Alex stared blankly up at the ceiling as yet another sweaty man rolled off of her and staggered out of the room. Nobody seemed to notice or care that she hadn't uttered a single word in… how many days had it been? Weeks? Months? It felt like it had been years. Alex hadn't seen Michaela in she wasn't sure how long, the only people she saw were the men who showed up to abuse her. The blonde curled up on the mattress she was lying on, trying to avoid the wet spot and trying to cover her naked body with what little coverage the tattered sheets provided her with. Alex's heart jumped in her throat when she looked over and suddenly realized that there was a cell phone lying on the floor next to her. It must have fallen out of the pocket of the man she was just with. Trembling in fear, Alex listened carefully to hear if anyone was coming and she slowly reached her hand out toward the phone, praying that it wouldn't suddenly start ringing and alert someone. Her heart leapt with joy when she realized that the phone had no lock screen. She was about to dial 911 when a thought suddenly occurred to her. It had been so long since she had heard the sound of her own voice. She didn't want to speak, and wasn't even sure if she could speak anymore. But she could text. She opened up the texting app and typed out a message, sending it to a familiar number that she knew by heart.
Olivia looked up when her phone alerted her that she had a text message. She didn't recognize the number, but she practically knocked her chair over leaping to her feet when she read the words that had been sent to her and she ran out of her office to the crib where Fin, Munch, Amanda, Kat, and Elliot were sleeping.
"Fin! Wake up! Wake up now!" Olivia burst into the crib and shook Fin awake wildly.
"Wha- huh- okay, okay! I'm awake, you don't have to break my shoulder! What happened?"
"Get Morales down here to set up a trace on this phone number. Munch, wake up!"
"Okay, that's the last time I make you six cups of coffee." Munch grumbled as he sat up and put his glasses on.
"What happened, Liv?" Elliot asked, getting up and putting his shirt on.
"I just got this text message. It's from Alex!" Olivia showed them her phone, and suddenly everyone was wide awake.
Ma'am, it's Alex. Please help me.
"Hold on, Liv, we have to be sure. It's a random cell phone number, for all we know it could have been sent by some kook at NASA trying to steal your identity for the Russians." Munch pointed out, always the conspiracy theorist.
"Text them back. Ask a question that only Alex would know the answer to." Kat suggested. Olivia thought for a moment.
What's your safeword?
Alex understood that Olivia was trying to figure out if her text was legitimate, and she texted back right away.
Chocolate. You gave me my collar on the beach in Mexico on May 12th, 1999.
"It's Alex." Olivia confirmed, struggling not to burst into sobs, overjoyed that at least one of her babies was still alive.
"I'll get Morales." Fin ran out of the room.
I'm so happy to hear from you, my angel! We're tracing the phone and I'll be there to get you soon, baby, I promise.
Alex hid the phone underneath the mattress she was lying on. She jumped in surprise when the door suddenly opened again and yet another man loomed over her, leering at her as if she were a prime slab of meat. As he climbed on top of her, Alex just prayed that their combined weight wouldn't crush the phone. Alex stared up at the ceiling, as had become her practice, and she thought about being reunited with her beloved Mistress. Would Olivia still want her? Alex knew that she wasn't beautiful anymore and wasn't worth loving, but maybe she could figure out some way to convince Olivia that she was still worth keeping.
"Can't you work any faster?" Olivia asked impatiently.
"The database scans as fast as it scans, Liv, I can't control it. We have full access to this database and six others." Morales replied, sympathetically understanding that his friend was anxious to get results.
"I want to know where the phone is located, I want to know who owns it, and I want to know every single detail about them; their name, their address, their job, everything. Hell, I want to know their dog's name. I'll be in my office." Olivia turned to walk out of the room.
"Yes, Ma'am." Everyone replied, knowing that now was not the time to argue.
Three and a half hours later, the databases were still scanning and Olivia thought she was going to lose her mind when suddenly Elliot walked into her office.
"Liv, we've got the trace. The phone's owned by a guy called Steve McCray."
"Pick him up." Olivia ordered.
"I keep telling you, I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't even have my phone with me, I lost it." Steve insisted as he sat in the interrogation room at the precinct.
"Listen, if you don't start helping yourself, when we finally find the woman we're looking for, you're going to go down as an accessory, and if she dies, I swear to you I will spend the rest of my life making your life hell." Olivia growled.
"Oh, who cares about her? She's just a submissive." Steve leaned back in his chair and yelped when he crashed to the floor as Olivia shoved him over.
"I care, because she happens to be one of my submissives." Olivia glared as she towered over him.
"What will you give me if I talk?" Steve smirked.
"A slightly shorter prison sentence. You're going to prison either way, so you might as well make it easy on yourself and tell me what I want to know."
"I'll give you a name. Dave Kloss."
Olivia immediately went on alert. Dave Kloss was the name of the Master that Michaela had been rescued from.
