One Night Stand
(Chapter Ten: Four Very Long Days)
Olivia held Isabella in her arms as she paced the floor waiting for some kind of news from Philadelphia.
"Munch and Fin are on their way back," Cragen said as he walked back to his office.
"Did they make an arrest?" Olivia asked. "Where is Sophie?"
"They didn't have her. The car was left in a mall parking lot, keys were inside and it was unlocked. They stole it and took it for a joy ride."
"And you believe them?"
"Security tape from the parking lot backs up their story. We have them on camera taking the vehicle, no baby."
"But we did get something," Munch said as he walked into the room.
"What?"
"Check it out," Fin said pressing play on the security tape. "We got the guy who dumped the car. It is dark, but you can clearly see him take the baby seat from the back of the car and walk out of the camera's range."
"Where did he go?" Elliot asked.
"We're guessing that he had another car waiting somewhere."
"So he wasn't after the car at all? He meant to steal Sophie?"
"It looks that way," Fin said. "Good news is that the car was stolen from New York."
"How exactly is that good?" Munch asked.
"There is a good chance the baby never left the city," Cragen added.
"We'll find her, Liv."
"I hope so," she whispered kissing Isabella.
"We sent a copy of the tape to have it analyzed to see if we can get any leads from it. And I have officers all over that mall looking for anyone who may have seen Sophie."
"My poor baby," Olivia said softly. "It has been four days. And she is all alone and scared. If she is even alive."
"I don't think someone would have taken her if they were going to kill her," Munch said. "And if this was about ransom, we should have heard from them by now. I think she is alive. And I think the person who took her either wanted a baby or knew someone who wanted one bad enough to pay for her. Hopefully that means they have no intention of hurting her."
"We have got to find this guy and make him tell me what he did with my daughter," Elliot said studying the dark image of the man on the screen.
Elliot ordered some take out and sat down with Olivia to make sure she actually ate something. Isabella sat propped against daddy's knee with a bottle in her little mouth as Elliot cooed and talked to her.
Olivia watched him with the baby girl. He had always been the stronger of the two of them. Maybe it was the fact that he had been married for years and was the father of seven children. Or that he was three and a half years older than her. She wasn't exactly sure, but so many times, including this one, Elliot was the one who pulled her through.
"How is your salad?" he asked smiling over at her as he adjusted the bottle for the baby.
"Good," she said softly, smiling at her daughter. "Hi sweetheart," she said as the baby girl stared at her and smiled.
"I think she's finished. She is just playing now."
Elliot held her against his shoulder and burped her as Olivia stirred her fork around in her food.
"I miss her so much," she said softly.
"I know, honey. We all do," he said kissing the top of Isabella's head. "But we are not giving up on her."
Elliot reached across the table and squeezed her hand. Olivia forced a smile as she fought back tears and nodded to him.
"Elliot, we've got something," Fin said as he pushed the door open.
Elliot stood cradling Isabella in his arms.
"We're not sure yet, but we got a call from a hospital in New Jersey. A woman brought in a baby, said it she wouldn't stop crying and she doesn't know what is wrong with her. One of the nurses recognized little Sophie's description from one of our fliers. Cops are holding the woman and baby until we get there. I can't be sure until we see her, but we may have just found Sophie."
"Lets go," Elliot said as Olivia wrapped Isabella in a blanket and grabbed the diaper bag.
"Cragen said you have to stay back until we can identify her for certain."
"Whatever," Elliot agreed as he escorted Olivia and the baby to the car.
Olivia buckled Isabella into her new car seat and strapped it into the car as the little girl looked around at all of the grown ups hurrying around her.
"Here baby," Olivia whispered as she slipped the pacifier into Izzy's mouth. "Let's go get sissy back."
Isabella grunted and looked up at her mother.
An hour and a half later they pulled into the parking lot of a hospital in a small New Jersey town. Fin parked the car and held the door open for Olivia as she pulled the baby from the back seat. By now Isabella was sleeping like a little angel in her seat as they entered the hospital.
Munch walked over to the front desk and flashed his badge as he talked to the woman for a few moments.
"Fourth floor, children's unit," he said as they headed for the elevator.
When they reached the fourth floor they walked down the hall to two large metal doors.
"They have to let us back there. You guys wait here," Fin said pointing to the waiting area. "I will let you know as soon as I know something."
Elliot carried Isabella into the waiting room and Olivia watched as Munch and Fin walked through the two big doors. In the distance she could hear a baby crying.
