The Black Market Baby Scandal

(Chapter One: Lucid Dreams)

Olivia opened her eyes in the dark. Her breathing was heavy and it took a moment for her to realize what was real. She had that dream again. The same one she had been having for twelve years now. As if something from her past was calling to her, haunting her and refusing to be forgotten. Not like she could forget anyway.

It wasn't a nightmare really, just a dream. But it was so real. And afterward she always felt this ache in her heart, a heavy emptiness that she just couldn't shake. A longing to be back there in that moment before she had lost control, a yearning for a second chance. She took a deep breath and held the pillow against her chest. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

The next morning at work Olivia sat quiet at her desk thinking about her dreams the night before. In front of her laid and open file for a case they were supposed to be working on. Actually it was a case that had gone cold over a year ago after their only suspect in the rapes of three women had been killed in a car accident.

"I've got a case," Cragen announced as he walked toward their desks. "It's gonna be a big one and we need to get as much as we can before the media catches wind of it. Benson, Stabler, I want you on it! This is your top priority. Munch and Fin you help them out with whatever they need. We need an arrest on this and soon. It is tragic really and when it hit's the papers that is going to make our jobs a Hell of a lot herder to do." He tossed the file down on the desk in front of Olivia.

"What is it?" Elliot asked rolling his office chair around to beside her to try and get a better look.

"A few hospitals across town suspected of stealing babies from mothers and selling them on the black market. A sting operation has already got a doctor and a couple of nurses that were involved. But the deeper we look into it the more evidence we find to suggest there may be an entire ring of these people out there. We have proof of over two dozen children so far over the last fifteen years that were stolen from their parents. The doctor would tell the mother her baby had died or keep a baby from a woman who had given birth to twins. Seven of these kids have been located and custody issues are being worked out in court. I have a box full of patient files here that need gone through. Every pregnant woman who was treated or delivered at this hospital in the last fifteen years. I need you two to go through this and weed out any who didn't deliver there and the ones who saw the good doctor to terminate their pregnancy. Then we'll divide up the remaining files between the two of you and Munch and Fin and start interviewing these women. We might be able to hold these blood thirsty media sharks off the weekend, if we're lucky."

That night it was beer and pizza as Elliot and Olivia sat in the living room floor of her apartment with stacks of files surrounding them.

"This is a nightmare. These poor women," Elliot said as he pulled another stack of files from the box.

"I think we have done enough for one night," Olivia said as she scooped up Elliot's stack of files and dropped them back into the box placing the lid on it and carrying it to the table.

"Liv, I wasn't finished with those." Elliot watched her as she restacked the files they had weeded out and discarded. She had been acting strange all day today. But even more so since Cragen had saddled them with this case. Olivia had something on her mind, something heavy and she wasn't ready to talk to him about it yet. So he decided to wait it out until she was ready.

"It's after two in the morning El. And we have a lot to get done tomorrow. Why don't you just crash in the guest room. Get some sleep and we can pick this up tomorrow."

"Yeah. Olivia, are you okay? You just kind of act like something is bothering you."

"I'm fine. I'm just really tired."

"Good night, Liv."

"Good night, El."

The next morning Olivia awoke to the inviting smell of fresh coffee. She stretched and opened her eyes to stare up at the ceiling for a moment. She smiled and climbed from the bed slipping on a pair of blue jeans and a tee shirt before heading to the kitchen.

She walked into the room to take a seat at the bar and noticed one of the files as it laid unopened on the counter in front of her. Olivia pressed her lips together nervously as she shifted her eyes to meet Elliot's then looked back down at the file.

"Have you read it?" She asked softly with a look of guilt in her eyes.

"No, I didn't open it." He slid the file across the bar placing it in front of her as he handed her a cup of coffee. "I figured it was private. And if you wanted me to know, you would tell me."

Elliot watched her as tears began to fill her eyes. She folded her arms in front of her and lowered her head to cry. Elliot leaned across the counter, cupping his hand and resting it on the back of her head.

"Liv, I am not here to judge you. I would never do that. But you know the shit is gonna hit the fan when it gets out that you had a file in that box. And it is only going to get worse when the media catches on. I just want to help you."

"I thought I had finally left this all in my past. Now it's here and there is no way to put it behind me."

"I want to make this file just disappear. I want to just throw it away or destroy it so that you don't have to be involved in everything that is about to go on. But I can't do that."

"I wouldn't expect you to Elliot. And even if we destroyed that file, there are ways of finding that information. Then we just damaged the case by attempting to hide the file."

Elliot poured them both another cup of coffee as they took a seat on the sofa and she began to explain the events that resulted in her name appearing on that file.