Chapter 8: Reactions Part II
Olivia, Elliot, and Oliver arrived at the hospital some twenty minutes later and headed up to Callie's room. When Oliver opened the door to her room Elliot and Olivia both smiled as they watched Callie smile and her face brighten as she reached her arms out to hug her best friend.
"They've got some connection, huh" Elliot said to Olivia
"Yeah" she answered
They let Oliver and Callie talk a few minutes before they walked over to her bed and sat down in the chairs next to her bed.
"Hi sweetheart, how are you feeling" Olivia asked as she sat down
"Okay" she answered
Olivia nodded her head and before she could say anything else, Callie asked the question that Olivia knew was coming.
"Did you find my mom?"
Olivia looked at Elliot and he could tell she wanted to cry, but she didn't. She took a deep breath before turning and facing Callie again, making eye contact with her.
"Sweetie I need to talk to you about your mom" she told the little girl as she got out of her seat and sat down on the bed next to her.
"Honey we did everything we could to find your mom...But...Sweetie she died" Olivia managed to choke out, "I'm so sorry baby" she said reaching out to the little girl, but Callie jerked away from Olivia's touch.
"Nooo. You promised you'd save her...You lied" Callie yelled as she recoiled from Olivia's touch.
"Sweetie-"
"Nooooo" Callie yelled as she pulled her knees into her chest and held them there, as she began to rock herself back and forth.
"Callie" Oliver said scooting closer to her on the bed, "It's gonna be okay Cal, I promise. You trust me, don't you?" he asked looking at her
Callie lifted her head and looked at him, nodding her head.
"I'm so sorry about your mom. But please don't be mad at my mom, she did everything she could and she's gonna make sure no one ever hurts you again" Oliver told the little girl
Callie looked at Oliver and then started crying again, but this time she reached out to Oliver, who scooted even closer to her and allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck and cry into his shoulder, while he held onto her.
Olivia and Elliot looked at each other before getting up and stepping out of the room to regain themselves. Olivia knew Callie was going to take the death of her mother hard, but she didn't think that it would make her completely distrust Olivia.
"Olivia, you okay?" Elliot asked after they had stepped into the hallway
"Yeah, why?"
"Liv"
"What?"
"She'll come around, she's just upset right now" Elliot told her
"I know" Olivia said as she sat down in a chair in the hallway
"Okay" Elliot nodded as he sat down beside her, but she knew that tone
"What's that supposed to mean" Olivia questioned as she snapped her head around to look at Elliot
"Nothing"
"Whatever"
"Liv, it doesn't mean anything-"
"Go ahead Elliot. I know you want to ask a personal question" Olivia told him
"I just know you are comparing her childhood to yours-"
"Her mother wasn't a drunk Elliot"
"No but she let an abusive drug dealer and a sex offender into her house with her six year old daughter" Elliot told her
"Okay so I sympathize with the girl. What's wrong with that?" Olivia snapped
"Nothing except your ten year old son also seems to sympathize with her. You know most ten year old boys don't want to have anything to do with little girls, especially younger ones" Elliot countered
"What are you saying Elliot?"
"Nothing, it just seems that he has been in a similiar situation and that's why he is so nice to her. Because other ten year old boys wouldn't want to have anything to do with a six year old neighbor who was a girl." he snapped
"Are you saying that I treat my son the same way my mother treated me" Olivia questioned shocked
"No-"
"Because I thought you knew me better than that Elliot" she said angrily as she stood up and walked back towards Callie's room.
"Olivia, wait-"
"Elliot I don't want to talk to you right now, I am getting my son and we are going home" she said as she opened the door to Callie's room.
When they walked into the room they saw that Callie had finally stopped crying and had fallen asleep on Oliver's shoulder while they watched some cartoons.
"Hey kiddo, you ready to go home?" she asked Oliver quietly
"Do we have to?"
"Yeah, it's getting late. How about we come back tomorrow to see her and you can stay all day if you want to"
"Really?"
"Yeah, I mean it is Saturday, so I don't see why not" she told him with a smile
"Okay" he said as he carefully got up and covered Callie with a blanket before walking over to his mother
Olivia draped her arm around his shoulders as they left Callie's room and walked down the hall to the elevator, with Elliot running after them.