"Sophie," she said running to the end of the hall and pushing her way through the doors just before they closed.
Two doctors grabbed her to stop her before she could get down the hallway.
"Ma'am, you can't be back here. You are going to have to wait in the waiting area."
"That is my daughter!" she shouted as she pointed down the hall and she broke into tears. "Please, just tell me if she is okay."
"You are going to have to wait out there," one of the men said as they pushed her toward the double doors once more.
"Get your hands off her!" Fin snapped as he stepped around the corner. "You always treat women that way?"
"Sir, she was trying to gain unauthorized entry."
"Unauthorized? She is with me," he said flashing his badge and pulling Olivia free of the men. "And she may be the mother of that child."
"It's her, Fin. I know it is. I know my own baby's cries. I would recognize them anywhere."
Fin looked up to see Elliot standing on the other side of the door holding Isabella's carrier.
"Let him in," he said to the woman behind the desk. "You owe me big time," he said looking back at Olivia as she smiled with tears in her eyes.
"Wait a minute," a woman said from the end of the hall. "Do they have some way to prove that this baby is theirs?"
"You saw the picture, lady!" Munch said. "Is that the baby you have here or not?"
"A lot of babies look alike at this age."
"Sophie, our daughter," Elliot began, "she looks just like her sister." He held up the baby carrier and moved back the blanket for the woman to get a look at Isabella. "They are identical twins."
"My lord, that could be the same baby," the woman said raising her hand to her mouth.
"It is Sophie," Olivia said looking at her.
"She's back here," the woman said as she lead them down the hall to the room where the screaming baby was being cared for.
"What is wrong with that child?" a doctor asked as he walked in behind them.
"We have run tox screens and she is clean. She has been checked out physically and seems fine, we are not sure why she is crying," the woman said bouncing the baby gently trying to sooth her.
"She has colic," Olivia said. "Elliot is the only one who can calm her down."
The nurse looked at the doctor.
"Well, hand him his daughter," he said looking back at her.
"Okay," she said handing Sophie off to Elliot.
"Hey, baby girl," Elliot said softly kissing his daughter. "It is okay now, daddy's here. You're safe, now. Mommy and daddy and Izzy missed you so much."
Sophie calmed almost immediately, merely whimpering as she looked up at him.
"I know honey," Elliot cooed to the infant as if she were speaking to him. "Here's mommy," he said as Olivia inspected her daughter.
"Hi sweetheart," Olivia whispered as she kissed the baby's forehead. "It's okay, mommy and daddy are here now. And we are going to take you back home with us, baby," she said as tears streamed down her face. "What is the IV for?" she asked looking over at the nurse.
"She is a little dehydrated and we are having trouble getting her to take a bottle. We needed to get fluids into her."
"She is used to being nursed. She doesn't do well with formula."
"You're still nursing?"
"Yes."
"Why don't we find you a nice quiet place and see if she will nurse? We have to get some fluids into her before we can discharge her. I would like to keep her at least over night, just to make sure everything is alright. If you can get her to eat well, she can probably go home tomorrow afternoon."
"That would be wonderful," Olivia said kissing Sophie once more.
"Now if everyone could step out and give mommy and baby a little alone time…."
"We have to go talk to the woman who brought her in. I'm glad Sophie is safe back in her mommy's arms," Fin said as he and Munch stepped out of the room.
The nurse pulled a rocking chair over near the baby crib so Olivia could sit down and nurse her daughter.
"I can bring in another bed for the other baby if you'd like. I assume you guys will be staying here with her?"
"Yes, we will be staying," Elliot said.
"But if it is alright, they usually sleep in the same crib," Olivia added.
"I think we can work something out," the woman said closing the blinds on the windows to give them some privacy. "I'm gonna close the door, if you guys need anything I will be just down the hall. I will come back in a little while to check on you."
"Thank you," Olivia said smiling down at her little girl.
Elliot watched as Olivia settled in the chair and began to nurse Sophie.
"There baby, mommy missed you so much. So did daddy and Izzy. And we never not stopped looking for you. We were all so worried. Uncle Fin and Uncle Munch and all of the police officers in the city were looking for you. Everyone was trying to find you to bring you home to mommy and daddy."
Sophie stared up at her mother and grunted as she nursed.
"Are you guys okay here for a few minutes? I want to go out and check on Munch and Fin."
