☆ ゜・ 。。・ ゜゜・ 。。・ ゜★

3. showing the ropes

Jocelyn woke up from the sun hitting her face. Her back cracked as she held her arms above her head and turned to her side. Thinking that Kevin was there, but was greeted by Mulder's butt in her face. Wonderful. She got out of bed, putting on a white shirt from the floor and head to the kitchen to find something to eat. As expected, nothing. There was just take out food and soda. Reminder, go grocery shopping when you get out of work. She slammed the fridge door and headed to her room to shower and got ready for work.

She got to work just on time, luckily the traffic was decent, but she can tell by how its gonna rain today, people don't know how to drive, which means she'll be home late. She ran in to see Benson and Fin leaving.

"Carisi, bring Peña up to speed." Olivia said as she got in the elevator. Jocelyn puts her bag in her desk drawer, looking up at Sonny. He extends his arm out, holding a cup of coffee.

"Thanks." She grabbed it from him. "So how does this work? You drive? I drive?" She asked him as they walked to the elevator.

"I can, no worries." He gives her a smile and swings the keys around his finger.

"So we got a case." Jocelyn cuts the silence.

"Right! So we got a call sayin that they found a girl stuffed in a suitcase, raped and barely alive." That was the summary. She followed Carisi to their squad car. "Great for a first day huh?"

"Trust me, this is nothing." They got in the car. "I can handle this." The ride was silent. Jocelyn didn't really know what to say to him. What do you say? She didn't want to sound like creepy asking too much questions, or get too personal. They pulled up to an alley that were surrounded by cops and tape. Carisi and Peña hopped out of the car, flashing their badges and entering scene.

"Im detective Carisi and this my partner, detective Peña." She put on her gloves and headed to the area. Carisi lets her do her thing.

"Anonymous 911 call comes in at 3am from a payphone."

"Someone wanted this found."

"I responded, i find her unconscious in a half opened suitcase." Carisi and the cop came up behind her and stared at the suitcase. "The suitcase looks tourist shop generic."

"Have you called CSU yet?" She stood up and looked at the cop.

"Yeah, 4 times already."

"When they get here, have them run it for DNA and prints. We could get lucky." She took off her gloves and the cop nods.

"My guess, shes underage. She OD's while partying at a club, and they dump her." The cop explained his theory.

"Bright lights, big city, right?" Carisi squats down, taking another look.

"You canvass? Witnesses? Anything?" She questioned the cop more.

"Yeah, late. Cold night, windows were closed. No one saw of heard anything."

"Okay, uh we can check the traffic cam for anything." Sonny got a call, he answers and it was Benson. Carisi comes up to Peña, putting his phone away.

"We're going to the uncles house." He nods back to the car and he drove this time, again. The drive wasn't as long. They did climb a few stairs to get the apartment. "You wanna do the honors new girl?" She chuckled to herself. She banged her fist at the door.

"NYPD open up!" The door opens quickly, the white male, shirtless greeted them.

"Hey. Whats going on?"

"We're here about your niece, Madison." He looked confused.

"Madison? Shes up in guest room, asleep." Carisi looks at her.

"You sure about that?" Mr. Baker looks at Peña  funny.

"Can we come in Mr. Baker?" He took a minute to respond, he sighs and nods. They entered the apartment and followed him upstairs. Gotta say, this place was better than Jocelyn's. He called out for his niece, he then hides his cart by throwing a magazine on top of it. "Oh, a little wake and bake there, chief?" She held in her smile as Carisi made a comment.

"Thats not mine. That belongs to a friend." She hummed from his response. "Shes in here. Shes sleeping."

"You checked on her last night?"

"The door was closed." They gave him a look and he knocked on the door. "Madison?" There was no response and he opened the door. "Madison?" The room was covered in posters and pictures but no sign of her. "Wait what?" Carisi charged in. "I thought she came home."

