AN: "Intoxicated" is one of my favorite episodes. Really, any ep where Olivia has one of those emotional monologues... I find it so powerful. The scene with Casey and Olivia is just so strong, man they can act!

*

It was a delicate balance of time. Letting enough time pass so that she wasn't putting pressure on Sara. At the same time, she didn't want to wait too long and appear callous. Olivia hated trying to measure the ratios in her head, because it depended completely on the person in question. She could hardly claim to know Sara that well.

Olivia wanted to apologize if possible. At the very least she wanted to assure the girl that she was doing and would continue to do all she could to help in the case, and in any other way she may need. Sara was smart enough to understand that, that much she did know about her. And she probably knew that Olivia had not deliberately tried to hurt her or break her trust. Didn't make it any less painful, but it was a good foundation to keep things from settling into resentment.

After a couple days she called the foster home. She talked to the husband, Dave Lombard, and left a message that she'd like to talk when she was ready. Olivia didn't ask him to get her on the phone, not wanting to force Sara to talk out of a sense of obligation. That wouldn't help the situation any.

So she waited. Worked on new cases that came in, and looked over what they had on Eric Holden. Nothing as solid as DNA, apparently the one thing that man was smart enough to do was dispose of his condoms somewhere else. But it was strong enough, she had to believe. Strong enough for Child Endangerment, surely, and hopefully oh so much more.

Olivia sat on her couch, watching nothing in particular. Some random sitcom that got played when night blanketed the sky. Two days more had passed, and she was getting impatient. It was too late to justify a visit now, but she'd definitely make sure that everything was ok tomorrow.

Her cell phone rang as she contemplated calling it an evening. She picked it up, seeing Elliot's name flash on the screen. Olivia frowned, they weren't catching that night.

"Yeah, El?" She got straight to business, knowing with near certainty that it would be work related.

He wasn't fazed. "Got a call from the Lombards. Possibly sighted our friend nearby, but didn't get a good look."

"The squad car?" Olivia asked, referring to the patrol that was supposed to swing by the house regularly.

"Flagged them down on their way through, but whoever it was was already long gone. And it gets worse."

She didn't like the sound in Elliot's voice. Sara had been hysterical the first time, Olivia could only imagine what she'd be like now. "Sara must be freaking out."

There was a pause before he responded. "She's not even there."

"What?"

"Look, that's all I really know. I'm already on my way, I'll be to you in five."

"Ok," Olivia said. She was already standing, sliding the phone into her back pocket as she went to retrieve her gun and shoes. In her haste, she nearly left her jacket draped over the small table. Her muscles were tense as she descended the stairs two at a time, torn between anger and fear.

The two minutes she spent standing on the curb dragged on forever. She swore under her breath until she saw the sedan round the corner. Elliot barely stopped to let her in, and she wasn't able to shut the door before he was once again on the move.

Just fine by her.

"What the hell is he trying to pull?" Olivia wondered.

Elliot shook his head. "We're not even sure it's him."

"Once I might buy. But twice? It's him. And it's the Lombards that saw him this time."

"I know," Elliot agreed. "They just didn't like the look of him, and thought the hair might be the right color. They're not sure what they saw. I tagged Munch and Fin to go check out Eric Holden's apartment."

She nodded, even though they were both looking at the road ahead of them. She didn't pry further, because really it was all supposition until they got to the house and heard all the details firsthand. Olivia approved as Elliot ignored pretty much every traffic law in getting there. They pulled up behind the squad car.

A uniform met them on their way to the door. "We did a sweep of the perimeter and surrounding area, didn't find anything probative."

"All right, thanks," Elliot said. The Lombards stood at the front door. Sounds of children sneaking around could be heard through the open door. He shook their hands, and Olivia followed suit. "Mr. and Mrs. Lombard, I'm Detective Stabler. This is my partner, Detective Benson."

Olivia continued. "We need you to tell us exactly what happened."

Mr. Lombard spoke. "I was shutting down the house for the night. On my way through the living room I saw someone outside. Wasn't going to think much of it, but he was just standing there, you know? Then before I knew what was happening he took off."

"And Sara?" Elliot asked.

"I checked on all our kids then. She was gone."

"When was the last time you did see her?"

He shrugged. "Around dinner, maybe eight at the latest. She keeps to herself, and we try to respect that."

"None of the other children saw her after that?" Olivia prodded. There were plenty of them in there, after all.

"Mostly we got boys. Sara and Gracie share a room, but Gracie was out tonight. She spends most of her time in there."

They double-checked with the kids, but got the same response. With a quick thanks Olivia and Elliot turned back to the car.

"That wasn't very helpful," Olivia muttered. "I'll see what Fin can tell us."

Elliot leaned against the car as she dialed her cell. Fin's answer was drowned in the sound of a fist banging on a door and Munch's voice calling out. "Tutuola."

"It's Olivia. Give me something."

"Cut it out!" The pounding stopped. "We just got here a couple minutes ago. Lights are out and we can't hear nothing inside. He ain't here. We'll talk to the neighbors and see if we can find out when he left."

"All right. Keep us posted."

"Will do."

She looked over to Elliot. "Well he isn't at home."

"What if he doesn't have her?"

Olivia blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, let's assume it was him out here. They saw him and found that she was missing immediately after. He didn't have time to take her, and if he did he wouldn't have been standing around on that street in the first place." Elliot stopped and gave the implications time to sink in.

And Olivia couldn't help but feel like an idiot. "She was already gone." And on her own volition. Olivia started towards the driver's side, motioning for the keys. "I know where she went."