A/N: I DO NOT own any part of the Law & Order franchise, or the song Save Me From Myself by the Christina Aguilera. So while I'm doing my research for this story, I discover that the Don of the Los Ageles Crime Family lives an hour and a half away from me in Cleveland. Talk about conincidences.

Be My Baby

Jodi drove through the small community, looking for the law firm that would lead her to her pot of gold. The Consigliere. Only a few steps down from the Don. She was getting so close to her goal.

She looked at herself in the mirror as she drove. After running through a few more people she found that the Consigliere's son was none other than a boy she had dated for a summer while he was in New York.

It had been nothing more than a fling, and they hadn't spoken to each other since, but Jodi knew that unless he changed he was such a nice guy she would be able to enlist his help without even lying.

A sign caught her eye and she stopped the car abruptly. Getting out, she whipped out her cell before placing a call to Adam.

"'Hello?" he answered.

"Hey it's me again."

"Lovely. You know after that brilliant performance in the bar the other night I'm not sure as to if I want to be talking to you anymore."

"You forgive me. I need another favor."

"These favors don't seem to do me well."

"What do you need?"

"Something simple. A phone number."

"Who?"

"Philip Giacci."

"Okay give me one second...."

She held the phone to her ear before looking up at herself in the mirror. After crimping her now-brown hair (something she vowed she would never do) and concealing her eyes behind glasses once again, she still managed to look somewhat like herself but still unrecognized from afar.

"I've got it." Adam came back on the line.

"I'm listening."

"402-7193."

"Thanks dear, I owe you a billion."

"I've got something you could pay me back with."

"What's that?"

"A date."

Jodi grinned as she dialed the number in her phone.

"Adam, I'll be totally honest with you. If I even get out of this alive, which I doubt and go back to my life, which I really doubt, I'll be getting married in about a month. I can only say I'll try."

"Make it out alive? Wait, you didn't say anything about life or dea-"

"Bye Adam."

"No, Jodi wait!"

She hung up before re-dailing Philip's number.

"This is Phil."

"Um...Phil Giaccni? Hi, this is Jodi Stanford, do you remember me?"

"....Jodi?! Wow, um...hi. I haven't seen you in....three years. To what do I owe this call?"

"I was just visiting Cali actually and I was driving through the twon and saw a law firm with your name on it. How've you been."

"I've been good. What about you?"

"I could say the same. Married yet?"

"No. You?"

"Um...getting there. Listen Phil, I was wondering...would you like to meet for lunch maybe. Just for old time's sake. Maybe we could catch up?"

"That...yeah that sounds great. Listen Jodi, I'm sorry to have to throw you off like this but I have a meeting in...well five minutes ago shit I'm late. When were you thinking?"

"How about today?"

"Oh? Well I have lunch in half an hour, if this doesn't run over. Is that alright?"

"Sounds great."

"Awesome. Um, meet me at the firm since you know where it is."

"Okay. See you then."

"Gotta go bye."

Jodi hung up before starting the engine and looking out the window. Something good finally seemed to be coming from this minefield she was walking on, the only thing she could think about though was the fact that John wasn't there to share it with her.

*******************

"Here's some coffee." one of the female officers sat down on her desk, which John had occupied.

"Thanks." he looked up at her. She smiled before walking away. He had been up for close to 36 hours straight now, refusing to so much as blink until he found the woman he loved.

He sighed before rubbing his eyes as his body fought to stay awake. He had been awake longer than this before, but the emotional tax it was putting on him was also draining him of his energy.

Beside him was a picture he had Jodi had taken the night they had gotte back together and he asked her to marry him. Her hair was a dark red from the dye she had attempted to use after they broke up and her face was glowing from the moment he popped the question. Her green eyes sparkled brilliantly and she looked like the happiest woman in the world.

His thoughts were disrupted as a tear fell from his eye onto the picture. He wiped his face quickly before anyone got the chance to see before looking back down at the files. Suddenly, he found himself unable to stop as the tears began to flow uncontrollably. It was the second time in the past few years where he found himself in public and unable to stop crying.

"You alright man?" Matthew put a hand on his back.

John nodded quickly wiping his face before anyone else saw.

"Listen man, we're going to find her." Matthew assured him.

John nodded before narrowing his eyes as he looked at te FBI files. He had spent all this time trying to chase Jodi, when they could have instead just met her before she reached her goal.

"Damn!" he swore, standing up.

"What?" Matthew looked down at the files, thinking John had just seen something.

"We've spent all this time trying to chase her when we already know where she's going next."

"...Oh.....why didn't we think of that?"

"Okay. So....get over here for a minute. We know she's already hit up a couple associates and soldiers. Next up would be the consigliere and then the underboss before moving up to the Don."

"Well...where do we find this consigillie guy?"

