A/N - Thanks for your continuing comments, I am over the moon and if you know me then you know how much it means :). Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter!

As always big thanks to Ashley who is my rock with this fic.

Elliot checked his watch. An hour he'd waited at the coffee shop; a whole hour of pent up anticipation and nerves waiting to see her face for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.

When she didn't show up, he had deliberated with himself whether he should just go, pack his bags, and head back to Rome. The conflicting battle in his head was whether his re appearance in her life would actually improve anything for her or if it would resurface old wounds and painful memories.

Yes she had wanted him, she asked for him, but what if over the years since then, she was better off without him now, regardless of whether she had looked-for him all those years ago?

When he left Rome, he had agonized over his decision for what felt like the longest flight of his life, but ultimately the decision prevailed that she needed to know.

She needed to know he would have been there, she needed to know what he would have done to him, and she needed to know he would have been there for her every single step of the way in her recovery. He wouldn't have left; her "I'm fine' bullshit wouldn't have masked over this, not this time.

He owed her so much. His years of hatred of himself for leaving the way he did, added to this new grief, spurred him on to leave the coffee shop and head towards the precinct. Olivia was too precious to go another day without hearing his explanation. She was entitled to react towards him however she required. He would be there for everything, no matter the emotion, rage or tears, he would take it, take all of it, anything for her.

Standing outside the old familiar precinct door, he adjusts his shoulders briefly before pushing through and making his way to SVU.

The loud noise of chattered chaos and flustered bodies moving hastily around him leaves him on an island of alarm. Grabbing the attention of the nearest person, he asks a blonde female, "Hey, what's going on?"

"Give me a minute," she hurriedly replies, holding her hand up and continuing to carry a stack of paperwork over to a board at the far end of the room.

Lifting his hands into the air, Elliot looks around for any familiar face and hears Fin before he sees him. "She's not answering," Fin shouts out to the room. "Has anyone had a reply from the detail yet?"

When the crowd of people responds with quiet no's and glances to one another, Fin breaths out a discreet cursed expletive before noticing Elliot stood ahead of him.

"Elliot," he taps him on the shoulder. "Man…It's nice to see you after all these years but we need to sort something first."

"Sarge," the blonde from earlier interjects, shouting out across the room, the paperwork still filling her hands as she holds her phone in the crook of her neck. "They think Lewis escaped just under an hour ago." She goes silent to continue to listen to the update from the person on the other end of the phone.

"Call her again!" Fin desperately shouts, recalling the dial of his phone to the detective who is working as her detail.

The whole situation is a mess. Elliot is mulling over the words and flashing back to the newspaper clippings and transcripts he received.

Lewis.

That name, William Lewis, will forever haunt his mind.

"Lewis?" Elliot whispers out amongst the panicked movements and conversations of the squad room, but before he can form his sentence, the blonde has dropped her phone on the table and is pinning a photograph to the board.

"Ok, we have something. Remember her?" Amanda points to the photograph of a red head and the squad all nod in contemplation attempting to connect the dots themselves.

"Well who is it?" Elliot insistently requests, painfully aware that other than to Fin, he is currently a random stranger.

After observing a nod of approval from Fin, Amanda elaborates. "She was a juror on the case. It's a long story but at the trial," she begins before being cut off by Elliot's hand in the air.

"I know all about the trial," he responds with a pained expression to his face.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Amanda quizzes. She has her suspicions but is angling for the confirmation.

"Elliot Stabler, I was-"

"Yeah we know," Amanda cuts him off in distasteful retaliation, rolling her eyes in disapproval at the sound of his name

"Stabler," Fin calmly approaches. "This is Detective Amanda Rollins, and that's Officer Tamin." He gestures between the individuals before landing on a dark haired man, approximately his height, wearing a Navy blue suit. He recognizes him from the articles and photographs he was sent.

"Elliot, this is David, Olivia's husband," Fin nervously continues, anticipating a heated outcome to this encounter.

"We've spoken before," Elliot flatly responds. He's never been able to hide his distaste before and he's not about to start now.

David awkwardly holds his hand out towards Elliot. He anticipated this response, and in fact, if he was honest, he expected worse. He never told Olivia of that phone call; he did have intentions to, but at the time, he had convinced himself that he needed to prepare first.

He was afraid, terrified even, of losing his wife, his family, losing his happiness, and as time went by, his selfish actions held greater consequences, ones that began to feel more like a betrayal to the one he loved.

So he locked it away and tried to forget the phone call ever happened, but as all locked secrets do, it only patiently bided its time, festering away at his subconscious until he ultimately was the one causing his own unhappiness.

