BLIND TRUST

“There’s more bad news,” Cragen admitted a short while later as he, Elliot and Olivia made their way back into the SVU squad room.

“Such as?” Olivia asked with a frown, not entirely sure that she wanted to know.

“Richard Goren has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia,” Cragen told them.

It took several seconds for Cragen to realise that he was no longer accompanied by either Elliot or Olivia. Stopping, he looked back to find his two detectives were standing frozen, staring at him in disbelief.

“No…” Elliot growled as he finally found his voice. “No fucking way! That’s bullshit, Captain! That son of a bitch is not schizophrenic! He’s just pulling a fast one to get out of going back to prison!”

“Elliot’s right,” Olivia agreed. “Captain, if anyone would know all the tricks to convince a shrink, it’d be Richie. The guy is a con man by trade, and he grew up with a schizophrenic mother! He’d know all the tricks inside out! He wouldn’t have any trouble convincing a shrink that he’s sick.”

“I know you don’t want to believe it,” Cragen said, “and I don’t want to believe it either, but the bottom line is that Richard Goren had a complete psychotic break this morning. Honestly, I’d love for nothing more than for Huang to come back from Rikers and say the son of a bitch is just faking it, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Right now, the best we can hope for is that he’ll be institutionalised under high security for the rest of his life.”

“Is that why you were at the hospital?” Olivia asked. “You told Bobby?”

Cragen gave a short, bitter laugh.

“No, I wouldn’t have dropped that bombshell on Goren even if he had been fully conscious, which he wasn’t. They had to sedate him after the intubation, and he probably won’t be conscious again for another twenty-four hours. No, I went to tell Deakins.”

“I bet I can guess how he handled hearing that,” Olivia grumbled. Cragen hesitated, taking in their sour looks, and then sighed quietly.

“No, he didn’t take the news too well, but it was still better than I anticipated. Look, he’s not deliberately been trying to interfere with your case. He’s just worried sick about his detective, and I can’t fault him for that.”

“We don’t, either,” Elliot insisted. “It’s just frustrating, having Deakins breathing down our necks at every turn. If that’s how Goren and Eames have to work, I don’t know how they can stand it.”

“I know from experience that Jim Deakins isn’t normally that bad,” Cragen assured them as he led them down the corridor and into his office. “But this is an exceptional circumstance.”

“Are you saying that’s how you’d behave if it were one of us in Bobby’s place?” Elliot asked. Cragen smiled, but there was no humour in it.

“I think I just might.”

“Okay,” Olivia sighed. “So what do we do now?”

“I’ll contact Casey,” Cragen told them. “I don’t particularly like our chances, but we’re going to fight to get Cozza away from the Feds.” He paused, looking out into the bullpen, and then frowned. “One of you, get on the phone and tell Fin and Munch to get their asses back here. We need to start wrapping this one up.”


“Wrap it up, he says,” Elliot muttered sourly. “Shit… You know, we made a promise, ’Liv. We told Bobby that whoever hurt him wouldn’t get away with it, but that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

“It’s a promise we should never have made,” Olivia murmured. “We can never make a guarantee like that.”

Elliot shook his head angrily.

“It just pisses me off, knowing that Matic is the only one who’s gonna get anything remotely like what he deserves, and he’ll probably be a fucking hero when he gets back to prison. I tell you, I am not looking forward to breaking this to Bobby. Especially the news about his brother.”

Olivia sighed softly as she sank into her chair and reached for the phone.

“It doesn’t make any sense. Maybe I don’t know a whole lot about schizophrenia, but what I do know is that they’re generally not violent… At least, not to this degree. Even with everything that happened to Richie in prison, if he really is schizophrenic, I don’t understand how he could have had the clarity of mind to plan and organise the attack. According to what Matic told me and Munch, Richie arranged everything, including the chlorphenesin. That’s not an easy drug to come by at the best of times.”

“You’re right,” Elliot agreed. “How would Richie have even known about it? He was never on any meds while he was in prison, and the only drugs he got busted for in Rikers was cocaine.”

Shaking her head ruefully, Olivia began to dial Munch’s cell phone number, to tell them the search was off.


“Hey, sleeping beauty, wake up!”

Munch grunted in response to Fin’s shout.

“You don’t have to shout. I was awake.”

“Yeah, sure you were,” Fin snorted. “Your phone’s ringing, Pinocchio.”

Glowering at his partner, Munch answered the persistent ringing of his cell phone.

“Munch. …Oh, hey, ’Liv… What? You’re kidding… Okay… All right, we’ll be back soon.”

