The Black Market Baby Scandal
(Chapter Fourteen: Taken)
TWO MONTHS LATER:
Elliot and Olivia stood on the doorstep of Dana Shaw's house. Olivia pulled her phone from her pocket to read a new text message as she smiled.
"What's that?" Elliot asked.
"It was Sarah letting me know she made it home alright."
"You got her a cell phone?"
"Yes, I did. I want her to keep in touch with me during the day while I am not with her. I am still nervous about this custody thing and I like for her to let me know where she is and who she is with."
"She's with Maureen, Liv."
"I know that. But I want Sarah to know she can reach me if she needs me. And for an extra twelve dollars a month on my bill I have the peace of mind of knowing where my child is at all times."
"And if she doesn't check in?"
"She doesn't have to. The phone has a GPS thing. I can look at it on my phone and know where she is."
"Where the phone is?"
Olivia stared at him. "Well, yeah. But she does really good at checking in. And she is a very responsible girl, I don't think getting her a cell phone was a bad thing. She doesn't go over her minutes. And she only sends me texts during the day while I am at work. But I can call her and check on her any time. And I don't feel so much like I am neglecting her, by leaving her alone so much."
"You're not neglecting her. Olivia you have to work to provide for her. And she is not alone. She is with her sister for two hours a day and you call to check on her at least twice during that time. She is fine."
Just then Dana Shaw opened the door. "Olivia. And Detective Stabler, please come in."
They entered the living room and sat down on the couch. Olivia clutched a file in her hand.
"You said on the phone that you may have some news in Devon's case?"
"Not as much news as I would like to give you, I'm afraid." Olivia said. "But it is progress and I wanted to update you. I am sorry this is taking so long. We are working to try and bring your son home to you."
"I just appreciate that you are so hard on this. Everyone else has pretty much given up on him. On us. No one can imagine what we sit here every night thinking. I don't know where my child is, if he is safe or sick or hurt. But you seem driven to help us to find him."
"I do know what you are feeling. I know because I was there, not too long ago. But we found my daughter. And now she is home with me. And we are working hard to get our lives back on track. I want so badly to be able to bring your son home to you. And I won't stop until I can."
"Thank you," Dana said fighting back tears.
Olivia smiled and took a deep breath trying to calm herself. "Right now I need you to take a look at something. We were able to track down some of the children who were taken and sold. Unfortunately, identifying them is harder than we thought. We have to locate the families before a judge will give us permission to get a DNA profile on the children. I have to show a judge evidence to support my theory that a child belongs to you before they will let us complete the DNA test to find out."
"That sounds a little harsh."
"Maybe so and it does slow our investigation quite a bit. But they are trying to protect these kids. Dana we have found a boy, he is the same age your son would be. And I would like you to get a look at him."
Olivia pulled an eight by ten photograph from the file in her hand. It was a school photograph of an eleven year old boy. She laid the picture on the coffee table in front of Dana.
"This is my son?"
"I believe so."
Dana picked up the photograph to look at it. Olivia stood up and walked over to look at the Shaw children's pictures hanging on the wall. She reached up and pulled down a frame and returned to her seat on the couch. She sat the frame down on the coffee table.
"I remembered seeing this photograph. It could be the same exact photo."
"That is my son Daniel. He was twelve in that picture."
Dana reached for the frame and pulled Daniel's picture out to hold it next to the picture of the boy Olivia had brought with them.
"They could be twins," Elliot remarked looking at the pictures side by side.
Olivia smiled. "Their freckles are a different pattern, other than that you would almost think it was the same boy."
"Oh my God," Dana said softly as tears fell from her eyes.
"Dana, I would like to borrow this picture to show the judge if that is alright with you. I promise I will bring it back."
"Yeah," she agreed nodding her head. "Thank you, both of you so much for finding him."
"You are welcome. But I am afraid this is not over yet. We have to get the results back for the DNA test. Then if he is your biological child, there is a series of steps you have to go through. It is not as easy as picking him up and bringing him home."
"What things do I have to do?"
"Well, for starters another family has raised him all of this time. They believed the means they took to adopt this child were legal. They had no way of knowing that the baby they brought home was stolen from his mother. In my case they worked out a temporary visitation. The child remained with the family who was raising her and I began to get visitations a couple of times a month. Then I had to formally adopt her. I am waiting for that to go through now. She is living with me for ninety days and if all goes well after that time is up I will have sole custody of my daughter."
"So in a way this is just beginning?"
"I hope so," Olivia answered. "I will call you as soon as I find out if the judge approves the DNA test."
"Okay," Dana smiled. "I really appreciate this. All of this."
In the car on the way back Olivia studied the photographs as Elliot drove. He turned to look at her and smiled.
"You were really great back there."
Olivia raised her eyes to look at him. "I just know what she is going through."
"Well, taking that few minutes out of our busy day really made her feel better about the progress of the case. Although, I am pretty sure we were not supposed to show her the picture of the boy they found."
"He is her son, Elliot. Just as much as Sarah was my daughter."
"This case has changed you."
"How is that?"
"Relax," he said slipping his hand into hers and smiling. "I didn't say that was a bad thing. You just seem to be really in touch with this one. I am sure it is because you are personally involved. But I think it is really great. And I think that you are the only reason we are making any progress on this case at all."
