Chapter Four
The next morning, Lake was officially missing. No one had seen him. Fin had come to the precinct, to get him. Elliot hadn't wanted to leave Olivia, so he was bringing him to the hospital, so they could get the name of Harris' partner out of him. Fin looked to Munch's desk. ''John, you seen Lake today? I'ma let Elliot have a crack at him.''
Munch looked up from his desk. He had been talking to the prison guards from Rikers all day. ''I don't think so. No one's seen him since yesterday.'' He went back to the phone.
Fin muttered, ''You'd think he'da checked in.'' He went over to Lake's desk. He wanted to see if maybe Lake had written any notes or anything that might lead him to where he was. He wasn't answering his cell. He was rewarded with an address. He knew where it was, too. It was down by the docks.
He told Munch where he was going and headed out to his car. He called Elliot on his way. ''El, it's Fin. Lake wasn't at the precinct. I'ma heading where he was last was. I'll bring 'im when I find 'im.'' He hung up and headed off to the docks.
When he got to the warehouse, he carefully pulled his gun. He hadn't been sure what Lake had been up to, so he was going to be prepared. There was no one outside, but he saw tire tracks leading out onto the road. Someone had left in a hurry. He just hoped it was Lake, and not Harris and the mystery man. He slowly entered the building, and not long after he was in, he found Lake's body. He immediately called Cragen.
About a half an hour later, the ME and Cragen and a bunch of other cops and CSU were swarming around. Cragen had instructed everyone to call through cell phones so they wouldn't have the media swarming around, too. He didn't want to deal with them just yet. Fin shook his head. ''I am willing to bet that Harris and the mystery partner did this. And dey screwed us, because Lake still hadn't told us who he was, too.'' Fin told Munch.
Munch said, ''Are we sure that he didn't go and see Liv before he came here? If he did, he may have told her who it was. I highly doubt it, but it's worth checking into. Let's go and see Liv and ask her. We should tell El and Liv anyway.''
Fin agreed. ''Let's go.'' He told Cragen where they were going and headed off to the hospital. He didn't think that Elliot was going to be too upset. He wasn't thinking that Elliot wanted Lake dead by any means, but he wasn't going to miss him, that's for sure. Liv would, no matter what Lake had or hadn't done, Liv was a little less stubborn than Elliot about these things.
They headed off to Liv's room. She had been moved from ICU, since she was out of the woods. Elliot had called earlier to tell them she'd probably be going home that day. They found her and Elliot laughing about something when they entered the room. Liv stopped as she saw the looks on their faces. ''What's going on, you guys?'' She asked.
Fin said, ''We've got some news, ya'll.'' He sat down in the other chair by Olivia's bed. ''El, Liv, when I couldn't find Chester this morning, there was a reason. He was murdered sometime last night. Did he come and see you at all last night?''
Liv's eyes filled with tears and she shook her head, but Elliot seemed to be in shock. ''Not that I saw. Do you guys think that Harris and the mystery guy did it?'' She asked, holding tightly to Elliot's hand.
Munch shrugged. ''We're not completely one hundred percent sure, but most likely. He disappeared last night and didn't tell anyone where he was going. We only found him so quickly because Fin found the address for the place he had gone on his desk.''
Liv wiped her eyes and said, ''So we still don't know who Harris' accomplice is?'' She was letting herself get too involved, and Elliot shot her a look. She wasn't getting into this. She was going home and resting.
Fin caught the look Elliot had shot Liv, and he turned to look at her. ''Olivia Benson, yo' don worry 'bout it. Munch and I will catch this guy. We've got it under control. I want yo' and El to go home and take it easy. I want yo' to rest, Liv. You've got Little Baby Benson-Stabler to worry about now.''
Olivia smiled at Fin. ''Don't worry, Tutuola. I plan to do just that. I'm going to let my man take care of me. I don't need him to, but I know he wants to.'' She gave him a salty kiss.
Munch and Fin stayed a couple more minutes and left, on the search for Harris. Elliot gave Liv another kiss. ''Do you miss Chester?'' He asked, not sure if he really wanted the answer. He felt they should talk about it.
Olivia gripped his hand a little tighter. ''I can't say that I'm not upset about what happened, but he was still my friend, Elliot. I worked with him more than you did. He was a really nice guy. We went on a couple of stakeouts together. He let me have all the fortune cookies.'' She started to cry again.
