I own no one but my own people

Derek O'Connell's Apartment

"Police!" Fin bellowed as he slammed his fist against the door. "Open up, O'Connell!"

When they received no reply Fin counted to three before he slammed down the door and he and Munch stormed in the apartment with guns drawn.

They spotted O'Connell, with a roll of their eyes, with their back turned to them on the computer sporting massive costly industrial sized ear plugs plugging out any sound around him intently playing some high-tech game on his screen.

Fin stormed up to him and snatched the buds from his ear.

"Hey!" cried O'Connell as he whipped around, the faded last hint of a long ago Irish accent shining through. "Who the hell are you?"

"Not using a computer is part of your parole!" the younger of the two detectives barked as he flashed him his badge.

"Look I'm just using it for World of Warcraft, that's it!" O'Connell protested as he held his hands up in mock surrender. "You can check it if you want! Go ahead and check ALL my hard drives! I'm rehabilitated!"

"That rehabilitation crap may have worked with the parole board but it sure as hell ain't working on us," Fin growled. "Now, answer me honestly and I MIGHT consider not throwing your ass back in jail for four years!"

O'Connell nodded desperately. "I'll tell you anything you wanna know!"

"When Detective Benson came to your home and arrested you, you threatened her. You told her she would 'pay for what she did to you' and just this morning her son gets snatched up. Is that how she's gonna pay?"

"I- I was angry an- and pissed off and high on meth! You guys gotta know I didn't mean any of it!" the vile man stuttered. "I mean she took my kids away from me! Justifiably of course!" he added as he cowered beneath Fin's harsh gaze. "But I couldn't stand back and do or say nothing!"

"So you think it's fair to take her son because she took yours away from you?" Fin demanded as he flew in closer to O'Connell's face, not leaving an inch between the two.

"No!" he cried franticly. "I didn't even know she had a kid! You gotta believe me, I swear!"

"Sometime between four AM and seven AM this morning some psycho snatched her son up from his crib," Fin spat. "Where the hell were you?"

"I work the 11 to 7 shift working security for the Best Buy on 79th!" the man cried, happy that he could give at least one solid answer. "There are cameras everywhere in that place, including the security office! Check them all if you want!"

"Believe me, we will," Fin snarled before he began to walk away.

"For what it's worth," O'Connell called out, his voice sincere and honest. "I hope you find him."

Fin paused for a moment before he stormed out of the lowly miserable apartment with Munch following behind him.

Munch shut the door behind him and watched as Fin took several uneven breaths before he leaned against the wall outside the door.

"Well that went well," Munch chirped merrily earning a fierce 'don't start!' look from Fin which he ignored fully. "I mean it's not like IAB frowns upon barging into people's houses without warrants."

"Let IAB say something!"Fin snapped. "We're solving the case of a cop's missing kid, all bets are off! I don't care if I gotta rough up thirty creeps just like O'Connell; we're going to find her son!"

Munch sighed as Fin pushed off the wall and walked away from his partner. Munch rolled his eyes and followed diligently. "Do we bother checking on the alibi or do we just assume he's telling the truth?"

"We check," Fin told him. "We don't leave a single stone unturned in this investigation."

Munch nodded in agreement before they both headed out into the early morning sunshine.

…

"Elliot, I'm fine," Olivia tried to reassure her partner for what felt like the hundredth time to her. They sat in their car outside of Steven Bonham's apartment building; a rundown crumbling measly excuse for a building. "Let me go up and talk to him."

"I don't know, Liv," Elliot muttered as he ran his hand over the back of his neck. "If he has Kurt-."

She interrupted him with a careless shrug. "Then I'm going to take my son back, calmly, and you are going to arrest him and bring him down to the station."

Olivia knew that wasn't how the scenario was going to play out but she had to convince Elliot she was perfectly okay to investigate her sons kidnapping. She had to at least pretend to convey that she wanted to sob and scream and fall to her knees in anguish every time she even thought about him but she had to help. Her mind couldn't take sitting around doing nothing. She had to stay occupied, she had to stay busy otherwise she knew she would go insane waiting on news of him.

Olivia offered him a clearly forced smile that appeared more like a grimace. "I'm fine, El… Let's go talk to him."

She went to open the car door but Elliot out a hand on her shoulder. "Leave the dog in the car," he told her; his voice kind and apologetic.

Olivia swallowed hard before she bowed her head and gently stroked the soft fleece of the dog that hadn't left her hand since she had grabbed it at her apartment. "I can't," she told him softly.

"You have to," Elliot breathed faintly. "You know how Bonham operates; he gets off on making his victims feel vulnerable and tortures them with their secrets. You go in there with that, he is going to play on your emotions and make you do something you're going to regret."

Olivia bowed her head and blinked back the tears that were welling in her eyes. "I can't leave it."

"Olivia-."

"Please. " Her voice was nothing less than a desperate pleading breath. "Jus- just let me hang onto it. I'll say its evidence o- or something. I can't let it go."

