Chapter 13

Carisi carried the box of the two dead birds into the precinct once he knew Olivia and the others would be there. Amanda was sitting at her desk and when she noticed him walking towards her she stood up.

"Carisi, everything okay?" She asked.

"No," Carisi set the box down on her desk. "This was at Tru's doorstep in the middle of the night."

He opened the box, revealing the dead animals inside. She gasped, "Good lord," she exclaimed.

"Yeah, pretty messed up." Carisi said.

"Did she call you this morning with this?" Amanda asked, looking at her watch, it was barely 8 in the morning. Carisi cocked his head to the side, not really wanting to answer the question or admit that he had spent another night with their 'victim'. "Never mind, I don't want to know."

"Can you find out who sent this?" Carisi asked.

"I can try, what are you gonna do?" Amanda asked.

"Tru's out in the car," Carisi said, "We have an errand to run…I didn't want to leave her alone."

"We?" She repeated, raising an eyebrow in skepticism. "So, you're a we now?"

"Come on, do we have to do this?" Carisi sighed, frustrated. He didn't have the energy to fight with her, or fight his feelings for Tru, or hide his feelings for her for that matter.

"I just mean, do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Rollins—"

"Look whoever did this wants her to suffer, that makes you a target."

"No one's coming after me," Carisi said.

"Are you sure?" Amanda said, she held up the box, "I mean these are two dead love birds."

"I'm not the one you need to be worried about right now." He said defensively.

"I'm just trying to help you." Rollins said quietly, looking down at the box. He understood now, she was just worried about him.

Carisi's voice softened, "I know, if you want to help find out who sent that."

She conceded and pulled open her desk drawer, pulling out a big zip lock bag, she placed the box inside. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Rollins," Carisi patted her on the shoulder before he started out of the room.

"What do you want me to tell Liv?" She hollered after him.

"Tell her I'm taking the day off." He yelled back.

The only sound in the car on the way back from the drugstore, was that of the windshield wipers going full force on the windshield. Slicking the rain away. Carisi could tell she had a lot on her mind. He glanced over at her for a second before turning his attention back to the road. "Try not to worry."

Her gaze was fixed on the windshield, staring into the distance in almost a trance. "He wants me dead," she said finally.

"I'm not gonna let that happen." Carisi reassured.

She sighed in exasperation, "Could I really be pregnant? Could God hate me that much?!"

"God doesn't hate anybody, you know that." Carisi said. "Try not worry until we know for sure, okay."

"What's gonna happen now?" She asked.

"They should be able to get a warrant for his DNA based on the evidence we have, and then we can arrest the son of a bitch." Carisi said.

"That's not what I meant." Tru looked down at the white paper bag that lay in her lap, Carisi glanced at her again, she meant between them. What would happen between them if she was pregnant with that evil man's child.

"Hey, don't worry about that," Carisi said softly, he took one hand off the wheel and pushed her hair back behind her ear, cupping her face and gently rubbing his thumb against her cheek bone. "We'll figure it out okay."

Before Tru could answer his cell phone rang, he pulled his hand away and retrieved his phone from his pocket, "Carisi," He answered, placing it on speaker phone to drive more safely.

"Hey Carisi, it's Rollins," Amanda said on the other end of the line.

"Rollins what's up?" He asked.

"We traced the birds back to a pet store in Brooklyn, Goldberg bought them with his credit card. Stone was able to get us a warrant but when we went to arrest him, he wasn't there." She was talking fast, "And there's something else…"

Carisi was confused, "What do you mean there's something else."

Tru's eyes narrowed in concern, and she leaned in as if to make sure she listened closer.

"In his apartment he had—"

Just then another vehicle slammed into them from the left, smashing into Carisi's side of the car and sliding them across the road. Tru barely had time to scream before the air bags knocked her back and sideways. The car tumbled over and over into the central barrier before coming to an absolute stop. Carisi turned his head to look at right before his own air bag deployed, slamming his head into the seat and making his ears ring. He tasted the coppery blood as it pooled in his mouth. He heard the glass cracking, or was it his bones? Maybe both. He tried to suck in a breath but his lungs felt like they would cave in on themselves.

