Adult-FanFiction.org : Television / Streaming

Darkest Nights	By : Bucken-Berry Category: G through L > Law & Order Views: 1451 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own SVU or it's characters and I'm not making money from this.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
George was thoroughly exhausted by the next afternoon. His body was begging him to sleep, his body was aching and his lungs burned, but his mind was so awake. The fear made him as alert as if he'd jumped into a freezing river.
Elliot was also feeling drained. No amount of coaxing could have calmed George down enough to sleep, so he had stayed with him, stroking his hair and embracing him, and occasionally feeling his heartbeat, which at times was almost as fast as a racehorse sprinting down the stretch.
He had never seen George so afraid. He felt terrible for having been even partially responsible for the panic attack, but then again, he and Olivia couldn't have known that George would hear them.
Elliot sighed and started drinking another coffee. George sat on the sofa across from him. He was sipping tea to help his cough, which had gotten worse because of how he had run the day before. The tea was decaffeinated so that he wouldn't increase his anxiety.
"George?" Elliot called softly.
"Mm-hmm." It was the closest George had come to speaking in hours.
"George, listen," Elliot said forcefully. George didn't look up, but he nodded his acceptance.
"No one is going to hurt you. I'm going to make sure of that."
George didn't respond. He just took another sip of his drink.
"Will you just talk to me? You were opening up before." Elliot was growing more concerned.
"I was opening up, but now I just don't know what to say," George stated. His voice was hoarse and he winced upon hearing it. He took a gulp of tea, hoping it would moisten his throat.
"You had a flashback…" Elliot prompted. George closed his eyes for a moment, readying himself.
"I did. I saw myself being tortured, and… I think they might try something again," George admitted.
"George…" Elliot began. George shook his head again and looked at the ground.
"I couldn't do it if they succeeded in finding me again. I couldn't do what I did the first time, or I'd go insane. And from what I've seen with my patients, insanity is worse than death..."
"What did you do when you were there for the ONLY time?" Elliot asked, stressing the word to get his point across.
"The first time, I tried to convince myself it was all a nightmare. I tried so hard. I made it that much worse by detaching like that—God, I was so stupid." George's voice grew higher in pitch as he mocked himself. "'It's just a nightmare, I'll wake up and I'll be tangled in my sheets but fine!'" A hysterical laugh escaped him. Elliot had never heard such a desperate, defeated sound. "Then I gave up and started dreaming about being rescued," George added bitterly.
"George, what you did is probably the reason you didn't go insane. It was a hopeless situation: the only hope you could've had was hope you invented; either it wasn't real or that someone would rescue you and make it better," Elliot argued.
"Would you have done the same thing?" George queried. "You're in this one room, you can't even move, let alone escape, you know every psychological problem they're suffering from and how each one makes it less likely you'll survive, you're so sure you're living on borrowed time, and they're torturing you every step of the way. What would you do?"
"The same thing you did," Elliot assured him. "And stop turning your anger in on yourself."
"What makes you think I'm doing that?" George asked, his voice dripping with fake curiosity. Elliot pretended not to hear him.
"I don't know how you forgot everything you know about psychology, doc, but you need a refresher course. You're a victim. You did everything by the book. It's amazing that you're alive, let alone sane. You should be angry at lots of people but you are not one of the people you should be angry at—if anything, you should be proud of yourself for being resilient enough to survive. So just stop it. Those guys will rot in prison, and I will personally make sure they don't get out of the interrogation room without a bruise. You know WHY, George?" he asked loudly.
"Mm-hmm."
"Because taking a man like you and breaking you down like they did? That pisses me off. And remember that infamous temper of mine? Yeah, it didn't calm any while you were gone. And let's just say I haven't been able to use my doctor-ordered outlet yet," Elliot snarled.
"All of that is assuming you A. find them and B. get to be the detective in charge of the interrogation," George said flatly.
"Believe me, both are going to happen," Elliot promised.
"And then what." It was more a statement than a question.
"They go to jail and you start to feel safe again. That will help your recovery."
"I suppose," George said dispassionately.
"George, why are you doing this?" Elliot demanded.
"I don't know, okay?" George replied. His voice was laced with agitation.
"I love you. I don't want to see you abuse yourself mentally. You're too good for that," Elliot whispered.
"It's so hard," George admitted. He analyzed his thoughts as he spoke. "I've never thought like this before. I guess it makes sense to be afraid of being hurt again. The guilt, anger, and resentment I have for myself are unhealthy but not uncommon. Although, it isn't self-hatred as much as disdain for how I acted when I was there. I'm fine with myself at the moment, but I don't really understand why I wasted time fantasizing about someone coming to help me. I should have been trying to escape. I don't know how that would have worked, though. It's just…" He paused, trying to find words.
"Despite everything I know about victims, I still feel like I did something wrong. Which isn't too surprising, I suppose, I know from a psychological standpoint that it's my minds way of trying to return some feeling of control to me, because my attackers took any power I may have had, but…"
"George, listen to me: you didn't do anything wrong." George closed his eyes and nodded before voicing his thoughts.
"Elliot, there's a reason they didn't do to me what they did to the others. I was close to death, but they were smart enough to know that if I was found, I had at least a 50-50 chance of survival. They made it certain for the others, making sure they died before they left them somewhere.
They mentioned, before they d… drugged me and moved me out, that they had to be careful not to get sick. My fever was probably extreme by then, especially considering how disoriented I was. So I could see them being cautious—but not like that. And not that I'm complaining, but if I was any of the other victims they would have…" Tears formed in his eyes at the thought, which made him cough harshly before he was able to finish speaking.
"They would have killed me before they left. I don't know why they slipped out of their MO so suddenly. If I was anyone else, they would have tried to make me suffer even more than I already had. Again, I'm not complaining about it, but it's odd."
Elliot held his breath for a moment. He knew he would have to tell George eventually, but he had wanted to wait until he was up to hearing it. Now, though, it seemed he didn't have a choice. "The replacement profiler they sent in thinks it was a personal thing, if it is your old patient. He said the patient's sadism would have combined with a desire for revenge," Elliot informed him.
"Oh. That, uh changes a lot…" George trailed off awkwardly. Elliot knew he was thinking about the fact that he hadn't considered it as a possibility. Mostly because it caused, for at least a few minutes, whoever it was to feel like they had bloody hands- the last thing he needed was to add to his guilt.
"George, it'll be okay," Elliot tried to assure him. George shook his head but remained silent.
"It will eventually," Elliot insisted. George sighed and stood up slowly. He walked over to Elliot's chair and leaned down to embrace him. Elliot stood up and hugged George tightly before walking him over to the sofa and putting the blanket back over him.
George gradually calmed down, enough so that Elliot wasn't afraid for him anymore. The tension that had been almost tangible soon numbed down to mild worry and anxiety.
A while later, Elliot's phone rang. Elliot gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to throw it against the wall. He tossed George an apologetic look and walked out of the room. Elliot sighed as he answered the phone. "Yeah?"
"Elliot, its Olivia. Warner's finished her autopsy of the victim."
"And?"
"Cause of death was dehydration and the attack fit the previous MO's perfectly… except for one detail."
"Which is?" Elliot pressed.
"Elliot, Warner found DNA on the victim. And we got a hit. The DNA's in the system."
- 16
- 17
- 18
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Darkest Nights