“What is it now?” Fin asked as Munch ended the call.

“Stakeout’s over. The Feds have Cozza.”

“Ah, shit,” Fin muttered. “There goes that one down the rabbit hole. Wonder who Cragen will nominate to break that one to Bobby…?”

“I vote for Elliot,” Munch volunteered. Fin grunted and started to reach for the keys to start the car, but stopped short of actually doing so.

“So, are we heading back or what?” Munch asked when, nearly half a minute later, Fin still hadn’t made any effort to start the car.

“I don’t like it,” Fin said quietly. Munch rolled his eyes in mock exasperation.

“I think we’ve well established that none of us are happy about it, but what can we do about it?”

A second later, Munch was wishing he hadn’t asked when Fin tossed him the car keys and got out of the car.

“Hey!” Munch called after him. “Where the hell are you going?”

“It’s okay,” Fin reassured him. “Go on back to SVU, John. Tell Cragen I’m just taken my turn sitting guard on Bobby’s door.”

Munch watched, baffled, as Fin darted across the street and disappeared into the hospital. Then, shaking his head in frustration, Munch pulled his cell phone out once more to call Olivia back, and let her know that they wouldn’t be returning to headquarters after all.


Elliot watched out of the corner of his eye as Olivia answered her cell phone. He waited in patient silence while she spoke, not saying a word until she’d ended the call.

“Munch again?” he asked, acutely aware of her sudden agitation. She nodded in answer.

“He asked me to tell Cragen that they’re staying at the hospital for the time being.”

“What? Why?”

Olivia shook her head as she stood up and headed for Cragen’s office.

“I don’t know. He didn’t explain.”

“Cragen’s going to hit the roof,” Elliot called after her. She glared back at him as she reached the captain’s door, but said nothing before knocking and going in.


“What is it, Olivia?” Cragen asked tersely as she walked in. She hesitated for just a moment, wishing she’d taken a minute to work out what she was going to say before going in.

“Ah… Sir… I just spoke to Munch. They want to stay at St Clare’s for a bit longer.”

Cragen looked up at her slowly, and it was all Olivia could do not to cringe. He set his pen down and sat back in his chair, his full attention focused exclusively on her.

“Did they say why?”

“Not really. Just… something about Fin having a hunch.”

“A hunch?” Cragen echoed sharply, and that time Olivia did flinch. He stared at her for several seconds that seemed to drag on forever, not saying a word while he processed that information.

“Get Elliot, and head back to the hospital,” Cragen said quietly, abruptly. “Find Fin and Munch, and I want the four of you to set yourselves up so that no one can get to Goren without any of you knowing it.”

“He’s still in the ICU, Captain. They’re not going to be happy about being overrun with cops…”

“I don’t care, Olivia. Just ask them which they’d prefer, to be inconvenienced for a little while, or to have a patient murdered right under their noses.”

Olivia gaped at him.

“You think they lied… The Feds lied about having Cozza in custody…”

“I don’t know,” Cragen said grimly. “All I know is that this whole situation stinks to high heaven, and if Fin has a hunch that Goren might still be in danger, then that’s good enough for me. Get Elliot and get back to the hospital as fast as you can. I suspect we have a very small window of opportunity open to us, and it isn’t going to last long.”

Olivia practically ran from his office.


“So let me get this straight,” Elliot said as he guided their speeding car through the midtown traffic. “Fin has a hunch, and all of a sudden we’re all back on guard duty?”

Olivia stared out of the window, her brow creased with worry.

“What if he’s right, Elliot? What if the Feds don’t have Cozza at all? What if they lied just to get us out of the way, so they can grab the son of a bitch out from under our noses?”

“And probably sacrifice Bobby into the bargain,” Elliot muttered heatedly. “You’re right. We can’t take the chance. Screw whether or not we manage to get Cozza. This is about keeping Bobby safe.”

Olivia nodded in agreement.

“Those bastards from the FBI were willing to hang him out to dry before. I doubt they’d pass up the chance to use him for bait now.”

Gritting his teeth, Elliot stomped his foot down on the accelerator.


Alex emerged from the women’s bathroom situated at the far end of the corridor from the ICU wing, feeling sick and tired, and just generally wasted. Despite her resolve to stay at Bobby’s side, her stomach had had other ideas, and she’d ended up having to make a dash for the nearest toilet.

It was the shock of everything that had happened finally catching up to her, she was sure of that. There was no other explanation for her sudden inability to hold down the contents of her stomach.

