A/N: Okay you guys, not going to lie, I was a little disappointed with the reviews for the last chapter. It's like you all went and read the second chapter of "Need" and then came and read Chapter Six of "Remember" and it wasn't quite dirty enough for you! You bad girls!! Hee! Anyway, thank you as always for the reviews, it just made me laugh that the smut I made you wait so long for you were kinda like "eh. Whatever." Anyway! On with Chapter Seven!
Disclaimer: Only my overactive imagination is mine! And Kelli. She's a keeper, isn't she?
--
My phone rang, jarring me out of the most amazing dream ever. Elliot. Naked. Licking every inch of my body until I screamed his name at the top of my lungs.
"Benson," I answer, snuggling deeper into the sheets until my foot hit something. Something muscle-y. Something that felt like a leg. I glanced over my shoulder to see Elliot dead asleep. And totally naked. Well. Apparently it wasn't a dream. Ahem.
"Liv, it's Fin."
"Fin, what's up?" I asked groggily, slapping around on the nightstand for my watch.
"I'm sorry to wake you up so early. But Cap thinks we should put you on TV."
"Okay. Didn't get anything last night, huh?" I ask sadly, glancing at the time. 7am.
"Not a damn thing. Sorry baby."
I sighed heavily. "It's okay. We'll find her. And when we find him…"
"We'll stick him and Kelli's daddy in the interrogation room and let them… talk." Fin finished.
I laughed lightly. "And her Uncle Fin too maybe?"
"Yeah, I'll take a run at the bastard."
"For sure. We'll be down there in a little while, okay?"
"Sounds good, Liv. Elliot with you?"
"Yeah. You want to talk to him?"
"Not if he's uh… busy."
"He's not. Hang on," I laugh.
I kiss Elliot's neck softly, licking my way up to his ear. "Elliot, "I whisper.
"Mmm?" he responds groggily.
"I need you," I whisper again.
"I'm here, baby. Why don't you tell me what you need?" his eyes open and a sleepy smile crosses his face.
"I… need you…" I run my hand below the sheets and drift my fingers over his already impressive erection. "to talk to Fin while I go take a shower," I say with a grin.
His smile drops completely. "You are an evil, wretched, witch, Olivia Benson," he mutters with a grin, taking my phone out of my hand. I giggle as I haul naked ass for the bathroom. "Stabler," I hear him say grumpily as I shut the door, still laughing softly. I take a look at myself in the mirror. Whoa. I look like night of the living dead. My hair is a disaster. My skin is covered in sheet marks and tiny purple bruises. Hickeys. He gave me hickeys. Like under the fucking bleachers at a high school football game. Good lord. I smile to myself, shaking my head as I turn the water on full blast in the shower. Just thinking about Elliot, naked in my bed, makes me feel like everything is going to turn out okay. If God let me have Elliot back, even for a night, I can't help but think all will be right in the world. It's sappy, I know, but my baby is missing. I have to take shreds of hope where I can find them.
I let the water wash over me and tame my unruly hair. It's only a few seconds before I hear the door open.
"Need any help?" Elliot asks.
"Nah, I'm good," I tease.
"Are you sure?" he asks, sounding slightly surprised.
I play on. "Yeah. I'm sure."
The shower curtain moves back to reveal a very naked and ready-to-rumble Detective Stabler. "Sure, sure?" he asks.
"Oh get in here you big baby," I giggle.
He steps in the shower and wraps his arms around me. "We're going to find her today, Liv. I can feel it."
"Think so?" I ask.
"Know so," he says.
"Then what happens?"
"What do you mean?"
"When we go. Back to Montana. Our home is there. Kelli's school is there. Our whole life. It's in Montana. Kelli's never known anything else."
Elliot kisses the back of my neck softly. "I don't know, baby. We'll figure something out. I promise," he says.
I don't say anything.
"Trust me?" he asks.
"With my life. And our baby's life," I say.
"We'll find her."
--
One hour and a hard and fast round of shower sex later, we're in Elliot's SUV headed down to the 1-6.
"Benson, Stabler," Captain Cragen waves us into his office as soon as we're through the doors. We walk in and he shuts the door behind us as we both carefully sit in the chairs facing his desk.
"Get some sleep?" he asks.
