A/N: Still not much to say. I will tell you that the reason why it seemed like no one responded to the call mentioned in the last chapter will be given here, though, and that's about it.

"You can't possibly be serious about this! Do you really think that this unit is just going to let it go?"

"It has been one month since the Stabler family went missing, Captain, there might not be much of a choice anymore!"

"We have proof that they're still alive. In fact, one of them is finally home again. What the hell are we supposed to do, ignore that?"

There was a reason why people avoided the brass if they could manage it, Don thought at this point, glaring at the man sitting across from him. The Chief of Detectives, a man by the name of Kurt Flynn, did have a point, though, as much as he hated to admit it. It had been a month, and they had been focusing on this case as often as they could, what with the fact that there were other cases to handle as well. But there were more than four detectives in the Special Victims Unit, and the brass were well aware of this. After a long, awkward moment of silence, Don picked up where he'd left off.

"We have new leads," he said, evenly. "These leads are going to get us somewhere, but we need the time to figure out where, otherwise we're going to be right back where we started!"

"My hands are tied here, Captain," said Kurt. "I know you don't want to let this go, and honestly, I don't want you to, either, but there are other cases..."

"We have a member of this department whose family is in danger through God only knows who, and you're standing in here talking to me about other case?" Don asked, angrily. "Who the hell is this coming from, Flynn?"

"The Chief of Department," Kurt replied. "There's nothing I can do or say to change his mind, I've already tried. He wants Detectives Benson, Stabler and Tutuola and Sergeant Munch back on rotation."

"I will not put Detective Stabler back on rotation with this hanging over his head," Don said, flatly. "That is the last thing he needs right now."

"What the hell do you expect me to do about this?" Kurt asked, exasperated. "I see where you're coming from, Captain, I really do, but there are still people higher up than I am."

"You can tell the Chief of Department that he can kiss my ass if he thinks I'm going to order my detectives to let this go," said Don. "I don't give a damn what he says, it's not going anywhere until that family is home again."

"I thought you'd say that," said Kurt, somewhat amused by this. "Told him as much, too, but he doesn't want to listen."

"Of course he doesn't. The only thing he gives a damn about is keeping the clearance rates up. Never mind the fact that something like this could be enough to send one of this department's best detectives packing," Don said, half-sarcastically. "If I have to go to the commissioner on this, I will, but don't think for one minute that this unit is going to leave one of their own hanging."

"You'd have an ally in the commissioner," said Kurt. "I don't think Riordan's fully aware of what Williamson is doing, sending me down here like this. He'll be the first person to put a stop to it, if he hasn't already."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't know what Williamson is doing; Riordan is too damn trusting sometimes," said Don. "I mean what I said. If Williamson doesn't lay off, I will talk to the commissioner. He's got no right to tell a detective he can't look for his own family."

"I know it," said Kurt. "I'll try talking to him again, but I can't promise you anything. In the meantime, I need you to at least put the other three on rotation. It doesn't mean they have to pick anything up. If need be, make something up besides this that'll keep Stabler here on a desk. That'll leave him open to keep going with this."

"He's not going to be happy if I put him on a desk," Don started, but Kurt cut him off, putting his uniform hat back on as he moved to leave.

"Administrative duty doesn't necessarily mean he has to be on a desk all day," he said. "It just means he's there to do whatever you ask him. It's up to you what to ask, Captain. I'll let you know how it goes with Williamson."

And then he was gone. The door closed partially behind him, but not all the way, allowing Don to see out into the squad room. Olivia was there, finishing paperwork, but John and Fin were both gone. He sighed and got up, walking out and over to the four desks situated directly in the middle of the squad room. Olivia didn't notice him at first, but when she looked up, a slight frown crossed her face.

"You need me for something?" she asked, and in the same breath, "What'd the Chief of D's want?"

"He wants you back on rotation," Don replied. "You, Munch and Fin. That's what he wanted."

Olivia gave him an incredulous look. "You're joking," she said. "Back on rotation? Does he have any idea how badly this is going to screw us over on this case?"

"I told him," said Don. "The order's not coming directly from him; it's coming from the Chief of Department."

"There's gotta be a way around this," Olivia said, looking upset now. "They can't do this, Captain, we're finally getting somewhere!"

"I told him that, too. Which is why he suggested that I make something up to keep Elliot on a desk."

"He's not going to like that. You put him on a desk, it keeps him out of the loop. He needs to know what's going on with this."

"And he'll be fully informed, seeing as if I put him on a desk, it leaves him there to do whatever I might ask him. I intend to ask him to follow up on the leads you've gotten."

Olivia bit back a startled laugh. "The Chief of D's suggested this?" she asked. "Who'd have thought?"

