Penn was struggling not to panic. Olivia sat slumped against the metal wall. She was ghostly white and small puffs of condensation escaped her lips with every breath. With extreme effort Penn managed to crawl closer to her.
"Olivia! Olivia wake up. Come on open your eyes." She said shaking her vigorously. Olivia did not respond. Penn cleared her head, pushed down her panic and focused. She knew Olivia must be dehydrated and possibly in shock.
"Ok treatment for shock? Keep patient warm, elevate the feet, and hydrate." Penn said out loud to herself. "Her cloths are dry and she is wrapped in a blanket so not much I can do about the warmth but I can lay her down and elevate her feet." With difficulty Penn grabbed Olivia's uninjured arm and pulled down towards the floor causing her entire body to follow. Then using the medical bag she propped both of Olivia's feet up so they were elevated slightly above the heart. As she moved the medical bag into place she noticed the last IV bag and needle. Knowing that was what Olivia needed next she pulled them out and set them aside. She made sure the blanket covered as much of her as possible before moving to the uninjured arm. With no trouble Penn was able to start the IV and start the flow of fluids in to Olivia's arm.
"I have got to thank Zoe for teaching me all that." She said to herself. Within minutes Olivia's color started to change and her skin felt warmer, all good signs. Penn waited patiently for Olivia to stir taking in their surroundings. The rippled metal walls seemed familiar, but she could not place why. From what she had seen the room was long and narrow with no doors or windows or any light source. She ran her uninjured hand up and down the wall. It was smooth except for what felt like bolts evenly spaced going all the way to the metal celling. There was a cold breeze that drifted in and out carrying with it the smell of salt air and fish. She listened hard for some sound outside that would provide some clue as to where they were located. What she heard was a distant sound of a diesel motor, water breaking against something and seagulls. Suddenly it clicked but movement on her left distracted her, Olivia was waking up.
She opened her eyes looking very dazed and confused.
"What? Where? Why am I on the floor?" She stammered stupidly.
"You worked yourself up then passed out, dehydrated I think, so I laid you down and started an IV. You've been out for an hour or so." Penn answered. "I wouldn't work yourself up again though cause you're still dehydrated and that is the last of the IV bags." Olivia looked over at Penn who was grinning ear to ear.
"Have you gone crazy? Because I don't see anything about our situation to grin about." Olivia said an edge to her tone.
"While you were taking a nap I figured out where we are." Penn said. Olivia's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
"Where?" She asked excitement replacing the edge in her tone.
"Howland Hook Marine Terminal." Penn answered. Olivia's face dropped and her excitement dissipated.
"Great Staten Island." She said.
"Yup. In a shipping container, most likely stacked in the container yard." Penn said. The momentary "ray of light" so to speak was gone as fast as it arrived leaving gloom and fear in its wake.
"What are the odds of anyone, other than you, figuring this out?" Olivia asked. She knew that answer was zero, but she needed some optimistic thought to cling to.
"I may have only been with the squad for a week but I can tell how much they care about you and I know they are doing everything possible to find you. Me on the other hand, I doubt they know I am missing yet. My sister won't have noticed." Penn said. Olivia looked at her for a moment. She was sure she had seen a flash of pain, not from her injuries but emotional pain cross her eyes. Olivia sat herself up so she was again leaning against the metal wall.
"She will have noticed I'm sure of it. You are not easily forgotten. We have only been together for a week and you have made a lasting impression on me. No matter how much I want to forget you, I will never be able to." Olivia smiled. Penn returned the smile but said nothing.
"Ok. Let's put all the details together that we can." Olivia said switching to detective mode.
"You want to try that again? Last time you ended up unconscious." Penn reminded.
"This time I will stay seated. How about that?" Olivia said.
"Fair enough." Penn answered. "I figured out where we are it is your turn to figure something out."
"Last thing I remember is going to the park in search of Mia." Olivia said. "After I left the squad room I thought over what you guys had told me. You know about Mrs. Gains not letting me near the girl so I went to see the neighbor's nanny. She told me that both Mr. and Mrs. Gains were home but she had seen the nanny heading for the park when she was taking out the trash. So I headed for the park." Olivia said concentrating. Penn let out a harsh disbelieving laugh.
"It sounds to me like you were by-passing the law by speaking to the child without the parents permission. If the Gains found out you'd lose your shield in a heartbeat. Why take that risk for information that you couldn't even use in court?" Penn asked.
"I never intended to press her for information. I just needed a little direction." Olivia said defensively.
"Did you get to talk to her?" Penn asked intrigued. Olivia screwed up her face in concentration.
"I can't remember." She answered bitterly. She rubbed her temples vigorously in frustration.
"Give it some time. Based on how dehydrated you are someone either drugged you or you had quite a lot to drink." Penn said. "Something will come back to you." She tried to use a reassuring tone but deep down she knew that the memories were unlikely to return.
