The Black Market Baby Scandal
(Chapter Fifteen: Promises Made)
THREE WEEKS LATER:
Elliot woke up alone in Olivia's bed. He sat up and stared at the empty room around him. She had really been struggling since the Jensen's had abducted Sarah. She wasn't eating and had barely slept. One night after Elliot had come over to watch a movie, they fell asleep together on the couch. That was the first night she had slept through the night in weeks. So for the last few nights Elliot had been staying with her. Laying beside her and holding her until she fell asleep.
Elliot climbed from the bed and walked down the hall and into the living room, it was empty as well. He checked the kitchen and the bathroom, before heading back down the hall toward the bedroom. On the way he stopped in front of Sarah's bedroom door. Elliot placed his palm flat against the door for a moment and closed his eyes. He wanted so badly to open the door to find Sarah safely asleep in her bed, but he know that was not going to happen.
He turned the door know gently and pushed the door open. There curled up asleep in Sarah's bed, was Olivia. Elliot walked across the room and brushed his thumb across her forehead. He could tell by the tear stains on her face that she had fallen asleep crying. She held tight to Sarah's pillow and in the other hand she gripped a snow globe with a picture of Sarah and Olivia in it.
Elliot slipped the snow globe from her hand and sat it on the nightstand beside the bed. He pulled the throw blanked from the back to the chair across the room and covered Olivia with it. He leaned in and kissed her forehead gently and turned to go back to bed.
"El?" She whispered.
"Yeah?"
"You can stay," she said scooting to the other side of the bed to make room for him.
Elliot walked over and laid down facing her. He raised one hand to comb through her hair and stared into her eyes.
"I just miss her so much," she whispered as her tears rose again.
"I know baby, so do I. I promise you, I will bring her home to you."
Elliot scooted in against her and wrapped his arms tight around her, holding her until they were both asleep again.
Two hours later Elliot woke up alone again. He walked into Olivia's bedroom to hear the shower running in the bathroom. He moved down the hall to the kitchen to start some breakfast.
Olivia entered the kitchen and sat on a stool at the bar looking at him. She raised her hand to sit the snow globe on the counter top.
"You barely slept last night. Why don't you take a personal day?" He asked sliding a cup of coffee across the counter to her.
"It wouldn't do any good. I will just sit around here and think about her. At least if I go to work I can do something to try to bring her back. Or bring someone else's child home."
Elliot sat a plate of pancakes in front of her.
"You made pancakes?"
"With peanut butter. I thought you could use a little cheering up."
"You cooked breakfast on a work day?"
"Yes, I did. We were up and we have plenty of time. I figured we should get in a good meal before work."
Olivia smiled as Elliot cut a piece of peanut butter smeared pancake and raised it to her mouth.
"How are they?" He asked.
"Mmm good," she mumbled through a mouth full of pancake as she tried not to laugh.
An hour later they sat at their desks at work. As she stared at the picture inside the snow globe. Elliot was right when he said that Sarah could have been a carbon copy of Olivia. They even had the same dimples. She tipped the glass globe until the tiny little snow flakes swirled around inside it once more.
"Olivia?"
She heard Cragen's voice bark.
"Huh?" She raised her eyes to look at him.
"I said I got your DNA results on the Harper kid. Another match. You should call the parents and have them contact their lawyer."
"Yeah. I'm on it," she said scratching the back of her head.
"Are you sure you don't want to take some time?"
"I'm fine, Cap."
"Olivia, you know we are doing everything we can?"
"I know."
"We just didn't have much to work with. And we have not had many leads."
"Mmhmm."
"Honey, I would give anything to be able to bring her home to you. And the moment we find something out, you will know."
"Okay," she said softly fighting back tears. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to go tell this couple that I found their son." She stood up ad grabbed her car keys off her desk an walked toward the elevator.
A while later Elliot called her.
"Hello," she said and sounded exhausted.
"Hey, I was going to see if you wanted to grab some lunch."
"Oh, I have to be in court in an hour. I'll probably just grab something really quick."
"Where you been all day?"
"I went and talked to the Harper's and gave them the news about Joshua. Then I went to check in on Dana Shaw and see how things were doing with them."
"How is that working out?"
"Well they got Devon back, his name is Mark now. They have just started the adoption process and right now share joint custody with the other parents. She asked about Sarah." Olivia got quiet for a minute.
"What did you tell her, Liv?"
"I lied to her."
"What?"
"I told her everything was fine. And it almost made me sick to do it. I couldn't tell her what happened, Elliot. It would scare the Hell out of her. She is going through all of this right now, I don't need to be putting bad thoughts into her head."