Elliot wrapped his arms around her as she cried. He wasn't really that upset about it. He hadn't wished death on Lake, he wasn't going to miss him. He felt that he was indirectly responsible for him nearly losing his girlfriend and his child. He just couldn't bring himself to be upset about it. He understood why Liv was, though. She could look past things more easily than he could. She was stubborn, but not nearly as stubborn as he was.
Olivia stopped crying and pulled back, so she could wipe her eyes with a tissue. ''I'm going to miss him. He died because of me. Harris is after me. Lake was just trying to keep me safe, El. He died protecting me.'' Her brown eyes looked sorrowful.
Elliot kissed her lightly on the forehead. ''Olivia, this isn't your fault. Lake was the one who chose to keep tabs on Harris and get himself all mixed up in it. You didn't ask Lake to do anything. He did it himself. The thought behind it was a good idea, but he should have told us instead of trying to handle it all himself. You are not to blame for this. Olivia Benson, if I hear you say that one more time, I will have to do something drastic. I just don't know what yet.''
Olivia smiled. He always knew just what to say. Even if what he said pissed her off. ''You always know just what to say.'' She told him, giving him a kiss lightly on the lips. ''Now, where's Dr. Taylor? I want to know if I can go home yet.'' She said, making the cutest face.
Elliot kissed her again. ''You stay here, I'll go find out.'' He left the room, and headed off down the hall. Taylor had already done all the tests he had wanted to do, so Elliot was wondering himself what the holdup was. He spotted Livvy's favorite nurse, Leigh, and flagged her down. ''Leigh, Liv wants to know when she's going home.'' He said.
Leigh said, ''Hold on, Elliot. Let me get her chart.'' She led him to the nurses' station and began looking for Liv's chart. ''Did Dr. Taylor not speak to you yet?'' She asked as she was hunting.
Elliot replied, ''No. He did Liv's tests really early this morning, and then disappeared. We haven't seen him all day. It's nearly two o'clock and Livvy seems fine to me. What else needs to be done? She wants to go home. We both do.'' He didn't need to tell Leigh that. She knew that.
Leigh said, ''Well, I don't see anything else that he has scheduled, so let me page him and he can tell you himself what's going on, because I don't know. I'll go and check on Liv while you're waiting.'' She paged Dr. Taylor and headed off to Liv's room, touching El's arm on the way.
Elliot didn't have to wait long. Dr. Taylor appeared about five minutes later. ''Dr. Taylor, when can I take my girlfriend home? She really wants to get home to her own bed.''
Dr. Taylor picked up Liv's chart and held it, looking at it for a minute, and then went and got Olivia's test results. ''I wanted to make sure that there wasn't any permanent brain damage from the coma. I also wanted to make triple sure that the baby was fine. Things look OK. She is perfectly fine to go home. I can't find anything else wrong with her. So go ahead and have Nurse Leigh give you the discharge papers and take her home.''
Elliot thanked Dr. Taylor, and he headed off back to Liv's room to let Leigh know. When he walked into the room, the girls were laughing. ''I'm glad that you're having such a good time.'' He said, smiling.
Olivia smiled back. ''Hey, baby. Leigh and I were just having some girl talk. Did Dr. Taylor say that I can go home?'' She took his hand as he stood by the bed.
Elliot nodded. ''Yes. Leigh, he said that you should get the discharge paperwork so I can take Livvy home.'' Leigh absolutely loved Elliot and Olivia. She had never seen a cuter couple in her life. Not even on tv.
Leigh grinned at them. ''Well, that's just great news. Let me go get that for you. I'll be right back.'' She headed on back to the nurses' station, leaving them alone again. Elliot began to fill out the paper, glad that he already knew all of Olivia's information. She got out of bed carefully and began to dress in some of the clothes that Casey had brought. Olivia loved Fin, but she hadn't trusted him to get her things that matched. She trusted that job to Casey.
It only took a few minutes to fill out the forms and Elliot took them back to the nurses' station. He smiled at Leigh as he approached. ''Can I take Livvy home now?'' He asked as he handed the forms to her.
Leigh nodded. ''Yes, I'm going to come with you. Do you think she'd let me push her in a wheelchair?'' She asked, as she went to grab one. She didn't want Olivia to rush it. She had been in a coma for a couple of days, and she might be sore.
