Hell Hath No Fury

Chapter 45 Hell

A/N: Everyone up to date on their heart medications? If you're not, keep a stash near by with a brown paper sac and whatever you do, don't forget to … BREATH

"Wow… you look like death warmed over," Fin joked. "Benson kept you up all night or what?"

Carp could barely keep his lids open, "Shoot me. Please?"

"Go get some sleep, man… Come on, you've been bustin your hump on this for too long and you'll never win Benson in the sleep deprivation game. She's got too many years on you. Go."

"I'm close," Carp yawned scratching his sparse growth of unshaved hair, "I'm close I can taste it."

"Go climb in a rack," Mac told him as he walked by, "you look like crap… sort of smell like it too. You take a shower?"

"Kiss it," Carp exhaled, rubbing his eyes. "I'm uh… I'm gonna catch a few before Benson get's here."

"I'm here," she said out of breath, "sorry. Sam was sick this morning, took a little longer to get him to school and Elliot had an early meeting."

"Excuses are like butts Benson," Mac teased, "we all have them and they all stink."

"Yeah, well," she shrugged, "I could have worn the puke stained shirt in here… that would have really stunk."

"No, please!" Mac's eyes went wide, "No, that's dirty man."

She laughed and took a seat, "Carp… hit the crib you look rode hard and put away wet."

"I'm so exhausted," he groaned, "I don't know how you do this stuff."

"How long you been up?" she asked.

"Uh.. what day is it?"

She grinned, "Perfect… hit the rack, I'll cover for you for a couple of hours… you find anything last night?"

He shook his head, "It's… so complicated, I can't even think."

"Go to sleep."

"Stop asking me questions," he smiled and handed her a small box, "I got a sandwich last night after you left, there's a book store about three blocks down from it, I know the guy there… I picked it up for Sam, should be easier than Telemundo."

She pulled the lid off and grinned, "Spanish Immersion… thanks Carp, you have no idea how much he's gonna like this."

Carp smiled, took his jacket and slowly walked up the stairs, suddenly stopping and starring down at his feet.

"Three more steps, man," Fin said.

"That kid is out of it," Mac quipped.

"Carp?" Olivia called to him in worry, "Carp… you okay?"

He turned around slowly and went back to the board starring at it. He growled in frustration and walked away, "Too damn complicated."

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"Well," Olivia grinned and pointed to a sand which on his desk, "welcome to the land of the living… rise and shine, Carp."

He slipped into his chair, "What time is it?"

"One in the afternoon."

He groaned, "You were supposed to wake me up."

"We tried… you snore. You were dead to the world. Its okay to sleep… you've put a lot of time out on this, we covered for you, don't worry…. Ham on white," she said and pointed to food, "Soda?"

"Coffee? Please?"

She smiled softly and prepared him a mug, "I'm not sure how you take it, so, here," she said placing packets of creamer and sugar next to his mug. He took her buy surprise when he simply drank it black.

"Thank you... where's Mac and Fin?"

"They're talking to our vic… Janna Flemming, remember her?"

"Yeah… she okay?"

Olivia exhaled and took a seat at her desk, "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That she would be pregnant?"

His eyes went wide, "I didn't… is she?"

"Yeah, she called me this morning."

"We have to go and talk to her!" he said urgently and grabbed for his jacket.

"Carp," Olivia smiled gently, "Carp, she's keeping it."

He furrowed his brow, "What?"

"She called looking for you… wanted to talk to you, to thank you."

He shook his head, "I didn't do anything."

"Well," Olivia shrugged, "according to her, you let her prepare even before the tests came back."

"It hasn't been that long," he whispered.

"Carp… there are all sorts of tests now… doctors can know in as little as five days if you're pregnant."

He exhaled, leaned back in his seat and stared at his desk.

"I thought you'd be happy."

"I am," he whispered, "I am."

"Then, why does it look like someone just pummeled your kitty?"

"I'm allergic to cats," he exhaled again and looked at Olivia, "The baby really can be raised to be someone spectacular."

She tilted her head and nodded, "Yeah, but lets be honest, Carp… she's gonna have a rough time, her and her husband will both have a rough time."

"Maybe… but maybe not, maybe they'll take him and love him and nurture him. Maybe they'll cease the day and make him spectacular."

Olivia nodded and smiled, "Maybe."

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"Is Liv around?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah, right there… you okay?" Fin asked in curiosity.

"Yeah, Sam's sick at school, I'm gonna go get him."

Fin pointed to Olivia who was buried in files, "Good luck. She hasn't said a word since Carp and her have opened those files."

Elliot grinned and moved to her, "Hey," he smiled bringing his forearm around the front of her neck and kissing her head, "how are you?"

She smiled, "Now that you're here… great. I'm good… what brings you to our neck of the house?"

"Sam's sick."

She turned her chair to face him and look up at him vaguely aware that Carp was probably watching, "What's wrong?"

"Alex called, said that Crystal came to her room because he vomited on the recess field and didn't want to move."

"I'll get my stuff."

"No, no… just relax. Stay here, solve this case. Alex assured me he's okay. He's in the nurse's office waiting for me to pick him up. I'm gonna swing by and pick up the rest of the bunch too… that okay with you?"

"Yeah," she smiled and stood to kiss him taking his hand and leading him into the hall, "I need to tell you something."

"Uh oh," he sighed through a smirk, "what I'd do?"

She chuckled, looked around quickly, "Uh, apparently it's what we both did."

He furrowed his brows, "What?"

She grinned and touched his arm, "I wanted you to hear it from me. It's not his fault."

Elliot's face grew stern, "Carp do something stupid? I'll kill him," he hissed.

She smiled, covered his holstered weapon, "El, he's innocent. It's our fault… he walked into the crib, while we were, uh-"

Elliot grinned and it surprised her, "You're taking it well."

"You're mine," he smirked and kissed her softly, "and know he knows it. Hope he enjoyed the show."

She laughed happily and swatted his chest, "I just… wanted you to know. No secrets."

He smiled, "I think it's funny and I love you and now, from our public display of affection he can't possibly have any doubts."

She raised up on her toes and kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks… I wish you were here on this case."

"Hard?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "I miss you guys."

He smiled, "Then solve this case and get that cute butt of your's home to me."

She chuckled, kissed him again, "Bye, tell Sam to call me."

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Carp stood next to the coffee maker and stared down at the black water in his mug, his back turned to the board as Cragen continued his questions and rants. He was tired and so close. The answer was on that board, he knew it was and he couldn't see it and it was pissing him off to no end.

"The answer is in his riddles," Cragen said pointing to them, "There's six of them… the answer is there… it's six victims and six riddles, that means at least twelve clues, so for crying out loud," he said slamming the dry erase pin into the holder, "Find them!"

Carp turned around and leaned on the wall as he stared at the board from the distance and then stared at clock, it was coming up on nine O'clock in the evening and he'd spent more time in this station house then he had in his own run down apartment. He continued to stare and take it from the beginning, in his mind, piece by piece, over and over again.

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"Sam, it's okay to let me go," Elliot whispered as Sam sat on his lap hugging him tightly, in the same position they'd been in since Elliot had gotten home.

"No," Sam sniffled, "No. Dad… I want you right here."

"I've been right here… I haven't let your out of my sight since we got home."

"You fed the babies," Sam sniffled, "and I was so scared I'd never hear you again."

"Why?" Elliot asked softly, "Why are you scared son? Do you want your mom?"

"No. Yes. No." Sam shook his head, "I don't know… I want you here Dad. With me, so I can feel you and hear you and smell you."

"Son… you need to eat dinner, Isaac is already asleep."

"No!" Sam yelled sitting back on his heels and slapping Elliot's chest has hard as he could.

"Hey," Elliot warned, "Hey, don't hurt me. Have I hurt you?"

"You scare me!" he yelled and framed his face, crying and frantic, "You scare me daddy because my tummy hurts for you."

"Sam… I'm okay… there's no reason to be nervous. I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here," he assured him, rubbing his back and gently pushing Sam's head to his shoulder, "Son… I'm fine… come on; I even got the nail gun out so you and I can build something… I got the plans for this little bird house-"

"No," Sam sniffled and wiped his eyes, "I want you to stay with me like mom does."

Elliot wrapped his arms tighter around his son, "You sure? I've got the nail gun on the counter there, a fresh CO2 cartridge in it… we could build until mom gets home."

Sam sniffled, "What kind… of birds will come into the house?"

"Any kind that wants too… I got the measurements off of the internet and I cut them with the saw last night… we could build it. Mom's birthday is coming up. We could build it for her and you could paint it."

Sam sobbed and laid his head back on Elliot's shoulder, "Why doesn't Aunt Casey answer her phone?"

Elliot exhaled, "Your mom visited her today, for just a little while. She's in the hospital so it's really hard for your mom to be able to see her but, mom says she's doing better."

"No phone in the hospital?" he hiccupped.

"No, I'm sorry."

"Can we go see her?" he asked softly.

"I'm sorry Son, it's not a regular hospital, it was very hard for your mom to get in, but Paul asked extra nicely to let her in and they did but only for a few minutes… your mom misses her lots too."

Sam rested his forehead against his fathers, "Will he take you away from me?"

Elliot furrowed his brow, "Who? Paul?"

"No… the man in my dreams. He comes in and then I never hear you again."

"Oh, son," Elliot exhaled and kissed his cheek, "no one's taking me from you. Is that why you're upset? Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yeah," he nodded and sobbed again, "I did, and it was so scary. For a lot of days, I dreamed about Casey that she was crying and then quiet and then I dreamed about you… that I never smelled you or felt you again, and it makes my heart hurt really bad."

"Your heart doesn't have to hurt… because I'm right here. You talked to your mom on the phone right?"

"Yeah."

"She loves you too, and she'll come home tonight and hold you just like I am right now… you're okay, son."

Sam swallowed, "Dad… maybe, maybe mom will like the bird house?"

Elliot smiled, "Maybe… want to try and build it?"

Slowly, Sam nodded and smiled, "Can I use the nail gun?"

"You tellin' mom?"

"No… you?"

"Nope."

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"New picture?" Carp smiled.

Olivia jumped, slightly embarrassed that he'd caught her placing yet another picture of one of her boys under the glass on her desk. "Yeah. Isaac… he had a hair incident last night, and I had to shave his hair completely off."

"What!" Carp grinned, "He was so cute with that long blond hair and blue eyes."

"I know," she laughed and exhaled, "he wanted a Mohawk like Sam," she said pointing to a picture of Sam asleep with Tripod the day she'd given the hair cut to him. "Unfortunately, Isaac sees things in the reverse fashion," she chuckled and pointed to a picture she snapped before shaving his head.

"Oooh," Carp winced, "remind me not to let him give me a cut."

Olivia laughed, "Well, this is him now," she said pointing to the new picture.

