They've been searching in vain for Elliot and Olivia for a week and the pressure and fatigue is starting to get to everyone. Cragen hasn't slept a wink since they've gone missing. The child pornography ring has been fully passed off to the FBI, as Porter pointed out was appropriate all along. It's just as well. Cragen couldn't concentrate on a case right now if he tried. Meanwhile, Porter has volunteered his and his team's services to help look for Elliot and Olivia. Cragen hates it that he's enlisted the help of the man who hurt Olivia so viscerally, but when it comes to the lives of his two best detectives, he's willing to swallow his pride on her behalf.
Predictably, Porter attempts to take over the investigation, pointing out repeatedly that he has better investigative resources at his disposal than they do. He is confident that he will find Olivia, he assures them.
It doesn't go unnoticed on anyone that Porter fails to mention Elliot too.
Cragen is less than impressed with Porter's detective skills, however. So far, his team has come up with zilch in the way of leads. All Porter's managed to do is antagonize every one of Cragen's people.
As far as everyone can tell, Elliot and Olivia went to Sharon Johanson's workplace and then vanished into thin air. No security camera caught the abduction; no one's even sure on what block it took place. A canvas of the area turned up a hotdog vendor who believes he saw a young man approach Elliot and Olivia right after they patronized his stand, but he can't describe the man at all. Evidently he was more interested in staring at Olivia.
Nobody wants to address the fact that in the absence of communication from the kidnapper, the most viable scenario is that they're dead.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Eight days after they go missing, Porter finally does come up with a lead.
It's an old case of Olivia's. The perp, one Douglas Reslow, spent ten years in federal prison on drug charges before being released on parole four months ago, but his real crime was that he led a cult-like group that operated an elaborate drug and prostitution ring. They dig up Olivia's notes from ten years ago and find that sure enough he had been vocal about getting his revenge and had even seemed fixated on her, writing her numerous threatening letters throughout his years in prison. The timing fits. It's something.
The search of his van turns up a brown hair. Porter is able to pull strings and rush the hair through the FBI's lab. DNA says it's Olivia's. Nobody knows whether to be excited or distraught. The perp was not a rapist per se in his day, but ten years in prison can change anyone and they are all keenly aware of ex-cons' preferred method of revenge on female cops. It also bodes poorly for Elliot; if Reslow's interest is truly in her, there would be no reason to keep the only bit of protection she would have alive.
Reslow's parole officer, whom they clearly surprise when they show up at his stationhouse, admits he hasn't seen him in days, but insists the man has been following all the rules, that he's cleaned up his act since prison. Porter lifts the officer up by his collar and threatens bodily harm if it turns out Reslow has hurt Olivia under his watch. Cragen and Fin pull Porter off him. Porter does not apologize.
It takes another full day to track Reslow down. They haul him in and throw him in an interrogation room. They sweat him for twelve hours, until it becomes clear he won't talk. They decide to release him and have two plainclothesmen tail him.
The suspect immediately heads north across the TapanZee Bridge, and Cragen is hopeful this means Elliot and Olivia are still alive and being held somewhere outside the city.
Sure enough, the detail follows him to a condemned building that was a former high school on a rural road outside Poughkeepsie. They consider how violent Reslow used to be, his fondness for weapons and explosives, and how much more violent he must have grown during his years in prison. Based on the hotdog man's description, they are convinced he has at least one partner, whom they expect to be loyal. In his day, Reslow was known to be highly charismatic; his henchmen, many of them teenagers he recruited off the street, did whatever it took to get the deal done.
Porter calls the shots and in the span of two hours a rescue plan is formulated. The bomb squad, fully decked out in protective gear, is to enter the building and use a new form of potent tear gas that the FBI has developed, which will not react with any explosives present, but will work to extract the kidnappers from the building. The second the perps are outside and apprehended, an elite, highly-trained search-and-rescue team will enter the premises and look for Elliot and Olivia, who will likely be incapacitated from the gas. The goal is to avoid a Waco-like standoff, Porter explains, which, in the event that Reslow has managed to recruit more followers than they expect, would surely result in many more casualties.
Cragen calls George Huang to inquire about the safety of the gas, and Huang tacitly endorses it, but warns him to make sure that the plan is otherwise sound. Assuming Elliot and Olivia are locked up they will be defenseless against the gas and will likely lose consciousness. It will be imperative, then, to find them and bring them to fresh air within seven minutes, after which their oxygen levels will get dangerously low.
Cragen is decidedly unhappy after he hears this, because this is not at all the way Porter had described the gas. Porter retorts that the search-and-rescue team is trained specifically to expeditiously extract people from situations exactly such as these, that his detectives are in good hands.
