Chapter 3 – sorry for the wait!
Manhattan SVU, Manhattan, New York
Sunday, August 10th 2015
12.42 am
Olivia and Don looked in through the glass at the sobbing mother and comforting father. They were hysterical at the thought that their daughter was missing, kidnapped and that it was possibly their fault. Eric had called them and had them come down to the station and they hadn't hesitated, but they'd also said this was probably going to be a ransom kidnapping.
"Has someone set up a bug on their cells and home phones?" Olivia asked feeling Elliot's presence behind her.
"Yeah, we've got a couple of uniform sitting in the house waiting for a call or fax." He replied as he slowly massaged her shoulders.
"El..."
"You need to relax, no stress because of the baby Liv." He replied as she slowly sunk into his touch.
"I know El but these two, they know more than they're letting on." Olivia sighed, she hated missing children cases because it meant that they were against the clock.
"I know, but we've got the AMBER alert out, they're not talking, Eric hasn't said anything else we can use so all we have to do now is hope that we get something out of somewhere." Elliot replied.
"Olivia!" Fin's voice echoed from the corridor.
Elliot, Don and Olivia rushed out to see what on earth he was yelling about.
"What?" Olivia asked desperate to find the young girl.
"We've now had five calls detailing a white van in Harlem with two men dragging a young girl matching Annabel's picture." He explained.
"Ok uh ..." Olivia looked at Don uncertain what to do now, he just nodded telling her to go with her instincts without words. "Uh get me a team of uniform, I want back up, get kitted up because we're going after them." Olivia called before rushing through to the busy squad room where many officers had been called in to answer the phones.
Olivia and Elliot went straight to their lockers and pulled on their bullet proof vests ready to hopefully find Annabel alive and unharmed up in Harlem.
Harlem, Manhattan, New York
Sunday, August 10th 2015
2.21 am
They were all gathered around the house in which the white van was parked outside, it was a big risk, this girl could be killed the second they busted in there but they had no other option.
"Ready?" Elliot asked standing beside Olivia at the door.
"Yeah..." Olivia knocked hard on the door. "This is the police open up!"
Three gun shots fired through the air and Olivia kicked down the door before everyone rushed in. There was a lot of movement and yelling as Olivia and Elliot went to find the girl Munch, Fin and back up were gathering up the perps.
"Shit." Olivia sighed seeing the bleeding corpse.
"We did what we could Liv." Elliot whispered as she fell to her knees beside the bleeding and broken body of Annabel Collins.
"It wasn't enough." Olivia sighed getting up and moving out of the way for Melinda Warner who had just arrived on scene.
"Let's go, we can deal with all this in the morning." Elliot whispered.
"Did you notice she looked a lot like Mel?" Olivia asked tears stinging her eyes.
"I know baby, but our Melly is wrapped up in bed with your Mom watching her, come on."
Cragen-Stabler residency, Manhattan, New York
Sunday, August 10th 2015
3.06 am
Olivia, Elliot and Don arrived home and Olivia went straight upstairs towards Melly's bedroom.
"Mel?" Don asked knowing what was probably going through Olivia's mind.
"Yeah." Elliot whispered in reply before following the path Olivia had taken.
He found her at the bedroom door just watching the gentle rise and fall of Melissa's chest.
"See she's fine." Elliot whispered knowing that she was taking this case hard.
"I know. I'm just going to check the rest of the kids then I'll see you in bed." She sighed softly before making her way over to Ali and Eli's room.
She leant over the cot sides on their beds and placed a gentle kiss on their cheeks, it was hard to imagine how close she had come to losing the two precious babies. It made her realise that this baby was going to be just as special if it survived. Slowly she shut the door before going to Lexi and Lili's room and repeating the routine followed by Nikki's room.
Once in bed Elliot wrapped his arms tight around her and gentle stroked her abdomen.
"Ok?" He asked dropping a soft peck onto her cheek.
"Yeah, just wished we could have saved that little girl, she didn't deserve to die because of her parents." Olivia sighed softly.
"I know but there's nothing we could have done differently, sometimes Liv we can't save them all." He whispered softly.
"I know, now let's get some sleep, the alarm will be going in a couple of hours." Olivia replied before shutting her eyes and succumbing to a disturbed sleep.
Cragen-Stabler residence, Manhattan, New York
Sunday, August 10th 2015
8:09 am
The family were all sat around the dining room table eating breakfast. Alyah and Elysah were sat in their high chairs making a mess, Nikki had her nose in a book taking a mouthful of waffles before turning the page meaning that she would take all morning to eat her breakfast. Melly was listening to her iPod and Olivia knew it was probably a podcast or something her IQ was too high for her own good at 163 and then there was Lili and Lexi who were talking to each other in Spanish which they'd partly picked up from Dora the explorer and Olivia continuing to teach them out of boredom on Sunday afternoons.
"So you got any plans for us for this afternoon?" Elliot asked Olivia as she finished off her breakfast.
"I have to go to the office and finish some paperwork on Annabel." Olivia sighed, she hated having to go into the office on a Sunday but she knew if she didn't the work would just pile up.