"Ah, he's still such a good looking boy."

Olivia grinned, "He's got his fathers good genes."

"His mother's too, I'm sure," Carp said.

Olivia nodded and looked down at his grinning face, "Maybe… maybe he's lucky."

Carp laughed, "How old is he?"

"Just turned two and before you ask, I love every minute of his terrible two's and believe me when I tell you, they can be terrible."

He smiled, "A two year old and a nine year old… how old are the twins?"

She grinned and pointed at Solomon's baby picture under the glass, "This little, big guy is three months tomorrow and Hannah," she said pointing to the picture next to his, "will be three months exactly nine and a half minutes after her brother."

"This case has got to be killing you… the similarities are uncanny," he exhaled, "I'm sorry you have to do it."

"Don't be. I signed on the dotted line. I knew what I would be in for when I came back to work. I love my kids. I miss them every second I'm here. I want to get back to them, so let's crack this case so Cragen can give us a few days off and I can spend time with them."

He smiled, "Want me to put on another pot of coffee?"

"Yeah… I'm gonna go wake up Mac and Fin."

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"You remember how dangerous I told you this could be?" Elliot asked Sam as he helped him hold the nail gun.

"Yeah… it could really hurt someone."

"Okay, so we're gonna be extra careful right?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, now I have this board like this," he said letting Sam feel it, "Now, I want you to put a nail right here… can you do that?"

"Yeah," Sam grinned as Elliot helped him line up his shot.

"Pull the trigger."

Sam pulled it, felt the kick of the gun and grinned, "Did it go?"

"Yep… solid. You got it right on the mark. Good job."

"That's 'cause I'm a builder."

Elliot laughed and agreed, "That you are," he said as he looked up and frowned at the blinking light on the alarm panel, "Sam… did you disarm the alarm?"

"No… no, I'm not allowed to unless it's a real emergency."

"Oh… well, wait right here, okay? And don't touch the nail gun."

"Kay."

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"You look pensive," Fin said fixing the cuff to his shirt, "you solve this case yet?"

"No," Carp exhaled, "but I'm close."

"You keep saying that," Fin teased, "Look, there's no pressure just 'cause you're the new guy… chill, you're gonna kill yourself."

"I'm close," Carp told him firmly and stared over his shoulder back at the board. After several minutes, his eyes suddenly bulged out of his sockets. He looked at the board, back at Olivia and then back at the board and dropped his full mug of coffee letting shatter on the floor.

The three detectives instantly looked to the sound of the disturbance, "Carp?" Olivia asked in concern, "You okay? If you need sleep, the cribs empty."

"Your kids… how old are they again?" he asked going back to the board.

"What?"

"Your kids… how old!" he demanded.

She rolled her eyes, "Uh, nine, two, and three months times two."

He made frantic gestures with the marker, tracing a line from the numbers to the victims, "Two infants… I've got two infants, one was what? Three months, the other was two… a boy and girl."

Olivia sat forward in her seat, "Carp… don't reach for straws, not with my kids. Come on lets get ba-"

"Antifreeze," he looked at her with a solid stare, "Antifreeze. Two infants."

"Only one was killed with antifreeze, what are you getting at Carp?" Fin snapped, "You accusing Benson of something?"

"What?" he furrowed his brow, "No! Just look at the similarities will you… look at this from the Lucas Rowhead murder… Little boy blue once a mother's pride and joy. What happens when there's no more joy… what about Isaac?"

"Don't go there, Carp." Olivia stood to her feet trying to suppress her anger, "You're working on little sleep… get up to the crib or go home."

"This is my case."

"This is all of our case!" Mac snapped, "You don't go around making accusations about a cop!"

"I'm not accusing damnit!" he yelled.

"You know what?" Olivia shook her head, "I'm going home. I'm tired. This is getting nowhere fast. Call me when you get something."

"Antifreeze!" Carp said pointing to the board, "Antifreeze, two infants… a riddle suggesting a little boy is gone… don't you think that's a spectacular coincidence!"

"I think," Olivia exhaled, "I think I'm gonna go home to my family and try to forget that you are so desperate to solve this case that you're willing to push me and Elliot back in the spotlight."

His shoulders slumped as he stared at her, "Benson," he said softly, "no… no, I'm just… we both agreed that this perp has his sights on SVU, that that was the underlying connection in all the victims other than the riddles. What if his sites are on you, specifically?"

She smirked and pointed to the board, "Five minutes… you've got five minutes to tell me how on earth you think this mess belongs to me. Go."

He looked back at the board, "I'm not sure."

Mac and Fin and Olivia groaned in unison, "I'm going home," Olivia shook her head.

"Right along with you," Fin said.

"No!" Carp bellowed, "No…. look, uh… look when I got here, I asked questions about you, Benson."

"You what?" she tilted her head, "Why?"

"I wanted to know what I was getting into. Your reputation precedes you and it scared me to death… you're a ball buster… I wanted to know about you. I asked questions but it wasn't until I actually got here and started working that people talked."

"And what did you find out?" she asked folding her arms to hold in her anger.

"You worked well with a detective Jefferies… you weren't partners but there was a great deal of respect there. She left abruptly and while you didn't show it, it bothered you a great deal. Something went wrong with a Detective Cassidy-"

"Hey!" Fin snapped and took a step only to be held back by Mac.

"It's okay… let him," Olivia tilted, "I'm curious to know, how much Super Boy thinks he knows about me."

Carp swallowed, "Uh… I'm not sure what happened, but… three years ago, your life took a drastic turn… I've read some court papers, heard things here and there, but the consensus is that you almost died when Isaac was taken from you. I know it killed you."

She stared at him. Struggled to keep her tears at bay, "The loss… of a child, is every parents fear. We got him back."

"I know that Nick Ganzner made your life hell."

"You're a nosey person," she exhaled, "this still means nothing to me."

He licked his lips and exhaled, "Could you just humor me… please?" he begged.

She placed her hands on her hips, "You got two more minutes."

"Okay," he exhaled and turned to the board. "Everyone is fully aware that Nick killed himself in this precinct correct?"

"No shit Sherlock," Fin exhaled.

"Then you keep digging, Watson," Carp replied in irritation as he pointed to another riddle, "Life is precious. Life is a breath; you thought you won with his death."

"And that means what?" Mac shook his head, "What does it mean?"

"Nick is dead, Carp!" Olivia slammed her palm onto her desk, "He's dead damnit, and you have no right to bring this crap back up!"

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It had snowed lightly but was falling harder with each passing minute as Elliot walked outside into the cool of the night. The alarm panel had said there was something wrong with the gate outside. The problematic gate that had given them problems since the day they installed it, but for the most part worked. He wished he'd had the soft illumination of a flashlight to guide his steps as the snow continued to fall, but he wanted to do this as fast as possible and get back to Sam and the warmth of the house.

He chuckled, finding the plug to the power box seemed to have loosened slightly and wasn't making full contact, "Well," he muttered, "at least I don't have to call someone out at a hundred bucks a pop," he pushed the plug back in and waited as the gate opened in the darkness. He groaned as the moon became hidden by winter clouds and every thing was suddenly blacker than when he first stepped out. Now he really wanted the flashlight.

He exhaled, pressed the button on the remote he'd taken out of the SUV and the gate began to close. He stood to his feet only feel the searing pain strike the back of his knee. He fell immediately in pain, groaning and holding his leg as he felt his jugular being squeezed as a man whispered into his ear, "Tick Tock, no more time on the clock."

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"Go home!" Mac yelled at Carp, "Now! I've heard enough!"

"Just listen!" Carp pleaded, "Please… look it's all there, man!"

"What?" Fin suddenly yelled, "Huh?" he said before taking his hands and pulling the pictures off of the white board, "You're trying to be a hotshot and your being a bitch!"

Mac pulled Carp by the shirt and to Olivia's amazement it seemed that he'd lifted him just slightly, "Mac… Mac put him down," Olivia said, "come on… he's tired. We're all tired. We're trying to figure this out. Put him down. Let's just all go home." Carp twisted and pulled out of Mac's hold. Mac angrily grabbed for his jacket and stormed out of the precinct.

"You should apply to the rat squad," Fin told him as he picked up his own jacket, "they need the sort of whiskers and tail you've got."

Carp exhaled, his hands on his hips as he turned his torso to Olivia, "Benson-"

"Save it," she shook her head, "I'm heading home. I'll see you tomorrow. We'll talk to Cragen about having you assigned somewhere else, this isn't gonna work… I don't trust you."

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Elliot fought to free the hold on his neck and instantly brought his elbow up with a rapid and fierce speed colliding with the man's leg. Elliot moved quickly, covering the man as he moaned on his back.

"Who are you?" Elliot yelled and punched the figure in the darkness but suddenly felt a tremendous pain slice along the side of his thigh. He cried out, rolled off of the man and touched his hand to his burning leg. Against the snow, he could see darkness seeping out of his body and he knew it to be blood.

The brutal pain that shot across his back, as something, he wasn't sure what, cut through the air and collided with the small of his back. He heard the man grunt and pull what felt like bar up over his head only to come back down on Elliot's shin. He cried out in excruciating pain. In a moment, his wife's face flashed in his mind and he wondered where she was. If she was okay. Was she warm? Was she driving carefully along the roads? Did this man already get to her?

He felt the bar against his shoulder as he tried to turn to save his back from more damaged. He brought his good leg up to cover his torso, felt the bar come down again along his ribs. It came down again and again before allowing him to barely catch the man's wrist, kicking his leg out and effectively bringing him down to his knees a swift kick delivered to his chest and knocking the air out of him.

"Dad?" Sam called from the porch.

"Sam! Call the police! Call them! NOW!"

"Dad!" Sam yelled from the porch and immediately started to walk to his voice.

"NO!" Elliot yelled, trying to get to his feet and falling as soon as he tried to take a step. He felt the bones in his leg crumble. He groaned as the man labored for breath next to him, "Sam! Sam! Get inside!" Elliot shrieked crawling along the cold cement of their driveway, not as a cop or even a former Marine, but as a desperate father trying to get to his son. Sons. Children.

"Dad! Where are you?" Sam yelled. "Who's here? I hear someone!"

"Get in the house! Now!" Elliot yelled again, "Lock the door! Set the alarm!"

"Dad where are you!"

"NOW OR I'LL SPANK YOU!" Elliot yelled as forcefully and as angrily sounding as possible. Sam took the bait and it hurt more to see the little boy run from his father, than it hurt to know that as soon as Sam locked that door Elliot would be beaten to death.

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Carp exhaled and squatted in the silence of the bullpen to pick up the notes and pictures that Fin had angrily thrown to the ground. He'd wanted to help. He'd seen the clues, seen the pattern but couldn't understand it and couldn't get it out. Slowly, he reposted the pictures only to have gotten the order of the murders confused. He moved to his desk just as Olivia re-entered the bullpen.

