A/N: Special thanks to SVUfan4life for being my beta :)
This is probably going to be a long story. Please review :D
Chapter One: The Killing of Ricardo Lopez
Night of October 31
"Liv, are you sure you can handle this?," Elliot whispered to her, one last time before he proceeded in breaking down the graffitied door of the neglected warehouse. It was located in one of the crappiest areas of New York City , somewhere no one suspected a sex slave trade was being housed. Olivia didn't hesitate to answer in her own hushed whisper, slightly annoyed that Elliot had paused to ask her such a thing. Of course she was ready, why the hell would she be here if she wasn't?
"Yes," she gritted her teeth as she listened to him grunt in effort as he brought back his left leg and kicked down the door, hearing wood splinter as the door was knocked roughly off its hinges. It landed with a thud on the gray concrete interior and Olivia zoomed inside first, pointing her gun around the dangerous areas: behind the door, on their left side, and in every nook and cranny. There weren't many of them, though. It took their adrenaline clouded minds only a few seconds to realize that they were in a small, completely empty room, except for the light wooden door on the opposite end of the room with sloppy writing scribbled all over.
Olivia and Elliot crept over to it, as silently as possible , not knowing whether or not if there was still certain danger here. There was no possible way that this was not a sex slave base. They'd gotten at least three survivors that had escaped to give the exact address and describe everything that went on there. This was the place.
If the door's closed, we're full.
If the door's open, feel free to come inside for a wild ride.
Around that there were different handwriting styles, all giving compliments about their "services" provided tonight and how they were coming back a second or third time. Elliot scrubbed a hand down his face and was obviously extremely bothered by this. Yeah, well that's what two years off the job does to you. Olivia nudged him in the arm and shot him a look. There was no backing out of this now and if he started showing any more signs of not being able to take this, she was going to make it her personal mission to beat the shit out of him. Not minutes before, wasn't he asking her if she was okay? Hell yeah he was. Olivia was not going to let him turn this around on her and make him the uneasy one. If she was keeping a cool head, she sure as hell was expecting him to.
Although Elliot had been gone far too long, he still could tell when Olivia was getting pissed and this was one of those times. He nodded and blinked, shaking away all of that pent up anger for the people who were running this sick place. He began to silently back up again, ready to kick down another door, but Olivia grabbed his arm and shook her head hurriedly, tilting her head towards the gray wall to their left. Putting a finger to her incredibly full, sexy lips she ushered him over and pressed her ear against the thin ceramic wall.
They both heard the same sickening moans of pleasure and wails of pain. They both knew that the girl sobbing and pleading for her life in the room next to them, only separated by half an inch of cheap wall, spray painted gray, was prepubescent from her high voice. Elliot twitched and gripped his gun safely tucked in his holster, slightly afraid that he would lose control and shoot down the wall and murder whoever that sick son of a bitch next door was.
Olivia had heard enough too, slowly creeping back over to the door and with her hand that wasn't holding her gun, she slowly turned the metal knob of the door. A small light of hope ignited inside of her as she felt the satisfying feeling of the door not being locked. Elliot quickly unholstered his gun and pointed it at the door, letting out a small reassuring smile. Why the hell he was smiling in a situation like this, Olivia had no clue. Maybe it was one of his other annoying habits he'd accustomed to since his divorce. Smiling like he was some sort of fake, all-smiles physiatrist was going to become a problem if he kept it up. Liv knew that for certain.
Knowing fully well that this was not the time to press the issues of Elliot's fluctuating personality, Olivia pushed the door open and rushed in, her gun at the ready with Elliot close on her heels. That small light of hope they had both felt before when they saw that the door wasn't locked was immediately extinguished, not because there was any certain danger found there, but because of the exact opposite.
Standing in the middle of the trashy, disgusting tiny room was none other than Ricardo Lopez. It was hard not to recognize the face as he was one of the most infamous child molesters in the world. Elliot and Olivia both knew it was him with his short, cropped hair that was a little too gelled, his dark, caramel skin, and his class A suit and silk tie. It was all a dead giveaway and being the smart ass detectives that they were, they knew something was up.
A quaint, small smirk formed on his lips as Ricardo saw the utter bewilderment contorttheir faces. It took Elliot only a second for his eyes to wander over to his right and see the dirty, spotted mattress thrown lazily on the floor with a squirming little girl being pinned down by a fat, older man.
"Please help me!," the girl squealed as the man continued to rape her. Elliot pointed the gun at him and screamed at him to get off of her. Was it just him that heard the all-to-familiar ringing in his ears that he got whenever he was irritated? The man held his hands up and slowly, but surely exited the girl who remained on the mattress, weak and exposed.
"Ah, detectives, I see you've found me.," Ricardo said still smiling at both of them, his hands clasped behind his back. Dammit to hell, Liv's hands began to shake when she noted that they should have in fact waited for back up, but their egotistical minds had thought otherwise.
"Lopez, put you hands where I can see them!," Liv shouted, her voice not showing at all the way she was freaking out inside. She couldn't put her finger on it, but this time was different then the others. This time, the urge to shoot this swine was so strong, she wasn't sure how long she would be able to hold out. Olivia never considered herself coldblooded, but the mere fact that he was hunting down little girls that came from good, wealthy families from all over the world, kidnapping them, and having men pay him to rape them was enough to make anyone want to see blood spill from his body and the light leave his eyes. She would never admit this to anyone, not even Huang.
