the shrink . sonny carisi {svu}

3

She was 15. She'd been attacked on her way to school, so at around 8am, in the clear light of day. I could see the bruises sliding under the sleeve of her jumper, painting her wrists with a reminder of what had happened.

I spoke to her a little, trying to wage whether I felt she was in a steady enough place to give a valuable interview or whether it would just hurt her more.

The girl was clearly shaken, but she was stronger than she looked when she first walked in. She'd walked in wrapped in layers of clothes, her mom so close to her side you'd think she was sown there. By the time I'd started speaking to her, she'd convinced her mom to let her speak to me alone and taken off her coat and jumper, admitting her mom had made her wrap up but she wasn't as desperate to hide the bruises.

She clearly wanted to speak about what happened. She flinched when I accidentally knocked over a bottle and she sat very tensely, but she spoke quite a lot and after a few questions she held eye contact with me.

"I know I'm not the only one this happened to," she replied. I'd asked her whether she felt at all responsible for what happened. "So if this guy attacked other girls, it's not because of something I did."

She was clearly very smart. A lot of young victims tend to see themselves as responsible, they're used to adults being right all the time, but Jessica had clearly thought about what had happened a lot, enough to conclude that it wasn't her fault and she should do what she can to help the other girls. Admittedly, Jessica didn't even seem to need me.

I reported all of this back to the Lieutenant, and finally went on my lunch. It'd been one hell of a morning.

"Dr Fitzgerald," I turned around. Detective Carisi stood, closer to me than I'd expected but I realised I'd stopped abruptly, "Are you going for lunch?"

"I was doing. But, please, just call me Hazel."
I grabbed my coat.

"Thing is, it's more of a cop thing to call people by their surnames." He said, walking with me toward the door.

"I'm not a cop." I said, smiling.

"I'm gonna have to call you Fitzgerald." He said, stopping, acting serious.

I smirked, "Please don't."

He smiled, "What about Fitz?"

I caved in, nodding and starting to walk again. I knew this was becoming a crush and it felt so childish. I knew it probably had to end but it was nice to feel like this again.