Notes: Thanks for the reviews. I didn't realize how much I'd appreciate them until I started to receive them. Since I've found them so enjoyable to read, I've figured out how to enable anonymous reviews.

Warning: Remember, this fic is rated M for language, sexual content and some violence.

80 Hours Missing

Danny stepped off the elevator and quickened his pace as he walked toward Jack's office. When he saw Jack at his desk, he walked into the office and started talking. "I need to go to D.C., Jack—" before he finished, he noticed that Vivian was sitting in the chair across from Jack. "Oh, sorry. Excuse me, Viv. I, um, I need to talk to Jack."

Jack and Vivian exchanged a worried glance before Vivian responded, "Are you all right, Danny? You look—"

"I'm fine. I'm just…I think I'm close to figuring something out, and I need to go to D.C."

"This is about Lauren Palmer?" Jack asked.

Danny nodded.

"We just started a new case, a missing eight year old, about an hour ago. I was just about to call you back in to start working on it," Jack said.

Running a hand over his chin, Danny tried to reign in his frustration. He knew if Jack thought he was losing his cool that he wouldn't let him go anywhere. "I can't, Jack. I think I'm really close to finding her, and I need to finish this."

"I'll get you in touch with Ryan Meadows in D.C. He's leading the investigation—"

"I know who he is," Danny interrupted and then immediately regretted it when he saw Jack's annoyed glare. "I'm sorry. I just…I can't just hand this information off. I need to follow this through."

"We have a case that takes priority," Jack responded, not backing down.

"Then I'll take personal leave to work on it. I have tons of time to take."

"You can take as much personal leave as you want, but I won't grant you permission to work on a case in D.C. Meadows is already pissed that I let you work with NYPD."

"For Christ's sake, Jack. Why are you doing this? This is important to me. Viv…" Danny's voice pleaded as he looked at Vivian for help.

Vivian regarded Danny closely for a few moments. "Why don't you just listen to what Danny wants to do, Jack? Our missing kid is looking more and more like a child custody thing. The four of us can handle it without Danny."

"That's not the point—"

"All I'm saying is that you should listen," Vivian said as she rose from her chair. "I'm on my way to interview that doctor we were talking about," she said as she walked to the door. Before leaving, she reached out and gently patted Danny's arm.

"You have five minutes," Jack said as he motioned for Danny to take a seat. "And your damn lucky that Viv thinks the world of you and can never say no to you."

Sitting down quickly, Danny started, "Lauren is or was involved with this man who seems to be in some position of power, either politically or in law enforcement. Jack, this guy was hurting her…in ways that I don't even want to describe. He has some kind of power over her, so she didn't think anyone could help her. I think he's done something to her."

"But you don't know who he is?"

Danny shook his head. "He covers his tracks like a pro. No traceable phone records. He uses a cloned cell phone. Her apartment was wiped clean of all prints. And there's all this money that has to be coming from him, but we can only trace it back to Lauren's mother."

"Her mother?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. That's why I need to go to D.C. All the money is leading back to her mother."

"So your therapy with Lauren is free, but how does she pay for Dr. Cameron's services without insurance?" Stabler asked as he and Danny were still extracting information from Robin.

"Oh, I, um, I don't know if I can give you that information. It's a part of Lauren's hospital file and that's protected health information."

"No, the protected health information is her treatment. You can tell us who's paying the bills," Danny countered. He wasn't sure that was true or not, but he figured it was worth a shot.

"She can't tell you anything," a female voice called out from an open door on the other side of the desk.

Danny and Stabler looked over to find a tall woman in a white doctor's coat.

"Dr. Cameron?" Stabler asked as he flashed his badge.

"Yes. What is this about?"

"It's about one of your patients, Lauren Palmer."

"What's happened to her?" the doctor asked.

"You tell us," Danny countered. "You tell us what's happened to her and why the hell you never reported any of it to the police."

"You're out of line," the doctor said as she walked towards them.

"Am I? You're a doctor. Your supposed to help people, but you never helped Lauren."

Stabler's first instinct was to cut Danny off, but he couldn't agree with him more.

"If you treated Lauren for assault, you were required by law to report it," Stabler said in support of Danny.

"She told me she wasn't assaulted," the doctor replied.

Sighing heavily, Danny shook his head. "She wasn't? We have videotape of her being hurt at least twice in the last two months."

"Look, I'm not at liberty to tell you anything."

"Can you tell us why you treat her any time, day or night? We heard that you are at her beck and call."

"No. I can't," the doctor responded in a cold tone. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

They watched helplessly as the doctor left the reception area.

As Danny walked to car alongside Stabler, he felt himself getting more and more angry. Part of him wanted to go back in there, and interrogate the doctor until she told them something. Just as he was about to turn around, his cell phone rang.

"Taylor," he answered, voice tense.

"Hi. It's Robin, the girl you just talked to," she whispered.

"I know who you are. Why are you whispering?"

"I don't want Dr. Cameron to hear me. I'm in the bathroom. I got your number off the card you gave me. I want to help Lauren any way I can. And I know how much she trusts you."