"You have been a lot of help."
"We make a great team."
"Yes, we do." Olivia smiled at him. "I want to call Sarah," she said dialing the number and putting the phone to her ear.
Elliot smiled and shook his head.
That evening Olivia helped Sarah gather her things for her weekend visit with the Jensen's.
"They are supposed to be here to pick you up after dinner," Olivia said handing Sarah her plate of food.
"Okay," Sarah replied softly.
Olivia sat at the table across from her daughter.
"How was school today?"
"It was good."
"Did you get your homework finished?"
"Yes. It's in my bag."
"Good job." Olivia exhaled and watched Sarah stir her food around with her fork. "Not hungry?"
"Not really. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Do you want to talk about whatever it is that's bothering you?"
"What?" Sarah looked up at Olivia, with tears welling in her eyes.
"Sarah, honey obviously something is bothering you. You might feel better if we talked about it. If you don't want to, that is okay too."
"It's nothing. I was just thinking that I would rather be here with you."
"You don't want to spend the weekend with the Jensen's?"
"Lately when I go over there they are kind of weird. They whisper a lot and talk in the other room. I think I made them angry when I told the judge I wanted to live with you. Do I have to go?"
"Until the adoption goes through, yes. I am afraid so honey. It is in the court papers. But a few more weeks and Elliot and I will have legally adopted you. Then you wont have to visit anyone you don't want to. If you decide you don't want to go, you wont have to."
"Can I still see my grandma?"
"Yeah. I will take you to see her any time you would like."
Sarah smiled as they heard the buzzer.
"I'll go get my things."
"Hey you, come here." Olivia pulled Sarah into her arms and hugged her tight. "Just a little longer baby, I promise. We are almost through this." She brushed her palm over Sarah's cheek and stared into her eyes. "I love you so much."
"I love you, too." Sarah wrapped her arms around Olivia and hugged her again. "I don't want to be without you ever again."
"Sarah, I am going to do everything I can to make sure that we don't have to be." Olivia kissed her softly. "Go on and get your things. I'll walk you down."
Sarah disappeared down the hallway and returned a little while later with her stuff.
"Do you have your phone?"
"Right here."
"Good. You can call me any time you want. Send me texts. Try to have a good weekend and I will see you on Sunday afternoon. I am going to miss you so much."
"I'm gonna miss you, too."
Olivia walked Sarah down to the Jensen's SUV and waved at her as they drove away.
The next night Elliot came over with pizza and beer to watch a hockey game. She was kind of hoping that something would happen. What, she wasn't exactly sure. They laughed and talked and she ached for his touch, to feel his mouth against hers. But it didn't happen.
Maybe is was for the better, she thought for a moment as she walked him toward the door. Maybe this was too soon. She wanted to allow Sarah time to settle in and to get their lives straightened out before she started dating again. Even if it was Elliot. Maybe it would be best if they waited until after the adoption was final and life was back to normal. When she could give their relationship the attention it deserves.
"I had a lot of fun tonight," Elliot said smiling at her.
"So did I," Olivia said gazing into his eyes. She leaned against the wall beside the door and watched him put his coat on to leave.
Elliot stared into her eyes and cupped his hand on the side of her face. He traced his fingertip over her jaw line then finally leaned in to kiss her. Olivia sighed gently and tipped her head as Elliot continued his kisses down her neck and onto her collarbone. Moments later his mouth returned to hers.
"You think I have not been thinking about it, too?" He asked her. "All night. And every day. Every time I look into your eyes. But I think you were right. We should try to hold off just a little longer. Wait until this probation period is over and we have custody of Sarah. No chance of losing her. Let's get her first. Then I promise you we will focus on this."
Olivia smiled. "Okay," she said softly.
Elliot kissed her forehead and placed another soft kiss on her lips then headed for his car.
Sunday Olivia joined Elliot for church. That afternoon she waited for Sarah's return, but the time came and went and the Jensen's never arrived with her. Worried, Olivia called Elliot to try and figure out what to do. Elliot picked her up and they headed to the Jensen house to get their daughter. But when they arrived no one was home. Infact it appeared no one had been home for a while.
The house was cleaned out and the cars were gone. The stack of news papers on the porch made it appear that no one had been home in days.
"Oh my God," Olivia said looking up at Elliot. "They took her. They took her and they ran with her."
"I'm calling the police," Elliot said raising his phone to his face.
It began to rain and Olivia began to cry. She sat down on the step and opened her cell phone. She looked at the screen to see where Sarah's phone was. Somewhere in the house, still and she hadn't gotten a message from her since just after the Jensen's picked her up on Friday.
"They are on their way. They put out an Amber alert on Sarah and released the make and model of the vehicle to the media. They are doing everything they can to find her," Elliot said sitting down on the step beside her.
"She didn't want to go. She told me that at dinner Friday night while we were waiting for them to arrive. We talked about it and she said that after the adoption went through she didn't want to have to go on visitations to their house anymore. God, Elliot I made her go. I have had this awful feeling about these people and I sent my child home with them."
"You didn't have a choice. If you didn't send her, you would have lost her."
"We have to find her, Elliot."
"We will."