"Go!" Amaro yelled, "Go, now!"
Sirens wailed as the thunder clapped across the sky and rain hit hard against the sidewalk. The detectives were drenched but that's not what they were focused on. One of their own was in trouble.
The SWAT team busted the door down and held their shields in front of them as they made their way into the empty building. Rollins, Amaro, and Fin all followed behind them, looking for any signs that Olivia had been there.
"There's blood," the petite blonde said as she flashed her flashlight over the dried sticky substance that stained the hard concrete.
Amaro sighed, "They were here."
"They could be anywhere by now," Fin said.
"Clear!" one of the men yelled.
Olivia had been there and they had missed her. They only had one lead and now they were stuck at a dead end. They were trapped in a race against time.
"Get CSU here," Fin ordered Amaro, "The blood might not be Liv's."
Amaro nodded and the three of them headed back outside into the storm. Their captain was waiting for them and hoping to hear good news. When he saw the looks of devastation on their faces he knew Olivia wasn't there. He sighed and began to pray. He was praying to anyone who would listen and anyone who could help them.
Meanwhile Olivia was alone. She was freezing and her head was killing her but she was alive. She kept telling herself to stay alive. Her wrist was throbbing and she knew it was broken. It didn't take a doctor to figure that out. She looked around but wherever she was was so dark that she could barely make out her hand in front of her. "Just stay alive," she whispered to herself.
Out of nowhere lights flicked on and Olivia shuttered. The light burned her eyes and she was frightened when she saw him. The evil smile on his face was enough to creep anybody out.
"Nice words," he said in his deep voice.
She didn't say anything. She couldn't bare to look him in the eyes. How could he do this to her? After everything...
"Why are you doing this?" she asked forcing her voice to be strong.
He chuckled and walked closer to her, bending down so he was on her level. "Because I can."
The thunder clashed again as Captain Cragen slammed his office door shut. He wanted to be left alone. He needed to think. He needed peace. He needed his mind to wonder away from the bottle and focus on finding Olivia. That was his top priority. He thought about the last time he saw her; two days ago. He thought about if her mood had changed; tired, nothing new. Was she with anyone; no.
He was interrupted from his thoughts when someone tapped lightly on his door.
"What?" he barked.
Munch slowly walked in and closed the door shut behind him. "I have something," he said quietly waving the paper in his hand.
"What is it? He didn't want to say. "CSU found a fingerprint in the warehouse. They ran it through the database and they got a match."
Cragen looked up to Munch before even beginning to open the envelope. Whatever name that envelope held could lead them to Olivia. Cragen's wrinkled fingers shook violently as he forced himself to swallow though his mouth was cotton dry. Slowly he pulled out the piece of paper.
The pain that Olivia was feeling in her wrist was intensifying now and she just wanted to scream. Why was he doing this to her? What did she ever do to deserve this? She wanted to know. She took a deep breath and looked over at him from where he was sitting in a brown leather recliner.
"Why?" she questioned. Her voice was hoarse from the tears burning her throat.
"All those years," he said casually taking another sip of his beer, "All those years I looked after you. All those years I took the blame to cover your ass. All those damn years where I had marital problems. They were all because of you."
Olivia shook her head. She didn't believe it. She wouldn't. If anything she had helped him keep his life on track. She never told him to take the blame for her mistakes and she hated when he did. She was always there for him. When he was blind, when his wife was in labor, when he almost went down for beating a man to death, when his daughter was in jail. She was always there and she would never forget it.
"You don't mean that," she whispered, "We were best friends." She couldn't control her tears now as they steadily streamed down her cheeks. They were burning because her cheeks were so cold. "Elliot," she said when she realized he was listening, "El..." using his nickname made her heart shatter. Especially now that he was doing this. "El, you don't have to do this. It's okay. You need help..." From where she was sitting tied to the wall she could see Elliot shake his head. He wasn't facing her but she knew him well. She knew he was contemplating things. "Just let me go, El, and we can get you the help you need. What about your kids?"
"My kids," he chuckled. He turned the brown recliner around so he was now facing Olivia and she could see his red and swollen eyes. He had been crying. "My kids don't want anything to do with me."
"I bet that's not true," Olivia said when another shot of pain shot through her wrist. She whimpered silently, not wanting to lose the connection she was getting with him. It was just like on the job.
"Just stop!" he yelled startling her. He practically jumped out of the chair and made a dash for the stairs, turning the lights off as he went.
Olivia let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She was terrified. Terrified that Elliot was going to do something he shouldn't. She knew he wasn't okay. She knew the shooting had changed him but she didn't know how much until now. The salty drops of liquid didn't seem to ever stop as she thought back to all of the good times they had together.