They were stopped now, the rain pounded on the pavement all around them. "What happened?" He heard Tru say.

"Carisi?!" Rollins was still on the phone which had been knocked into the floor. "Carisi what happened?!"

He tried to bend down and snatch the phone, but he was pinned in place by the steering column. "Tru, are you okay?"

"I think so," she was grabbing her head as blood poured from a cut on it. She pushed the air bag aside and stretched to reach the phone in the floor, wincing as pain shot through her body. "Rollins' we've been in an accident."

"Okay, where are you?" Rollins asked.

"We're on 45th street," Tru said, "Sonny's really hurt."

The passenger door flung open and Carisi watched helplessly as a man in a baseball cap reached for Tru. She began to scream and try to slap him away. Carisi's ears rang harder, and his heart thudded in his chest as he watched helplessly.

"Get your hands off her!" He yelled. "Tru!"

"Sonny, help!" She screamed back, but a needle was pushed into her neck, Tru reached for Sonny's hand and held it tight, seeping some of her own blood onto him. He felt her grip loosen and she began to slump over as the drug took its effect.

"Carisi, what's going on?" Rollins voice still echoed in the car. The attacker picked up the phone and tossed it into the street.

"You son of a bitch, I will kill you do you hear me?" Sonny yelled at him as the man reached across Tru, taking his time across her chest region, and unbuckled her seatbelt. Carisi squinted harder, trying to identify Carson Goldberg, but it was hopeless, his vision was too blurry, the blood seeping into his eyes, the ringing in his ears was too distracting. He suddenly remembered the gun at his side and began to reach for it, then a punch landed across his face as he was out.

Carisi sat on the back of ambulance, Rollins was next to him holding an ice pack on his neck. He looked across the wreckage that lay in front of them, with no trace of Tru. Olivia Benson appeared walked past the wrecked car and up to Carisi. He was covered in blood. He had a gash on the side of his head, and his lip was busted, he had dried blood around his nose, but it had already stopped bleeding.

"Carisi, what happened?"

"The—the car just came out of nowhere-it plowed into us…. I—I—I tried—" he stammered not able to form a sentence.

"Who did it? Was it Goldberg?" Olivia asked.

"I couldn't tell," Carisi said.

Olivia looked around, "Where's Tru?"

"He—he took her, I tried-but I couldn't—I couldn't stop him." Carisi said.

Rollins rubbed his forearm trying to comfort him, but it was no use. He was useless. He had to watch powerlessly as the woman he loved was kidnapped right in front of him. Olivia stood up and pointed to the camera's at the traffic lights. "I want you guys to pull all this footage."

"We're already of it," Fin said, appearing beside Olivia.

"What were you trying to tell me?" Carisi asked, looking at Rollins. "Right before the accident you said you found something at Goldbergs."

The squad exchanged a glance between each other.

"What is it?" Carisi asked.

"He had a video monitor…" Fin started.

"He must have hidden camera's at Tru's apartment…he's been watching her-both of you." Rollins finished.

Carisi shot to his feet, a little too fsat because he fell back a step. "Im gonna kill him." Carisi said. "I'm gonna kill him."

"Hey, hey, hey," Olivia said in a hushed whisper, looking around to see if anybody heard what he said. "We didn't hear that."

"We need to get him to the hospital," The paramedic said from inside the bus.

"No, I have to find Tru." Carisi insisted.

"And we will, but you're no good to anybody if you're bleeding internally." Rollins said.

"Just go, we'll find her." Olivia said.

Carisi wanted to protest, but he knew she was right. "I'm not staying, I don't care what they say."

He climbed into the back of the ambulance and the doors were shut behind him. The paramedic began to wipe the blood off him and apply a bandage to the side of his head. It should probably sting. His body felt tight and tense, but he wasn't hurt. He couldn't feel anything but the agony of his thoughts. Tru's screams reverberated in his head, the sight of her being pulled away, and her hand falling from him was all he could think about as he silently vowed for vengeance.