“Alex, are you okay?”

She looked around to see Deakins approaching her, a worried look creasing his brow. Her shoulders slumped. She couldn’t lie to him, and they both knew it.

“Not really,” she admitted miserably. Deakins sighed softly.

“I know, it’s just getting to be too much, isn’t it?”

She regarded him bitterly.

“If we can’t cope, how the hell is Bobby going to be able to? He’s the one who has to learn to live with what happened. He’s the one who experienced it.”

“I know,” Deakins murmured. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out, Alex. You know that.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex apologised, but Deakins shook his head.

“Don’t apologise. I do understand, Alex.”

She sighed faintly, and then looked up at him questioningly.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to get back to the office. Since Bobby isn’t likely to be awake again before tomorrow, I can’t make excuses for staying. What about you, Alex?”

Her expression hardened noticeably.

“What about me?”

“Alex, you’ve been away from the hospital once in the last four days. If you’re as exhausted as I feel…”

“I won’t leave him,” she insisted. “Captain, you wouldn’t even bother suggesting it if mine and Bobby’s situations were reversed.”

Deakins nodded in reluctant concession. It was true, Bobby would have been camped out in the hospital, and they would have needed sedatives and a good pair of handcuffs to drag him away.

“Then at least go and get yourself something decent to eat,” he suggested. “Get out of the hospital just for a little while. Logan is with Bobby at the moment…”

“Just Logan? Where’s Danny?”

“His pager went off just after you… walked out. He went to call the number. I got the impression he wasn’t too happy about it. I’m sure I heard him say something like ‘Nazi bitch’ under his breath as he went out.”

Alex hesitated, mulling over the wisdom of giving herself even just a short break away from the stifling confines of the Intensive Care Unit.

“Logan…” she repeated, unable to keep the scepticism entirely out of her voice. Deakins had to smile at her tone.

“He’s a decent guy, Alex. He didn’t have to come back. He didn’t have to come in the first place.”

“Okay,” she conceded finally, realising dimly that she was simply too tired to argue with him. “I’ll go get something to eat… Get out of the place for a little while. I’ll just let Logan know…”

“No need,” Deakins told her, a small smile lighting up his face. “I already told him I’d get you out of the building, one way or another.”

Alex shook her head again in mock irritation as he guided her in the direction of the lifts.

“I never pictured you as cunning, Captain.”

“No? How do you think I got to be head of the Major Case Squad if I wasn’t?”


“…No! Goddamn it, that’s not fair!”

Alex slowed to a halt, hearing Danny’s voice just around the corner. He sounded angry, she mused. No, strike that. He sounded thoroughly pissed off.

She paused in going around the corner, electing to listen in on the one-sided conversation, and try to work out just what was wrong.

“…I know it was short notice, but it was approved! Damn it, I was given five weeks… No, you can’t revoke it on those grounds! It shouldn’t matter whether he’s my cousin or my brother, I’m the only family he has… I don’t give a shit whether or not the client prefers me! I have a responsibility…”

Silence fell very abruptly, and Alex finally stepped slowly around the corner to find Danny leaning against the wall, his face white and his lips pressed together thinly in anger. Her stomach knotted with fear as she watched him, waiting for him to end the call so he could explain.

“All right,” he said finally, looking thoroughly sick as he spoke. “Okay… But I’m not happy about this, and I’ll be talking to Anna as soon as I get back.”

He snapped the cell phone shut, then looked around slowly at Alex.

“Got a problem?” she asked softly, silently dreading whatever explanation he had to offer. Danny stared at her for a long minute in silence, and she could almost hear the wheels turning in his mind as he tried to work out exactly what to tell her.

“I… I have to go,” he stammered finally. Alex felt her stomach roll unpleasantly. In her heart, she knew immediately what he meant, but chose to play ignorant. Whether that was out of a desire to see Danny squirm, or pure denial, she would never know.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “That’s a good idea, to go and get some rest. I’ll call you at the hotel if anything happens.”

Danny groaned softly, and pressed his hands over his face.

“You know that isn’t what I mean.”

“I know,” she answered softly. He looked at her miserably.

“My leave has been revoked. My bosses want me back in DC tomorrow morning.”

Alex drew in an unsteady breath.

“You have to tell them that you can’t,” she argued. Danny shook his head.

“I wish it was that simple, Alex. That was my CEO on the phone… Janelle Stevens. The woman’s a bitch at the best of times. She… She said that because Bobby isn’t immediate family, I can’t claim compassionate leave to help look after him, and I have no other leave available. She said if I’m not back at my desk within twenty-four hours, then not to bother coming back at all. I have to go back. I can’t afford to lose my job.”

