Take this lemon now, take it and do with it what you can.

Ch. 10

It was raining outside. Filthy water, pure water (it's all the same, anyways rain has its way of performing two contradicting job: cleaning and destroying). The smudged window was stained with old scars left from dried water marks. Olivia watched new droplets begin to form, smacking down hard with some fiery rampage. Thunder. Olivia shuddered. Against her will, her body flinched. She stood in the precinct, staring out the window, knowing full well that she was hiding from everything that had happened. Behind her, a lone figure walked in. Even from Elliot's shadow Olivia could tell that he had no intention of letting a mere car accident prevent him from working.

"El," Olivia said, turning around. "What are you doing here?" To be honest, Olivia was actually surprised that the hospital staff had let Elliot be released this quickly.

"I work here," Elliot said.

"You should still be at the hospital, or at least at home resting," Olivia said, concern growing in her eyes.

But they had a case to work on, so both of them knew that what either of them said took on slim to no role in any decision process. After all, they were both determined SVU detectives. And right now there was a missing, most likely suffering, child to find. From the photograph Hannah Lin had given them, Olivia couldn't get the picture of the small girl, black hair, wide almond-shaped eyes, pale yellow skin. Skinny. Sitting at a red desk in the corner, staring at an off-white wall, reading. Something about the child's eyes disconcerted her. She seemed so content, yet at the same time so off-center. As if she had been forced to grow up too soon. But whatever was on her mind, whatever mild misery tortured her tiny soul, Olivia knew that now it had amplified, not multiplied but instead taken on a new form – a new form of reality and terror and mind games. Olivia had to find Mae Lin. Before it was too late. But it was already too late. Mae would be changed forever. Forever. Olivia knew first-hand.

"Any leads yet?" Elliot asked, ignoring Olivia's comment about seemingly-pointless rest.

"Not really," Olivia said. "Whoever took Mae was effective at covering his tracks, unfortunately."

"But that's not all you're thinking about," Elliot noted. Damn their twin telekinetic dynamic. They weren't twins, damn it, but they understood each other the way twins did. When something was off balance with the other one, the other one noticed. More than noticed. His pain was her pain. Her pain was his pain. But damn it, Olivia didn't want to talk about it.

"It is," Olivia lied.

"You're lying. Please, talk about it. You can't get over it without dealing with your emotions," Elliot said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Olivia said. How could she tell Elliot, her best friend, what was going on her head? She couldn't, that was the answer, because it was crazy. But. The truth now. What she was feeling. Could she avoid it?



"Why not?" Elliot asked.

Olivia shook her head. "I don't want to," she said. Because if she denied it, then maybe it wouldn't be true.

"Please…." Elliot asked.

Olivia shook her head. "We have to find Mae. We can't let whatever sick bastard has her kill her. We can't…."

Mae. The last link to Hannah Lin. 'Damn it for caring,' Olivia thought to herself. Damn it. This was just a case, just another case, only she knew it wasn't.

"Well, we should probably start by talking to Mrs. Lin again," Elliot said.

Olivia nodded. They headed for the door. It was still raining, but at this point, fully immersed in the case they were working on, neither Elliot nor Olivia cared.

To Be Continued…