Author's Note: Hey guys. I really love writing this story. I'm not going to stop writing it or anything cause I love it, but a review here and there would be nice. Thanks so much for reading guys!
THREE WEEKS LATER
Laura walked to the Stabler's house after school with Elizabeth and Dickie every day. He said he preferred being called Dick but she called him Dickie anyway because that's what Olivia had called him when she mentioned him. Not to mention he turned a little red with embarrassment every time she said it. The three had become friends almost as quickly as she and Elliot had.
After school, she would go to their house, work on homework, hang out with the rest of the Stabler family, have dinner with them, and wait to be picked up by Olivia which was around the same time Elliot got home, sometimes a little later, so she still got to see him. If Olivia and Elliot needed to pull an all-nighter she stayed in the guest bedroom which Kathy had quickly deemed, not as a guest room, but as Laura's room, open to her any time she needed a place to stay. She had found a home in New York.
The school work was easy, she had been through most of it all ready, and Lizzie and Dick were smart so they usually had a lot of free time. She liked throwing a baseball with Dick or leafing through magazines with Lizzie. She was just happy to feel like she belonged somewhere.
It was a Tuesday. Laura was sitting in Elizabeth's room with her looking in the new edition of "Us" magazine. "What did Dickie have after school today?" Laura asked. He had only mentioned that he had something but not what it was.
"Um… baseball conditioning, or tryouts, or something like that," Liz responded.
Laura looked up. "It's freezing out!"
Elizabeth on the other hand didn't look up. She was absorbed by some article about Tom Cruise. "It doesn't seem to bother him or his friends," she answered, shrugging.
Laura went back to reading her article. "He likes it when you call him that, you know." It was Lizzie speaking.
"What?" Laura sounded thoroughly confused.
"Dickie," she replied. "He hates it when anyone else calls him that but I think he's kind of gotten used to it. He would probably be insulted if you didn't call him that." She looked up at Laura and smiled. Laura didn't look up, didn't even respond. She didn't really know what to say. So she just ignored what Lizzie had said and kept reading.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and went back to her article.
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Elliot leaned against Olivia's desk and picked through some Chinese food. Liv did the same think but was sitting down, not really focused on anything at all.
The woman was medium height. Her hair was short and brown but seemed to have some odd tint to it when she walked into certain lighting. Her eyes were blue-green and had a crazy look about them. She was chewing on her nails and her skin was practically white. She looked like she might explode, go crazy, at any moment. Her face was red and puffy. She looked like she had been crying for a long time. "Somebody, please! Someone, help me!" she screamed, her jaw clenched as she ran into the precinct. She looked like she was trying to hold in the tears and the pain.
Olivia and Elliot were immediately on their way over to the girl and Cragen was already out of his office by the time they got to her. "Ma'am, please tell us what happened," he was saying. She was shaking her head, the tears flowing freely now. Her entire body was shaking. "Miss, you have to tell us what happened or we can't do anything," he said again. She sobbed and pulled her arms around herself tightly as if she were holding herself together.
"I was raped," she choked out before falling to the floor and cradling herself back in forth.
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"Hey, Laura, Elliot called. He says it's going to be a long night so you can just stay here tonight," Kathy told her as they all sat down for dinner. It smelled delicious. She was sitting between Lizzie and Dickie, who had indeed been at baseball. Kathy was opposite her with Eli next to her. God, that little boy was adorable, Laura thought. He had the cutest smile and looked just like his daddy. He was staring at her again. He did that a lot. She smiled at him and he returned the favor and giggled.
"Okay," Laura said. She didn't mind staying. "Is everything at work alright?" she asked, somewhat worried.
"Yeah, they're fine. They just got a new case. Say it'll probably take a while," Kathy responded, giving her a warm smile before turning back to Eli and trying yet again to feed him, unsuccessfully, of course.
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"Now if you ever need anything or you think of something you forgot to mention, just call me. Anytime and I'll come right over," Olivia said, handing the girl, Linda Miten, her card. Elliot gave the girl a warm smile, rubbed her arm and spoke:
"We'll be in touch. Just try to go home and get some sleep."
She nodded and left. She was doing better than she had been earlier.
"We're going to have to get up soon for work. I'm just going to take a nap on one of the bunks," Olivia said, yawning and stretching.
Elliot rubbed his hand down his face and rested it on his neck which he lightly massaged. "I think I might do the same. No point in driving home this late, plus if Laura finds out I came home and you didn't she might get worried," he said with a smile just thinking about the mini-Benson. She was so much like her sister it scared him sometimes. Maybe she would grow up to work with some wise-ass who was terrible at relationships too. He hoped she wouldn't though.
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School the next day was a drag. She plowed through the day. She didn't have any classes with Lizzie and only had one with Dick. She hadn't really socialized much with the other kids. She stuck with what she knew. And what she knew was that she fit in with the Stabler twins. Every class was boring up until English. She walked in a few minutes late and couldn't get a good seat near Dickie which highly disappointed her. Her sadness was quickly wiped away when the girl next to her poked her in the arm with a pencil and handed her a note. Luckily the English teacher was completely oblivious or they would have been spotted right off the bat.
