Author's Note: Thank you to all of you who have been so patient with me, waiting for me to finish this chapter. I appreciate all of your support and patience and the reviews. The reviews are really what helped me to be able to do this, so thank you all. Happy reading.

His fist slammed into the unforgiving steel of the locker door, the metal shrieking in harmony with the pain that pounded under his skin. He hadn't protected her. His daughter. The son of a bitch had his daughter.

Elliot slammed his fists into the locker, not noticing or caring when hot tears slid down his face. Blood dripped down the dull gray locker, spattering in an impressionistic spray on the floor.

"Elliot," her voice was both softly sad and harshly demanding at the same time. There was an unspoken plea in her voice asking him to stop beating himself up. But he couldn't, she was his daughter. And he hadn't been there to protect her when she needed him the most. He dropped his hands to his sides, his mind barely registering the dull ache that pulsed through his hands. He sank to his knees, cradling his head in his wounded hands.

Olivia moved to his side, gingerly kneeling beside him and pulling his hands away from his face. She opened the first aid kit she had brought with her and began cleaning the gashes where his skin had split. Elliot watched her silently, too filled with pain to speak. "We're going to find her Elliot," she promised quietly, her tone fierce. "We won't stop until we get this guy," Olivia said, her eyes meeting his. "You don't mess with family," she said with vehemence, her eyes flashing with anger.

He looked down at her, his eyes gleaming in the dim light that filtered in through the windows. She flinched as his eyes met hers, a small muffled whimper escaping her lips. "You'll have to forgive the manner in which we've come together. You see, it was just a stroke of luck. I went there to leave your Dad a message," he said, his teeth flashing in a smile. "Little did I know that fortune would favor me with you." He chuckled softly. He saw the tremor that went through her at the sound, and saw her steel herself against the fear that coursed through her.

She raised her chin defiantly, forcing herself to meet his eyes. He smiled down at her, lowering himself to kneel in front of her. "We are truly who our fathers have made us aren't we?" He asked quietly, caressing her face gently, his eyes turning glassy with memory. He felt her flinch as his fingers touched her skin, but she didn't pull away, instead locking her gaze with his, her jaw clenching under his touch.

"There is no where you can hide," she bit out through chattering teeth. "My Dad won't stop until he finds me. And it doesn't matter what happens to me," she said, her voice faltering. "He will hunt you down and kill you."

He smiled, a raucous laugh bubbling through his lips. He grabbed her face roughly in his hands, bringing his face within inches of hers. "Who says I'm hiding?" He asked still laughing, his eyes gleaming maniacally in the soft light. He let her go and melted back into the shadows that enveloped the room. His laughter echoed through the room, the sound bouncing off the walls making it seem like he was all around her. She clenched her eyes tightly shut and trembled harder.

Elliot slammed his fists down on the table in frustration, causing several young officers to jump. Olivia looked up sharply. "El," she said softly, her voice carrying only to his ears. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes closing tightly.

"Sorry," he apologized gruffly, opening his eyes and grabbing the case file he'd been looking through. They were trying to find anyone from Riccoli's past that might be out to avenge him, anyone they might have missed the first time around.

"Come on," she said firmly, gently grabbing him by the arm and leading him out the door. She led him through the crowded hallway, making her way to the stairwell. Olivia opened the door, pulling him inside before letting the door swing shut.

"Elliot," she said softly, looking up into his eyes. He tore his gaze away from hers and paced over to the stairs.

"I can't stand this," he said, staring at the dull gray wall in front of him. He turned to face her, his face contorted in a mix of rage and terrible fear. "All I can think of is what this animal could be doing to her right now. About how scared she must be," he told her, his throat tightening. "I need… I need to find her."

Olivia sat quietly on the stairs leading to the next floor watching him, his torment spilling over into her. She felt his pain as though it was hers. There was nothing she could say, nothing more that she could do, and it killed her. It killed her to know that when he needed her most, there was nothing she could do.

"We'll find her El," Olivia said softly. She reached out and took his hand briefly in hers. She squeezed it reassuringly. "You have to believe that," she said, her eyes locking with his.

"I'm going back in," she told him. "You coming?"

He squeezed her hand back and shook his head. "I just need a few minutes," he answered.

She nodded her understanding and pulled open the door, dropping his hand. Olivia gave him a small smile and disappeared inside.

Elliot leaned against the wall, the cold hard cement against the back of his head a welcome contrast to the angry fever of his skin. He wanted to scream, to rage at the world. He wanted nothing more than to take out his gun and empty the clip into the son of a bitch that had his daughter.

Why hadn't he taken more precautions? Why hadn't he been there to protect his family? He'd never be able to forgive himself if anything happened to Kathleen. He felt tears prickle his eyes, his throat tightening painfully.

