Don't Take The Girl

"Take the very breath you gave me
Take the heart from my chest
I'll gladly take her place if you'll let me
Make this my last request
Take me out of this world
God, please don't take the girl."

Tim McGraw

The four detectives made their way into the broken down apartment. It was buzzing with activity. Benson was first in the kitchen where a blanket was laid out over the body. She crouched down beside it and pulled it back. She sighed and nodded. "Yea, that's Misha alright."

"Looks like she was shot twice." Goren said, kneeling beside Benson. He pulled the sheet back more and looked the body over. "Once in the chest and once in the head."

Benson shook her head. "No, look. Shoulder and stomach, too."

"Did he shoot her hand?" Eames asked. She and Stabler were standing on the other side of the body. Eames also crouched down and pointed at the left hand. "That's a lot of blood." She said.

"Is it hers?" Stabler asked, looking around.

"Maybe not." Goren said. He looked around the room some, then something caught his eye. He walked a few feet over to the counter and leaned down to peer under it. He slid on a glove and reached under and pulled out a bloody knife. He slid it into an evidence bag. "If she had it in her hand when she fell to the floor, and she dropped it, it would have slid right into place where it was."

"If that is the killers blood, then someone's walking around with a bad stab wound." Stabler said. He pulled out his cell. "We should alert the hospital's to be on the look out."

Benson stood up. "What was she doing here, and who was with her?" She started walking around the apartment. CSU had marked off a small blood trail to the front door. She ran her fingers over the door frame. It was all in tact. "Doesn't look like much of a struggle. Whoever it was, she either let him in or he was here when she got in."

"You think Foster and Johnson were tight enough for Johnson to have a key to the apartment?" Eames asked, walking over to Benson.

"I think I'm tired of having nothing but guesses with this guy. Let's send the blood off now and see who it brings up." Benson said. She and Eames looked around some more. Goren was pacing around the kitchen between one of the drawers and the entry to the kitchen and the body. Stabler was still talking on his cell.

"If he was already here when she got here," Goren finally spoke up. The other detectives looked up at him. "...then she might have come to the kitchen for a drink or food. So she walks in here, and he comes up behind her...maybe she heard him and grabbed the knife from the drawer. If she was staying here, she'd know exactly where it was." He walked to the knife drawer, which was next to the refrigerator, then looked at the body and shook his head. "Or maybe it wasn't in the drawer." He glanced at the dish rack next to the sink, it was a little closer to the area of the floor the body was on. "The knife was in the dish rack, and she got scared and grabbed it and turned around..." He faked taking a knife from the rack and turned slowly and jutted his hand out. "It was probably on reflex that she caught him...he of course wasn't expecting it so he jumped back some...maybe that's when they started arguing..." He took a few steps forward. "She moved towards him," he waved his fake knife around in front of him. "She threatened to hurt him again...telling him to leave..." He stopped halfway through the kitchen. "And he pulled out his gun...shot her...and ran. Normally he would cover his tracks...but he was wounded this time...she fell back...the knife under the counter..." He trailed off and crouched down again by the body, and looked across the floor at the drips of blood leaving the scene.

"But even if he was stabbed...why wouldn't he fix it up?" Stabler asked.

Goren looked around the room. "How tall was Misha?"

"A little shorter then me, I guess." Benson said. Goren nodded, and waved her over. She walked over to him.

"Stand facing the sink." He told her. She did. He grabbed a random uniform's arm and pulled him over. "What's your name?"

"Donny."

"You're close to Johnson's height...if you were to walk up behind her..."

Donny walked up behind Benson, who picked up a spoon and very slowly turned while holding the spoon out how one might be normally holding a knife to cut food. The spoon poked Donny right below the rib.

"Okay, so she gets him below his rib...it wouldn't have been enough, still, for him to forget to fix the scene." Stabler said.

"Unless he didn't surprise her like he thought he would." Eames spoke up. "Maybe she came in, somehow knew he was here, and was expecting him to come up behind her. She had her back to him and waited for him to get close enough...if he had his hand up," She waited while Benson turned back around and Donny stood behind her again. "Now if he had his hand up and ready to come over her mouth, she would have spun around and she could have gotten him good right in the stomach." She said. Benson spun around and jammed the spoon in Donny's stomach. Eames smiled grimly. "He would have been hurt pretty bad...but not bad enough to screw with his aim." The others nodded.

"Sounds like a good scenario," Benson said. "But I'd like to know for sure. There's nothing else here. I'm going to the ME's office so I know the second the test is done." They had just sent it out minutes before.

Stabler nodded. "Okay, let's go." He looked up at Goren. "Coming?"

"I'd like to stick around here for a bit." He replied, retracing the steps the two had just acted out.

"You do that." Stabler rolled his eyes.

Benson and Stabler were standing around ME Warner's lab while she did the tests. She finally stood up and walked over to them. "Well, it is most definitely not Misha's blood." Warner said.