"Benson, thank you for coming back-"

"I'm not here for you," she exhaled, "I forgot my breast pump."

He exhaled, shook his head and then suddenly tilted it to the side as he stared down at the file. The pattern suddenly jumping out and slapping him in the face just like he knew his partner wanted to, "BENSON!" he yelled and charged up the stairs bursting through the doors to the crib.

"Leave me alone, Car-"

"I got it!" he told her frantically, "I got it; it's not in the riddles… I mean it is, but it's not. And it's not you either! I was wrong; he's not coming for you."

She exhaled, dropped the pump onto an empty bed, "Then who, Carp?" she asked in frustration, "Who? And who's the perp?"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her down the steps with him, "Let go!" she said wrenching away from him but following him as he slid to his desk trying to stop but overshooting it when he slipped on paper still adorning the floor, "Look!" he told her almost shouting, "Look! Call Fin and Mac, get them here. Call the cap, call your husband."

"My husband?" she crossed her arms, "Oh," she shook her head in anger, "Carp, I'm going home, I can't believe you're still on this rant."

"LOOK DAMNIT!" he said slapping the white board with his palm.

She gave him her attention, "One minute."

He began to rearrange the pictures of their victims, "We've been looking at it all wrong, we've been looking at this according to the order they were murdered! That's why it didn't make sense!"

She shook her head in confusion but was intrigued that he seemed to have found a new loop, "How should we have looked at it?"

"It's in the name… he's warning you through the riddles, he's reminding you of what happened, but ultimately the names are where it's at."

"What do you mean warning me?"

"Look," he said rearranging the order of the riddles to match the new order of the victims, "Elena Saldana, was originally victim number two, I'll bump her to the first one… Endless joy of the breast… that's why her breast were removed. He doesn't want anyone else to enjoy her breast… Endless joy of the rest Now you've been put to the test… he's telling us that this is a game and it's beginning… that she's where it starts. I should have seen it."

Taking his bait she perched herself on the edge of her desk as he frantically continued pointing and moving along as he spoke. "Take Lucas Rowhead, originally vic number four, I'll move him to the second position… Little baby boy once a mothers pride and joy, what happens when there's no more joy… he's speculating, he wants to lead us in the wrong direction but look at Larry Ville, originally vic number one… I'll move him to three… You thought you won with his death… that's Nick Ganzner's death. I know it!" Carp said almost to himself as Olivia continued to watch his line of thought. They hadn't had anything to go on since this started. And this was a new theory.

"Nick Ganzner?" she asked a bit skeptical. She just wanted to know where her husband fit into all of this.

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It was the blow to the head with what felt like a steel toed boot that had left Elliot unable to finish his crawl up the steps. Vaguely, he'd heard the beeping of the alarm panel. Sam had reset the alarm. His last thought, before feeling a hand reach into his pocket, was simply, thank you, God.

"You thought you won didn't you?" The blurry figure asked over Elliot as his face bled, "you thought you got the last word in," he held Elliot's hair in his fist and rammed his elbow across his cheek. Elliot felt his cheek bone break again, his face instantly swell as he groaned in pain.

"W-who are… what want?" Elliot coughed feeling a boot come back down on his abdomen and taking his wind away. He gasped for breath, made excruciating by the already broken ribs he was sure he had. It was cold. He was cold and for a moment he remembered her.

'Hey! Your feet are cold don't' do that.'

'I'm cold.'

He smiled inside, remembering how her body felt against his. Warm in spite of her obvious chill, if that were possible. Her hair, still damp to his touch had smelled like lilies and he wondered if he would ever know that smell again.

It was the jingling of keys from Elliot's pocket that snapped him back into his excruciating reality. He moaned, rolled back to his belly and peered out of the only eye he could see out of. This man, this devil, this heinous creature was inserting the key into the door.

Painfully, he gasped, "A-alarm!" he warned, not for the man's benefit but for his children's. If he got into the house, if he got away from Elliot, he wouldn't be able to help them, not with his bones broken and his breath labored. They'd die. He'd die.

"Code! Now!"

Elliot struggled through the blood in his eye, struggled to match the familiar voice with a face, but it was so dark, his only working eye was so blurry. He was tired. Dying. He'd wanted to see Sam finally get back on speaking terms with God. Wanted to see Isaac on his first day of school. Wanted to walk Hannah down the aisle when she brought home a guy he wasn't gonna approve of. He wanted to make love to his wife again. He wanted to hold her. Tell her he loved her, tell her that Solomon had smiled at him this evening again, "No," Elliot weakly shook his head, "No."

Elliot heard the sound of the bar scraping the steps of the porch, then the sound of it slicing through the air and colliding with his body, "Code!" the voice demanded.

He felt his tear slip from his eye. The pain was immeasurable, "Liv," he whispered into the cold atmosphere, "love… you."

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"Okay," Olivia nodded, "what's the fourth… if all of this is right… what's the fourth?"

"Uh, okay… the fourth," he murmured and moved a post it note here and a picture there, "Okay, uh, Irene Duarte, originally victim number three, I'll put her to number four… the riddle said," he underlined the second half, "Catch the babies by the toe…. He said babies, it's plural, there's two… he's telling you, you'll have to pick, maybe. I don't know but… it's plural."

Olivia narrowed her eyes. It was making since to her, she pressed the speed dial on her desk phone, "The fifth, give it to me.'

"Who you calling?"

"Fin. He'll call Mac."

"Uh, okay. Orlando Wu originally victim number six, move him to five-"

"Fin," Olivia cut in, "Fin its Liv, call your partner, call Cragen and get back here… we're on to something." She hung up the phone after a few seconds and motioned back to Carp, "Keep going."

"Um, move him to five, and the riddle is, "Tick tock the vessels about to dock," he underlined it, "he's telling us, that this is all a game to him and we're running out of time," he underlined the next section, "Its been a pleasure to stalk-"

"Ganzner stalked," she said starring at the board, "But," she shook her head, "he's dead. There was DNA. I saw him die for crying out loud."

Ignoring her pondering, but still cataloging it in his mind, he continued, "Last vic, Terrance Michaels originally case number five, move him to six and …. It's…. One Two… I'm coming for you."

Olivia nodded, "He's warning us that there are more vics?"

Carp stared at her and swallowed, "He gave us the vic's name."

Olivia furrowed her brow. Call your husband. "Who? Me?"

Carp exhaled, and turned to the board underlying the first letter in every victim's named according to the new order, "No," he whispered and stepped back, "According to this… our perp is gunning for Elliot."

It took her a few seconds for it to register. Gunning for Elliot. Gunn-ing… for… Ell-iot. Her husband. Someone was hunting her husband.

"Liv?" Mac asked softly as he stepped into the bull pen followed by Fin.

"We were just barely pulling out," Fin quipped then quieted as Olivia continued to stare at nothing and then suddenly snap out of it immediately dialing Elliot's cell phone.

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"Wake up, brother." Sam said frantically as he moved Isaac back and forth, "Wake up!"

Isaac groaned turning around on his back in innocence as to the severity of what was happening, "Sam Sam," he rubbed his eyes, "Mama?"

"Not here… we're gonna play hide and seek, okay?" he said softly, "and you've got to be a big boy and keep Solomon quiet no matter what you hear okay?"

"Olo?"

"Yeah," Sam said and quickly pulled his brother out of bed.

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Olivia shook her head, "The, uh… the house line, is uh… dead. He's not answering his cell."

"Who?" Mac asked in confusion, "Cragen's on his way… whose not-"

"Elliot," she whispered, "I've got to get to him."

"Wait, wait… no, what's going on?" Fin asked quickly and tried to calm Olivia whose tears were streaking her face, but couldn't register anything else, "You can't drive like this… sit down."

"He needs me… I can feel it."

"Carp," Mac demanded, "Start talking, what happened? Where are we?"

Carp filled them in and all three detectives stared at one another in shock. Mac quickly jumped on the phone to dispatch and notified them of the possible situation at the Stabler's residence. There still wasn't proof. Elliot could be in the shower.

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Sam knew Zeus and Tripod were just on the other side of the glass door, but he also knew, that if he opened that door the alarm would sound and the man outside would know that he opened a door. There would be an opened door. The man could get inside. He could feel the vibration of Zeus jumping frantically on the glass as Tripod barked and snapped. Something bad was happening outside, he could feel it. Tripod and Zeus were trying to get in. To protect. Something bad was happening to his daddy. Outside. He couldn't see it, but he knew it.

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Carp quickly explained the theory as soon as Cragen had appeared in the bullpen's threshold. Cragen's face turned grave as he looked at Olivia, "You called him?"

She nodded in shock, "Several times… no answer."

Cragen moved quickly into his office jumping on the phone and barking orders left and right as he dug through boxes of files looking for one specific section. "Cap?" Mac asked from the office door as Cragen slammed the receiver down.

"The Ganzner files," Cragen muttered, "If that riddle is really about Ganzner and this guy is really hunting Elliot, then somehow Olivia and Elliot know the perp and the perp knows Ganzner," he explained and opened his filing cabinet digging frantically. Moving to the next drawer and then the next, "Here, take these," he said handing a stack to Mac and retrieving the rest as they both walked out.

"Alright people," Cragen barked, "I got uniforms going to your house now, and an eagle eye is up as soon as the weather lets up… our perp is in these files," he said placing them on the desks, "Let's find him before he finds Elliot."

"Anyone notify robbery?" Fin asked as he picked up a file, "anyone, notify his captain?"

"Done." Cragen said and pointed to the file "Start looking."

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The back hand was tremendous against his broken cheek, "Give me the code!"

"No," Elliot groaned and then felt cool metal slice into his abdomen. The same burn that his thigh had produced. The same blood flowing out of him. "Give me the code, or I'll kill you."

"Kill… me… you trip the alarm," Elliot swallowed, vaguely tasting blood, "and the cops… will come anyway. You're screwed."

The blurry figure laughed, "Mmm, no not really. Just have to go with our next option."

Elliot strained to see as the man dug through a bag. He didn't know where it came from. Had he blacked out or did he just not remember? The man walked, around the corner of the house, away. Elliot moved with every ounce of strength he had. He pushed past the pain and crawled on his belly using his forearms until he got to the door and painfully, laboriously turned the key, pushed in the door and crawled through, closing it behind him. The keys tight in his fist.

He cried out in pain as he reached for the dead bolt. He couldn't reach it and turned the knob lock instead, taking all of his energy. He panted, moved and crawled and reached for the control panel desperately stretching to reset the alarm. There was no conformation beep. Something was wrong. He tried again and saw the blinking yellow light. He blinked hard and tried to remember what that light meant. Was it the gate? No, no it was… system failure. He gasped for air against the wall and tried to crawl through the foyer, "Sam," he cried weakly, "son, help me."