Elliot looked over the hand held to him and begrudgingly shook it. Younger Elliot wouldn't have been able to think so clear headed in these catastrophic circumstances, younger Elliot would have lifted his fist and smashed it through her husband's face for intentionally keeping him away from her, but not older Elliot. Older Elliot can see logically; he knows his anger can wait until they find Olivia, if they find Olivia.

'Don't think like that.'

When they find Olivia.

"Do we know how Lewis got out?" David suddenly addresses the room. "I thought Liv had said there were no potential accomplices, no visitors or communications in or out."

"That's how it appeared," Fin answered. "They didn't think to check the staff he was close to and something slipped through."

"We think this Bronwyn helped Lewis escape," Amanda continues for Fin, her words are spilling out with urgency, and she draws everyone's attention to the board. "She was last recorded as living here, but unis have reported back that the place looks abandoned." She draws her marker around a specific small circumference on the map. This is the area she potentially may have fled to."

Before anyone can offer any additional input, the detective who was Olivia's detail walks through into the squad room.

"We've been calling you! Why didn't you answer your phone?" Fin intolerantly shouts moving, towards the detective.

"I was already on my way up. I thought I'd see you in a minute," he sheepishly replies, taking turns to glimpse over the confused yet panicked faces looking back at him.

"You thought you'd see us in a minute?" Fin responds cynically, eagerly looking behind the man. "Where is she?"

Catching the look of instant of dread on the young man's face, he repeats his question, but when he's met with a stunned silence, Fin jeers his head to the side and blows out, "shit."

"Where is she?" Elliot's low commanding voice sounds out throughout the room, causing the detail to tensely take a step back.

"She, um... she said she would meet me back here. She said she was the Captain, and I had to follow her orders."

"So she was there?" Elliot shouts over to Fin, pulling his jacket over his arms. "I've just left. I waited an hour, and she didn't show. This guy," he points to the detail, "wasn't there either. Why were you not with her?"

"There was traffic, and I stopped by my apartment real quick," the detail uncomfortably shares with the others.

"You stopped by your apartment?" The rush of rage from Elliot propels his body towards the young detective.

"Stabler." Fin wedges himself between the two, restricting any potential for a confrontation.

Elliot quickly stabilizes his mind and reminds himself of his earlier attitude and realigns his priorities. They need to find Olivia.

"So what happened?"

"She said I needed to head back here, she would phone ahead, and I wouldn't get in trouble."

"And you didn't think that was suspicious at all?" Elliot asks, his ability to remain calm and in control swaying on the borderline.

"I'm sorry. She's the captain, she took off from the coffee shop for a few minutes, and I dunno, I just assumed she received a notice to call the whole thing or something." The young detective starts to nervously bite his thumb. "But she's going to be ok? Right?"

"Let's hope so." Fin replies. "You say she took off for a bit? We all need to get to the coffee place, and you need to show us exactly where she went."

"I'll meet you there," Elliot insists as he starts quickening his pace to head out the door.

"Elliot, man. I dunno, I don't think that's such a good idea. You're not on the force anymore, we need a clear head, we-"

"Fin, come on," he interrupts him. "You know I'm good to help, and you know I'll do all I can. I might not be on the force anymore, but I am involved. I was sent everything about this Lewis guy, about when he took Liv before."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Fin asks, gesturing to Amanda to come over and listen in.

"Three days ago, six letters all containing Liv's information were sent to my old house in Rome. Kathy dropped it off, and that's why I came back to the city. I just found out. I have them in my car."

"I'm gonna need to take those files." Amanda throws him a very serious gaze, and understanding the significance of the situation, he immediately hands her the keys to his car.

"They are in the glove box."

"Elliot, If I let you come along...I'm gonna need you to promise me you can keep your cool," Fin said. "It's not like it used to be. As soon as I get word you can't be there, you need to leave. You got it?" He cast Elliot a skeptical eye, but still hoped his words were enough to solidify with his old colleague.

"You have my word," he promises before a peering David leans into the conversation, announcing his own reasons for being present in the investigation.

Fin had attempted to put up an argument to both individuals with emotional involvements being on scene, but ultimately David did have more professional power, so until Fin receives orders from above restricting their involvement, he was going to authorize it.

"This the coffee shop?" Elliot asks the detective, who nods back a heavy guilt ridden sign of approval.

"So what happened? She came out here, and then what?"

"She, ah, she she," he stammers.

"Spit it out, she what?" David shouts at the young detective, impatience and panic riddled throughout his tone.

Elliot takes over again. "You just think for a second," he says as he points to the detective. "David, can you come here for a sec?" He gestures to the side and pulls him in closer. "Look, I don't want you here, honestly I can't stand you, but you insisted on being here and with your position, you have the power to do that, but listen to me," he says, his voice low and threatening. He intimidates his stance closer to him. "If you mess up our chances to get her back alive, I will come for you, do you understand?"

