Disclaimer- Not. Mine.
A/N- This one's a little darker, going into their pasts and whatnot...And, yes, Baker will be getting what he deserves...thanks again to all who reviewed. It keeps me going.
Elliot was sitting with his back against the warehouse, clutching Olivia's necklace and cursing himself for not protecting her better. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't hear the car pull up.
"Hey man, you okay?" Startled, he looked up Munch, Fin and Cragen stood before him.
"Bastard knocked her out. I tried to get to her, but then he got me." He said, dropping his gaze to the ground. He swallowed hard. "Should've been more careful."
"Elliot, if anyone's to blame, it's Baker." Cragen said. He could hear more cars approaching, and sirens.
"Oh good, backup's here." Munch said. "We also got a bus for you. Figured you'd been knocked out."
"I'm fine." Cragen came over and pressed his fingers to the back of Elliot's skull. He winced in pain.
"That bump tells me otherwise." An ambulance and several other vehicles pulled up to the warehouse. "Go get checked out. We'll handle things from here." Elliot nodded and went over to the waiting EMT's.
Since their arrival at the hotel, Baker had wasted no time in cuffing Olivia and Cadence to the bed. With Olivia and Elliot's cuffs, of course. They were lying on the bed, facing each other. Baker had gone out to get food and "supplies". Olivia didn't want to know what he had meant by that. She was currently scanning the room to see if there was something she could use to get the cuffs off. No luck so far.
"I'm scared." Cadence said, breaking the silence.
"I know, sweetie. I am too." She reached over with her free hand and squeezed Cadence's arm just above her cast to reassure her. "We'll get out of here. Elliot will make sure of it."
"If they find him."
"What?" Cadence hadn't told Olivia yet that Elliot was unconscious, because she thought that she already knew. Olivia had assumed that Elliot had not heard her and kept going to find Cadence.
"When Jonathan took me out of here, he was out cold next to you. That's why I snapped your necklace." Olivia felt her neck, realizing for the first time that it was gone. "I thought that he wouldn't know where we were."
"It's okay, sweetie." There was a pause. Cadence stared up at a crack in the ceiling.
"I can't beleive they went this far." She said finally, her voice low.
"Who?"
"My parents."
"So it was them." Cadence nodded. "We thought so. How'd you know?"
"Jonathan told me. After Tonya was gone. Said something about my parents not getting what they paid for. I never knew that they hated us this much." Olivia was at a loss for what to say. She simply squeezed her arm again. "It wasn't always like that. When I was little, my dad used to play soccer with me. He coached my rec team for a bit, too. Mom used to play dolls." She smiled at the happy memories. "When Tonya was born they used to take us to the zoo and stuff. Then something happened. I don't know what, but mom started drinking. And they started hitting us, and blaming us for everything." A tear escaped her eye, but she didn't seem to notice. "I used to think that we had done something terrible, until I realized that there was nothing terrible me or Tonya had done. They just hate us, I guess."
"I know what that's like." Olivia said. Cadence met her gaze. "My mom...used to hit me too. She drank. And she'd hit me when she was drunk. When she wasn't, I was her little princess."
"What about your dad?"
"I was the product of my mother's rape. The case was never solved."
"I'm sorry." They sat together in the silence, watching it get darker. "When do you think he'll be back?" They could barely see each other any more.
"I hope not soon. As hungry as I am, I don't want to see him."
"Me either." They sat in the silence once again, until they heard the door unlock. "Dammit" Cadence whispered, reaching for Olivia's hand. The door opened fully, and he turned on the light. they both squinted at the sudden change. They watched as he set down a box of pizza and a bottle of soda on the dresser. He hid another little bag in one of the drawers.
"Dinner time." He went over to uncuff them. "Don't think about trying to get out." He had the gun out again. Olivia glared. She and Cadence got off of the bed, and each grabbed a slice of pizza. They then sat back down on the edge of the bed. He watched them eat, staring at Olivia's chest. "After this, we'll have some fun, won't we Olivia?" She didn't say anything, didn't let him see any emotion. Inside, her her heart was pounding, and she had never wanted to see Elliot, or any of her other coworkers so badly. Cadence, on the other hand, was shaking. "Or...maybe I'll have some fun with Cadence here." He smirked.
"Don't you touch her." Olivia said in a low, threatening voice.
"Don't touch her? How are you going to stop me?" He laughed. Olivia pulled Cadence close to her. Cadence began to cry, burying her face in Olivia's shoulder. "Allright, dinner's over." He pushed Cadence away, knocking her off of the bed. He then grabbed Olivia by the arm, and forced her into the bathroom. "Fun time." He said with a smirk. He pushed her to the ground. At first, she was shocked, and didn't know how to react. So this is what it feels like... She thought. Then she went into cop mode.