Elliot said, ''I think we can manage that. I want to make sure that she takes it easy for a little while. Don't worry.'' He followed Leigh back down the hall to Livvy's room.
It took a little bit of cajoling and a kiss from Elliot, but Olivia finally got into the chair. Elliot called Casey and made sure that she was waiting outside and gathered up their things. It didn't take them long to get back to the apartment, and Casey helped them get up to their floor. She even stayed for lunch.
About four in the afternoon, Fin stopped by for a minute. ''Liv, it's good to see yo' home.'' He told her, after giving her a brief hug. ''I just came to see that yo' got home safely.''
Olivia smiled at him. She was planted on the couch, holding a Playstation controller. She and Elliot had been playing basketball. It had been a blast. Liv had been kicking his ass. ''Yeah, El and I have been playing video games since Casey went home. El hasn't won anything yet.'' She gently teased.
Fin laughed. ''That's great, Liv. I myself can kick some ass at football. Just ask Munch.'' He sat down on the armchair by the couch. He asked Elliot, ''How much she beat yo' by?''
Elliot's face was slightly pink as Olivia smiled and laughed. ''Well, the first game it was by twenty points, and the other games we played, she beat me by more than that. I'm better at the actual sport, rather than the video game.''
Fin laughed again. ''Right, Stabler, right.'' He smiled at Liv. ''Good job, Liv. He needs to be beat at something every now and then.'' He laughed again as El gave him a look.
Olivia started to get up. Elliot stopped her. ''Elliot Stabler, I am not an invalid. I can walk and get things for myself.'' She set her look of determination on him. Fin watched happily. They were quite entertaining and always had been.
Elliot pinned her down on the couch. ''I know you can, but I want to take care of you, and you are going to let me, Olivia Benson. Now, tell me what you want and let me get it for you!'' He said, kissing her lightly on the forehead.
Olivia tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help it. ''I can't say no to you when you make that face at me.'' She said, letting loose with the giggles. She gave in. ''I just want something to drink, baby.''
Elliot kissed her again and said, ''Now, was that so hard?'' He ducked quickly as she lobbed a sofa cushion at his head. Laughing, he headed into the kitchen to get her some Pepsi or something.
Fin followed him, checking behind him to make sure that Liv had stayed out in the living room. ''El, I wanted to tell yo' that we finally found out the name of Harris' accomplice.'' He said in a low voice.
Elliot got a glass down from the cupboard. ''Is it someone we've put away before?'' He asked, as he began pouring a can of Pepsi into the glass.
Fin shook his head. ''No. His name's Merritt Rook. He was cell mates with Harris in jail, and he knew some of the other perps we've put away. He's pretty smart. We just don't know why he's helping Harris get to Liv. We found him 'cause Rook was going around, asking about you.'' He said this carefully.
Elliot finished pouring at looked at him sharply. ''What the hell was he asking about me for?'' He tried to keep his voice down. He didn't want Liv worrying about the case.
Fin shrugged. ''I don't know, but we just better be careful. If I were yo', I'd wait until we finish this case to come back to work. I don't think that Harris and Rook are going to come back here, but ya'll better lay low.'' He paused for a second at the look on El's face. ''Look, I know ya'll are capable of taking care of yo'selves, but this guy Rook is pretty smart. We don't know what he's going to do. Plus, this Harris guy got the drop on Lake. They aren't the run of the mill guys we usually have to deal wit.''
Elliot hated to admit it, but Fin was right. He was going to have to keep a really good eye on Livvy. ''I guess you're right, Fin. Trust me, Harris isn't getting near her again.''
Meanwhile, Harris and Rook were sitting outside Kathy's in Queens, deciding just the right time to go inside. They wanted Kathy. Harris was also planning on leaving little Eli right on Stabler's new doorstep, so he would know what had happened to his little ex-wife. Rook wasn't sure about this plan, he didn't want to kill anyone. He just couldn't find a way to talk Harris out of it.
Harris slipped carefully out of the car as the subject in question came outside, planning on working in the yard. Eli was sitting on the porch in his car seat. He pulled a knife from his pocket and slipped his hood over his face. It was over pretty quickly. She didn't even have time to scream. He grabbed Eli up and stuck him in the backseat of the car.
They left the baby outside Olivia and Elliot's door with a note. Harris knocked on the door and quickly got back down to where they had parked the car. He was just getting started with getting his revenge.