Chapter 17

Jamie and Nicole were back at work and sitting around doing their paperwork. Jamie looked across the desk at Nicole and rubbed her burning eyes. "I got an idea. I have a friend who fly's police helicopters, what do you say we go take a ride?" Jamie asked standing up.

"Are you kidding? I'm not getting in a helicopter." Nicole said shaking her head.

"Fine. But it's either stay here and do mind numbing paperwork or go for a ride in a chopper."

"You got a point. Let's go."

Jamie convinced her friend to take them up in the chopper. She and Nicole were sitting in the backseat. Although Nicole was not enjoying herself at all. On the other hand, Jamie was having the time of her life. "This is awesome!"

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." Nicole stated.

"Come on, it really does beat sitting around the office." Jamie said looking at her partner who looked like she was about to be sick.

"You know what? There's two kinds of choppers, Jamie. Ones that've crashed and ones that're gonna crash." Nicole said.

"Think positive, Nic. Hey, let's fly by the station. Maybe we'll see Fin and John." Jamie said to the pilot.

The pilot made a turn and headed for the 16th precinct. Just at that moment, Fin and Munch were coming out of the station and heading for their car. "See that car that those two guys just got in to?" Jamie said to the pilot.

He saw Fin and Munch getting into the car. "That's a roger." He said over the headset.

"Follow them." Jamie said.

"What're you doing?" Nicole asked.

"We're gonna have a little fun with our guys down there." Jamie said.

//Chung Chung//

Fin hopped in the driver's seat and Munch jumped in the passenger's side. Just then Fin's cell phone rang. "Tutuola."

Jamie was on a cell phone in the chopper and watching Fin and Munch threw a pair of high-powered binoculars. "Hey, babe." Jamie said.

"Hi. What's up?" Fin asked.

"Where are you going?"

"Heading out for some lunch."

"Cool. John with you?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." Jamie said and saw Fin look over at Munch. "Fin, please keep your eyes on the road."

Fin couldn't believe what he was hearing and decided to pass the phone to Munch. Jamie was loving every minute of this. Munch took the phone and put it to his ear. When Jamie saw this she handed her phone over to Nicole. "Hello?" Nicole answered.

"Nic? Where are you? There's a lot of background noise." Munch said.

"Oh, ah, we're near a construction site." Jamie leaned over and whispered something to Nicole. "Hey, John, are you drinking coffee by any chance?"

"Yeah, but it's station coffee, not very... hey how the hell do you know what I'm doing?"

"I'm psychic." Nicole responded and handed the phone back to Jamie.

"Hey, John, put Fin back on the line."

Munch handed the phone to Fin. "Jamie?"

"Hi, sweetie."

"Listen, cell phones are expensive."

"Yeah, we should probably wave goodbye."

"Wave goodbye?" Fin asked and looked at Munch.

"Right side in the air." Jamie said.

Fin and Munch looked out the car window as the chopper flew into their line of vision and Jamie and Nicole waved at them. Fin held the phone away from his ear and he and Munch called out at the same time. "BRATS!"

"We love you, too." Nicole and Jamie called back at them over the phone. Fin and Munch could hear them laughing as they hung up the phone.

Nicole was still laughing, "You know, we're never going to hear the end of this."

"I know but it was well worth it, don't you think?"

Nicole nodded, "Yeah. Hey think we can find El and Liv?"

"This coming from someone who didn't even want to come in the chopper to begin with." Jamie said glancing at Nicole.

"My last experience flying, involved defusing two bombs and being taken hostage. See my point?"

"Yeah, I do. But this happens to be my friend's chopper, not a commercial airline."

Nicole smirked, "Okay, okay." She said then leaned forward to Jamie's friend, "Look for a 06 Grey Pontiac Sunfire. License plate: 467 Charlie Tango Uniform."

"Roger that." Jim said over the headset. And started watching for the car. After about 20 minutes Jim spotted it. "Gray Pontiac Sunfire matching your plate number is coming up on the left."

Jamie and Nicole smirked. Nicole used her cell phone this time.

"Benson." Olivia answered.

Jamie tried to hold back a laugh. As Nicole answered, "Alloa! Are you picking up coffee?"

"Yeah, I am. Don't worry, Nic, I got one for you." Olivia said.

"Ooo, Krispy Kreme."

"How the hell did you know that? Are you following me?" Olivia asked and looked over her shoulder.

"Not saying. Hey, put El on the phone." Nicole said passing the phone to Jamie.

Olivia handed the phone to Elliot and he put it to his ear. "Stabler."

"Wow, all business, I like that. Not as much as I like you suit though." Jamie stated.

Elliot frowned, and looked at Olivia. "Thanks, I think."