"Whens the last time you saw her?" Jocelyn waited outside of the room as she asked.

"6:00, we were supposed to see a show. Wicked? But uh, but she said she had a friend that was dying to see it."

"A friend, who?"

"I dont know." They learned that Madison went to see a friend instead of going to the wicked show, the uncle had a alibi and chatted with uncles 'friend'. Carisi and Peña went back to the station, they all started giving out the findings they got. They got some guy named Russo in their lead and went to check on him, total hippie guy, he was a actor and whatever he does too.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

They all went to their ADA's office. The boys warned Peña of how much an ass he can be, but hes a good guy. Pretty much they all said that dont cross him and to really be sure of something if you're going to give it him.

They walked into a office, a man stands up, taking a bite of his apple.

"Barba, this is-" Benson tried to introduce.

"Jocelyn Peña." She sticked her hand out, introducing herself to him.

"Rafael Barba." He took her hand and shook hands. "Eres guatemalteca?" (are you guatemalan?)

"Y PR, eres Cubano?" (and Puerto rican, are you cuban?) They both smiled, the boys looked confused. They thought that Barba was being smooth for the new detective, seeing if he got game.

"Si." They both nodded.

"Hate to interrupt the romance that might blossom but we have a case to get back to." Fin claps his hands. Barba sits back down and kicks his feet up.

"Whoever this guy is, he told the hotel security that he was NYPD." Benson showed the picture to Barba. "He took all the surveillance footage the key card logs."

"Thorough. Thoughtful. Stupid." Peña leans back on the wall, listening in. "If you cant get 'em for the crime you can get 'em for the cover up."

"Whos them?" Peña questions.

"Fixers." Carisi tells him. "This is Hollywood on the Hudson. Russo's a star. He picks up an underage girl, she OD's in his bed, he makes some calls, goes away."

"Okay but why leave the last part to chance?" Amaro says. Jocelyn kicks herself off the wall and crossed her arms as she heads to Carisi.

"You mean kill her? Youre watching too many movies." Amaro nods at Barba. "You talked to the girl twice and she hasn't accused him yet? Either she was pissed off or she's obsessed."

"Shes fifteen years old. She had drugs in her system. Maybe she really doesn't remember her."

"Can you get us a warrant for Russo's cell phone, his room?"

"I can get you phone records, but a warrant for an actual phone after that Supreme Court decision, not yet. Give me someone who puts them together after the party, the hallway, the elevator." Barba lists on.

"There had to be hundreds of people at that party, the hotel. They couldn't have gotten to them all. Go door to door."

"You know, Russo did say his co star Skye saw him leave the party." Jocelyn said as she remembered.

"So start there." Carisi puts his hand behind Peña's back as they left to go talk to this Skye guy. She waves bye to Barba, who gave her a a weak wave.

"Im surprised that he let you speak to him." Carisi chuckles.

"Is he really that grumpy?"

"Just you wait."

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Carisi and Peña walked into the small area that this Skye was doing a photoshoot. Jocelyn walks right up, interrupting the shoot, waving her badge at him, stopping everyone from what they were doing. Skye hops down from the post and starts chatting with the detectives.

Skye said that Russo was with the vic, and he was talking to the producer and when he turned around to see if Russo would come over, he was gone. Shortly afterwards the two left. Carisi had stopped by to get coffee on their way back to the precinct.

"Is it strange? To be somewhere new?" He hands her the coffee cup.

"Honestly, it's a good change, im not surrounded by old men who have been there since the beginning of time and plus being the only woman in the unit, this isn't so bad."

"Grandpas huh?" They both laughed. "How many tried to get you out with their grandsons?"

"Seven, but none had a chance." They had made it to the precinct and they walked in seeing Amaro, Benson and Fin watch a trailer. Jocelyn frowns as she sips her coffee, standing besides Carisi.

"He's charged with a rape/murder he didnt commit and Skye Adderson plays the legal aid attorney who saves him."

