Disclaimer- Not. Mine.
A/N-It's almost at the end, but not quite there yet. Kinda sad, almost. But soon everyone will get justice, and that should make everyone happy. Yay. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. Keep 'em coming! It really does keep me going...
The heat turned what little energy she had into pure laziness. The room smelled of summer, and it was too damn hard to concentrate on whatever she was supposed to be writing. Cadence lazily began to braid a few strands of loose hair. Only five more minutes until she could get out, pick up Tonya and take her to the park. It had been about nine months since the incident with Baker. Even though the protective detail was gone, and no one was watching anything that could be a threat to her, she felt carefree again rather than paranoid. The loud end of the day bell startled her out of her thoughts. She jumped up, grabbed her books and went off to her locker.
"Hey Cadence, coming over to my house later?" Her friend Audrey called from down the hallway.
"Yeah, just let me pick up Tonya first."
"Okay, see you." She felt a little guilty, abandoning Tonya. Then again, Aunt Deb would probably take her instead. Besides, she had spent every afternoon of the week there with Tonya, and she deserved a little time with her friends. She slammed her locker, and went off in the direction of Tonya's school, which was a few blocks away.
As usual, Tonya was waiting by the door, in the spot which their mother used to force them to wait, until one day Cadence realized that they were on their own. Thankfully their mother was in jail now, serving quite a bit of time at Rikers. Tonya gave Cadence her customary squeeze and began to walk off in the direction of the playgorund.
"Tonya, hun, Aunt Deb's gonna have to take you. I'm going over to Audrey's house."
"Oh. Okay." She turned in the direction of their new apartment, which was just a few blocks away from their old one. Aunt Deb hadn't wanted to move them away from everything.
Stepping into the lobby was like jumping into a pool on a hot day. It was just too hot outside to be walking, even though it was only a short distance. Thankfully, summer vacation was soon. then they could spent all of their time sleeping in a nice air conditioned apartment. Cadence opened the door. The apartment was quiet. Too quiet. Usually by now, Aunt Deb had dinner going, or the TV was on. Cadence felt a little uneasy.
"Anyone home?" She called, keeping a grip on Tonya's shoulder. If she needed to run, she wasn't going to leave her sister. No matter what. "Aunt Deb?" She heard a thump, and jumped a little. "Tonya, if I tell you to run, you run, okay?" Tonya nodded.
"I don't like it, Cadie. She didn't leave a note. She always leaves a note." She was standing by the kitchen counter, looking for some sign of where their aunt had gone.
"I'm going to go check her room, maybe she's asleep." Cadence went towards her aunt's room.
"Cadie, don't..." Tonya said.
"Just stay there, Tonya." Tonya glanced at ther sister's retreating back, and then at the door. She wasn't sure she would be able to run if she had to. Cadence stepped into the dark bedroom. No one was in there.
"Miss me?" A male voice said, as a hand clapped over her mouth. She tried to pull away. "Oh I don't think so. See, the little plan I had for the two of you was never fully carried out." She felt a sting on her neck, and went limp in his arms. He picked her up and went out to where Tonya was.
"Go away!" She said, in a high pitched voice. She clung to one of the kitchen chairs. "Leave me alone! Please!" She began to cry. Michael put Cadence down on the floor.
"You're coming with me." He said, trying to pry her off the chair. Tonya bit him. "Ow! You stupid little bitch!" He raised his hand high above his head. Remembering all the times that that had happened to her before, Tonya put her hands over her head. Now that she had let go of the chair, he injected her with the same sedative he had given Cadence. She blinked a few times before slumping over. "Now I've got you." He said, picking them both up and carrying them out of the house.
"You look dead." Elliot commented.
"I feel dead." Olivia responded. Her hair was sticking to her face, and she was attempting to cool down by fanning herself with a folder. It wasn't working very well. "When the hell are they going to fix the damned air conditioner?"
"When they feel like calling the repair guys." He too was in agony over the heat, and all he wanted to do right now was either jump in a bucket of ice, or pass out in the crib. "And tomorrow, you shouldn't wear a long sleeved shirt."
