The day had gone from bad to worse; even though Dodds Jr wasn't as bad as they all thought, Dodds Sr wasn't subtle about his involvement, or about how his son managed to land such a position in the unit, a unit that already had a Sargent, and without even meeting with the unit's lieutenant. None of them had missed how Olivia disappeared every hour on the dot for a few minutes, but no one commented on it. It was her first day back since Savina's incident, and they all knew it won't be easy. They tried to make her day run as smooth as possible, but sadly, the universe didn't seem to agree with their plan.

Not only was Dodds Sr hovering like a hawk over their heads, making even his own son groan, and smile apologetically, but the straight forward arraignment Olivia and Barba had in court for the Lewis Hodda case didn't go quite as planned either.

Hoda had confessed to kidnapping Hector years ago, and had told them where to find Wyatt. His attorney had worked out a deal with Barba, and they were going to court that day for Hoda to enter a plea of guilty, and for him to allocute to what he did. But instead, he had fired his attorney, entered a plea of not guilty, and claimed that Olivia had bullied him into confessing to a crime he did not commit. And since Wyatt was not testifying, they were only going to court with his confession about Hector Rodriguez, so the fact that he knew where Wyatt was didn't play into account.

Olivia and Barba had met with both Delores Rodriguez, and Laurie Colfax – Wyatt's mother – in an attempt to convince Laurie to let Wyatt testify, but she had adamantly refused. She had claimed that it had taken Wyatt a while to move past the incident, and that she was not going to re-traumatize him.

"Neither of you have any kids," she had stated. "You want to protect your child, not subject them to more harm. You do everything in your power to protect them," she had continued, and Olivia had gotten tongue-tied. She had wanted to tell her that they do indeed have children, two to be exact, one of which will have to face the woman who kidnapped and tortured her for four days straight. But when they had arrested Hodda, she hadn't gotten Noah, and Savina's return wasn't a known fact yet. At the time of Hector's disappearance, she had confided in Dolores that she once lost a child herself, and that she was terribly sorry for the pain she was enduring. She couldn't very well just blurt it out now that her child was alive and well.

It had tore through Olivia when Dolores begged them both to get the man responsible for killing her child, and Olivia knew exactly how she felt. She guessed that she would probably strangle Freed with her own bare hands as soon as they find her, and due process be damned.

They had set a date for the trial, and she had left Barba to the case files, and rushed out to get Savina. She was lost inside her own head, running through every aspect of both cases, in a futile attempt to find something that they had missed before that would make their case stronger. She had already called Savina and told her she was waiting downstairs. She felt like a fraud for not telling Laurie that she was putting her child through the same thing she was asking her to put Wyatt through; for not telling Dolores that her child was alive; for still thinking that she can relate to what Dolores was going through. Her mind was going a thousand miles an hour, and she desperately needed Hodda to pay for what he had done. She had a thousand reasons why, some of them were even personal. Maybe if she saw him getting convicted for what he had done, it will give her some hope that Freed won't be able to crawl out of what she had done through some loophole in the legalities.

The sound of the passenger side door opening pulled her out of her thoughts, and she saw Savina gingerly maneuvering herself into the seat.

"Hi," she said, a bit out of breath, once she was inside the car.

Olivia smiled warmly at her, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Hey, sweetheart."

Savina frowned at the forlorn tone in her voice. "Everything okay?" She inquired worriedly, and Olivia couldn't help but smile at how thoughtful she was, before she nodded. "Yeah, long day," she said, as an explanation.

"We don't have to do this today, we can reschedule," Savina offered, but Olivia shook her head. "No, no, that's not what I meant," Olivia back-tracked hastily. She knew that Savina's emotional state was fragile, and Lindstrom had warned her that a seemingly innocent comment might be misinterpreted, so she needed to make her intentions clear, without making Savina feel like she's under attack or being blamed for anything.

"No, I know you didn't. But I'm saying it's okay, it can wait. You had a long day," she suggested, but Olivia shook her head.

"No, baby. The only thing that matters right now is that you're ready to see him," Olivia refuted gently, but when Savina sighed, and rubbed her face with her hands a couple of times, Olivia sensed that there was something else. "Unless you're not ready, and you wanna wait a little. I told you, we're doing this at your pace," she said softly, her hand supporting her weight on the passenger seat, as she turned in her own seat to face Savina.

Savina opened her mouth to tell her that she wasn't ready, that she wanted to wait, but she couldn't. She knew that talking to Lindstrom would help her, and even though she wasn't used to opening up to people, and talking about how she felt, she was doing it more for Olivia and Rafael's sakes rather than hers. She wasn't blind, she knew they were worried sick about her, and she hadn't missed the relief that crept into Olivia's eyes when she told her she was ready to talk to someone, or the worry that increased a thousand fold in an instant when she thought that Savina was no longer ready. She wanted to see him in the hopes that he would be able to help her get her nightmares under control, so that in the very least, she doesn't have to keep waking them up in the middle of the night. They both had jobs, and there was only a limited amount of days where they can survive on next to zero sleep.

Olivia saw the struggle in Savina's chocolate eyes, and she also saw her hesitance to speak her mind. "What is it, sweetheart? Tell me what's on your mind," she urged gently. Her mind was going crazy with scenarios, and she was about a hair away from a full blown panic attack.

"I researched him," Savina stated quietly, her hands now fidgeting with the belt around her waist, and her eyes studying some invisible pattern on her jeans.

"He's one of the best in his field, sweetheart. And he's dealt with this specific situation before. But if you want to talk to someone else, I'll look into it," Olivia assured her.

Savina chuckled nervously. "I know. He's at the top of his field, dealt with thousands of victims, and he's uniquely qualified to deal with this situation specifically," she ranted, and Olivia was confused.

"So why do you want to find someone else?" Olivia wondered in confusion.

"Because I know that my insurance doesn't cover his visits," Savina finally blurted out, as she raised her eyes to meet Olivia's. Olivia frowned in confusion, and shrugged her shoulders questioningly at her. "I'm sure his sessions cost a fortune," she started, and saw Olivia open her mouth to say something, so she held up a hand to stop her. "And I know that you're already working on getting my covered by your insurance, but I don't think it kicked in yet," she finished, and it finally dawned on Olivia.

"Savina, I don't care if he's covered by either of our insurances, or how much his sessions cost. The only thing that matters to me is you. You went through hell for four days, and you fought to survive. But as much as I wish it was, the fight isn't over yet. And I promised you before that I will do everything in my power to get you through this. So if you're ready to talk to him, then we're going. Paperwork, and bureaucracy be damned!" Olivia said, her voice gentle, but firm. Her soft brown eyes holding Savina's hesitant ones the entire time.

Savina nodded slowly, her eyes softening up a bit, as the corners of her mouth twitched slightly. "Thank you," she whispered softly.

Olivia smiled softly at her, the hand that was supporting her weight on the back rest cupping her face gently, and stroking her thumb over her cheek lovingly. "Ready to go?" She asked, her voice slightly choked up by tears, that mirrored the ones in Savina's eyes, who merely nodded.

I know, I know. I'm a terrible person for making you all wait this long, but between getting my job, traveling, and daily life, this chapter sort of fell through the cracks. I know it's short, but I didn't want to make you wait any longer. I will try to get in another one in the weekend, but I will try to update my other stories first.

Thank you all for your patience. Reviews are very much appreciated.