Infamous

Disclaimer: I own all original characters and Dick Wolf owns the interesting ones.

Elliot stared at the small and dirty room before him. Empty liquor bottles littered the floor, cigarette butts seemed to be everywhere, and dirty cardboard boxes took the place of furniture. The only thing that seemed clean and well taken care of was a long shelf of hunting rifles. In the middle of the room lay an old man. Although he was obviously at least seventy, he was an imposing figure, even lying down.

"This is absolutely horrific," Olivia whispered as she came up beside Elliot.

Elliot nodded and slowly approached the old man "Mr. Munson?" he said, shaking the old man harshly. The old man didn't move. It was at that point that Elliot realized that the man wasn't breathing. Quickly Elliot felt for a pulse, there was none.

"Olivia," he whispered, waving her over towards him "he's dead."

Olivia wasn't sure how she felt about the old man's death. She looked back at Byron who watched fearfully as his two new friends stood dangerously close to his unpredictably violent grandfather.

"What do we tell him?" Olivia asked Elliot, still in a whisper.

"We'll explain it to him later," Elliot whispered back "I don't want to tell him that he's standing in the same room with a dead body."

Olivia nodded then turned back to Byron. In a whisper she asked "Where's that picture of your sister?"

Byron led her over to a corner of the room. He opened up a door revealing a small closet "In here," he told her and retrieved a small framed photograph from within the dark recesses of the closet.

Olivia took the photo from the small boy and looked at it. It was a photo of a pretty young woman holding a baby, a small boy who was obviously Byron sat next to the woman.

"Is this the only picture you have?" Olivia asked, trying not to sound disappointed. A photo of a baby wouldn't be all that much help six years after the fact.

Byron nodded and pointed to the woman "That's my mom. We took that picture after Karen was born. Mom told me that I was a big brother now and I had to look out for her," Byron squeezed his eyes shut and Olivia could tell that he was trying to hold back tears.

Byron quickly looked back towards his grandfather. Elliot was still standing next to the dead man. Byron stared intently at his grandfather, he thought that he saw the man move and he was afraid that his grandfather had woken up.

"Look out Elliot!" Byron screamed, running behind Olivia's legs and hiding his face in his hands.

"What's wrong Byron?" Olivia said, turning and kneeling in front of the small boy. She saw that he was crying "What is it sweetie?"

"Run," Byron whispered "He'll hurt you."

Olivia looked at Elliot imploringly. Elliot nodded and came over to the two of them "Its okay Byron," Elliot began "He isn't going to hurt any one," Elliot didn't want to tell the boy that his grandfather was dead but it seemed like he had no choice.

"He will," Byron said, still watching the dead man apprehensively "He'll…" Byron trailed off and both Elliot and Olivia could see that he was pointing at the row of guns.

"Byron," Olivia tried to calm the boy "He won't hurt anyone. I promise."

"How do you know?" Byron asked fearfully.

Olivia sighed heavily "He can't hurt anyone because…" she looked at Elliot for support.

Elliot swallowed hard "Byron," he began, slowly in an attempt to stall, for what he wasn't sure "He can't hurt anyone because he's dead."

Byron shook violently "Ghost," was all he said.

Elliot and Olivia exchanged looks again. A new problem had presented itself. Between the two a silent conversation bounced within their line of sight, during which it was decided that Elliot as the experienced parent would field this topic.

"Ghosts can't hurt you," Elliot tried to reassure Byron.

"I wanna leave," Byron whispered shakily.

"Ok," Olivia said putting a hand on his shoulder. The picture that they had would have to do she decided as the three of them left the small dingy excuse for a home.

Karen shivered, not that it was cold but it was lonely. She was growing more terrified by the moment. Her wrists hurt from the tape because it was so tight. She was thirsty, she was hungry and she was scared.

She heard rustling off in the distance and she tensed up. She knew that there were lots of wild animals in forests that liked to eat little girls for dinner. She started to cry again.

"We'll just set him up with a sketch artist," Munch told Elliot and Olivia. Fin had taken Byron to get something to eat and the three remaining detectives were trying to get the search for Karen Munson off the ground.

"Oh that's just great Munch," Olivia said frustrated "and while he's working with the guy, White could be doing who knows what to that little girl."

"Olivia," Elliot said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She spun around to face him "No," she said "I'm sick and tired of sitting on my ass while White does what ever he wants to who ever he wants."

"You've done everything but sit on your ass Liv," Elliot reminded her "None of this is your fault. We'll find her."

"Those are just words Elliot. You know that as well as I do," she turned away from him.

"Look," Munch intervened in the developing fight "We have an APB on the car. That's something."

"He'll ditch it the first chance he gets," Olivia countered.

"Why the hell are you being so pessimistic?" Elliot asked, turning her to face him "We'll find her. We, will, find, her."

"I just…" she began "it feels like, like we could be doing more," she felt her legs give way and before she knew it Elliot was holding her close and stroking her hair.

"Olivia!" the three detectives turned to see Fin and Byron walking towards them.

"Hey," Olivia said as the boy ran up and hugged both her and Elliot "Did you have a nice lunch?"

"Yeah," he told her. Although he was still very sad and very scared he had warmed up to all four detectives very quickly.

"Byron, honey," Olivia said "Why don't you and Fin go play catch over there? Elliot and I have some more things to talk about."

Byron nodded, he may have been young but he could tell that they had to talk about him. After all, his grandfather was dead, who would take care of him? He was sad that they would probably send him away but he was obedient and went off with Fin to play catch.

"We can't just leave him in this town," Olivia said "The school system here let the abuse go on. I don't trust these people."

"You're really attached to him aren't you?" Elliot asked.

