Hey everyone! I hope you're all enjoying this so far! I've been working on it whenever I get the chance. Thinking about updating, "Where is my home", later on? I'm not sure yet. Anyways, ENJOY.

Chapter Four: Old Wounds

Olivia pulled into the driveway, and pulled the keys out of the ignition. She sighed inwardly, before heading towards the front door. As she made the 200 foot walk, Olivia's mind began to wander, all the "What if's" circulating her mind. Where is she? What happened? Did someone lure her out? Is she afraid? Olivia could only shake the thoughts away, she needed to keep a level head. Guaranteed none of the rest of them did. As she reached the door, she decided to take a moment. Making sure she was composed, she then knocked. It was mere seconds before the door swung open, to reveal Elliot. He scrubbed a hand down his face, before stepping to the side, to allow Olivia access.

"What happened?" She asked, in a very professional tone. She was trying to keep church and state separated, but Kathleen, she was like her own. And Olivia had the same thoughts now as she did when Noah was taken. She felt like the world was spinning even quicker around her.

"She went back up to her room, it was all okay. Until around 3:45, I heard the alarm go off, anytime the door opened it would say 'Front door opened.' And I knew it wasn't Eli... " Kathy stated, frantically.

Olivia nodded, "I called Fin… I'm sorry, but we need his help." She explained. She felt bad for calling him, because she didn't know if Elliot would want another piece of his past, to come around so quickly. But they really could use his help.

Elliot nodded back to her, a look of deep fear encased his features. But she knew it was more directed towards the current situation than seeing Fin.

"Okay, we need to check computers, bank statements, and go over her behaviour before she left." She explained, more to Kathy than anyone else. Elliot knew procedure.

The trio made their way upstairs, and into the second eldest Stabler girls room. It was cold, just as Kathy had mentioned earlier on, and this Olivia made a mental note of. Not because it could help the case, but more to her state of mind. She looked around the big white room. It was clean, cleaner than most people's rooms. Cleaner than her own, if she were being honest.

It was covered in fairy lights, and tons of books. This Olivia noted, as she stared at the fully lit room for the first time in years. It was so dark last time, and she was too busy to have focused on the details of the room. There were 2 large, cherry red book cases. With so many books, the girl could've owned her own library. Olivia looked around a bit more, over to another wall, that inhabited a cherry red wooden desk, with a silver laptop sitting on it. There were drawers and cabinets on it, space for everything. And the bed, on the other side of the room, was big. It had a dark blue comforter on it. Very few photos or posters were on the wall. But the nightstand beside the bed, she noticed 3 family photos. This Olivia made another mental note of, this actually contested to both the girls state of mind, and her case. Now to focus on the computer.

"Do you know her login information?" She asked, both parents. The pair shook their heads.

Olivia moved closer to it, opening it up, and staring at the screen. The lock screen photo stopped her dead in her tracks. It was a photo that had to have been taken years ago.

The photo was one of the very few Olivia had ever seen of Elliot, in fact she'd only seen it once, almost 14 years ago. Olivia was staring at the little blonde boy in a carrot costume. But she quickly clicked off it, trying a few commonly used passwords. None of which worked. She looked behind her, watching Elliot try to calm Kathy down a bit. Neither of them had noticed the photo. Probably for the best honestly.

She sighed, as she fumbled through her pocket, retrieving her keys, and pulling out a small flash drive usb, this apparently caught Elliot's attention. "Wow, you still have that?" He asked, looking at the keys dangling from her hand.

She was confused, of course she had a usb flash drive. But it was only a few seconds before she registered what he was actually referring to. A small NYPD medallion dangling from her keys, as she pulled it further into her grip without acknowledging it, or him for that matter.

She didn't have the time to get emotional. But he was only being forward, something she wasn't used to with Elliot Stabler. The key chain, in fact, did have a story. It was something he'd given her years ago. During an NYPD party. He'd won a small medallion with the unit's number and their initials engraved into it. It had been almost 20 years since then, however. And she wasn't in the mind frame to go back into time, at least not then.