"I'd give you a kidney."
"Not if I gave you mine first."
"Like you said, you're the longest relationship I've ever been in with a man. Who else would put up with me?"
Now she was sobbing even harder.
Cragen wasn't standing for it. He ordered Munch to take the results back to the lab and demand they run the DNA again. There was no way it was Elliot Stabler's. He would never hurt Olivia and everybody knew that. Or they thought they knew that.
"Sir," Amanda said in her quiet voice as she stood in the doorway of his office, "I know that Elliot left after a shooting... do you think that could have changed him?"
Cragen looked over to the bottle of liquor that was just sitting on his shelf collecting dust. He didn't know why he kept it there but right now it was calling his name.
"I don't know," he mumbled, "I really don't."
Amanda gave him a sympathetic smile and slowly made her way further into his office and shut the door behind her. Cragen took it as an invitation to start talking.
"The day Olivia first came to work here I didn't think she would last," he said smiling at his own idiocy, "I mean, she was this pretty young woman who wore lipstick and wore dresses. There was no way... Then she finished the first year and case closure rate was higher than ever. Her and Stabler hardly ever let a case go cold."
"They're good people. Good cops."
"I've known Olivia for about fifteen years now and I have never, ever seen her put herself before others. She would through herself in front of a gun without a vest on if she had to. She's done it." He remembered the day because when they had gotten back to the precinct he chewed her ass out for not following protocol. "Olivia is the closest thing I have to family," he said letting the sadness linger in her voice, "Elliot was just like a son to me."
"I know you don't want to believe it," Amanda said kindly, "But if it's true... then we can still help her. And him. I know they were partners for a long time and I know he could never hurt her just like that. We'll find them."
Cragen looked up the picture of Olivia and Elliot on his desk and looked his youngest detective in the eyes. She was still just a rookie to him. She had so much to learn and there was so much she still hadn't seen. He knew she could never replace Olivia. No matter how hard she tried. She could be a good cop but it still wouldn't match up. Nick Amaro was a good cop. He even had the anger issues to match Stabler but, it still just wasn't the same. It was like his family was leaving him and somehow he was stuck.
"He isn't living with his wife anymore," Cragen said grabbing a pen from a coffee mug and a piece of paper from a drawer, "Go talk to her." He scribbled down the address of Kathy Stabler and sent Amanda and Nick on their way.
Nick Amaro stepped out of the light brown Sedan and Amanda Rollins followed behind him. They both had their long pea coats on as it was pretty chilly outside. Nick eyed the house like he did on every case just to make sure there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed to be. They walked up the steps to the white painted building and that's when a putrid smell assaulted their nostrils.
"Oh gosh," Amanda said covering her nose with her arm, "That can't be good."
Nick sighed and knocked on the door loudly three times. Both detectives listened for any footsteps or any indication of activity inside but they heard none. "I'm busting it down," he said pulling his gun and taking a step back. There was a loud thud and then the door was open and they had view of the front room.
"Clear," Nick yelled to Amanda.
"Kitchen's clear!" she yelled back.
They both walked to the bottom of the stairs after clearing the lower level of the house and then made their way to upper level. The rotting smell seemed to intensity as they climbed up the steps. The first room at the top of the stairs seemed to be one of the girls' room. The walls were painted pink and there were girl clothes strewn all over the floor. The place looked like it had been ransacked. They went to the next room to find quite a surprise.
"Oh no," Amanda sighed seeing the cold decaying body lying on top of the bed.
"I'll call CSU. You call the captain," Nick said.
Working this case wasn't particularly easy for Nick. He and Olivia were good friends and one night she had confided in him how she felt about Elliot. She even told him that she loved his kids and she wished she could still see them. It made his heart ache for her. He knew by the age of the child and the gender, that it was Richard Stabler. Otherwise known as Dickie. Now he felt even more uneasy as all of their evidence pointed to Elliot Stabler.
"How do you know?" Cragen barked into the phone, "You've never even seen Richard!"
"Captain, Olivia showed me pictures. She keeps one of all of his kids in her purse. I know this is him... I'm sorry. I know you don't want to believe it but all of our evidence points to Elliot and Olivia is still with him. We can still save her."
A loud bang and then a strike of electric blue lit up the sky. Everything in the precinct went dark and the only sound that filled Cragen's ears were the rain drops beating hard against the ceiling and the wind howling through the cracks in the window.
P.S I know have other stories up and if you're reading them they will get finished. I just think this one needs to be up too!
