"Mommy! Mommy! Come look at my tower. Come look!" Noah ran into the kitchen, almost jumping up and down with excitement as he waited for his mom to come look at his latest block creation.
A chuckle escaped Liv as she followed her son. His enthusiasm for what he had just built was contagious, even if the tower was simply just the wood blocks stacked as high as the three year old could reach. "That's great Noah!"
"Now watch this!" The little boy looked even more excited than he had just a moment before.
The mom quickly took a seat on the floor of the living room, hoping to catch all the action of both her kids.
"Rae come get it." Noah instructed Raegan, who instantly seemed to know what her brother was referring to. The little girl went right up to the towering blocks her brother had just built up and pushed the middle of it with all of her might. The tower went crumbling down in seconds, however, both kids were giggling uncontrollably as it happened; they seem to think it was just the funniest thing they had witnessed. And as far as Olivia was concerned, it was quite possibly one of the cutest things she had watched.
Noah turned to his mom. "Did you teach your sister how to do that, buddy?"
"Yes I did." Her son seemed very proud of his accomplishment. "Can I teach the new baby too?"
Liv nodded. "Of course you can. You'll be the big brother, so you'll get to teach the baby all kinds of cool things."
At three years old, Olivia had somewhat assumed that the information about having a new brother or sister had gone in one ear and out the other for her son. She obviously knew that Raegan had no idea what was going on, but Noah had taken in the news and understood it more than she had thought he would. Since that day in the doctor's office, Noah had been asking all sorts of questions about the baby; he was probably the most excited about adding another addition to the family.
"Mama, baby." Raegan had left the blocks askew on the floor and had moved onto her favorite baby doll. She held it up by an arm to show her to her mama the toy.
Olivia took the doll from her daughter's little hands and cradled the doll in her arms like a real baby. "Your baby is so sweet, Rae." Olivia played along with the one and a half year old.
"My baby." Raegan reached for her doll.
"Yes that is your baby." Olivia told her and handed the doll back to her daughter, who snuggled her instantly.
"Daddy!" Noah ran from his spot on the floor, slamming into his father's legs and hugging them tightly, before the front door could even close.
Rafael grabbed him and lifted him up. "Hi buddy." It had been a long day at work for the district attorney and he welcomed such an excited hello from his son.
After greetings from dad and more playtime, the family ate their dinner all together, something that both parents wished they could do every night, but knew their jobs would never allow. Bath time followed quickly, Rafael showered Noah and Olivia took care of Raegan in the bath tub, the mom's favorite time of day. Soon enough though, everyone had gathered in Liv and Rafi's bedroom, a stack of picture books sitting on the bed ready to be read.
"Read this one first. Daddy!" Noah picked up his favorite book, one all about dinosaurs, and gave it to Rafael.
"Okay, we'll do this one first and then we'll let Raegan choose the next book." Rafael negotiated. Noah agreed easily and sat down in his dad's lap.
Just as the first words of the first page of the book left Rafael's mouth, the sound of a ringing phone interrupted what had been quality family time. Liv knew immediately that it was her phone and she also knew immediately what it meant for the rest of her night.
With a disappointed sigh, Liv answered. "Benson."
"Hey Liv. It's Nick."
"I'm really hoping you're just calling to ask me how my night is."
"I wish I was. We really need you. We've got… a situation."
"What does that mean?" Olivia asked.
Nick paused. "It's a lot to explain, but you need to meet us, okay?"
Olivia was a little worried by Nick's tone. "Alright, alright, I'll be there as soon as I can."
Nick gave Olivia the address of where to meet the rest of the team and she quickly put back on the outfit that she had been wearing earlier that day. She strapped her badge to the waist of her pants, and holstered her gun.
"Do have to go mommy?" Noah watched his mom as she rushed to get ready for her return to work.
Olivia hated that question. "I'm sorry, I do baby. Someone really needs mommy's help tonight. But daddy will finish reading to you and then I will be here for breakfast in the morning, okay?"
She kissed her son and daughter goodnight, Rafael as well, before walking out the door to whatever awaited her.
"Thank goodness you're here, sergeant." Amanda greeted Olivia as she soon as she stepped out of the driver's seat.
Olivia followed her to the front of the apartment building that belonged to the address that she had been given earlier. "What is going on? Nick wouldn't tell… Wait, this is Sydney Hanson's apartment."