“Within twenty-four hours?” Alex asked incredulously, feeling her temper starting to rise even as she stared up at Danny’s remorseful expression. “You mean you won’t even wait long enough for Bobby to wake up, to tell him directly?”

“Alex…” Danny started to say, but she cut him off angrily.

“No, forget it. You have to go? Just go.”

“I will come back,” Danny insisted. “I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“As soon as you can,” Alex echoed scathingly. “That’s really going to make Bobby feel better, isn’t it? Damn it, Danny, how do you think he’s going to feel when he wakes up and finds out that you’ve gone?”

Danny looked away from her, feeling truly sick. Alex nodded furiously, wiping angrily at the tears in her eyes.

“You told him you wouldn’t desert him. You promised him, Danny!”

“I know I did!” Danny burst out, looking back at her in distress. “Do you think I’m happy about this? I’m not, and if I could find a way around it, I would! Damn it, I don’t want to do this to Bobby. I know what his issues are with abandonment… and with trust… but I don’t have a choice! I haven’t been given a choice.”

Alex answered his outburst with a long silence. When she finally spoke again, it was with a dull calm that sent a slight shudder through Danny.

“Don’t worry yourself about Bobby. I won’t let him down.”

Danny flinched visibly, but Alex never saw it. She was already walking away from him, as fast as she could.


Alex headed for the lifts, but changed her mind upon seeing the number of people waiting. She had no desire to have a bunch of strangers staring at her, especially when she just didn’t seem to be able to hold back the tears. Instead, she made for the stairs, hoping for some privacy.

Inside the stairwell, Alex slumped sideways against the wall, sobbing heavily into her arms. Damn Danny, she thought angrily. Damn him to hell for not having the balls to stand up to his bosses. He knew Bobby’s sense of trust in those closest to him had been severely damaged, and yet there he was, ready to do exactly the same thing.

And yet, even as she tried to maintain her anger, she reluctantly accepted that she was being unfair to him. She knew without a doubt that Deakins would not do anything to force her to leave Bobby’s side, and return to work. He probably hoped that reason would eventually rule her emotions, but until then he wasn’t going to push her, and she knew it. She needed to be there for her partner, and they both knew it.

Danny did not have the luxury of that sort of understanding with his employers.

As much as she wanted to, Alex couldn’t bring herself to stay angry at Danny. She knew he cared about his cousin, and he wouldn’t leave Bobby unless he really had no choice.

That was what she told herself, with a desperation that bordered on manic.

A door creaked open somewhere below, and Alex heard footsteps on the stairs, coming up towards her. She turned her back on whoever it was, doctor or nurse… or, more likely, Danny come after her to make his peace. Either way, she had no desire to let anyone see the state she’d worked herself into.

The footsteps paused for a long moment before continuing on up the stairs, until they stopped right behind her. Two hands alighted on her shoulders and she tried, without success, to shrug them off.

“Look, just leave me alone, okay?” she growled, starting to turn around.

A moment later, all the wind was knocked out of her as she was slammed back against the wall, and pinned there firmly. A hand covered her mouth, effectively muffling any sound she might have tried to make, and a strong body pressed hard against hers, making it impossible for her to move.

Her eyes widened with fear as she found herself staring up into the soulless eyes of Richard Chops Cozza.

“Sorry, Detective,” Chops whispered. “No can do. I have some unfinished business with your partner, and I don’t really want you interfering.”

Alex struggled against him, but he was simply too strong for her. She couldn’t move, and she couldn’t make a sound. Briefly, she wondered whether this was even remotely like Bobby had felt that night when he was attacked.

Her eyes flickered downward, searching for a gun or a knife, but he produced neither. Chops smiled viciously at her.

“Don’t get me wrong, Detective. I’d love to put a bullet between your pretty brown eyes, but I don’t have the time to waste. So, I’m just gonna have to settle for this, instead…”

He swung Alex around and gave her a brutal shove. She stumbled and fell, made a last frantic grab at the handrail, and missed.

Her shins hit the stairs as she fell, followed by her shoulder as her body rolled and bounced, hitting each stair with painful accuracy. Her body hit the floor and her head struck the floor with a sickening smack. She stiffened once, just briefly, before slumping unconscious against the floor.

Chops stood at the top of the stairs, surveying his handiwork impassively before continuing on his way toward his final target.