"Olivia, please, let me explain" he begged
"There's nothing to explain Elliot, I understood you perfectly" said Olivia
"I didn't say that you were the abuser, and I didn't say there was one, I just-"
Elliot didn't get to finish his sentence because the elevator doors closed, and he didn't try to stop them from closing. He knew Olivia was angry with him and he knew she wouldn't listen to anything he had to say right now. So he thought he would give her time to cool off and he would come back to the hospital tomorrow to try and explain things to her.
Elliot decided to stay the night at the hospital, just to keep any eye on Callie, and to be there in the morning when Olivia and Oliver arrived.
The next morning Oliver and Olivia arrived at the hospital around 10 AM. When they walked into Callie's room, Olivia was surprised to find Elliot there watching Saturday morning cartoons with Callie. Olivia was also surprised to see that Callie was laughing at the cartoons and seemed to be in a completely different mood than when she saw her the night before.
"Hi Livia" Callie giggled while still watching the TV
"Hi sweetheart"
Elliot stood up and motioned to Olivia to follow him out into the hallway, which she surprisingly did.
"She seems to be in a better mood this morning" stated Olivia
"Yeah, I mean she was upset this morning when she woke up but once she started watching the cartoons she seemed to get better" Elliot told her
"What are you doing here?"
"I stayed here last night, you know, to keep an eye on things" he told her
"Uh-huh, you mean to ambush me when I got here" she asked
"Olivia, please let me just explain what I meant" he begged
"Elliot, I don't want to argue with you anymore. I'm tired and I just came here to drop Oliver off before going back to the precinct to keep looking for these guys" she told him
"I don't want to argue with you either Liv"
"Oh really, cause that's not what it seems like"
"Liv I just want you to tell me what's going on" he told her sincerely
She looked in his eyes and she knew he was seriously concerned about what was going on with her and why this case had taken such a toll on her.
"Elliot-"
"Please Liv, help me understand. Help me understand why you didn't tell me about Oliver. Why you thought you couldn't trust me" he begged her
"It wasn't about trust Elliot" she whispered
"Then what was it about?" he asked looking at her
"Do you want to go get some coffee before we head into work?" she asked
"Liv?"
"Let's get some coffee" she told him
And it was with her tone of voice that he knew she was ready to talk to him, but she didn't want to tell him in a public place. So he nodded and watched her walk back to Callie's room, open the door and tell Oliver she loved him and that she would be back to pick him up after work. Then they walked to the elevator together, got in and rode down to the ground floor. Once they got off Elliot ushered her to his car.
"C'mon I'll drive and I'll bring you back to here after work"
She gave in and they got into his car and drove back to her apartment. He followed her up to her floor and watched as her hands shook slightly as she took the keys out to unlock her door. They went inside and she started a pot of coffee as he sat down on the couch. A few minutes later she joined him on the couch with two cups of coffee and handed him one cup.
"You know when I joined SVU, nobody knew anything about me except my previous Captain. He made sure certain things weren't in my file when I left" Olivia said out loud
"Like you having a son?" asked Elliot
Olivia nodded her head, "Yeah"
"Why?"
"When I met Tom he seemed like a nice guy and it didn't hurt that he was cute. I met him when I was twenty seven, married him a year later, and had Oliver when I was twenty nine" she told Elliot as she looked down at the coffee in her mug
"What happened?" he asked looking at her
"Things started to get a little crazy. He was trying to open up his own business and he put a lot of money down on it. I started working more hours and I was gone a lot at night, so he was the one who had to take care of Oliver most of the time. By the time Oliver was two Tom's business started taking a dive, people didn't seem as interested in the stuff he was selling. He was losing customers and in turn we were losing money. When Oliver was three we put him in preschool and that's when Tom confronted me about our financial situation. He put a big bet on a game to try and make some more money to support his business, but he lost the bet. And in turn he lost his business and we lost all of our money. We owed the bank over fifty thousand dollars in loans, and we couldn't pay for Oliver's preschool. All of the money that I was making was going to the bank to pay off the loans. We barely had enough to support ourselves."
Olivia looked at Elliot and she could tell by his expression that he was shocked at everything he was hearing. But he didn't say anything, she knew he just wanted to hear the rest of the story.
