Olivia's mind was racing. She didn't know what Emmy had meant, but the little girl had fell asleep before she had time to ask. She'd lay her down on the sofa and placed a blanket on her, and come out to her desk to try and figure out what the hell was going on. She picked up the phone and dialled the number for the Chicago Police Department.
"Hello, Chicago P.D, how can I help?" A voice muttered on the other end.
"Hi. My names Detective Olivia Benson, I'm from New York P.D. I need to speak to the leading officer on the Emma Matthews case." Olivia spoke, her voice sounding tired.
"Sure. I'll just go get him."
The line went dead for a second and Olivia waited, not really knowing how she was going to word this. Just as she was getting lost in her thoughts, a gruff tired voice came on at the other end.
"Hello Detective Benson, Detective Huff here." The man grunted, sounding like he'd just woke up. "You say you have information on Emma Matthews."
"Yes, Detective. Can you tell me a bit more about what happened?" Olivia responded.
"Emma went missing 2 weeks ago, presumed dead. Her parents went to bed, the next morning she was gone. Emma has a habit of running away so we know her. But she's never been gone this long."
"Right. Do you know why she keeps running away?"
"No."
"Have you not thought to try to find out why she keeps running?"
"Of course we have Detective Benson. She's a very reserved little girl, we can't force her to tell us if she doesn't want too." He sighed.
"Right. Well Emma is in New York."
"What?! How did an eight year old girl travel nearly 800 miles?!"
"I have no idea Detective. But she's here. She's told me that her parents hurt her and begged me to not send her back. I work in sex crimes so this is my speciality. I work with children like this everyday."
"Look Detective Benson, I'm sure you're only trying to help but it's not your jurisdiction. How do you know she's telling the truth?"
"She is terrified. I've just spent the last 4 hours with her trying to calm her down. I just thought you should let her parents know that she's safe and i'll get my captain to ring you in the morning. I'm going to speak to social services and get something arranged but I am not letting that poor little girl go back there."
"Keep me updated. I'm on your side, I'll interview the parents and see what they have to say for themselves."
"Oh and Detective Huff, something else she said got me confused. She said they stole her,is she adopted?"
"No, she isn't." Detective Huff said, sounding more and more guilty by the second.
"Might want to ask them about that too."
"Will do." and with that, he put the phone down. Olivia sat back in her chair, massaging her temples. All of a sudden, she heard screaming coming from the room she left Emmy in. She hastily got up and rushed in. Emmy was on the floor thrashing around, she looked like she was trying to get somebody off her.
"Get off me. Get off. I don't like it. Please stop." She screamed.
Olivia got down on her knees and stroked the little girls hair.
"Emmy, Emmy wake up sweetie. It's me, Olivia." Olivia whispered.
"Stop. Please stop."
Olivia gently shook her to try to wake her up.
"Emmy, sweetie."
Emmy's eyes snapped open and she burst into tears, she scooted to the other side of the room and curled up into the foetal position.
"It's okay hunny, you're safe here. No one can hurt you."
Emmy glanced up at Olivia with tear filled eyes and held her arms out to her. Olivia slid across the floor and took the little girl into her arms.
"Sssh, you're safe. I promise."
"Olivia, I lost my backpack. It's got Anya in." Emmy whispered. "I need Anya."
"Whose Anya?" Olivia asked.
"My teddy bear."
"Oh darling, I've got your backpack. You left it when I bumped into you this morning."
Emmy looked up at me and smiled.
"Thank you." was all she said before she fell back to sleep.
Olivia managed to get a few hours sleep, then decided to call social services and speak to Creagan. Little Emmy was happily playing in the child interview room. She was anxious of the response, and really didn't want this child in a children's home and definitely not going back to Chicago. She dialled the number and waited.
"Hello Mrs Figg here, how may I help?" the woman on the other end of the line said.
"Hi. I'm Detective Benson from New York P.D. I have an eight year old girl here. I was wondering if you could come in and I'll explain the situation, it's a very sensitive case." Olivia replied. What she really meant, is she needed the social worker to listen and if she spoke to her face to face she couldn't slam the phone down. She hoped the social worker would be compassionate.
"Sure. I'll be there in around 2 hours. I've just got another appointment then I'll be straight over."
"Thanks. See you then." Olivia put the phone down. Next person to tackle is the captain, Olivia thought to herself. She decided to check in with Emmy and see if she would tell her anymore information. She went into the room where Emmy was playing and smiled. She wanted nothing more than a child to love and take care of. But she hadn't been blessed with that miracle. She looked at the little girl and wished she were hers. She reminded herself not to get attached, for a start she probably had loving parents out there that were missing her and the tiny little problem of her Captain and the rules of her being a Detective. She could only dream, and knew it were nothing more that. She shook her head and got rid of the trespassing thoughts.
