Fate

"Where the hell is Munch?" Cragen asked the only people who might immediately know.

It was 1 o' clock in the morning and he had called Munch in despite of it being his off hours, to come down and assist them as it seemed now, even more so than earlier in the day, the phones were ringing off the hook with complaints and reports and information and people were lining up in sets to speak with somebody to report something.

"He's not here yet?" Olivia asked.

Fin hung up the phone and said, "I thought you called him an hour ago to get his ass down here."

"I did and he hasn't shown up yet," Cragen answered, "Does anybody know anything?"

The phone started ringing again and Fin answered, "SVU."

Olivia took her cell phone out of her pocket and said, "I'll see if I can get him."

It started ringing and she walked off to a corner in the room that wasn't quite as noisy.

"If he's not here, Captain," Elliot said, "There's got to be a good reason, doesn't there?"

"With Munch?" Cragen asked, "I don't know."

Fin hung up the phone again, "This is getting ridiculous, we've must've gotten a hundred calls in the last half hour and it doesn't look like they're connected in any way, different parts of town, different kinds of people, different kinds of complaints."

"Nothing like Manhattan on a Saturday night," Elliot commented.

Olivia put her phone back in her pocket and came back to the others. "This is strange, I just tried calling Munch but all I got was a recording saying he's either out of the area or his phone's been turned off."

Cragen's hands started clenching and unclenching themselves momentarily as he told Elliot, "When he finally gets in, I don't want to break his neck."

"You want me to do it?" Elliot asked.

Fin held his hand right above the receiver because he knew in about ten seconds, somebody else would be calling in with a complaint. As of on cue, the phone rang again and for the 10th time, Fin answered, "SVU."

"Well this isn't like Munch," Olivia commented, "If he's not here and he's not answering his phone, I'm sure there's a very good reason for it."

"Okay, we'll be right there," Fin hung up, "There is, Munch just called from the hospital."

"What happened?" Cragen asked.

"He had a problem on the way here," Fin explained as he got up and grabbed his jacket, "Hit and run."

"Anybody he knows?" Olivia asked.

"He was the driver," Fin answered.

Olivia, Fin and Elliot had raced to the hospital and it was only when they mentioned their reason for being there was part of an investigation in a crime that they got the room number of the most recent hit and run victim.

"I just don't get it," Olivia said as they headed to the elevators, "How could this happen with Munch?"

"I'm sure he's thinking the same thing right now," Fin said as he punched for the second floor.

They found Munch in a private room, just he and the victim. The victim, underneath a patch of bruises and bandages, looked to be about 14 or 15, she was hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor but overall she didn't look to be in that critical of condition. The nurse hadn't told them how she was doing, and they had gathered from that that the patient wasn't on death's door. Munch sat in a chair next to the bed, never looking at anything except her.

"Munch," Olivia said as they entered the room, "Are you okay?"

That was when he first acknowledged somebody else in the room, his only response was, "Should be asking that about her."

"What happened?" Fin asked.

Munch shook his head, "I don't know…I was on my way to the station and she just came out of nowhere."

"What, jaywalking?" Elliot asked.

"No," Munch answered, "No, it's not as simple as that, she ran out into the street right next to the grill of my car and then she jumped, landed on the hood and hit the windshield. The whole thing happened too fast for me to realize what had happened until I had a thousand pieces of glass in my lap and her blood pouring down the dashboard."

"So why didn't we hear about it?" Fin asked.

"I didn't send for a bus, I put her in the back of the car and drove straight here, I figured she could die before the paramedics could find us," Munch explained.

"What did the doctors say?" Olivia wanted to know.

"They're not finished yet," he said, "I'm waiting for them to come back with the results from tests they took."

"Do you know who she is?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah, she had her ID in her wallet, she's Marie Baron, just turned 18, she lives up on 9th street and she lives alone and has no immediate family, I've already checked."

A doctor came into the room and looked at the forms Munch had filled out. "Okay, Mr. ….Munk?"

"Munch," he said, "Detective John Munch. Is she going to be alright or not?"

"Well I'd say she had a lucky break," the doctor answered, "Most of her wounds appear to be superficial, she hasn't sustained any serious head wounds, just a few bruises and cuts, there's no signs of concussion or any organ damage. Her breathing is normal and in general I'd call her condition nothing short of a miracle considering what could have happened tonight. We'll have to keep her for a few days for observation but I'd say they're going to be alright."

"Well that's good to," Munch stood up when it hit them, "They?"

"Miss Baron's pregnant, I'd estimate about eight or nine weeks."

Munch's eyes spun back into his head and he said, "I need to sit down again."

"Pregnant, I hit a pregnant teenager, oh this just gets better by the minute," Munch said later when he'd recovered from the shock.

"Well if she was jaywalking then you're not liable," Elliot said.

"Think I care about that?" Munch asked, "I've worked in law enforcement for longer than this kid's been alive, I've been trained in making split decisions when a life's on the line in order to save it…and I can't even step on the damn brakes when somebody runs in front of my car."

"Munch," Olivia was trying to think of something that would put some reasoning in with what happened, "Did you see anything that might explain why she ran right in front of you?"

He shook his head somberly, "If there had been anybody else around I would've seen them."

"Well there's got to be a reason," Elliot said, "A pregnant girl doesn't just run in front of an oncoming car in the middle of the night for no reason. Did anybody see the accident?"

Munch shook his head, "I didn't see anybody, has to be the first time since traffic went through New York that a Manhattan street was either empty or all the cars were parked. Felt like I was in a David Fincher movie, all that was missing was a TV set that talked back to me and a large clown doll."

"There's got to be somebody who saw what happened, somebody who knows something," Olivia said, "Where were you when she hit your car?"

Munch had no sooner opened his mouth when they heard the woman start gasping. She opened her eyes and sat up in bed and looked around. All eyes were on her, she didn't appear too disoriented and in fact she seemed to be in rather fair condition.

"What's going on?" she asked in a low and tired voice, "Where am I?"

"Marie Baron," Olivia said, trying as she did on a daily basis to stay calm, "You're in the hospital, you're going to be alright."

"Hospital?" the girl's eyes widened slightly, "Who are you?"

"I'm Olivia Benson, I'm a detective."

"Detective?" Marie repeated, "Are you alone?"

The others started looking amongst themselves, what did she mean alone?

"No," Olivia answered, "I'm here with other members of the Special Victims Unit. You, you can't see us?"

"No," she shook her head, "It's all a blur."

Elliot's eyes widened slightly as he recalled not too long ago being in a very similar predicament after having the back of his skull head butted against a car window.

"I'll go get the doctor," Olivia moved toward the door.

"No," Marie said, "I don't want a doctor…you…you're police?"

"That's right," Olivia replied.

"I…" Marie let go of whatever she was about to say, she sat herself up even taller against the pillows and looked around the room and she asked in a gruff tone, "Which one of you is Munch? Detective John Munch, where is he?"