AN: Sorry for the late update. It took me a while to get this chapter on paper. It was stuck in my head for far too long.
Skullz gave up Corey right away. "I don't know shit about a car or a baby!"
With no baby in the apartment, there was nothing to hold him on other than a probation violation.
"He'll likely make bail in the morning," Sonya told them.
Olivia shrugged. "I don't think he's involved anyway."
Corey was reluctant to talk.
"I don't know nothing!"
They showed him pictures of him stealing the car.
"That's not me!"
Elliot pointed at the picture. "You're wearing the same clothes!"
SHIT! "I don't even have that car anymore! Piece of shit wrecked on me. I could have died!"
Sonya gave Corey's grandmother a warning look. This is what he's becoming.
"We don't care about the car," Olivia told him. "We care about the boy. Where's Johnny?"
"Who?" He denied noticing the baby in the car. "He must have been sound asleep."
After questioning the boy for over an hour, they realized they'd have to think of a new strategy.
"Either Corey's lying to us," Elliot started, "Or someone came up to the car and took him."
The detectives combed over data all night, traffic cam pictures, surveillance footage and they couldn't find any evidence that Corey had ditched Johnny.
Finally, let him and his grandmother go home, but a uniform would be watching the house 24/7. If he tried to sneak out, he was going straight to lockup.
Alex knew her wife wouldn't come home until Johnny was found or Cragen had her banned from the building, whatever happened first.
She sent coffee and breakfast sandwiches to the unit, knowing that they would need it. There was a 24-hour bakery that did deliveries and the unexpected breakfast arrived at 4AM, just when their eyes were getting ready to give out from fatigue.
"Oh sweet Jesus," Fin declared as he grabbed a cup.
Olivia knew well enough that she could consume coffee and bagels on end for days if she had to, anything to stay awake. Of course Alex knew that she wouldn't be home until the case was closed, but the gesture showed Olivia that her wife supported her always; after having had so many people dump her do to her work obsession, she never thought she'd find someone to accept the whole of her. It was still humbling. It was always be humbling.
Cassie slept with her mama, as she often did when Olivia had to work all night. The young girl worried that something would happen to her, that a bad guy would get her.
Alex wanted to assure her that Olivia would always come home, but she knew she could make no such promises, especially since Cassie had lost her parents the way that she had. She knew too well what bad guys could do.
Sleep was a struggle for both of them. Eventually, Cassie fell asleep, clutching her teddy bear. Alex watched her as she slept, saddened by the worry that was evident on the girl's face.
I hope they find him soon. As stressful as this one for them, Cassie was safe and sound. Alex couldn't imagine being Johnny's mother right now.
Uniforms had done a grid search from the mall to the street where Corey had abandoned the car. They found nothing, no baby, no body, no witnesses.
Elliot was ready to punch a wall. "We've gotten nowhere since we got this case."
"Actually, I think we know more than we think we do," Munch told him.
Elliot folded his arms. "What do we know?"
"We know that Corey didn't take Johnny nor did he abandon him between the parking lot where he stole the car and the street where he ditched it, which means someone took Johnny out of the car afterwards … or he wasn't in the car beforehand."
"What?"
"We have no evidence other than his mother's word that he was in the car at all."
"What are you saying?"
"What if something happened to Johnny beforehand."
"You think she got her car stolen on purpose to cover up his death?"
"Maybe it was just gratuitous."
It was time they looked into Sarah Matthews.
Alex was trying to get the house Christmas ready, but it was a lot of work to do by herself. Olivia was usually the muscle.
The blonde wanted to have everything ready for her wife's return. The poor woman was going through hell right now; missing children cases were the worst.
She was about to give up on getting the tree in the stand when she got a phone call.
"Cabot!"
"…"
"Trevor? I thought you were going to Colorado."
"…"
"You and Missy broke up?" I always thought Missy was a stupid name.
"…"
"Sure you can come over. I'm just getting the decorations ready."
"…"
Almost an hour later, Trevor arrived with a bottle of Scotch and a present for Cassie to put under the tree.
"Thanks Uncle Trevor."
It was the first time Alex had seen Cassie smile since Olivia left for work.
"How you holding up?"
Alex was tired. "I'm still standing."
"That great?"
He helped her get the tree vertical and then they cracked open the bottle.
"I just want her to come home, and then I feel selfish. I know exactly where she is. Johnny's mother may never see him again."
They looked into Sarah Mattson's background, and they found nothing suspicious.
"She went to CUNY where she met her husband in a Chemistry class. They married after dating for two years. There's no incident reports involving their home, nothing on her record other than a couple of speeding tickets, and from what we can tell … she is a perfectly normal person in a perfectly normal home."
