-4 Days Later-

"Damn it Olivia, you couldn't have waited for back up could you?" Elliot scolded as he paced around the gurney.

Olivia shook her head. "Elliot we had back up and you know that." She got off the gurney, grabbed her jacket and headed toward the elevators.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

She stopped mid-stride and turned around to face Elliot. "Elliot!" She was about to really tell him what she was thinking, but she thought better of it. "I don't need this right now."

And she really didn't. Up until a few hours ago, she and Elliot had been undercover trying to infiltrate a very powerful Columbian drug ring. They had been part of an undercover team composed of them and several federal narcotics and federal undercover officers. The only reason that had been allowed to join this team was because SVU was just as famous for their dealings with children as this drug ring was for using children. Well, that and the fact that the leader of this particular drug ring was none other that Caesar Valez, the man who had ordered the hit on their prosecutor over two years ago.

But unfortunately, no one counted on any member of the ring knowing who Olivia was. That was a big mistake. Now two officers were dead and five were in the hospital. This was either a win-all or loose-all mission. If they had been successful, Caesar Valez would be in police custody right now, along with every other member of his cartel who wasn't killed in the apprehension process, awaiting arraignment on several federal felony charges. And over four years of work would have finally paid off. But this mission wasn't successful, so four years of seven-day workweeks, twenty-four hour days and 365-day years had all been for nothing. Hours and hours of paperwork, stakeouts and drug raids-all for nothing. And now Valez knew that the feds were onto him, and because of their slip-up today, he now had time to move his operations, hide evidence and flee the country.

Olivia thought about this the whole way up to Mackenzie's room. They had been so close to eliminating the reason for Alex being in hiding, so close. But now, they had hours and days and weeks and months and years of work to do all over again, and with no guarantee that they would be successful next time either.

She rounded the corner and almost bumped into the one person she least expected to see. "Mrs. Cabot."

"Oh please Olivia. It was Sophia three years ago when you were practically married to my daughter and…I know a lot has changed since then, but I would like to think that our relationship is one of the few things that has not." She quickly changed the subject. "I'm sorry that I was unable to return your call, but I just got back today and you said that it was urgent, so I went to the station house and they said that you were here. So here I am."

Olivia wasted no time. "Why didn't Alex ever tell me that she had a daughter?"

"I've been expecting this. I told Alexandra that she should have told you, but…"

"Alexandra honestly, I don't know why you don't just tell her."

Alex sighed and flopped herself down in the chair opposite her mother. "It's complicated."

"What's so complicated about it? It's not like you chose to get pregnant. You were raped, it wasn't your fault. She of all people will understand that."

"See mother, that's just it." Alex got up and started pacing. "Everyone has a reason for joining SVU. Elliot's a father, he does it to protect his children. Olivia does it to protect people like her mother and because she herself was the product of rape. Fin does it because he wanted a more less risk job where he could actually help people. Munch does it because…well, frankly because he wasn't wanted anywhere else. But as far as they're all concerned, I was just randomly assigned to the unit. They don't know that even ADA's have to request to be assigned to the unit. They don't know that even I had a reason for joining SVU. And I'm not really sure that I want them to know."

"Alexandra Cabot. You were not raised like this. Your father and I raised you to be proud of yourself and not to hide from problems in your life. This little girl was your pride and joy. You may have only been fifteen when you had her, but you were a better mother than most mothers I know."

"Yeah?..So great that I lost her." She sat back down. "I looked away for two seconds, two seconds, and she was gone."

"And you did everything in your power to try and to get her back. SVU also deals with kidnappings." She moved over so that she was sitting inched away from her daughter. "Tell her. She'll understand."

A tear slipped down Alex's cheek. "It's just too painful. I mean…I lost my baby."

"That's why she didn't tell you. You have no idea how much Alexandra loved that baby. When she first got pregnant, she wanted nothing to do witha baby. She viewed her as a rapist's child and nothing more. But after she gave birth to Mackenzie, she was no longer the daughter of a rapist. She was the daughter of a Cabot. I swear she didn't put Mackenzie down for longer than five minutes for the first two years. And then she finally does, and she's taken away. She couldn't live with herself."

"I get it." Mrs. Cabot looked at her dubiously. "Okay, so maybe I don't, but I understand why she didn't tell me-I just don't. I know she said it was painful, but…it's me and Alex. We didn't have any secrets."