Olivia leaned against the wall just outside the stairwell door. There was nothing she could do for him. She knew that. After more than a decade of being his partner there was no one that knew that better than she did. She let her eyes drift shut, blocking out what she couldn't do and concentrating instead on the case.

None of this made any sense. They'd been over the Riccoli case dozens of times and there was nothing there that they had missed. Riccoli had never been married and none of his family had survived him. So who was out to avenge him? Olivia's brow furrowed, flashes of memories swirling through her mind.

"Excuse me Detective," a deep male voice spoke. Olivia jumped, her eyes flying open. She looked at the young officer standing in front of her and took a slow deep breath to steady herself. "I'm sorry ma'am. I didn't mean to startle you," he said apologetically. He handed her a bulging white envelope with her name scrawled across the front. "This was left at the front desk for you."

Olivia felt every instinct in her body suddenly jump to high alert. She took the envelope carefully by the edges and said, "Thank you officer." She walked into the squad room and dropped the envelope onto her desk. She opened her desk drawer and pulled out a pair of gloves from the box she kept in her desk. She slipped them on and grabbed her letter opener, the sharp metal sliding through the top of the envelope. She turned the envelope upside down and let the contents tumble to the desk.

She felt her stomach turn as an NYPD shield fell onto the desk. The gold shield laid there staring back at her, its face covered in dried blood. She shakily unfolded the sheet of paper that had accompanied the badge.

Olivia,

Practice makes perfect,

But there's no substitute for the real thing.

Be seeing you soon.

Riccoli

Olivia dropped the note on the desk as if the paper had been on fire. She stared at the words unable to tear her eyes away.

Elliot walked into the squad room to find Olivia at her desk. She was staring at something on the desktop, her face ashen and her eyes wide. "Liv, what's wrong?" Elliot asked, fear pounding through him.

She heard Elliot talking to her, knew she should answer, but no words would form. She felt the past pulling her back into its grip, shock immobilizing her. Elliot walked over to her desk, reaching out to take hold of the note.

His eyes scanned the note and he felt his fear turn to cold fury. "Liv, he's dead." He dropped the note back on her desk and reached out to her. His hand touched her shoulder and she flinched, pulling away from him. "Don't let this son of a bitch get to you Olivia. He's trying to play on the trauma of what you went through." Elliot let his hand drop back to his side. Olivia looked at him, her eyes wide with fright.

"I know El. I know Riccoli is dead. But there's this part of me…," her voice trailed off, fear choking the words. "There's this part of me that also knows he's not gone."

Elliot tossed the folder onto the already covered table with a frustrated sigh. "This is a waste of time," he growled to no one in particular. He stood up, the chair he was sitting in scraping noisily against the floor. Olivia glanced up from the case file she had been poring over.

"What else can we do Elliot? We have no leads and no idea where to begin looking for any. We have to start somewhere."

"I'm looking for information on Tom Riccoli, anything that you've heard would help," Fin said into the phone. "You know I always show my gratitude Rilke." Fin spoke with a light tone but Olivia could see the tension in his face. The whole department was working around the clock to find Elliot's daughter, tracking down any lead that came up and shaking down any informant that they could. "As soon as you can," Fin said tightly before hanging up. He caught Olivia's eye and they exchanged a grim look. They both knew that time was running out. It was only a matter of time before the next crime scene they were called to would have a very personal impact on all of them.

"I can't just sit here," Elliot said, his back to Olivia, staring blindly out the window at the darkening New York skyline. "I can't just sit here and hope that we find her in time." Olivia heard the tears in his voice and knew that he was working hard not to let them fall. "It's my fault," he said softly. "I shouldn't have left them alone. I should have been there."

"El, there's no way you could have been there all the time. You can't blame yourself for this." She watched the muscles in his back move as he moved his arms, bracing his forearms on either side of the window. "Go see your kids Elliot," she said softly. "You need to be with them right now. If anything changes we'll call you." Elliot turned from the window to look at her, meeting her eyes. "I promise," she said.

He could hardly contain the excitement that he felt. His body felt like a live wire, heavy with an overdose of adrenaline. He sat in the shadows, waiting. It wouldn't be long now. He would have his vengeance, and his father could finally have his justice.

Olivia hailed a cab and was relieved when one stopped almost immediately. She'd been hard at work when Cragen had demanded that she go home and get some rest for a few hours, threatening her with suspension if she argued. She'd relented, making Munch and Fin promise to call if they found anything. She slid into the backseat and pulled the door shut behind her. "Where to?" The driver asked, already pulling away from the curb. Olivia gave him her address and sat back in the seat watching the city blur by.