"Detective Benson, correct?," Lopez asked, sarcasm oozing from his voice. He slowly took his hands out from behind his back to reveal a shiny, black machine gun that looked brand new. Elliot and Olivia both tensed. They should've expected this and theyknew it. They screwed up and they were fucked.
"Oh, what's wrong?," Ricardo interrogated them, playing his own little mind game knowing that he was going to win. It didn't matter if he made it out of there alive or not, he was going to torture their minds so much that they would never be able to get the image of him terrorizing the small girl out of their heads.
"We aren't afraid of a little gun are we?," he asked as he gripped the gun menacingly. His arm was rigid as he pointed it in the vague area around the little girl and the sweaty man that was slowly pulling his sweats over his legs, not breaking eye contact with Ricardo while doing so. Elliot could sense that this guy hadn't signed up for the deal. Ricardo hadn't told him that he was expecting the NYPD to come knocking at his door.
There was nothing they could do. Nothing at fucking all. The last resort came into Elliot's mind before he could think of something better.
"How did you know her name?," Elliot demanded in a deep, booming voice still dosed in his usual confidence. Truth was, he was truly intrigued, but not enough to have actually asked this question in a safer situation. Elliot swore that he saw fireworks explode within Lopez's eyes as he was about to reveal the moment of truth.
"You're very good at noticing details. I guess that's why you're a Detective, Stabler.," Ricardo said, still smiling his sick, twisted smile. "But you're not good enough, Elliot, are you?," Confusion boggled Elliot's mind as he heard Ricardo's throaty laugh from across the room and he was certain every single person, even the sick pedobear, was frozen in fear. They underestimated him big time. This was no time to bombard themselves with self-loathe, they needed to both focus which was getting harder for both of them to do.
"You see, when you interviewed those three girls, they all came crawling back to me, begging, pleading for my forgiveness.," Ricardo explained calmly like he wasn't threatening the life of a six year old in front ofthem. "All three of them told me everything about you, your job, your divorce," His eyes glanced over in Elliot's direction and he smirk grew when he saw Elliot's jaw twitch in irritation. Ricardo continued to speak as the pits grew larger in Elliot and Olivia's stomachs, "your love affairs, everything. I did what I could for them, but I just had to put them out of their misery."
Stockholm syndrome flashed through Olivia's mind as she heard his story, knowing fully well that those girl's bodies were long gone by now, probably at the bottom of the Hudson being nibbled on by fish. She still also felt that pang of guilt she got whenever she heard of a victim's damage so far beyond repair that they actually trusted their abusers. It wasn't uncommon though, so her heartache grew far more often than it should have.
"Look Ricardo, we can work out a deal.," Elliot compromised with his deep blue eyes, full of trust, . "We might be able to cut you a deal if you just let them go.," he said as he ushered to the two shaking figures, although he wasn't entirely sure that he would mind Ricardo shooting that sick child diddler.
"How about, I have that nice sweet piece of ass?," Ricardo jerked his head in Olivia's direction and she blinked. Of all times why now? Sure Ricardoasked it like a question, but all five of them knew there was no discussion to it. If Ricardo Lopez wanted Olivia Benson, he would get her.
"How about you take the deal you have now befo-," Elliot began his retort, anger boiling inside his veins. That was where he drew the line. Fuck put the job before yourself, much less your partner. It was his job to watch her back and letting his rape her wasn't on his list of things to happen when he just got back on the job. He'd been gone awhile, but his instincts were just as strong. If he'd been placed with a different partner then maybe, just maybe he wouldn't have taken Ricardo's comment so god damn personally. Except before he even got a chance to finish his sentence, the woman he was protecting interrupted him.
"Let them walk out of here and you can have me.," Olivia said in a strong voice, dying inside. That was the first time they saw Ricardo Lopez falter. His smile fell, those celebratory fireworks dancing in his eyes died out, and he seemed to consider the offer. They both hoped it would take him longer to make his mind up, but it took him mere seconds.
"Miss Benson you're a very sexy woman and I would have loved to fuck the hell out of you, but," Lopez's smile returned as he continued, "I'd rather you suffer in consuming guilt for the rest of your lives.," By the time they realized what he meant it was too late. The quick, loud bursts of bullets propelling themselves out of Ricardo's gun and a scream were the only things they heard until Elliot instincts squeezed the trigger of his gun twice hitting Ricardo squarely in the chest.
Elliot didn't know how long he stood there, but his eyes neverleft the body of Ricardo that was slowly bleeding out. He didn't register when Olivia ran over to the little girl and man, asking their limp bodies if they were okay. She knew they were dead, the minute she saw his finger squeeze the trigger.
It wasn't until Olivia heard the sirens that she sank to the ground by the broken down door and put her gun down on the hard concrete. Her hands were shaking, her heart was racing, and her eyes were clouding. Why were her eyes clouding? She tried to mentally kick herself, beat herself up for letting herself lose control of her emotions, but it was no use,. The tears fell freely down her face and she wasn't about to wipe them away with her blood smeared hands from the little girl.
Minutes later, Fin and Munch ran in the room with their guns had his arms wrapped around Liv's shaking shoulders as they both cried, their red and wet eyes the unimaginable proof.
Everything else was a blur. Cragen had arrived at the crime scene staring at them in disbelief as the paramedics asking them if they were hurt. They both felt the overwhelming emotional shame of having fucked up badly.
It was when Olivia was wrapped up in a blanket in the back of one of the Sedans when she realized she had been the one screaming as she watched an innocent child get murdered because of their stupid mistake.