"He's a lot more willing to work with people than you think he is," said Don. "I suppose you could say it depends on the situation. He understands what we're trying to do here, but he's still got people higher up than him, too."

"The brass want Elliot back on rotation, too, don't they?" Olivia asked. Don sighed.

"I told Flynn that wouldn't be happening anytime soon, and he agrees with me," he said. "In the meantime, if he can't get through to Williamson, we'll have to go to the commissioner."

"Then we'll do that," said Olivia. "They can't expect us to let this go. We're not the only detectives in this unit."

"They know that. They're just trying to make it easier on everyone else and this is the only way they can think of to do it."

"Way to make it look like they don't give a damn that an entire family has been missing for over a month now."

"I know this isn't easy for you, Liv. I'd suggest you do something that would force my hand into keeping you on a desk, but that might be a little bit obvious."

Before Don could say anything else, John and Fin came walking into the squad room, both of them looking more than a little bit disgruntled by something.

"What happened?" Olivia asked at once. "Did they give you anything?"

"We now know why, despite all the calls that came in, nothing was done before Kathy and the kids were taken," said John. "She answered the door when Officers Kari Applegate and David Bennett came knocking and told them that everything was all right."

"And they didn't think that was suspicious, given the number of calls that came in?" Olivia asked, sarcastically. "You've gotta be kidding me. They should have known better than that."

"You can't expect them to go storming into the house when Kathy's there telling them that nothing's wrong," said Fin. "That's just asking for trouble."

"Somehow, I doubt it occurred to either of them that whoever was holding her and the kids might have been standing there with some kind of weapon to Kathy's back," said John. "Applegate and Bennett are six months out of the academy."

"Lovely. So we've got two rookies answering a call saying there's a home invasion going on, and because Kathy opened the door and told them that there was a mistake, they left without investigating further," said Don. "What else do we know about the other callers?"

"The block Elliot lives on has at least five cop families up and down both sides of the road," said Olivia. "Calls came in from the homes of Sergeant Mark Lautner, Lieutenant Dave Courtland, and Detectives Lindsay Camden and Allison McKendrie, and, obviously, Elliot's place."

"Lautner is the desk sergeant at the four-nine that gave us the names of the uniforms who would have been the closest to Elliot's place," said John. "Courtland runs the Homicide unit out of that same precinct. Lindsay Camden used to be here in SVU; now she's in Major Case and Allison McKendrie is Queens SVU."

"And all of them know Elliot?" Don asked. John nodded.

"Their kids are friends," he said. "Elliot pulled the twins' cell phone records to find out who they might have gotten a hold of, but only Dickie's phone matched with two of the numbers that dispatch passed on to the four-nine." He paused, looking down at the card he'd written the information down on, and then continued. "Elliot says that Dickie managed to get a hold of Keiran McKendrie. He's trying to get a hold of Allison now to see if he can look at Keiran's cell phone records."

"Keiran's got a twin brother," said Olivia, remembering something her partner had once mentioned to her. "If Keiran called from her cell phone, then Chris probably made the call from their house."

"All right, here's what we're going to do," said Don. "Olivia, find your partner and talk to the McKendrie kids. John, you and Fin head out there, too, and find out who else from those other houses made those other calls."

But finding Elliot wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do, given the fact that there were three different boroughs that he might have been in. After calling his cell phone for the tenth time and once again being sent straight to voicemail, Olivia finally gave up, and made the turn that would take her across the bridge into Queens. Odds were that he was at home, where he'd been since Eli had been found on Allison McKendrie's doorstep, and that was where she would look for him. Before she was all the way across the bridge, however, her phone rang, and she hit the button that would put it on speakerphone.

"About time, Stabler," she said, dryly. "How's the baby?"

"He's fine, now that he's home," said Elliot. "I gave him a bottle; he fell asleep a few minutes ago. What'd you need?"

"Captain says you and I need to talk to the McKendrie twins," Olivia replied. "He also says that he's going to put you on a desk so that the Chief of D's can't say anything about you being put back on rotation."

"What the hell does my being on a desk have to do with my being put back on rotation?"

"If Cragen doesn't put you on a desk, he's got to put you back on rotation, and he doesn't want to do that, because it'll take you away from trying to find your family," said Olivia. "John, Fin and I are back on rotation, but we're still handling this as our primary case. Chief of D's told Cragen the only way to get around it is to make up something that'll keep you on a desk."

Elliot bit back a laugh. "That sounds like him," he said. "Anything else I should know about?"

"Not at the moment, no. Did you manage to get a hold of Keiran McKendrie's cell phone records?"

"Yeah. Allison pulled it up online. It looks like after Dickie called her, he called 911, and she did the same after calling Kari Camden."