She opened up the note. It was quickly scribbled on a scrap piece of loose leaf. "Hey, Laur. Sorry, I tried to save you a seat but no luck. At least it's English. How's your day?" It was probably the exact same conversation they would be having if she had gotten a seat near him. Her face lit up as she scribbled her response.
"Hey, Dickie. Don't worry about the seating. I should have been on time. My day has sucked so far. It's going SO slowly! But at least it's almost over. What are you up to this afternoon? More baseball? You do realize it's freezing out, right?" She handed it to the girl between them. She tried to recall her name. Mandy? Mindy? It was something like that. Mindy-Mandy-what's-her-name passed it to Dickie. He grinned.
"Yeah, we know it's cold. We just ignore it and we have a ton of fun. Plus it's good practice. You going to hang at home with Liz 'til Olivia comes to get you?"
"That was my plan. How often are you going to be practicing baseball? You do where a coat right? Because if not, I'm making you get one."
He didn't doubt that she would make him put on a coat. "Don't worry, Mom, I always wear a jacket. Probably Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 'til the season starts. Why?"
"Just curious…" And then they got caught and stopped talking. He figured he would see her when he got home anyway. At the end of class he winked at her and raced out the door, off to find his friends so they could practice.
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Liv had swung by somewhat early to pick Laura up. They went back to the apartment and sat and ate dinner together. "How'd you get away so early?" Laura asked, amazed.
"That's what happens when you work 'til four a.m. the night before," Liv said, smiling. "So you want to watch TV. Let's see, it's Wednesday. Any idea what's on?"
Laura shook her head, just happy to be spending a night at home with her sister.
There were re-runs of some mindless show. They were into their third episode when Olivia's phone vibrated on the kitchen table.
"Benson." "What?" "Calm down, Linda." "What happened?" "Where are you?" "Okay, don't worry. I'm coming." She shut the phone.
"Laura, I'm sorry…" Liv started but was cut off by Laura.
"Don't worry about it, sis. I understand. I'll just hang out here for the night. I did my homework and I have a TV so I'm happy," she said, smiling convincingly.
"If you say so. I'll hopefully be home before eleven. Lock the door behind me!" And then she was gone. Laura got comfy on the couch. It reminded her of that first night in the apartment. She channel surfed for a while and just relaxed.
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"Liv, I'm sorry, there's no one here and there's no sign that anyone ever was. It looks like she sent us on a wild goose chase," El said.
"That doesn't make any sense. Maybe she got the address wrong or maybe he kidnapped her," Liv said, trying to find some reason to account for the odd call from Linda. She knew she hadn't imagined it because Laura had been right there. "I just don't get it, El."
"I know; it doesn't make sense, but there's no sign that anything happened here so I guess we can just get going home. If she calls again call me first." Liv nodded, agreeing she would.
"You know, Dickie was disappointed Laura went home so early," Elliot said with a smile.
"Laura said he was practicing baseball with his friends on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursday," she said, quoting Laura's exact words.
"She's known him for three weeks and she can get that out of him. I've known him his entire life and all he tells me is that his day is fine. Well, I guess he tells me a few other things," Elliot mentioned suggestively.
Liv knew this was the part where she was supposed to ask what he meant. "Okay, I give. What do you know?"
"I think he has a crush on her but he keeps saying that he thinks of her like his sister," he said, smiling. He laughed. "I don't believe him."
Liv smiled. Maybe the move to New York could be a good think for Laura.
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Liv got home around ten-thirty. Laura wasn't on the couch and the TV was turned off. She went to her own room and slipped into her pajamas before going to Laura's room to check on her. That was odd. She looked around for a few more minutes before realization sunk in. Where was her phone damn it? The kitchen. She ran to it and hit the number one on her speed dial.
"El, she's gone! Somebody took her. Laura's gone," she choked out the words as the tears began to come. She collapsed on the floor as the sobs racked her body.
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Elliot was off the couch in seconds. He pulled on a coat and boots. He looked angry and on the verge of tears. He stormed toward his bedroom and grabbed his keys. Liz and Dickie looked up from the couch. "Dad, what's going on?" Dick was asking. "Did something happen to Olivia?" Elliot shook his head. He had barely heard his son. He couldn't spit the words out. Dickie and Lizzie would figure it out tomorrow at school anyway and he just couldn't inflict such painful news on his children. But whatever it took. They would get Laura back.
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Laura had struggled the entire way but her attacker had pushed on some pressure point and she had been temporarily paralyzed despite the fact that she was very much awake. The attacker punched her and kicked her 'til she was on the verge of passing out. Then he carried her body down stairs and threw it in the trunk of the car waiting outside. They pulled away and that was how Laura Marie Benson was kidnapped.