Author's notes: This is the last chapter. I hope you all read the whole story and let me know what you think. Tell me what you liked and didn't like. I appreciate constructive criticism—no flames, please. Thanks for reading it and giving me your input for future stories.
99
"Damn!" Stabler gritted his teeth and ran to his car. He truned on the ignition and sped away.
99
Cragen was chatting with Casey when Stabler burst through the door looking disheveled.
"What did you do? Run all the way from the medical examiner's office? Tell me it's good news," Cragen asked, a bit concerned at his appearance.
"It's Olivia," he bent over the table to catch his breath. "She's gone."
"Gone? What do you mean gone? You took her to her house and dropped her off, right?" Cragen ask pointedly.
"Yes, I did. She said she would call me when she was ready. She acted nervous—like she wanted me to leave. After I left Melinda's office, I drove back to check on her and she was not there. Her car was missing from the garage," Stabler babbled anxiously.
"Okay, calm down. Where could she have gone? Let's think," Cragen said coolly.
"I should have insisted on staying with her," Stabler grieved. Munch and Tutuola came in looking discouraged.
"We checked on Lily. He hasn't been there," Munch noted, disappointed.
"We tend to believe her because she's not his favorite person right now since she turned him in. She wouldn't be too glad to see him. She just wants the trial over so she can get on with her life—what's left of it. She still played a part in this little game of his," Tutuola predicted.
"Elliot, did Warner confirm our suspicions on the vic?" Munch questioned. All Stabler could do was move his head up and down. Sensing trouble, Munch asked immediately, "What's wrong?"
"Olivia's M.I.A.," Cragen spoke up gruffly. Munch and Tutuola exchanged glances.
"I suspected something odd about her," Munch admitted. "She seemed too composed."
"Olivia never wants to leave a crime scene," Tutuola calculated.
"Well, now we have to find her along with the killer," Cragen replied with a troubled look on his face. "Where could she have gone?"
Everyone tried to come up with a rational answer, but nobody had a clue where she could have run off too.
"What about her mother?" Tutuola mentioned optimistically.
"Good idea. I'll give her a call," Cragen leaped off the side of his desk to reach the phone.
"I was thinking that she would go to her favorite spot, but she would have had me take her there instead of her house," Stabler contemplated aloud.
Cragen got off of the phone and they all looked at him eagerly. By the look on his face, they knew that she wasn't there.
"All I've managed to do is worry her mother now," Cragen said, dismayed. "She hasn't seen her."
A disturbed look came across Stabler's face.
"What is it?" Cragen inquired hesitantly.
"Who would Olivia blame for all of this?" Stabler licked his lips and continued when nobody answered his question. "Here's an even better question—who would Jacob blame for all of this? Who would they both go to see knowing the other would come also?"
The answer came to them all at the same time. Cragen nodded in agreement.
"We'll take my car," Stabler stated firmly.
Nobody objected and they all piled into his car.
"Let me know what you find out as soon as you can!" Cragen called out after them from the door. Tutuola waved at him as they drove away.
99
They neared Kramer's Village where her father was staying and sure enough, her car was parked outside the building. They got out and walked towards the front door. Everything appeared to be calm, but once they stepped inside, it was chaos.
The lady at the desk had a terrified look on her face. She pointed to the direction of room of Olivia's father. Tutuola told her to kneel down and stay out of sight. She gladly obeyed. They got a grip on their guns and slowly headed for the door.
It creaked open loudly to reveal Olivia standing in one corner pointing her gun at Jacob. The other corner had Jacob pointing his gun at her. At Jacob's side crumpled over on the ground was his father. He had blood spilling out of a wound on his side. The terror he used to cause was now written all over his face—caused by his own flesh and blood.
Jacob's hatred was unmistakable. His eyes glowed with fury. "Oh, good, the gang's all here. The more dead, the merrier."
"You don't want to end it like this, Jacob," Olivia pleaded.
"How should I end it? By giving up peacefully and trotting happily off to prison for the rest of my life?" he spit at her sarcastically. "I don't think so, sis. You had your chance to help me and you blew it."
"You didn't leave me with many choices," Olivia pointed out.
"You didn't need any other choices," Jacob accused.
She tried another angle. "What about your father?"
"What about him?" Jacob snapped, uncaring. "He's useless. I've been doing all of this for him and he won't even speak up for me? He found the words to tell me what to do, but can't defend me when I carry them out? You're right, Olivia. He doesn't deserve to live." He aimed the gun at his father's head. He cringed at the touch of it on his scalp.