"Anyways once his business went under Tom took it really hard. He didn't even look for another job, he just stayed home all day with Oliver. I'd come home in the middle of the night and the apartment would be a mess. That's when he started drinking. I guess he couldn't take the toll of losing his business and all of the money he had invested in it. When I confronted him about his drinking he completely lost it. He told me it was my fault, that maybe if I would have picked a better career we wouldn't be in the situation we were in. He had the nerve to try and order me to quit my job to find a better paying job. I didn't take that well at all and I just started yelling at him, telling him that our financial situation was his fault and that if he wanted us to make more money he should get off his ass and look for another job"
Elliot's eyes got wide and Olivia knew he wasn't surprised by what she had said, that's the way she was, not afraid of anything. Olivia smiled slightly before looking back down at her coffee.
"Well I guess I shouldn't have said anything to him, because I'd never seen him so angry" she said quietly
"Liv, what happened?" Elliot asked softly as he reached his hand out and placed it on her knee
"Well it didn't end well. I mean he had never acted like that before, but I knew I had to get away from him, because he wasn't the same man" she said still looking at her coffee
"Liv, what do you mean it didn't end well? What did he do?"
"Elliot I think you know"
"Did he hurt you?" Elliot asked, his voice still soft, but with a twinge of anger in it, "Liv"
She didn't answer at first, but just nodded her head, her eyes still concentrating on coffee in her hands.
"I never thought he would...I mean I knew he was upset...But..."
"Olivia if you don't want to-"
"No I've told you this much...I'm going to finish" she said looking up at him
He nodded his head and kept his hand on her knee as he looked at her.
"Tom got up out of his chair and walked towards me. I thought he was just going to yell at me for what I had said, but when he got closer I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was more than angry. When I started to turn to walk away he grabbed my arm and threw me onto the couch. When he came towards me again I kicked him and got up to run to Oliver's room but he jumped on me as I got to the hallway. I tried fighting him, but he was so much bigger than me and he had me pinned down...He just started hitting me...And yelling at me...I remember Oliver coming out of his room, and how frightened he was. I told him to stay in his room and not to come out"
"Liv" Elliot said as he scooted closer to her on the couch when he saw a tear roll down her cheek
"Tom got really angry when I told Oliver to hide in his room. He got up off of me and went into Oliver's room and brought him out into the hall. I remember Oliver was crying, he was so scared. I begged Tom not to do anything to him...But...Oliver was screaming for me and Tom was dragging him down the hall to the living room. I got up and followed them to the living room, begging Tom not to hurt him. When he noticed that I had followed him he turned around and hit me hard enough to cause me to fall down. Oliver ran over to me crying...That's when...That's...When Tom hit him. I've never been so pissed off. I got up and attacked Tom, fighting him like I've never fought anyone before. I got the worse end of it, but it was enough to get Tom to finally stop hitting me. I remember he sunk down to the floor crying. I went over to Oliver and picked him up and took him into his room and shut the door, pulling his bed in front of the door in case Tom tried to get in. I just sat on the floor rocking Oliver back and forth. Then the front door opened and closed. I got up and went out into the hall and then I checked out the apartment and found that Tom had left. I didn't know how long he was going to be gone, so I packed some of my things and some of Oliver's things. I got us both cleaned up the best that I could and then we left" Olivia told Elliot as her eyes looked up and met his
"Olivia, I'm so sorry. I wish I would have known you then" Elliot told her as he squeezed her knee
"Well there would have been nothing you could have done. I didn't tell anybody about it. I called into work that night and asked for the next week off, which I got. Then I took Oliver and we went to the hospital so that we could both get stitched up. Then I took him to the beach for the next week where we could recuperate."
"Oliver had to get stitches?"
"Yeah he fell and hit his head on the coffee table when Tom hit him"
"So you never told anyone about what happened?" Elliot asked
"Well when we got back from the beach I got a one bedroom apartment that was closer to the precinct I was working at. Things were good for awhile, I was able to get Oliver back into a different preschool and I got my hours worked out so that I could be home by seven at night. It had been about a month and we hadn't heard anything from Tom so I figured he was ashamed of what he had done. But then one night on my way home, he was waiting for me outside my apartment building. He told me that he was sorry about what happened and that he wanted to start over. I told him that Oliver and I had moved on and that he needed to stay away from us or I would tell everyone I worked with what had happened. He pinned me up against the wall and whispered in my ear that if I wasn't careful I would end up without a son. I told him if he ever came near Oliver again I would kill him"
"He did come near him, didn't he?" Elliot asked her
Olivia nodded, "I got off of work early one day so I thought I would surprise him by picking him up from school and spending the afternoon at the park with him. But when I got to the school, he wasn't there. When I questioned his teacher she told me that his father had signed him out at lunch time, he had told her he was taking Oliver to a Doctor's appointment. I was so angry with her, with the entire school. I went back to my apartment hoping that they would be there, but they weren't. There was no sign that they had even been there. So I went back to my precinct and told my Captain about everything. He had people searching, but no one could find anything. There was no trace of Tom or Oliver anywhere"
"Wait, did people you worked with know that you had a son?" Elliot asked
"No, most of them didn't even know I was married. I didn't really talk about my personal life at work. When my Captain found out he told the officers that were searching for Oliver that he was my godson. We searched for weeks without turning up anything. One day my Captain came to me and told me he couldn't keep looking. He told me he wouldn't put anything about my personal life into my file. That's when he told me that I had been transferred to SVU. A couple months later I became your partner" she told him as she looked back up at him
"Liv, why didn't you just tell me?"