"I don't know its just that I don't think that this is a healthy environment to leave him in that's all," she told him in a pensive tone.

"I agree," Elliot said "We'll take him back to Manhattan with us. ACS can handle his case and he's almost guaranteed to have a better support system there."

"…I know but ACS… I don't want him to be one of those kids who falls through the cracks," she said, looking down at her feet.

"He can't fall any farther than he already has," Munch put in.

Just then Munch's phone rang "Munch," he answered it in his usual manner "Alright… Yes… Ok… Thanks…" he flipped his phone closed again "That was highway patrol. They spotted Jenna's car headed back into the city."

"He's gonna try and meet up with the others," Olivia said in realization.

"Fin and I will handle it," Munch told her "You go get that boy taken care of."

Olivia reluctantly nodded. She wanted to be chasing White but right now, Byron was more important. A little boy who in one day had lost his sister and his grandfather, although the latter wasn't going to be mourned much and the former could still be found. His needs came first. Olivia turned and headed to where Fin and Byron were playing catch.

Elliot was just about to follow her when Munch stopped him "Keep an eye on her," Munch told him.

"I will," Elliot promised "but she can do that herself."

"I know," Munch said, reassuring himself "but this case is getting to all of us. She's strong but she's close to the edge. Just don't let her fall."

Elliot nodded in understanding and although Munch's sudden insightfulness into Olivia's psyche was not typical Munch he appreciated the advice all the same. He turned and went to join Olivia and Byron.

"What was that about?" Fin, who had come back just in time to catch the last part of what John had said, asked.

"Just trying to give them a push in the right direction," Munch mused.

"What the hell are you talking about man?" Fin asked in a somewhat amused somewhat annoyed tone.

"You haven't noticed it?" Munch asked his partner.

"Noticed what?" Fin asked, this time his tone was complete annoyance.

"Those two are in love," Munch informed him as straightforward as if he had said 'The sky is blue' or 'Tax cuts favor the rich'.

"What makes you the expert on love?" Fin asked, the amusement returning to his voice "Just how much is it that you pay in alimony each month?"

"Enough," Munch deadpanned and then in a more serious tone "You haven't noticed the way they look at each other, the way they seem to read each other's thoughts sometimes. They're in love but they're to afraid to let each other know."

Fin looked at the way that his two friends interacted, the way they seemed to communicate through simple glances, the way the two of them smiled and fawned over the little boy "You have a point," he said finally "but why are you trying to push them? They'll figure it out on their own won't they?"

"If he's not careful," Munch said in a somber tone "he's gonna lose her. It shouldn't take a near death experience to bring them together.

Byron had fallen asleep in the back seat of the squad car. Olivia sat in the passenger seat, her head laying against the headrest. They were still an hour and a half away from the city and thanks to some nasty traffic a few miles back, it was twilight.

Olivia had been checking her voicemail messages every fifteen minutes. Even though the phone was on she didn't want to take the chance that she missed a call that would be the call that would either break the little boy in the back seat even further or give him some hope.

She dialed her voicemail again and was met with the same 'You have no new messages' message that she'd gotten the past twenty times.

"I'm sure they'll find her," Elliot reassured for the twenty first time as she flipped her phone closed and returned to staring blankly at the ceiling of the car.

"It's getting hopeless," she said sadly.

"Don't say that," Elliot said as he pulled off the road. Once the car was safely parked he took her hand in his "Hope is what gets us through the toughest times. You can't say that its hopeless. There's still hope."

She gave him a half hearted smile "I never figured you for an optimist."

"Optimism is a useful tool, you should try it sometime," he suggested.

"Alright," she shrugged. Then suddenly she tensed up "Stay here with Byron," she told Elliot as she grabbed the emergency flashlight from the floor of the car and got out.

"Olivia!" he called after her "What are you doing?"

She couldn't explain it to herself but she knew that she just had to go into the woods, that something was wrong.

Elliot didn't follow her instructions "Byron," he called into the back seat.

"Yeah," said the boy sleepily.

"I'll be right back, okay?"

"Ok," Byron said before falling asleep again.

Elliot got out of the car, made sure that it was locked and then ran after the retreating point of light that was Olivia's flashlight.

It was getting cold and Karen wanted to be anywhere else. She cried for her brother, she missed him very much, she really hated being alone. All of a sudden she heard a growl. She looked up and saw a large scary animal. She didn't recognize it but it was a coyote. Of course a coyote is only about the size of a medium sized dog but when you're six years old and lying on the ground and quite scared and its starting to get dark out, anything can be an enormous terrifying monster.

Karen tried to scream but her mouth was still taped so all she could manage was a frightened whimper. She was unable to move.

Olivia saw a small body lying on the ground. She felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach. She saw the coyote, she didn't even think to grab her gun, when she saw the coyote make a lunge at the small figure on the ground Olivia just reacted.

"Get away from her!" Olivia screamed, swinging the flashlight at the coyote.

The coyote clamped onto the flashlight with its teeth and Olivia found herself staring into the face of one very pissed off animal. Still she tried to position herself between the coyote and the child.

The coyote managed to wrench the flashlight from Olivia's hand and it fell to the ground, the coyote lept at Olivia.

Olivia let out a small scream before another sound pierced the forest air. A single gun shot and then the coyote fell from mid leap and landed lifeless on the ground.

"My hero," Olivia said in a breathless attempt to sound sarcastic.

"Anytime," Elliot smiled as he holstered his gun "You okay?"

"Yeah," Olivia answered and then the two of them turned to the child lying on the ground.

TBC

A/N: My goodness that was a little touch and go there. I'd appreciate some feedback. Please review, I'll take the good and the bad.