A/N: I wrote this before I found fan fiction and joined up. I decided to go through it now and edit some parts and then post it. I know the kidnapping thing had been done a million times before, but I thought I'd share anyway, just in case anyone wanted to read another one. :-) It's not very long. Only 6 chapters. It is EO but more focused on their friendship. Hope you enjoy it.
1
It was one of those cases that she just couldn't get out of her head. Of course most of the cases she dealt with on a daily basis were the kind of thing the most experienced crime fiction writer would probably have difficulty conjuring up, but this one had been particularly harrowing. Cases involving children usually were. Her deep longing for a child of her own compounded to make any case of neglect or abuse all the more difficult to deal with and comprehend when she encountered it.
She had originally had plans that evening to meet an old school friend who was in town for the weekend, but she really didn't feel up for anything after the week she had just had, so she had cancelled. Of course her friend was disappointed, but she'd get over it. Jen had a regular life: worked part-time in a shop selling beauty products and spent the rest of her time juggling her two kids and her own social life. It was a completely different world from Olivia's. One that today she felt even more removed from than usual.
Olivia inserted the key into her lock but didn't get as far as turning it. She realised she really didn't feel like going home. She needed some air. She needed to think. She went back down the stairs and onto the street. The November air was cool and refreshing. She could see the odd star poking out from behind the scattered clouds and the almost full moon was casting an eerie atmospheric light on the street. She felt the vibration of her phone letting her know she had received a message. She reached into her pocket and brought it out, immediately seeing the message was from her partner Elliot Stabler (although to be honest who else would be messaging her at this time of night?). She hesitated half-inclined to leave it until the following day, but then decided she may as well read it right away and so opened it up.
Been a rough week… In Rocco`s if you fancy a coffee.
He obviously wanted, needed to talk about what had happened this week, but he would never put any direct pressure on her to do so. They understood each other. They went through the same experiences and it was much easier than talking to anyone outside the job. Often they didn't even need the words. They just intuitively knew how the other was thinking or feeling and sometimes just being together knowing that they both just got it was all they needed. She decided she would go along and quickly tapped out her intention in a short message before she set off towards the coffee shop which incidentally was becoming more and more of a frequent haunt lately.
Rocco`s was only a ten to fifteen minute walk away. She set off at a brisk pace, welcoming the distraction of having a specific place to go. Just up ahead she saw a van parked on the pavement, blocking her route. She was ever conscious of putting herself in a potentially dangerous situation and passing an unmarked parked van at close quarters being one small item on her list of things to avoid, she crossed the road to the other side where the pavement was clear. However, now she was walking with the traffic coming from behind her and she grumbled silently to herself about the blatant inconsiderateness of people sometimes. As she crossed she was aware how much darker it seemed this side. A street lamp had been smashed. It was unusual in her area, she thought, but occasionally these things still happened.
A car with darkened windows slowly passed her. She noticed the plates were from Florida and imagined what kind of a long drive the occupant must have undertaken to come all the way up here. She'd never been to Florida. It wasn't really somewhere she had ever been all that interested in visiting. Maybe one day though. It would certainly be fun with children.
Lost in thought she carried on, vaguely registering that the car had just stopped about five metres or so down the road in the direction she was walking. She looked behind to see if there was any more traffic coming, intending to make another crossing to avoid passing the now parked car. At that point a young woman got out of the car, holding a map and Olivia felt a little relieved as the potential threat seemed reduced now. Sometimes she hated her job. She saw danger everywhere.
"Hey, are you from round here?" the young woman called out as Olivia approached. "Could you help me out with some directions?"
"Sure," replied Olivia. She assumed she was dealing with lost tourists. She stepped towards the woman and leaned over to get a better look at the map. It was a little confusing and she realised it was upside down in relation to the direction she was facing. She took the map and started turning it to line it up with the street they were in. Then she felt the gun pressed against her side. She cursed herself as she realised the woman had waited until she had both hands occupied before making her move.
"Don't say a word," instructed the woman, her face turning hard. Her voice clearly meant business.
Olivia attempted to reach for her decoy wallet, assuming that it was a robbery and that handing over something quickly would result in the thieves fleeing sooner. The woman quickly smacked her hand away hard with the gun. Olivia flinched in pain as the hard metal bruised her hand. The sudden viciousness surprised her. It seemed excessive. Before she could react, the gun was back pressed firmly against her side. She debated fighting back. This woman was of similar-size. She could likely take her down. If only she could reach her weapon, she could completely turn the tables. She doubted the woman suspected she had accosted a cop.
"Don't move!" the woman snarled, as if reading her mind. The car had reversed a little and was now alongside them. Someone opened the door from the inside and a man with gloved hands pulled her roughly inside onto the back seat. She banged her head on the car door as she was pulled inside and she winced. The woman with the gun leapt in beside her and closed the door. She felt the fear rising inside. This was not good. She had no idea why anyone would have taken her. Her mind flooded with possibilities and none were overly comforting.
Inside the car, with the gun still digging uncomfortably into her side, the man who had pulled her in quickly frisked her down, removing her concealed weapon and her mobile phone. With his still gloved hands he took the phone and chucked it from the window. It landed on the other side of the road barely ten metres from where she had been attacked. She briefly wondered why they had done that. Did they want her phone to be found? Did they want someone to know she had been taken? Maybe this was some kind of kidnapping and they didn't intend to kill her, or at least not immediately anyway. The presence of the woman also threw her a little. However, there had been several notable cases of women being involved in crimes that most people assumed were committed purely by men, so she didn't take the woman's presence to be a sure sign that these people didn't have something unthinkably unpleasant in store for her, although she dared to hope it was unlikely. The car then pulled off and the fear gripping her deepened as her complete lack of control over this situation started to hit her.
The man then handed her a cup with a small amount of liquid inside. "Drink!" he instructed. The lady on her left dug the gun further into her side. She hesitated. She wasn't stupid and guessed it was probably some kind of drug. She wasn't sure what choice she really had, but attempted to avoid it anyway. "I'm not actually all that thirsty" she said sarcastically, hoping she sounded a lot more confident that she felt. The man, obviously not in the mood for games, then grabbed her head roughly, forcing it back and placed the cup to her lips. He held her nose and placed his finger into the side of her mouth, forcing it open a little before he poured the liquid in. She spluttered and tried to spit as much out as she could, but was unable to prevent herself from swallowing some.
"Resistance is futile," snickered the woman beside her, immediately giving away one of her likely TV interests. The man roughly pushed Olivia back against the seat. Olivia closed her eyes. Her head already felt heavy and she was feeling decidedly dizzy. Her last comforting thought before she lost consciousness was that thank goodness she had sent that message to Elliot letting him know her intention to join him, for if she hadn't no one would have noticed her missing until at least Tuesday, given it was Friday night and she had a rare three day weekend booked off.