"Did she manage to get a hold of Kari?"

"Well, we know that one call came from the Camden place, but Kari might have called from her cell phone, too. Where are John and Fin headed?"

"Same place I'm headed. We're all coming out to your neighborhood; Cragen wants all of these kids talked to. They might know something we don't."

"I doubt it. Even if the twins did say something, they couldn't possibly have said anything else since then. They don't have their phones," said Elliot. "I found them in a drawer this morning, taken apart. That's why we've been getting everyone's voicemail."

"Damn." Olivia trailed off for a long moment, and sighed. "That complicates things a little bit."

"Maureen's phone has a camera," Elliot remarked. "She might have been able to get a picture of whoever it was that has them."

"Did you put the phones back together?"

"Yeah, I did. Dickie called Keiran, she sent him a text after she got a hold of Kari, and told him that Kari would be the one to contact everyone else, which means she would have talked to Rob Lautner and Ethan Courtland."

"And you're sure that Rob and Ethan would have been the ones to make the calls from their houses?"

"It was the weekend. Rob and Ethan both would have been home; they go to school with Maureen. Rob would've been the one to give her and Ethan a ride across the bridge."

"We'll talk to all of them. Do you know where Rob and Ethan are right now?"

"They're home. Came by to help me out with yard work earlier this morning, before Eli woke up. Kari's at a weeklong camp upstate, and Keiran and Chris are both home, too."

"That should make it somewhat easier. John and Fin are coming in a separate squad car from me, but we should be there soon, so wait for us, will you?"

"I have nowhere to go. Keiran says she'll watch Eli if I have to go anywhere."

"Well, good, because you might have to if we're going to get all these interviews done today. Ask her if she and her brother can come over to your place now, and we can get that done before we talk to anyone else."

"I knew I stuck with you for a reason."

"You're funny, El. I'm gonna call John and tell him and Fin what the plan is. See you in twenty."

But it was actually twenty-five minutes later that she pulled into her partner's driveway, with John and Fin not far behind her. Elliot was already waiting for them outside on the front porch, sitting in one of the chairs there, with Eli half-asleep in his arms.

"Keiran and Chris will be here in a few minutes," he said, by way of greeting to Olivia, and then, to John and Fin, "Ethan Courtland just took a run to the grocery store for his mother, but Rob Lautner lives across the street and four houses down."

"We'll let you know if he gives us anything we can use," said John, and turned to cross the street, with Fin right behind him.

"If your kids thought to orchestrate something like this, then they're going to find a way to get us to them," said Olivia. "Your family knows what they're doing, Elliot."

"I know they do," Elliot replied, quietly. "I just hate not knowing what's happening to them, if they're hurt, or being hurt..."

He trailed off, helplessly, and nodded down towards Eli. "The note was from Kathleen. The twins must have explained their secret language to her. She says that they don't know who has them, but there's more than one person, and they're all careful not to mention names. She also didn't know where they were headed, but says if they move again, she'll leave another not," he said. "She said that these people were planning on bringing Eli home because he was getting on their nerves."

Silence fell after this, and Olivia came to sit down beside her partner as he continued on.

"They might've killed him, Liv," he said. "I'm lucky they just decided to leave him here instead."

"I told you that you weren't jinxed," said Olivia. "You are lucky. Now you know that they're willing to do whatever it takes to help you find them."

"But why'd they wait so long?" Elliot asked. "It doesn't make any sense. If the twins could orchestrate having their closest friends call 911 at the same time they were, why wouldn't they have tried to figure out a way to help us out before now?"

"Maybe they couldn't. These people have had them for a month now, Elliot. If they knew the twins had orchestrated something like that, they wouldn't put it past your kids to figure out a way to get information to you without them catching on. They would have been watching your entire family non-stop, but like I said, it's been a month, and we haven't caught up with them. Maybe they think that they've given up on you."

"No," said Elliot, flatly. "They wouldn't do that. They know I'll always find a way to get to them."

"My point exactly," said Olivia. "They know that you'll always come for them when they're in trouble. They haven't given up. That's why they're doing this now. These people have finally stopped watching them closely enough to keep them from doing it."

"This case is full of holes," said Elliot. "First we miss the fact that the twins and their friends tried to call for help, then we get lead after lead that takes us to the places where they were, sometimes days after they'd already left, and now we're finding all of this, and we don't know how or why."

"We do," said Olivia. "We're finding it because we're detectives, and that's what we do, Elliot, we find things. That's how. And as for why...they want us to come and get them. That's why. And that's exactly what we're going to do. We're already so much closer than we were before."

A faint smile crossed Elliot's face at this, but disappeared as quickly as it had come. "Sometimes, I really don't know what I'd to without you."

