Yeah! 3 final exams down...2 more to go! Merry Christmas!
Captain Don Cragen stood in the doorway of the room shocked by what had just happened, as he watched the SWAT leader read Daniels and Branson their Miranda rights. As the SWAT leader led the two out of the room, Cragen caught the eyes of Daniels. His eyes were full of hatred and pure evil. Cragen could barely hold himself back as Daniels smiled at the Captain as they led him away.
"I took good care of your precious Detective, Captain. Too bad he won't stay alive long enough to tell you about it. But it was fun while it lasted."
Cragen just stood there wanting to kill the men in front of him. But he suddenly snapped out of his shock as he remembered the reason why they were there.."Stabler", he thought. Cragen suddenly rushed over to the unconscious detective.
"Elliot!"
As he knelt down beside Elliot, his stomach was repulsed by what he saw. He had seen Elliot on the live feed for the past two weeks, but the feed could not capture how horrible Elliot really looked. In all of his years as a detective, he had never seen someone as bad off as this who had survived. Blood covered Elliot's body, and was also splattered on the walls and floor of the torture chamber. Cragen could not find a spot on Elliot's body that was not covered with some sort of cut, bruise, or burn mark. Tears escaped from Cragen's eyes as he looked at the tortured body of his detective. Cragen reached his hand down to Elliot's throat to feel for a pulse. He held his breath praying that they were not too late.
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Olivia, Munch, and Fin were all broken-hearted that their search had yielded no results. They had not heard back from Cragen's team, but they had lost radio contact with the team, so they did not expect much. They knew that with no other leads, Elliot would not survive...they had not found him in time. The three detectives stood beside one another, wondering how they would all go on without Elliot Stabler. The past two weeks had been the hardest days of their lives, but each could never imagine that they would not find Elliot in time. Now, they just had each other for support and comfort. Things would never be the same without Elliot around.
"Liv?" Olivia looked up as Munch spoke to her.
"It's ok to cry, Olivia. No one will think less of you if you do."
"It's my fault Munch! If I had been a better partner, none of this would have ever happened! He was always there for me when I needed him, no matter what. But when he needs me the most, I'm not there for him.
"Olivia. None of this is your fault. If anyone is to blame it's me. Fin and I were the ones who were working on the case. If we would have been better detectives, we would have found the connection before any of this happened. Now, I have to live with the fact that I sent one of my fellow detectives, one of my friends, to his grave. This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life, and I won't stop until I catch those bastards!" Fin looked up suprised at the outburst, but nodded in agreement.
"He's right, Olivia. If we had been doing our job right, we would have seen it coming. Don't blame yourself for the mistake we made." As Olivia looked at the detectives through the tears in her eyes, she could see that they both were crying as well. Just as Munch, Fin, and Olivia held each other in a tight embrace, she felt Fin tense up and yell out.
"Son of a bitch!" Fin suddenly shot off in the direction of the entrance to the warehouse. Olivia and Munch turned around quickly to see what Fin reacted to. There, stepping out of the warehouse was a handcuffed Branson and Daniels. Before anyone else could react, Fin rushed up to the two and punched them. Fin felt hands grab his arms and pull him back from the two men.
"Where the hell is Elliot, Daniels? If you killed him I will personally----"
"Personally what, Detective? Kill me yourself? You want to do the same thing to me as I have already done to Detective Stabler. Your time ran out, Detective! You lose, and I win! But let me tell you one thing before I go. I can't tell you of a time that I have enjoyed myself more than these past two weeks." Fin lunged at the man who just smiled at Fin, as strong arms held him back.
"Fin!" Olivia was standing beside him. "Does this mean that they found Elliot?" The three detectives ran inside the warehouse. Olivia ran up to one of the SWAT members.
"Did you find him? Where are they? Is he alive?" The SWAT member looked up from what he was doing.
"First of all, yes, we did find Detective Stabler. Second, he was found in the basement on the south corner of the warehouse. And, as for your last question, I have no idea. Although from what I hear, if he isn't dead, he will be soon." With those final words, Olivia, Fin, and Munch ran off in the direction of the basement. Once downstairs they found SWAT members and doctors swarming around a door. They walked in and saw a red-eyed Cragen leaning over an unconscious Elliot.
"Is, is he...alive, Captain?" Cragen looked up at the three remaining detectives.
"I'm not sure. I can not feel a pulse, but that may be because it is too weak to feel. We may need a heart monitor to find out for sure. The helicopter just landed, so we'll know soon enough." With those words, a team of paramedics and doctors rushed into the room. Cragen moved away from Elliot as Elliot was suddenly surrounded by them.
"Get some oxygen on him! Stat! Get me the heart monitor." The other doctors and paramedics rushed to get the monitor set up. As soon as the monitor was set up, the doctor breathed a small sigh of relief.
"He has a pulse, but it is extremely weak. We need to move out now!" Just as he said that the monitor started to beep. "Damn it! He stopped breathing! Get me the paddles! Charge to 200! Clear!...Come on Detective, don't give up on me now! Charge to 300! Clear!...Good, he's back. Get him into the helicopter! He's alive for now, but may not make it to the hospital in time."
As Cragen, Olivia, Munch, and Fin stood horrified at the condition Elliot was in, the paramedics rushed passed them as Elliot was placed on a stretcher. They all rushed after Elliot, not wanting to leave him for a second. But they all knew that they could not join him in the helicopter; they would just be in the way. Each was praying quietly to themselves as they saw Elliot being placed in the helicopter, and taking off. Cragen jumped in his car as Olivia, Munch, and Fin joined him. No one spoke a word the entire way to the hospital. Each one was focused on the fact that although Elliot was found in time, he may not be able to make it to the hospital alive.