Chapter Three

"She's going to make it home, right?" asked Isaac Jackson, as he fidgeted with his badge. This whole ordeal was taking its toll on the young detective. He wasn't suppose to be there. Cragen had sent fresh teams out to search New York again. It was taking it's toll on all of them, for that matter. Now that Detective Benson wasn't with them, it not only shook him up a hell of a lot more, but it made him even more unsecured than he had been when she was with them. Jackson believed that Olivia would keep them safe and out of harm's way. They all did for that matter, and because of that confidence, she was gone.

"Of course she'll make it home. She's probably got her escape plan all ready to put into action," said Munch, his feet resting on his desk. The tall gangly man said it with a half-assed smile, as a siren went off somewhere. It was such a familiar sound to them all by now that no one bothered to look up. Munch tried his best to reassure Jackson that they'd find her, but everyone's hope of ever seeing Liv again were fading fast. It'd been four weeks now, and there was still no sign of her whereabouts.

Munch looked over at Stabler. For the first time in the thirty years he'd been an SVU detective could he actually remember being worried about his teammate. He hadn't spoken a word since he found out Liv was missing. All he did was sit and stare off into the distance.

Everyone, even those who weren't apart of the SVU knew Elliot and Olivia shared a special bond, that they would protect each other at all costs, and being fully aware of the fact that he hadn't been there to protect her was killing him on the inside.

Elliot could feel Munch looking in his direction. He knew Munch was concerned, but he didn't care. Elliot knew that everyone, Cragen included, were trying to convince each other that, at any given moment, Olivia would walk into the station, unharmed and alive.

He couldn't fool himself though, he knew he should have gone with her, even though she insisted to go it alone. He put his hand into his pocket, and felt a small box; the engagement ring he was going to give to her. Now, a symbol of the life they would possibly never share together.

No matter how hard they tried to hide it, Olivia's disappearance was hard on all of them. All of them, in one way or another got to know Olivia, even if they worked under her or with her. She wasn't just the squad's best detective, she was everyone's close friend.

Loosing her and knowing they'd probably never see her again hurt them even more. Those who knew Olivia (who worked with her from the very beginning, I mean) knew that the hard-headed stubbornness was just an act. That deep down, she was a fiery, passionate woman who was ready and willing to help anyone in need.

Despite desperate attempts at keeping their hope and faith alive, the fog of doubt and pessimism spread throughout the station as the days ticked by, marking the fourth week Olivia wasn't with them. Could it be more than that? Could it be the fact that the truth was sneaking up on them (by truth, I mean that Olivia was never going to return, at least alive or unharmed?) Some realized by now that Olivia didn't always have a plan at the ready to put into action, that she almost always followed her instincts and sometimes acted on impulse when those she cared most about were in danger.

"Elliot. Hello, earth to Elliot. You ok?" asked Munch, as he tried to get Elliot's attention for the last half hour. Elliot had been staring off into space again. Cragen told him it wasn't healthy to think about not seeing her again. He was trying to keep Elliot busy with desk work to try to get him to focus. His efforts were futile, because all Elliot could do was sit and think of the life he was never going to share with the woman he loved.

"What? Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about something is all," he said, shaking his head to rid himself of the thought. He was thinking back to the night before Olivia disappeared, to the night of pure passion they shared before she was called off on an assignment (A/N: don't worry, I'm not going to go into explicit detail what they did that night, so y'all can get your minds out of the gutter.)

The squad of detectives fell quiet again, until Elliot stood up. All eyes in the room turned in his direction, eager to hear what his plan was. He placed his gun back in the inner pocket of his jacket, which was slung over the back of his desk chair (he had is gun out to have something in his hands. If he didn't have that out, he would sit and stare at the ring box.) He also tucked the ring box back into his pocket, so he could give it to Olivia if- or should I say- when he found her.

"I'm going to go find her, and I will bring her home," said Elliot, grabbing his jacket off his chair and heading out the door. He knew in the back of his mind that, if he found anything, it would probably be her dead corpse, but he couldn't take just sitting at his desk doing nothing. It was killing him that all he was doing was sitting there in the fucking station, when he could be out there alongside every other search team.

Everyone that wasn't already assigned to a search team followed Elliot out the door. Those who followed knew it wouldn't be long before Elliot made the first move in the four weeks since her disappearance. It took them a while to get ready, but, before long, the small band of men, Cragen included set off to find Olivia...