Sighing in relief, Danny replied, "Okay. Good. What can you tell me?"

"You wanted to know how Lauren pays her medical bills?"

"Yeah."

"The bills go to Karen Palmer, Lauren's—"

"Lauren's mother. Christ," Danny muttered to himself. "Why does Cameron treat Lauren at will like that?"

"Lauren says that Dr. Cameron has been a friend of her mother's since forever."

"All the money goes back to Karen Palmer. Dr. Cameron is an old family friend. It's as though all these people who are somehow connected are controlling Lauren. I have to believe that Karen Palmer knows who this mystery man is."

"Danny, I'm sure Meadows has already talked to the mother. Hell, she's the one who reported Lauren missing. Why don't you just give Meadows this information and let him interrogate the mother."

"I just want to be there, Jack. I'll give the information Meadows. I'll let him lead the interrogation, but I have to be there. I have to be there for Lauren."

Jack closed his eyes for a moment and then took a short breath before opening his eyes. "Are you in love with this woman?"

Rolling his eyes, Danny shrugged. "I don't know," he replied in a quiet, almost weak tone. "We haven't even spent that much time together, really. But I do care about her very much. And I hate that she was in so much pain while we were together, and she wouldn't or couldn't let me help her. So I want to help her now."

Jack nodded slightly. "Look, my hesitation over this isn't because I don't trust you or your instincts."

"I know that."

"I just don't want you to get in over your head, and I don't want you to get into trouble."

"I won't. I promise, I won't," he replied in earnest.

"Okay, I'll call Meadows and tell him you're on your way. You have to be diplomatic about this, Danny," Jack counseled. "That's the only way they won't send your ass home."

"I got it, Jack. Thank you," Danny said as he rose from the chair.

"Good luck. I hope she's okay," Jack said in a supportive tone.

"Me, too," Danny replied quietly as he walked out the door.

An hour later, Danny settled into a seat as the shuttle plane started down the runway. He'd be in D.C. in less than an hour. Closing his eyes, he tried to rest, but he kept thinking of Lauren and the times she'd told him things. Maybe she'd told him more about herself and her situation than he had originally thought.

From what Lauren could tell, Danny was still asleep. His breathing was even and deep. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her back. She could feel his lips against the curve of her neck.

It was early, maybe 5 a.m. The evening before, they'd watched a movie in his bed and had both fallen asleep. It was the first time that she had spent the night with him and they hadn't had sex. It was the first time she had spent the night with any man and not had sex.

Lauren smiled as she closed her eyes, deciding to sleep a while longer, but something between being awake and asleep, she felt Danny's hips shift even closer to hers. Still on the verge of sleep, her stomach tightened a bit at feeling his hardness against her thigh. Involuntarily, she scooted back against him. Upon feeling the contact, she heard Danny groan as he grasped her hip.

Then she felt his fingers trace over her stomach and dip under the top of her panties. Still not waking completely, she moaned when she felt his fingers make contact and start moving against her. Almost instantly, she felt wet and she whimpered slightly when he took his fingers away.

For a few moments, he moved away from her, but just as quickly he was back, flush against her back. Slightly more awake, she felt a little nervous. He hadn't kissed her good morning. He hadn't said a word to her, and yet, she knew exactly what was going to happen next.

The next thing she felt were his fingers tugging her panties down. She made an attempt to roll onto her back so she could see him, but his body blocked her from moving. She thought about breaking the silence between them, but her nervousness and fear kept her quiet. He'd never been like this before. In the few times they'd slept together, he'd always been more playful and talkative. So this made her nervous…nervous that he wasn't who she thought he was, and that he was like every other man she'd been with in the last year.

And then she felt him…his fingers first to make sure she was still wet, and then his thigh nudging her legs open. Then, slowly and much more gently than she had anticipated, he entered her. He started moving his hips in a slow rhythm. Lauren's nervousness and fear were quickly replaced by the most sensual feeling she'd ever felt. She closed her eyes, almost as though she wanted to experience this in a dream-like state.

She felt his lips on her neck as one of his traveled up under her tank top to her breast. He teased her nipple with his thumb and forefinger as he continued to move inside of her. Lauren's breathing became more and more rapid as she couldn't help but moan in pleasure. Usually, she hated feeling powerless during sex, but this was different. The way he was moving inside of her and the way he was touching her was making her crazy.

His rhythm and pace was still agonizingly slow as she started to come. She had to bite her lip to stop herself from begging him to go faster. She was fighting between wanting to come and wanting enjoy every second of the way he was making her feel.

Her breathing became ragged and she was panting in pleasure as he finally started to thrust faster. She took hold her pillow to brace herself as she continued to moan with every thrust until finally they climaxed together.

He still hadn't said a word, but she could feel his breath against her neck, and she became aware that at some point he had taken her hand in his because he was still holding it.

Finally after several minutes of just lying in each other's arms, he gently pulled out of her and rolled onto his back. Slowly, she turned so she could face him, and she proceeded to study his profile as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes.