"I am sure she would have understood."
"No, El. She deserves to be happy. I don't want her to worry every moment that someone might take off with her son."
"How are you doing?"
"I'm surviving. I miss my kid. But she is gone and there is not a damn thing I can do about it. Cragen tried to talk to me about it this morning. But he didn't know what to say. It just got awkward for both of us and I almost cried. I had to get out of there. I didn't mean to ditch you."
"It's okay. If you need a little time, I understand. You are going through a tough time right now."
Olivia exhaled loudly. "Yeah. Listen, I should go. I think I am going to head in a little early and talk to Casey. Then I have to go in and start my testimony against the good doctor. I am really looking forward to that, let me tell you. I have to sit on the stand and tell a group of strangers about how they drugged me and sent me into premature labor just so that they could steal and sell my baby."
"I wish I could be there for support."
"It's okay," she whispered. "You probably have better things to do than to watch me break down and cry on the stand."
"Why don't we go out for dinner tonight? My treat."
"I don't know. I'm kind of having a bad day. And I am sure court wont make it any better."
"Please, we have not been out to dinner in weeks."
"We'll see. I'm just not so sure I am going to feel up to it."
"Alright. Call me when you get out of court. I will see you later."
"Bye, El."
She hung up the phone and climbed the steps in front of the courthouse.
Two hours later Elliot received a call from a parent just across the new Jersey state line. The woman said that she saw a girl while dropping her son off at school that morning and recognized her as Sarah. Elliot tried to call Olivia, but her phone was turned off while she was in court.
"Fin, go with me to check this out."
"No problem."
In the car on the way there Fin turned to look at Elliot. "You know if this girl does turn out to be Sarah we can't go in and take her. We have to call in the feds. They crossed the state line with her, it becomes an F.B.I. case."
"I don't give a shit about the feds, I just want my kid back."
"I understand, man. I could only imagine what you and Liv are going through. But if we don't follow protocol, we can cause problems with the case. Not to mention Sarah's adoption has not yet gone through."
Elliot looked at Fin. "You're right. I can't risk screwing this up now. Okay, we get to the school I will wait in the hall. You get a look at the girl and see if it is Sarah. Don't let her see you. I don't want to upset her. You let me know and I'll make the call. I will see if they will give us permission to move."
"Elliot, I really hope it is her."
"Me too, Fin. Me, too."
They entered the school and walked toward the admissions office. The principal was able to identify Sarah's picture as the child she had enrolled in her school. Elliot put in the call to the F.B.I. who sent a team on their way to meet them back at the station. He and Fin waited for the local deputies to arrive before moving to get Sarah.
Fin and Elliot followed the principal down the hall toward Sarah's class room. They wanted to do this as calmly as possible and take custody quickly. The end of the school day was drawing near and they hoped to have Sarah in custody and be able to pick up the Jensen's as they arrived to pick the girl up from school.
"I want you to go in and get her," Elliot said looking at the principal. "I want to get her out here and away from the other children. I want this to be a simple as possible and I don't want to upset Sarah or the other kids. When you bring her out, close the classroom door. We will wait down the hall."
"Yes, sir." She opened the door and entered the class room.
Fin and Elliot got into position. The woman had left the door open when she entered the class room and they could hear the conversation going on inside.
"I need Sarah Jensen to come with me please," the principal said to the teacher.
"My name is not Sarah Jensen, it is Sarah Stabler!" The girl declared loudly.
"So much for not upsetting her," Fin said as Elliot laughed.
"Hey, that's my kid." He smiled proudly in anticipation as they heard the class room door shut.
"Am I in trouble?" Sarah asked nervously looking up at the principal.
"Should you be?" Elliot asked from the end of the hallway.
"Elliot!" Sarah called out with excitement as she ran down the hallway leaping into his open arms.
"Hi honey. How are you doing?" He asked checking her over.
"I'm good. I really missed you!"
"I really missed you too baby," Elliot said kissing the top of her head and thanking God they had found her safe.
"Is this a friend of yours, miss Sarah?" The principal asked.
"No, he's my dad." She said with a smile.
She wrapped her arms around Elliot's thick neck to hug him again.
"I am so glad that you came for me. I don't want to move to Florida."
"Why would you move to Florida?"
"The Jensen's said that is where our new house is. He had to work and get a few more checks then we were moving again."
"You are not going anywhere. I am going to take you home to Olivia."
"She isn't mad at me?"
"No, sweetheart. Why would you think Olivia was mad at you?"
"Because I said I would see her on Sunday and then I didn't come back."
"Baby, that is not your fault. Olivia is not mad at you. She was really worried, she loves you very much and has missed you like crazy, we both have. But she would never be mad at you over something like this."