"Is this for views?" Jocelyn scuffs. "The hell is wrong with people?"

"Thatll get you trending." She sits on her desktop, legs crossed.

"She overdosed." Benson calls.

"Yeah but she can't remember anything. They could all be playing us."

"Wasting my time." She rolled her eyes.

"This fits Russo's whole meta meme thing to a T."

"Guys i dont care if theyre doing it for publicity. Somebody had sex with a 15-year old girl and left her for dead in an alley in a suit case. Thats a crime. Are we anywhere on that?" Benson looks immediately at Peña. She coughs to clear her throat.

"We talked to two waiters, they said that they saw Russo doing body shots off of Madison." Benson sighs.

"Can anybody put them in the hallway or in the elevator? Did anybody see them leave together?"

"Skye may or may not have." Carisi comes up. "Tried to thread the needle on that."

"Okay, check snap trends, gramfeed, Put a plate on that entire hotel block from 10 PM to 4 AM. There were hundreds of people there. Somebody must have posted a selfie. A video, something." everyones phone was buzzing. Benson walked away until Fin calls her back.

"Google alert. Somebody did. Turn on LMZ." Carisi turns on the TV and they stood around the screen, watching the news of Russo and Madison. How in the hell did they get that?

"Theres the scumbag that impersonated NYPD to get the footage." Jocelyn turns her head to the crew.

"Ill call Barba."

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Carisi and Peña headed over to arrest Scott, they walked down a dark lit path to where he was sitting in a chair, a bag over his head, the words ACCUSED on the floor.

"Scott Russo." Carisi calls and snaps his fingers in his face and takes the bag off his face.

"Shows over Scotty." Peña says to his face as she lifts him up and starts walking away with him and Carisi. Peña's voice saying 'Shows over Scotty' replayed over and over. Carisi and Peña stopped and looked back the video that was replaying. "Lets go." She shoves the actor out of her way.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Peña and the others waited in the other room, watching Amaro and Benson talk to Madison. Peña's face turned disgusted as she hears Madison say that her and Russo were soulmates.

"Why that face?" Barba asks her as he saw the glimpse of her lips curl. Carisi took notice.

"Russo is her soulmate?" Peña rolled her eyes. "Please. She doesn't know anything about that. Its disgusting because the guy is twice her age and she thinks this is some fairy tale. So what hes an actor, you dont see me throwing myself at Tom Hiddleston." Jocelyn shakes off the disgust. She stops as she sees Amaro and Benson coming into the room.

"Got him on statutory rape. We can charge Russo."

"Hold on, Madisons changed her statement how many times now?" Barba recalls.

"This is her fifth?" Jocelyn coughs.

"A few." Benson cuts off. "Girl was traumatized and under the influence."

"Which also doesn't help."

"Yeah if im Russo's lawyer, im gonna paint her as a crazy fan." Peña agreed with Carisi. "Who admitted to using drugs and alcohol, who stalked him."

"Save it for night school." Barba stops him. "What about his alibi?"

"Catalona Soren isnt taking our calls." Peña tells him.

"Might be cause she wasnt in room with Russo."Amaro shifts. "We have video evidence he kissed Madison at the bar, did body shots off of her, thats at least endangering the welfare of a child." Sonny scuffs. "We also have video of him talking to her right outside his hotel room door."

"And if we show the jury that his lawyers gonna ask why we didn't show them the rest and they're gonna wonder what was on it." Fin points.

"Im wondering the same thing."

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Benson, Peña and Barba showed up to LMZ, trying to see if they can get the tapes. Peña talked behind Benson, watching her moves.

"I gotta thank you guys, some of my best sources are in your offices." Lenny walks them to the offices.

"Care to share any names?" Barba tells him.

"I never reveal a source." He gags.

"Look, we dont care where you got it, Lenny. We just need to see the rest." Benson asked.

