A/N: A special update for y'all! A Special Guest comes back in this chapter! Hope you enjoy!
Olivia came walking out of Cragen's office with a headache. Somehow it had gotten around that Olivia had gotten her daughter back and who said daughter was. Her name and description seemed to pop up in a lot of unsolved cases. Most were petty cases like but there was a drug case that Cooper's description came up in. Olivia's stomach twisted in knots as she thought about her daughter having anything to do with drugs. Olivia was going to get to the bottom of it. She'd talk to Cooper about it once they got home.
Olivia scratched her head and walked to her desk. She noticed that Cooper wasn't sitting there but Cooper's Yankees hat was sitting on her desk. Everyone was sitting at their desk either reading or on their computers. Olivia walked over and picked up Cooper's hat. She was trying not to panic but she couldn't see her daughter and she didn't like that.
"Where's Cooper?" Olivia asked. Nick looked up from the file he was reading.
"Went to the bathroom. Should be back soon, she left about five minutes ago." Olivia looked at the clock and then back at Nick.
"Thanks." Olivia said.
Olivia took the hat and walked out into the hallway. She went down to the bathroom and walked inside. She checked the stalls but didn't see her daughter. Panic was setting in. Olivia all but ran back to the squad room. As she came through the door she collided with Fin. Fin caught Olivia and could see the panic in her eyes.
"Hey baby girl, what's wrong?" Olivia just stared at Fin before her mind started working again.
"Cooper's not in the bathroom. She's gone. Someone's kidnapped her or she's run away. What went on out here while I was talking to Cragen?" Olivia's question came out harshly but she didn't care. She had left her daughter in her teams care and she was gone.
"We asked her how it was living with you. I called her Peter like from Peter Pan. She didn't get the reference and I explained that she was a modern day Peter Pan with her own lost boys. She asked how we knew about it and Nick said we read it in her file. She went pale and asked for the bathroom. I told her where and said I would go with her but she took off out the door. She dropped her hat on your desk as she went." Olivia glared at Fin as he finished his story.
"You read her file? Then let her go off on her own? I didn't want her to know about her file! She's terrified of being on the record! How could you do this?" Olivia screamed. Fin took a step back and held up his hands in a defenseless motion.
"LIv, I'm sorry! We didn't know she'd run away. We're gonna help you find her, we promise." Olivia nodded as her face crumbled. She wasn't really mad at Fin but scared that Cooper wasn't going to come back. Fin pulled her into his arms and hugged her. Olivia knew that Cooper had run. She got scared and ran. Olivia cried into Fin's shoulder before pulling herself together. She had to get her daughter back.
"Okay, we have to think logically here. Where would Cooper go?" Olivia rung Cooper's hat in her hands before putting it on her head. She adjusted it like Cooper had the day before.
"She went to the left out the front door," Munch said. He'd pulled up the security cameras. He turned the screen so Olivia could see. Olivia walked over and watched the footage of her daughter running out the front doors.
"Can we get the footage from the street cams? Why didn't anyone in the lobby stop her?" Olivia chewed on her thumb nail as she stared at the screen. Munch was busy trying to get more footage to see where Cooper went.
While Olivia was trying to find where Cooper went. Cooper ran until she was in a familiar neighborhood. She walked into an alley and began using the backstreets to get around. The sun started going down and Cooper knew she needed to find someplace to crash. She decided that being off the ground would be better for tonight. Cooper found and empty building and walked down an alley. She spotted a fire escape and jumped to grab onto the ladder. She pulled herself up and climbed up two floors before sitting down. Her ribs were killing her and all she wanted to do was go back home but she was scared. Olivia wasn't going to want her anymore now that she had a file. Olivia would find out about all the bad stuff she did and would kick her out on the street. At least that's what Cooper's head was telling her. Her heart was telling her to go home because Olivia loved her and had proved to her that she loved her. Sadly, Cooper was used to listening to her head more than her heart. She wrapped her flannel shirt tighter around her and closed her eyes.
The squad searched for most of the afternoon and evening. They had lost sight of Cooper on the cameras and began asking around. They had tracked her to a not so nice part of town. Olivia prayed she hadn't gone into this part of town but couldn't get an answer out of anyone. Finally after searching for six hours straight Cragen and Fin forced Olivia to go home. They promised to start searching again bright and early in the morning. Olivia walked into her apartment and collapsed on the couch. Tears streamed down her face and sobs wracked her body. She had lost her daughter again.
Olivia fell asleep on the couch that night. She had grabbed Feathers from Cooper's bed and had him curled up in her arms. She also still had Cooper's Yankee's cap on. She wasn't going to take that off for anything. Olivia woke up the next morning to her cell phone ringing.
"Benson," Olivia answered.
