The next day when Elliot woke up to take Julie to school, Olivia was still asleep. He didn't want to wake her because he knew she hadn't had much sleep the night before. He got up quietly and slipped on his day clothes while being careful not to make too much noise. He walked into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face to wake him up, then he went into the kitchen.
"Did you eat breakfast?" he asked Julie when he noticed she was lying on the couch.
"I had a slice of toast and some orange juice," Julie answered sitting up, "Are you going to tell me the story of how you and mom met now?"
Elliot smiled as he put the carton of juice back into the fridge. He had forgotten all about that, "Not yet."
"Why?" she asked beginning to whine, "I want to know what it was like! Did it involve making love?"
"No," Elliot said sternly, "Now get your jacket and let's go before we are both late."
Elliot pulled up into the drop off circle at Roosevelt High and watched as Julie walked inside. It was then he realized that she had grown up right before his eyes. It seemed like just yesterday that him and Olivia had gotten Julie. He came back to reality and realized that all of the cars behind him were honking because he was holding up the line. He laughed to himself and then drove away.
Meanwhile back at the apartment, Olivia was just climbing out of bed. She didn't want to get up but she knew she had to. She wanted to stay in bed under the covers for the rest of her life and not have to face the fact that she had cancer again.
She swung her feet over the edge of the bed and slipped on her house shoes so her feet wouldn't touch the cold hardwood floor. She walked to the bathroom and washed her face and brushed her teeth. She was just about done brushing when she caught a good glimpse of herself in the mirror. She knew that pretty soon she would lose her hair again and her body would start going through dramatic changes.
"Damn cancer," she mumbled as she slammed the mirror cabinet close.
She walked back into her bedroom and looked at her clock that red 7:30 in red neon numbers. She had thirty minutes to get ready and head to work. There was no way she would make it in time. She scrambled to get dressed and hurried out the door.
Elliot was already sitting at his desk working when Olivia came walking in. Her eyes were red from lack of sleep and she didn't have that usual pep in her step.
"Good morning." Elliot sat a cup of coffee down on her desk in front of her and kissed her on top of her head, "How did you sleep?"
Olivia sighed, "I didn't."
Elliot was about to say something when Captain Cragen walked in with Detective Munch following him.
"We have a lead on Meredith Crenshaw, a man on 42nd street called in and said he saw her with an older man at So Cheesyabout ten minutes ago. Munch and Stabler I want you two to sit this man down with a sketch artist. Benson and Fin, I need you two to start searching the area. He couldn't have gone far in ten minutes. Let's save this little girl."
The four detectives nodded and headed out to their posts. "You wanna drive or do you want me to?"
"You can drive," Benson answered, "I'm not feeling well today."
Fin gave her a look of concern and slid into the driver's seat, "I know I'm not your precious Elliot but, do you want to talk about it?"
Olivia let out a chuckle, "I went to the doctor yesterday for a check-up and…" she let her sentence trail off.
"Liv, what's the matter?"
"The cancer's back," she said quietly.
"Man, Baby Girl, I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Olivia said wiping a tear before it fell.
"I hate to break the moment," Fin said sympathetically, "But that looks like Meredith," Fin said as he turned onto a side street.
Fin pulled the car over to a stop and Olivia jumped out pulling her gun out and shouting, "NYPD, STOP!"
The man that was holding Meredith started running, dragging Meredith with him down the alley. Olivia and Fin took off running so they wouldn't lose him. The man jumped over bags of trash bags and stairwells to try to escape but Olivia and Fin were trained well. When the perp got to the top of a building he dangled Meredith over the edge. Olivia could hear Meredith's cries so she stood back and kept her gun fixated on the man.
"Get away from me or I drop her," the man said.
Olivia kept her gun pointed while Fin snuck up behind him. "You know I can't let you do that."
The man was panting from running so much but he didn't budge at putting Meredith down.
"Now Fin!" Olivia yelled.
Fin jumped on top of the man knocking Meredith into Olivia's arms.
"It's okay Sweetie," Olivia said in her nurturing voice, "You're safe now."
Olivia sat Meredith in the back of the Sedan and called a bus to get her and make sure she was okay. She then went to help Fin cuff the perp. She kneed him in the back while Fin slapped the cuffs on his wrists.
"You're under arrest for kidnapping. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney," Olivia read.
Since the bus wasn't at the location yet, Olivia stayed behind with Meredith while Fin took the perp to Riker's.
"Did the man hurt you?" Olivia asked once they were in the ambulance.
Meredith's lips started quivering as she started thinking about what that man did to her, "I don't want to talk about it."
"I know you don't want to talk about it Sweetie," Olivia said, "But if he did bad things you need to tell us so we can punish him." Olivia was trying her best to comfort the small child while the EMT bandaged some lacerations to her head.
"He made me play dress up," Meredith said while squeezing Olivia's hand.
Olivia knew where this was going. She had heard a million stories just like this before. She hated the fact that people could actually do this; especially to children.
"What else Sweetie?" she asked, "You're doing real well."
"He… He sat on top of me and it hurt really bad!" Meredith was in tears now.
"It's okay," Olivia comforted, "You're safe now. He can't hurt you anymore."
Meredith sniffled and nodded in agreement.
At the hospital, Olivia made sure she told Meredith's doctors that she needed a rape kit and they needed to send it to M.E Warner. Once that was over with, Olivia made her way back to the precinct and reunited Meredith with her mother.
"Tough case?" Elliot asked when he saw that she was rubbing her temples. She looked up and just stared at him.
"Yeah," she finally said, "Meredith said that there were more kids where she was staying so, she's coming back tomorrow to tell us what she remembers."
"We should go home too," Elliot said slipping his blazer on, "It's getting late."
"You go ahead," Olivia yawned, "I just have to finish some paperwork and I'll be right behind you."
"Liv, you can do that tomorrow. You're exhausted and you need sleep."
"El, I'm okay. It's just paperwork."
Elliot didn't want to leave Olivia at work but, he knew that she was never going to give in so, he kissed her goodbye and told her that he would see her at home.