"Yeah it is." Amanda confirmed.
"So really what's going on?" Olivia was starting to feel as if the situation was more serious than she has presumed.
Rollins tugged at her Kevlar vest. "Nathan Cole got out on bail a couple of hours ago.
The sergeant felt her breath hitch in her throat. Sydney Hanson was a mother and victim. She had come into the squad room only a week earlier with her daughter and son. She was covered in bruises, her right eye black and blue, and strangulation marks covering her neck. She had told Olivia that her husband had beaten her again and this time she was done taking it, because it had gone beyond just slapping her around; this time, the marks on her neck were from him chocking her until she was barely conscious and he had raped her. The whole squad had been appalled, but with both of the children the same age as her own kids and knowing they had been in the apartment when it had all taken place, made Olivia feel most responsible for helping Sydney. It had worked, they pressed charges and Nathan Cole had been arraigned with his bail set at five hundred thousand dollars, a price tag everyone had assumed that the man would never be able to meet. Yet here they were and the man was roaming free.
"Who the hell bailed him out?" Olivia asked.
"That pig's mother." Neither Amanda nor Olivia had seen Fin come up behind them, but he was wearing a disgusted look all too familiar to both women.
Liv scoffed. "Of course that woman did. She's had blinders on about her son since we brought him in." There was a pause for a moment. "Wait, so what does this have to do with why we're here? Did Sydney call us?"
"It wasn't Sydney. It was Sydney's neighbor who called us after he heard the kids screaming and furniture crashing. He also told dispatch that he could hear a man's voice in the apartment and he was almost sure that it was Nathan Cole's."
The sergeant ran her hands down her face, finally grasping the importance of what was going on. "So he has them up there? He's holding Sydney and the kids hostage?"
"Yes he is." Amanda said.
Without another thought, Olivia ran back to her car, popping open the truck to grab her Kevlar vest. She strapped it on as she moved back to the apartment building entrance, this time running in and up the stairs. Her heart was racing, her palms clammy with the nerves that were forming inside of her. Hostage situations never got better; they weren't something that officers could practice and get better at. There was never a guarantee about what might happen. Unpredictability was not the friend of anyone on the police force, but especially so for special victims when so many times it meant not just a helpless victim, but often children as well.
At the top of the stairs that opened up to Sydney Hanson's floor, Liv ran into the SWAT team, all of them armed and ready to infiltrate quickly if and when it became necessary. Nick was among the men, along with another officer, one Liv wasn't familiar with.
"Nick what do you know?" Olivia made her way through the impeding crowd of armed men.
"Liv. This is Sergeant Garrett from the two-four just down the street. He responded and then called us." Nick formally introduced his own sergeant.
The man stuck out his hand, giving Liv's a rather abrasive shake. "We don't know a lot yet. He won't let anyone in or out. He keeps asking for only one person."
"Who does he want? We need to get them here; somebody has got to get in there." Olivia knew the clock was ticking on saving those that were in that apartment with that man.
Nick spoke up. "He's asking for you, Liv."
Before she could even answer or think about what she was going to do, yelling erupted from inside the apartment. "Where is she?! Where is that stupid bitch, Sergeant Benson?!"
"I'm here, Nathan. I'm here." She was right next to the door, hoping he could hear her, trying to keep the tone of her voice even and not let her anger show.
"It's about damn time. I want you in here now. No one else and you better not have that gun on your waist, or so help me…"
She let out a long drawn out sigh, before she turned to Nick and Sergeant Garrett. She unholstered her weapon, handing it to her detective. She tugged at her Kevlar vest, pulling it just a little bit tighter.
The other sergeant glanced between Olivia and Nick. "Are you sure about this?"
"That is my victim in there, those are kids in there. I am not going to wait until something worse happens."
He backed down immediately, seeing just how serious Olivia was.
Liv knocked on the wood door separating her from the unhinged man on the other side. "Nathan. It's me. It's Sergeant Benson. I'm coming in."
"You sure as hell better be alone and unarmed!" He screeched through the door.
"I am." Liv gave the signal to everyone else to move out of the way so that Nathan couldn't see any of them when she opened the door. They obliged quickly and quietly.
And with a shaky hand, Olivia pushed the door open and stepped inside of the apartment.
* What do you know? Another signature cliffhanger. We'll just have to see what happens. For now, leave me your thoughts and comments! *