Olivia plugged the small piece into the side of the computer, she made a few irritated sounds, clearly it wasn't working. Elliot watched his ex partner, as she worked. She still stood flat on one foot, while her other foot twisted on it's front. And she still stuck her tongue out ever so slightly, while she was focused. This made him smile, for a moment. It wasn't a lie, he'd missed the woman.

Finally after almost 3 minutes of trying, she stepped closer, "Got it." She said, to no one in particular. Elliot and Kathy moved behind her staring at the screen. Olivia checked all social media messages, and emails. She even checked the Linked phone messages. But there was nothing. She sighed, inwardly.

"Nothing… She's like a ghost…" Olivia mumbled. "There's nothing here. The last sent text was to Maureen, yesterday.." Olivia said. Her tone was sad, mentioning the Eldest daughter's name. It wasn't the time to ask, but she was genuinely curious how she was doing. Conversation for a later date, she thought.

A few seconds later the sound of knocking rang through the large house. Kathy looked at the two, "I'll get it." She said, making her way out of the room and to the door.

Soon enough, Alex and Fin were piling into the room behind her.

Olivia's heart ached momentarily as she saw the blonde. Alexandra. After their conversation on the phone, Olivia was conflicted once more. But no matter, she had to continue her work.

Fin looked around, and then to Elliot. Who of course stepped forward, hugging his old friend.

"Stabler Man! Hey. I'm sorry we're reuniting under the circumstances. But it really is great to see you." He said, returning the hug.

Elliot nodded, towards the man. "Yeah, Fin. You too." He said. The two broke the hug.

Alex and Fin shared a smile, and moved toward Olivia.

"What've we got so far, Liv?" He asked.

Olivia looked at him, "Nothing, at all. She's really quiet on here. Not much social interaction. She's a ghost…" Olivia said once more.

Fin shook his head, and took Elliot into the hallway to ask a couple questions. Routine stuff, "How was she before she left?", "Did something seem to be bothering her?", "Would anyone want to hurt her?" And so on. Olivia closed up the computer, and looked back at Kathy.

"Let's talk downstairs." Kathy spoke first, staring at the brunette in front of her.

Olivia followed. Alex close behind. They made it into the kitchen, before Kathy started talking,

"She was doing so well too… I don't know why she keeps doing this…" She practically cried, her head in her hands. Olivia stepped closer to the blonde, putting a comforting hand on her back.

"We'll find her. She probably just went out… Maybe an old friend reached out?" She suggested. This however, had Kathy's tone raising.

"She doesn't have any friends!"

Olivia looked a bit shocked by that, a bit irritated even. But she just continued, "Maybe she went to the store? There's a small corner store up the street." She tried again.

Kathy shook her head. "She doesn't go anywhere. She doesn't hardly leave her room Olivia." She said, jarringly.

Olivia just sighed, and moved back a bit. "Okay, could she be out with one of her siblings?" She asked, once more. They weren't making any progress.

Before anyone quite expected it however, a 12 year old, Eli stepped into the kitchen, looking at all three women. "She's probably at the park." He said, nonchalantly.

Kathy looked confused, annoyed even. "Eli what are you even talking about?" She asked.

"She's my sister. We talk." He said, holding up the phone in his hand.

Kathy's eyes widened. "So you know where she is for sure!?" She asked, her tone raising.

He shook his head, "No. I just mean we talk, in general. Usually that's where she goes, the park." He said, with a shrug.

Olivia looked at Eli before speaking. God had he grown up. She remembered him as a baby, and it was sort of sad to see him growing up.

"Eli, have you talked to her tonight?" She asked.

He shook his head, "No ma'am." He said, with an unsure smile. Eli, had heard of Olivia from his father, and sometimes siblings. But he didn't quite remember her.

"Olivia, please. Ma'am is for my superiors, and others who purposely make me want to feel old." She said, softly. Joking, partially.