"The Consigliere? Well...we have three different locations here. One in Van Nuys one in Santa Clarita, and one in L.A."

"Shit. We don't have enough time to search through each of these places. There's no name in the files?"

"No....but if we can get a trace on Jodi's phone that might tell us where she's headed. Do you guys still have the trash from her room?"

"Yeah."

"Fine me that Rite-Aid receipt. We'll pay them a visit."

******************

"Hi Phil!" Jodi cried as he swept her up into a warm hug. For the first time in days she didn't feel isolated and lonely anymore.

"Hey Jo! It's great to see you! It's been what, three-four years?"

"Yeah, that long. You look fantastic. How've you been?" she sat down in her seat.

"Oh I've been doing pretty well actually. How about you?"

"Um...I've been doing pretty well too." she felt herself straining to get the words out. All she could think about at that moment was how much she needed John's touch.

He smiled at her, falling under the usual spell of her beauty that men tended to become trapped in. She sat under a huge white hat with a black ribbon going across accomplanied by equally large black Chanel sunglasses, and a black and white sundress. Only in California could she wear such an outfit while the rest of the country prepared to be hammered with snow. She looked like an extremely sexed-up version of Audrey Hepburn with her now-brown hair.

"Can I start you guys off with drinks?" a waitress asked.

"I'll have a mint mojito." Jodi looked up at her.

"What about you sir?"

"Just coffee. Black."

As she walked away he looked across the table at Jodi and raised an eyebrow.

"It's only two in the afternoon." he grinned.

"You know me. I'm the definition of unorthadox."

He chuckled before sighing as he looked at her. The way her dress clung to those infamously huge breasts. Her full lips. As he surveyed her body his eyes were drawn to a glint on her finger.

"What's this?" he asked grabbing her hand. He felt his heart plummet as he looked at the engagement ring. As much as she enjoyed sleeping around, she made it increasingly clear to anyone who got involved with her that she did not cheat. Little did he know....

"He proposed to me in December." a small smile crossed her lips. As Phil looked at her, he could see how happy she was getting about it.

"Well...tell me about this guy?"

"He's amazing Phil. He's a cop,and I think he's the most incredible guy on the face of the planet."

"How did you meet?"

"Well...there was this high-profile case back in October and I was one of the victims. John and I...well to say clicked would be an extreme understatement."

"Wait...so you were dating for two, three months and you're already engaged?"

"Yeah but...what can I say Phil? We're in love, which means we're going to do stupid things."

As Phil watched her he could see how much she really loved this guy, and naturally he felt a wisp of jealously and bitterness go through him. Although it just seemed to be a fling, sometimes he was sure that she was the one that got away. Nothing ever felt as good as it did with her.

"Well...congradulations. I'm happy for you."

She smiled before their drinks arrived. The waitress asked for orders, to which Jodi just stuck to her drink and it was a dead giveaway to Phil that she was here for something other than a get together.

"Jodi...what are you really here for?" Phil asked as soon as the waitress walked away.

"What gave me away?" Jodi took a sip from her drink.

"Didn't order anything and you're the one who invited me to lunch."

She nodded before taking another sip from her drink and clearing her throat. She leaned in closer.

"There's something I need to tell you."

"Did I get you pregnant?" Phil immediatly interuppted her. A look of confusion and something else he couldn't place crossed her face before she shook her head and leaned in closer.

"No. No sorry to disappoint. There's...something else."

"Go on."

"It has to deal with your father."

His face immediatly became tense. In all their time together, although she knew what his father did for a living she never really brought it up to him. Now she could see he wasn't really proud of it.

"Are you in some sort of trouble?"

"Essentially yes. Phil, I need your help."

"What kind of help?"

"My situation...it's..."

"What's your situation?"

"Well...I need to meet with the Don."

"What?! Well why the hell are you coming to me for this?"

"Because...your father is basically his right-hand man. Please, I really need your help."

"Jodi...I want absolutely nothing to do with that life. I've barely spoken to my father in years. I prefer to make my money the honest way."

"Philip, if I don't find him he's going hurt the people I love the most. This isn't about me, it's about them. Please...I need to find him."

Phil sighed before leaning in closer.

He whispered an address into her ear before sitting back in his chair.

"Thankyou." she whispered before standing up. She tossed a fifty on the table before quickly walking from the patio cafe to her car. She was getting so close.

****************

"Munch, we've got something!" Matthew exclaimed as he ran into the downtown L.A. SVU squadroom.

John looked up from the sea of papers he was surrounded by. They had gotten completely stumped and he was becoming more frustrated than he could even express.

"We were able to get the phone number that Jodi's using. It's a Verizon Wireless pay-as-you-go and we got the subscriber information so we might be able to get a trace on her.

"....What about incoming calls?"