"Elliot, we got our baby back. Maybe we should just let them handle the legal stuff. This is what is important," she said kissing the top of Sophie's head.
Elliot knelt beside her and kissed his little girl.
"I have to know, Olivia. I have to know why they took our baby. Isabella is still asleep and I will be back in few minutes."
"El, I just don't want you to get into trouble."
"I'll behave. I promise," he replied kissing her forehead. "I'm just going to go and see what Munch and Fin found out. I will be right back."
"Okay, we will be here."
Elliot checked on Isabella and headed down the hall to see what was going on. He caught Munch in the hallway to find out what was going on.
"Is that the woman who brought Sophie in?" Elliot asked looking at the woman through the waiting room window.
"Yeah."
"How did she get her?"
"Her daughter was pregnant. She lived the city and hadn't seen her mother in months. She had the baby and then showed up needing a place to stay. She said she noticed something was up when the baby cried all of the time. Sophie wouldn't take a bottle and was losing weight. She suggested they take the baby to the doctor, but her daughter wouldn't do it. She said she was shopping in a supermarket when she saw the poster in the window and recognized Sophie. She waited for her daughter to fall asleep, then she took the baby and came here. The intake nurse said Sophie was screaming when she walked in. She told the nurse that she thought Sophie was the kidnapped baby from the poster. The doctors took her and checked her out. She was hungry, but they said she was alright."
"Have they picked the daughter up?"
"Yeah, Fin and I are going to go to the local station and have a little chat with her."
"I'd better get back to Olivia and the girls. I just wanted to find out what the story was."
"Well, the daughter's husband in in the Army and he is set to come home tomorrow. My guess is she miscarried or something and kept it a secret. She needed a baby and she saw Olivia shopping with the girls. She followed her and waited for the right moment to take one of them."
"But the security tape showed a man with the baby carrier."
"The tape was dark and hard to see. Even after they cleaned it up it was hard to tell who we were looking at."
"You could see a moustache."
"She probably wore a disguise. Which means the kidnapping was premeditated. Maybe not Sophie in particular, but I think she knew before hand she intended on taking a baby. Olivia had two. That made her a target. I had one of the other officers go back and looked over Olivia's statement from the day Sophie disappeared. Then I had them pull security tapes from all of the stores she visited with the babies that day. I am betting we see that man in at least a few of them."
"She followed her and waited for the right moment, then made her move."
"You go in there and take care of your girls. Fin and I are gonna head back to Manhattan and get to work on this. I will call you as soon as we get something."
"Thank you."
Elliot headed back down the hall to the room where Olivia sat rocking Sophie in her arms.
"How's it going?" he whispered as he watched the baby asleep in her mother's arms.
"She ate really good. And she just cooed and stared up at me. I hugged her and kissed her and rocked her until she fell asleep. The nurse brought in some blankets and pillows. She said those chairs both pull out into beds. And she took out Sophie's IV so that we can put the girls in the bed together. I wanted to wait so that you could hold her again before I put her to bed."
Elliot slipped little Sophie from Olivia's arms. He held her against his chest and rocked gently with her as he thanked God for protecting their little girl and bring her safely back to them.
Sophie stirred a little before nestling her little forehead in against the curve of her daddy's neck like she always did. Olivia watched as tears filled Elliot's eyes.
"Everything is going to be okay now, daddy. She is safe and she is home."
"God, we could have lost her, Liv. There was a very good chance that we never would have seen one of our babies again. We came so close."
Olivia stood beside him and traced her finger across the baby's thin dark hair. She leaned forward and kissed little Sophie once more.
"We should get them both into bed soon. It has been a really long day," she whispered. "I'm gonna change Izzy and feed her. Then we can put them in the crib together."
"I bet Izzy will be glad Sophie is back."
"I know she missed her, too. She woke up all through the night looking for her. This is the longest they have ever been apart, four days."
"Four very long days," Elliot added.
Olivia changed Isabella's diaper and nursed her for a few minutes, before finishing up with the bottle. She pulled the baby blanket from the carrier and tucked it around the twins as they placed them into the bed together. She and Elliot knelt beside the crib and watched as their babies curled up together for the night, just like they did at home.
"We got so lucky," Olivia said softly. "A thousand horrible things could have happened to her, but they didn't."
"They actually took really good care of her. With the exception of being dehydrated and having lost a little weight, she the doctor said she is in perfect health."
"If she hadn't cried so much, that woman probably would have never thought to take her in to the hospital to have her checked out. And her daughter would have gotten away with it."