Olivia shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I mean, do you think I'm proud of what happened. I didn't want people feeling sorry for me"
"So you got Oliver back two years ago?"
"Yeah, he just showed up one day"
"Liv he would have been like eight years old. I doubt he just showed up on his own" he said looking at her
"About four years ago I got a card in the mail on my birthday. When I opened it up there was a picture of Oliver...It had been three years since I had seen him and he had grown so much, but he was okay and that was all that mattered. Inside the card was a note from Tom saying that he wanted Oliver to have a better life than the one he had been living and that's why he had taken him from me. That was the first time I had heard anything from either of them"
"Did you try and trace where the card had come from?"
"Of course. But it was no use he covered his tracks really well. Then about a year later I got another card, but it was from Oliver. He had written that he missed me and that Tom didn't know he had sent this card to me. He begged me to come and find him. I tried tracing that card as well, but I never found anything. Then two years ago I got another card from Oliver, this time with their address on the envelope. That's the time I took that whole weekend off and told everyone that I was going out of town for the weekend. I flew to Florida, which is where the card came from. I found a cop there that gave me directions to Tom's house. I sat outside for awhile and that's when I saw Oliver come out of the house with a woman, and they were followed a couple minutes later by Tom. I watched Tom say goodbye to the woman and then he grabbed Oliver by the arm and yelled something at him. It took everything I had not to get out of the car and shoot the bastard right there. I waited until Tom had gone back inside and then the woman backed her car out of the driveway and I followed her to the mall. I got out and followed her and Oliver into the mall and I watched the interaction between them. They seemed to get along pretty well, so I just followed behind them waiting for the right time. Then I watched as Oliver asked the woman a question as he pointed to a candy store. She nodded and then pointed to another clothing store in the mall. I watched as he went into the clothing store and she went to the candy store. I knew that was probably going to be my only chance so I ran into the clothing store after him. I saw him looking at some clothes so I walked closer to him and I whispered his name. I didn't know if Tom might have changed it or not. But he turned around and stared at me for a minute, and I thought he didn't recognize me. Then he ran at me and jumped into my arms. I remember I just wanted to stand there holding him, but I knew the woman that was with him would be back soon. So I told him that we had to leave right then. Oliver nodded his head as he looked across the mall and saw the woman still in the line at the candy store. I followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at. I remember I told him that he was going to have to meet me outside the store so that no one would see us leave together. So I left him in the store and walked out keeping my eyes on the woman at the candy store. Then a minute later I felt someone slip their hand into mine. I remember looking down and seeing Oliver smile up at me and I just wanted to hold him in my arms and not let him go. That's when we left the mall, and got into my rental car and went straight to the airport. I had already picked up two plane tickets for that afternoon, hoping that I would be able to get Oliver and get to the airport before the flight left, which thankfully I was"
Olivia looked at Elliot who had an almost stunned look on his face.
"So you kidnapped him back from your husband?" he asked her
"Ex-husband, and he is my son also" she told him
"And he hasn't come looking for you?"
"No, I mean I'm not sure he knows that it was me who took him. He might have thought it was an actual kidnapper"
"Why would he think that?" Elliot asked
"Because Tom didn't know that Oliver sent me that letter with their address on it. He told me that his stepmother had helped him mail it one day. That was the woman he was with at the mall. She had figured out what had happened and she wanted to help Oliver get back to where he belonged"
"Really?"
"Yeah. Oliver said she was really nice and took good care of him"
"What about Tom?"
"What about him?"