"That was quite a wake-up call," she finally said, and then closed her eyes in embarrassment at her corny choice of words.

His lips turned up into a small smile. "I should have warned you last night. I'm morning person through and through. Sometimes I don't realize what I'm doing. Sorry if I—"

"Don't apologize. I kind of like that I got experience that aspect of your personality by the element of surprise. I've never…" she started, but then stopped.

"You've never what?" he asked as he sat up in the bed and swung his legs over the side.

"I, um—"

"Hold that thought," he said as he stood up. "I'll be right back," he said as he went into the bathroom and shut the door. Even though he had been half-asleep, he had still remembered to use a condom.

A few minutes later, he returned to bed and pulled Lauren into his arms. "You've never what?"

"It's…I don't want to freak you out or anything. I'm not looking for anything serious, but I've never felt this safe with anyone before. I used to think sex was just this physical release, but when we're together…it feels like so much more."

"I know what you mean. When I was younger, I used to be a lot more casual, you know? And then I made a concerted effort to stop being such a jerk, and to really get to know someone before all the physical stuff. I've found, with age, that it's much better when you genuinely care about someone."

"So that's why you didn't invite me up to your apartment the night I met you?" she asked as she looked up into his eyes.

"That was definitely part of it," he replied quietly, kissing her forehead.

"Do you think people have a life-defining moment?" she asked suddenly, after laying her on his chest. "Where there's this one moment where, something happens, and the whole trajectory of your life is altered? Where even if this moment is false, it can still change everything."

Frowning, Danny smiled slightly as he traced his fingers up and down her back. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, something can happen to you, but you didn't mean for it to happen and you're not that type of person, but because it happens…that's who you become."

Danny smiled again as his eyes widened. "That's deep. I'm going to need a little more explanation on that one, I'm afraid."

"You swear you won't judge me?" she whispered.

"I promise. I won't," he replied as he squeezed her shoulder in support.

"I was always a really dramatic kid. I wanted to be the center of attention. I was the apple of my father's eye and worked very hard to be the apple of everyone else's as well. Teachers loved me. I was voted most popular. I had it all or so I thought," she started in a distant tone as if she was reliving a memory.

"What happened?"

"My mom and I were never all that close. I mean, we never argued, but we never really talked either. Anyway, when I was eighteen, I got an internship at this off-Broadway theater house in Manhattan. My parents wanted me to go to college, but all I wanted to do was come to New York to be an actress. I figured I'd get discovered at the theater and I'd be on my way, and the director of the theater house told me much of the same. I swear I think he played me from the moment I walked in the door."

"Played you?" he asked, voice sounding concerned.

"He was this young, up and coming playwright. He said that I was his muse, and he was going to write me a part to make me a star. I fell right under his spell. Within a month of working for him, I went from being a naïve virgin to his lover."

"But he never wrote you that great part? Did he?"

"No, but he did get me pregnant," she replied in a quiet, hesitant tone.

"That's…that's definitely life-defining."

Lauren's eyes filled with tears. "I couldn't tell my father, so I told my mother – hoping that she'd help me through it."

"And did she?"

Lauren shrugged. "I remember she said that she wasn't surprised and was almost thankful that it hadn't happened in high school. She'd just assumed that I had been promiscuous the whole time. Of course, coming home pregnant didn't exactly prove her wrong."

"What happened to the baby?"

"She told me that I had to have an abortion. Of course, when I first found out, I thought the same thing. But thinking it's the right thing and actually doing it are two very different things. God, it was horrible. What made it even worse is that she told my father about it after the fact. He came to me and asked if it was true, and I just dissolved into tears. He never looked at me the same way again after that."

"Why'd your mom do that? Why'd she tell him?"

"I don't know. I still don't know. But the whole experience made me feel like I was somehow defective or bad. That's what I mean by a life-defining moment. I've never been able to get past being that girl…when my mother looks at me all she sees is a whore."

Frowning, Danny tightened his grip around her. "You were a kid. You shouldn't be carrying that around after all this time. It's been five years, for Christ's sake."

"It's tough…it's really tough to change when everyone in your life sees you one way."

Danny tilted her chip up so he could look into her eyes, and then he carefully regarded her for several moments. "You know, up to a point, I agree with your life-defining moments theory. But what you don't seem to realize is that you get more than one."

Lauren shook her head. "I don't see how. I don't see how I can change the path I'm on."

"Trust me when I tell you that you get more than one. You don't have to keep living like this. You're not how your mother sees you or how anyone else sees you. You're a smart, compassionate, beautiful woman. That's what I see," he said as he kissed her forehead again and then held her a little tighter.

But she didn't respond, Lauren just nodded as she nuzzled her head deeper into his bare chest.

Danny was shaken from his thoughts as the plane touched down. He should have told her more about himself. He hadn't wanted to get into telling her about his past, but maybe if he had, then she would have believed what he had been trying to tell her that morning.

He could hardly contain himself as he waited for the plane to come to stop. Now more than ever, he wanted to confront Karen Palmer. And even though Jack would be disappointed in him, he knew he had to find a way to question her on his own.