Fin and Munch met Olivia in the foyer of the hospital, all four detectives on edge by now.

“A hunch, Fin?” Elliot asked wryly. Fin shrugged.

“Maybe I’m wrong, but if I am, then why are there Federal agents hanging around still hanging around the hospital?”

Olivia nodded.

“Well, Cragen wants us to set ourselves up so that no one can get anywhere near Bobby without us knowing about it.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Fin said. “On of us can sit on his door, someone can stay near the lifts, by the south entrance into the ICU… someone down at the north ICU entrance, and someone in the stairwell.”

“I’ll take the south entrance,” Munch volunteered. Elliot nodded.

“I’ll take the stairwell.”

Olivia looked over at Fin.

“You take Bobby’s door, Fin, and I’ll take the north entrance. Everyone keep in touch at all times. Okay, guys, let’s go.”


Chops paused at the end of the corridor, just inside the entrance to the ICU wing, sizing up the situation before him. Right at that moment, there was no cop sitting guard on the detective’s door. Chops wasted no time or energy wondering why; he simply accepted providence with gratitude. That left whoever was inside the room to deal with.

He walked quickly and quietly down the corridor, unnoticed by the nursing staff that moved around quietly. Coming up to the door of Bobby’s room, Chops took one last, quick look around before slipping inside and shutting the door behind him.


Elliot entered the stairwell, wondering dimly why he’d volunteered for that particular duty. Frowning, he paused to check his radio to make sure he could still receive a signal, and then walked around to sit on the top step.

“Fuck!”

The word exploded out of his mouth as his gaze fell on the body that lay in a crumpled heap below, and Elliot took the steps three at a time in his rush to get down there.

“Sweet Jesus… Alex… Can you hear me?”

It was a pointless effort, he realised quickly. She was unconscious and unresponsive, and had been in this state for God only knew how long.

“Come in, Olivia,” Elliot spoke urgently into his radio. It crackled loudly as she responded straight away.

“What’s up, Elliot?”

“I’m in the stairwell with Alex Eames. It looks like she was pushed down the stairs.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s out cold, but she’s breathing okay. Look, Cozza must already be in the building. You’ve got to get Fin and Munch, and get to Bobby’s room, now! I’ll stay with Alex.”

“On our way.”


Logan stood silently at Bobby’s bedside, staring down at the injured detective’s passive features in dismal silence. When he’d first met Bobby Goren, all he had seen was an arrogant, smart ass cop who he honestly believed had needed to be taken down a peg or two. His opinion had changed in light of the incident in the prison, but even then he’d not considered that he would ever want to make an effort to be genuine friends with Bobby.

Passing acquaintances? Sure. An occasional drink at the bar, and a game of pool? Maybe. But friends? If someone had suggested that only a week ago, he would have laughed in their faces.

Now, though, Logan couldn’t bring himself to even smile at the idea. The truth was that if Bobby was willing to accept his friendship, then Logan was willing to offer it. And God knew, Bobby needed all the friends he could get right then.

He dreaded what would happen when Bobby woke up from the sedatives he’d been given, and realised he had a tube shoved down his throat. As Alex had said, it had virtually removed his one remaining means of communication. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t signal with his hands… He didn’t even have the ‘blink once or twice’ option open to him.

It was going to be bad for a while, of that Logan had no doubt, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to be around for it.

The door opened behind him, and Logan heard footsteps that were too heavy for it to be Alex. Which meant it was either Deakins or Danny come back. Logan started to turn to greet whoever it was, but before he was able to turn fully, something struck him hard across the side of the head, causing his head to explode in a blaze of light and stars, and sending him crashing into the bed, and then to the floor. A foot found his side, and he felt at least one of his ribs break. A second kick, and Logan cried out as his wrist snapped from the brutal blow.

Then, a strong pair of hands grabbed his jacket and dragged him roughly away from the bedside, leaving him slumped in a heap in the corner of the room. Hands lifted his jacket, and removed his gun. Then, as his attacker moved back, the stars cleared a little and Logan managed to focus on the man standing over him.

“Just relax, Detective,” a rough voice told him. “This won’t take a moment.”

Logan looked on dazedly as Chops walked over to Bobby’s bedside, and looked down thoughtfully at the unconscious detective.

“Too easy,” Chops muttered, and reached out to switch off the ventilator.

“Do that, and you won’t walk out of this place alive,” Logan gasped, wishing desperately that his head would stop spinning long enough for him to be able to get up. Chops grinned at him.

