Disclaimer- Not. Mine.
A/N- Getting closer to the end...I think there's going to be one more chapter after this. Maybe two, if I can't get it to end. Either way it's almost there. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed.
Long after they got the news, they were out chasing leads. They had figured out how Michael had gotten them out of the building, what he had drugged them with, his getaway vehicle, even his license plate. Pretty much everything.
Except where he had taken the girls.
Thanks to survalliance tapes, and the Amber Alert they sent out,they had managed to track him up to a tollbooth just outside of Poughkeepsie. Inside of the police station near it, they went over yet another survailliance tape, growing more anxious by the minute. This was their last possible lead.
"There it is." Olivia pointed at the white van on the screen. Michael was paying the toll clerk, and then drove off. Unfortunately, the camera could only see so much distance wise, and before they could see if he was turning onto an exit or not, he was gone. "Dammit."
"Who was the clerk on duty at the time?" Elliot asked the officer who was helping them.
"George Albrachet. He's still here, if you want to ask him some questions." They followed the officer out to the booth.
"Mr.Albrachet, this is Detective Benson and Detective Stabler. They want to ask you about a van that passed through at 5:17 this afternoon."
"Can't say that I'll remember it too well. So many cars pass through here every day." George answered.
"Do you remember seeing a white van, license plate CTU 2469? Driver was a white male mid to late thirties with dark hair." Olivia said.
"I saw a few white vans."
"Did anything stand out about the drivers? Maybe they were rude to you?" Elliot said.
"One of 'em was in a real big hurry. Wanted me to make his change faster, he said that he had something important to do."
"Do you remember if it went off the highway?" Olivia's tone was urgent, instincts telling her that it was Michael.
"I'm sorry, I don't."
"You have to remember!" She yelled. "Come on, he has two girls inside, he's going to kill them! Please, you have to!"
"I'm sorry, I don't!" She took a step back, realizing that she had snapped at the wrong person. Elliot looked at her, concerned. She couldn't just stand there anymore. She took off running down the highway, people swerving to avoid hitting her. She could hear Elliot calling her name faintly, and footsteps behind her, but she had to find those girls. Now. After having run a short distance, she had to accept it for what it was. A dead end. They had done everything they could have possibly done. She sank to the ground. Everything was a blur, as she remembered the promises she had made. She was vaguely aware of someone picking her up off the ground and carrying her to safety as if she was a little girl.
"Jesus Liv, you scared the hell out of me." Elliot was holding her now, his heart beating rapidly.
"I failed them."
"No you didn't. We did everything we could have done."
"Yes I did."
"No you didn't." After a while, he was leading her back to the car. It was as if she was watching a movie of herself, rather than really being herself. The whole drive back to the precinct was spent staring out the window, but not really seeing anything. She felt nothing. "Liv?" Elliot was brushing her hair out of her eyes. She looked over at him. "We're here, sweetie." She got out of the car and went into the precinct.
When he walked out of his office, the first thing Cragen saw was Olivia looking like the sun would never shine again. His other detectives had the same look. He knew then that it was over.
"Go home. All of you." And they all did, each convinced of some personal mistake that caused this to happen.
The van pulled to a stop. Cadence opened her eyes at the sudden change. She shook Tonya awake.
"Where are we?" She asked groggily.
"I have no idea." Michael got out of the van. They could hear his footsteps crunching on gravel, moving towards the back. They squeezed each other for comfort, as the doors opened.
"Get out." Silently, they obeyed. "Walk in front of me." They slowly started walking down the dark road before them, gripping each other's hands for support. Behind them, Michael turned on a flashlight. "Faster!" He barked. They went faster. After a while, he made them turn, and go down a path to an empty farmhouse. The door made a loud scraping noise. He turned on a couple of camping lamps he had brought with him. "Now it's over for both of you." He raised a gun. Tonya flinched.
"Before you kill us, can I just ask you one thing?" Cadence said, stepping in front of her sister.