Eli smiled, and nodded. "Okay, Olivia."

"Eli, you need to go back to bed. This is adult stuff, you have school in the morning." his mother stated, a little harsher than she had intended too.

Eli looked offended, "She's my sister too. I want to make sure she's okay, just as much as the rest of you." He said, quickly.

"Eli, this is not up for discussion. You're too young to be dealing with this." She tried again.

"Mom, you say that all the time! But I'm not a little kid anymore." He said, louder than before.

"ELI! NOW." She spoke sternly. This caused Elliot to come into the room.

"What's going on?" He asked. Olivia and Alex, awkwardly looked at him, and then back to the pair arguing in front of them.

"Tell him to go to bed, Elliot. He doesn't need to be dealing with his sister's neverending drama!"

Kathy barked.

Elliot frowned, and looked at his son, but before he could speak up, his son did.

"You only call it drama, because you don't understand it!" He yelled. The attention was on the 12 year old, everyone was staring at him.

"ELLIOT STABLER JR! You do NOT speak to me like that! What's gotten into you?" She asked, clearly offended. Though he didn't know why. It was true.

"You don't understand mom. None of you do. You see her illness, and think that's all she is. Is some kind of crazy, impulsive girl. But she's not! She's human, she has feelings, and she talks about them."

Kathy and Elliot both stared at their son. But neither spoke. He took this as cue to continue.

"Not that you'd know that! Neither of you pay enough attention to know that."

This made Elliot look down at his son, "Eli, hey… Let's go back to bed." He tried, he tried desperately to prevent this meltdown. But it was inevitable.

Kathy was fuming, her fists clenched, and she was breathing heavily.

"You need to go to bed NOW. We'll deal with this later, Eli. I'm not doing this with guests here. Your sister's issues aren't yours. And she shouldn't be going to a 12 year old, either." She spoke, trying to keep her temper in check.

But the kid wasn't having it. He was definitely Elliot's kid, Alex, Fin, and Olivia all shared the thought.

"Of course they're mine! She's my sister! She comes to me, because you've pushed her away! She- We have no one else Ma! Dickie, Lizzie, and Maureen are off living their own lives. They've gotten out! But they agree… Me and Kathleen… We've only got eachother." He said, hanging his head, sadly.

"What are you talking about!? You don't know what you're saying. We pay attention to you! Don't you dare-" She was cut off. The kid was a firecracker.

"You don't get to tell me how to feel, or what to say… You- You and dad are too busy constantly fighting to even notice us! I got an A on my math test last week, and when i tried to tell you, you shooed me away, because you were too busy screaming at dad, about his girlfriend. And Kathleen, she tried coming down here, but when she tried to talk to you, she heard you and dad on the phone arguing. So she came to my room to talk instead. And you should've listened! Because it was important!" He yelled, tears poured down his face.

Elliot, on the other hand, wasn't far from tears himself. He felt was, partially. But Kathy, she just looked livid.

Elliot finally spoke, "What did she tell you about, son?" He asked.

"She said she didn't want to be here anymore… That she felt alone. That she felt like she only had herself. And I didn't know what to do. So I told her, I loved her. And she cried… She told me that she had been trying to get your attention all week, mom. And that, you basically summed up all of her ideas, for her next essay as crazy… But they were good ideas!" He was trying so hard, to get through to his mother.

This didn't go unnoticed by any of them.

"She wanted to write about, SVU! And being locked up! I just didn't think it was healthy… She's got issues, I didn't want her to retreat further into herself!" Kathy defended.

Elliot glared at his wife, "You didn't tell me this. She wanted to write about my- Liv's job!? She could've done great!" He hollered.

Olivia finally decided to step in, when she noticed Eli crying. She stepped forward, and reached for the boy.

"You guys fighting isn't helping anyone! We need to stay on track. We need to focus on finding Kathleen!" She said, loudly. It was escalating quickly.