"I definitely don't remember stopping anywhere for a drink." Olivia said. She stopped rubbing her temples and buried her face in her hands. Suddenly and without warning tears started falling through her fingers into her lap followed by sobs. Penn watched quietly. She was not very good at comforting upset people however she felt with the lack of people currently present she had to take a stab at it.
"You didn't do anything wrong." Penn said. Olivia pulled her face out of her hands.
"Why do you assume I did something wrong?" she asked wiping tears from her checks. Penn was caught off guard by this question.
"Well…I jus….you said you didn't remember anything…then tears…" Penn stammered stupidly trying to explain.
"That's not why I'm crying." Olivia said firmly. Her sobs lessened and the tears slowed to a trickle as she regained her composer. "I just thought what you said about how the squad will come looking for me and I realized they are all I have. No family or husband or kids, just friends to come to my rescue." She said.
"That's something. Friends are as good as family, better some times because you don't feel obligated to go to boring functions or lie when they ask if something looks good on them or weather you liked their food. Lot less drama to deal with. So don't feel alone." Penn said reassuringly.
"I never said I was alone and I am very happy to have the friends that I have! They mean the world to me!" Olivia spoke in such a defensive tone Penn did not know what to think. "And why do you think everything I start to say is something bad? I'm not some depressed spinster with no friends and an apartment full of cats!" Penn was starting to get angry and could not help but raise her voice.
"You started crying! I don't….I….UHGGG! fine I am done trying to be sympathetic and understanding!" Olivia started chuckling and shaking her head. "WHAT NOW? Did I offend you again?" Penn snapped.
"I am just messing with you." She said smiling. Penn's mouth fell to the floor and her face filled with rage. Olivia took notice and quickly dropped her smile.
"Sorry. Not the right moment." Olivia said sincerely. "Since we're on the subject of family, when did you get adopted?" Penn looked at her in surprise.
"Why do you think I was adopted?" Penn asked.
"Zoe and you look nothing alike." Olivia answered. Penn nodded and smiled.
"Good detective skills. You'll make one hell of a Sargent one day with deductive skills like those." Penn spoke every word with as much sarcasm as possible.
"Shut up!" Olivia quipped playfully.
"Zoe is half a set of identical twins. Their mom adopted me when I was eight." Penn said. "The other half of the set is Eve. She works as a defense lawyer in England."
"Is that were their parents live, England?"
"No. Their dad was a pilot in the royal air force. He died during a training mission when they were ten, and mom died in a car accident when I was thirteen and the twins were twenty four."
"Rough. All that and still everything worked out. I mean you and Zoe live together don't you." Olivia said.
"It's getting there. We still have a lot to work out though." Penn said. Olivia waited for Penn to explain and when she didn't Olivia pressed her for more.
"Did something happen between them and you?"
"After mom's funeral they went back to England to finish school, I wasn't part of their future plans, so they left me behind." Penn answered.
"They just left you?" Olivia asked thirsty for more details.
"I woke up one morning and they were gone. No note or explanation just gone." Penn answered.
"Start from the beginning." Olivia said as casually as possible.
"Why is any of this interesting to you?" Penn asked. "I don't think I have ever met anyone who asked so many questions before." Olivia surged.
"It's not like I have anyone else to talk to, and I am generally interested. I figure if I have to work with you I want to know more about you." She said.
"Fair enough." Penn said. She took a deep breath but immediately winced in pain.
"Easy now. If telling me the story is going to stress you out you don't have to tell it to me." Olivia said concerned. Penn shook her head gently then spoke.
"I'm ok. So I woke up to find the twins gone. At first I assumed they had gone off to work, you know trying to carry on with normal life, but then I realized their cloths and everything were gone. I was shocked and angry. Over the course of three or four months I took my anger out on anyone and everything. I didn't tell anyone my sisters had left so no one understood where the anger was coming from. My friends didn't want to be around me, teachers threw me out, everything spiraled out of control." Penn paused for a moment. " I eventually stopped showing up to school and started hanging out with college kids, partying all the time. I did everything I could to suppress the pain I was feeling. It all eventually caught up to me." Olivia watched attentively waiting for Penn to continue.
"I was at a college party, drunk, and out of control. The cops showed up to bust the party and started carding everyone. I of course didn't have ID so I ran, almost got away too. I ran through central park made it to the central lawn ball fields. Figured I could hide out in a dugout but then I had a diabetic seizure. Next thing I remember waking up in the pediatric unit of Mercy hospital with Zoe at my side. She apologized over and over again, I forgave her and she moved back to New York." Penn finished her story with a slightly happier tone.
"Sounds like a happy ending." Olivia said. The smile slid off Penn's face. Olivia took notice.
"No happy ending then? Is there more to the story." She asked. Penn did not immediately respond. Several memories were currently running through her mind. One particular memory passed in vivid detail.