Infamous
"When you get back, can we be a family?"
"I love you."
"I won't let them hurt you."
"Can we be a family?"
"I love you."
"A family?"
"I love you."
"Together."
"I love you."
Olivia's head swam. Words and images of the past two days floated in front and around her.
"Olivia?"
Was this just another fragment?
"Olivia?"
It was insistent, concerned, afraid.
"Olivia?"
It was Elliot and it was real. She struggled to open her eyes. When she did she saw him. Doubled over, face contorted in pain, eyes full of tears as he held her. He was alive, she was alive, they were alive.
"Elliot," she managed in a meek whisper.
He breathed a sigh of relief and immediately winced in pain again.
Olivia tried to sit up but found it impossible. She remained in Elliot's lap "We're alive?" she asked in amazement.
"I think so," Elliot told her as he brushed a few stray strands of hair away from her face.
"I thought," she began as her hand sought him out and clung to him "I thought it was the end."
Elliot nodded.
"Where are we?" she asked as she tried to raise her head to look around.
"I still have no idea," Elliot said disappointedly "I'm sorry."
"As long as we're together," she smiled up at him "I don't care." Her eyes began to drift closed again.
"Olivia!" he called her name even more desperately then before.
Her eyes popped open instantly "What's wrong?" she asked, groaning as she tried to get up again.
"Don't try and move too quickly," he told her as he used his arms to support her.
"Ugh," she groaned as he carefully helped her into a sitting position once more. Once she was sitting she turned her head and looked at him "I thought for sure that we were."
"I know," he nodded in understanding as he laboriously put a hand on her arm.
Olivia could tell that he was still in a great deal of pain "We have to get you to a hospital," she said reaching for the car keys but doubling over at the mercy of her own pain almost instantly.
"Relax," he told her as he too felt a spasm of pain shoot through him "It'll be fine." He looked her in the eye "We'll make it through this." He reached for the keys and gripped them. His arms weren't in as much pain as his ribcage so, although the experience was excruciating it was doable.
Olivia smiled at him then turned to gaze out on their surroundings. It was still dark out although a small line of lighter sky appeared off in the distance. This disturbed Olivia. Where were the familiar sunrise obstructing sky scrapers of Manhattan? Where were the lights left on by the people who never slept? She strained her ears and for the first time was aware of the absence of far off traffic. Instead she heard the impossibility of chirping crickets.
"I don't think we're in Manhattan anymore," she whispered.
Elliot shook his head. He had been focusing so closely on Olivia that he hadn't even noticed where they were and now he saw it. He hadn't noticed before. It had been so dark he had no idea how he had managed to stay on the road in the first place. It was then that he realized that they weren't even on a road. "This could be a problem," he said worriedly.
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"Damn it," Cragen slammed his hand on his desk "Where the hell are they?"
The search of the warehouse where the gunshots were heard had turned up only a drug deal gone wrong. So narcotics was handling that case and Cragen had refocused his detectives on locating Elliot and Olivia.
"They weren't at her apartment," Munch reported.
"Her neighbor told us that she was watching the kids for Olivia. She says that Olivia told her that she had to go to work." Fin informed the Captain.
"Do Byron or Karen know anything that can help us?" Cragen asked.
"Mrs. Davis says she'll bring them down here at nine. She wants them to get a good night's sleep." Munch spoke his last sentence with a hint of sarcasm.
"Great," Cragen scoffed. He was getting worried. Even if Elliot and Olivia had defied orders, they would have a good reason and no matter what that good reason was, it wouldn't explain why Olivia's phone was out of service "Well lets see what else we can find out before then."
Munch placed his notepad on the table "From what we know," he turned to a page on which he had written an interview with a man who had just been leaving for work "Elliot left the building with the children shortly before the uniforms arrived to search the place."
Cragen scratched his head "Could he have been taking them to ACS?"
"It's a possibility," Fin said.
"Anyway," Munch said turning to the page where he had written down what Mrs. Davis had been able to tell them "Mrs. Davis remembers seeing the children returning around 5:30 or so, WITHOUT Elliot," he emphasized 'without'.
