I like how you guys are guessing, but are you guessing right? I don't know….
"How was the penguin show?" Elliot asked sitting down at the table with a container from the local Chinese place.
"It was neat," I answered placing the bottle in Bailey's mouth, "How was work?"
"I'm working with Munch on a rape homicide," Elliot said accidentally dropping a noodle on the table.
I rolled my eyes playfully, "Why Munch?"
"Fin went to visit Ken today," Elliot explained.
"Oh," I said, "That's nice that they are spending some time together."
"Yeah," Elliot said, "So Cragen and I were talking about possible suspects for last night."
"Oh yeah?" I asked looking up from the baby, "Who?"
"Sophie Gerard is one," Elliot answered stuffing his mouth full of food.
I sighed and pulled the empty bottle out of Bailey's mouth, "It wasn't her."
"How do you know?"
"Because she didn't have an accent," I replied. "It was probably nothing. Maybe they thought I was somebody else…"
"Olivia," Elliot said, "This is serious."
"I know," I said smiling sadly, "I just want to forget it. It happened and it's over with."
"I hate to eat and leave," Elliot said pulling his cell phone from his pocket, "But I have to go chase perps." He stood up and gave me a kiss before kissing Bailey on the cheek. "I'll be home in time for dinner," he said as he walked out the door.
When Elliot left Bailey started fussing. It was like she knew that Elliot wasn't as home as often as he should be. I tried to give her the pacifier but she wasn't having it. I rocked her gently in my arms and patted her back until her little blue eyes shut and she was asleep. I placed her in car seat and said goodbye to Cragen before catching a cab.
When I got home, Bailey was still sleeping so I kept her in her car seat and sat it down in the living room. I walked to the nursery to grab her basket of dirty clothes so they could be washed and that's when I noticed the dresser. Before Bailey was born Elliot and I had our pictures professionally taken. We decided to put the one of Elliot kissing my belly in a pink rhinestone frame and put it in her room. It was missing. I walked over to the dresser to see if maybe it had fallen but I didn't see it at all. Then I noticed something else was missing. The rest of Bailey's pacifiers. We had five all together and they were all different colors and now the only one left was the yellow one that was in her mouth.
I started to panic about her things being missing so I texted Elliot and told him I needed him to come home. He said he had to finish interrogating a perp and then he would be on his way. I picked up Bailey's dirty clothes basket and carried it into the laundry room to finish the laundry that I planned to do.
When Elliot came home I felt a little less on edge and I asked him if he had moved the picture or the pacifiers.
"No," he said puzzled, "I haven't touched them."
"They're missing," I said almost in a cry, "Somebody has been here. In her room."
"Liv," he said wrapping his arms around my neck, "Maybe you just misplaced them."
"I would remember," I said looking deep into his ocean blue eyes.
He sighed, "Did you check her window?"
"No," I answered, "I didn't want to actually think somebody had been in here."
Elliot walked into the nursery and went straight to the window where he pulled the cotton candy pink curtains back. He looked at the latch that kept the window locked and noticed that it was broken. He turned around to look at me, "It's broke."
"I have a feeling this isn't funny anymore."
"It never was," Elliot said closing the curtains.
"I'll call up Brian and see if he can fix it for us," Elliot said. Brian Milsap was one of Elliot's best friends from the Marines and when they came back to New York together, Brian picked up a job at a local hardware shop. He could fix anything.
"Who else was on that suspect list?" I asked following him back into the living room.
"A lot of people," he answered sadly.
"Like who?" I sat down on the couch and rested my head on the arm of it while Elliot sat down by my feet and started rubbing my back.
"I don't want to worry you," he said.
"I'm already ready worried," I said, "Can't you feel how tense my muscles are?"
I heard Elliot laugh as he dug his thumbs a little harder into my back, trying to loosen the tension.
"You know," he said, "I could probably take some of that tension away."
"Really?" I asked turning over on my back so I could look into his eyes, "I'd like that."
"Do you like this?" He climbed over top of me and lifted my shirt up just a little and started kissing me. I could feel is tongue leaving a trail and it was the best thing I had felt all week.
"I love that," I said bringing his lips to mine.
Just before we were about to get naked Bailey started waking up. "Talk about bad timing," Elliot said climbing off of me and falling onto the floor.
I began laughing and got up to get a bottle from the fridge for Bailey. I had just taken the bottle out of the microwave and picked Bailey up from her car seat when there was a knock at the door.
"I got it," Elliot said heading for the door. He looked through the peep hole and he didn't see anybody so he unlocked the chain and pulled the door open.
"Who is it?" I asked from the couch.
"Nobody," he answered, "It's a box." He looked down the stairs to see if he saw anyone but, there was nobody in sight. He picked the box up and brought it back inside, shutting and locking the door behind him.
"Bring it over," I said. He brought the box into the living room and ripped the tape off of it.
"What the hell?" I asked. I was shocked at what he pulled out of the box. It was the picture from the dresser in Bailey's room. It had been cut up and whoever did it cut my stomach out of the picture. I was starting to get worried. "El," I said, "This is getting serious."
He sighed and put the picture back into the box, "I'll take this to work tomorrow and see if I can get any prints off of it."
"What if you can't? Elliot, whoever is doing this isn't after me or you. They're after Bailey."
Elliot looked down at his little angel that was focusing solely on the bottle in her mouth. Why would anybody want to target our child? "I don't want you guys here alone," Elliot said, "Come to precinct tomorrow while I work. Nobody will go there."
"Alright," I sighed.
"Come here," he said pulling me and Bailey closer to him. He kissed me on the cheek and I rested my head on his shoulder while we watched Bailey continue to suck on the bottle.
"I'm kind of scared," I admitted after a few minutes, "Why would anybody want to hurt her? She's just a baby. She hasn't done anything wrong."
"There are some sick people out there Liv," he said, "Don't let this get to you. As long as Bailey is with one of us at all times, she is safe. We won't let anything happen to her."
"You're right," I said, "I'll kill a bitch before they lay hands on her."