"I was out of short sleeved ones." She frantically fanned herself. "I'm seriously going to die. I do not feel well at all."
"That's just going to make it worse." He pulled the folder from her hand. "Need to take a walk?" She nodded, and got up. "Come on, we can go to that smoothie place." Just as they were about to leave, Olivia's phone rang.
"Detective Benson." She answered wearily.
"Um...Olivia? This is Debra Connelly..."
"What's up?" She sat back down. She hadn't gotten a call from her since just before the detail was dismissed a few months ago.
"There's a problem." Olivia felt her heart sink. "Uhhh, I went out to get some groceries, and when I came back the girls were gone."
"Don't they usually go to the park?" She said, not wanting to believe that they had been kidnapped again.
"Yes. And I thought that they went there but..." She paused. It sounded like she was crying. "I got a call from Cadence's friend Audrey. She told me that Cadence was supposed to be at her house an hour ago and never showed up. That's not like Cadence." Olivia couldn't feel anything at the moment. This could not be happening again. A little part of her brain told her that she knew it was coming. It was inevitable. "I also found a syringe on the floor in my bedroom."
"Did you touch it?"
"No, I just saw it. That's when I really knew." Debra was crying. Olivia felt a few tears slip down her own face. She never normally cried in public. Only when she was extremely frustrated, or scared beyond belief. Right now she was frustrated. The heat, and the news just brought her over the edge. Elliot noticed, and was immediately trying to inquire what was wrong.
"Okay, we'll send a CSU team there soon, and I'll be there as well."
"Thank you." It was a near whisper. Olivia hung up before she really started crying, and immediately went up to the roof, Elliot on her heels.
"Liv..." His hand was on her back. "It's the girls, right?" She nodded and turned towards him, letting him embrace her tightly. "We found them once. We can do it again." She nodded.
"I'm just so...frustrated. Between this heat wave and that call, I just need to let it out."
"I know." He whispered into her hair. "I know." She pulled away, wiping her eyes furiously.
"We need to get down there." He nodded. "I need to take off this shirt." She pulled it over her head, leaving her wearing just a blue tank top. "Let's go." She went back down to grab the car keys.
"Hey Olivia, don't we have some sort of dress code?" Munch asked, noticing her holding her shirt.
"Yeah, I'm sure there's something in there about modesty." Fin added.
"It's hot and I don't need any comments from the peanut gallery." She said. They laughed. "Shut up, I am not in a good mood right now. In case you didn't hear my phone conversation before, Cadence and Tonya are missing again."
"Oh shit..." Fin said. "She's sure they were kidnapped?"
"She found a syringe. I'm on my way down now to check it out."
"I'm driving." Elliot said, taking the keys from her. "You haven't let me for the past week." She didn't pretend to fight with him, like she normally would have. This was too important for her to be wasting time. She placed a call for a CSU team to be sent to the apartment.
"Let's go." She said, once she was finished. The two of them headed out the door.
Waking up in the back of a van was not a fun experience. Michael had made sure that on some of the turns he took, his children were thrown against a wall of the van. Once they opened their eyes, they were a little bruised, and quite sore. Cadence's bad wrist was acting up. Tonya was carsick. Both didn't seem to care the way they would have had they not been in this situation.
"Cadence, we're gonna die, aren't we?" Tonya said in a voice she wasn't sure was hers.
"Yes, you're gonna die!" Michael said in a high-pitched voice, imitating Tonya. "This time I'm making sure of it. It's why we're going so far upstate. Your precious police officer friend won't find you this time." Neither girl had really thought about Olivia or Elliot or anyone else at the 1-6 for quite some time. But hearing this made them remember. And they had a little glimmer of hope to keep them going. Cadence squeezedTonya's hand reassuringly.
"We're not going to die." Cadence whispered. "We'll get out of this again. We have to somehow."
"We will." Tonya began to feel reassured, and determined.
"Not if I can help it." Michael said, taking a sharp turn and making them hit the wall again.
A/N- Don't worry, there's more!