"LOOK WHAT SVU DID TO YOU, ELLIOT! IT'S FUCKED YOU UP!" She screamed, she was shaking and sobbing at this point. The vein on Elliot's forehead popped out, and he stared at her, harshly.

Olivia was in shock. It was at his point she looked at Eli, and tried to get him out of the room.

"THIS IS WHY SHE LEAVES!" He yelled having the last word, he followed Olivia into his room.

Elliot and Kathy stormed off as well, screaming at eachother, until a door slammed.

"Well… This is… Productive." Fin spoke to Alex.

"You're telling me, and here I thought Stabler had his shit together." She joked. But it fell flat. They both felt awkward. So the pair made it a point to do their jobs. Look for the girl.

Olivia was tucking Eli in, something she did with her own son, everynight. But this, it was different, this was the little boy she'd saved in a car accident 12 years ago. And she felt some sort of connection to him.

"I'm sorry Olivia. I didn't mean to upset everyone." He said, sadly.

"Oh, honey. You didn't… You just spoke the truth, and sometimes the truth is the hardest thing to hear… But you do need to focus more on being a kid." She said, patting his arm.

"Do you have kids?" He asked, innocently.

This made her grin, thinking about her son. "I do. I have a son, his name is Noah." She said, happily.

"Oh! He's lucky. You seem like you're a good mom." He pointed out.

This also made Olivia smile, but she also knew she needed to defend his parents, because they were good parents, they just had issues, and that wasn't his fault.

"Your mom, she's a good mom too. She's just… Got a lot to deal with, sweetheart. But your parents, they love you more than you'll ever know. Heck I should know, I was there when you were born." She said.

This made the boy smile, widely. "Really?" He asked.

"You betcha. Now why don't we get some sleep, huh?" She asked him, ruffling his hair.

He nodded, and turned over. "Goodnight Olivia. Thank you." He spoke.

"You're welcome, Eli. Good Night." She got up, and switched off the light. But before she shut the door, she heard him speak softly.

"Will you tell mom and dad, I'm sorry? And that I love them?" He asked her.

"I sure will. Now you go to sleep." She said, shutting the door softly. When she made it to the hallway, it was silent.

This was weird. It was never quiet in the Stabler household.

But soon enough, both Stabler's appeared.

"Sorry about that, Liv." Elliot apologized.

She shrugged, "It was… Entertaining." She joked, but then she shook her head, "While you two are notorious for your arguing. Your son is tucked in, and he wanted me to tell you, 'He's sorry, and he loves you both.' Now, we should probably get back to the topic at hand." She said, professionally.

Elliot gave her an awkward smile and nod.

Across town, Kathleen sat atop the picnic table staring out into the night. She looked down at her phone with a daunting sigh, as she heard it ding for the thirtieth time.

She picked up, and finally clicked on the message to open it.

"Kat, you've gotta come home. I got into a big fight with mom. And Olivia and her friends are here."

Reading the text from her brother. She shook her head, typing back quickly.

"Eli, I'm fine." She replied.

But she knew this was getting serious. The cops were there for Christ sake. They didn't trust her at all. Though she did have to laugh, it was the first time in 2 weeks her mother had actually been paying enough attention to hear the alarm go off. So something was going for her. And laugh, she did.

Kathleen finally clicked on the muted texts, revealing the word "mom" at the top of the screen.

"Mom, I'm sorry. Okay? I just wanted— no, needed to get some air. Sometimes— okay most of the time the house is too stuffy. I can't breathe, and I just want to be free. You need to trust me. Just because I leave, doesn't mean I'm out getting into trouble. Okay? I love you, and I'll be home soon." She sent the message, and then clicked the phone off putting it into the pocket of her over-sized hoodie.

It was cool outside, cool enough to need an extra layer at least. And Kathleen was naturally cold anyways. So it wasn't saying much. Her hair was tied together in the back, loosely. Most of it, hanging in her face as she jumped off the table and stuck her headphones in.