Elliot heard nothing and he decided to keep it that way. He wouldn't bring his children out into the open not even if it meant he would die. Slowly. Painfully.

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"I need to get to him," Olivia whispered and attempted to stand, "he has all of the kids." Suddenly, she panicked, "Oh, no… no, he has all of them. He has my family!"

"Olivia," Cragen grabbed her shoulders and sat her back down; "we don't know that. All we know is that someone is after Elliot. Lets not jump the gun; this perp may not even be there. We need you here to tell us if anything is familiar in these files."

She sniffled, nodded, "Where'd you get these?"

"I got them as soon as Nick died… I've been looking, trying to figure out what went wrong," Cragen confessed.

"I can't loose them," she pressed her lips together and sobbed.

He pulled her close, "I promise you. We're doing everything we know to do."

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His mother had let him hold Hannah in the baby vest one time and he felt like a super hero walking around the store with his new born sister snuggled tight against him. Sam knew people thought he was small. He also knew his mother thought he was strong even if she did follow him carefully around the store to ensure his sister's safety.

He pulled the vest over his body, just like his mother had made him practice, and clasped it in the back. It was harder to do now that his hands were shaking, but he did do it. He exhaled, reached into the crib and picked up his baby sister; he was just about to place her seemingly sleeping body into the vest when he heard a loud bang, and his father scream.

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It was the wood that splintered off from the front door as it was kicked from the outside that let Elliot know, he had to move and move fast. His leg throbbed, he couldn't take in air, but he moved just the same. His broken, perhaps shattered leg kept straight as he used his other leg to help him crawl on his belly. The pain that resonated form his wounds demanded he shoot himself as soon as possible.

Shoot. Bullet. Gun. Foyer.

Elliot rolled to his back as another kick came against the door; it was gonna open wide any minute. He cried out in pain as he shifted his body and desperately reached for the foyer drawer only to remember that he'd put his weapon in his nightstand when he got home.

Nightstand. Bedroom. Other side of the house.

He groaned and rolled back to his belly trying desperately to crawl through his home. He heard the door finally crash open and felt the boot collide with his shattered leg.

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The door was open, Sam heard it. It had to be open and now there was a man yelling at his father who sounded as if he were… crying? Quickly, Sam laid Hannah back in her crib as she started to fuss. He felt along the walls until he came to the cool of the window pane and tried frantically to open it the way that Elliot had showed him when he first came to stay with them. Was it push then pull? Pull then push? He couldn't remember, "God!" he whispered frantically, "help me! Please," he begged as he started to panic, "Please God, I'm just a little boy and I need you."

He tried again, more forcefully and felt the cool of the air hit his face. Success. He jumped hearing his father cry out again and he didn't understand why his dad was yelling for his mother to help him. He didn't understand why this man was in their home, but he did know that his father, would never in a million years spank him. Never. Something was wrong and it was up to him to make it right.

Sam moved quickly and pulled all of the baby blankets and pillows off of Solomon's crib and tossed them outside the window hoping against hope they landed where he needed them too. He heard his father blatantly yelling for the man to stop doing whatever it was he was doing. His daddy was crying and he didn't understand why, but he knew he had to get the babies out and the dogs in.

He wrapped Hannah in her comforter as and tried to sooth her before laying her on the floor and taking the rest of her pillows and blankets and tossing them out the window, "Come on sister," he whispered and picked her up, his tiny fist grasping desperately at the hems of the comforter as he steadied himself on the ottoman and lowered his baby sister outside into the elements and hopefully onto the softness of the comforters he tossed out.

He ran out of slack, "God, help," he begged, "please keep her safe," he muttered and released his hold on the blankets, effectively trusting God with his baby sister's life as her comforter bound body plummeted to the ground.

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"Please," Elliot begged and moaned on the floor, "Please… I'll give you what you… want. Money, the car key… just… please, no more."

"Mmm," he smiled, "You misunderstand," he chuckled and brought the bar down over Elliot chest, producing a loud thud to which Elliot groaned and rolled to his side, weeping and begging for this brutality to end "I want you. I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to kill your children, or maybe I should do that in the opposite way, huh? Let you watch? What do you say?"

Elliot's eyes rolled to the back of his head, "Not… here… with… Liv."

"Mmm, I think your lying. I know one is here; he called for you as I was tenderizing you. I know he's here… what do you think he'll say when he finds out his father begged and pleaded like a woman? Hmm?"

Frantically, and with a surge of sudden energy and desperateness to protect his children Elliot growled, reached out and collided the side of his fist into the side of the mans knee. He buckled in pain and went down and Elliot turned on his belly and frantically crawled to the living room.

Cell phone. He had tossed it on the corner of the couch.

Every forearm over forearm movement made him cringe and grinned his teeth in pain but he pushed past it and reached onto the sofa only to find that the cell phone wasn't there. A sob escaped him as he heard footsteps from behind him and felt the serrated edge of a knife run along the flesh of his back. His buttocks. His legs. He cried out, sobbed and begged for the man to stop.

"Tell me where the kids are!"

"Not here!"

He felt the knife being stabbed and twisted into the hamstring of his good leg, pulling and twisting and effectively rendering his leg useless. Then he felt it glide across the back of his knee severing his tendons. He screamed in agony as a child would scream, the squealing earth shattering scream, "Liv!"

"It's the ultimate payback," the man smiled, "to kill her family and leave her perfectly healthy… to live a long life of remembering that her family was savagely murdered. To let her know her husband crawled around on his belly yelling for his wife."

Elliot groaned, sobbed, "Liv."

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"What about Wess Defranco? Sound familiar?" Carp asked.

"No," Olivia snapped slamming a folder shut, "none of this is familiar! I've been calling and calling Elliot and the house line is dead! His cell goes straight to voice mail! Something is wrong! I'm going!"

"No!" Cragen told her firmly, "I already sent Mac and Fin, there gonna tell us. But Olivia, if you want this guy you've got to stay here and help us."

Carp furrowed his brow as he returned to the file he was studying, "Did you know this Nick guy had his jaw broken in the pen?"

Olivia looked up, "What?"

"Right here… says he was in jail awaiting sentencing and he suddenly came up with a broken jaw… was admitted to the sick bay for a few days."

"Let me see that," she told him and virtually snatched it from his hand, she read the date and her eyebrows shot up, "I… we went to the jail… "

"What?" Carp asked as Cragen leaned forward to listen.

"Liv? What happened?" Cragen continued.

She furrowed her brows and bit her lip, "We went to the jail, to see Nick. I was pregnant with Isaac… he was asking for a deal, for me to talk Casey into giving him a deal."

"What happened?" Cragen asked anxiously.

"Nick… he got upset, when I told him no, and he swung at me."

"You hit him?" Carp asked, "You broke his jaw?"

She shrugged in confusion, "I don't know… he was pretty beaten up before he came to the visiting room… I slammed his head, pretty hard into the table, twice if I remember correctly. But… I suppose the impact could have broken his jaw."

Carp raised his brow, "Geeze, you really can kick the crap out of someone."

"Shut up!" Cragen growled then looked back to Olivia, "Liv… are you sure it was on the date in the file?"

"Yes Don," she nodded, "'cause that was the day I found out you were being summonsed in front of the Morris Commission because of Elliot and I… that's the date. I'm sure of it."

Cragen exhaled, "Carp, get on the phone with the jail, I want to know every one who came into contact with Ganzner, I want guards, visitors, cellies and every other Tom, Dick and hairy you can find."

Carp stared down at a medical record in front of him, "Uh, sir… I don't think we have to… says right here who he shared a hospital room with."

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Sam took a chance as soon as he heard his father yelp and darted across the hall to his parent's room and walked into the bathroom, opening the shower door, "Come on bro."

"Hi!" Isaac screeched.

"No!" Sam hissed, "Shh… we're hunting bunny rabbits okay?"

Isaac covered his nose with his finger, "Shh. Kay."

Sam tilted his head, strained to hear anything at all but only heard his father's cries as the man continued to yell at him. He didn't understand why he kept saying that he wanted the kids, to teach his father a lesson. It didn't make sense to him, but he wasn't sticking around to make sense of it. Satisfied the coast was clear, Sam darted back across the hallway and lifted his brother to the window after he'd opened it.

"No!" Isaac shook his head, "No, no."

"Yes, you have too," Sam pleaded, "Please… go get your horsy, he's waiting for you."

Isaac grinned, "Zooos!"

"Yeah, go find him." Sam whispered and lowered him out the window holding his hand and stretching his arm as far as it would go until he felt Isaac's body stand firm as his tiny bare feet touched the ground.

"Nana!" Isaac pointed to his baby sister that was crying frantically. Painfully.

"I know!" Sam hissed, "Make her quiet and I'll give you a dollar!" Sam commanded and closed the window, running back to the shower for Solomon whose cries were already being heard by the unwanted visitor.

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"Who?" Olivia demanded, "Who'd he share the room with?"

"Francis Gotterson… sound familiar?"

She shook her head an emphatic, 'No" and began to sob.

"Okay, give me that," Cragen said reaching for the file, "This his medical record?"

"Yeah," Carp exhaled, "Sorry I thought it was him."

"Sonovabitch!" Cragen shouted staring down at the fresh page he'd flipped to.

"What?" Olivia swiped her tears and leaned into Cragen, "What, tell me!"

"He switched rooms, as per the doctors request… shared a room with Richard White!"

Olivia stopped breathing.

'Is this about Richard White going to jail last year?'

'He was in jail?'

'Yeah a medical thing'

She slowly pushed her chair back and had to hit her chest with her palm to encourage her body to take a breath.

'Excuse me, Mrs. Stabler. How do you feel about the early release of Richard White?'

'Please don't turn what my family has been through into a tabloid fiasco.'

She swallowed the lump in her throat, took in a ragged breath and closed her eyes as her tears fell.

'I swore I saw Richard White watching you in the café.'

'El, no ones gonna pull the carpet out from under us this time.'

'He was there, in my review mirror, at the bus stop, then next to me at the stop light.'

'If he's on the bus, how can he be at a stop light in a car?'

'I don't know. My mind says it's him… I'm confused. It's him. It's got to be.'

Her sob cut through Cragen and Carp like a hot knife through butter as she staggered to her feet, "I- I didn't believe him." She shook her head and grabbed for her coat, "He-he had called the PO… everything was normal. I thought…. I thought he was stressed out. Tired."

Cragen stood, "PO? What's the name?"

She shook her head in shock and blinked rapidly trying to remember, "Sage Carrington."

"Carp!" Cragen bellowed, "Call dispatch, get me that number! Now!"

