"Cragen was right. September is hell." Olivia grumbled to herself as she looked around her overcrowded squadroom, trying to decide where to start.
"Liv, Mrs. Souser is in interrogation one and the two daughters are in the children's interview room."
"Great. Amanda, take a couple of juice boxes into the children's interview room and see what information you can get from the girls. Kat, talk to Mrs. Souser. Fin, a call just came in about a possible hate crime, head over to the scene, but first see if you can get her to shut up." Olivia motioned toward a drunk woman making a fuss in the lock up.
"Copy that, Captain." Fin, Amanda, and Kat scattered to do as they were told.
"Has anyone seen Carisi?" Olivia questioned, nearly knocking into two officers trying to wrestle a man into handcuffs.
"Right here, boss. Sorry, flat tire." Carisi walked into the squadroom.
"Ah, nice of you to join us. Get Warner on the phone and see where we are with that autopsy report we've been waiting for since Thursday. Then sit your butt down at your desk and cross reference these names with the names on the sex offender registry." Olivia instructed, shoving a large stack of files into Carisi's hands, glad to have someone to hand them off to.
Olivia walked back into her office with a sigh. She looked down when her cell phone rang and saw her daughter's name pop up on the caller ID.
"Hey, baby girl. Can I call you back in a little bit? It's crazy busy around here today." Olivia sat down at her desk.
"Detective Benson, it's Dick Stabler. My dad grounded me from my phone yesterday, so I'm using Jade's. I'm not sure what happened, but you need to meet us at Mercy hospital." Dick's voice came over the line.
"What do you mean, you're not sure what happened? Were you two in an accident?!" Olivia jumped back up to her feet and gathered her things.
"No, Ma'am, but Jade's passed out. I took her to get ice cream, and while we were walking back to my car, some woman showed up claiming to be Jade's other Mom?" Dick sounded genuinely confused.
Olivia's mind wasn't sure which piece of information to process first, the fact that her baby had passed out or the fact that after all these years there was someone claiming to be Alex, and Olivia suddenly felt ill. If this was indeed Alex, then where the hell had she been all this time and how were they going to explain this mess to their children? And if it wasn't, why had this person's presence made Jade pass out and why were they claiming to be Alex?
"Okay, I'm on my way now." Olivia said. She gathered her things and ran out of the squadroom, barely slowing down to call over her shoulder to tell her detectives that she was clocking out for the day, leaving Fin in charge in her absence.
Olivia practically crashed through the double doors of the hospital's emergency room. The first person she made eye contact with was a nurse who had worked at Mercy hospital for over twenty years and was very familiar with the detectives of the Special Victims Unit.
"Detective Benson, how can I help you? I don't think we've had any rape cases come through today."
"I'm not working at the moment. My daughter was brought in, I was told she passed out. Her name is Jade Benson-Cabot."
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry, I didn't connect the name. She actually just came to a few minutes ago, and the first person she asked for was you. Right this way."
"Mama." Jade spoke weakly with tears in her eyes when she saw her mother.
"I'm right here, baby. Mama's here." Olivia cooed, going to Jade's side and hugging her.
"Mama, I saw her. I saw Mommy. But… how…?"
"It's okay, sweetheart. Did she hit her head when she fainted?" Olivia looked at Dick, who was standing on Jade's other side holding her hand.
"No, I caught her before she hit the pavement." Dick replied.
Just then, the doctor walked in and shook Olivia's hand.
"You must be the mother. I'm Dr. Wyatt. We took her vitals and a blood sample right away when she was brought in. Jade's vitals are all strong and steady and her blood sample was perfectly normal. I think she simply sustained some kind of shock to her system and it made her pass out. You're free to take her home now."
"Thank you, doctor." Olivia said, relieved that there was nothing seriously wrong with her baby.
"Sorry you had to leave work for me, Mama." Jade said, slowly becoming more alert.
"You are way more important, baby. Uncle Fin can hold down the fort until tomorrow, I'm not going back today. We'll go home and we can order pizza and watch a movie if you like." Olivia smiled.
"Yay." Jade smiled tiredly.
Jade hadn't needed to be changed into a hospital gown, so she got up from the bed, kissed her boyfriend goodbye, and left the hospital with Olivia. Olivia drove them home and, as promised, ordered Jade's favorite pizza and let her pick a movie to watch, not at all surprised when Jade wanted to watch 'Father of the Bride' for the billionth time. It was one of Jade's favorites.
"Mama?" Jade asked, sitting on the couch cuddling in Mama's arms while the movie's end credits rolled across the TV screen.
"Hmm?"
"Am I going crazy? I know itt was a real person standing there, because Dick saw her too, but I thought it was Mom." Jade's lower lip trembled slightly.
"No, sweetie, you're not going crazy," Olivia sighed, "I really should be having this conversation with you and your brother together, but it can't be helped at this point. Do you remember the day Mom was shot?"
"I remember we were at Kingdom Heart Cemetery visiting Holly's grave. It was a nice day, not too hot. I don't remember seeing anybody with a gun, but all of a sudden we heard shots and Mom was lying in her own blood. Calvin picked me up and carried me to the car. Nanny and Papa met us at the hospital."
"Well, what you and your brother don't know is that while the two of you were sitting with your grandparents in the waiting room, a nurse took me back to one of the rooms. There were three FBI agents there and… Mom was alive." Olivia watched her daughter's face carefully.
Jade's face was a mask of confusion, and then realization, and then understanding.
"They stashed her in Witness Protection, didn't they?"
"Smart girl. Yes, they did." Olivia nodded.
"Why couldn't we all have gone? We could have stayed together and been a family!" Jade said.
"We've always been a family, baby. Always. Nobody can take that away from us. I actually argued with Mom and told her that we would all go into witness protection, but she wouldn't let me do that. She wanted you and your brother to grow up as yourselves, not pretending to be somebody else."
"But… she… I… I didn't even get to say goodbye." Jade burst into tears and Olivia pulled her close.
"Oh, baby. It's okay, cry it out. Mama's here." Olivia soothed, rocking Jade in her arms.
Jade sobbed on her Mama's shoulder for quite a while until she was finally all cried out.
"So, if I did see Mom, why has she been watching me and scaring the hell out of me? And where is she now?" Jade sniffled. Alex had disappeared again not long after Jade passed out.
"Language," Olivia scolded lightly, although her heart wasn't in it at that moment, "I don't know, sweetheart. I know that after Jack and Brandon were arrested and put in jail, agent Hammond went to wherever Mom had been living, but her house was empty and she was gone. I have no idea where she's been or what she's been doing, but I promise you that I am going to find out."
"Can we watch another movie? I don't have any homework tonight." Jade asked. Olivia laughed.
"Sure, pick out whatever one you want."