September 27, 2008

The Liberty, Lower Manhattan, NY

It was morning. The storm was over.

"El?" She leaned partially over him. "You okay?" She smiled, but the concern in her eyes remained.

"Liv…" As soon as his mind convinced him that he was actually seeing her, he pulled her down into his arms. He buried his face in her shoulder and didn't lessen his hold or say a word for a few minutes.

"El? What is it?" She was pressed close enough to feel his heart pounding against her chest.

And while she worried for him, she couldn't help but appreciate the way it seemed to link them together in that instant.

As if it were one heartbeat.

As soon as he felt himself begin to settle down, he released her and carefully sat up. "What the hell happened? Where are we?" he asked.

Olivia sat up and shifted so her feet were out in front of her. "One of the suites up the hall from Jim's. I think a support beam gave out and you were standing under it. I was far enough back, but it knocked you out."

Elliot nodded. He took in his surroundings. It was one of the rooms Jim might have been fixing up. The window was broken, of course. At least they were no longer getting sand blasted, although frequently a strong wind blew in through the room, scattering more of the loose scraps and dust around.

He looked out through the fractured window. The sky was a brilliant blue, with slivers of white clouds that looked like tiny white partial swirls in the sky. The once-vivid red carpet was wet and full of dust, dirt and God only knows what else. It was more concentrated as you got closer to the window. Scraps of wood, wallboard and trash littered the room.

He wanted to get them out of there, but first he needed to catch his breath and make sure they were both okay.

Olivia beat him to the questions. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Dizzy. Nauseous," he reported, then turned to look at her. "You?"

"About the same."

They were quiet for a moment.

"How'd we end up in here? I thought we were in the hall."

"We were. I dragged us in here," she replied.

"Dragged us in?" Elliot shook his head at the thought. He changed the subject. "So how's your foot?" He stretched his arm over to lightly rub her calve muscle, but avoided her foot.

"About the same."

"How long was I out?"

"Most of the night, I guess. I kept an eye on you, checked your stats. You were okay, but pretty much out of it."

His eyes gazed around at the destruction in the room. "So much for trying to find us a place without a busted window."

"El, I appreciate it. Really. But shelter is shelter. We should have just stayed in the bathroom," she said frankly.

"You need rest. And to stay off that foot," he scolded lightly.

She smiled. "We have to take what we can get. Quit worrying about me and my foot."

"I still think there is another suite in this place that might be a little less…" he glanced around the room, "like a war zone."

She rolled her eyes. "You're dreaming, Stabler."

His head turned from the window back to her. He studied her for a long minute. "God I hope not," he said smitten, his hand reaching up to caress her cheek.

"Hey El… You were really shaken up when you first woke up. What happened?"

Elliot briefly dropped his hand from her cheek as his thoughts drifted back to the last images he had before he was awoken. "I must have- I had a bad dream… Or something?"

"So what was the dream?"

"I- I guess I thought we were still in the hallway… I remember being up to my waist in that," he stated as he pointed into the hallway. The door was being held open by a couple of stacked, boards. The hallway looked very much as it did last night. Maybe worse now, because he could see it. "But I was stuck. Couldn't get out and I couldn't find you. It took me a while to finally get out, and when I went looking for you, I found you in the lobby. You had gotten hurt pretty bad. Thought you weren't going to make it. Last thing I remembered was giving you CPR, you're starting to come out of it and then I wake up with you leaning over me."

Olivia nodded. "Sorry you had such a rough night."

"So… You have any dreams?"

"Maybe…"

He looked back at her adoringly. Even though they both needed showers, a hospital visit and about a week's vacation, you couldn't have guessed from looking at her. Her hair was mussed, partially wet and partially dry. Her face may have shown fatigue, but most of that was because he knew how to look for it. She kept her pain hidden. But she looked beautiful. She always looked beautiful no matter what was going on.

Was this thing with them really happening?

"Think maybe I might need a little help falling asleep tonight," Elliot remarked. He couldn't resist. He leaned closer and began placing a few gentle kisses along her neck.

"Well we-" she stopped when his lips made contact with her neck. "Um… El?"

"Yes?" he whispered into her ear and then continued on.

She moaned softly. "You're making me lose my train of thought here."

"It's okay, I think I lost mine back in the garage." He lifted her hair back and continued applying gentle kisses up the side of her neck and just below her ear.

"Elliot…" she warned, only wanting to complete her thought before it escaped her.

"Sorry, got a little carried away," he admitted, leaning back from her.

Olivia smirked. "Hold that thought. We should probably see if we can get a cell signal. Maybe try and reach the others?"

He nodded. She was right. They had supplies, but he didn't know how long they'd be stuck there.

They retrieved their phones from their jacket pockets. His wouldn't start, but hers did. She tried calling Cragen. It sounded like the call was about to go through, but then it cut out. She tried again with the same result and then decided to try John. After she updated him, she ended the call.

She tucked her phone back into her inside pocket and caught him watching her.

He propped himself up with his right arm and gazed at her. "So… Tell me about this dream."

x x x

SVU

John snapped out of a light sleep and glanced around at the empty bullpen. He had slept off and on during the night, but never for very long.

When he realized it was his buzzing cell phone that had awoken him, he grabbed it up instantly. A wave of relief passed through him once he saw the name of the caller.

"Olivia!" he exclaimed. He was so relieved to hear from his fellow detective, there were tears in his eyes.