"Olivia, it'll just be for a few minutes," Elliot told her as he reached for the toy but Olivia scampered away from him as if he was about to strike her. Elliot bit his lip as he caught sight of the panicked frightened woman before him. She was legitimately terrified that the toy would be taken from her grasp.

"I can't," she breathed. "Please, Elliot, don't make me do this. I'll handle whatever Bonham says to me, I just can't leave it alone."

Elliot sighed heavily before he nodded. "Put it in your belt," he told her softly. "It'll free your hands up if things go south."

Olivia hesitated for a long moment before she nodded to the request. She put the stuffed dog in between her gun belt and jeans as delicately and softly as if she had placed a real life child into a stroller. Elliot eyed her wearily for a moment before the two of them left the car and headed into the scummy looking hotel.

They headed up the three flights of rickety steps before the duo reached Bonham's apartment. Elliot slammed on the door several times. "Police, Bonham, open up!"

There was only a short pause before a good looking man in his late thirties opened the door wearing a smirk on his strong angled square jawed man. His dark eyes were alit with cruelty and unfeeling, wearing a pair of cheap baggy jeans and a white wife beater that was tight against his well formed pale muscles.

"I was wondering when you were gonna come see me," he chuckled as he looked directly at Olivia, his eyes boring into hers.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Elliot demanded the man.

Bonham summoned both detectives in and pointed to the TV which was playing the local news. "It's all over the news that Detective Benson let her son be kidnapped."

Olivia felt a wave of rage and agony wash over her at his words. She tried to tell herself to stay calm, that her getting angry was just what he wanted her to do but her own words were nearly mute against his cruel ones.

Bonham chuckled before he walked over to his TV and stood in front of it shaking his head in mock sincerity. "That really is horrible. I really hope little, what did they say his name was? Chris?"

"Kurt," Olivia corrected. She winced as she heard her voice come out nothing more than a trembling squeak. She cleared her throat and took a shaking breath and spoke in a firmer voice. "His name is Kurt."

Bonham turned back to face her and nodded twisting his head in mock sympathy. "Ah that's right, his name was Kurt. They showed pictures of him. Such a pity. He looked like he was such a beautiful little boy."

Olivia hands began shaking at his subtle but unbelievably malicious words. Elliot narrowed his eyes dangerously at Bonham who simply smirked at the two Detectives. "Anyway," he spoke as he walked away from the TV and up to the pair. "I suppose you want to know where I was these last few hours."

"Yeah," Elliot snarled. "That'd be really helpful…"

The man clicked his tongue as he looked over at Olivia and a cold chuckle fell from his lips. "Look how the mighty have fallen," he whispered softly with a grin. His eyes glanced up and down her luscious form and he nodded towards the stuffed dog that was secured in her belt. Olivia's hand flew to it like she would normally reach for her gun. Elliot closed his eyes in defeat as Bonham spoke. "Let me hang onto that dog for a few seconds and I'll consider it."

Olivia took a step back struggling to heed Elliot's words that she had to keep both hands open. "You're not touching it!" Olivia shouted before Elliot had the chance to open his mouth.

Bonham smirked at the Detective's reaction before he took a step closer to her and reached for the toy. Elliot practically threw himself in between them and glowered furiously at the man. "Touch it and I'll arrest you for assaulting a police officer!" Elliot barked. Bonham simply shrugged before he looked over Elliot's shoulder at her. "Fine, I wouldn't touch that stupid pathetic disgusting toy if you paid me."

"Don't call it that!" cried Olivia and Elliot ran his hand over his face and turned towards her and took her by the shoulder.

"Liv, you need to calm down," Elliot said softly just loud enough for her to hear. "He's just trying to get you rattled."

Both Detectives were too focused on each other to notice Bonham reach his hand out and snatch the dog from her belt before either Elliot or Olivia could react.

"Give it back!" Olivia screamed as she tried to move past Elliot who was holding her back.

Bonham let out a mocking 'aww!' as he examined it. "This thing is sort of adorable. I'm sure any kid would have loved this. It's such a shame he'll never see it again…"

Elliot released Olivia from his grasp and even though he was closer to Bonham, Olivia got there faster. She grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him back to the wall. He could have easily over powered her but he found her breaking right in front of him far to amusing to put an end to it.

"Where's my son?" Olivia screamed as a desperate sob escaped her. "Where is he?"

Bonham shrugged and grinned icily as he looked down at her. "No idea… I just really hope whoever has him, loved him more then you did." He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "What kind of mother just lets her kid gets taken?"

Elliot ran over to the pair of them and pulled Olivia away from Bonham before he rounded on him. "Four AM to seven AM, where were you, tell me NOW!"

Bonham looked extremely thoughtful for a moment before he turned back to Elliot. "Ah that's right. I was at '310' all night. It's a little club on Border Street and the bartender will remember me leaving around 8 AM. Oh yeah and two saucy little vixens named Anastasia and Nadia can also confirm I was extremely busy the entire night," he added with a smirk and a wink towards Olivia.

