The ride back to the hospital was an awfully quiet one, with Olivia sitting in the passenger seat, solemnly looking at the passing traffic, with a very quiet Barba swiftly cutting through the cars. Amanda had declared the need for another car once they made it to the street, saying that they will probably need it once they are done talking to the victim, depending on their next step. Olivia knew that this was the rational argument, but that the emotional one, was that Amanda was giving them the space for Olivia to vent without an audience. The look that Amanda and Barba shared was not lost on her, but she was trying to quash the images in her head, so she didn't care. She was actually grateful for the silence in the car as they drove, since she was sure Amanda's phone would be ringing like crazy every two mintues with her being in charge of the case.

They had been driving for a few minutes, and still had a good while to go, and it was already well past noon. The loud ringing snapped her out of her reverie, and she glared at the car's intercom when she realized that it was Barba's phone ringing through it. He shot her an apologetic smile, before he answered.

"Barba."

"Mr. Barba, you told me to call as soon as I heard anything back from archives," his secretary's voice came through the speakers.

Barba shot a worried glance at Olivia from the corner of his eye, briefly considering taking the conversation off speaker, but when Olivia reached for his free hand, he decided against it. It would make matters worse for her if they started tiptoeing around her, and she didn't need the added stress.

"And?" he pressed, when his secretary didn't say anything else.

"No one's laid eyes on them since you had them sealed," she said carefully, knowing that this probably wasn't the answer the ADA was looking for.

"And before that?" he asked.

"They were sealed as soon as the verdict came in, so the only people who had access to them before the verdict were the jurors, the defense attorney and Lewis," she explained hastily, basically spitting out Lewis's name. They all still had the memory of what happened engraved in their memories, and despite the fact that she wasn't technically a part of the DA's office, Barba's secretary told her once after news of their relationship broke that she was waiting for it, since Barba was practically losing his mind when she was abducted, and downright unbearable during the trial.

"And no one filed to unseal them, or look at them?" he sought confirmation, and a swift 'no' came from his secretary.

"Send the names of the all the jurors to Sargent Rollin's phone, and the name of Lewis's defense attorney," he instructed.

"You got it."

He looked over at Olivia and saw her put her phone to her ear. "Amanda, Rafael's secretary just called, no one had access to the records since the trial, so she's sending all the jurors' names to you," she basically growled in frustration, nodding her head at whatever it was that Amanda was saying before sighing in both defeat and anger. When she spoke, her voice betrayed the pain she felt, as the shock slowly crept into it, "a sixteen year old girl goes missing for four days, and no one misses her?" she blurts out in shock, and Barba's heart sinks. It's gonna be one of those cases, one of those kids who no one knew went missing. The perfect victim. A part of him realized that if the girl hadn't gotten away, they may never have known about this. He secretly vowed to let Fin shoot the bastard this time, and simply look the other way. He saw Olivia take the phone off her ear, before she gripped it tightly in her hand, so tight he feared she may break it.

"There are no missing person's reports matching her description, and no absentees from schools either," she grinds out, her heart breaking with every word she's saying. "Amanda told Carisi to check private schools, but I don't think any of those kids can go missing for four days without anyone missing them," she continued dejectedly.

He remained silent, his eyes focused on the road, knowing that she needed someone to listen, not tell her that it's all going to be okay. Because frankly, that would be total bullshit. They were in for an uphill battle, one they did not know how it may end.

A humorless, pained chuckle escaped her, as she finally lifted her head to look at the cars around her, and he finally saw the tears glistening in her eyes. "The last thing he said to me before he shot himself, was that he wanted to be the last thing I see, he wanted to remain in my head," she confessed, knowing fully that she never told him what happened when he took her again. He was well aware of the details of the first four days, but not those grueling few hours. So this was the first she'd ever mentioned him since the Grand Jury, and he had respected her need to try and keep Lewis out of her life.

"He's dead, Liv," he said soothingly.

"I know," she whispered, the tears now finally making their way down her cheeks. "But he managed to find a way to invade my life once more," she countered tearfully. "And I have to say that his timing is impeccable," she laughed bitterly.

Barba pulled the car over to avoid a traffic jam, and turned in his seat to face her. "Lewis did not do this," he said firmly, using his index finger to lift her chin, as he tried desperately to keep his own tears at bay. A task he was slowly failing at as he looked into her now tortured brown eyes.

"He's gone, Liv, and whoever is behind this won't get away," he assured her firmly. "And whatever happens, I'm not going anywhere," he finished softly, his hand finding her cheek, as his thumb wiped away at the tears.