They both stayed silent for a few minutes. Each pondering why Alex took this secret to the grave. (Or in Olivia's case, Nowhere'sVille USA)

"Olivia, if you don't mind my asking, how did you find out about Mackenzie?"

Olivia said the first think that came to her mind. "I'm a cop. There isn't much I can't find out."

The older woman seemed to be happy with the answer. "I understand why you wanted to talk to me about this, but why tell me that it's urgent. The way you sounded, it sounded like someone was in the hospital. Surely this could have been discussed at a later, less urgent date."

Olivia hadn't exactly planned how she was going to tell her, but she had no time to think right now. This grandmother deserved to know the truth about her granddaughter. She cleared her throat. "Okay, about two weeks ago-"

She was interrupted by a loud, high pitched scream, followed by a familiar voice screaming, "Olivia!" Olivia nearly jumped out of her seat. "Mackenzie."

Mrs. Cabot followed suit. "What?"

"Sophia I will be right back." She took off running, leaving one very confused Cabot in her wake. As she was approaching the room, she spotted a nurse run out and toward the stairs. In the room, Mackenzie was huddled in the corner and Serena was a few feet away from her. "What happened?"

"Olivia I am so sorry. I left her for one minute to go get a cup of coffee and when I got back, the nurse was here injecting something into her IV."

Olivia picked up Mackenzie's chart and handed it to Serena. "When are they going to learn to have their nurses read patients charts before doing anything to them?"

Serena looked at the chart. The very first thing she saw was spelled out in big, bold red lettering. 'Afraid of needled and medicine vials. DO NOT, under any circumstances let patient see them. If an injection is needed, it is best to do it when the patient is asleep.' Serena put the chart down and went to get the doctor.

Olivia sat down on the floor next to Mackenzie, only to have her move away from her and inch closer to the bed. "Kenzie it's just me. Everything is going to be okay."

Mackenzie was hysterical. "EVRYTHING IS NOT GOING TO BE OKAY OLIVIA! THEY RAPED ME. TWO DIFFERENT GUYS FOR FIVE WEEKS. THEY STRAPPED ME DOWN TO A COT, PUMPED ME FULL OF DRUGS AND TERRORIZED ME FOR KICKES AND THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO ABOUT IT, NOTHING. I COULDN'T YELL, I COULDN'T SCREAM, I COULDN'T MOVE. I WAS POWERLESS."

Olivia tried as hard as she could not to cry. She hated that Mackenzie was in so much pain and that there was nothing she could do to help her.

She wasn't screaming anymore, probably due to the sedative the doctor had snuck in and injected into her IV, but she was still crying and rocking back and forth. "I told him that I had no idea where she was-I didn't even know who she was. I told him what I knew, which was nothing. But he didn't believe me, I mean why should he right? He wanted that information and he didn't care what he had to do to get it…Every time I told him that I didn't know a damn thing, he had them do something to me. But they were smart, they didn't beat me in any obvious places, they did it where no one could see, so they used my back. Since I've been doing better lately, Dr. Mendia gave me a full physical today and that's when she saw the bruises. My God, if you'd seen my back, you'd think my skin color was black, blue and yellow. And when the guys dumped me in that park, they made sure that I was still alive. That way, no one would be able to do a full boy exam like they would do on a dead person. That way, no one would see the bruises until they had already started to heal…But I really don't know why they didn't just kill me. It would have been a lot easier on them and I'd probably be a lot better off."

"Now you listen to me. I cannot even begin to imagine what kind of hell you were in, but its over now and things will get better. You have to trust me on that." She wiped a few tears from Mackenzie's eyes and took both of her hands in hers. "Mackenzie I didn't know you when all of this started, but I know you now and I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you." Try as she may, Olivia was no longer successful in holding back her own tears. "I haven't even known you fora monthand I already love you more that I ever imagined myself loving any child."

Mackenzie stopped crying and looked up at Olivia.

"Things may not seem that good right now, but they will get better."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Olivia hugged Mackenzie and wiped the rest of her tears away. Once she was significantly calmer, Olivia helped her back into bed and tucked her in.

Mackenzie sighed. "You know, I had to go through all this and I'm still no closer to finding my mother."

Olivia sat down beside her. "Actually Kenzie, I've been meaning to talk to you about that…I know your mother."