A/N: I've been snowed in for a week and my college town and surrounding towns have made multiple national news shows. We have over 70 inches of snow is some areas and some unofficial reports of over 100 inches, this has all fallen in a week. And its still snowing, between my normal class schedule and the snow days we have had I haven't had class in over a week. I feel really lazy so I'm forcing myself to finish this chapter. Put of the reason I haven't updated while snowed in is I'm kinda jealous of Alex and Olivia in this story…. Its no fun being snowed in and single…haha.

Also as for my knowledge of NYC and Central Park I know nothing of geography or street names or placements of business or entrances to the park…

I've read a lot of fan fiction the last couple days, nice job people. So as a thank you for helping me keep my sanity I'm throwing a shout out to a couple awesome writers with some stories out there (check them out if you haven't already):
SVURaider1-6 for "Ignis Satus," protejerinnocencia for "Return to Me," and Supergirl06 for "Tiny Dancer."

Truth Seekers

2.

"Who is this?" Olivia asked suddenly alert.

"Bev… oh Olivia he took my children!"

"Bev… Bev! Calm down, what happened," Olivia suddenly remembered. About 3 years ago Olivia had a case with a Beverly Jones, she had two children, she lived in Olivia's old apartment building and she was raped there.

"I only stepped out for a minute. I went down to get the mail, I locked the door, I know I shouldn't have left them but I was only going down stairs. They are gone Olivia!" Bev was crying hystarically.

Olivia's hand ached, she hadn't been able to take a pain med before the phone had rung.

"Bev, have you moved?"

"No," Bev wailed.

"Okay I'm coming over, just hold on a second. I'm going to call my partner okay and we will be there soon. Hold tight, don't leave the apartment building incase they just wandered off."

"Okay, hurry," Bev sniffled, trying to gain control of her emotions.

"I will, I promise."

Olivia hung up and ran her good had through her hair. She set the pain meds down and settled on some regular ibuprofen, she wanted to be alert to help Bev. She walked into the bedroom and dressed as quietly as she could with one hand. She placed a light good bye kiss on Alex's temple. The pressure caused Alex to wake up a little.

"Where are you going," Alex asked without opening her eyes. She knew what the temple kiss meant.

"Bev Jones, from my old apartment building called. Her kids are missing? She asked me to come down," Olivia answered in a whisper. "Go back to sleep, I'll see you tomorrow."

On her way out the door Olivia called Jessie. Then she called Cragen to tell him they had a case. She hailed a cab and gave the address.

Bev buzzed Olivia in immediately and had the door open for her by the time the detective stepped out of the elevator.

Olivia stepped into the apartment. Not a whole lot had changed since the last time she was in the place. Everything was fairly tidy. You could tell the kids were older now, the games and toys that were left mid play were more mature and there were video game controllers strung off the entertainment system. Olivia did some quick math in her head before speaking.

"Okay Bev. I need to get a description out on your kids. Petey is 8 now, and Becky is 10?"

"That's right, you've got a good memory," Bev gave a weak smile. "Petey's hair darkened its brown now, a little shaggy. Becky is still blonde and cut in a page boy cut. They were both wearing Pajamas. Becky is a little taller then Petey, but not by much. He has started to become a little tall for his age. Their PJs were both solid blue flannal bottoms with white t-shirt tops. I think Petey might have been wearing a sweatshirt. I was letting them stay up late and play video games because they don't have school tomorrow. The school is closed for some major repair work on the roof, they didn't want the kids there just in case. I thought it was a special treat."

Olivia was writing furiously to get a written description of the two kids.

"Bev its not your fault. You couldn't have know something like this would happen. Even if they were taken being in bed probably wouldn't have mattered. The important thing now is find them. Okay. Do you have any recent pictures?"

"Um, yes," Bev spun around and rushed over to the desk in the corner of the living room. "Here are this years school photos. I'm a little late getting them over to Grandma."

"Thank you," Olivia couldn't help but grin and the goofy smiled little boy and the pretty young girl smiling back at her from the sheet of photos.

Just then there was another knock at the door. Both Cragen and Jessie where there.

"We were both at the precinct when you called," Cragen said.

"Hello I'm detective Jessie Clay," Jessie said as she entered the apartment.

"Detective," Bev nodded.

"Bev, this is my new partner. Elliot is teaching at the academy now. You can trust her."

"Here are the descriptions and pictures of the kids." Olivia said handing them to Cragen.

"Do we know how long they have been missing," Cragen asked Olivia and Bev.