"Well did she ask the children about it?" Cragen asked hopefully.
"She says she tried but they got quiet and wouldn't talk about anything," Fin told Cragen.
Cragen scratched his head again "What happened to them?" he asked no one in particular.
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"Oh this is bad," Elliot muttered as the growing light revealed the swamp that surrounded them.
"How did we get here?" Olivia asked softly as she felt the carpeted floor of the car slowly growing moist.
"We were pretty out of it when we drove here," Elliot hypothesized "I must not have been paying attention," that was an understatement. All that had been in Elliot's mind had been getting Olivia away, making sure that she was as far away from those men as possible. In fact if there had been another car anywhere around when they had been driving, Elliot would have probably run right into it.
"Let me see if I can start the car," Elliot groaned as he once again attempted to put the keys into the ignition. After only a few seconds longer than it would have normally taken him, he got the keys to their destination. He turned the keys, the only reward for his troubles a small sputter before the car dropped back into silence.
"Damn," he cursed "The engine's probably flooded."
"That's not the only thing," Olivia said as she pulled her feet up carefully from the floor of the car.
Elliot noticed that there was a slow but steady trickle of water coming through the crack between the car door and the frame. The floor of the car was covered in a good inch of fowl smelling swamp water.
"This is not good," Olivia said, painfully hugging her knees to her chest.
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Mrs. Davis walked into the SVU squad room with the two children in tow. She was greeted almost immediately by Munch and Fin.
"Good morning Mrs. Davis," Munch said, trying to sound cheerful and not as if he was exhausted and frustrated.
Fin bent down to Byron's level "Hey buddy," he said, extending his hand to the small boy.
"Hi Fin," Byron responded, obviously happy to see the detective again.
"And who are you?" Fin asked, turning to Karen.
Karen hesitated for a moment and looked to Byron. When Byron nodded signaling to her that everything was okay she turned back to Fin and extended her hand "My name's Karen. I'm Byron's little sister. Nice to meet you," Fin gently shook the little girl's hand and smiled at her.
Munch squatted next to his partner, trying to ignore the uproarious protest that his aging joints screamed at him "Can you guys help us?" he asked in that tone that he reserved especially for children.
Byron looked confused for a moment but then realization spread across his tiny face "This is about the bad men," he whispered, subconsciously taking Karen's hand into his as she scooted closer to her big brother.
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The pain in his body was white hot but he couldn't dwell on that at the moment. In the last couple of hours the water level in the car had risen so that it was only about half an inch below the seats and it kept coming in.
"Can you roll down the window?" Olivia asked as she squatted on her seat in an effort to keep dry. The pain was intense but she was afraid of what sort of disease she might contract from the nasty swamp muck that kept coming through.
"Sorry," Elliot managed to grunt out as he clutched his ribcage while squatting on his own seat "Power windows… we can't… open them… unless the car… is on."
"How far do you think it is to solid land?" Olivia asked as her brain frantically searched for a solution to there problem.
"Not sure…" Elliot managed from between clenched teeth.
"Well," Olivia began as she reached for the door handle, as the pain shot through her due to the movement "Anything… is better than being… here."
She slowly pushed the door open as the water poured in. Olivia reached for Elliot's hand and carefully pulled him with her out the door of the car. The two stood outside in the swamp, leaning on each other for support. The water came up to Olivia's chest and she watched as the car slid out of view behind them.
"If we had been in there…" She began.
"I know," Elliot said as he squeezed her shoulder gently "Come on."
Carefully, together they took one step then another, each laborious step taking them closer to the solid ground that was clearly visible now that they were out of the car.
Suddenly Olivia stopped dead in her tracks. Elliot looked over at her and saw the look of sheer terror that had suddenly appeared on her face.
"What is it Liv?" he asked, his voice layered with concern and fear.
In a hoarse voice full of so much fear that it was almost tangible, Olivia whispered "Something just grabbed my leg."
TBC