"I never thought I would be so happy to have a baby with colic," Elliot said only half joking.
"She wanted her daddy."
Elliot helped Olivia fold out the two chairs and make them up into beds. He turned out the overhead light and opened the blinds a little to allow some moonlight into the room. Before long they had settled in for the night as well.
"How are you doing over there?" Elliot asked completely exhausted, but suddenly finding it hard to sleep.
"Alright," she said with a yawn. "Just thinking how nice it will be to sleep in our own beds again."
"Yeah, if you had asked me this morning, I would have never thought that we would be spending the night tonight in a hospital room in New Jersey with both of our babies."
"I'm just ready to get back to our own lives. And the kids will all be glad to see Sophie again."
"Yeah, they were all so happy when I called to tell them that she was alright and back with us. Elizabeth wants to throw her a welcome home party."
Olivia laughed.
"That is so sweet. They are such good kids, all of them."
"They have their moments."
"And their father's charm," she said with a smile.
"That too," he agreed. "I am supposed to have the kids this weekend, but Kathy said she wouldn't mind switching if we needed some time to unwind with the girls. It might be nice to have a little alone time as a family."
"Elliot, the other kids are family, too. I understand what you are trying to say. But I think maybe it would be better just to go back to our regular lives. We still have tomorrow alone with the girls and it will be good to have all of the kids together again. I miss them. Especially after all of this, it really makes me realize just how blessed we really are."
"You're right."
"Why don't we plan something special for this weekend?"
"Like what? A trip?"
"Not necessarily a trip, just a whole weekend of family time. Like plan a movie night and let the kids pick out their favorite movies and we can all sit around and watch them together. We can buy some snacks, make Smores in the fireplace and have a game day on Sunday."
"That sounds like a great idea, Liv. I will have to talk to Maureen and make sure she can stay the entire weekend."
"And no work!"
"No work, got it."
"I mean it, El. All family, all weekend. We need this. And the kids need this. No calls or any work related stuff at all."
"Okay, deal. I will talk to Cragen and tell him we are having a private weekend with our kids. I'll even turn off my cell phone."
"Really?" she asked with a smile.
"Absolutely. Neither of us is on call, so there shouldn't be anything they need to tell us that cant wait until Monday when I come back in to work."
"You are such a good father," Olivia said as she fluffed her pillow.
"You are an amazing mother. And we make one hell of a team, you and I."
Olivia smiled.
"You really think so?"
"I do. But not just at work. We work really well together as a family, too."
"We do, don't we? We have a pretty amazing family. You and me and all seven kids."
"A big family," Elliot added as he stared up at the ceiling.
"I'm glad the girls have a big family. When I grew up I didn't have anyone. I was an only child and my mother wasn't around much. You don't know how many times I wished I had a bunch of brothers and sisters."
"You wanted to be part of the Brady Bunch?" Elliot joked.
"No," she said with a smile raising up to look at him, "I was leaning more toward The Partridge Family," she said with a smile.
Elliot laughed.
"What? I'm serious! When I was about thirteen I wanted to run away and join up with the Partridge Family. I wanted Shirley Jones to be my mother. She always seemed so cool on television. And I figured she already had five kids, what was one more?"
Elliot laughed again.
"Plus, they got to travel around and sing in a band. Of course I was in love with David Cassidy, so I guess that would have been a bit odd."
"Well, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you," he said with a smile.
"Ehh, I'm not. If I had run away with them, I never would have met you and I wouldn't have my best friend or my two beautiful daughters. I guess God really does have a plan for all of us. He just doesn't always tell us right away what that plan is. Sometimes we just have to trust through the bad times that there is good yet to come. If I hadn't been through all that I went through growing up, I never would have become a cop. And I never would have met you."
"And think of all of the people you have helped, Olivia. The rest of us, we do the job and we care about the victims. But you are the heart of the group. You can relate to victims in ways that the rest of us just can't. You are an amazing detective, but you are also a remarkable human being and that is what makes you so good at everything you do."
"That is really a sweet thing to say, El."
"Every word was true. You are the kindest and most caring person I have ever met. And I am proud to have you as my best friend and my partner."
"That is probably good," she said laying back down and nestling her face against her pillow, "because now that we have kids together, you are stuck with me in your life for at least another eighteen years."
"I think I can handle that."
"Oh, you do, huh?"
"I do," he said with a smile. "Good night, Olivia."
"Night El," she said softly as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.