"Hey Emmy, you having fun?" Olivia said, as brightly as she could.
"Yes, thank you. I've drawn you a picture." Emmy replied, beaming up at Olivia. She handed it over and her smile faded. She shuffled her hands in her lap.
"What's up?" Olivia asked, concerned. She glanced down at the picture and screwed her eyebrows up in confusion.
"It's a picture of my real house."
"Oh, do you want to tell me what happened?" Olivia sat down next to Emmy and crossed her legs.
"Well, I was asleep in bed. Me and Anya were having a chat about school. Then I heard shouting." Emmy said, putting her head in her hands.
"So I got up and went to see what was happening. There were red footprints all down the hallway." Emmy started to cry. Olivia kept quiet to let her finish her story.
"Then I went into mommy and daddys room and there was a man holding a gun to my daddy's head. Mommy was covered in blood. Daddy looked at me and told me to look away and that he loved me. Then there was a big bang and daddy was dead."
Olivia looked at Emmy, gobsmacked.
"Oh sweetie." Olivia said, sadly.
"The man scooped me up. I tried to get him off me but he said he would kill me. Then we went away to my new house."
"How long ago did that happen, hunny?"
"I was 5."
"Okay hunny. That's really helpful. You asked me to find your real mommy and daddy though? You do know I can't do that if there dead."
"I know. I was hoping you might be a miracle worker, like those people who can look into the future." Emmy sobbed into her hands. "Please help me find a new home, somebody who will love me."
Olivia nearly started crying but held her tears back. She cupped Emmy's chin in her hands, Emmy looked up at her.
"Will you be my new mommy?"
Olivia sat there, shocked. It made her heart break in two. She'd only been with this girl 24 hours and it seemed Emmy had took a liking to her. It made her even more determined to fight social services so Emmy could stay with her. There was a knock at the door and Olivia saw that the social worker had arrived. Here goes nothing Olivia thought. The social worker entered the room after Olivia gave her the go ahead. Emmy retreated to the corner of the room, terrified.
"You not taking me back!" she shouted, obvious fear in her tone. "It's okay Emmy, she's here to help." Olivia said, trying to calm her.
"Hey sweetie. My name is Mrs Figg and I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do. Ok?" Mrs Figg said, compassionately.
Emmy slowly nodded and sat down, crossing her legs.
"Shall we talk outside, Detective Benson?" Mrs Figg asked.
"Sure." Olivia replied. She didn't want Emmy to heard this, in case the outcome wasn't what she was hoping. Both women stepped out the room and Emmy went back to her drawing.
"So, explain what's going on Detective Benson." Mrs Figg said.
"Please call me Olivia. Emmy came into the station last night, she screamed at me for 3 hours because she didn't want me to send her home. She's come from Chicago."
"Chicago?! Bloody hell, that's a long way for an eight year old girl?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I rang Chicago P.D and they are investigating her abduction. The parents that reported her missing, aren't her parents."
"Oh poor baby, is that why she ran away?"
"Yeah. She drew me a picture. The abductors murdered her real parents in front of her."
"Oh my god."
"So, Mrs Figg. I was wondering could I take Emmy while all this is being investigated? I feel I could better protect her than a state home." Olivia asked, her legs felt like they wouldn't support her weight, she was that nervous.
"Well, Detective. It's not normally allowed but as long as you pass the investigation on to somebody else, I don't see why it could be a huge problem. I have a huge backlog of kids waiting for foster homes." Mrs Figg looked at Olivia with eyes of concern. They hardly ever allow things like this to happen.
"Thank you so much. Emmy will be over the moon with that."
"I'll just go and clear it with the Captain." Mrs Figg took another glance at little Emmy and walked in the direction of the Captain's office. Olivia walked back into the room that Emmy was in.
"Guess what, sweetie?" She asked Emmy.
"What?" Emmy looked up at Olivia with those beautiful big eyes.
"You're coming home with me, for a little while."
Emmy smiled and ran towards Olivia, her arms outstretched. She nearly knocked Olivia off her feet.
"Thank you, thank you." she screeched over and over again. Olivia hugged little Emmy until she felt Emmy fall to the ground.
"Emmy?!" Olivia cried. She ran to the door, opened it and yelled for help.
"Someone call a bus!"