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"Tell me something Detective Stabler, or should I say Lieutenant now," he smiled "do you crawl around on the floor like this for Olivia? Hmm?" he asked kicking his side again as Elliot made every effort to get to the bedroom. To the gun. But, as he crawled and was mercilessly tortured he saw a figure from the corner of his eye dart across the hall and he knew his son was on that side of the house. He let out another hopeless sob and immediately began to struggle and crawl back the other way. Doing everything in his weakening power to keep this psycho away from his children.

"Liv!" he yelled so forcefully he began to vomit. Puke and blood and fear all at once.

"You're such a bitch," the man smiled. "I'd have you crawl to me and beg me for you're life, but uh… well, looks like that knee isn't gonna hold up."

Elliot reached out to him, through his blood matted eyes, "Please… help me."

"Help you? Mmm, no. I'm going to kill you."

Elliot's hand dropped, "Then do it!" he screeched in agony, "Please!" he yelled in pain and then whimpered "Please… hurts."

Without mercy the man kicked him in his hip again, repeatedly, and when he was exasperated of the effort and irritated with Elliot's screams he pulled a kitchen chair from the table, vaguely aware that Zeus was snapping and barking and throwing his body against the sliding glass door as he helplessly looked on. Watching his master being brutalized.

Elliot moaned as the man drug him to the chair and grunted and heaved him into it.

"Ahhhh!" Elliot yelled as his badly injured body was forced to sit. Forced to bend to conform to the chair and forced to yield to this man, that had brought him to the act of begging for his life, "Kill me," Elliot begged, "No more… just… kill me. Don't be a coward!" he growled moving his head frantically around the room as his vision continued to lesson.

He felt the rope wrap around his body. Bound. Restricted. Unable to protect or be protected. He exhaled and thought it odd that it wasn't a bullet at work that killed him, or a terrible car accident. It was a man, entering his home; it was the torture and extreme pain that was going to kill him. And if it didn't, the aftermath of what his life would be, would.

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There were no more blankets, nothing to lower his littlest brother out the window with. Sam exhaled, kissed his crying brother and stepped onto the stool and peeked his head out the window,

"Isaac?" he hissed.

"Boo!" Isaac yelled, "Coldies, Sam Sam."

Sam groaned, "You're never cold! Shut up!"

"Coldie!" Isaac told him again, "Sockies! Shoooes!" he cried and slapped his bare foot against the snow covered cement.

"Where's Nana?"

"Blankie!" Isaac smiled and pointed. This game was fun.

"Get Olo,"

"Oooh. Big." Isaac laughed and grunted and heaved as Sam lowered his crying brother out of the window "Uggh," Isaac groaned and laughed as he fell onto his back in the snow, "Fun!" he screeched and tried as best he could to move Solomon onto the blanket with his sister. He looked up to the window, expected to see Sam and instead, saw nothing.

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"Eagle Eye is in the air!" Cragen barked as soon as he got off the phone, "Mac and Fin are racing against traffic, down power lines and every other act of God right now, but they'll get there Liv. They will. I promise."

"You can't promise!" Olivia snapped, running her hand through her hair, "Why didn't I believe him?" she sobbed.

"I called the PO… he says that according to White's ankle bracelet he's at home. We sent a uniform from queens to verify… this could still be a false alarm, Olivia."

She looked at him and nodded, "Could be… but Sam was sick this morning."

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"Let me go!" Sam yelled as soon as he felt rough hands grab the strap to the baby vest from behind. He'd been so close to getting out of the window. He held on tight to the frame, kicking his legs, "Let me go, jerk wad!"

"Shut your hole you little brat!" he yelled.

"Bite me, jerk wad!" Sam yelled back, but when he felt his fingers slipping from the window, he gave it one last thrust and closed it. Sealing him from his brothers and sister, hoping against hope that God heard his prayers as he lowered each one of them out of the house and into the cold.

He hadn't been spanked since he had come to stay with the Stabler's, but when he felt the man's hand slap his bottom and his back and head in an effort to make him submit, he knew he was being spanked and he didn't know why this man was being so cruel. He cried out and immediately crumbled.

"Pussy little fag," he said and snatched him up by his shirt forcing him down the hall.

"Dad! Daddy help!" he screeched feeling the knuckles of his toes drag along the hardwood floor. His barely healed blisters tearing slowly. Painfully.

"Your daddy is dead!" he yelled, shaking Sam's shoulders roughly so that his head snapped forward and back, "he's dead you little prick and it's all of your fault! You should have come out when I asked you to! This wouldn't have happened!"

He cried, "No! No! Mommy! Mommy, save me!" he screeched and suddenly steeled in the man's rough embrace. He heard it, it was faint to the average ear, but not Sam's, he heard his father's whimper, his labored breathing. His crying. He was alive.

He felt the man's hand dig into his shoulder and force him down to his knees. The faint traces of his father's cologne told him he was close to him but he didn't know where, "Dad?"

"You're gonna watch your son die," the man smiled and pulled Sam's single trail of hair as he tried to get free.

"God!" Sam yelled, "Help!" he screeched turning and reaching with one hand to mark the man's position and shoving with the other a flat, perfectly executed palm strike into the mans genitals. The sound of him hitting his knees and groaning, the sound of metal hitting and bouncing off the floor, his breath was so close. Sam reached out and struck again to where his breath seemed to come from and chambered with a perfect knife hand strike to his throat, yelling and chambering as much power and confidence in his strike as his mother had taught and enforced with him during practice.

The man gasped for a moment, the impact on his adams apple almost too much to handle.

"Sam," Elliot steeled his voice as much as possible. This was the only way out and he knew he would hate himself for having Sam do it. He squinted his eye, tried to take in the blurry scene, "Sam, listen to me," Elliot said anxiously as he heard the man struggle to breath but he knew he would recover quickly, "Sam…do you want to build with me?" Elliot asked, emphasizing every word.

"No, I want mom," Sam screeched moving to Elliot's voice.

"Stop!" Elliot barked and winced at his pain. He lowered his voice immediately when Sam's face crumbled in fear, "Stop. I need you to remember what we build with… can you do that?" he asked in a tamer voice.

Sam's brows arched with realization, "Where?"

"Four feet left behind you."

Sam moved to his left but felt a hand grab at his ankle, a terrible pain slice through his leg and he screamed and sobbed, crying for his mother "Mommy!" He realized now, just why his father had cried so desperately for her… they needed her.

"You sonovabitch!" Elliot yelled and frantically moved side to side in the chair, desperately trying to free his hands, "Reach Sam!" Elliot commanded.

Sam reached his hands out in front of him and kicked his legs hard and strong just like they'd showed him in the pool. He heard the man curse and the sound of metal drop to the floor again. Sam scattered, quickly listening to his father's commands, "Left!"

Sam felt it, felt the cold metal in his hands, and the rough hand of his attacker on his back pulling him up and slamming him onto his back. Elliot yelled, moved desperately in the chair until it fell over, taking his tied up body with it. He groaned and screamed in pain, but quickly pushed it aside when he made out the blurry figure, standing next to his moaning son, his boot raised high to come crashing down on his head.

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"Olivia!" Alex yelled rushing to her desk and kneeling in front of her, "Fin called me," she explained and quickly wrapped her arms around Olivia's trembling body, "It's okay… it's okay, he said they're about twenty minutes out, and that was ten minutes ago… it's okay," she whispered and rubbed her back softly, "It's okay."

Olivia buried her face in blond locks, thought of Isaac, Solomon and Sam and wept bitterly, balling Alex's shirt in her fist, "No more… I can't take anymore," she whispered.

"It's gonna be okay."

"No it's not," Olivia whispered and held tighter, "Sam was sick this morning."

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"NOW SAM!" Elliot shouted, "NOW! DO IT!"

Obedience was a must. While Sam didn't fully understand why his father was telling him to purposefully hurt someone, he brought the nail gun to his chest, pointed it upward and pulled the trigger immediately.

The man screamed out but remained standing, even with a nail in his inner thigh.

"AGAIN!" Elliot commanded.

Sam obeyed, trigger pull, after trigger pull, after trigger pull until Sam dropped his Goliath to the floor with a loud thud. He heard the man scream in pain and Sam scrambled to his fathers voice.

"No. Get Zeus!" Elliot said trying to keep his vision clear enough to see the man who was struggling to his feet already, "Quick! Fast! NOW!" Elliot yelled at his son who immediately ran to the sliding glass door, threw the lock only to feel rough hands about his waist, his body suddenly weightless, his position forgotten as he was spun around.

"FIGHT SAM!" Elliot yelled, struggling to get free of his ropes as they loosened with the positioning of his body against the chair, "FIGHT!"

Sam threw his head back just like Olivia had told to do if someone grabbed him from behind. He felt the man's blood trickle down his neck. He heard the man groan, felt him stumble with him in his arms and instantly twisted and struck behind him with an elbow strike to the side of his face effectively making the man moan.

"HARDER!" Elliot yelled, his hands suddenly twisting free from his binds.

Sam tossed his head back again and again and again, each time, slamming his skull into the man's face, yelling out in his own pain until he suddenly came crashing to his hands and knees. He'd been released but didn't know exactly where he was. Where to run to in order to get to the sliding door. To Zeus.

"Dad!"

"To your-" Elliot was cut off by a fist to his head as he'd tried to crawl to his son. He moaned as the room spun. The feeling of that bar coming down on his body again only several seconds after the kick. Elliot tried to crawl with his hands only to feel the intense pain of a knife being driven through his right palm and effectively sticking into the wood floor. He sobbed, unable to move, unable to protest as the bar continued to assault his body, and eventually everything faded to black.

Sam heard the violent strikes against his father's body and crawled desperately to a point of reference, colliding with the wall. He'd thrown the bagel here, that morning he talked with his mother, which meant he was two windows from the left of the glass door, where Zeus' barking still continued just as aggressively as it had started. He quickly felt his way along the walls and windows until his fingertips touched the cool metal of the sliding doors frame. He threw the sliding door open, "ZEUS!" he yelled into the cool of the night and offered a point of his hand behind him to where the man was still beating on his father, "Feindangriff!" he commanded.

Feindangriff, the German word his mother had stressed over him on several occasions, the word he was told to never use playfully around Zeus, the word he was told would transform Zeus into an unfriendly and unkind dog, and if he ever gave the command, he was to gain the dog's attention by name, point, and issue the command. Then run.

He ran into the cold night, "Isaac!" he yelled, "Isaac!" he screeched into the backyard. As soon as Zeus and Tripod bolted past him into the house.

"Sam Sam," Isaac's voice was low, tired, "Coldie Sam Sam." He said and Sam caught the shiver in his voice and quickly pulled his sweater off of his body, fighting with the baby vest and finally freeing himself and feeling for his brother who surprisingly was in the same place he'd lowered him, next to two screaming infants.

