Tears cascaded down her face like raindrops in a hurricane. Mascara streaked her puffy cheeks, only making the redness of her eyes more prominent. She struggled to take a breath and when she finally managed to let in oxygen it was shaky at best. Her legs felt like jelly underneath her.
"Liv…" Nick walked up slowly behind her and placed his hand on her back.
She sniffed and attempted to wipe her tears, "he was fine," she whispered with her back still turned to him. "He was fine. He was crying so I went to make him a bottle and I haven't mastered holding him and fixing it at the same time." She sniffed again as the thought about all of this being her fault. "I went right back to the bedroom and he was gone. I froze… I didn't know what to do."
"He's okay," Nick informed her and finally she turned to face him. "The doctor told us that he didn't have a scratch on him. He was a little cold but they warmed him up and he's crying for his Mama."
"He's not hurt?"
Nick shook his head before wrapping his arm around Olivia and leading her through the emergency bay to where Noah was. "Oh, Noah," Olivia sobbed when she saw him. She immediately scooped him into her arms and kissed him in his hair. "I'm so sorry, little man. I'm so sorry."
Fin and Amanda walked into the room and stayed silent for a few moments, giving Olivia some time to grasp the situation before they started asking questions. Olivia wrapped Noah's favorite blue blanket around him and held him tight to her chest as he began to doze off. "When I got home from work I thought I heard a noise," she explained. "I glanced around but I brushed it off. I just… I blamed it on… I still get jumpy sometimes from Lewis. She glanced up and looked Fin in the eyes before glancing back down to her sleeping child. "Someone really was there."
"Liv," Fin said, "Noah was found in an alley beside a gym. There were no witnesses. An elderly lady walked by and heard crying so she called us. There are no cameras in the area. CSU is at your house now looking for anything that can give us a lead."
Olivia nodded, "where am I going to take Noah?"
"You can stay at my place," Nick offered, "it's only fair I return the favor." He gave her a smile, hoping to lighten the mood but Olivia only nodded.
"We'll keep you posted," Amanda informed as Nick guided Olivia and Noah to the squad car to take them home.
At Nick's apartment, he cleaned up his bedroom and made the bed so Olivia and Noah could sleep there together. He would sleep on the couch and be awake if anything was to happen. They had no idea who this guy was or why he was targeting Olivia. There was no way in hell he was getting any sleep.
Olivia laid Noah down on Nick's bed and surrounded his tiny body with pillows so he wouldn't fall. She was reluctant to leave him, even for a minute but, she needed to thank Nick. She kept the door wide open and stopped at the end of the hall, peering into the living room. "Nick?"
Nick moved his arm from over his eyes, "yeah?"
"Thanks," she said sincerely.
"Don't mention it."
Olivia smiled at her partner's generosity and then headed back into the bedroom to snuggle with Noah. That hour that he was missing was the worst hour of her life and she never wanted to experience that again. Noah was never leaving her sight. She sighed and gently pressed her lips to his forehead before finally letting her eyes close.
At the precinct, Fin, Amanda and, Lt. Murphy were working fast on finding Noah's kidnapper. "How is it possible that there were no sightings?" Amanda stressed, "it was only one in the morning. New York does not asleep by one."
"What about her recent cases," Fin suggested, "maybe Noah's father has something to do with it."
Lt. Murphy shook his head. "I don't think so. Ellie never mentioned him but it's probably because she doesn't know who he is."
Fin sat down at his desk defeatedly, thinking of other recent cases in his mind. He was about to search for all the recent cases with Olivia's name on them when a notification popped up informing him of a new email. The email was from David Haden and it read 'Tell Olivia I'm sorry.'
"Ya think Haden did this?" Amanda inquired.
"I don't know. He seemed to have his head on pretty straight. Let's not forget he is an executive district attorney."
"Who's David Haden?"
Amanda and Fin both turned toward Lt. Murphy, realizing that Murphy hadn't been around at that time. He hadn't been around for much, really.
"Olivia's old boyfriend," Fin explained, "they broke up because they didn't disclose in time and it became too late."
"That the official story?" Lt. Murphy seemed to believe that David was a possible suspect. Amanda and Fin however, were not convinced.
"It's the truth," Amanda answered.
"Well we have no idea who is behind this," Lt. Murphy explained, "and I'm not ruling anybody out just yet. Go talk to him."
Fin and Amanda grabbed their coats and headed off, leaving Lt. Murphy to ponder some more about how these detectives truly put their lives on the line everyday just so they could save people. Sometimes he wondered if it was worth it. This was definitely one of those times.
Nick had moved into a new apartment not long ago and the neighborhood was always quiet by ten at night. Most of the residents were older people whose kids were already grown and moved out. The apartment was peaceful until Noah woke up crying. Olivia didn't miss a beat and was up a half a second later, rocking him and singing quietly to him. Olivia didn't think anything of it until she heard the sound of walking just outside Nick's bedroom window. She held Noah tightly to her chest and made a dash for the living room, causing Nick to jump to his feet.
"Someone's here," she panicked, "they must have followed me. I heard footsteps just outside the window."
Nick could see how startled she was and he would be too if he was in her situation. He grabbed his gun from the top of the fridge and headed into the bedroom, warning Olivia to stay away from the windows. He pulled back the curtain and looked out, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. He unlocked the window and stuck his head out, looking for anything that had been moved out of place. He saw nothing until he caught movement with his peripheral vision. Somebody was running away from the apartments wearing all black and Nick could see a gun shining whenever a streetlight hit it. He quickly shut and locked the window and pulled out his cell phone to enlighten Lt. Murphy on the situation.
"Noah isn't safe," Olivia said quietly as her and Nick sat down on his couch. They kept the lights off, wanting to keep anyone from looking in. The living room curtain was open so Nick could keep a closer eye on everything outside. "I'm putting him in harms way."
"Liv, you're not. You are protecting him. If it wasn't for you he would be God knows where with God knows who. You saved him and you still are. I know you aren't going to let anything happen to him and neither am I. Fin and Amanda are working it and they won't stop until they get the bastard."
Olivia looked down at Noah who had thankfully fallen back to sleep after having half of a bottle. His chubby cheeks never failed to make Olivia smile. "I just love him so much…"
"I know," Nick whispered, "I know."