“Are you shitting me? I do this, and I’ll walk straight out of here into a Federal escort. You think they give a shit about Detective Goren? They don’t. Why do you think they’re not in here right now trying to stop me?”

Shaking his head, Chops returned his attention to the ventilator. He observed it thoughtfully for a long moment before switching off the ventilator. Bobby’s chest rose weakly once, twice, before the breath stilled in his body. The heart monitor began to spike wildly as his body fought to compensate for the sudden loss of the aid provided by the ventilator.

With a burst of rage-fuelled strength, Logan hauled himself to his feet and threw himself at Chops, even as the heart monitor went flat-line, and an alarm began to ring.


Olivia ran through the swinging doors into the ICU with Fin right behind her and Munch coming from the far end, just as an alarm began to ring.

“What is that?” she asked a nurse that emerged out of the duty office at the sound of the alarm.

“Code blue,” the nurse told her urgently. “It’s Detective Goren’s room. It means he’s in cardiac arrest.”

Olivia ran for the room.


Logan barely managed to get to his feet before Chops swung the gun around and fired at him. The single shot sent Logan staggering backwards and collapsing heavily against the wall, where he slid back to the floor in a heap, clutching at his shoulder.

Chops grinned fleetingly at Logan before bolting from the room.


“Richard Cozza, stop right there!” Fin bellowed as Chops ran out of the room, only to find himself confronted by armed police on both sides. There was nowhere for him to go, but a grin spread across his face regardless.

“You can’t touch me,” he taunted them. “None of you can.”

“Think again, asshole,” Munch snapped. “Now put the gun down.”

Chops stood still for a long moment before shrugging and bending down to place the gun on the floor. Olivia started to move in when he suddenly came back up again, lifting the gun to aim straight at Olivia. She didn’t hesitate, firing once with trained accuracy. The young man was dead before he hit the floor.

“Nice shooting, ’Liv,” Fin said quietly, grimly, as he edged over and picked up Logan’s gun.

“I didn’t want to do that,” she said ruefully.

“On the bright side,” Munch commented blithely, “the Feds won’t be getting him now for their indictments. I guess one of us had better call Cragen and tell him, so he can go into damage control.”

“Forget the Feds,” Olivia growled, reaching for Bobby’s door. “Let’s check on Bobby.”

She walked into the room just in time to see Dr Craig carefully restarting the ventilator while a second doctor crouched beside Logan, holding a thick compress to his shoulder wound.

“Relax,” Craig reassured them with a small smile as Olivia, Fin and Munch looked on anxiously. “He’ll be fine. Robert’s strong, he was easily revived and no serious harm was done. Not sure I can say the same for you colleague down there, though.”

Munch walked over and crouched down on Logan’s other side, eyeing his friend with ill-concealed amusement.

“It’s not serious, the bullet went straight through. It’s really only a flesh wound,” the doctor said when Munch looked at him questioningly. The lanky detective looked back to Logan with amusement.

“Logan? You think you’ll live?”

Logan grimaced. “Yeah, I think so. Not that you’d give a damn, Munch.”

Munch smirked. “I’m wounded, Logan.”

Logan snorted derisively in reply. Munch chuckled and got back up.

“He’ll be fine. Someone had better get to the stairs, though.”

“The stairs?” Craig echoed, puzzled. Olivia nodded.

“Detective Stabler found Detective Eames unconscious in the stairwell. He thinks she was pushed down the stairs, probably by the same scum that just tried to kill Detective Goren.”

Craig nodded, already on her way out the door.

“I’ll go immediately.”

Once she’d gone, Olivia looked around to see Fin had gone to the bedside and was watching Bobby intently.

“That’s it, then,” he said. “There ain’t gonna be a trial. Matic took a plea bargain, Richie’s gonna go to a high security psyche hospital and Cozza’s dead.”

“It’s not all bad,” Olivia murmured. “No trial means Bobby will never have to testify against his brother. That’s something, at least.”

“The real question,” Munch pointed out, “is whether he’s actually going to be better off for it. We see it all the time. Rape victims who are able to face up to their attackers in court often survive better than those who don’t.”

“Gee, aren’t you all sweetness and light,” Logan retorted.

“I’m right, though,” Munch argued. Olivia looked back at him, watching out of the corner of her eye as a wheelchair was brought in to take Logan down to the ER for treatment.

“Maybe, but let’s not make assumptions just yet.” She paused, watching as Logan was taken off to have his injuries taken care of, before heading to the door herself.

“C’mon. Let’s call Cragen, and get this wrapped up.”

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