David raises a gulp and an acknowledging head nod. He isn't even annoyed, and in a way he's pleased; as much as he hates this individual, he's glad they have someone else so fiercely insistent on getting his wife, ex-wife back.

"I understand, and I'm sorry. You're right." He breathes out a heavy breath and straightens his jacket. "You speak to the detective, and I'll keep my calm."

"Stabler," the detective shouts over. He has taken a few moments to straighten his thoughts. "She asked for a lighter, and she moved round the side, there," he points. "It was weird, but I thought she must have just been a nervous smoker or something."

"A nervous smoker?" David hisses. "Did she come back smelling of cigarette smoke?" He raises his arms at the absurdity of this detective's rationale before remembering his attitude won't help the situation.

"Where? Show me?" Elliot asks, his tone calm and collected. "David, see if they've found out anything else from inside the shop yeah?" He waits for David's agreement before making his way to assess the area Liv had apparently been to earlier.

Why would she ask for a lighter? His mind works overtime looking over the piles of trash littering the side of the streets. He analyzes that this part of the road is slightly tucked away, but he just can't fathom why she would need a lighter.

He starts looking over the entire throw away items on the ground, and after moving some heavy sacks to the side, he notices there's nothing burned . Olivia made a point of asking the detective for a lighter and pointing to where she was going.

Disregarding all distain at getting his hands and clothes dirty, he delves into the sacks, uncovering scattered piles of papers and leaflets. Knocked at the back, standing out from amongst the rest of the papers is something screwed up. Picking it up and unraveling it, he unveils the note.

"Shit Liv," he says out loud as he reads over the threat.

"What is it?" David abruptly appears behind him, his eyes instantly drawn to the note. "Have you got something?"

Looking back over him with irritation, Elliot points to the end of the road. "I thought I told you to find out if there's more information from the inside."

"I tried," David replies, "but Fin said he's had word that we are not to go anywhere near this. Garland, the deputy, wants us to go home."

Elliot sweeps his arm to the side and deepens his tone. "You take the car, I'll find my own way back."

As he turns to leave, he feels a hand grip onto his shoulder, and snapping back, he finds a pleading, desperate David.

"Please, I know you have something… Please let me come with you."

The empathetic feeling overpowering him, Elliot agrees, sending him a quick begrudging nod. "You better not slow me down."

"Hey sweetheart, did you miss me?"

Olivia doesn't look; she keeps her face turned in the opposite direction, the memorable sound of his voice hitting like nails through her head. The automatic trigger of fear, anxiety, and anger swallowing her into flight or fight mode.

"What's wrong? No smart mouthed comment?" Lewis moves closer to her. "Turn your head around. I want to see how much you've changed."

She reluctantly turns her head to face him, her deep brown eyes hitting him with a deathly 'I'm not doing this again' glare.

Lewis drops his shoulders and surprisingly looks behind him in disappointment towards Darryl. "Really? You taped over my girl's mouth?" He proceeds to laugh. "Bet she put up a fight, huh? She's good at that, this one is."

He crouches down in front of her and starts to slowly walk his fingers from her ankle towards her knee. Olivia unwittingly jerks her legs into her chest, but before she can register her movements, he swiftly catches her ankle. Intensely and excessively gripping onto it, he drags it straight again.

"Ah, Ah, Ah," he shakes his head.

She whimpers through the duct tape; she can't help it. She didn't want to; she tried not to. She knew this would happen ever since she watched the news. Ever since, she made the effort to consciously attempt to mentally prepare herself, at least she thought she had.

Noah

The slide

Giggling

"My friend here says you drink wine now?" Lewis says, his malicious grin intensifying the cruel slow gander of his fingers. "What? You gone off vodka?"

It was instinctual, impulsive, and an opportunity. Her body responded just as quickly as it had all those years ago, but this time she felt her own pain from the actions of her booted foot colliding directly with Lewis' face. Her hamstring felt like it tore through her muscle with the spontaneous snapping action of her leg, and she exclaimed a muffled surprise of pain.

Lewis rights himself back up from the impact and rubs his hands across his nose, smearing the deep red explosion of blood across his face, his predatory smirk sending an additional rush of trepidation frantically coursing through her veins.

He violently rips the tape from across her mouth; the stinging pain mixed with shock releases a retained frantic pant for air.

"Anything you'd like to say Cap-tain?" he sneers as he begins to make his exit from the room.

Looking away, she attempts to clear her throat and regain some fluidity to her mouth. She should just let him walk out, let him leave and she can have some miniscule moments of silence before he returns again, but she can't.

This is Lewis; his mental torture is just as inconsistently relentless as his physical, and if he thinks she has given up he will get bored…and when he gets bored, it becomes more dangerous.