"I went to get the mail at 10, they were here playing video games. They were starting to get tired and said that after the next save point they were going to bed. They had just gotten this new game and wanted to get as far as they could. With no school tomorrow I thought as a treat to let them play later and longer since they got all their homework done. When I came back, about 5 minutes later round trip, I found the tv off and no one in the living room so I thought they went to bed. I put the mail on the counter and went their rooms to check on them. They weren't there. So I tried my room, no one, and the bathroom, no one. I went back out to the living room to see if they were playing and hiding on me. But no one was here. I called out their names, then yelled out their names. I tried looking in the laundry room and retraced my steps back to the mail box wondering if they followed me. I had locked them in the apartment though. So I went around the whole building looking, nothing after an hour of searching I called Olivia, because I found this back in my mailbox when I went down for a 3rd time."

"Why didn't you tell me," Olivia said taking the paper out of Bev's hands.

"I hadn't gotten the chance to." Tears were streaming out of her eyes. She didn't want to mess up.

"Its okay Bev its not your fault. I didn't ask. You did say 'he' took my kids when you called."

Olivia read the note than handed to Cragen. Jessie read over his shoulder.

The note read in scratchy handwriting: "Paybacks a bitch, bitch. I can't get a job now because of you. I want 100,000 dropped of at the South Gate of Central Park, under the second bench on the right, by noon." It was signed: the star of your nightmares.

Cragen took the note along with the picture and descriptions and placed them in his suit jacket pocket.

"Jessie I want you to get back to the precinct and get on the computer and the phone and find out what the status of Tom Pullman is at Rikers."

Jessie was out the door almost before Cragen was finished speaking.

"Olivia I want you to stay here incase the kidnapper tries to call or make any other contact. I'm going to send a CSU team over here to see if we can figure out how he got in. I'm going to go get an Amber Alert out on the kids." Cragen walked out the door quickly, pulling his cell phone out as he went.

Olivia and Bev moved out of the entryway, where the detectives had been gathered and into the kitchen. Bev stood ringing her hands together.

"Can I make a cup of tea," Bev was unable to settle down.

"Sure," Olivia sensed that Bev wanted to keep busy.

CSU arrived about 40 minutes after Cragen left. Olivia let them in and walked them through the case. They dusted the doorknob, both sides, the doorknocker and the peephole. They also searched around the carpet in the hall for any clues and the entryway of the house. It was noted that the kids shoes and coats were still in the house. They also looked in the kids' bedrooms and dusted the window frames. They found some odd residue on the carpets on the inside of Petey's room under the window. It looked like rust.

"Bev, was the door still locked when you came back from getting the mail," Olivia poked her head back into the kitchen.

Bev was silent for a moment, "Yes. I remember using the key and having it unlock. You can only lock the door with the key."

Olivia went back to inform the CSU team. After about an hour of combing the apartment CSU packed up.

"We'll get this to the lab and run the finger prints and find out what that residue really is. I'll be able to run them fairly quickly. I'll call you when I get the results," the CSU investigator said as he and his partner stepped out into the hallway.

Olivia shut the door behind them and took up wait with Bev in the kitchen again.

"I can't just sit here Olivia."

"I know, but the best thing to do is let CSU, Jessie and the Captain do their jobs."

"Do you really think it was Tom who took them?"

"We don't know yet, but he is a suspect, until we can confirm that he is still at Rikers," Olivia took a sip of her tea. "Why don't you tell me what you have been doing the last couple years. How's the old neighborhood?"

Olivia thought if she could keep Bev talking the time would pass faster than if they just sat there waiting.

"The neighborhood is good. A single father and his son moved into your old apartment. A good man. He is a stockbroker and his son is 9. We have his son Jake over for dinner sometimes when his dad has to work late. His birthday is late in the year so he is actually in Petey's class at school. Its nice for the kids to have a friend in the building. Brian is such a good dad, he takes Jake to Yankee games and makes sure he is home by dinner most nights, when he is not he gets home by 9. He is always spending time with Jake. He took Petey with them to the last game. Petey wouldn't stop talking about it for a week," Bev smiled weakly.

"Becky is growing up so fast. I'm so glad that she and her brother get along so well. It is a dream really. Such good good kids. How are you doing? We miss having you around."

Olivia smiled, she did miss the old place. It was a decent apartment, it just wasn't big enough for both her stuff and Alex's stuff. That and they wanted a place that was theirs, no one with a claim on it.

"I'm doing well. Alex and I have been together for almost 3 years. Our apartment is great. I do miss the old neighborhood though sometimes. The neighbors are different, nice but not the same. But I'm really not there enough and out in the neighborhood to get to know people. Work has been pretty busy with Elliot getting shot and then going on a long leave. He is 6 months into a 9 month stay at the acacemy. He really likes teaching and the cadets really like him. His experience that he can pass on in the classroom is incredible. I'm thinking he may stay on longer. Jessie is working out well though. Except for our little accident yesterday…" Olivia held up her hand.

The two talked for a long time, suddenly it was 5:30.

