Authors Note: Thank you to all the people who have added this to their favorites or alerts.
Olivia Benson was talking into a phone, taking quick short hand notes.
"Uh huh. Calm down, al…alright. How many? We'll be right there." She hung up. "We've got something!" She shouted the address and soon she, Stabler and Munch were rushing out, lights blaring, tires squealing.
They had an armed guard and orders were vests on, weapons hot.
As they rounded a corner Elliot turned to Olivia. "What are we heading into?"
Olivia consulted a note pad. "Neighbors have been hearing screams, three assailants, presumed armed and dangerous."
Elliot shook his head, "What kind of sicko attacks an orphanage?"
"Maybe they had a bad experience."
The car pulled up in front of the building, Munch was already coordinating the kevlar clad officers.
Olivia and Elliot joined him. "Ready?"
The three detectives mounted the stairs and stood on either side of the door. The officers waited behind them.
Elliot reached out for the door knob; it turned easily under his hand. He nodded to the guard and pushed the door open. The six officers ran in, weapons raised. The first floor was quickly secure.
Munch paused, "You hear that?" He looked around, "They're upstairs."
Cautiously they mounted the stairs, fanning out at the top and approaching the only open door. Something white was lining the entrance, and it sounded like someone was crying.
The officers quickly entered, shouting for the assailants' to freeze. The detectives followed quickly.
They saw a large group of children clinging to four adults, and three men, two with guns, who had been walking towards the door. The same white substance from the door was underneath all the windows as well.
The men were clearly surprised to have been interrupted, then the tallest said, "Oh… fuck." The second looked severely at the man in the trench coat and said, though to Olivia it sounded more like an order, "Cas, don't say anything."
Benson, Stabler and Munch rushed forward, dragging the three men to the ground and locked handcuffs firmly in place
Olivia looked up to tell the civilian audience that they were safe now, maybe give the kids some comfort, but what she saw confused her into silence.
The adults looked horrified and the children stunned and confused; no one looked relieved or happy that the bad guys were being taken away. Were they wrong about who the assailants were?
She looked at the men in their custody, none of them seemed surprised or angry at being wrongfully arrested; in fact they all looked like they expected it. Well, two of them did anyway. The third, "Cas" she thought, had a blank face, he wasn't reacting at all to this situation. It was rather unnerving.
She was about to mention this to her partner when Munch interrupted, "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…"
They placed the men in the cars and left.
When they reached the station the three men were immediately separated and escorted to interview rooms that were as far apart as possible.
Once inside the rooms they were directed to chairs facing the two way mirror. Handcuffs were removed and then replaced, anchoring each man to the table.
The detectives left and reconvened by their desks.
Munch leaned back in his chair, "Some things off about these boys, any of you feel that?"
Fin walked over and sat on his partners desk, "Or you're just paranoid."
"Where've you been?"
"Had to run down to Narcotics."
"Well if you'd met these guys you'd be paranoid too."
Elliot grabbed two cups of coffee and passed one to Olivia, "I think you're right Munch. Did you guys notice how familiar they look? I know I've seen that green eyed guy some where before…"
Fin laughed, "That green eyed guy? You don't have any names yet? I swear, I step out for one minute and you guys just start layin down on the job. Didn't they have any ID on them?"
Olivia shook her head, "We're running their faces through a data bank, and the labs running that white powder we found."
"They did have some IDs, just no real ones." Munch sighed and flipped open a small notepad, "Okay, green eyes and the tall guy have four fake IDs apiece, each with a different name. They have one for the FBI, one for the Department of Homeland Security, one for the NYPD, and get this, one for Child Services, think that's how they got in?"
Elliot shrugged, "Best theory we've got so far."
Fin nodded, "Okay, so that takes care of two of them, what about the third?"
Olivia shook her head, "The green eyed guy called him "Cas." He doesn't have anything on him; no wallet, no cell phone … and no weapons either."
"What are you gettin' at Liv?"
Olivia sighed, "I'm just not so sure this third guy is a suspect…I think he might be a victim."
It was Elliot's turn to be confused, "A victim of what?"
"I don't know yet, it's just, did you hear the green eyed guy ordering him to be quiet?"
Munch seemed surprised. For a minute there they'd all forgotten the brief words uttered when they had first entered that room. "Yeah, you're right he did."
"Has he said anything since?"
Cragen interrupted their conversation. "Alright people, gear up, you're all going out and picking up the kids and the workers who were taken hostage, see if you can get them in here and get them talking. We'll let those boys cool their heels 'till we figure out who they are. Let's move people."
As Olivia pulled on her jacket she decided to go with her hunch, "Hey, uh, I think we might want to call Huang down and have him check out the perps."
Cragen nodded, "You're right, there's something off about these guys, lets figure it out. Fast."
After a few hours of questioning the detectives were getting frustrated.