"What is it Lewis?" she unexpectedly spits. "Does not being able to break me make you feel bad? Because you couldn't, could you…break me that is?" she clarifies. "Not when you had me tied to that bed, and not in that courtroom." She watches his smile twitch, and she can see his jaw physically tighten with every word she goads him with, but she can't stop. "I'm not doing this again Lewis," she accentuates his name, speaking slowly and powerfully. "I'm not playing your pathetic little games again."

"Games?" His shout is strangulated, and Olivia instantly knows she's pushed too far, too quickly. "You lied Olivia,"he screams into her face, the blood tinged droplets of saliva from where her boot earlier collided with his face splashing back onto her. "You lied to everyone. I did not lunge for you like you claimed."

She attempts to appear unfazed. "I did lie Lewis, but so did you. You have lied and cheated out of every.single.thing and," she says, her voice changing to a whisper. "I don't know how you managed it but you won't this time."

Initially ignoring her threat, he shouts back to Darryl, "Throw me that rope will you." Within seconds, he has obliged because Lewis wraps it forcefully around her ankles, seemingly putting his whole entire strength into every pull of the knot.

"Big threats for someone in your position, don't you think?" Looking deflated with the situation, he crashes the door shut with such force that the handle reverberates and bounces back on itself, not quite locking into its closed position, allowing her to overhear the muffled voices from outside the room, clearer than they had been before.

"So what do we do now?" She recognizes the voice to be Darryl's.

Silence

Darryl must be ignoring the silences from Lewis because he's eagerly continuing. "When am I gonna get paid? That red head, she said it would be straight away."

"You'll get paid when the job's finished." That's Lewis.

"No, no, no, my job is finished. She said if I wanted to triple my money, I had to bring her here and wait until you showed up. That's it, I've done my job. I want paying." A loud thud startles Olivia to a jolt. "Now," the voice continues.

"You'll get paid when the job is finished," she overhears Lewis repeat himself.

Olivia begins to pull her body into the radiator because the voices seem to be getting louder and clearer.

"I risked a lot for this. You do know she's a captain in the NYPD? I took her, I held her here, and I didn't touch a hair on her fucking precious head like I was ordered."

Olivia winces at his last remark.

"I'm tiring of your whining." Olivia can hear that ominous subdued tone to Lewis' voice.

"And I'm tired of waiting. How about I just go in there and take her with me, huh? How about I leave now and call her friends. What will you do then? You'd be screwed without me-"

Bang.

The sudden deafening sound of a gunshot fills the room followed instantaneously by a loud thud slamming into the stone floor.

Only a matter of seconds later, a heavy sound of dragging follows, and Olivia fretfully looks towards the slightly open door.

The hunched shadow of Lewis's figure dragging the feet of Darryl pass into view of the doorway, and on sight the tears involuntarily fall.

She knew it wouldn't have been Lewis who fell; the rational, logical thinking part of her brain knew she couldn't have been that lucky, if being left with Darryl was lucky, that is, but in her heart, she still somehow had held onto hope.

Her skin feels an unreasonable level of coldness; the restraints around her wrists suddenly seem as if they are tighter than ever, the room smaller and darker, but yet nothings physically changed.

"What's wrong with you?" he questions her. The condescension laced into his words mixed with the deteriorating situation make her recoil at the sound of his voice.

"Well, I'm offended," he begins. "Here's me thinking I'm doing you a favor and you what? You cry!" he spits, slamming the legs of Darryl against the floor and striding over towards Olivia." Do you know what he would have done to you?"

Yanking the rope tying her ankles together, he pulls down on it hard, stretching and lengthening her body into the air. The sound of the metal from the restraints beating off the radiator at the force of his pull rings out, and the intense stiffness of her limbs being dragged quickly into a new position forces her to release a masked scream of pain.

He turns his mouth up and drops his hold, sending her body crashing down onto the harsh stone floor, a small strained cry follows her pain, and she attempts to roll herself onto her side.

For the first time she can hear his excitement. "Oh what I would give to have my supplies right now."

She lies frozen, restricted, and in suffering. She knew it was coming; she knows Lewis, she knows him too well, and as she feels the heavy weight of his body laying adjacently behind her on the floor, her muscles tense like they are preparing her for flight.

"You remember don't you sweetheart? My supplies?" he slithers into her ear, the warm feel of his breath causing the bile on her stomach to rise. She squeezes her eyes closed and repeats her 'protection chant'.

Noah

The slide

Giggling

He laughs in pleasure at the obvious mental torture he is inflicting and pushes his face against the back of her hair. Animatedly breathing in the smell, he releases a loud and pleasurable "ahhhhhh."

Noah

The slide

Giggling

"No? Not gonna play?" he whispers before standing up.

Noah

The slide

Giggling

"You'll come around," he laughs. "All I've gotta do is start talking about your old partner again huh? Tell me, would he know what to do this time too?"