Disclaimer: Law & Order SVU/OC and its characters don't belong to me. This story has been written for fun only, not for money.

Spoilers: S23 / OC 2

Summary: Another perp gets to Olivia. Will Elliot be there this time?

Notes: I had this idea for a while now, but was overloaded with work and couldn't get to writing it. First day of my vacation and the first chapter just flowed out of me hehe Will be multiple chapters, hopefully !

I'm having issues with my English lol, I'm not quite satisfied with some of the word choices, but I blame life and work which have been taking up all of my brain lately :P Hope you can forgive me! (Btw, how can we recrute Beta's?)

TW: Please be careful while reading this story if the Lewis' kidnapping and holding hostage storyline upsets you.

Feedback: I always love to have feedbacks on my work so I can improve my writing. Any advice, constructive comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Enjoy and please review!

Flashbacks

By musical-Aven

Olivia stood still in the middle of her living room. Darkness blurred her vision and it wasn't because she hadn't turned the lights on. Her breathing was passed the stage of heretic, it was simple nonexistant. The grocery bag in her right arm was squished under the amount of pressure it was receiving.

This was not happening.

Not again.

Mike Power, a perp they had been working on for weeks, stood in the dark corridor of her apartment, a gun pointed at her.

"Hello Captain Benson."

Flashbacks from her old apartment, of Lewis, hit Olivia full force. She tried to brush them off but she knew it was useless, the panic and PTSD would take over very soon. She barely had time to remember that Noah was staying at Amanda's tonight, and once she felt the relief of her son being safe, the panic took over even stronger.

Power moved towards her and she flinched back to the present.

"Don't go all PTSD on me, Captain." He smirked. Of course he knew about her story, who in New York City didn't? "I'm no William Lewis." And Olivia tried to hold on to that fact. "I'm just here so I can have leverage and get custody of my daughter again. LIKE I DESERVE!" he shouted, making Benson gasped.

"Okay." She managed, her voice shakier than she could even imagine.

"Put the bag down and don't think about using your weapon. Put it on the floor as well."

She complied and stood back up. Her legs were shaking from the panic attack simmering under the surface. She had a hard time not picturing Lewis in front of her, her mind playing hallucinations.

"Now what?" she asked, resigned for whatever he had planned.

He moved quickly to grab at her hair and pull her to him. Olivia gasped at the surprise and moaned at the pain. Power was a big man, with a history of violent behavior towards his ex-wife, and of sexual deviancies.

"Now you do exactly as I tell you. Or else, you'll be missing your buddy Lewis, am I clear?"

She fought not to whimper and nodded sharply. Mike threw her on the sofa with force.

"Stay there." He pulled out a computer on her kitchen table, put the gun on the table, still pointed at her, and started typing.

Olivia took a moment to gather herself, even though she was still on the verge of a panic attack. She had to think in the present. She couldn't let her thoughts go back to her old apartment, to her old life. She had changed since Lewis, gotten stronger. Her life was different too. She had Noah. And her squad had seen so much since then, they'd figure out that something was up, she tried to convince herself.

Also, Elliot was back. He was *here*. And although they weren't partners anymore, she thought that he might be able to do something about this situation.

But as she felt hope rise in her, it quickly faltered as she remembered her last conversation with Stabler, earlier that day.

They were fighting in her office. The door was closed and the blinds pulled, for some sort of privacy. But the Captain knew it was useless. She knew that the way they were both shouting at each other right now, everyone in the bullpen could hear.

It started with a disagreement over their joint case, during a meeting. But then the argument started to get personal. She didn't even remember the exact comment Stabler had made, but this time she couldn't hold it in. Not anymore. The fight had been brewing for over a year now, since he came back and Benson hadn't had the chance to let out her anger and hurt for his ten-year absence. It was time.

She had thrown everyone out of the meeting and had closed the door. This was it.

And so the fighting had started around the case, the fact that she was a Captain now, that he didn't have the right to question her orders. Then it shifted on his cocky, self-righteous behavior and comments during the meeting. Stabler argued she wasn't listening to the team, and overruling OC's involvement.

When the subject of trust came forward, the fight became even more emotional. Drawers were shut with more force than necessary, chairs moved more loudly in the room, and the shouting raised in volume.

Fin had reassured the squad that they needed to get this out. That it was long overdue. When it seemed the fight was calming down, Fin knew better. He knew that's when the real arguments were going to be said. And he was right.

"Why did you even come back, Elliot?" she had asked after a moment of silence, her voice pained in ways Stabler had rarely heard before.

She had spoken more quietly, so that only the two of them could hear. Stabler felt asif the ground shifted under him at the rawness of the conversation. Before he had a chance to answer, Olivia continue.

