Disclaimer: Again, not mine, Alex and Munch would be in a bathroom somewhere, constantly getting it on if they were. Not to mention random duckage…

Oh oh!!!! Maria is mine though…

Monday July 15th

8:13 am

Elliot walked into the bullpen, late and rushing, throwing his things down onto his side of his and Olivia's joint desks before walking into Cragen's office and closing the door. The captain was on the phone, and held up a finger to silence Elliot while he finished.

"Yes sir. Yes sir. No it won't happen sir. Yes sir. Of course. Alright, I'll call you back when I find something out." Cragen hung up the phone before shaking his head at Elliot, "Bureaucracy. What can I do for you Elliot?" he asked leaning back in his chair.

"Have you seen Liv yet this morning?" Elliot asked, slightly worried. He and Olivia had planned on seeing Cragen early about a case that hadn't quite been closed up yet from a few weeks ago. They needed his permission to do something, and ever since the last IA investigation had decided that to safeguard themselves they would go through Cragen.

"No I haven't." Cragen looked at his watch and frowned, "Odd, she's usually in with the roosters. She beats me in here sometimes, and I swear I sleep here. Probably for the best though. She's been working way too much lately if you ask me. I had to chase her out Friday night. Try calling her."

Elliot nodded, "That's what's bothering me, I tried calling her all weekend and she never picked up. I sent her home half a beer away from smashed Friday night, and haven't heard from her since. Not odd in itself, although I've never really seen her that drunk, except for the fact that she's seemed a little upset lately, and she usually always answers her phone."

It was Cragen's turn to nod this time, but before he could answer the phone on the desk began ringing, "One sec." Cragen picked up the phone, "Don Cragen. Yeah, yeah. Sure. Someone will be out there in about twenty minutes. Where's the victim going? Alright. Alright, thanks." Cragen stood, "Business as usual, victim found in south Manhattan looks like she has been raped, tortured and then an attempted body dump this morning. She was found unconscious by garbage collectors about thirty minutes ago and was rushed to Mercy Hospital. I'm sending you and Fin to the hospital, and Munch and one of the new rookies to the site where the body was found. I'll keep trying Olivia until she gets here, alright? Don't worry about her, she probably just overslept."

Elliot nodded as he followed the captain out of the room. He would accept the overslept explanation, except for the fact that her eyes looked so troubled Friday night… He shook his head. She was fine. He grabbed his coat as Fin picked up his and they started out of the room, "Where's your partner?" He heard Fin ask.

He shrugged, "Not sure." And pushed her out of his mind. Worrying about his partner wouldn't get him anywhere right now. He needed to help the victim.

Monday July 15th

Mercy Hospital

9:21 am

Rush hour traffic in New York City left Fin and Elliot pulling up to the hospital entrance an hour after the call was originally placed. Elliot went in first with Fin trailing behind. Conversation in the car had been sparse, as neither one of them were talkers and it was eight o'clock on a Monday morning. Elliot went up to the registration desk at the ER and flashed his badge, "We're looking for a woman who was brought in about an hour ago, found in lower Manhattan?"

They watched the nurse painstakingly slowly looked through the names on the list before a frown came over her face, "Name?"

"There wasn't one, she had no ID on her."

"There was a Jane Doe checked in an hour and thirteen minutes ago. I'll go find you her doctor." The nurse said, heaving a large sigh as she pushed her rolling chair away from the desk and went into the maze of hallways behind a locked door.

Sorry to make you do your damn job, lady… Elliot thought to himself as he stood tapping his foot. He found himself wondering once again about Olivia in the time of silence. He still hadn't gotten a phone call from either her or Cragen, and his worry was rising. He was distracted by the nurse coming out though, with a beautiful tall Hispanic woman holding a few charts. She gave them a smile, before pressing a buzzer and waving them through the ER doors. "Dr. Maria Guererra, I was the doctor on call when your victim was brought in." Her voice had a slight accent, and Elliot felt like she towered over him in her heels. They began walking down the hallway, Dr. Guererra continuing to tell them about the victim. He stopped focusing on her height and allowed her voice to take prime position in his head, "She came in semi-conscious, but not speaking anything coherently. We couldn't get her name or any contact information for next of kin or anything."

"How is she?" Fin asked.

Dr. Guererra hesitated in her steps momentarily, catching eyes with Fin, then continuing on, her voice slightly lower, "Stable, in critical condition however. She lost a lot of blood. The attack was brutal, and whoever attacked her more than likely held her captive for a couple of days. There is no way that the injuries she sustained where all done within a day. At least two, maybe three, unless there were multiple attackers."

"Any DNA?" Elliot asked, as they turned a corner. He watched the doctor swipe her ID card, and they entered the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.

"We were trying to keep her from bleeding to death, Dectective. We weren't too worried about fluid samples. I think that someone may have gotten nail scrapings, but we were trying to keep her alive." Surprisingly, her voice had none of the acidity that doctor's normally had with the SVU detectives who came in asking for DNA samples and rape kits to be done before anything. She said it as though it were a simple fact of life, and managed to actually sound apologetic for not having done a rape kit first, "She's unconscious right now, and I can't promise you that she will be awake anytime soon, but this is her room."

They had stopped in front of a closed door, and Dr. Guererra opened it, walking in and placing the chart in the tray at the foot of the bed. Elliot and Fin walked to the side of the bed to examine the woman's injuries. Her skin was pale even under its slight tan, and her brown hair lay haphazardly around her head, has though it had tried to escape what had happened to her. Blood and saline fluid leaked through tubes into an IV attached into the back of the woman's hand which lay bare on top of the while hospital blankets that covered her. Elliot closed his eyes and forced himself to begin looking more closely at the woman's features, which resembled a mixture of a human being and the Pillsbury doughboy. Her eyes and cheekbones were swollen, so much that Elliot believed that even if she was awake she wouldn't have been able to open her eyes anyway. Her lips had fresh scars, as though she had bitten them in order to keep from screaming. Her bare arms had more bruises on them than he could count, and her hands looked as though she had fought tooth and nail with her attackers.

And lost.

Elliot looked at her face again moving a few strands of hair away from her swollen eyes, and feeling the warmth that thankfully still radiated from the prone body. Tubes protruded from under the blanket and from her mouth, and he motioned towards them while looking towards Guererra for answers, "Her lung collapsed shortly after she was brought in. She's on a respirator now, the other wires are monitoring her heartbeat." He nodded at her short explanation, and looked at the woman lying down. His breath caught as he noticed a small scar on the side of her face. He took his cell phone out and punched a few buttons, taking a few deep breaths as the phone rang.

"Don Cragen."

"Captain, you can stop looking for Olivia. I found her."