The kids had been missing for 6 hours.

Olivia had called Cragen at about 2 to get an update.

Rikers was on lockdown for a brawl in the showers. One prisoner dead. They were having trouble getting any information from them. A computer search found that Tom Pullman was released on parole for good behavior. He had 2 and a half more years on his sentence. They had been trying all night to track down his parole officer, but since it was the middle of the night and Pullman had only been released a few days ago, it was difficult. The fingerprints were not finding a match, they think they might have just been Bev's. They were definitly Adult finger prints, too large for a childs. CSU came back to print Bev at about 2:30. They called at 3:15 saying that the prints were Bev's. They were still shifting through all the other prints from the door. There were about 8 different sets.

All the while Olivia and Bev were telling stories just waiting.

A knock at the door startled the two women. Olivia went to answer the door. There was a half dressed man at the door. His pants were on and his shirt was on but not buttoned, his feet were bare and his hair was shower fresh. His eyes were wild with fear.

"Where's Bev!"

Bev stepped out of the kitchen to see who was there.

"Brian," Bev cried as she stepped into Brian's embrace.

"I just saw the news. The Amber Alert is all over the TV. Why didn't you call or something."

"I didn't want to bother you." Fresh tears spilling forth.

"Shhhh, its going to be okay. What happened."

Brian stepped into the kitchen and Bev introduced Olivia and retold the story including what has been going on all night over a fresh pot of coffee.

"Where's Jake?" Bev asked after she finished the story.

"He is with his mom's parents. After she died a few years ago, he goes and spend special time with them every couple weeks. With the day off I thought it would be best if he spend it with them to save on babysitter and they missed last time because they had a bug."

Bev nodded.

"Oh my God! Bev I don't believe it. So they think it's the man who raped you who took them. Why didn't you move."

"I liked the neighborhood and I didn't want that man to ruin my life. Now he has."

Brian hugged Bev again, "Do you want me to stay, I'm sure I can get an emergency day off."

"No, no you go to work, I'll be fine. Thank you though."

"At least let me check on you when I get back."

Bev nodded.

"Alright. Nice to meet you Detective Benson." Brian shook hands with Olivia before leaving.

After the door shut behind him Olivia spoke.

"So you too?"

"We haven't had time to date, both being single parents and all. We do spend a lot of time together. Help each other out. You know. He's the best man I know. Maybe some day."

"He seems great Bev. Caring, sweet, handsome, and clean."

Bev laughed, then got really quiet, like she was ashamed of laughing.

"Its okay Bev."

Olivia's phone started ringing.

"Benson."

"Olivia, is Bev alright I just stepped out of the shower and saw the news. Oh my God. I'm on my way to work right now."

"She's okay considering, there seems to be a shower and news pattern happening though."

"What? Oh never mind, tell me later. Cragen is beeping in. I'll talk to you later."

It was a whirlwind conversation. It left a sleep deprived Olivia a little overwhelmed.

Her hand started to throb hard. It had started aching again a few hours ago, but had been trying to ignore it.

"Do you have any ibuprofen?"

"Yeah. Here." Bev handed her a bottle from the cabinet above the fridge.

Olivia downed 2 of the small pills with her coffee. Her phone rang again. This time it was Cragen. He wanted them at the precinct.

/a few hours later/

Turns out Tom Pullman never met with his parole officer. He had slipped through the cracks because the officer was too busy. Luckily it was only a few days. So no one was looking for Pullman, until now. CSU finally matched some prints. On the outside of the window to Petey's room. The detectives figured that he was expecting them to be in bed. They were a match to Pullman. The rust was from the fire escape.

It was still a question as to how he got the two kids down the fire escape with out visible evidence of a struggle.

The Amber Alert was producing a lot of leads. Each one looked into carefully. They didn't want to miss a trick. There really was no telling what this man was capable of. Best case, the kids are just scared. The detectives didn't want to think about the worst case, but they kept bouncing it around in the back of their heads.

Cragen had gotten the money. They were going to try and set up a sting at the park, it was their only option left, it was already 11. They only had an hour. In the case that Pullman was watching, they were going to have Bev place the money in the spot, but they would have Jessie on the sidewalk behind her, disguised as a jogger. Olivia would be hidden and 3 plain clothes officers would be scattered around that area of the park. Munch and Fin had come in that morning and jumped into the case. Fin was going to sit the van and Munch was continuing shifting through the Amber Alert calls.

Alex was sitting impatiently in her office trying to do paper work. She was due in court after lunch. When Olivia was doing a sting and she knew about it, it made her nervous.

They were leaving for the park in 30 minutes.

TBC…

a/n2: I forgot that Elliot was teaching at the Academy when i was writing this. I think i caught all the inconsistancies. If not i'll go back and fix them. thanks.