"Yes, sir," Elliot responds guiltily as I just nod and blush.
"Good. Liv. We're doing a press conference at 9. We're running out of options and ideas." I nod my agreement.
"We have a half hour to get your story established. As far as anyone knows, you're just a terrified mother wanting your daughter's kidnapper to return her."
"Cap?" I ask.
"Yeah?"
"That is all I am."
"You're also an FBI agent. If anyone knows that, they can use it as leverage. For now, you're a mommy."
"What about me?" Elliot asks.
"We're leaving you out of it for now, there, Dad," Don says with a smile. It's pretty rare that he smiles, but when he does, it's comforting. "If we don't get anything from this, we'll come up with a "plan Q," he says.
"Okay," I stand, wiping my sweaty hands on my jeans. "Let's go," I say.
Elliot takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. "We'll find her," he says.
I nod quickly. "Yep." I can't say anything else. I don't have time to break down.
We head downstairs to the front of One Police Plaza where the press corps is set up. I take my position next to Don in front of the microphones. All the flashbulbs start going off as he talks and I'm stunned. There have been so many times I've been the detective in the background when one of these things was going on. So many times when I've been out chasing down a lead to find the missing kid. So many times that I've been sitting upstairs in the office combing through records looking for anything amiss. Never in all those times did I imagine I would be here. Wearing the mommy shoes. Begging for the safe return of my baby. Not knowing what sort of sick freak-o I was begging. Not knowing what he'd done to my baby. I always thought I had lots of sympathy for the parents. But never have I had as much empathy as I do at this moment. I look up. Captain is looking at me. I open my mouth to speak and tears well up in my eyes.
"Please," I gasp. "Please just bring her back," I say. "Please bring my Kelli back. Please." I can't think of anything else. All the things I wanted to say before have flown out of my head. I just want my baby back.
"If you know anything about Kelli, please call the Crimestoppers number listed at the bottom of your screen. The calls are not recorded and any information you have that could lead to the safe return of Kelli would be of great assistance to me and the rest of the NYPD. Thank you for your time," Don says, turning away from the microphone. "Let's go," he whispers to me, leading me back into the building.
When we get upstairs, Elliot's is the first face I see. "How'd it go?" he asks, pulling me into his arms.
"She did great," Don answers before I can start blubbering about how I lost it and didn't say half the things I wanted to.
"That's my girl," Elliot responds with a cocky grin. He squeezes me to him one more time and kisses the top of my head. "Guess what, Liv? We got a lead. I'm going to check it out right now."
"Can I go?" I ask him. He shrugs and points to the captain.
I turn my attention to the man I consider a father. "Please?" I ask.
He sighs, knowing arguing will be futile, not to mention a waste of time. "Stay in the car, don't let anyone see you. If they think you're a cop, we're fucked," he says.
I nod my agreement. "Let's go," Elliot says.
--
The lead was a dead end. I'm sitting in the passenger seat of Elliot's patrol vehicle, sobbing. "We're not going to find her, are we?" I ask.
"Yes. We are. Our daughter is in this city. And we are going to find her," he says vehemently.
I shake my head. "She's long gone by now. He stole her from me. I lost our baby," I cry, my shoulders shaking.
"No. I refuse to believe that. I have gone to church for too many Goddamn years for God to take my daughter away before I even get to meet her. We WILL find her," Elliot replies, sliding his arm around my shoulders. He turns my face to him and wipes a tear away with his thumb just as his phone rings.
"Stabler," he answers quickly. "Oh no shit?!" he laughs heartily. "Oh my God. Okay. We're on our way back. Thanks man. We'll see you soon," he flips the phone shut.
I give him a questioning glance, wondering what could be causing his sudden jubilance.
"He called. The stupid bastard fuckin' called."
"What?" I gasp.
"Crimestoppers. The guy who has Kelli called Crimestoppers. He wants you to meet him at the subway station on 36th at noon. With ten grand in a paper bag," he says, still smiling.
"Elliot, where in the hell am I going to get ten grand?" I ask.
"Cragen has a plan. Says the guy sounds like an idiot. Didn't say anything about unmarked bills or 'no cops.' He's sending me with you. We're getting our baby back, Liv."
--
A/N: Hope it was worth the wait! XO, Kinsey