There had to be something she was missing, some clue that she had overlooked that would tell her who they were dealing with. She felt like there was something important that she hadn't paid attention to, a nagging feeling in the back of her mind.

"Excuse me," she said tapping on the glass that separated the front of the car from the back. "This isn't the way to my apartment."

The driver laughed. "You know," he said, paying no attention to her comment. "I never expected to get this lucky this soon. My luck just seems to be in full swing," he said with a wry chuckle. "Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket. What do you think Olivia?" He asked, continuing to drive the direction he'd been traveling at increasing speed.

Olivia felt her blood turn cold and her heart drop to her feet. The next few seconds seemed to move in slow motion. The driver pulled down into a deserted area and stopped, keeping the car idling. He reached down into the passenger side floorboard and pulled something up. She saw him slip a gas mask into place with one hand while flicking a switch on the dashboard with the other. Almost immediately a thick cloud of smoke began to fill the car. She reached for her gun, aiming it at the drivers head. She pulled the trigger, the sound of the discharge echoing loudly in her ears. The bullet seemed to hang there in midair, but after several seconds she realized the bullet had impacted the glass but hadn't made it through. Her vision swam and she began to choke.

Olivia couldn't breathe, the air around her foggy and gray. She pulled on the door handle and pushed with all her strength against the door. It wouldn't budge. Her vision began to blur, her eyes getting heavier. Just before she slipped into unconsciousness she met his eyes in the rearview mirror and though she couldn't see the rest of his face she could've sworn that he was smiling.

Elliot lay on his ex-wife's couch, his hands propped behind his head. He stared up at the ceiling of the living room in the house he had once shared with Kathy, his fingers wrapped loosely around the gun under his pillow. He'd tried to close his eyes, but sleep wouldn't come, his mind moving at high-speed, refusing to stop analyzing the case. He knew he was missing something, he had to be. And he had to find it soon, he knew Kathleen couldn't last much longer. He clutched the gun in his hand tighter.

A knock sounded on the door and Elliot sprang to his feet, his gun in hand. Before the knocking had even stopped Elliot was there pulling the door open, his gun leveled at the visitor. "Whoa," Munch said taking a step back, his hands raised in submission. "It's just me."

Elliot lowered his gun slowly, his eyes scanning the early morning shadows around the tall detective. "Sorry," he apologized. "What's going on?"

Munch lowered his hands, his face grim. "It's Olivia."

"Olivia," he said, the voice taking on a dream like quality. Olivia tried to shake away the haze that surrounded her vision. She tried to remember where she was, but everything was buried beneath layers of fog, surrounded by pain. She tried to lift her hands to her head but her body wouldn't respond to any of her attempts. She leaned her head back against something solid behind her, letting her eyes slide shut again. The relentless banging inside her skull lessened to a dull pound and she let out a small sigh of relief.

"Olivia?" She heard the small frightened voice call to her through the haze that surrounded her. The voice had a vaguely familiar quality that she couldn't place. She fought against the darkness that seemed like her only friend and opened her eyes, trying to find the owner of the voice through the blackness. She tried to make her mouth work, but all that came out was a small strangled sound.

She heard a sob echo in the darkness and felt something inside her stir. The fog began to thin and memory flooded her. She lifted her head, wincing at the pain that ricocheted through her head. Her eyes began to focus as they swept the room, landing on the form of a young woman who sat across from her bound.

"Kathleen?" Olivia managed to get out, her mind working furiously to recover from whatever drug had been pumped into her system.

"Olivia?" Kathleen squeaked, relief flooding her voice.

She heard his laugh echo through the room and felt her stomach lurch at the familiar sound coming at her. She shivered as memory flooded through her and for an instant she was back in that high school basement watching helplessly as Riccoli stalked her from the darkness.

"Glad to see you've come back to us Olivia," he said, his voice circling her. "We've got so much to talk about before Elliot gets here."

Olivia felt her throat tighten and had to fight to keep the paralyzing panic she felt from overwhelming her. She was a decorated police officer who had gone through extensive training. She'd been in this situation before, okay so not quite this same situation but close, and had survived it. This time would be no different, she couldn't let herself think anything else.

Olivia closed her eyes, partly to stop the dizzying spin the room had begun, and partly to try and sense where he was in the darkness around them.

"What do you want?" She asked, her eyes still closed, listening intently.

He chuckled mirthlessly. "I want my father back," he said reaching forward and grabbing a fistful of her hair roughly, pulling her head back.

Olivia gasped, her eyes snapping open, meeting the eyes of the young officer that had delivered the package to her earlier that night. "But since you killed him, I'll settle for you and your partner suffering a long and painful death."

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