Though Olivia knew she had a rescue mission to mount, she wouldn't leave Harper until she saw to it that she was in the hospital, being taken care of. She also wholly believed Harper's fear about being found by the wrong person, so for good measure, she saw to it that two uniformed officers were posted at her door. Olivia also left the letter from their mother on Harper's bedside table. It was insurance that she'd be coming back.
Of course, by this time, Harper's convulsion was over and she was even sedated; while awake, she had been hysterical. But she was resting, and she would be safe.
That was what mattered.
BRIGHTON BEACH
BROOKLYN
Brighton Beach was a cool area of town to go to if you were in search of authentic ethnic food or trinkets, or fun at the beach. For locals and tourists alike, it was a very nice place to be, especially when the weather was hot.
However, for as beautiful and as quaint as the area was, it had a seedy underbelly—some pockets of the neighborhood were controlled by the Russian mob… and wherever the Russian mob was, there was always some version of a trafficking ring happening. Olivia knew this from experience.
Like Harper had said, there was an old shoe polish warehouse, although it was at the end of a lane, abandoned. A few yards to the right was the bakery she had mentioned, too, and in plane sight of both, just across the street, was the ocean. It being November, though, the neighborhood was very quiet. The occupants only left their homes and shops to get to their next destination.
Near the warehouse was a junkyard and a building that was in disrepair, too. Olivia wouldn't have been surprised to see an animal or two creeping around.
Nevertheless, it was here that Olivia, Elliot, Fin, and Carisi, along with a small platoon of officers in riot gear and even a sniper hid while they went over their plan. They had EMS on standby, but at an even safer distance. The last thing they needed was any of the first responders getting hurt.
It was while they were creeping towards the warehouse that something happened.
BANG!
From somewhere on the upper level of the warehouse, a gun had been fired. It hit one of the riot officers, and all hell broke loose immediately.
"SCATTER!" Olivia yelled.
Everybody did.
Olivia wasn't sure who went back for the officer who had been hit, but at least she was crouched hidden behind a rusted-out car with Carisi. He was a good man in storm, and very steadfast under pressure. Or fire. She trusted him with her life.
And with one of the missing people was Carisi's eldest sister, with whom he was very close, Olivia knew that her companion would be focused like a laser at the moment.
"You good, lieutenant?" he asked.
She nodded. "You?"
"Yeah. Fin is over there," (he pointed to a large stack of wooden packing pellets) "With Elliot. They went back for Hornby."
"G—"
Olivia was cut off when they suddenly heard a barrage of bullets from the building—Bishop's people were firing at them.
It took awhile, but soon, the shooters were incapacitated. After that, Olivia successfully led the charge inside the building.
"FENTON BISHOP!" Olivia yelled as they all spread out to search the area. "THIS IS THE NYPD—COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"
There was no activity until they reached the back area of the warehouse. As Harper had said, the whole warehouse reeked of shoe polish, but the back area was reeked so strongly that Olivia had to work extra hard to not gag.
It was while she was working on this that they heard something that made them all stop.
"Fenton, look at them! They've been in labor for awhile now; let them go!"
It was Dana. She was bargaining.
"Or—or you could let me take them, and just drop them off! You know I'd come right back, and not betray you like that Nikita girl d—"
"Shut up, Dana!" Bishop snarled. "You just want to go find Harper, Aria, and Serena!"
SLAP! "You do not get to say their names!"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Another slap could be heard. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
"NOT UNTIL YOU LET US G—NO, FENTON, DON'T! I'LL BE GOOD!"
Olivia couldn't take any more, so she called out again.
"FENTON BISHOP, COME OUT NOW!"
After a moment of struggling, he appeared, but was holding Dana at gunpoint. Olivia felt her heart break: Dana was in really bad shape, and looked like she had recently been used as a punching bag.
When Dana saw Olivia, though, her fear turned to relief—they weren't out of the woods yet, but now she had a reason to hope that she was going to make it out alive, after all.
"Olivia," she said. "Are they safe? Harper, Aria, Serena?"
"Yes, Dana, and it's all because of you."
"I need to see them."
"You will.
A harsh bark of laughter from Bishop interrupted them.
"And what," he snarled at Olivia. "Makes you think I'd let Dana go that easily?"
Olivia kept her gun trained on him, but her voice grew stone cold. "Because we knew exactly what you're up to in here, and your entire 'welcome committee' is down for the count. If you put your gun down right now, there will be no need for anyone else to be harmed."
Fenton Bishop had been so sure that he wasn't going to get caught with what he was doing, but first Nikita had betrayed him, so he'd had to teach her a lesson and dispose of her. Dana was next on the agenda, and before long, Harper.
The cops showing up had thrown quite a wrench in his plans. That, and two of his prisoners going into labor. There was nothing for it, but to tell the truth.