"Liv, we've got an address. The phone's at a warehouse in Brooklyn. Casey's on her way to find a judge to get a warrant." Amanda popped her head into the interrogation room.
"Hey, when do I get my phone back?" Steve called out as Olivia and Amanda ran from the room.
"Liv, maybe you should wait out here. We don't know what we might find in there." Elliot suggested as the squad strapped on bullet-proof vests.
"As of four hours ago, she was still alive and I promised that I would be the one to come get her. I'm going in." Olivia insisted.
Alex cowered in fear and trembled in a corner of the room when she was suddenly startled by loud banging, shouting, and gunshots outside of the room she was locked in. The commotion lasted for what seemed like forever until finally it became quiet.
"Alex! Alex, where are you? Answer me, honey!"
Alex instantly felt safe upon hearing Olivia's voice. She hurried to the locked door and began to pound on it with all of her strength, which at this point wasn't much since she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a full meal that wasn't rotting.
Olivia's head snapped up when she heard pounding, and tried to decipher where it was coming from.
"I hear you, baby! Good girl! Keep knocking!" Olivia called out.
Alex started to cry as she pounded on the door with all of her malnourished strength. She hadn't been called a good girl in such a long time, and at that moment all she wanted was to be snuggled safely in her beloved Mistress's arms. Suddenly, Alex's heart leapt as Olivia's voice was right outside the door. Olivia fiddled with the handle, finding it locked.
"Angel, get as far back from the door as you can. I'm going to have to break it down." Olivia instructed.
Alex curled up fetal on the other side of the small room as far away from the door as she could get. She squeezed her eyes closed, almost afraid that if she opened them again, she would find that this had all been a dream and it was another man coming through the door to abuse her instead of Olivia coming to rescue her. There was a loud bang as Olivia kicked in the door, making it fly open. The brunette detective's heart broke when she laid eyes on her sweet little submissive trembling in fear. Alex's naked body was covered in bruises, whip marks, cigarette burns, and other injuries. She had a black eye and a busted lip and her long blonde hair was in dire need of a proper wash. At some point her collar had been ripped from her neck and replaced with a heavy chain that was too tight.
"I'm right here, little one, you're safe now. You can come to me whenever you're ready."
Olivia squatted down across the room from Alex a few feet away, giving Alex space and letting her choose to make contact. She wasn't sure yet what kind of atrocities her poor baby had been subjected to, so it was important to go slowly and carefully. Alex looked up at Olivia in awe and confusion. She had been certain that once Olivia saw how damaged and broken she was, she would turn around and leave her to fend for herself, but Olivia was still right there, being so gentle and loving and patient with her just the same as she always was. Alex took a few long minutes to gather up her courage and very slowly crawled toward Olivia.
"That's my good girl. Can I put my hands on you to take off that chain?" Olivia asked kindly once Alex was crouched by her.
Alex nodded. The chain was painful around her neck, digging into her delicate skin.
"When you're ready we'll get you a pretty new collar. Any style you want." Olivia commented lovingly as she worked to gently remove the chain.
Olivia carefully inspected the marks on Alex's neck left by the chain. Luckily, they weren't too deep and would be thoroughly healed in a few days with the help of some arnica. Unfortunately, the rest of Alex's battered body required medical attention from a professional.
"Okay, good girl. No more awful chain. Where's your sister, baby? Do you know where Michaela is?" Olivia asked.
Alex shook her head. They had been separated early on and hadn't seen each other since.
"Okay. Now, we need to get you to a hospital, my love. You just let me know when you're ready to move and I'll help you out to the ambulance."
Alex hesitated, and then reached out a trembling hand to let Olivia help her to her feet. Olivia slowly guided Alex out of the room that had been her prison and a female EMT seemed to come out of nowhere and draped a warm blanket around Alex, concealing her nakedness. Another EMT, this one a male, tried to help Alex into the ambulance, unexpectedly putting his hands on her, and Alex let out a blood-curdling scream, the first sound she had made since she stopped speaking.
"Back off now. I've got her." Olivia gave the EMT her best Detective Benson glare.
Olivia rode in the back of the ambulance with Alex. They arrived at the hospital and Alex was taken immediately into an examination room. A nurse came in with a rape kit and Alex began to tremble in fear.
"I'm right here with you, baby girl. I'm so sorry this is necessary, but we need to do a rape kit and then I'll make sure you have some nice, cold water to drink. I'll be right here with you the whole time, if it hurts or if you get scared, you just squeeze my hand and we can take a break. There's no hurry." Olivia explained kindly.
Alex nodded.
"What happened to your beautiful voice?" Olivia asked kindly.
Alex just looked at Olivia with tears gathered in her baby blue eyes.
"It's okay, lovey. You've been through a lot, you'll start talking when you're ready." Olivia assured her.