Chapter Four:

A sudden thump from the direction of the doorway woke both Elliot and Olivia. Olivia stifled a gasp and attempted to bury herself further into him. Elliot got up gingerly, almost dragging Olivia with him toward the doorway.

A bundle lay below a shoot, with an NYPD label on an old backpack, which both Elliot and Olivia immediately recognized as Casey's.

As they opened the backpack, they pulled out a phone, they recognized to be Don Cragen's. As they investigated further, the backpack contained a nice selection of food, such as fruit, snack bars, water and other foods. Elliot grabbed and unwrapped a snack bar handing it to Olivia before grabbing a bar for himself.

Olivia stared at the bar in her hand, as though she had never seen one before. Cautiously she took a bite, slowly chewing and slowly swallowing as if she had forgotten how to eat.

Slowly as she began to get accustomed to this place and realizing the backpack didn't contain anything dangerous. She still held on tightly to Elliot but was no longer completely burrowed in his side.

Suddenly a loud ringing noise was emmited from the pile of food they had unpacked. Olivia flung herself and burrowed herself in Elliot's side, obviously terrified. Tears began to fall freely from her eyes when the ringing continued. Elliot realized that the mobile phone they had been given was the ringing object. He picked up the phone and answered it with his usual, "Stabler."

"Elliot." Munch's voice came through strongly.

"John. Can you get us out of here?" I really need to get Liv out of here. She's breaking down, I don't know what to do, John. Is Huang there?"

"No," Munch responded anxiously, "I'll drive back to NY and get him to give you a call. It'll be in about an hour, and I'll go as fast as I can."

Both hung up swiftly following this conversation. Elliot once again comforting a sobbing and broken Olivia.

"How are they?" Fin asked, above the sound of the siren blaring above them.

"Elliot sounds okay, desperately worried about Olivia. He says she's breaking down, and you know as well as I do, for that to happen to Liv, something terrible had to have happened to her."

"Did he say anything else?" he asked as the crossed from Jersey into New York.

"He wanted to talk to Huang." Munch said worriedly.

Fin shook his head, for Elliot to be requesting the assistance of a shrink, Fin knew it had to be really bad regarding Olivia's mental condition.

They arrived at Casey's a little under an hour later. As soon as Casey saw them at the door, she began firing off questions.

"How are they? Did you find the camera's? Did you talk to them? Did –"

She was cut off by Munch saying loudly, "If you keep asking questions, I won't answer them."

Huang spoke softly, "Did you talk to them?"

Munch nodded affirmatively while Fin said, "Elliot wants to talk to you regarding Liv's condition."

Huang nodded worriedly, and picked up Casey's phone, dialing Don's familiar number. He put the phone on speaker. After a few dial tone rings, the phone picked up and Elliot's husky voice permeated the silent apartment.

"Stabler."

"Elliot, it's George. Munch and Fin said you wanted to talk to me about Olivia." He paused, "Can you put her on?"

"I would," Elliot sighed, "but she won't speak. She cries all the time, won't let go of me, keeps my hand in a vice grip and is terrified at the smallest thing."

At this a faint crying could be heard, which indicated that Elliot had put the phone on speaker.

"Ok," Huang said but before he cold continue a small scream was emitted before rustling noises came and Elliot saying soothingly, "It's alright, Liv. It's George, honey, remember, from work." There was a pause where Olivia had obviously nodded, based on what Elliot said next.

"Liv, sweetie, George an the rest of the gang are gonna help us get out of here. Thye want to talk to us, see if we are alriht, Ok." Again, Olivia must have nodded.

"Good, Now do you want to say hi?" Olivia shook her head. "Come on Liv. It's not bad." Again a 'no'. "Okay maybe later. George," Elliot asked quietly, "What do I do now?"

"You need to get her to talk. It doesn't matter how, you just need to do it. Keep talking to her gently, like this. You're with her so you can assess her more effectively, do you think she would want to hear the rest of us?"

"Maybe it might do her some good, but one at a time. Casey first."

"Liv," Casey's voice hitched, "Liv, talk to me. Please Livvie, I want my best friend back. The one who was so strong, helpful and so, so kind and forgiving." Casey burst into sobs, "Please Liv, come back to us. We can't function without you. Fin and Munch haven't joked and Munch hasn't even come up with a conspiracy theory." She choked on a laugh, "Please honey, Livvie, come back!"

Liv burrowed herself further into Elliot's side, hearing the sobs of one of her close friends. She chocked down her own sobs.

Munch's voice came over next, "Livvie you're always so strong. Don't break like this honey, come back to us. You know it could be like old times, us talking about conspiracies of the government and you eating your gross combination of popcorn and glow worms. We could go back to us laughing about how JFK's death was a huge conspiracy by the government. Livvie, please!" Munch managed to keep his tears at bay, eyes brimming.

Fin's gruff voice spoke next, tears evident, "Liv, my little basket ball player. Do you remember that time you played ball with us and, "he chuckled, 'the guy touched your stomach, you whiled around and kneed him. Can you come back and do it again. Liv, I'm sure even Mike would want you to come back and do it again. Please Liv!"

Cragen went last, "Liv, you're like a daughter to me. You can't leave. You've filled a hole within each of us we didn't know was missing, and if you don't come back our hearts will be left gaping. 'Livia please! I know you've always wanted a family, and you've got one. You can't turn your back on us. We want little Liv's running around and causing chaos, causing laughter. Please honey," he paused. "Elliot, I know we've only been talking to Liv but we really want you back too!" A chorus of "Yah's" followed, causing Olivia to once again hold him tighter.

"I know, Don." He said, "I want the old Liv back too. Anyway, what's happening with getting us out of here!"

"We got a plan but hopefully we'll have you out in a couple of days. Hang on Elliot, okay?"

"Talk to you later, we're getting tired." He yawned.

"Remember to keep trying," George reminded quickly.

"I will. Bye."

When he hung up, the group looked around at each other.