"Put this on," he said keeping his ear trained and satisfied he still heard Zeus' aggressive barking, "Quick like a bunny," Sam encouraged his brother and adjusted the sleeves quickly, "Alright, want to be a big boy an-" he stopped mid sentence hearing a yelp from Zeus and then nothing. He didn't know what to do. Three kids. Two arms. "I'm just a boy," Sam started to cry, "Please God, I'm just a boy. Help us."

Quickly he wrapped both infants into a comforter, careful to give them room to breath like his mother had showed him after their baths. It was different though, harder to wrap them both in the same blanket. He heard footsteps, slow, shaky footsteps, but they were getting closer. Sam heaved the bundled infants into his arms, locking his fingers, "Come on Isaac… let's go play hide and seek."

Isaac trotted along, seemingly unaware as to the fact that his father lay dieing or perhaps already dead in their living room where he wrestled and played cars with his mother. He giggled as they stopped at the gate at the side of the house, "Open it," Sam instructed, "Hurry, they're so heavy."

Isaac smiled and reached up to the lever, standing on his cold tippy toes and using the tips of his fingers to reach and touch it, he raised it up easily and Sam pushed the gate open with his body as he heard footsteps walking along the deck, a sudden growl and yap from Tripod and more yelling in pain from the Man that had been so cruel to their father.

"Run Isaac! Come on!" Sam told him as they sprinted down the driveway of their home only to be met with a closed gate that Sam ran into, stumbling backwards and groaning before regaining his bearings, "Button!" Sam yelled out and quickly placed his crying cargo in the snow and flipped the reset button just as his father had showed him after the first repair guy had come out to look at their gate. He heard it open and he quickly felt around for the bundle and Isaac's hand. "Run!" he said and pulled his brother out of the driveway and along the same shoulder letting his hand fall only to add support to the crying babies. They were so heavy. He was so small, "God," he breathed as he ran, "help me. I'm just a boy."

Isaac cried, "No! Cold!" he chirped trying to sit and relieve his toes from the cold snow.

"Isaac, move!" Sam called out, not sure where he was.

"Coldies!" Isaac cried. The game wasn't so fun anymore, "Mama." He began to cry.

Sam followed his voice and found his hand jerking him up, "Move!" he yelled and suddenly heard a loud noise from the sky. He'd never heard something quite like it before and it scared him. He quickly went off the road into the bushes. The babies were too heavy. He was so tired, after all he was just a boy… but his mom said he was a super hero. He picked up the babies again, and ran deeper into the brush careful to drag Isaac with him who was now yelling in protest and pain as the stickers stabbed at his feet.

Sam focused on counting and when he reached two hundred, he laid the bundle of crying babies down next to a tree and soothed them softly. Hannah responded immediately but Solomon proved more difficult and Sam knew he'd have to leave one. The quietest one. The one that wouldn't draw attention to herself. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the cell phone he'd discovered on the couch. It had been beeping, like when his dad missed a call.

He listened carefully for the beeps until he had found it and pulled it off of the couch cushion, turning it off and cramming it into his pocket. He didn't know why, just knew that he had too. He flipped the phone open and felt on the pad, dialed 911 and waited nervously for the operator.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"This is my dad's phone," Sam cried as his body shook from nerves and cold, "He's a cop, this is where my sister is." He said and laid the phone over a tightly wrapped Hannah, before placing a crying Solomon into the baby vest. He heard the operator talking on the phone asking if anyone was there. He picked up the phone again as an afterthought, "My name is Samuel Stabler, I'm nine and my dad is really hurt. He needs someone to fix him, the man is still in the house," he cried and tucked the phone back into Hannah's blanket. He kissed her forehead again and put her young life back into God's hands.

He grabbed Isaac and bolted left, unsure of his surroundings but the sound in the sky was louder and louder, his shoulder hit a tree and he stumbled. Isaac fell next to him and cried out, "Come on!" Sam yelled feeling to ensure that his littlest brother was still okay in the vest, "Hurry! Mom's waiting!"

Isaac grinned, "Mama!"

"Move!" Sam commanded and yanked his arm again. He continued to count, waited until he hit one hundred and turned left heading towards the sound of passing cars. Cars meant roads.

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"Got a nine one one!" Carp yelled, slamming down the phone into the cradle, "Where's Benson?"

"Crib with Alex." Cragen barked, "What is it?"

"Sam called nine eleven, from Elliot's cell phone; they're running a trace right now, using the phone lines and GPS."

"He's not at home?" Cragen asked in suspicion.

Carp exhaled, "Just told the operator, 'This is where my sister is and the man is still in the house."

Cragen's mouth formed a small smiled, "Smart kid."

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The vest broke when it got caught up on a branch and Sam struggled for freedom. He felt Solomon's body slip lower and he instantly grabbed for him, catching him in what he thought was just in time. Sam's body hurt. His knees, from falling onto the ground, throbbed and he was so very tired. He placed Solomon onto the snow, pulled his last remaining shirt off of his body, warmed with his adrenaline, and wrapped his baby brother with it, before deciding it wasn't gonna keep him warm. Without regard for himself, even as he shivered in the cold, he removed his pants and covered his brother, feeling around the area for the driest spot and placing him close to a tree a small kiss to his crying cheek, a silent prayer.

The noise seemed to follow him wherever he tried to run. If he stopped it stayed close, if he moved it followed and only forced him to keep running. He panted, didn't have time to put his shoes back on, just knew that he had to keep running. He grabbed Isaac and continued to run, his boxers his only warmth. He ran, stumbled, got up and stumbled, ran more and stumbled until finally, with the last stumble he made, his head hit the shoes of a stranger's feet. A man he didn't recognize by scent or voice, but was assured, by God, wouldn't hurt him.

Sam was tired and in pain. He let his world grow silent even as he felt Isaac's hand leave his.

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"Looks normal from here," Mac said pulling into the driveway.

"Gates open," Fin observed as he stepped out of the car, weapon drawn.

"Hear that Fin?" Mac asked.

"Sirens… they're close," Fin nodded, and turned on a flashlight, gasping.

"What? What is it?"

"Blood, lots of it… call Cragen; tell them to make things happen faster." Fin said and quickly made his way up the steps of the porch taking notice of the badly beaten front door and gently nudging it open with his foot, as Mac finally caught up with him.

Panting, he steadied his weapon, "EMS is in route, apparently they tried to go the back way, got caught up in a snow bank, we made it first."

Fin nodded and they both cautiously entered the home, "Police," Mac called out, the eerie quiet almost making his announcement joyous.

Fin banked right, pointing his weapon down the hall and slowly examining the rooms as Mac immediately searched the kitchen and gasped at the dog struggling to breath, a knife sticking out of its side, "Fin," he called out and immediately dialed the K-9 unit to send out their emergency vet. It was obvious the dog put his life on the line for this family, and Mac would see that he got the medical care he needed.

"Clear!" Fin barked back, "No sign of the kids or El-" he stopped as soon as he passed the living room, "Oh, Lord have mercy," Fin prayed and instantly crossed the area to kneel next to Elliot's body. Not a sound, a moan or protest from his beaten friend. He rolled him over just as Mac's eyes adjusted to what he was seeing.

"Oh, no." he whispered and was about to make his way to Fin when he heard a noise behind him, the faint growl of Zeus and then stared in horror as Fin instantly raised his weapon and pointed it over Mac's shoulder. Two quick shots. One thud. Mac swallowed hard and turned around to see the bloody mass of man at the threshold of the house. Still breathing. Not moving.

"Cover him!" Fin said, "He moves. You kill him." Fin lowered his ear to Elliot's mouth and nose, lowered his hear to his chest, "I got nothing!"

"Then get something'!" Mac yelled keeping his weapon trained on the struggling man, "NOW!"

"One-two-three-four-five," Fin counted as he compressed Elliot's chest and tipped his head back, counting mentally while he filled his friend's lungs with vital air and continued the cycle, "One-two-three-four-five,… come on Stabler, you leave Liv and she'll die… one-two-three…"

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"Ground station this is Eagle Eye One. Do you copy?"

"Eagle Eye One, this is Ground Station. Over."

"We had our spotlight trained on two figures, looked like kids running through the brush. Two deposits made, you ready to take down lat and long? Over?"

"Roger, ready to copy. Over."

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Cragen exhaled in moderate relief, "Chopper landed a mile from the house, an ambulance transported Elliot to it. He's in the air," he told Carp.

"Elliot is being transported by a helicopter?" Olivia asked startling both of them.

Cragen exhaled, he didn't want to tell her this way. Didn't want her to just stumble into a conversation. He reached out to her and pulled her into his embrace as Alex stayed close, "The chopper thinks they caught sight of Sam running, they passed over some coordinates to help the search team."

She pulled back, eyes wide with terror, "Sam was running! Where?"

"I don't know where he was going," Cragen told her, "He called 911… it looks like, for sure he got Isaac out of the house. The chopper said two kids, maybe two drops."

"Two drops," she grabbed his forearms, "Hannah and Solomon?"

"Maybe. I'm praying that's the case, but, I don't know… it's not clear. Sam dialed 911, left the phone on and laid it with Hannah, he told the operator, 'this is where my sister is'… it sounds like he at least got her out of the house."

"Solomon? What about Solomon?" she begged.

"I don't know," he said rubbing her arms, "Liv, I don't know."

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The sirens woke Sam up. In a bed that wasn't his. A room that didn't smell like his, but Isaac lay next to him. They were warm. He was still tired. His leg hurt him so bad but he was more scared now that anything.

"Its okay," a woman said softly, "its okay… we're your neighbors from up the road. The Passtrans… remember us?"

Sam stayed silent, felt the bandage the covered his leg. He'd been helped, not hurt.

"We talked to the police; your parents are police officers, aren't they? They're sending a friend for you so you can see your mom."

Sam exhaled and lay back in the unfamiliar bed and pulled his brother close to him. Weeping.

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"Think he'll live?" Mac asked as the second ambulance crew ushered Richard White out on a gurney.

"Hope not," Fin said matter of fact, "He should have died years ago."

"Who is he?" Mac asked taking a look around the house. It looked like a slaughter house, with the blood splatter and obvious struggles that showed themselves in the pools of blood. Elliot's blood.

"K-9's team is here," a uniform called, "Where's the dogs?"

"Here, both… the little one needs to be checked too, but the dobbie… its bad he needs help." He said and pointed them to the whimpering dog before turning back to Fin, "Who is he?"

Fin exhaled as they began to process the scene, "I wasn't in SVU at the time, but Richard White had a thing for Liv."

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Frantically, Olivia collided with the first nurse she could find, "I'm-I'm looking for Elliot Stabler, he was flown in on a chopper."

"Um, you'll have to check with the emergency room, that's in the west wing." The nurse replied.

"Come on," Alex whispered, "Lets go, I'll take you."

The walk to the west wing seemed to take for hours as Olivia periodically let out an uncontrollable sob. Alex held her as they stood somewhere between their arrival point and destination, the night moving on into early morning, "I want my children," Olivia cried softly, "I want them so bad, and I don't know where any of them are."