Jamie watched them through the binoculars and saw that Olivia was about to trip. "Ah, Elliot, you might want to grab Olivia before she takes a header into the pavement." Jamie said.

Elliot saw Olivia trip and grabbed her just before she hit the pavement. "Alright! Where the hell are you?"

Nicole laughed, and nodded to Jamie to pass her the phone. Nicole took the phone, "Good catch, Elliot."

"Where the hell are you two?" Elliot cursed into the phone.

Nicole smirked. "Take a look to your right, and look up."

Elliot and Olivia looked up at the hovering helicopter above them and saw Jamie and Nicole laughing and waving at them. "Funny. You two have way too much time on your hands." Elliot said.

"Well, we really love getting out. And the paperwork is almost done." Nicole countered.

"Glad to hear." Olivia said after taking the phone from Elliot. "But you really shouldn't spy on people like that."

"Hey no one said anything bout spying!"

"Okay, well then stalking us. Is that better?"

"No." Nicole answered in a flat tone. And looked over at Jamie.

"Sorry, Nic, I didn't mean that. Listen, we gotta go, a call just came in over the radio." Olivia said getting into the car.

"No problem." Nicole said and hung up the phone. "Now what?" She asked her partner.

"Hey, Jimmy, how's your schedule?" Jamie asked her friend.

"A little tight. I gotta take you two down now."

"Alright. Buckle up." Jamie said to Nicole. Jim landed the chopper and everyone got out. "Thanks, Jimmy, that was a lot of fun."

"Yeah, thanks. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Nicole said shaking Jim's hand.

"Anytime. Hey, James, tell Fin I said hi, okay?"

"No problem. See ya later, Jimmy." she said as she and Nicole walked back to Jamie's car.

"All right that killed two hours. Back to the house?" Nicole asked Jamie, as they got in the car.

"Yeah, that's as a good place as any. Besides, I guess I really should finish up that paperwork."

"Just think of it this way. Tomorrow we actually start real work."

"I hope so. Out on the streets is where we belong. Not stuck behind some fucking desk." Jamie said as she started the engine and peeled out of the parking lot.

Nicole nodded. And as they walked into the precinct, Nicole started to hum the classic circus theme. She walked over to her desk, and sat down across from where Jamie sat herself down. They weren't ten minutes into what was left of their paperwork when Munch and Fin walked in.

"Well, look who decided to join us back here on Earth." Fin stated.

Jamie looked up at him and smiled. "Jimmy told me to say hi."

"I should've known it was Jimmy flying the chopper."

Nicole looked up at them. "We got bored. You know how we can be when we get bored."

"Bored, huh? I never thought you'd ever go up into the air again." Munch stated and winked at her.

Nicole shrugged, and then smirked at him. "I never thought so either. But like Jamie said, it's not a commercial airliner."

"That's true, but helicopters are usually flown by spooks who follow you around and try to get every detail of your personal life." Munch stated.

"Here we go. Why did we get him started on helicopters? We're gonna be here for hours now." Fin said.

Nicole laughed, "I guess, we're the culprits than."

"So, is that all you two did all day was fly around in a helicopter?" Munch asked.

"Not really. We did get some paperwork done." Jamie replied.

"How long is this desk duty supposed to last anyway?" Fin asked.

"We should be back on active duty tomorrow." Jamie answered.

"Yeah, I can't wait to get back to working on real cases." Nicole stated.

"I don't know what you're complaining for." Munch said. "Even when you two were on medical leave you were still chasing down bad guys."

"What can we say?" Nicole said. "We love our jobs."

"Yeah, if we don't clean up the streets of human garbage, who will?" Jamie asked.

"You gotta point there." Fin agreed.

"So, did you get your paperwork finished or is the Captain gonna be tearing you two a new one?" Munch asked.

"I'm just about finished up." Nicole said.

"Me too." Jamie added. "One last report to do and I can call it quits."

"Cool. Finish up and we can all go for drinks." Fin suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Jamie said smiling at him.

"Yeah, we're in." Nicole added speaking for herself and Munch.

Fin and Munch headed off to the locker room and Jamie and Nicole finished up their paperwork. When everyone was ready they met up with each other outside the precinct.

"Why don't you guys head to the bar, and I will meet you there in a few minutes. I have something I have to pick up a few blocks away." Nicole suggested.

"Hey, I'll walk with you and then we'll head over and meet Fin and Jamie." Munch suggested.

"It's okay. I'll only be a few minutes. You can go with them." Nicole smiled. She gave Munch a quick kiss on the cheek and walked away. Leaving no room for argument.

Munch watched her walk off and then turned to Jamie and Fin. "All right, let's go. She'll meet us there."

//Chung Chung//

It was an hour later and all three of them were sitting down still waiting for Nicole to show up. Jamie turned to Munch. "Any idea where she went?" Jamie asked before taking a drink of her beer.