Olivia didn't bite. "No one's life is totally normal," even ordinary people have something strange.
They started with neighbors, and then went on to family and friends.
"Oh Henry is such a nice man."
"Sarah's a lovely woman."
No one had anything bad to say, but one of her coworkers said something interesting.
"She had been very stressed lately. I don't know what it was, but she had been on the phone with her mother in law and afterwards … she basically had a meltdown."
She had locked herself in the bathroom for 20 minutes.
This was two days before Johnny disappeared.
"Maybe we should call her mother in law and see what she has to say."
"It's about time I heard from you," the elder Mrs. Mattson snapped. "I've been worried sick about Johnny."
"We're doing our best. When's the last time you saw him?"
"Thanksgiving. Sarah was supposed to drive him up four days ago. If she hadn't delayed her departure, this never would have happened. Now what are you going to do to get my grandson back!"
Olivia had to make up something to get her to talk. "We believe the kidnapper may have been watching Sarah, waiting for a chance to take her son. Do you know if she had any problems with anyone in New York?"
"The girl has nothing but problems? She's a spastic little thing. Tell her one too many things and she just breaks down. She has to be spoon fed!"
"What kind of things cause her to breakdown?"
She told the officers that Henry wanted to have another child when he came back from Afghanistan. I simply mentioned to her that should stop taking her birth control now since it can take a few months to wear off completely, and she kind of shrieked."
Maybe Sarah didn't want another child. Maybe she couldn't handle the one she had now.
The picture was starting to become clear.
Olivia and Elliot decided to pay her a visit.
The woman looked like she had been crying all day. Her hair was a mess.
"Officers, please come in!"
There were pictures of the family all over the mantle. Henry's smile showed that he loved his wife and son very much.
"We wanted to update you on the case," Elliot started. They explained how they found the boy who had taken the car, but he hadn't noticed a baby.
"We thought that someone might have taken Johnny from the car after it had been abandoned," but their search revealed nothing.
"No matter where we look, we see absolutely nothing."
"That's not possible. A baby can't just vanish into thin air."
"I know," Olivia told him. "The thing is … no one's seen Johnny since the day before he disappeared."
Sarah was the only one who could say Johnny was at the mall. The neighbors hadn't seen him that day. Her friends hadn't. The grandmother said she didn't put Johnny on the phone like she usually did, nothing.
Elliot told her, "My partner here thinks you caved under the pressure, that you couldn't handle raising your son anymore, so you just got rid of him."
"I think you killed him," Olivia told her. "Maybe he was crying too much at night, or you didn't think you could handle …"
"I would never kill my son," she hissed.
"I believe you," Elliot offered. "You see Olivia doesn't have any kids," Elliot lied. "She doesn't understand how much parents go through to care for them. I'm a Jarhead myself, and when I was gone, my wife had to do it alone. It's a lot of work."
"It is," Sarah told him. "I have to do everything; the cooking, the cleaning, I had to get a part time job to cover the bills. Johnny needs constant attention."
As she opened up to Elliot about her plight, Olivia started to look around, wondering what she could find that would explain Johnny's disappearance.
She managed to fine the woman's laptop in the den.
What could her password be?
Johnny
It turned on. Previously, Olivia had made fun of Alex for making Cassie her password, so predictable. I guess I should thank her.
She pulled up the woman's search history and found that the woman had been searching for adoptions.
Why would she adopt a child, could she not produce another?
It took Olivia a minute to realize that Sarah wasn't looking to adopt a child. She was looking to give hers away.
Olivia printed out the page and returned.
Sarah broke down into tears.
"I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. All I had were nightmares about having a gaggle of children I couldn't raise, my awful mother in law fighting me on everything, and my husband, he's always gone and we never talk like we used to."
She had to hear from his mother that he wanted another child, not from him. It was as if she had no say in her life anymore.
"Why did you give him away?"
"I was afraid I'd hurt him, like those mom's who just lose it and drown their babies. I couldn't … I love Johnny."
Elliot and Olivia looked at each other. How would Captain handle this?
Christmas Eve
Alex kissed her wife on the lips. "My Christmas wish came true already!"
"Mine too," Olivia spun her around. She was at home with her family. Johnny was safe and sound. His mother was able to get counseling and they were working on a support plan for her.
"She'll have a caseworker checking in with her every other week, and the DA agreed not to charge her for filing a false report."
The case had cost NYPD tens of thousands of dollars, but no one wanted to be that guy who prosecuted a distressed military wife. They decided to let this one go.
Alex looked happily at her tree. She, Trevor, and Cassie had decorated it. "We left the star for you to put up."