A small smile lifted the corner of Olivia's lips, as she looked into his sincere green eyes. "I know," was her simple answer, and he smiled genuinely at her.

"Why don't we go get whoever did this then?" he suggested softly, and she nodded at him. Her resolve slowly coming back to her, as she once more decided to focus on the victim at hand, rather than her own demons.

She leaned heavily onto his shoulders, as the elevator took them up to the designated floor. She saw him text his secretary to let her know that he probably won't be back for the rest of the day, and she didn't even have the energy to argue with him to go back to his office. In all honesty, she liked that he was there. She was finally relishing in the fact that she didn't have to do this on her own, that accepting the help and support of those around her didn't make her any weaker.

She found Amanda already on the floor, talking to a nurse, and furiously jotting things down in her notepad. And judging by the look on her face, Olivia was really not going to like what was being said.

"Thank you," Amanda thanked the nurse, before she took her leave, and the blonde turned towards the couple, an aggravated sigh escaping her lips.

"Our vic's name is Savina Matthews," she started. "She's a seventeen year old junior at the Beaumont Academy," she added, with a pointed look, offering a tight lipped smile at the two sets of eyebrows that arched up in surprise.

"How the hell did she go missing for four days and not be reported missing?" Barba asked in disbelief.

"She's one of their scholarship kids," Amanda started.

"So?"

"Carisi is on his way to the Academy right now, we'll find out soon enough," she replied.

"What about her parents?" Olivia wondered.

Amanda's eyes saddened. "She's a foster child."

Olivia swallowed heavily at the revelation, the bastard really knew who to pick.

"That still doesn't explain why no one is missing her," Barba interjected. "At least the social worker on the case should've known," he added.

"Well, that was all the nurse got out of her, before she asked to speak to Liv, and the nurse let it slide, figured it'd be best if she didn't exhaust her before she got a chance to talk to us," she explained, as she gestured towards the girl's room, and led the way down the long corridor.

"The Morrison's are still with her," she said, as they rounded the corner, and they saw the couple in question exiting a room.

"Lieutenant," the woman greeted, and Olivia smiled warmly at her. "She's been asking about you," she added, and Olivia nodded.

"Did she say anything else?" Amanda asked.

"Not really, and we didn't ask. We just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything else we can do, and she thanked us for waiting with her, and making sure that you were called," the husband replied, directing his last statement at Olivia, who was getting increasingly impatient.

"Thank you for all your help," Amanda thanked them politely, and they took their leave.

The other three closed the distance to the room, and saw her lying on the bed through the glass. She looked young, exhausted, and vulnerable. Amanda knocked gently on the door, and waited for the barely audible, 'come in', before she turned the handle, and with one final tight smile at Olivia and Barba, she pushed the door open.

The second Olivia walked in, she could feel her heart lunge, as her breath caught in her throat. The girl's beautiful brown eyes were haunted, and the pain she saw swirling in them was an all too familiar ghost she herself took months to get rid of. And now, with her eyes open, that nagging feeling of familiarity was hard to ignore. But for the life of her, she didn't know why.

"Savina," Amanda spoke softly, and the girl's eyes cut to her as Barba closed the door behind them, and stood next to it.

"I'm Sargent Rollins," Amanda introduced herself, and Olivia saw her eyebrows furrow in confusion, but Amanda continued with the introductions before she could interfere. "This is Lieutenant Benson, and our ADA Rafael Barba," she gestured towards an almost too-sick-to-stand Barba, who offered the girl a small smile when her eyes found him, before they settled on Olivia.

"Benson," she repeated. "Olivia Benson?" she pressed, and Olivia nodded. "I understand you asked for me," Olivia spoke softly, her voice thick with emotions, but she was thankful that she was able to keep the tears at bay.

"Uh yeah," the girl nodded slowly, a weak chuckle escaping her. "You would think with how obsessed she was with you, that she would get the rank right," she hissed, though they weren't sure if it was anger or pain lacing her words.

"She?" Olivia asked, bewildered, and once again the girl nodded.

"Yeah, she made sure I knew your name, said I need to know who to blame. That she didn't really want to do this, but you forced her hand," her voice was barely audible, as her hand came up to hold her side, wincing in pain as she tried to sit up. Barba, being the closest to her, rushed to help her sit up.

"Thank you," she breathed gratefully, as she once again settled against the pillows. Her eyes now finding a guilt-stricken looking Olivia.

"Lieutenant, I'm telling you what she said, not agreeing with her," she said firmly, her eyes holding Olivia's steady, and to all their surprise, they were determined. "What she did was on her and her alone, the fact that she was obsessing over you is not your fault. She's a psychopath," she added fiercely.