"Did he ever hurt Oliver again?" Elliot asked
"Yes" Olivia answered quietly, "That's why Tamara wanted to get him back home to me. She was afraid Tom was going to end up killing him"
"How do you know that if you've never met her"
"Oliver told me. Our flight stopped in Virginia and we spent the night at a hotel there and took another flight to New York the next day. That night we stayed up talking for a long time. He told me everything that had happened, including the way Tom had treated him. He cried in arms for so long Elliot. It took everything in my power not to fly back to Florida and kill Tom. I remember holding Oliver and rocking him in my arms till he fell asleep. He told me that he remembered everything that had happened before he and Tom left New York"
"What about the day Tom picked him up from school?" asked Elliot
"Oliver told me that Tom had told him I had said it was okay to pick Oliver up and have lunch with him. Oliver didn't realize anything was wrong until they ended up at the airport" Olivia told Elliot
"Don't you ever worry that one day Tom will figure out what really happened?"
"I try not to worry about it anymore. And if Tom ever does come back I'll be ready, because I'm not giving Oliver up without a fight." she told Elliot
Elliot moved his hand from Olivia's knee to her hand and took it in his, giving it a slight squeeze.
"Thank you" he said
"For what?" she asked
"For trusting me enough to tell me the truth" he told her, "I just wish you could have told me sooner so that I could have helped you in any way possible"
"I didn't want you to get involved"
"Why?" he asked
"Because it was a dangerous situation and you had a family of your own to worry about. I didn't want all of you to be in danger as well"
"Yeah well I guess we don't have to worry about that anymore, do we" he said
"Elliot, I'm sorry. I didn't-"
"It's okay Liv, you know me well enough to know that I would have done anything I could to help you"
She nodded before looking down at their hands, that were now intertwined with each other.
"I just want you to know, that I am here for you now Liv. So anything that you need-"
"Elliot-"
"I know you can take care of yourself. Believe me" he smiled, "I just mean if you ever need anything, I'm here, okay" he told her still smiling
She smiled as she nodded her head, before she pulled her hand out of his and stood up, taking his coffee cup from him and walking over to the kitchen sink. He got up and followed her into the kitchen, and was standing right behind her when she turned around. She jumped, not expecting him to be standing so close to her.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you" he said
"It's okay" she said, stepping around him
"Are you sure you're okay Olivia? Because-"
"I'm fine. But we should be getting to work, the sooner we find those bastard's the better" she said heading for her front door
"Okay" he said following her
As she reached for the doorhandle, his hand reached out, covering her own, "Your secret's safe with me Liv"
She nodded but didn't say anything. She just opened the door so they could both get into work. Once they made it to his car Olivia's cell phone started ringing.
"Benson" she answered it, "What? Okay we're on our way" she said as she hung up
She turned to Elliot with a look of pure fright on her face.
"Liv, what is it?"
"Someone kidnapped Callie"
"What? But there was a guard"
"He's unconscious. He was given some type of relaxant" she told Elliot
Elliot sped to the hospital. As soon as he and Olivia made it to the hospital they ran inside and took the elevator up to Callie's floor. As soon as they got out they were met by a flood of police officers. They spotted Munch and Fin talking to one of the Doctors, so they headed over to them.
"What happened?" Elliot asked as they walked up to them
"Most people were on their lunch break so there were only a couple of people on the floor. One of the nurses said she saw a man walking around in a lab coat, but she had never seen him before. When she came out of the room she was in, the officer was on the ground and the little girl was gone from the room" Munch told Elliot and Olivia
"What about the boy?" asked Olivia
"What boy?" questioned Munch
"There was a boy in Callie's room with her" Olivia said impatiently as she turned running towards Callie's room
Elliot turned to go after her, but Munch stopped him, "What is she talking about?"
"We left a ten year old boy here with Callie this morning" Elliot told him as he continued after Olivia
When Elliot got to Callie's room, CSU was still dusting the room for prints or any sign of who might have taken Callie. Then Elliot saw Olivia standing by Callie's bed and he noticed she was holding the stuffed dog that Oliver had given to Callie. He walked up to Olivia and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. She turned and looked at him, her eyes full of tears.
"I can't lose him again Elliot. I can't" she said
"I know" he told her as he began to rub her back
A/N: Well please let me know what ya'll think about this chapter. I've already started the next one so hopefully it won't take me as long as the last two chapters did. Pleasssse Review!