The building was dark. Shit. Stabler slid off to the side, so he wasn't silhouetted against the streetlights that poured in through the open door. He had no idea where Goren was and that wasn't good. That's how accidental shootings happened. He didn't like Goren, but he didn't want to shoot him either. "Goren?" he whispered.

There was no answer. Great. He had half a mind to go back out the damn door and leave him here to whatever. But he wasn't going to fail to backup a fellow cop. That was unforgivable. He heard a sound behind him and spun around, finger resting on the trigger. "Shhh, it's me."

"Shit, Goren. You damn near got shot."

"Sorry. Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Upstairs."

"Why upstairs?"

"The light's better."

Stabler stared at the shadow moving away from him. The light was better? Was he joking? Reluctantly, he followed, wanting even more to go back to the house and process another difficult scene rather than follow this unstable cop into whatever waited for them upstairs…where the damn light was better.

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Eames was sitting on the steps of the porch when Benson found her. They had finished with their part of processing the scene. Warner was doing her job and the CSU techs were doing theirs. An ambulance had come and gone with the distraught parents of the little girl, who had finally dissolved into tears and shock when the medical examiner had arrived and disappeared into their daughter's room. The scene had their perp's mark all over it. Eames even pulled one of her partner's stunts and found the scent of cologne that clung to her little body.

Benson sat down beside her. Eames looked at her. "How do you do it, Liv?"

"What?"

"Handle cases like that, all the time."

"The children, they're the hardest. The way I see it, somebody's got to do it, and as long as I can, I will. It never gets easier, but it's worth it to bring them justice. It's even harder for Elliot, because he can't help but see his kids in every one of those faces."

"I know. I see my nephew in those little faces. I'm glad we don't get cases like this often."

"What do you think your partner sees?"

"I don't want to know. Bobby's mind is a very complicated place, and I couldn't even hazard a guess. But I know it disturbs him very deeply."

Benson looked out across the lawn in the direction their partners had gone. Eames put into words a nebulous concern that had suddenly become strikingly real. "Olivia, he will back Bobby up, won't he?"

Benson thought for a moment, trying to imagine Stabler walking off and leaving a fellow officer with no backup save a big German Shepherd. She couldn't. "Yes, Alex. He'll back him up," she answered with certainty. He was hot-headed and sometimes judgmental, but Elliot Stabler was a damn good cop.

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The second floor was indeed more well-lit than the rooms below. It was one big open room, bordered on all sides by windows, many of which were broken. Not only did the street lights shine through the windows, the moon did as well. Goren grabbed Stabler's shirt and yanked him down as he started to move past him up onto the floor. Fed up, Stabler pulled back his fist to swing, but Goren grabbed his arm. "He's up here," he whispered.

"How do you know?"

"I heard him."

Stabler raised an eyebrow at him, trying not to dwell on the fact that if Goren wasn't as annoyingly observant as he was, if he had not yanked him down just now, he'd be lying on the floor at the top of the stairs with a bullet in him. They both would. "Over there...that pillar...let's go..." He shoved Stabler ahead of him and they scrambled toward a wide pillar ten feet from the opening in the floor that they had come up through. Bullets pinged and ricocheted around them, not missing them by much. They made it safely to the pillar, but just barely. "Did you see where he is?"

"Over there." He pointed to the far side of the room, where an assortment of crates filled the corner.

Stabler glanced around the pillar, pulling back quickly when he saw the flash from the rifle barrel. The bullet ricocheted near his ear. He rested his head against the pillar. Great, just great. He could not foresee a single scenario that had both of them getting out of this uninjured. Most of them had one or both of them dead. "This was real planning. Now what do we do?"

"What we came here to do. To paraphrase Mike Logan, we get him."

"Sounds simple enough. What if he gets us first?"

"We don't let that happen. There's two of us. I'll draw his fire and you slip around the crates and arrest him."

How could he take such a scenario as the one they found themselves in and make it sound so damn simple? "Why are you doing this? Why would you take that risk without seeming to give it a second thought?"

"Because we have to get this bastard before any more little girls die. I know what you're thinking, and Eames thinks the same thing. It drives her nuts that I seem to think I'm invincible. I know I'm not. But I will not let her take those risks if I can help it, so call it a habit and be glad for it. Besides, you've got kids. All I have is Eames."

Stabler studied him closely. That was not an answer he would have predicted. "One more thing, before we get our asses killed. What the hell did you mean by the light is better up here?"

"It is, isn't it?"

"Tell me that's not why you brought us up here."

Goren laughed softly. "No. I...I'm used to Eames. She would have...gotten it. I heard him moving around up here after we busted in. I should have told you. Sorry."

"If I'd gotten shot..."

"I didn't let that happen. I never leave my partner wearing a big bull's-eye, whether I like him or not."

Stabler looked at him for a minute, ashamed that the thought of leaving had even crossed his mind and wondering, to his own dismay, if it was only the threat of facing Eames that made him stay. No, he was a better cop than that, and what ultimately mattered was that he was here. He sighed. "We really need another plan. This one's gonna get you shot."

"And that matters to you?"

Stabler sought him out in the moonlight. "It matters to your partner...and mine. And, yeah, it matters to me. I don't want to see you get shot."

Goren took a deep breath, and a small smile played across his face. "Don't tell me you're afraid of Eames."

"Afraid of her? No...well, maybe a little..." He also smiled a little. "She can be scary, can't she?"

"You have no idea. Look, we need to bring this guy in, and he has a pretty secure position over there. The only way to get around behind him is by getting over to the crates. I have no plans to get shot."

"Who ever does? Why not send the dog after him?"

Goren looked around. "I'm not sure where he is. And I promised I'd take care of him. I'd rather get shot than tell Barry I got his dog shot." He poked his head around the pillar again, barely avoiding another bullet as it ricocheted near his face. This was not good. He was afraid there might not be a way to avoid getting shot. Eames was going to kill him. "All right. I'll head that way toward that pillar over there. Give me a three count and then you take off. He should be focused on me. Ready?"

Stabler nodded tightly, shaking his head in amazement at a man who would take a bullet for a dog. He watched as Goren pulled out his gun and, firing toward the crates,darted out into the room, making for the next pillar, which was too far away. He counted to three and dashed for the crates. The rifle cracked again.