Elliot got within an inch of Bonham's face and leaned in as close as he could. "If I find out you're lying to me and you know where her son is, you're dead, Bonham…"

Elliot snatched the dog from Bonham's grasp and handed it back to Olivia who hugged it as tight as she could and nuzzled her cheek against the soft fur. He led Olivia out of the apartment and took a deep breath as he shut the door behind him.

"He knows!" Olivia cried desperately. "He knows where Kurt is!"

"No he doesn't," Elliot told her softly. "He was just messing with you."

"He knows, Elliot! I know he does!"

"Olivia, please-," he began faintly before he was interrupted with the loud sound of a baby crying coming from Bonham's apartment.

Without another word both Detectives raced back into the apartment.

"Down on the ground!" Elliot roared as he pulled his gun and aimed it at Bonham who, surprisingly calmly, held his hands up in surrender. Elliot tackled Bonham to the floor and wrenched his arms behind his back while Olivia sprinted towards the sound of the crying.

"Kurt!" she screamed as she ran into the room where the crying was heard from as tears flooded her eyes.

The noise was coming from behind the closed closet door and she ripped open the closet and fell to her knees as she searched eagerly through the piled of clothes on the floor, growing more and more panicked when she didn't see her son. She finally tore off the last piece of clothing from the floor and stopped dead as she found the source of the crying.

A small inexpensive CD player with an expensive set of speakers was blasting a sound clip of an infant crying through the apartment. It was all fake. Kurt hadn't been the one to cry out to her. It was just another cruel unforgiving mind game played on her by Bonham just for his sick satisfaction. She felt tears well in her eyes but she refused to let them fall… She had wasted too much time that could have been spent looking for her son getting him off and she refused to do it for another moment.

She stayed on the floor for several moments before she stood up, shaking like a leaf in the wind. She slowly walked out into the living room where Elliot had Bonham cuffed and face down in the dirty carpet.

"Where is he?" Elliot demanded as she walked over to them. "Where's Kurt?"

"It wasn't him," she muttered softly. "Let's go."She walked out of the apartment shutting the door behind her. Elliot stared after her for a moment before he looked down at Bonham who looked thourally disappointed she hadn't played along this time.

Elliot uncuffed him and without another word he followed Olivia out of the apartment. He didn't see Olivia in the hallway so he headed down the steps to wait for her. He finally caught up to her at their car and he swallowed hard when he spotted her stroking the dog's fur with tears heavy in her eyes.

He approached her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We'll find him, Olivia. This is just the first guy on our list. We still got a lot of evidence and a lot of suspects. I promise you we'll get him back."

Olivia said nothing and instead simply nodded and got into the car with a tight grasp on the dog. Elliot swallowed hard before he followed her into the car. Before he even put the key in the ignition she spoke. "What do we do next?"

Her voice was broken and desperate and pleading as if she was praying he had a plan to help find her son.

"We go verify his alibi then head back to the precinct," he told her gently. "We see if Munch and Fin got anywhere with O'Connell and if not then we look at the forensics. Every perp leaves something behind."

Olivia said nothing towards him and turned towards the window and looked out it, her stare a thousand yards from anything outside their car. Elliot frowned at her response and once again reached out to grab her shoulder in a gesture that was supposed to bring her comfort but he knew it was meaningless. "Liv," he began faintly only to be interrupted by his cell ringing.

He reached in his pocket and without looking at the caller ID he picked up the phone and answered it with a simple "Stabler."

"Where are you guys?" Cragen demanded.

"On our way to verify Bonham's alibi," Elliot told him. "Why what's wrong?"

"You need to get over to Olivia's apartment. Something happened."

Elliot's heart pounded wildly against his chest. He glanced over at Olivia who appeared less then interested in the conversation her partner was having. "Is it… I mean is he-."

"He's not there but her apartment was vandalized. More specifically the nursery…"

"Christ almighty," Elliot breathed as he ran a hand through his brutally short hair. "Alright, we'll be there soon."

Without another word Elliot hung up the phone and turned towards Olivia. He looked over her for a few minutes and her anger for the men responsible grew a hundred fold. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve any of the horrible things that had happened to her from her mere conception to the latest tragedy. She had done nothing to deserve the cards life had forced her to play. She was too kind, to gentle, to amazing in every aspect of her life to have any of this happen to her…

Elliot cleared his throat and forced himself to call out to her. She turned and looked at him and he wished he could just lie to her. Tell her the phone call he had gotten was Cragen telling him they knew where Kurt was. He took a shaky breath that did absolutely nothing for his nerves. "We gotta stop at your apartment," he told her. "Someone… someone vandalized the nursery."

Olivia rested her head against her seat as tears streamed down her soft skin. She bit back a sob and her bottom lip trembled.

"Liv-."

Olivia interrupted with a frantic shake of her head. She didn't wanna hear meaningless comfort that would do nothing but waste time. She turned back towards the window and as hard as she tried a sob ripped past her lips and she covered it with a trembling hand. She heard Elliot sigh beside her but she ignored him as easily as she had ignored the cruel joke that Bonham had played on her.

They drove off towards Olivia's apartment, each one as silent as the grave…

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