"Get off of me!" She yelled, kicking him in the stomach. He bent over in pain. She saw the gun lying on the floor near her, and picked it up. He grabbed her around the waist, trying to pull her down again, but her reflexes were too fast. She punched him. "This is for Elliot! And Tonya! And Michelle! And Cadence!" With each name she punched him again, bringing the butt of the gun down over his head on the last one. His eyes opened wide in shock before he passed out on the ground. She opened the bathroom door.
"Olivia?" Cadence's voice sounded scared. She went over to her.
"It's okay. I'm okay." She embraced Cadence. "We've got to get out of here. Do you know if he has my cell?"
"I think so. He took stuff from you and Elliot." She looked through the room, but couldn't find anything. All he had were their cuffs and her and Elliot's guns. And his wallet, of course.
"He's probably got it in the car. Come on, we need to get out of here before he wakes up." She holstered Elliot's gun, and got hers from where he had hidden it. "Fuck, he has my badge too. Did you see where he put the car keys?" Cadence shook her head. There was only one place they could be. She went back into the bathroom, and felt Baker's pockets. There they were. "Got 'em!" She went out again.
"Thank God." Cadence had already opened the door. The two of them left together, feeling relieved.
"You have a concussion, Detective Stabler."
"Can I still help out with the investigation, or am I stuck here?" The situation had been explained to Dr. Sanchez when he had asked Elliot what happened.
"You're stuck here. I'm sorry." Elliot turned away. He was failing Olivia. "Is there anyone I can call for you?" He shook his head. As much as he loved his kids, and wanted to see them, he wasn't sure that he could deal with them at the moment. Too much anger and confusion. He didn't want to lash out at the wrong person. Dr.Sanchez stood there awkwardly for a moment, before he left, leaving Elliot alone to his thoughts.
I never should have let her out of my sight. I should have protected her. God, please don't take my Olivia away... Leaving Elliot alone to his thoughts was never a good thing. The door opened and he looked up to see Casey standing there.
"Hey Elliot. I heard what happened." He was unresponsive. "You okay?"
"No." His tone was sharp. Damn. He hadn't meant to lash out at Casey. She knew this, and sat down in a chair next to his bed. He didn't look at her. They sat like that for some time, before Casey's cell phone rang. She looked at the number.
"It can't be..." She whispered. "Olivia?" She said, picking up. Elliot turned his head.
"Casey, it's me. I'm okay, I have Cadence with me. She's okay too. No one else is picking up their phones."
"Thank God. Where are you?"
"I have no idea. He took us to this hotel, and he tried to..." Olivia paused, not wanting the memories to resurface. "I knocked him out, and we escaped. Where's Elliot?"
"Right next to me." Casey handed the phone to him.
"Olivia?"
"Elliot?" A few tears slipped down his face. "El, I'm okay." Casey got up and left, not wanting to make Elliot feel awkward.
"Liv, I love you." He said. That was what he would have regretted the most. Not telling her that.
"I love you too, Elliot."
"We can stop looking here." Cragen said. They had scoured the whole warehouse looking for clues as to where they could have gone. "Olivia and Cadence escaped." He grinned.
"Seriously?" Munch asked.
"Yup." He threw down the empty food containers he had been looking at.
"Thank God. Where are they?"
"Casey said that they don't know, but they're trying to figure it out. Liv's safe though. So's Cadence. And that's all that matters."
Baker blinked his eyes open. There was a throbbing pain in the back of his head. "Bitch." He muttered, getting up of the floor. He left the bathroom, and found that Cadence and Olivia had gone. "Should've known." He sat down on the bed, considering his options. He most likely had a concussion, but since they knew who he was, he couldn't go to the hospital... Unless, of course, he wasn't Jonathan Baker. That was simple enough. Steal someone's ID. He could be anyone he wanted to. He looked for one of the detective's guns. They were gone. His gun, however, was safe where he had left it under the bed. He took it out and walked to the front desk.
"Excuse me." He said. The man who had checked them in looked up.
"How can I help you?" Baker raised the gun and shot him once, in the head. He fell over with out a word. He then looked for security cameras. There weren't any. Smiling, he went for the nearest car, smashed the window and hotwired it. Hurting other people always gave him a rush. It seemed as if no one had heard the shot. Home free. For now.
"Okay we're on the Belt now." Olivia said. They had figured out that they were in Brooklyn, and Elliot had talked Olivia through the directions to the parkway.
"Good. I'll see you soon." He said.
"See ya." She hung up and put the phone in the cup holder.
"Are we far?"
"Shouldn't be too far." Cadence leaned her head against the window and smiled for the first time in days. She was safe, Tonya was safe, Michelle was safe... Things couldn't be better now. "Out of curiosity, do you have anyone you can stay with, so we don't have to deal with Social Services too much?"
"My grandparents. Or maybe my Aunt Deb. Me and Tonya haven't really seen our family in a while."
"I'm sure they'd be happy to take you, then." Olivia smiled. Cadence stared out the window for a little while.
"Hey Olivia?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For everything."
"Anytime." They continued on back to the ones they loved, happier than either had been in a long time.