"Did she say why she was fixating on me?" Olivia asked, although she had a dreadful feeling she already knew the answer.

"She said you'll know the answer to that once you heard what she did to me," the girl replied, her voice cracking slightly towards the end, and Olivia could feel her heart breaking piece by piece. "The one thing she did say though," she added, once she composed herself once more. "Was that you stole someone from her, that you managed to rope William in so bad, that when he was out of prison, instead of going to her, he went to you, and it got him killed," she elaborated, and Olivia shook her head in disbelief.

"Did you recognize her voice?" Amanda asked, and the girl shook her head. "But you're sure it was a woman?"

"Yeah, her voice, the way she moved, they can't be a man's," Savina confirmed.

"Can you describe her?" Barba now piped up, since Olivia was still trying to bury Lewis back where he belongs, so she can talk to the girl about what happened, without openly sobbing.

"I didn't see her face, she wore a mask most of the time. Or she would blindfold me."

"How about stature? Did she have a limp? A noticeable scar? An accent? Anything?" Amanda questioned, and Savina looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Not really. She was short, overweight, her fingers were kinda calloused, like someone who plays the guitar constantly, or a violin," she replied, and the last comment made them all look at her in confusion.

"One of the foster families I had, the husband played the guitar and had these markings on his fingers. He said that anyone who played a stringed instrument professionally would probably have them," she elaborated, and they nodded.

"Okay, that's good," Amanda commended. "Can you walk me through what happened before you were grabbed?"

"Well, I'm staying with a foster family in the South Bronx, and there's a community center a couple of blocks away that I volunteer at, as a swimming and archery instructor. I work most afternoons there, and that day, I was covering for another instructor, so it was late by the time I was done," she started her story.

"Do you remember a time?" Barba interfered, and she furrowed her eyebrows in thought for a while.

"I think I finished around 8," she guessed.

"Did you walk home alone?" Olivia inquired softly, and Savina shook her head.

"No, one of the parents, he's a single dad to a seven year old, lives a couple of blocks from me, so he walked me home."

"We're gonna need his name," Amanda asked.

"Eddie Garcia," she replied simply, and Barba gaped at her.

"Eddie Garcia?" he repeated, and she nodded. "As in Eduardo Garcia, he has a little boy….."

"Danny!" Savina finished his sentence, eyeing him questioningly.

"We grew up together," he elaborated, and she nodded.

"Could he have anything to do with this?" Amanda asked, ignoring the glare Barba sent her way.

Savina adamantly shook her head. "No way, he waited for me downstairs until I made it to the apartment, and I saw him leave from the window, before I went down to throw the trash, and that's when it happened," she recounted.

"Why did you wait for him to leave?" Olivia asked.

"It's not what you think," she said quickly. "It's just that….." she trailed off, not sure what to say anymore.

Amanda correctly read the hesitation as fear of consequences, so she tried to assure her. "Savina, I need you to be completely honest with us, whatever you think is your fault, chances are, it's not. You're a minor," Amanda assured.

"Savina, why did you wait for Eddie to leave?" Barba interjected.

"Because I didn't want him to know that I was home alone," she mumbled, and when she finally looked up, they all had identical horrified expressions on their faces, and her own words finally registered, and she realized how it may have sounded to them.

"That came out wrong," she recanted quickly. "Eddie is not a threat at all. It's just that the foster family that I'm living with are away, he made me promise that if I'm ever alone for the night, to go spend it at his place. Said it's not exactly safe for a girl on her own in the Bronx, and he was right," she almost spat the last sentence.

"Away?" Olivia pressed, and she nodded.

"Yeah, Mrs. Solaerno has family in California, and they left on Friday, told me to man the house for a couple of weeks," she explained, and Olivia's eyebrows shot up her forehead.

"Well, that explains why they didn't file a missing person's report," she mumbled. "But how come your social worker didn't know about this?" she wondered.

"Linda came on Friday, and I lied and told her that they were out running errands. I'm one of her easy cases, so she checks in with me via phone weekly, and a monthly visit usually. So she wouldn't know I was missing," Savina explained.

"And the school? How did they not notice?" Amanda retorted.

"Well, she did say that she made sure no one would know I was missing, so they wouldn't come looking for me," Savina's voice was a tad over a whisper, and the underlying pain was not lost on any of them.

"Well, one of our detectives is talking to the school as we speak, so we should be getting some more answers soon enough," Amanda chimed in.

Just then, Barba's phone buzzed, and he excused himself to take the call. Leaving Amanda and Olivia alone with Savina, as they both prepared themselves for the tale that was yet to come.