"Well, someone ought to give you a good kick in the pants every now and then," said Olivia, smirking. "Might as well be your partner, no?"

Footsteps on the front walk caught their attention, and both partners looked up just in time to see Chris and Keiran McKendrie walking towards them. Elliot got to his feet.

"Hey, you two," he said. "This is my partner, Olivia Benson. You guys want to talk out here, or inside?"

"Out here's fine," Keiran replied, slowly. "We're not in any trouble, are we? I mean, we really did call in and try to get someone here, but..."

"You're far from being in any trouble. Come sit," said Elliot, nodding towards the other two chairs on the front porch. "We know you tried to call."

"Why didn't anyone come?" Chris asked, sitting down once Keiran had already done so. "We kept calling, but after the first times, neither of us could get through."

"Someone did come," said Olivia. "But they left again after Kathy answered the door and told them that everything was all right."

Chris and Keiran both looked at her with incredulous expressions on their faces. "They did what?" they asked, and then, "Why would she do that?"

"There are a lot of reasons why she might have," said Elliot. "Keiran, after Dickie called you, did you hear from him again?"

"Sent a text message," said Keiran. "I told him that I'd gotten a hold of Kari and that she was gonna try and get a hold of Rob and Ethan. He said that the people who pushed in your house hadn't found them yet, but they knew three people were missing."

"Did he say anything else?"

"No. Just that. And then he said thanks for getting a hold of Kari, 'cause he'd tried and she didn't answer. She was mad at him about something. I don't know what it was." Keiran trailed off, looking upset. "I sent him another message after that, but he didn't answer me."

"Lizzie wasn't answering me, either," Chris remarked. "I sent her a few messages after Dickie called Keiran, but I didn't get anything, and when I called, all I got was voicemail."

"Keiran, before you and Dickie started texting back and forth, when you talked to him...what did he say?" Olivia asked.

"He sounded really freaked out," said Keiran. "I thought he was kidding at first, but they must have had the door to Liz's room open 'cause I heard someone yelling."

"He told you they were in Elizabeth's room?" Elliot asked, and then, "Did you hear what the person yelling was saying?"

" Yeah, he told me they were in Liz's room. Said that they'd shoved something in front of the door to make it harder for anyone to get through. And the person yelling said something about how they knew three people weren't downstairs with the rest of the family," said Keiran. "They said if they found them before whoever was downstairs told them where they were, then they were...then they were going to kill everyone."

She fell silent after this, and didn't say anything else, but from the way she grabbed her brother's hand in a white-knuckled grip, both detectives knew what she was thinking.

"They're still alive, Keiran," Elliot told her, quietly. "You and Chris didn't do anything wrong."

"We should've gotten everyone to call you," said Chris, shaking his head. "Maybe then..."

"I don't want you two to worry about it. You did what you could in the time you had; this isn't your fault or anyone else's." Elliot trailed off for a moment and sighed. "You said after the last text message, you didn't hear anything else from them?"

"Yeah," said Keiran. "There wasn't anything. We're not the only ones who tried to text them or call them, either. Rob tried to get a hold of Maureen, but she didn't pick up, and Ethan was trying to call Kathleen, but she didn't answer, either."

It certainly fit with some of the more recent theories the unit had come up with. It was a relief, but at the same time, it wasn't. Keiran had let go of Chris' hand, but was still shifting in her seat every so often, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation they were having. Everything they'd said made sense with what the unit had found. Elliot looked at both of them for a long moment, and sighed again.

"You two can go," he said. "We'll let you know if we need you for anything else, all right?"

Both kids nodded, and got to their feet, walking off towards home without another word. Elliot looked at Olivia and shook his head.

"I hate this," he said. "They're sixteen years old, for God's sake. They shouldn't have to deal with this, and they sure as hell shouldn't be thinking it's their fault."

"I know," Olivia replied. "Believe me, I know. And I hate to say it, but it does make sense that they'd think that way."

"How?" Elliot asked, shifting Eli in his arms. "They did what they could, Liv. There wasn't anything else they could have done without putting themselves in danger."

"I know that, too, but I think in some way, they feel responsible, because even though someone came, it wasn't enough to keep this from happening."

"It's ridiculous. This isn't their fault. I need them to know that, Liv. I need all of these kids to know that no matter how this goes down, I'm not going to lay the blame on them."

"Elliot, they know," said Olivia. "Trust me on that, all right? If they thought you were angry with them for this, do you really think they'd be so willing to come anywhere near you?"

"Probably not." Elliot looked down at the baby now fast asleep in his arms and shook his head. "I wish I knew where we were headed, Liv."

Olivia cast a sideways look in her partner's direction and nodded, briefly. "So do I."