I'm not dead! I humbly apologize from the bottom of my heart for my absence of late! It's been waaaay too long. I blame school, and a complete lack of inspiration. It seems my muses jumped ship and switched to other ideas and different shows. But I'm here, and I promise, no matter how long it might seem between updates, I will finish this story. I won't abandon it.
Ok, moving on =]
Disclaimer: not mine, never was, never will be.
"That's right, New York plates, Tango – Alpha – Charlie, Three – Six – Four – One. Let me know as soon as you've got something."
Fin snapped his phone shut and stepped back into the conversation his partner was having with their witness. With a 'thank you' and a nod, the detective and sergeant headed back towards their car. Munch immediately set a course for the station, while Fin was content to sit in silence and think. At least until Munch broke the companionable silence.
"TARU's gonna let us know what they get?" the sergeant asked wearily.
Fin looked over at his older partner and raised an eyebrow. "They always do," he retorted, less bite in the words than usual. This case was taking a toll on all of them.
Munch nodded, recognizing the harsh tone but ignoring it, knowing that the man was just as tired and ready for this incredibly long day to be over as he was. They all wanted Olivia back with them – where she belonged – and he knew none of them would be getting any rest until that happened.
XXX
Cragen looked up as the detective and sergeant entered the bullpen. He could tell from one glance that they didn't get anything particularly useful or hopeful from the witness. He nodded to them, and turned back to the file he was reviewing.
Fin set his gun down on his desk and went to join the captain. He leaned against Elliot's vacant desk and waited patiently. After several minutes of silence, Cragen finally acknowledged the younger man's presence.
"Anything?" he asked softly, meeting the detective's eyes and seeing the thinly veiled pain and fear hidden there.
Fin locked gazes for a brief moment, before sighing and looking down. "We got the license plate, but that's it. TARU's running it now, no promises."
"Where's Elliot?"
Fin sighed. "At the hospital, getting the victim's statement," he supplied.
Cragen nodded, feeling the same gloom as his officers. He glanced over to Olivia's desk, feeling the tears begin to gather. He needed her back; they all needed her back.
The captain's eyes slid over to Elliot's equally empty desk. The brash detective had been at wits end ever since his partner had been taken. No one blamed him, really, but they all knew that if he couldn't compartmentalize, it would spell doom for the continued partnership of the pair once his better half returned. Cragen was actually somewhat impressed that the man hadn't had a breakdown yet. He seemed to be doing quite well; though the older man suspected that the hour the detective had spent up on the roof, and the subsequent suspicious cuts on his hands when he had returned to the squad room, may have had something to do with it.
But it had not impeded his ability to work the case just yet, so Cragen was willing to let it slide. Even though, analytically, he knew that the younger man should have been taken of the case as soon as his partner had been taken; he was, without a doubt, too close to it all. They all were too close; by rights, this shouldn't even be a Special Victims case. But Cragen had connections, and a very good friend in the Chief of Detectives. He was able to keep his unit on point for now, but he knew that if they didn't find Olivia soon, they would very quickly find themselves forced out of the way.
He figured he had about two days before it got that bad.
XXX
Olivia gasped with triumph as she finally managed to extract the small tool she had been attempting to get at for almost an hour.
She then winced as her shoulder ached in protest of the angle she had to bend in order to remove the small knife from its place hidden in her boot. She allowed a small smile to grace her lips as she slowly got to work on the zip tie that was keeping her hands locked behind her back.
Several minutes and several small cuts to her hands and wrists later, and she felt more than heard the snap. She pulled her arms free with another gasp, and massaged her shoulder briefly.
That act done, she palmed the knife and contemplated her next move. She knew she needed to find a way to get out of this room and get some help.
Moving carefully, she got to her feet, giving herself time to adjust to being vertical for the first time in god knows how long. Listening carefully for any noises, she made her way to the door, gripping the knife tightly in her right hand as she put her left on the knob. Grinning slightly as she felt it give, Olivia opened the door.
XXX
"Marcy Grammer," Elliot began, pinning the hospital picture up next to the driver's license picture they had of Alyssa Hildrige on the board. "She was kidnapped on her way home last night near her apartment on 18th street." He glanced at the surrounding sergeant, detective, and captain, who had gathered around to hear what he had learned of the most recent victim. "Just blocks away from the bodega." He clenched his jaw briefly at the onslaught of images of Olivia with a gun to her head, Olivia being patted down, Olivia being dragged out by two well-muscled men, that suddenly crowded his mind. He turned back to the board, and focused on the map of the city that was pinned next to the pictures. The bodega, as well as Marcy's abduction and the alley where Alyssa's body had been found, were all marked. "She was knocked out and tossed into the trunk of a car. But they must not have hit her too hard, because she woke up before the car stopped. Pretended to still be out of it, but she heard everything around her; they blindfolded her, of course, but based on what the victim said, I'd guess they held her somewhere in Little Italy." He looked up again, and saw the question in their eyes.
Cragen was the one to voice it. "Why there?" he asked, not doubting his detective, but needing to hear the thought process.
Elliot looked at his captain. "She heard people speaking in what was clearly not English. She said it sounded-" he stopped briefly to look up the phrase in his notes. "'Sort of like Spanish, but not'," he read off the pad. "She thought it might have been Italian, but she couldn't be positive." He looked back up at the surrounding officers. "The two languages are very similar, I thought it was a logical conclusion."
They all stared back at him. Elliot Stabler was a 'beat your head against a wall' kind of detective. He was very good at what he did, but he wasn't the one to make logical conclusions based on facts. He was the kind of guy who went with his gut most of the time – and most of the time, that was all right, because he had a very good gut.
But most of all, they were all surprised at how levelheaded he was being, considering the fact that his partner - and love of his life - was missing. They had all witnessed how well he worked without his counterpart, but this man was a complete one eighty from the Detective Elliot Stabler that they had been working with just hours earlier.
Cragen was the first to shake himself out of it. He nodded. "You three head down there, with pictures of Olivia as well as those of the perps that TARU managed to clean up from the bank across the street. I'll send more officers to help, and I'll meet you there." He didn't wait for their nod of consent before heading back into his office.
After calling for the backup, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number as he made his way out of the precinct in a hurry. The Chief of Detectives had demanded immediate, frequent updates, and it looked like, finally, they might have some good news. Cragen allowed himself a small smile as that tiny bubble of hope buried itself in his chest as he practically ran down the front steps to the building. Soon, he thought, soon she'll be back and chastising us for worrying so much about her.
I hope this makes up for the long wait! I know it's kind of short, but I'm finally getting some ideas on how to bring this story to a close, and this seemed like a good place to end, so I can move on to the next part. Hopefully it'll be quicker than four months! I am soooo sorry for that!
And I apologize for any Manhattan geography mistakes – I might go to school on Long Island, but I don't spend that much time in the city, so I'm not that familiar with the layout.
As always, please review!