"Thanks for our talk Grandma. I'll be back soon." She said, smiling up towards the sky, before taking off sprinting towards the house. It was a good 2 miles away, but she liked running. It helped clear her mind, so In reality a normal 'Hour long walk' was a quick run for her.

Her feet hit the pavement to the tune of the music blaring through her earbuds,

"All I want is love that lasts

Is all I want too much to ask

Is it something wrong with me

All I want is a good guy

Are my expectations far too high

Try my best but what can I say

All I have is myself at the end of the day

But shouldn't that be enough for me?"

Kathleen looked up as she approached the house, and Eli had been right. There were 2 cars in the driveway.

She sighed, and headed for the door. She knew there would be a whole lecture when she went inside, but for now. She was relaxed. And she'd try to keep it that way.

Inside the house, Olivia was sitting at the kitchen table. She knew the girl was on her way back before Kathy even mentioned her text message. And seeing as both parents were talking through things, Olivia was waiting for the girl.

Alex was sitting beside her watching her intently. Olivia sighed. "We need to talk, I know. But right now, isn't the time Ale." She admitted.

Alex nodded, understandably. "How about dinner? My place? You can bring Noah." She offered. She has a grin, one of nothing but pure adoration.

Olivia looked a bit conflicted. But then shrugged. "Ah what the hell. Sure. Just text me a date." She said, giving in. Olivia would be lying if she said, she didn't want to test the waters of their friendship. She did. But there was so much more involved these days, than just her. There was Noah, too. And hearing Alex include him, it made her heart swell.

But of course, the moment came to an end, when the alarm begrudgingly sounded to let everyone in the home know someone was opening the door.

Olivia stood up making her way to the entrance, but to her most pleasant surprise, Kathy had beat her there. So Olivia did what any reasonable person would in a heartfelt moment like this, she left the family to speak in private. Alex stood behind her and they took the back door.

Olivia was just about to reach her car before Elliot called out to her.

She turned around, as he jogged up to her. "Hey! Liv."

"Yeah, El?" She asked.

"Thanks. For everything. You're still saving my ass, years later." He admitted, honestly.

"Yeah, it's not a problem. But, you keep taking care of your family. Try communicating better, so we're not all meeting this late every night, huh?" She partially joked.

He laughed awkwardly. "Yeah. I'm sorry for waking you up, and taking you from your family so early." He apologized again. But aside from his usual apologies, these last few, they were completely genuine.

And this was another thing he'd changed over the years.

"Elliot, the fact that you're apologizing, is just another reason you don't have too. A few years ago, you wouldn't have thought twice about apologizing about anything. You were so stubborn. But now? You have no reason to apologize to me. I love you all. You're family." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Alright, well Captain, you get home safe. Text me, let me know you made it." He said smiling at her. There was some sense of normalcy to it all. He'd said that to her every night she left work, and he wasn't with her.

"I will. See you soon, El." She bid farewell, and turned to take her leave.

Olivia walked in the front door of her apartment, pulling out her phone, and sending 2 texts, one to Elliot,

"I made it home, Stabler," she sent.

And before she quite had time to send the other text, her phone dinged.

"Alright, Benson. And hey, Liv?"

He messaged back, this made her raise her brown, inquisitively.

"Yeah El?" She replied.

"You remember all those years ago, when you asked me if I got 'Gay vibe' from you? Well, you should definitely have that drink with Alex." He said. And usually, had it been anyone else on the planet, she'd have told them to get lost, and that they didn't know what they were saying. But this, this was Elliot Stabler, her partner of 12 years, and best friend of almost 20. Regardless of the separation. And she laughed, truly laughed.

"How's tonight sound for dinner?" She asked, sending the text.

"Sounds perfect. Send you the time." Alex replied back.

And Olivia, for the first time in a few years went back to bed, Completely satisfied with her relationship's.

Hey everyone, I really hope you're enjoying this! I'm working as quickly as possible to get up new chapters for ya'll. Anyways, keep an eye out for "Where is my home." New chapters coming soon! Until next time,

DUN-DUN.