The kids were all swearing up and down that the three men had saved them, but none of them would say from what. At Huang's suggestion, Munch had assured each child that it was okay to tell the truth, the bad men couldn't hurt them anymore.
It hadn't worked.
After he'd finished questioning the fourteenth child, Munch returned to the room on the other side of the two way mirror.
He sighed, "What's going on here…"
Huang looked rather intrigued, "None of the children were lying. They all honestly believe these men saved them."
"Saved them from what?" Elliot asked in exasperation, "Those guys were armed, had all of those people in that room and no one else was in the building."
Cragen came to a decision, "Let's bring in the adults and see what they have to say."
Fin questioned the adults. Their stories were all the same; they'd been trapped in the basement, they didn't know by whom, and then two men let them out and upstairs there was third man who was comforting the children.
When they were finished questioning the victims they all met in Cragen's office.
"Were going to have to let those boys go; we have nothing to hold them on."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and a young officer held out three pieces of paper. He looked pale and shaken.
As Cragen flipped through the paper Fin asked the officer, "What's wrong with you?"
"W-we've identified the suspects…"
As one the four detectives looked at Cragen. He cleared his throat, "It appears we're holding Sam and Dean Winchester."
"The serial killers?" Elliot was confused, "I thought they were dead?"
Munch laughed humorlessly, "They've both been declared dead before. Do we know what the white stuff was?"
"Yes sir, it was salt."
Olivia was confused, "Who are the Winchesters?"
Fin answered her, "They're these sick brothers. The oldest, Dean, the green eyed guy? He was brainwashed by his dad, and then he brainwashed his brother Sam. Sam had been prelaw at Stanford, and now they've been on the run for murder, suspected murder, grave desecration, corpse mutilation, you name it these boys have done it."
"Who's the third guy?"
Cragen turned to the last page, "He's uh… James Novak. He has a wife and daughter. He went missing over a year ago, he was presumed dead."
Olivia looked thoughtful, "I wonder why Dean called him 'Cas.'"
Cragen took a deep breath, "Let's go ask him. Olivia, Elliot, go talk to, uh, Mr. Novak. We'll be watching in the back."
"One more thing," the young officer interrupted, "The two men have been requesting a lawyer."
"One for each?"
"No, they want to share."
"Alright, take care of it."
"Yes sir." The young man moved quickly aside.
Olivia nodded and headed out. Once her coworkers were in place she and Elliot entered the small room.
James looked up and analyzed them with piercing blue eyes. Then his eyes moved across the glass; it was almost as though he could look through it… But that was impossible. Right?
On the other side of the glass Munch had tensed. "Are we sure that mirror is working?"
Fin looked at his partner incredulously, "Of course it works."
"But…he just looked at me."
"Coincidence."
"And then he looked at you. And then Cragen, and then Huang. He looked at us. That's a hell of a coincidence."
There was an awkward silence.
Back in the room Olivia leaned up close to the table, "Hi James. Do you mind if I call you James?"
The blue eyed man said nothing. His eyes were still focused on the mirror, moving back and forth, as though watching someone move.
Elliot walked around the table and sat close to him, slightly in the other mans personal space. Elliot spoke quietly, "What were you doing with the Winchesters?"
Nothing.
"You know, they're in a lot of trouble. They have a rap sheet a mile long. Including this little incident? Well, between you and me, those boys are going away for a long, long time. And unless you talk to us…you're going to end up going with them."
The detectives took their time, trying as many different strategies as they could to get the man to do anything, say anything, but nothing worked.
Behind the glass Huang was thinking. Considering this man had been with the Winchesters it was incredibly possible he'd been beaten or tortured into obedience. The responding officers had stated Dean Winchester had given the command for silence once, and James Novak hadn't said a word since.
Huang moved forward and knocked on the glass. A second later Olivia and Elliot had joined him. He told them his theory.
Elliot nodded, "Makes sense. It would explain why he hasn't spoken; he's scared."
"Well, let's get in there and make him feel safe."
Huang shook his head, "Hm. No, you've been working him over too much. He'll just think it's a trick to get him to talk." He cast his eyes across the rest of the rooms' occupants. His gaze settled on Fin.
"Fin, go talk to him. Try to be strong and protective."
"No problem."
Fin entered the room and sat down directly in front of the other man. "I'm Detective Odafin Tutuola. What's your name?"
The angel turned to look at him, but said nothing.
"We heard your name is James Novak, is that right?"
The man tilted his head to the side.
"You're safe here. No one can hurt you. We're gonna protect you, alright? But if we're going to do that, you've have to talk to us."
For twenty minutes Fin did everything he could to get the man to speak, but nothing worked.
Cas knew that by keeping silent the officers were thinking increasingly worse things, but Dean had told him to be quiet.
He knew why. He remembered the first time he had gone with Dean posing as an FBI agent. How he had tried to be helpful, but he kept saying the wrong thing, and Dean kept having to jump in to save him.