But he pulled Dana close. He needed her as a shield.
"Fine—I assaulted Dana, and I'm the father of the child we made. I also erased all traces of Dana and the girl from the Rikers Island databases, and paid people off to look the other way about it. I also assaulted Harper Bailey, but I didn't personally kidnap her."
"HARPER IS ALMOST SEVEN MONTHS PREGNANT, AND SHE IS MY SISTER!"
Bishop arched an eyebrow, interested. "Is that so? I should go visit her…"
"DON'T YOU EVEN DARE! WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU DONE?"
"I orchestrated the kidnappings of all my other prisoners here, and Nikita? I went after her because she didn't do as told, and she strayed from the fold. I just didn't have time to go after your sister because I can't be in two places at once."
It was taking Olivia a great amount of willpower to not shoot Fenton Bishop dead on the spot. He was a piece of filth, with a disgusting ego to boot. Olivia sincerely hoped that Bishop would go to hell; prison wasn't enough.
It was Bishop's ego and cunning that made him start copping to all the recent crime, but Olivia also hoped that he stayed distracted long enough because just overhead and out of sight, the riot squad sniper was lurking, waiting for the opportunity to hit his target. The sniper's order was to shoot the moment he had a clear shot, but… the opportunity just hadn't arisen yet.
Bishop, however, was going full-tilt.
"I did help take Bella and Aria Carisi, and I made sure that Bella and Dana were kid-free later on." he made a scoffing sound. "Nikita dropped them off somewhere; that's about the only thing she got right."
Beside Olivia, Carisi, was slowly turning into a ball of rage.
He took a few steps forward, his own gun trained on Bishop, too. When Carisi spoke, it was with a deadlier calm than his boss' was.
"Bella is my sister."
Bishop smirked. "Had Frankie and Charlie not gone into labor, I would have had some fun with her."
It was a mark of his time with SVU and the growing he'd done there, that Carisi responded maturely. He wouldn't rise to Bishop goading him.
"Lower your gun, Bishop. Now."
"Or what?" he taunted, turning his gun and his body from Olivia to Carisi. "You'll shoot me?"
WHIZZ! THUD!
The sniper had fired, and Fenton Bishop was dead on the ground, in one fell swoop.
Bishop had been shot in the neck.
Dana sidestepped him immediately and turned him over with one foot, placing hime face-up. She then began patting him down, looking for something. She was unfazed that the man who had been assaulting her a minute ago was dead. But she had always been strong and unflappable that way.
Olivia knelt opposite of Bishop's body, across from Dana.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Looking for the bastard's keys. I have everyone's shoes and things locked away in my 'room' because he wanted everyone to hate me for having their valuables. He had that key on a ring, but he also had the keys to all the rooms behind me. Frankie's and Charlie's is unlocked, but they'll be too paralyzed to move by now. Everyone else is contained, yet."
At this news, Olivia began searching Bishop's pockets, too. She found the keys first and tossed them to Dana.
"Catch!"
Dana did, and she hurried along the row, unlocking all of the 'cells' where each person had been kept.
When Bella Carisi stumbled out of her prison, her brother had already been scanning the room for her. She was exhausted, dirty, and cold. All she wanted was to hold Aria in her arms and be with her family.
"BELLA!"
Her head snapped up at the sound of her name being called. and she saw her precious brother, she began to cry.
"DOMINICK!"
The siblings ran to each other, and as they hugged, Carisi realized Bella was cold. He gave her the jacket off his back.
"Here you go, Bells." he helped her into his windbreaker and zipped it up for her. "You'll be warm again in no time."
She just nodded. "Where did Nikita take Aria, Serena, and Harper?"
"She dropped the babies off at The Watering Can, of all places. As for Harper, she dropped her off near Mercy General, in Manhattan."
"Did Fenton really kill Nikita?"
"Sadly, so."
Bella sighed and rubbed her eyes. "He told me that when he came back from doing that, he was going to 'have his way with me,' and if I didn't cooperate, he was going to strangle me, like he said he was going to do with her. The way he spoke, though, it sounded like he'd been planning to hurt me for awhile, anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"He was on Tommy's block at Rikers, and he was always hitting on me, even though it was clear I still had Aria growing in my belly."
"I'm sorry, sis."
With one hand, he rubbed Bella's back, using the other to point out Bishop's dead body. The EMS crew had arrived, and had already covered it with a sheet.
"He's dead now, and he can never hurt you, or anyone else again."
"Good riddance." Bella spared Bishop's body only a moment's glance before turning to her brother again. "How are Aria, Serena, and Harper?"
"Aria's with mom and dad." (Bella's legs nearly gave out in relief, but her brother caught her and steadied her) "She was kept overnight for observation because she was really cold."