"What like...intercept them?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not sure. Look, the important thing is we know where she'll be going and probably meet her there."

"Do you know where she is right now?"

"Last known location was a cafe in Santa Clarita. She made a 30-second call to a blocked number."

"Let's head there now."

****************

Jodi's phone rang as she drove towards the address that Philip had given her. She only had another twenty minutes until she got there.

"Hello?" she ansewered.

"Is this Jodi Stanford?"

"Yes, to who am I speaking."

"Boss Milani's heard about you. He wants to arrange a meeting."

"Whoa what? Who the hell is this?"

"You're going to drive back to LAX and catch the six P.M. flight from Los Angeles to Cleveland. When you get there, you'll be picked up by a man named Frank Luzca. He'll be wearing a black suit with a purple shirt and tie. You'll recognize him by the snake tattoo on his neck. You will pretend he is your boyfriend, and you'll get on the plane with ?"

"Yes."

"And tell that cop boyfriend of yours to stay away, or else...well you're a smart girl you can figure out what'll happen."

"Fine. See you then."

He hung up the phone leaving Jodi lifeless on the other end. So this was it. She was flying in to her death sentence. She felt a tear drop from her eye, and wiped it away quickly before others followed.

She looked out into the bright sky. Clouds were beginning to roll in, as if matching her mood. So this was it. This would be the end.

*****************

"We got a forty-five second call from someone to Jodi about ten minutes ago." Matthew looked over at John as he hung up the phone.

"From who?"

"We can't find out, but we were able to pinpoint Jodi's location. She seemed to be headed out of Santa Clarita Valley. Right after that she hung up."

"Was anyone able to get her full license plate number?"

"They were, and we've got it on alert for the rest of the county. A couple people called the tipline but it was after we had confirmed she already left the area."

John nodded before looking down at the picture of them together. He held it tightly between his index and thumb fingers, wishing, hoping, praying that they could reach her before it was too late. He had to give her credit. If she was a fugative, she would have probably gotten away clean for the rest of her life. She was good at not being found. Once he found her, he would beg her. Plead. Implore. She couldn't leave. He wouldn't be able to go on without her. It disturbed him how much he depended on her, but he loved her and he couldn't lose her.

*******************

Jodi drove down the highway, feeling tears prick her eyes as she watched the planes soar above her. She was almost grateful she had become snared in traffic. It gave her more time to think things through. Right before she entered Los Angeles county again she had stopped at a Starbuck's to write a quick and heartfelt letter to John that she knew had close to no chance of getting to him but there was hope.

Someone behind her honked impatiently and she looked up before inching forward. She only had an hour and knew they wouldn't be very happy if she missed her flight, but she wasn't really in any rush to get there.

She pulled out her phone before deciding to make a quick phone call to Anthony. Last requests were in order.

*****************

"Jodi just made a phone call. She's headed towards LAX!" one of the detectives shouted. John stopped where he was before grabbing his jacket off a chair and making a beeline for the door. Matthew followed quickly, before racing down to the car with John.

"How fast can you get us there?" John asked.

"It's rush hour. It'll be impossible in a regular car. We'll take a squad car." Matthew hit the lights on top of one of the L.A.P.D. printed Dodge Chargers.

John pulled his phone before dialing Fin's number.

"Hey man what's up." his best friend answered.

"Yeah we just got a hit off of Jodi's phone and it looks like she's headed to LAX. Can you call and see if she put a ticket in her name."

"Way ahead of you man. Red flags went off on the guy who bought them. Name's Camden Caviatori. Wanted in back here for rackateering and drug charges. They called us immediatly as soon as they saw the name on the credit card."

"I need a description."

"Six-two. Dark hair, brown eyes. Muscular build, tattoo of a snake on his neck."

"What kind of snake?"

"Orange with white stripes. It's his mafia nickname."

"Do you know what time the flight leaves?"

"Yeah hold on...."

John waited impatiently, looking as the cars outside whizzed by. They flew down the street at a near 100 miles per hour. It almost made him smile as he remembered the day Jodi had taken them out in her Camero and decided to impress him by revving the car up to 160 and almost getting them killed.

"Alright. United Airlines flight 82 leaves at six sharp. Gate C."

"Thanks." John hung up. He felt a surge of hope as he looked ahead. In the distance was the air traffic control tower of the Los Angeles Airport, and planes were taking off and landing.

"Her flight leaves at six, so we need to get there in about ten minutes." John looked over at his temporary partner.

Matthew nodded before tightening his grip on the wheel. As he looked over at Detective Munch he could tell he really loved this woman. He himself had been that serious about a woman once, only for it all to go awry.

"How far away are we?" John asked.

"About eight minutes if I can weave in and out of traffic. Don't worry man, we'll make it."

***************