"Savina, I know it's hard, but we need to ask you a few questions about what happened, if you're up to it," Olivia said regretfully, and Savina nodded.

"You said that once you saw Eddie leave, you went out once more to throw the trash," Amanda repeated her earlier statement, and Savina nodded.

"Did you see anyone in the lobby?" Olivia wondered.

"No, I didn't. But then again, I wasn't really looking. The bag was kinda heavy, and I was trying to make it to the shoot without the handles breaking, so I wasn't really paying attention to anything around me. I threw it in the shoot, and that's when she knocked me on the back of my head. I didn't lose consciousness, but I was dizzy enough to lose my ability to fight her off, as she stuck a needle in my arm. It all went black after that," she recounted.

"What happened when you came to?" Olivia asked.

"There was a blindfold over my eye, and I could feel something digging into my flesh every time I tried to move my hands, and then her voice came, telling me that I should probably stop doing that if I don't want to feel more pain than necessary," she whispered dejectedly, before she continued to tell them what happened to her over the course of four days.

By the time she was done, both Olivia and Amanda were having a hard time swallowing their tears.

"Can you tell us where you were being held?" Amanda implored, and Savina shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, but I think it may have been a slaughter house back in the day, there were hooks everywhere, and drains," she suggested, and Amanda nodded.

"How did you escape?" Amanda asked.

"Well, she said that it was time for the final act. So she untied my hands and legs, but not before she gave me two pills, and forced me to swallow them with Vodka. But I know how to hide pills under my tongue and not swallow, and I was finally lucid enough to actually pull it off, so I did just that. I waited for her to untie me, and thought that I would try to make a break for it once we were out on the street, but then her phone buzzed. She left me on the ground, thinking that I was unconscious, and said that the final act would have to wait. I waited till all the voices died down, before I opened my eyes, spat out the pills, and stumbled for the door. I could barely see, and everything after that is kinda hazy. The next thing I remember, is waking up here, and the doctor telling me that I'm lucky to be alive," she finished her narrative, a few tears finally making their way down her cheeks.

Olivia didn't know what came over her, but she sat down next to the girl, and cupped her cheek gently. "I know it may not seem like it now, but the doctor is right. You survived, whatever she had planned for you, she failed, and you won. Don't ever let anyone take that from you," Olivia assured her firmly, her thumb making soft, soothing circles on her cheek.

"Is there anyone we could call?" Amanda asked, and Savina scoffed bitterly.

"No," she murmured brokenly.

"Not even Eddie?" Olivia tried, and Savina looked like she had forgotten that he even existed.

"He's taking care of his seven year old, and his mother, I don't wanna add to his troubles," she objected softly.

"Well, he's gonna know about what happened when we talk to him, so he will come," Olivia almost cooed, and she nodded.

"We'll let you know of any progress," Amanda informed her, as she pulled her buzzing phone out of her pocket.

Amanda waited till they were both out of the room, and Olivia had rightfully collapsed into Barba's arms, before she picked up the insistently ringing device.

"Rollins," she sighed in frustration.

"Hey, I just left the Academy," Carisi's voice came over the speaker, and that made Olivia turn her head slightly in Barba's arms to look at the phone. "Apparently, they received a call from someone whom they believed to be the foster mother claiming that Savina came down with a bad case of the flu, and that she needed to stay at home. And since a bug had swept through the school recently, they didn't think much of it."

"What about her social worker, did you get a name?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah. Linda McNamara, but the school said that they didn't tell her based on the foster mother's request."

"Alright, I'm gonna send you the address of one Eddie Garcia, he was the last person to see Savina before she was taken, so I need you to talk to him. And from what I gather, he was close to her, so try to break the news gently," she instructed.

"Yes, boss," he chanted, and Amanda rolled her eyes. Though the quip did make Olivia's lips twitch up in a smile.

"Why don't you both go talk to the social worker, Fin and I can take the jurors, and I'll send unis back to the neighborhood, see if we can find that slaughter house," Amanda suggested, and they both nodded.

So I know this chapter is shorter than the last, but it is nearly 5 am here, and I have work in exactly 5 hours, so I will be collapsing in bed after I post this. The next chapter should be up soon, if my week goes according to plan, and it will be longer.

Thank you to all who followed, read, and reviewed.

Also, I went back and changed a few details in the earlier chapter to fix the timeline. So here's a breakdown to avoid any further confusion; Nick put in his papers right after the finale, and Olivia and Barba started their relationship late June. More details on that will come in coming chapters I promise. And this is early January, so I hope that explains it all.

Let me know what you all think of this.