Munch shook his head. "All she said was she had to pick something up. She didn't say where."

Fin looked at his partner. "I'm sure she'll walk in here any minute now."

They all looked at the door. The next person that walked in was a male. "So much for that idea." Jamie commented.

Munch looked across the table at Fin and Jamie. "I'm gonna try her cell." he said pulling his out of his pocket.

Jamie and Fin watched as Munch tried Nicole's cell. A curious look came across their face as Munch closed his cell phone. "Well?" Fin asked.

"Went to voice mail. I'm getting really worried now." Munch said.

//Chung Chung//

Nicole tried to sit up but had no accomplishment at that. She couldn't tell where she was for the fact that she was blindfolded. She could hear the sound of a motor, yet however as they slowed down there she could hear the sound of jakes. That made her more uneasy. She soon figured out that she was bound and gagged as well.

She tried to move but that made her bindings tighter and they were starting to cut into her wrists. She tried to scream out in pain but the gag prevented her from making a sound. So much for screaming for help. She didn't know how she got where she was but she had to figure out a way to get the hell out of there.

Nicole tried to get the blindfold off but it only moved a few inches. It was enough for her to peak at her surroundings. With what she could gather; she figured that she was in a sleeper of someone's highway truck. This made her more nervous.

Suddenly the she felt the truck pick up speed. She didn't like that, that meant they were definitely on the highway. Where the hell was this maniac taking her? She had to try something to stop him before she got too far away from New York to be saved.

//Chung Chung//

"Okay, this is ridiculous." Jamie said looking at them. "Where the hell is she?"

"Good question. I mean if she didn't intend to show up she just should have told us. Not had us sitting around here waiting like a bunch of morons." Fin said.

Just then Elliot and Olivia walked into the bar. They walked up to the table. "Hey guys." Olivia smiled. "Where's Nicole?"

"We don't know." Munch said worried. "She said she had to pick something up and then she's meet us here but that was over an hour ago."

Elliot and Olivia sat down at the table. "I'm sure she'll be here soon." Elliot said.

"Okay, that's what we all keep saying. If we went to go look for her, we don't even know where she went. All she said is a few blocks away. That could be next door or that could be in Queens." Jamie pointed out.

"Well, maybe we should all take a walk in the direction she went. Who knows we might find her on her way back." Olivia suggested.

Munch sighed and was first to get up. Followed by the rest of them.

They all stood outside on the sidewalk and Elliot was the first to speak. "Okay, which way did she head?" he asked.

"When we came out of the station we headed here and she headed west." Fin replied.

"West it is." Jamie piped up.

They all started heading in the direction that Nicole had went. Although none of them knew what they were looking for but they all hoped that they would find Nicole heading back to meet them at the bar.

They came up to the precinct and stop. They looked around and Olivia sighed. "Might as well keep going. I mean she has to be around here somewhere."

Munch nodded and they set off again West. Elliot stopped and they all looked at him. He knelt down and picked up Nicole's cell phone.

"What did you find, Elliot?" Olivia asked.

"It's Nic's cell phone." Elliot replied worried.

Munch looked from Elliot to Olivia. "Now I know something bad happened."

Jamie walked over to him. "Hey, John, it could be as simple as she lost it. It's been knowing to happen." Jamie said trying to set him mind at ease. Although she knew it wasn't working.

Elliot looked at Munch. Something was stirring in all their stomachs. They now had proof that something was wrong. And terribly wrong; and to make matters worse they all jumped when Elliot's phone rang. "Stabler."

"Hello, Stabler, I have someone here who I believe is very important to you." a voice said.

Elliot looked at Munch. "Let me speak to her."

"Uh-huh. Not tell you tell me something." The voice demanded.

"And what would that be?" Elliot asked as he had four pairs of eyes on him.

"Do you love her?" The voice rubbed in.

Elliot looked at them all. "Of course." He answered.

"Put it on speaker." The voice demanded.

Elliot sighed as he did what he was told. "All right. It's on speaker."

"Now, I want Olivia to answer me."

"Answer you what?" Olivia asked.

"Does Elliot truly love, the woman I have here? I mean truly love. Just as much as he did his ex wife." The voice asked.

Olivia looked at the group and then up at Elliot. She didn't exactly know what to say but she knew how Elliot felt about Nicole so she decided to answer honestly. "Yes, he does love her." she said.

Jamie was shocked at Olivia's answer. She knew something had been going on between Munch and Nicole, well she had idea that something was going on, she didn't actually have any proof. Although the look in Munch's eyes said a lot about he felt about her. Jamie looked at Fin and saw him nod. "John, come on let's take a walk."

TBC...