"We were fine! Getting through the pandemic, Noah and me. I was finally moving on from whatever pain you inflicted me when you left. But then you show up - and even though I'm really sorry about the context - you just popped up out of nowhere, hoping for god-knows what reaction out of me." She raised her gaze with imploring eyes to him. "What did you want from me? What *do* you want from me?!"

Olivia finished, almost exasperated. It was damn time she let everything pour out of her. Stabler should have just stood there, absorbing. But he was stubborn and couldn't resist replying. He was hearing her pain, but wouldn't let her turn the argument into this. They were in fight-mode and they still had things to hash out before going into the pain and emotional area of this.

He opened his mouth to reply, but Fin cut them off by hesitantly knocking at the door. The sergeant opened the door slightly and said they finally had a break on the Power case.

Stabler and Benson had similar nodding reactions, even though they were both still raw from the fight.

"I'll leave you to the case then." Elliot started to move towards the door, not hiding the fact that he was glad to get away from this argument.

Anger was still running through her veins when Olivia waved him off, not surprised he'd take the easy route of leaving instead of answering her questions.

Fin felt the overwhelming tension.

"I can give you a few minutes if you wanna finish this-"

"Let him leave, Fin, that's what he's good at anyway."

Elliot stopped dead and turned to meet her fiery gaze. The stare they shared could have frozen the worst perps in Manhattan in an instant. Fin felt the room chill a few degrees. Stabler had a pained look on his face, even though you had to see it through the pure anger in his eyes, while Benson hid her disappointment behind the same kind of fury. Elliot finally moved to exit without a word. Fin saw a flash of regret in his Captain's eyes, but she quickly recovered. Before he could say anything, she found control again.

"Bring the team in, Fin."

Power grunted at the computer and Olivia jumped as her mind flew back to the present. Panic still not far in her chest, she wondered if Elliot would even bother to look after her after their fight…she knew she had hurt him badly with her comments.

It seemed that as much as they were trying to work things out between them, it never seemed to be moving in the right direction. Maybe Elliot would even stop trying at this point.

That though made her sad, but it wasn't unfamiliar. When Lewis had her, she used to think that if something would make Elliot come back, it was that situation. Of course he never showed and that sadness followed her through the last ten years. Actually, it was a mixture of sadness, disappointment and hurt. She felt her eyes tingle over these thoughts but shook her head. She couldn't think about that. She had to find a way to diffuse Power and get in control.

Power rose to his feet suddenly, waving his fist in the air.

"Yeah! I got it! Wow I never thought an NYPD Captain would be worth so much."

Olivia gulped.

"Worth?" she asked.

"On the market. See, I need money to get my daughter back, so I asked a price for you on the black market and the bids were higher than I even imagine!" he laughed.

So that was his plan. To sell her for money and then hire someone else to kidnap his daughter.

"Who won the bid?" she asked more as a discussion teaser than anything.

"It's not important. What is important is that we start packing a few things to get on the move."

Olivia felt her pulse spike. The parallels with Lewis were triggering in a way she never experienced before.

But as Power approached her, there was a decisive knock on her door. They both froze and waited for the person to leave. Mike signaled that if she tried anything, he wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger. After all, a dead Captain was worth less than an alive one, but it still was of value. They waited another moment, before the knocks came back.

"Liv, please." Came the soft plea behind the door. Elliot.

Olivia closed her eyes, half in relief, half in fear of what Power might do.

"I wanna talk. Please open up. The doorman said you were in."

Mike rolled his eyes. This guy wasn't leaving…he grabbed the arm of his victim, pulling her to her feet.

"Go. Don't open the door, but tell him to fuck off." He whispered. "Make it good, and I won't hurt you. Or him."

Olivia stumbled to the door, barely registering the firm hold on her upper arm. She exhaled at the door, readying herself.

"Elliot, I don't wanna talk right now." She spoke through the door.

She was hoping he'd notice the anguish in her voice.

"I don't wanna fight, please let me in." Her partner's tone pained her.

Power pressed the barrel of his gun to her head. She had to find a way to make Elliot go away.

"El, go back to your wife." She tried, Power didn't know her history with Stabler, so she could insinuate anything.

"What?" Elliot asked, clearly confused.

"Go back to your wife. Leave me alone." Silence followed and she knew her partner got that something was wrong. "And don't even think about using your spare key, it'll only make this worst."

She knew this would confirm to him that there was something going on. Elliot didn't have a spare key to *this* apartment. A beat passed before he replied.

"Okay. I'll call you tomorrow."

She heard him move away from the door. Power checked the peephole and was satisfied when he saw nobody.

"Good girl." He pulled her away from the door and shoved her to the sofa.

Olivia prayed that Elliot would get her message and do something to help. He was her only hope, at this point.