It was just so hard to lie. Dean had told him that lying was human, but he just couldn't grasp it; maybe it was the centuries of never needing to use deception.
Cas recognized that in this situation Sam and Dean would be doing a lot of fancy footwork to earn their freedom, and he didn't want to make it any harder on them.
So he steeled himself and kept quiet, despite his longing to dispute there horrible questions and accusations on how Dean treated him, he kept quiet.
Olivia entered Sam Winchester's room. She sat down in front of him and looked at him critically.
"You want to tell me what you two were doing there?"
"Not really. Where's our lawyer."
"On the way. You know, if you tell us the truth now, we might be able to cut you a deal."
"That's alright, I'll wait."
Olivia nodded, waited a moment, then asked, "Can you tell me about James Novak?"
Confusion passed over Sam's face for a moment, then his eyes brightened, "What do you want with him?"
"Well for one, we want to know why you kidnapped him."
"We didn't kidnap him."
"James Novak has been missing for over a year and you expect us to believe he left his wife and child to go with you voluntarily?"
"I honestly don't care what you believe."
"Sam, we know your brother is the ring leader. Help us get him and we'll be willing to cut you a deal."
Sam looked at her incredulously, "Wow that was just painful. Does that usually work?"
Olivia gave up. "When you want to talk you let us know," and she left.
Elliot entered Dean Winchester's room. The two men regarded each other silently.
"Wow. Dean Winchester. You are in a lot of trouble."
Dean shrugged, "What else is new?"
Elliot leaned in close, "We've got you. Sam? He already turned you in. He told us everything we needed to know."
Dean leaned in, "Then why are you talking to me?"
Elliot smirked, "To give you one chance. Tell us your side and we might be able to lessen the sentence."
"Lessen the sentence? To what?"
"We won't pursue the death penalty."
Dean seemed to consider this. Then he shrugged, "I'll take my chances. By the way, where is our lawyer?"
"On her way. Tell me about James Novak."
"James No…. oh. What do you want to know about him?"
"Why'd you kidnap him?"
"I didn't kidnap him."
Suddenly Elliot was standing, getting in Dean's space, barely suppressed rage covering his face, "We know you kidnapped him! We know you tortured him! We know he's so afraid of you he wont say a word!"
Dean grinned, "Really? You know all that?"
Elliot shook his head, "I'm going to enjoy watching you go down."
Dean winked, "Sorry, I don't like you that way."
An hour later a very attractive young woman showed up. "Are you violating my clients rights to have a lawyer present during questioning?"
Cragen sighed, "Of course not Miss Chita, follow me."
Cragen lead her to Dean Winchester's room. The woman paused just inside the door, "I'd like to speak with all of my clients please."
"Of course." He nodded at Olivia and Fin.
Olivia collected Sam, and Fin got James. Both men were escorted to Dean's room, and then the detectives left.
Dean, who had been flirting shamelessly with the lawyer, immediately brightened when he saw Cas. He pulled the angel into a chair and laced there fingers together. Cas smiled softly.
Behind the glass, every eye widened.
Dean leaned forward, "Are you alright?"
"I am fine Dean."
Dean nodded and leaned over to Sam, "Any ideas?"
The lawyer cleared her throat. All three men looked at her rather guiltily.
"You three are in a lot of trouble."
Dean smiled, "Listen honey pie, could you give us a minute?"
The lawyer glared, "I have a 95% success rate. I'm not losing this case just because you want to have buddy buddy time, get me? I'm trying to help you, but I'm going to need your cooperation."
Sam put up his hands placating, "We know you're trying to help us, we do. But the best way you could do that right now is to just give us a minute, alright?"
The lawyer considered this, "Okay… one minute. Then we're getting down to business, alright?"
"Okay."
She got up and left. Outside the room Elliot looked at her, confused. "What are you doing out here?"
"I need a drink, is that a crime?" She stalked across the room to a water fountain.
Inside the room Sam and Dean thought quickly. Sam looked at Castiel, "You wouldn't happen to have a paper clip or something like that would you?"
Cas shook his head.
Suddenly Dean grinned. "Hey Cas, remember when we first met and you made all those lights explode?"
Cas tilted his head in confusion, but he nodded.
Sam suddenly brightened in realization, "Do you think you could blow all the lights on this floor?"
"Yes."
Dean grinned, "Blow the lights and then get us to the Impala, alright?"
"I'm not sure if I can get us to the Impala, I do not know where it is currently being held."
"Come on Cas, just think about the Impala. I know you can do it."
The door opened and the lawyer walked in. "You boys ready to get down to business?"
"Do it Cas."
Suddenly all the lights in the building blew out. There was panic, and people running around trying to figure out what had just happened.
Inside the interview room Castiel reached out and touched Sam and Dean's foreheads. The three disappeared and then were suddenly sitting inside the beautiful black car.
Dean grinned, "I love you Cas."