"Ok but we're sticking with our morning routine right?" Elliot asked, they'd had the same Sunday morning routine for years now and even Don wouldn't disrupt it without a very good reason.
"Of course not." She smiled before getting up with Anne to clear the table while the rest of the family went to get ready for Church.
Blessed Hearts Church, Manhattan, New York
Sunday, August 10th 2015
11.02 am
After the service the family followed the rest of the parish through to the backroom for tea and coffee. This was the moment Elliot kissed Olivia's cheek and she, Melissa, Nicole and Anne would sneak off for a bit.
As usual they took the well known path over to Michael and Cole's grave which was well kept and filled with flowers and toys from the family.
Anne, Olivia and Nicole always held back while Melissa went to the grave. They would talk with each other while Melissa had a chance to talk with her father and twin brother.
"Hey Mickey, hey Dad." She whispered as she knelt beside the head stone and played with the purple windmill that stuck from the ground. "It's been a good week. I missed you both so much this week especially you Mickey. You see, this guy asked me out, his names Thomas and I know you'd be pulling all the over protective big brother crap that Rich always pull with Elizabeth, of course, you don't know them but I've told you about them before, they're Elliot's children from a previous marriage, from before he was with Mom. But anyway I know you'd hate him just because he fancies me but don't worry I turned him down Mom and Elliot say I have to wait till I'm sixteen before I start having boyfriends and Elliot jokes sometimes and says I have to wait till I'm forty but I know he isn't serious. Anyway I'll see you both next week because I think Mom, Grandma and Nikki want to come talk to you both now. I love you." And with a final flick on the windmill making it spin like crazy she stood up and wiped her hands across her knees to clear the dirt and went over to the women.
"You go." Anne smiled to Olivia who took Nikki's hand and led her to the grave side.
"Mommy..." Nicole began.
"Yeah Baby?" Olivia asked as she sat down in front of the grave and pulled Nicole into her lap.
"Can you tell me the story about when you and Daddy first met again?" Nicole asked even though she'd heard the story a million times she loved listening to it.
"Of course." Olivia smiled.
**Flashback**
Olivia was in a foul mood. She'd just had an argument with Elliot after they had been working a case solid for seventy hours. She wasn't in the mood to go home though, she wasn't in the mood to sit alone in her apartment and think about the thirteen bodies she'd found in an abandoned warehouse today after they had spent three days looking for them.
It was a field trip and the bus driver had kidnapped the kids after killing the teacher and teacher's assistant. They'd looked long and hard for the children and Olivia was the one who stumbled into the room containing thirteen eight year olds bodies that had been beaten and raped before being killed.
All she wanted to do was get those images out of her brain and she'd decided to go to O'Malley's on her own. She knew the place would be crawling with cops as it was there they all went after a hard day but she also knew that they would know about the case and how it had played out and she hoped they'd all have the sense to leave her well alone.
She was on her second drink when he came over.
"Can I join you?" He asked and she nodded without even looking to see who it was. "Tough day you had." He commented.
"If only you knew the half of it." Olivia sighed thinking about the argument she'd had with Elliot.
"Why don't I get us another drink and you can tell me about it?" He suggested with a smile as Olivia finally looked at him.
She was completely knocked for six. He was handsome, no, he was fucking gorgeous. His skin was one shade darker then her own, his eyes a chocolate brown, his hair was almost black and cropped short to his head and he had the small traces of a five o'clock shadow.
"Detective Cole Jeffries, Missing Persons." He smiled extending his hand to her.
"Detective Olivia Benson, Special Victims." She replied knowing that he'd now probably run a mile, no one wanted to work SVU so they definitely wouldn't want the company of a cop who worked there.
"Now how about that drink?" Cole asked after they shook hands.
She nodded and he smiled and she felt herself falling in love with that smile, little did she know that he was supposed to be the person she fell head over heels in love with.
**end flashback**
"Why don't you say goodbye to Daddy and Michael now?" Olivia asked so she could have some time alone with her ex fiancé and her son.
"Bye Daddy bye Michael, I love you." Nicole smiled before climbing from Olivia's lap and going over to her grandmother and sister.
"She is so like you Cole it's scary, believe me and if you don't then believe your mother because she says it every day!" Olivia laughed gently. "Oh I miss you so much both of you, you know it's been so long since all this happened and the pain never goes away, every birthday, every Christmas, I can never stop thinking about the two of you. I have some more news for the two of you, I'm pregnant, yes I'm pregnant again. I know that you're going to worry about it though with how bad Eli and Ali's pregnancy was but I swear everything is going to be alright. I also got a promotion at work I'm now Captain, or I will be at the end of the week but I can't believe that Captain Don Cragen is retiring, it's a lot to take in I guess. Well I'm going to go now, I'll be by in the week again, you know I can't seem to stay away. I love you both." She kissed her fingers and brushed them along the two names on the headstone before getting up and leaving so that Anne could have some alone time at the grave.
"I'll take the kids inside." Olivia smiled as Anne kissed her cheek.
"I'll see you in there." Anne smiled before letting Olivia go.
Hmm don't know if you're going to love or hate this story because there's going to be a lot of dying in it and it's hopefully going to be a tear jerking story just like Losing was!
SteffieDawn