The Price We Pay (Law and Order: SVU)

Adam

This can't be happening. This can't be happening...Adam stands abruptly and storms out of the courtroom. This is crap. No one's doing anything. He's pacing the hallway, running his hands through his hair, brow furrowed in frustration.

"Adam!" Rollins and Carisi have followed him out, and seeing them just makes it worse. They're supposed to be able to fix this. Adam can feel his breath becoming short. They're supposed to keep Kyle safe.

"This is crap!" He shouts. "My brother's going to jail. Right? Why aren't you guys trying to help him?"

Rollins looks at him, meets his gaze. "With Jack dead, the only things that's going to move the needle on this is Kyle testifying that your father told him to assault Jack."

Adam turns away, not wanting the detectives to see him, to see the tears threatening to spill over. Taking a deep, shaky breath, he runs his hand through his hair again and turns back to face the two adults.

"Listen, he won't do it okay? My...my dad's just got him all...twisted up." He chokes out the last few words. They don't understand. They don't know what it's like. His dad has Adam twisted up too, and Mom, and even little Mark.

"Then help us, Adam. Help us change his mind."

Adam turns away again, and this time a tear does fall. He'll get Kyle to talk. Somehow, he'll get Kyle to talk.

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Back at home, Adam paces nervously up and down his bedroom. What can he do? Kyle won't talk. He's too afraid. But, more than that, Adam knows Kyle still loves their dad. He's just a kid. Just a thirteen-year-old kid trying to make his crappy life feel normal. Just like Adam.

That love, Adam has it too. That's the reason he wears long sleeves every day, wears hoodies to school, or shirts with collars that he can easily turn up—just in case the bruises sneak too far up his neck, just to be sure no one sees the purple, hand-shaped mark on his arm where Dad grabbed him as he tried to run out, tried to dodge the belt. It's why he skips gym class, avoids the locker room; to hide the welts on his back, the almost-healed fractured rib, the black and blue and purple and green smeared across his torso; even though he knows it will just earn him another hit, another bruise to hide from his friends. The friends he pushed away.

And it's not like it happens every day. Some days everything is normal. Some days Adam and Dad and Kyle go out to the park to toss around a baseball, or to the movies. Some days Adam talks about the girl he likes, and Dad laughs and tousles his hair.

Adam shakes his head. Now is not the time to be sentimental. This time it's gone too far. This time he could lose Kyle for good. He has to find a way. He has to get Kyle to tell the truth.

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It's black, everything is black. Why is everything black? Adam tries to sit up but his nerves send fire down his spine. No moving, the sensation warns. Lie down. Are his eyes even opened? Adam can't tell. He thinks they are but all he sees is black. He wants to move his arm to see if he can feel around on his face, but it's just too heavy. Fire is the only thing he feels. Nothing else is real. 

Then someone is there, crouching next to him, telling him everything will be okay. It's not his mom. Oh how he wishes it were. 

Finally, slowly, he opens his eyes. Everything is blurry. There are people. And lights. And fire in his side. He can't breathe. 

Then he remembers. What happened, why. He has to tell them. 

"I got it on video."