Olivia put it on the top of the tree and then … "I'm ready to go to bed."
Alex waggled a brow.
"To sleep!"
"I know babe. You've earned it. Get your rest and be ready to celebrate when you wake up."
Everyone in the 1-6 slept through the night and half the morning.
Elliot woke up to hear his wife cursing up a storm.
"Baby, what is it?"
"The turkey didn't defrost in time. I already burned the sweet potato pies." Christmas was ruined.
Elliot laughed.
"This isn't funny, you ass!"
He kissed her nose. "My family is safe and sound. Christmas is perfect!"
When Alex called to invite them over for dinner, Kathy was ecstatic.
"I can officially quit the kitchen and get a drink!"
"See, it all works out."
"Oh hush up Elliot!"
No one can throw a last minute party like Alex Cabot. She thought it would be nice if the whole family could get together.
She had only planned dinner for five people (as Tyler and Lucenzo came down to visit), but it wasn't trouble for Alex to get some more food.
Instead of roasting 1 duck, she roasted three, along with a porchetta that the butcher miraculously had available.
"I had a woman call in and request I prepare it, just to never come pick it up!"
"Oh I'll take it!"
She roasted meat all day, did all the sides on the stove, and bought the desserts at a bakery.
With plenty of food and a lot of whiskey, she knew they could get through the holidays just fine.
"I brought eggnog!" John declared when he arrived at the house, and of course a present for Cassie.
"Hi Uncle John!"
"You're the first to arrive. Feel free to relax with a holiday beer." She had gotten Winter Warmer for the occasion along with some chocolate stout and hard cider.
"Now this is my kind of Christmas!"
Melinda and Fin came next. Melinda brought some dinner rolls.
"Great." Alex hadn't even thought about bread. She had way too many things going on.
"Isn't Olivia helping you?"
Alex rolled her eyes. "Please, she's drinking beer and watching college football with Munch."
"Hey, I'm also helping Cassie braid her hair."
"Uncle John's better at braiding."
Fin laughed at her.
Guests kept trickling in with food and drink and before you know it, the house was full.
They had too many people to sit around one table, so they set up one just for the kids. Kathleen, to her mother's surprise, demoted herself to the kid's table.
"Dad is embarrassing when he's had more than two beers."
Trevor started cracking up.
Elliot just gave her the hand, proving her point.
"I still can't believe you made all this food today," Kathy told her. "How did you do it?"
"Well, we have two ovens, which helped in terms of time, and I bought every dessert."
Kathy pondered doing that next year, way easier!
Tyler was stuffing his face. "Good thing I packed my fat pants!"
Lucenzo shook his head. "No one should own fat pants."
Melinda glared at him. Oh you really wanna go!
The party went well on into the night. While the adults drank upstairs, the children played games in their furnished basement.
Sonja and Trevor looked rather cozy in the corner of their living room.
"You don't think," Elliot said to Olivia.
"Sleeping with the enemy," if she wasn't yet … she would be soon.
Christmas Morning
Abbie and Casey went to Casey's parents house this year.
The Texan wanted to stay asleep, but Casey woke her up with kisses.
"Oh good morning!"
The lovers sank into the sheets.
Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Novak knocked on the door. "Casey, Abbie, come downstairs for breakfast … and shower first."
Abbie turned bright red.
Casey snickered. "I told you to be quiet."
"How could I be quiet with your fingers in my …"
They quickly showered before making it downstairs where homemade cinnamon rolls and bacon awaited them.
"Oh that looks amazing."
Of course, presents came next.
They went around the room, opening one present at a time and starting with the kids.
When Abbie got to hers, she saw a "Russian doll?"
"Open it Love."
Of course, each doll had a smaller doll inside until they got to the last one. Abbie shook it and could hear something inside.
She opened it up and there was one diamond ring.
What?
She looked up to see Casey kneeling in front of her.
"Make me the happiest woman alive. Marry me!"
Abbie pulled her into a rapturous kiss before carrying her back upstairs.
"Is that a yes?" One of Casey's brothers questioned.
"Someone put on the music before they start again!"
Cassie had gotten way too many presents for Christmas this year.
"I swear everyone loves to spoil her rotten," Alex couldn't believe the pile under the tree, most of it hers.
"She's just too cute. I bet you had similar piles as a girl."'
"Well …" she had been quite a princess.
Olivia had everything she needed but it was nice to get some presents too.
She had one more to open and it was a box.
"What could this be?"
Inside, she found a ziplog bag with a stick in it. On the stick, there was a plus sign.
Olivia's jaw dropped.
"We're …"
Alex nodded.
Olivia pulled her into a tight embrace.
The End