"The Jensen's said that the judge called and changed his mind. They said I had to live with them now and I couldn't go back to Olivia. I don't want to live with them."
"Look at me, baby. They lied to a lot of people about a lot of things. They were supposed to take you back to Olivia that Sunday. They kidnapped you Sarah. But I am here now. And Fin and I are going to take you back to Olivia."
Sarah nodded her head and Elliot took her by the hand and lead her out to the front of the school where his car was waiting. As they got out there Mr. & Mrs. Jensen climbed from their car and began to walk toward him.
"What the Hell are you doing here?" Mrs. Jensen yelled at Elliot pointing. "You get away from her!"
Elliot knelt down to look Sarah in the eyes. "I need you to do me a big favor, okay?"
"Yeah."
"I want you to go with this officer. You see my car right over there."
"Yes."
"She is going to take you to my car. Can you go over there and wait for me for a few minutes with this nice officer?"
"Okay."
"Thank you baby," Elliot said as Sarah hugged him tight and he kissed her. "Wait with her at my car," he said placing Sarah's hand inside the woman's.
"Yes, detective."
Once Sarah was safely inside the car, Fin and Elliot reached for their handcuffs and placed the Jensen's under arrest.
Mrs. Jensen began to struggle and argue with Elliot.
"I wouldn't do that. Do you really want her to see you resisting arrest?" He said as Mrs. Jensen looked at Sarah looking at them from the back window of Elliot's car.
"Are we really going to jail?"
"Lady, you kidnapped a child from her mother and crossed the state line with a minor. What you did was a federal offense. You are going to prison."
Elliot escorted her down the hill and placed her into the back seat of another squad car. He and Fin watched as the car pulled away heading back to the local station where the Jensen's would be held until the F.B.I. arrived to deal with them.
They climbed into the car and closed the doors as Elliot turned the key in the ignition. He turned and looked over his shoulder at Sarah in the back seat. "How are you doing baby?"
Sarah nodded her head.
"Let's go back to the station and see Olivia."
"Yeah."
When Olivia got out of court she had a dozen missed calls from Elliot. She tried to call him, but got no answer. A few minutes later she got a text from him. 'We need you back at the station now.'
"Okay," Olivia said aloud as she started her car.
She stepped off the elevator and walked into the bullpen as she was playing with her phone. She closed it and raised her head to see the small form of a young girl sitting in her chair. Sarah was wearing Elliot's jacket and playing with the snow globe on Olivia's desk while she waited patiently for her mother to return from court and take her home.
"Oh my God," Olivia said as she stopped in her tracks. She brushed her hands over her face for a moment not believing what she saw. "Sarah?" She asked walking to the girl.
"Hi Liv," Sarah said softly looking up at her.
Olivia dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around her daughter. She held her tight in her arms and kissed her forehead as her tears began to fall. "I missed you so much, baby. I am so glad to see you."
"I missed you, too. I am sorry."
"Honey, this was not your fault."
"I tried to call you from my phone, but she walked in and took it from me. I never got it back."
"I can get another cell phone. I only have one daughter. Are you okay?"
"I'm okay. I'm hungry, but I'm okay."
Olivia kissed her again as she heard Elliot's voice behind her. "I was talking to the F.B.I. when you called. I'm sorry I didn't answer."
"The F.B.I.?"
"We picked her up from a school in Jersey. The tip was phoned in by a mother who saw her while dropping her son off at school. Fin and I went to check it out."
"You did this?"
"I promised you I would bring our daughter home."
"Thank you," she mouthed staring into his eyes through her tears.
"You are very welcome. I believe I owe you ladies some dinner."
"Yeah, I am starving."
"Starving, Liv. We'd better feed her."
Sarah laughed.
"What are you hungry for?"
"Ummm….steak."
"You eat steak?"
"I like steak."
"Steak it is."
Elliot took them out for dinner, steak dinner. That night Olivia checked in on Sarah sound asleep before going to bed.
"I should go," Elliot said looking into her eyes.
"You can stay, if you want. I sleep better with you here. I just done want her to see us sleeping in here together."
"I can move to the couch, before she gets up for school."
Olivia pulled back the blankets and crawled into bed. Elliot slid in beside her and she rolled over to settle against him.
"Elliot?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you so much," she said looking up into his eyes.
"No problem. We got our girl back," he said kissing her forehead.
"You are what pulled me through this in one piece. Without you I would have gone insane."
"I couldn't let that happen now could I?"
Olivia stared into his eyes as Elliot kissed her softly.
"Good night, Olivia."
"Good night."