"Fine."
"Why? You used to be the best dad ever. You coached my soccer team, remember? You used to take us places. Remember when we went to the beach at night, and you pointed out all of the constellations to me? Remember that?" The fear she had felt before was fading, and was replaced with hurt. "What happened?"
"I realized something. I realized that you were put on this earth to annoy the hell out of me. You were a burden to me and your mother. We used to have all the time in the world until the both of you popped out. And then we had to be devoted to both of you every night, every day, always fucking whining!" He had begun to yell.
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you had sex!" She too was yelling. She was tired of fearing him, and needed to fight back.
"Shut up, you ungrateful little whore!" He hit her with the gun. She cried out, and fell backwards. "No more talking! This is the end!" He raised the gun again, this time to Tonya's head. She whimpered and looked towards Cadence, who now had a bloody nose.
"Hey! Leave those kids alone!" A female voice cut through the yelling. There was a silhouette in the barn door. Michael took a step back, surprised. Tonya took advantage of the opportunity and ran to Cadence.
"Lady...don't piss me off..." He aimed the gun towards her. "Just get the hell out of here, and you won't get hurt."
"Hand over those kids." She aimed a shotgun at him.
"No." His voice was a little shaky. "Get out of here. I'll shoot them if you take a step closer." He aimed the gun back at the girls. "I mean it."
"I meant it too. Close your eyes, girls." As they did, a shot was fired. They heard a dull thud. "Keep 'em closed." They felt her help them up, and lead them out of the barn. "You okay?"
"I think so." Tonya sniffled. "Who are you?"
"Name's Jo. I live over there." She pointed at a house thay had not seen before. "This is our old barn. My husband heard a noise and figured it was one of the kids from down the road. Barn's not safe at all, so I came down to check it out."
"Thank you." Cadence held a hand to her nose.
"Let's get you cleaned up. After that we can call your parents. Who was that guy anyway? You know him?"
"He's our dad." Jo stopped dead in her tracks.
"You serious?" They nodded. "Poor kids...you've been through a lot, haven't you?" They nodded again. "It's all over now." She hugged them. "You're safe."
Olivia reached out for Elliot, and found that he was gone. She sat up straight, looking around. He wasn't in the bathroom. She got out of bed, and went in search of him.
"Elliot?" He was sitting in a chair in his backyard, staring up at the few visible stars. He turned his head towards her.
"Can't sleep?" She shook her head. He motioned for her to come sit in his lap. "Neither can I." He wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I keep seeing them. Every time I close my eyes."
"Me too." He sighed. "We'll get him. I don't care how long it takes, or what we have to do, we are going to find that son of a bitch." She leaned back against him.
"I know." Her voice was small. "I wish I had a chance to say goodbye." A few tears slipped down her cheeks. He kissed the back of her head. In the house, the phone was ringing. But neither heard it. Eventually Olivia fell asleep, and Elliot carried her up to bed.
The next morning he woke up to Olivia's cell phone ringing. He groped around the nightstand for it. When he couldn't find it, he rolled over, and pulled the covers over his head, hoping that it would stop. Unfortuately for him, it kept going.
"That's it. I am going to kill that fucking phone." Olivia said, getting out of bed to find it. "Benson." Her voice stopped short of a yell.
"It's Cadence."
"Sweetheart, are you okay? Where are you?"
"I'm fine. So is Tonya. We're up by..." There was a voice in the background. "We're near Binghamton."
"Where's your father?"
"He's dead." Olivia sighed with relief.
"Do you need me to come get you?"
"The woman who found us is going to drive us down, as soon as we're done with the police up here. She's the one who shot him."
"Okay. Give me a call when you're leaving, kay?"
"I will."
"I'm so glad you're okay, sweetie. See you later."
"See you." Olivia hung up the phone.
"Was that them?" Elliot asked from under the covers.
"Yeah." She smiled. "It's over, Elliot. It's finally over."