"Oh, my God." Bella's face fell at the thought of her child being exposed to the elements. "And she was with Serena, right? Who found them?"
"Sophia did, and quite by happenstance, as the sequence of events goes."
"Oh, I have to give her a hug…"
Carisi smiled. "She'd like that."
"Good. You said Aria is with mom and dad?"
"Yes. They took her home this morning."
"And Serena?"
Carisi shifted his weight from one foot to the other, suddenly a little nervous. "She was also kept overnight, too, but she had a seizure this morning."
"Poor lamb…"
"She's on the mend," Carisi assured Bella quickly. "So please don't worry. She's getting the best care available."
Bella counted the names on her fingers. "That's everyone but Harper. What became of her?"
"She was treated at the hospital, and uh, it turns out that she's Olivia's long-lost baby sister."
"Huh. I thought Harper looked familiar, but damn—those are some seriously strong genes."
"Our sentiments, exactly." Carisi agreed. "Harper went to the precinct to talk to the lieutenant about what happened. I wasn't there, but the way it goes, she told her everything, and that's how they knew to come here."
"Did that precious girl and her baby get hurt, or something?"
"She had a fear-induced seizure, and is back in the hospital."
Bella finally collapsed on the floor and began to cry.
"Can I see her, too?"
Carisi sat with his big sister. "Of course you can. What do you need right now?"
"Just to be held."
Carisi pulled Bella into his lap. "Okay, Bells. I've got you, and we don't have to go anywhere else for awhile."
Meanwhile, Dana had busied herself with returning everyone's belongings before slowing down enough to hear about Nikita, Harper, Aria, and Serena. She didn't take well to finding out that Harper and Serena had both been sick.
"Olivia, I have to see them. Please?"
Olivia arched an eyebrow. "Dana, you're supposed to be in jail."
"You heard Fenton—he erased all details of me from the system!"
Dana was telling the truth, and Fenton had been, too. Upon digging, and a few phone calls, they had found this out. The worst part was that nobody seemed to care.
"I know I gave you custody of Serena, and that hasn't changed, but I didn't think I'd get out of here alive until you showed up!"
Olivia reached out and caressed her old friend on the cheek. "I'm not that heartless, Dana. We'll work on getting that device off your ankle, and then I'll bring you to see everyone."
Dana hugged Olivia, extremely grateful. "Oh, thank you!"
Olivia returned the hug and held on tight; she'd never thought she'd see Dana again, and now, the other woman was the biological mother of her newest child. They were going to be bonded for the rest of their lives now.
"You're very welcome, Dana," Olivia whispered to her. "And you have no idea how happy I am to see you."
MERCY GENERAL HOSPITAL
365 WEST 32nd STREET
PEDIATRICS INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
INFANT WARD
MANHATTAN
Sophia had faith in the law enforcement side of her family that they were going to find all of the missing people, so the day after Casey had assured her that they would ask for her help if it was needed, she went about business as usual.
Work at the florist had been slow, so when the opportunity arose for her to go home early, she took it. Before going home to change into street clothes and so she could call Casey, she decided to stop by the hospital to check on Serena.
An hour had gone by when the door to Serena's room opened, and Olivia and Casey and arrived. They were both very surprised to see her.
"Starshine, what are you doing here?" Casey asked her fiancée.
"I got off work early," she explained. "And I wanted to check on my sister. I was going to call you after."
"You wanted to show Serena that the world isn't over?" guessed Olivia.
Serena was hooked up to less wires and machines than she had been earlier, and she was laying on Sophia's bare chest. She enjoyed the contact, and this was the most relaxed she'd been all day.
"I did want to show her that, yeah." Sophia regarded the other two. "What brings you two here?"
"We found the missing people, Sophia." Olivia told her. "They're here, at the hospital, reuniting with their families."
"Oh, mom, that's great! Does this mean that Dana is here, too?"
"Yes, and she really wants to see Serena. There are a few other things, too."
"Like what?"
Deciding that blurting out she had a baby sister would hardly be fair at the moment, Olivia just smiled. "You'll see."
Casey nodded, and pointed to a folded-up outfit and a pair of teeny-tiny socks decorated like shoes. They were on a counter beside a door that led to the bathroom.
"Are those for Serena?"
Sophia nodded. "She's been weaned off enough monitoring devices that she can wear proper clothes again. I was just waiting for Doctor Larom to come back—she was going to help me get Serena dressed so I could take her for a walk. Serena needs a change of scenery."
"Well, then that's perfect." Casey chirped. "We can help you get her dressed, and bring her over to see Dana."
"Can I come, too?"
"Yes." Olivia told her. "And I would really love for you to meet Dana."
This put Sophia in high spirits, and she helped get Serena ready, wondering what the rest of the day was going to bring.