"Wouldn't know how to get that for you." Lenny takes a sit at his desk.

"Withholding evidence is a Class E felony, Mr. Simmons." Barba leans on his desk. Lenny laughs.

"I dont have the video in my possession so theres no psychical evidence being withheld."

"Then be a good little boy and tell us who has it." Peña stands behind him. Lenny points at Peña and laughs.

"My source is my source. First amendment guarantees that journalists dont have to reveal that information."

"But hang on, thats for real journalists. Youre not even tabloid trash."

"You wound me!" Lenny fakes getting hit in the heart. "Hey counselor, tell her about New York Press Shield Law."

"Hes right." Barba nods. "Even LMZ has absolute protection for confidential news." How lovely. "To compel the hurdles are very high."

"You have to be joking." Peña sighs. Lenny grabs the bat and points it at Peña's chest.

"Dont mess with LMZ."

"Is that threat? You threatening a police officer Lenny?" Peña steps closer, bat touching her chest. "Lets see mister tough guy, show me how you swing."

"You first princess." Lenny flips the bat to give to Peña.

"Come on Jo, lets go." benson turns her around to head back.

"I do have a mean swing." Peña slaps the bat out of her way as she follows Bensons orders.

"Oh uh almost forgot." Barba hands Lenny a paper. "Whoever showed you that tape impersonated NYPD to steal it. Which means you have direct knowledge of criminal wrongdoing. So tomorrow you can either reveal your source to a grand jury or they will hold you in contempt." The smile on Lennys face was gone. "Bring your toothbrush." Peña was starting to like this Barba. Badass.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Benson and Peña headed up agin to the offices of LMZ as Lenny failed to show up. He was about to leave until Benson comes up.

"Lenny Simmons." She calls out. "We missed you at court today." He freaks out.

"Hey sweet cheeks." Peña smiles at him, grabbing his arm to cuff him. "I hope you skipped court to think of me with that bat. Do you know that failure to appear is contempt."

"Alright get those cameras rolling." Lenny smiles. "This is NYPD harassment, trying to force me to reveal a confidential source." Peña drags him out of the offices as Benson told him his rights.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Peña had to help Fin and Carisi to do undercover to get Lenny to talk. She laughs as she saw Fin had a long beard and she walks up to Carisi.

"Do you approve?" He turns around in his jumpsuit.

"Here." She fixes his hair, which was parted in the middle but she dragged her fingers to have his hair fall to his eyes, shaking it a bit. "Now you look beaten up." He smiles as she takes a step back. "Ready inmates?" The two men followed Peña and Amaro to drop them off.

They arrived and Peña had the two men stand tall and waited for the clear from the officers. She drags them in.

"Dont have too much fun now boys." Peña pats Fins back.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

"Wanna go for a drink?" Carisi asked Peña as everyone left. She turns around, smiling. "Celebrate your first case?"

"Alright fine." Carisi hops down the steps, catching up to her. They took a cab to the bar they usually hang out, Carisi ordered beers.

"Cheers to your first case." They clinked bottles. "Are you still cold?" He smiles as Peña wipes her nose. It was winter time here already.

"Im adjusting, give me a break." She laughs. "LA is a lot warmer if you didn't know." She wipes her little red nose. "Maybe invest in a warmer jacket, this is doing nothing."

"Out here in New York gets colder than you think."

"I can tell." She sits on the high chair.

"You did good this week."

"Did I? are you just saying that because im your partner?"

"You were a bit quiet, but i feel like you would fit in."

"I was just observing, seeing what i should and shouldn't do. Its not bad here."

"Good, hate to loose you." Peña blushed, her heated cheeks warmed up her face from the cold. "You'll do good."

"Thanks, Carisi." He looks at her. "Sonny, sorry." She chuckles. They clinked bottles again and looked at each other as they took a sip again. Maybe this wasn't bad for Jocelyn. Maybe this will work.