"Hey, John! We tried calling Cragen, but it didn't go through, so you were next."

"Thanks, I'm flattered. I'll fill him in. How are you guys?"

"We're managing," she replied. "And you?"

"We're good. Just some broken windows and such. We heard it was pretty bad down at South Street. Where exactly are you?"

"The Liberty."

"The Liberty? How'd you wind up there?"

"Long story. We'll fill you in later, I'm not sure on the battery life."

"Sure no problem. Any injuries?"

"Elliot's left arm caught a post. I injured my foot."

Then he heard Elliot's voice came on the line. "John, she can't walk."

"I see," John replied.

"Nothing a couple shots of Whiskey couldn't cure," she said dryly, when she came back on the phone.

John heard her tone of voice and could almost picture the nasty look she must have given her partner. He snickered at that thought and her reply. "That good, huh? So what about supplies?"

She paused for a second, probably to confer with Elliot, and then came back on the phone. "Not a lot. No."

"Gotcha. Okay, well, let me talk to Captain and see what we can do to get you both out of there. Hang tight, okay?"

"Yep."

"And Liv…"

"Yeah?"

"You scared us half to death. Glad you're both okay."

"Thanks, John."

John ended the call walked briskly toward Cragen's office.

x x x

The Liberty, Lower Manhattan, NY

They had curled up next to each other and slept for about an hour on the floor. Elliot awoke first, engrossed in the sight of his sleeping partner's form. She finally awoke, caught him staring and smiled. He leaned closer and their lips met.

After a moment, Elliot broke the kiss. "Are you ready to see what the storm left us?"

"Yes and no," she admitted.

He got up off of the floor and offered her his arm to help her stand. He guided her over to the fractured window. Two V-shaped pieces of cut glass protruded outward from the frame. That was all that was left.

They stood back from the window and scanned the horizon, just trying to get a sense of what had occurred. There were already a few helicopters out, probably news copters as well as those for urgent medical patients. Official rescue efforts for non-emergency might not start for another day or so. Or however long it takes for the area to not be a hazard to rescuers. Their eyes darted around to different spots, trying to take it all in. Next, they began to look closer to where they were.

Overall, the damages to buildings ranged from broken windows to more significant structural damage, where there was almost nothing left.

Other objects were barely visible because of the flooding, which was the most alarming of all.

Although it looked as though the water was starting to recede, the only way in or out was by helicopter or boat.

"I guess we should be glad we're still safe," remarked Elliot. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "Come on, you should sit down. I'm going to see what it looks like out there," he told her, gesturing toward the hallway.

"I'm okay," she argued. She wasn't, but she had had enough of sitting and laying idle. She supported herself against the wall and followed.

He turned back to her. "You're stubborn, Liv. You should stay off of that foot," he remarked. "I'm serious."

"Okay, you can be serious, I'll be stubborn," she mocked. "I still have to know what we're up against."

"Fine," he relented. Elliot turned back toward her once more. "You would probably object if I offered to carry you, right?" he snickered as he reached back to offer support when she ran out of sturdy wall space.

She glared at him and he immediately had his answer.

Then again… Yeah, maybe it would. "Didn't think so. Well, I guess I won't tell you how I got you here in the first place?"

Olivia rolled her eyes and huffed.

"In other words, I can only carry you if you're unconscious?" Elliot smirked. "Okay, got it."

The corners of her mouth finally lifted up into a smile.

"Anyway… Are you sure you want to see what we're up against?"

She nodded and Elliot reached out to assist her. He backed out into the hallway, holding her arms to keep her balanced and checking her path to make sure she always had something sturdy to step on.

"This sucks," she averred, referring to both her immobility and the clutter. She mostly hung on to Elliot but tried to use her stronger foot to support her weight in order to make his part a little easier.

They took their time getting through the hallway. It was almost exactly like it had been when they left the suite.

When they reached the main staircase leading to the lobby, they stopped and glanced at each other.

The lobby was under several feet of water.

"Just like I thought," Elliot commented.

Olivia turned her face toward him.

"In the dream," he added, realizing how odd it sounded when he said it. "When I found you, you were in here. Everything was under water. But it makes sense. Too much force from the water on the glass. Come on, let's figure out a game plan."

x x x

Office of Captain Donald Cragen

"They're okay. Liv just called," John announced as he walked into his captain's office.

Don glanced up. "Where are they?" he asked.

"The Liberty."

He nodded. "That's Jim Shelton's place."

"Yeah. Both have injuries. Liv can't walk. No supplies either."

"Thanks John."

"Oh, and one other thing. I also received word that Casey may be stranded at the DAs office. I can't reach her on her cell phone. Mike Logan from Major Case left me dozens of messages, hoping I'd be able to reach her."

He simply nodded, then gazed back at his desk. He didn't know what he could accomplish sitting in his office, but for some reason he thought it might motivate him to do something so he wouldn't be worrying over what was happening to the rest of the city.

Particularly the missing children, his detectives. And now he could add the ADA to the list.

"How long do you think it'll be until they get to them?"

"I have no idea, John."

"How about a guess?"

"Could be days, or even weeks," he responded feebly.

"Weeks? They could die out there, Captain! They don't have anything!"

"Yeah John, neither does most of the city," he snapped. It wasn't intentional, he felt the same degree of concern.

John shrugged and walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.

x x x

Next chapter: SEARCH AND RESCUE