"And?" Olivia asked.

"A perfect match to one Paul Johnson." She said with a smile. Stabler and Benson looked up at each other.

"I'll be damned, we finally have him." Stabler said.

"If we find him, we have him." Benson reminded him. She was already dialing her cell phone with the good news.

Van Buren walked out of her office and over to the desks where Goren and Eames were hanging out. They had returned roughly an hour before, and waited for the lab results. Green was still fast asleep at his desk, and Skoda had left leaving strict instructions to call him if they needed.

"It was a match." She told the two Major Case detectives.

"Just as we thought." Eames said. "Any word from Fontana?"

"He went through Johnson's home, but no one was there. He just called from the club, it's vacant as well."

"Any of the hospital's call in with stab wounds?" Goren asked.

"None that could be our guy." She said. Her phone in the office was ringing. "Be right back." She said. She walked off.

Eames looked at her partner. "Well for whatever reason he screwed up this time, I am thankful." She said. "All we need in this city is another Nicole Wallace." Though meant as a dark joke, her partner tensed up and his lip twitched. "Sorry." She added. He nodded. They both looked over as Ed started to stir in his chair. He sat up and looked around, a confused look on his face. Then knowing washed over his face as he remembered why he was still there. "Morning sunshine." Eames said gently.

Ed looked at her. "What happened?" He asked. "What'd you find?"

"How about some coffee?" Goren asked.

Ed shook his head. "No. Just fill me in."

Van Buren came out of her office and walked up to them. "Fontana's heading to check on one of the hospital's, but let's not get our hopes up." She looked at Ed. "How you feeling?"

"Like I don't know what's going on." He replied. Benson and Stabler trooped in at that moment.

"I'm sorry, Green. You're not on the case anymore." Van Buren said.

"I know...fine. I don't care. I'll stay out of it, just tell me what happened." He said. The others looked at Van Buren who finally nodded.

"Fine. They'll fill you in. I have to go call Borgia. But I mean it Ed...you're done with this case. I want you to go home and get some rest. You don't need to be here." She walked into her office and shut the door. Ed turned and looked at the other four detectives expectantly.

Everyone had a case of shifty-eye syndrome as they quietly tried to figure out who would speak and what would be said. Finally, Olivia cleared her throat.

"We're guessing that she went there to have somewhere to stay. It looks as if Johnson was either there already or she let him in...though I have a hard time believing she'd let him in that easy." She took a pause to gage Ed's response. He said nothing. "She was in the kitchen by the sink and from what we can only guess, there was some sort of struggle and she stabbed him...then he shot her." Ed nodded. "We're pretty certain she injured him good, so it's only a matter of time until he checks himself into a hospital."

Ed nodded again. He was quiet for awhile, then spoke. "How many times did he shoot her?"

"Four times." She replied.

He wove his hands together, rested his mouth against them, and stared at a spot on his desk. "Where?"

"We can go into the details later, Ed. Let someone take you home." She said.

"Why can't everyone just leave me the hell alone and treat me like a cop?" He growled, not moving from his position.

"Because...right now you're not." Eames said. "You need to take this time to let it sink in, and deal with your emotions." He flickered his eyes to her, then looked away. She stood from her seat and walked closer to him. "Look," she said in a quiet voice, as if it were a private conversation. "I know you don't know me, but trust me when I say...you need to feel this right now. You don't want to implode later. I can already tell you're one to hold things in but...you really should just let yourself mourn for your friend." She concluded.

"The woman that died today wasn't my friend. My friend has been gone for six years and...that wasn't her. I mourned for that friend a long time ago." He said, almost believing himself.

Van Buren stepped out of her office and everyone looked up at her. "Fontana just called. Looks like Misha did good. Johnson passed out in an alley and someone called an ambulance when they found him. He's in surgery right now. We're sending two uniforms out there and this time they'll do their job right. He'll be on lock-down as soon as he's done, then we should have a good idea how long until he can be brought in. I told Fontana to go home as soon as he finishes at the hospital. I want the rest of you to go home as well. We can meet here bright and early tomorrow." She looked at Ed. "You especially. Just go home. I've already told Joe to tell everyone that if they spot you in the hospital not to let you in and to make you go home."

"You want me to sit at the hospital?" Benson asked.

"No, no. Johnson's in good hands. I want all of you to sleep. You're no good if you're tired." Van Buren said. "So good night. I'm going home as well."

Everyone slowly filed out. Benson gently hit Ed with the back of her hand. "Come on." She said.

He looked up, then stood. "What time is it?" He asked.

"Almost 11."

"I can't go home." He and Benson arrived at the elevator where the other detectives were standing.

"How about a drink?" Goren asked, watching Ed.

Ed thought, then nodded. "Yea, sure." His cell went off. He picked it up. "Green."

"Hey, how you doing?" Asked Joe.

"Okay. We're going for drinks."

"Tell me where, I'll meet you."