"They're gonna find them," Alex assured her, "Sam did well, he did so well."

"I don't know where he is, and I just want to hold him," she cried harder into Alex's shoulder, "I want to hold my husband… they flew him in. You know what that means," she shook her head; "You know it's bad, if they flew him."

"Olivia," Alex rubbed circles over her back, "Cragen could have just demanded it… we don't know how bad it is."

"It's bad," Olivia whispered "Sam was sick."

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"Yes!" Carp yelled into the bullpen as he hung up the phone. He turned around to meet Cragen's expectant eyes, "Sam and Isaac are up the road from their home at a neighbors house, just got the call in to dispatch from a Mr. and Mrs. Passtran. I called Alex's husband… didn't know who else."

Cragen exhaled, running his hands over his head. He nodded, "Any word from Mac or Fin?"

"White is being transferred to a hospital. I told them just to make sure it wasn't the one Elliot was in. I'm not sure how Benson… if Benson could handle knowing he was in the same place as her husband."

"Good call," Cragen nodded, "Hannah or Solomon?"

"Nothing."

Cragen looked out the window, "Got to find them soon. Snows falling harder."

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Olivia slammed her hands down onto the counter as Alex tried to pull her away, "Where's my husband!" Olivia yelled to the nurse who stared at her with wide eyes.

"Olivia," Alex pulled her away quickly, "come on," she encouraged and ushered her into a waiting area. Olivia perched herself on a couch and sobbed relentlessly into her hands, feeling Alex wrap her arms around her and pull her close as her world crumbled.

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"Hello?" Mr. Passtran smiled softly, "May I help you?"

"Yes," Robert smiled, "I'm, Robert Gray, here for Samuel and Isaac Stabler."

"Ah yes," Mr. Passtran said, motioning for Robert to enter, "and who might this one be?" he asked pointing to a sleeping Addison in his arms.

"A good friend of mine." Robert smiled, "His folks are… out of town."

"You're a kind man," Mr. Passtran assured him and led him through his home, "the policeman was just by here to check on the boys… told me what happened. I'd heard a commotion… the country echoes, you know?" he said, leading him up the stairs, "I started to walk out of my home and heard all types of barking and crying and yelling… the oldest one literally fell at my feet, only in his boxers and socks."

"Is he hurt?"

"Scraped up and banged up, might need some stitches," Mr. Passtran told him, "but, my wife has been tending to him. Retired from nursing after 25 years," he smiled as they stopped at a door, "she thinks he'll be just fine."

"And the toddler?"

He smirked, "Stubborn. His feet will be sore. He's banged up, but caused all sorts of fun mischief before finally falling asleep next to his brother."

"Sounds like him," Robert chuckled and adjusted Addison.

"You must like kids, to tote around everyone else's, they must trust you," Mr. Passtran assessed.

"I do. They do… may I see the boys, please?"

"Certainly," he smiled and opened the door.

Robert exhaled in relief at the two boys tucked tightly in the bed.

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"Patrol five eight, this is K-9, you copy?"

"K-9 this is patrol five eight, go ahead. Over."

"Roger five eight. I found your little boy."

"Roger that K-9, his mother is appreciative, I'm sure. Good job. What's your position?"

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"Carp!" Cragen bellowed, "Get Alex on the phone, tell her Solomon has been located and their using the GPS coordinates from Elliot's cell to find Hannah!"

"On it!" Carp hollered back and retrieved the scratch note that Alex had left her and Paul's cell phone numbers on.

"Carp!" Cragen called to him again as he hung up the phone.

"Yeah Cap?" he responded as he dialed, he stopped and looked up at Cragen.

Don smiled softly, "Tell them they got Hannah too."

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"What's taking so long?" Olivia sniffled "Why can't I see him?"

"Liv," Alex soothed, "They're patching him up for you… he's gonna be fine, he-" she groaned and dug into her pocket for her cell phone, flipping it open, "This is Alex… uh huh… no…. no…. okay… thank you." She hung up the phone and wrapped her arm back around Olivia's shoulders, "They've found the kids, Liv… all of them."

She sat up, holding onto Alex's forearms, "A-all of them?"

"All of them."

"Sam and Isaac and Solomon and Hannah? All of them?"

"All of them… a neighbor found Sam and Isaac… K-9 found Solomon and a search team found Hannah with GPS."

Olivia swallowed; relief still hadn't graced her features, "Alive?" she asked shakily.

Alex cupped her face, "Oh, sweetie… they're all alive. All of them, they're scraped up, but the babies are being transported here and Robert is bringing Isaac and Sam in to be checked and to see you."

"Robert?" Olivia whispered.

"Carp called him to pick up the boys… didn't know who else you would have trusted them with."

Olivia exhaled and sobbed all at once and fell back into Alex's embrace.

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"Sam?" Robert whispered and rubbed his back as Addison continued to sleep on his shoulder, "Sam… can you wake up? I want to take you to your mom."

Sam stirred and slowly sat up. Quietly began to cry.

"Hey," Robert laid Addison down on the bed and scooted to Sam who flinched at his touch and huddled himself into the corner of the bed, "okay." Robert whispered, "I won't touch you… do you recognize my voice?"

Sam wrapped his arms around his legs and sobbed harder. Isaac stirred and woke up, a small moan as he tried to move. He began to cry, "Mama?"

"Hi, little guy," Robert said softly and stroked his cheek, "Want to see Mama?"

Isaac cried and wormed his way into Roberts lap sobbing into his shoulder, "Hurt. "

Robert stroked his back even as Sam still cried in the corner of the bed, "I know it does… we're gonna take you to see your mommy… Sam… want to follow my voice?" Robert asked, "You can tug on my shirt if that makes you more comfortable."

"Both of the boys," Mrs. Passtran spoke from the door, "they've had a terrible time walking. The older one will need stitches as soon as he gets to the hospital, the younger should be fine, but needs to be looked at… let them fall to sleep again and my husband will help you take them to the car."

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"Olivia?" Carp called as he entered the waiting area, "Benson? You here?"

She sniffled, wiped her tears and could barley stand to make eye contact with him, "Yeah… what's going on? Hear anything?"

"No," he said apologetically, "I just… I just came by… um, it's been awhile since you've eaten and well, I know when you… um… my sister, she… well, I hear breast feeding… well you got to eat," he swallowed hard and placed a large brown bag on the table, "I haven't known you long enough to know your favorites but uh… well there's something from everywhere close to the station there."

She swallowed and nodded softly, "Thank you, Carp. You didn't have to-"

"Yes I did… I'm sorry I didn't catch it sooner. This wouldn't have happened if I'd paid more attention to the way it was set up… if I'd looked at it differently."

Alex exhaled and stood, "You know… I think you two need some time, I'm gonna wait in the hall for Robert," she said and slipped out as Carp timidly sat on the opposite length of the couch.

Olivia cleared her throat, "You're uh… you're gonna be a good detective, Carp."

"I got lucky."

"No," she shook her head, "you're where you're supposed to be… you're fighting in the right lawn."

He smiled softly, "I have a good partner… little rough around the edges, but uh… she's good."

She laughed and sobbed at the same time, "Thank you."

He slowly crept closer to her and rested his hand over hers before wrapping his arm around her and hugging her tight, "I know things look so impossible right now, but you keep fighting for your patch of grass, you keep fighting for Elliot and one day your gonna wake up in an oasis."

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"Alex," Robert called to her and quickly made his way to her from the end of the hall, hugging her tightly careful of Addison, "how's Elliot? How's Olivia holding up?"

"She's a wreck," Alex exhaled as they separated, she stroked Addison's hair as his eyes struggled to stay away, "go to sleep," Alex whispered.

"Elliot?"

"They haven't heard anything on him, he was unconscious and bagged when he got here, that's according to the nurse that I overheard talking… I don't have it in me to tell Olivia."

He exhaled, wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead, "We'll be there for them, we'll be there for them every step of the way. We'll carry the extra weight; we'll do what they need. I'm here from them, standing right next to you. I'm on your team… their team," he assured her.

She nodded softly and rubbed Addison's sleeping form, "Looks like you're on everyone's team right now."

"I told Paul, this morning that we'd keep him as long as they needed, he's welcome to see him anytime. He dropped of clothes, a stockpile of pampers and snacks for him and food, he gave us some money and his insurance card… I think that's appropriate, I think that Casey and Paul are gonna be fine, he says she's doing well and is expected to be released tomorrow. She wants to see Addison."

Alex exhaled, "Good, I'm glad, because she certainly didn't want to for the past week or so."

He kissed her cheek softly again, "Where's Olivia?"

"In the waiting room, it's… it's a family waiting room, so she's alone, except for her partner right now. I don't know if she can handle a bunch of strangers hanging around."

"Maybe she can handle two charming blond boys?" he smiled.

Alex grinned, "They're here? How are they?"

"They've both been admitted to pediatrics… Sam needed stitches and Isaac needs some observation, his feet were beaten up pretty good and oddly, the little guy was cold."

"Cold? There's a first."

Robert smiled, "Yeah. Sam isn't talking, won't let anyone touch him and put up one doosie of a fight when the doctors tried to separate him from Isaac."

"He's got to be terrified."

"He's… it's like he's shell shocked or something. The neighbor that found him said they only found him in his boxers and socks."

Alex wiped at a tear, "That little guy… do they know what happened yet?"

"Preliminary speculation is that Sam tried everything he could, but he's just a little boy. Solomon was found with Sam's t-shirt and pants wrapped around him. Isaac was wearing his sweater."

Alex nodded, "Might be just a little boy, but he's got the heart of a lion."

"Do you want to tell Olivia?"

"Yeah, I'm just giving her some time with her partner… he's so young. I'm not sure who's needing what right now. He feels guilty and you know that Olivia is going to try and sooth him in spite of the fact that she needs it more. He walked in and she could barely look at him."

"Angry?"

"I think it's shame. She's supposed to be the leader between them. She's supposed to be looking out of him and teaching and molding and mentoring and she's being exposed in ways she would never want a co-worker, especially one she's training, to see."

"Mmm, yeah, I see that, but… from what I've heard from the cops in the halls was that Carp blew the case open… he should be proud of himself."

"I think… he believes he failed her by not seeing if sooner. I worked with SVU side by side for years, the bond between partners is like nothing you've ever seen and when one is hurting the other, automatically, for some reason heaps that guilt onto themselves and they hurt right along with the other."

He exhaled, "I'm going to take this little guy home, I think Olivia needs you right now, and doesn't need me hovering."

"Can I take her to see the boys? Have the babies gotten here?"

"I didn't see them. I'm sure if they are that they're in good hands… do you need anything? You want me to pick you up something to eat or drink?"

"No, no… what room are the boys in?"