An argument ensues between Cragen and Porter about the use of the gas. Porter doesn't appreciate being second-guessed by a local police captain. Cragen senses that Porter's more interested in credit for taking Reslow down than in his detectives' lives. Cragen doesn't normally lose his temper, but for once he understands how Elliot feels, dealing with men like him. It takes Fin to calmly remind his Captain that assaulting Porter now won't get anyone anywhere.
The FBI strongly backs the plan, Porter informs him, and he lets Cragen know in no uncertain terms that it is his way or the highway. In the end, Porter gets his way, because his reasoning and calculus are ultimately strong; Cragen cannot suggest a better way to rescue his detectives without further jeopardizing everyone's lives.
Just as everyone is mobilizing to leave, Munch bursts into Cragen's office. "Captain, we got a problem," he declares.
Cragen sighs. "What is it?"
"I found these in Olivia's drawer," John says, offering his palm to his Captain.
Cragen takes the pill bottle from John and reads off the label. "Pre-natal vitamins. Prescribed to Olivia Benson." He looks up in shock. "She's pregnant?"
"It would appear that way," Munch nods thoughtfully.
"They were prescribed on November 18th," Cragen says, incredulous. "It means she's at least – what? Three months along?"
"It would seem that way."
"Jesus." Cragen slumps in his chair, putting his face in his hands. "This isn't good."
"It shouldn't really matter, Captain," John says softly.
"We can't use the gas," Cragen moans into his hands, shaking his head wearily.
"But Porter said –"
"I don't care what Porter said!" he snaps. "It's too risky for her." He looks up. "Tell Porter we're aborting. Tell him to come talk to me if he has a problem with that. I'm getting One-PP on the phone; there's no way in hell the FBI is forcing me to risk the life of one of my best detectives." He takes a short breath. "Oh, and somebody get Olivia's obstetrician on the phone."
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"I've been thinking of retiring," Elliot tells Olivia, on day eleven of their captivity.
He's sitting next to her on the floor, their backs against the wall.
"What?" she startles awake and coughs. She's been trying to downplay how rotten she feels and the fact that she can't seem to get ahead of the constant drowsiness. She wonders whether Elliot's query the other day about being sick didn't jinx her a little.
She processes his comment and is instantly upset. "Why?"
"I just… I don't think I can do this anymore, you know? I keep feeling like I'm pushing my luck. I've had all these near-misses and now this. If we get out of here, Liv, I think I really need to reassess my life."
"But…" She's at a loss. What about me? she wants to say. She keeps her mouth shut.
You shouldn't talk. In a few months you'll have your own reassessing to do.
She tries to reason with him. "Elliot, it's not generally a good idea to make a major life decision in the middle of a crisis."
He snorts. "That's just it, Liv. When are we not in a crisis situation? My whole life is just one crisis after another."
"So what are you going to do, play golf?"
"No. It's just that, you know, it's been nearly two weeks, Liv. Do you realize that? This is not a normal way to live."
No kidding, she thinks. "Elliot, twenty years ago when you started this job you knew going in that this wasn't a normal way to live. And yet you lasted all these years. What changed?"
"Kathy took my children to Rochester, that's what changed," he states. "I guess it finally made me ask myself, like, really ask myself, what the hell I'm doing, you know?"
She is taken aback that he has such a ready answer.
"I know," she manages quietly. She does know.
"God, Liv, this is just… this is getting to me. I need something to… happen already." His voice starts to rise, and she sees how badly he needs to let off steam. They've been cooped up in this room for eleven days straight. "What the fuck do they want with us!?" he bursts out, his angry, booming voice echoing off the four gray walls.
"I don't know," she answers, knowing full well his question was rhetorical.
He calms somewhat. "Do you think…" he starts.
"What?"
"Do you think it's weird we got kidnapped right as we were about to break a major child pornography ring?"
"You think it's connected?" she asks.
"It has to be."
"But nobody knew we had that lead."
"People at Johanson's job knew we came to talk to her," he points out. "Maybe someone there was involved."
"But it happened twenty minutes after we left. How could that –"
She doesn't get to finish her thought, because the steel door opens and the younger one is suddenly inside their cell, standing over them.
Elliot feels Olivia shrink back a little, nudging herself closer to him against the wall. Instinctively, he reaches over to her and cups her bicep in comfort.
"Let's go!" the kidnapper barks at her, grabbing her by the arm and forcefully hoisting her up.
Elliot jumps to his feet. "Wait! Where are you taking her?"
"None of your concern," the kidnapper snaps.
Olivia looks terrified. She looks to Elliot, pleading with her eyes.
But there's nothing he can do; the kidnapper has her own gun pointed at her head.
And off they go, leaving Elliot behind in the chilly cell.