"No, don't do it!" Olivia implored. "Think about what you are doing!"
Munch and Tutuola were inching closer to him as he was speaking to Olivia. He looked over at them and caught on to their scheme. "Back off! I'll take down everyone in this room!" They backed away for the moment.
Jacob shot Olivia a hateful glance. "What do you care? He's a monster, remember? 'He deserves to be dead' is what you said to me. Why be so concerned now?
Olivia pondered this for a few seconds. Why did she care? This is what she has wanted for years. For some strange reason, he felt a pang of sympathy for the man laying, bleeding on the floor. Maybe she wanted to be the one to take him down—or maybe she was just too nice of a person to see anyone die at the mercy of another. She has seen it happen too many times.
"Where's your comeback, Olivia?" Jacob said scornfully. "Does it infuriate you that I'm killing him instead of you?" He kept teasing her.
"You see? You are like me after all," he stated with a satisfied look on his face.
"You won't get out of here alive," Tutuola warned him from the corner.
"Who says I want to? As long as I can extract my revenge, I don't care. I'd rather be dead than in prison," he said, as if he could care less.
Olivia couldn't resist looking down at the man she has loathed for all of these years. He didn't look threatening or evil now. His pain was evident. He raised his pleading eyes to her. She quickly looked away.
She didn't want to feel anything for this man. He wasn't worthy of her sympathy. He deserves whatever happens to him. She fixed her eyes on Jacob. This was his moment to shine and he wanted to make sure everyone heard what he had to say.
"All of you in this room are fakes and liars. You pretend to help people but what you are really doing is helping yourselves," Jacob fumed.
"You all commit as many sins as I do. But, it's okay since your cops," he retorted spitefully.
"Can we all name the seven deadly sins? I bet all of you can," Jacob asked pensively. "We can all admit to that, right? Let's see, there's gluttony. Detective Munch, why don't you go and grab some of that Italian food that you all were eating while I was killing that poor girl? Did you get full? Those policemen that you sent me with were a joke. What a couple of lazy sloths. The less they had to do, the better. They probably would have let me drive myself to prison if I asked them."
Munch and Tutuola began to creep up on him. Stabler stayed rooted where he was by the door to watch over Olivia.
"Not so fast, boys. You'll get your chance. We aren't finished yet. Greed—there's a good one. It's human nature to want more—I just want it all. You all love what greed brings—money, power, and girls. You act like you don't, but I know you do."
He paused for a second to look over at Stabler. "This brings me to lust. I see how you look at my sister. You want her. Sure, you have a loving wife and adorable kids, but you can't help but want more. I see the looks, the desires. Don't deny it; we know it's true."
"You're a sick liar!" Stabler yelled as he lunged at him. Munch and Tutuola held him back.
Jacob continued as if nothing had happened. "I don't think so, Detective. You always want to help her and be near her, touch her. I can see it in your eyes. You would take her in a second and not give your wife a second thought."
Stabler's anger was rising and Jacob knew it. He was hitting a nerve and loved it.
"Okay, let's get this moving," Tutuola interjected. "Don't we have three other sins to rant and rave about?"
Jacob was content that they wanted to hear him talk. For once, he was the most important person in the room. "Pride brings a lot of people to their knees. Just think, Olivia, if you would have swallowed your pride and acknowledged us as part of your family, we wouldn't be in this position. All you had to do was help us. But you are too good for us. It makes me sick to see my sister play the good person all of the time. She never hates. She always gets the bad guys. Can't you be evil just once?"
Jacob's expression turned darker and nastier as he continued speaking. "You have your perfect, little life with your perfect, little mother. You have perfect friends who care about you. You have a perfect job. Everyone adores Olivia. She can do no wrong. Everyone despises me," he said in a dejected tone.
"I suppose this is envy," Olivia said dryly. "You have to earn trust, respect and love. It wasn't just handed to me. Nobody can love a person who is so full of hate and destruction like you.
"Thanks for the pep talk, sis," Jacob responded sarcastically. "I gave up on that long ago. It does bring me my favorite sin of all—wrath. It's so much more powerful than love," he mused as he inched his gun closer to his trembling father.
"Anger, hate, pain, all rolled into one." He became ominously quiet. "I want everyone to feel my wrath in this room." He glanced at every person in the room with eyes full of revulsion.
"I want you to feel the twinge of betrayal." He looked over at Olivia to be sure she heard his every word. "I want you to suffer like I have."
Olivia stirred in her spot, but never aimed the gun away from him. "Why should I feel what you've caused in your pitiful life?" Olivia replied vehemently. "This is your fault."