"Uh, pediatrics, one floor up room 828, sharing the same bed because Sam isn't giving Isaac up for anything. I suggested an ice cream bribe… no go."

"Okay… I'll let them finish and then I'll take Olivia to see them."

He leaned in, kissed her lips, "I love you Al, you're a good, strong woman and the Stabler's are lucky at have you right now."

She nodded, "Thanks… I wish Casey were here too."

He caressed her cheek, "She needs to get her head together and be strong for herself before she can offer anything to anyone else."

"I know… I just… they're so close, were like a triangle, when one falls be both pick them up… I don't know if I'll be enough for Olivia and Elliot."

"Then tag me and I'll fill in," he winked and kissed her again, "I love you baby."

"Me too," she smiled as he walked past her and down the hall. Alex turned to push the door to the waiting room open just as Carp was walking out.

"Hello," he smiled sheepishly, evidence that tears had flowed evident.

"Hello… she okay?"

"She fell asleep… the crying… I think it's too much. Will you be here for her? She needs someone and if you can't then I'll stay."

"No," she shook her head, "No. I'll be fine. I'm not going anywhere; I'm taking her to see her boys."

He smiled in hope, "They're here?"

"Two of them that we know of… Sam and Isaac are on the next floor," she informed him and pushed the door open wider, "I'm gonna take her up."

"Kay… be gentle with her?" he asked, "she's a hard nose detective but she's mush with her family."

Alex smirked, "Didn't take long for you to figure that out."

He smiled softly, "It's written all over her face, it's in her words."

"Get some sleep Carp… heard you've been up for awhile."

He nodded softly and walked away. She took a deep breath and walked into the room sitting softly next to Olivia, "Hey," she whispered, "wake up. I know where two beautiful little boys are."

Olivia jolted awake and flung her feet to the floor, her hand quickly combing through black hair, "Where?" she croaked "Where? I want to see them, can I see them?"

"Yeah, come on," Alex smiled and helped her up, "I know exactly where they are."

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Alex pushed the door open softly and Olivia anxiously walked through stopping at the first bed who's banister read I. Stabler, but who's Power Ranger sheets were empty. Alex saw the momentary panic, the tensing of her shoulders, "He's sharing a bed with Sam… apparently Sam wouldn't let him go."

Quickly, Olivia moved to the next bed, just beyond the curtain that kept most of the light out, she exhaled. Two beautiful blond boys sleeping soundly in the bed, Sam's arm draped possessively over Isaac's smaller body. Transformer sheets pulled up along with a blanket and then folded over. Isaac's I.V's on his side of the bed, Sam's on his. Pajama's that were a little too big looking for Isaac, a little too snug for Sam.

Olivia sobbed, covering her mouth with her hands and weeping. Alex wasn't sure if it was relief or the pain that parent's must feel when they see their children in hospital beds. She absently rubbed her belly as Olivia pulled up a chair next to her boys and pulled the blankets back, inspecting every square inch of their bodies. Toes that peeked out of medicated gauze. Alex watched as Olivia's slender and delicate hands grazed the large bandage over Sam's calf as she wept, "What did he do to you baby?" she whispered.

Olivia lowered the safety railing and perched next to Sam's body, reaching over and inspecting Isaac, who clicked his tongue in his sleep and smiled softly at his mother's caress. Isaac snuggled in tighter to the safety of his brother's embrace and exhaled. Olivia chuckled through her tears and lightly touched Isaac's back, not knowing where he would hurt, "I don't think I've ever seen you in so many clothes before, monkey."

Sam stirred, a small moan escaping his lips, "Hi baby," Olivia whispered. Sam stayed still, pulled Isaac tighter, "It's okay, honey. It's mom… I'm not gonna hurt you."

Alex watched the interaction between Olivia and her sons, truly her love for her sons ruined her and that was the best thing Alex had ever seen happen in Olivia's life. Other than Elliot. Elliot, her husband, who lay on a cold operating table, hopefully being pieced back together so he can be with his wife and kids. Elliot. Olivia's beating heart. Alex exhaled knowing that without him, Olivia will cease to exist, and while she may not sit precariously on a bridge as Casey did, she will cease to exist just the same.

"Sam," Olivia whispered again and slowly rested her hand on his shoulder. He flinched at her touch. Balled up into a tighter form and pulled Isaac closer. "Oh, honey," Olivia's voice broke, "no, baby, I'm not gonna hurt you… please come to me, son. Please?"

Sam's silent tears were evident and he wasn't moving a muscle. Alex could see the pain that washed over Olivia's face and her heart broke for her. Isaac began to stir, a moan of pain, a grimace coming across his features as his eyes opened and then slammed shut. He began to cry and Sam instantly ran his hand over his shaved head, a soft kiss to his cheek and gentle rocking as they lay together. Olivia was amazed at the interaction but she needed so desperately to wrap her arms around one of them. Both of them. Isaac's eyes settled and he quickly went back to sleep.

"Wow," Olivia whispered, "you're such an amazing boy Samuel," she sniffled.

Please let me hold you. Please don't be afraid of me. I need you so much right now.

Sam wiped at his tears but remained unmoving. Terrified. Scared of his mother. The woman he loved, the woman who'd become his sight. His heart.

"Samuel," she whispered, "you did so well, taking care of your brothers and Hannah… can I hug you for that?" she asked softly.

Please let me hug you. I want to feel you. I want to smell you and know that my eyes are telling the truth, please Sam. Let me hold you; let me wrap my arms around you.

Isaac began to cry even as he slept and Olivia could see the nervousness seep into Sam's face as he tried to sooth him again.

"Baby," Olivia whispered, "come to me, please? Just like in the pool… little steps. I'll wait, but please come to me."

Please baby, a touch, a sob, a hand anything. I'll take anything.

Alex watched from her seat as Sam began to cry softly as he turned to his back, for the first time releasing his hold on his brother. He cried as he lay there, cried because he was scared and confused and he didn't smell his dad, he couldn't hear his breathing.

Olivia reached her hand out, palm up, "Sam, just like the pool… take my hand, son."

He sniffled as he sat up and slowly reached out for his mother's hand.

The sob escaped her mouth as soon as his small, scraped and bruised hand touched her long slender fingers and grasped them as he pulled himself up and quickly fell into her embrace crying.

Nothing had ever felt so right then to have her son in her arms. Nothing. She stroked his back as he began to cry louder, his fist balling her shirt up as his mouth fell agape to take in a raspy breath and release a piercing shrill against her shoulder, "Go ahead," she whispered softly as Isaac began to stir again, "Go ahead, son, get it all out. It was so scary wasn't it?"

He sucked in labored breaths and shrieked again, scooting deeper into her body, his legs tight around her waist and she wondered if it was okay for his leg to do that, but she wouldn't deny him this embrace, she couldn't deny herself this embrace. She felt his small belly convulse with his labored cries and she knew that her lips wouldn't be able to kiss this wound away.

Isaac's eyes locked with Olivia's when they finally opened and stayed open, "Mama," his chin began to quiver as his tears released. She pulled him close to her as he began to crawl to her. She brought him close, careful of his I.V and held her sons as they wept together. Uncontrollably. Inconsolably. Until, after nearly an hour, Isaac had fallen asleep, his back resting against Sam and Olivia's sides, her hand splayed protectively over his chest as Sam lay asleep, his face buried in her neck, fist still tight.

"Alex," Olivia whispered, her first words directed to her friend since entering the room.

"Yeah?" She responded standing to her feet, "I go him," she assured her and helped to lay Isaac down and adjust his I.V.. Olivia slowly bent her torso and lowered Sam back to the bed, hovering over his body to release his grasp from her shirt. He rolled instantly to his side and pulled his brother close to him. Olivia stretched along side him, draped one arm over the pillows and the other arm over their bodies as she continued to weep.

Uncontrollably.

Inconsolably.

Until sleep finally caressed her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Excuse me," a nurse peeked into the boys' hospital room, "Is there and Olivia Stabler in here?"

"Yes," Alex said, "she's sleeping. She's not leaving so don't even think about asking her to," Alex warned, but when the nurse simply smiled she softened, "Something I can help you with?"

"Her babies were admitted hours ago, they've been checked out and are doing well but, we can't get one to take a bottle. Do you know if they're still on the breast or if they were ever on the breast?"

"She breast feeds and bottle feeds, but, I'm assuming you're talking about Hannah? She's the picky one, never know which way she's gonna go," Alex told her softly but knew it was for her own benefit. To make Hannah real again. To make light of a bad situation. To know that Hannah hadn't died, that she wouldn't be standing next to another grave consoling Olivia. Or would she?

"Can you wake her up?"

"I'm up," Olivia startled at the voices, "What's wrong?" she said frantically, "Is it Elliot? Is he okay?" she asked turning her body to see the women but seemed torn between wanting to stand and wanting to keep in contact with her boys.

"Your babies were admitted," the nurse smiled softly. "Your son is sleeping but your daughter did require a little work. We need to give her medicine, which means she needs to eat, and right now… she's not responding to the bottle."

The nurse took another step into the room, gave a cursory look at the woman and children the cops had been discussing at the nurses station. She'd never seen so many uniform officers and big cheeses in this hospital in the fourteen years she worked here. She wanted to know exactly who she was. She licked her lips, "She seems hungry but she's fussing and she won't take the bottle… we can run a line if you're too tir-"

"No." Olivia shook her head firmly, "No… please, bring her to me? Both of them?"

The nurse smiled, "Absolutely,"

Several minutes later, the same nurse as well as another walked in with two bassinets. One with a sleeping Solomon the other with a fussy Hannah. Olivia sobbed as she reached in a picked up Hannah, "Hey," she whispered to Hannah and assessed her daughter with gentle hands. "What happened to her?" she asked the nurse and motioned to Hannah's tiny splinted arm.

"Not sure how it happened," she explained, "but her forearm was broken according to the X-rays. She's splinted now until the swelling goes down. She'll be casted tomorrow. But, babies have incredible bone structure… she'll be just fine, with some tender loving care."

"She in pain?"

"Well more than likely, which is probably why she's adamantly against the bottle… but, she's hungry, which is good. Right now… she doesn't seem greatly affected by it, although I'm sure that will be a different story tomorrow."

"My son?" Olivia motioned to Solomon, "How is he?" she asked as she quickly scooted around to allow space for Hannah to lay. She opened her shirt and moved her bra, allowing Hannah to latch on with out incident as she lay in the gentle caress of her mother's arm and took sustenance next to her brothers.

"He's good… little bruised, he was very cold when he was found but he's a trooper."

The other nurse piped in and pointed to Sam, "The story around the nurse's station… the story the cops are chatting about in the halls, is that that little guy is a hero."

Olivia exhaled, stroked Sam's back as Hannah continued to eat and he continued to sleep, "Super hero."