She was still half asleep until she heard what Cragen had to say. She sat on the edge of the couch and waited until Cragen was done speaking. He had gotten a tip that someone had seen Cooper walk down an alley in the neighborhood that they had last searched. Olivia jumped off the couch and ran into her bedroom once she hung up the phone. She quickly got ready and came walking out of her room and someone knocked on her door.
She opened the door to see Fin standing there with a cup of coffee in his hand. She gratefully took the coffee and followed Fin down to his car. They drove back to the neighborhood and drove to the alley that someone had seen Cooper walk down. They got out of the car and looked around. It was still dark out so they grabbed their flashlights and headed down the alley. They were about halfway down the alley when Fin's phone started ringing. He answered it and listened for a few minutes before ending the call and shoving the phone in his pocket.
"Dammit!" Fin slammed his fists into a building wall.
"What is it?" Olivia had walked further down the alley but didn't see anything so she turned back.
"The guy that gave us the tip just admitted to lying. He only told us what we wanted because he was trying to get off. The cops picked him up last night for theft." Olivia leaned against the building and stared up at the sky. She tried to fight back the tears that threatened to fall. Was anyone going to help her find her daughter?
Fin and Olivia left and alley and headed back to the 1-6 to regroup with everyone. Olivia knew that she would have to get missing person's involved if she didn't find Cooper soon. When Fin and Olivia got back they walked into the squad room and sat down at their desks. Olivia pulled up the street cam footage to see if she could see Cooper anywhere. Fin looked through some statements they had gotten yesterday to see if anything would help narrow down their search.
Cooper woke up a few hours after having fallen asleep. She could hear people down below and see flashlights in the alley. She slowly leaned over the edge to see what was going on and froze when one of the voices drifted up. It was Olivia she was less than 10 feet above her. Cooper sat back down and curled up into a ball. Olivia was out looking for her but Cooper couldn't bring herself to climb down. Olivia was probably only there to pick her up and then put her jail or back in foster care. After all, Olivia had already given her up once.
Cooper waited until the sun came out before climbing down the fire escape. She was hungry and knew exactly where to go to get some free food. Cooper stayed in the back alleys until she got down by the stadium. She wouldn't be able to go visit her favorite bar owner if she stayed in the alleys. She knew the bar wasn't open this early but also knew that deliveries were dropped off and the owner would be in. She ran across the street and into the alley beside the bar. She walked to the back door and knocked. The door opened slowly and the owner of the bar stepped out.
"Hey Elliot, you got any scraps for a street rat?" Elliot looked Cooper up and down before letting her in.
Elliot led the way into the bar. Cooper hopped up on a bar stool and then hissed when her ribs protested. Elliot looked over at her but Cooper waved him back to his task of making sandwiches. One thing Cooper had learned over the years was that Elliot made the best grilled turkey reuben. After Elliot had made their sandwiches he sat down next to Cooper. Cooper took a big bite of her sandwich and sighed. She could eat these sandwiches everyday and all day.
"So, where'd you get the new clothes?" Cooper looked down at her outfit and all thought it was a little dirty it still looked new.
"Oh you know, from around." Elliot gave Cooper a look like he didn't believe her.
"Come on, Cooper. You can tell me." Cooper looked down at her sandwich before setting it down and wiping her hands on her jeans.
"I met…my mom. She bought them for me." Elliot dropped his sandwich and stared at Cooper. He knew who Cooper's mom was. It was Olivia, his partner of 12 years. He had helped her find out where her mom worked and who she was. He knew how much Cooper wanted to know her mom and he knew how much Olivia wanted to be a mom. What he couldn't figure out was why Olivia had given up Cooper to begin with? Or why she never mentioned him?
"You met Olivia? Then what are you doing here? She would never just let you go!" Cooper stared down at her lap.
"She didn't. I ran away… they built a file with my information and when Fin and Nick told me about it I panicked and ran. I let my head do the thinking. I started reverting back to my old ways… I was stupid but don't know how to fix it." Elliot lifted up Cooper chin with his finger.
"Go back, that will fix it." Cooper shook her head and jumped out off her stool.
"I can't! She's going to send me away if I do… she's going to know all the bad things I've done. She won't want me after that." Cooper began to walk away but Elliot grabbed her arm.
"Hey, I've known Olivia for along time and she won't just send you away without hearing your side of the story. I also know that Olivia is probably going crazy right about now looking for you. You need to go back. If only to explain." Cooper nodded her head. She really did want to go back and her heart hurt because she missed Olivia.
"Will you come with me, please?" Elliot wanted to say no because he hadn't seen anyone since he left two years ago but one look at Cooper's face and he couldn't.
"Okay, let's go." Cooper gave Elliot a half smile and they left the bar.