"No, it's our father's fault. He made me who I am!" Jacob insisted.
"Blame whomever you want, Jacob. You chose this life. You wanted it—needed it. It's who you are." Olivia shook her head, chuckling. "It's never Jacob's fault, is it? It's always someone else's fault."
She started to make fun of him. "'I wasn't loved enough. Nobody cared about me or whatever else went wrong in my pathetic life.' I don't want to hear it. Lots of people don't get the attention they need, but they don't go out and kill people because of it. The truth is you are incapable of love," she merely stated.
"Where were you when I needed your help?" Jacob growled. "You didn't give a damn about me."
"It wouldn't have mattered." Olivia simply said without remorse.
"Maybe you're right. I guess I should do what I do best." He cocked the trigger on his gun and sent a single bullet riveting through his father's body.
Everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion. Olivia cried out and ran to her father. Jacob was laughing loudly as he then pointed the gun at Olivia. His finger went for the trigger. He knew he wasn't going to be in this world much longer. He wanted all three of them to be together as the family he always dreamed of. He can make it come true with one pull of the trigger. He will finally be at ease.
Munch and Tutuola saw what he was going to do and instantaneously raised their guns and fired at him. He was sent crashing into the wall leaving a line of smeared blood as he fell to the floor.
Olivia was trying to stop her father from bleeding to death when she felt a tug on her jacket. She turned around to see a desperate Jacob. "How can you help him or have any feelings towards him after what he's done!" he coughed in between gasps. "He's a monster!"
"He's my father," she said quietly and started to turn away.
"I did you a favor! You owe me. You won't be in danger any more," he persisted.
She looked down at the dying man on the floor with the pleading, brown eyes. "I never was," she determined.
Jacob now knew that he was truly alone. He was born alone and he was going to die alone. His only sister chose their father over him. His biggest fear had come true. He always craved for the love that his older half sister had. It was always out of his reach.
"I just wanted you to recognize me—love me," he whispered. Olivia closed her eyes and ignored his pleas. He let out his last breath of life. He kept Olivia in his sight as long as he could. He died with his eyes fixed on Olivia.
Olivia quivered as she looked back at him. She really didn't feel much but relief as they closed his eyes and placed him in a body bag. She was grateful that he was the one being positioned in that bag instead of an unfortunate, helpless victim.
She then turned back around to face the man she's detested for all of these years. She remembered when she saw him last. She was so full of hatred. Now, seeing his life fade away, she felt sad and empty.
She too, had felt the envy that Jacob carried around. She didn't have a loving father who read stories to her or would carry her on his shoulders. She was always jealous of the kids at school who proudly displayed their fathers as if they were made of gold. She sorely missed a father to kiss her goodnight when she went to bed. She frequently felt alone.
But she did have her mother. Her mother filled her with love and the courage to go on. Olivia knows that she owes her life to her but can never fully repay her for all she's sacrificed and done. She's made her the person she is today and she's very proud of that. Still, she can't help but wonder what life would have been like if she did have a father.
Tears stung her eyes. She will never know. She grabbed her father's hand but he could barely hold onto hers. They didn't say anything. This was all she had and she couldn't let go. It wasn't in her to hate. She couldn't hate him anymore.
Her father tried to say something. His vision was fading and he started to drift away. He mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' before the blackness took over his world. He closed his eyes and turned away from her.
All that was heard in the room was Olivia's whimpers. Stabler bent over and touched her back. "It's over now. You and your mother can live in peace," he said softly.
She wiped tears away from her eyes. "Yes, it is," she alleged, overwhelmed with sorrow.
She slowly stood up and let the people take him. "I need to go see my mother now," she sighed with no emotion.
Everyone backed up and let her through. Nobody said a word. Nothing could be said to ease her pain and make her feel better.
99
The others arrived at the station to carry on as usual. Paperwork needed to be completed. Cragen had to make a few last minute phone calls.
Stabler finished his work and stuck his pencil back in the holder. He told everyone goodbye and headed for his car. He decided to take a detour to Olivia's mother's house. He stepped out of the car and saw them in the front yard. Olivia said something to her and her mother collapsed on Olivia's shoulder. Olivia just held her mother in her arms as they both cried. Their tears flowed freely and hit the ground.
Stabler opted not to disturb them. This was their time to heal. Stabler smiled and got back in his car. He couldn't wait to see his family after this ordeal. He knew he was very lucky to have them. He drove away thinking about what to surprise his wife with for dinner.