she came to Katie for help, but she said she came from Pennsylvania, out of our district.”
“Well, maybe we’ll get lucky and he beat her up here.” Olivia said flatly, it went without saying that the luck would be that they could prosecute the bastard on their own terms, not wait for someone in another state to do it. “I’m gonna check with the doctors, make sure they do a tox screen.” She stuffed her hands into her pockets and strode to the nurse’s station.
Elliot cast his eyes down the hall to Katie; she was worriedly pacing in front of her sister, chewing on her thumbnail, she didn’t seem to notice him watching her. She was wearing jeans, again, but Elliot’s mind didn’t wander into those seductive thoughts that they normally did when he thought of Katie, instead he was just concerned for her. When Kathleen had been picked up for a DUI; Elliot had been petrified and his daughter had been fine. Hung-over, but fine. He couldn’t imagine what he’d be like if something like what had happened to Bonnie, happened to one of his children.
Katie suddenly came out of the exam room, looking annoyed and worried at the same time. She sank into one of the plastic chairs just outside the room and let her head hang between her knees.
Elliot went right towards her. “Katie, what happened?” He asked as he sat beside her.
“The doctor told me to leave.” Katie mumbled angrily. “My own sister; and she tells me to wait outside? The nerve of these people.”
“They’re just doing their jobs,” Elliot said reasonably. “Did they give you any news?”
“The baby’s kicking, so that’s good,” Katie said, inhaling a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “But they think her eye socket’s broken, maybe her jaw and at least two of her fingers. And that’s just on the surface...” Katie lifted her head and rested it back against the wall, cursing that stupid doctor who had pulled the curtain around Bonnie’s bed so now she couldn’t even see her sister.
“Everything’ll be okay.” Elliot patted Katie’s knee, but his hand settled there and he didn’t move it. “She’s gonna get through this.”
Katie sniffled and exhaled loudly. “Oh... I’m going to be an Aunt... why wouldn’t she tell me that?” She let out a dry laugh. “She knows how much I love kids...”
“Well, you can talk to her about it when she’s feeling better.” Elliot reasoned. “You just have to keep calm, be strong for her.”
Katie smiled half-heartedly at him, and set her hand on top of his again, letting their fingers intertwine. He was asking her to do something she’d been doing her whole life; be strong for Bonnie.
xxx