A/N: Just wanted to wish all of my American readers a Happy Thanksgiving. I'll see you all after the Thursday holiday. :)
Chapter 6
"Detective Stabler, sorry for the wait but you can go in and see Olivia now," Doctor Bettcher came over to the group while Barba was on the phone.
"Thank you. Is everything ok Doc?" Elliot asked.
"Olivia is fine. I had another patient who decided to have an emergency right when I was coming to get you," he smiled slightly.
"Oh, well thanks," Elliot nodded and quickly headed down to the room number that the doctor had given him. He walked into the room and slipped by the patient in the bed near the door. Olivia was in the next bed behind the curtain.
"Liv," he breathed.
"El," she smiled slightly but he could tell she was in pain. The IV drip was undoubtedly full of powerful anti-inflammatory medication and despite the light over the bed being off, she was squinting.
"You scared me have to death, you know that?" He asked with a smirk.
"I'm good at that," she hadn't lost her sense of humor.
"Yes you are," he chuckled.
"Where is Calvin?" The question was inevitable and he knew that she would not like what he had to say.
"Social Services is putting him into foster care until the hearing next week," Elliot swallowed hard. Olivia's face fell.
"A week isn't enough time for them to conduct an investigation," she said.
"No and I don't understand all of it but Barba is making some phone calls," he told her.
"What are we going to do?" Her usually stoic behavior was slipping and showing her fear. It happened more often since Lewis but she still had the best poker face that Elliot had ever seen and he wondered if he would ever be able to knock down all the walls that came with the woman that was now Olivia Stabler.
"What we always do, fight," Elliot said. She only nodded and he could tell she was deep in thought. They both heard footsteps and Elliot turned to see who it was.
"We've got a situation," Cragen told them.
"What kind of situation?" Elliot asked.
"Rollins isn't at Social Services and she's not answering her phone," the Captain explained.
"How can that be?" Elliot wanted to know.
"Nick and Fin went over there to see if they could help her and the receptionist said that she received a phone call and then stepped outside, promising to be right back except when Fin and Amaro arrived, she wasn't there," Cragen said.
"You don't think that our serial killer got her do you?" Stabler wondered. He hated to voice the question aloud but Rollins wouldn't just disappear with Calvin in trouble.
"I have grave concerns. I'm going to meet them at Social Services. The unit may be suspended but I'm not going to let something happen to Rollins because of it," the Captain told them before quickly leaving the room.
"This just gets better and better," Elliot heaved a sigh and quickly filled Olivia in on what had been happening with the case outside of their own.
Casey Novak hauled herself up the last staircase that led to the Stabler apartment. She wasn't that out of shape but the fact that the elevator had been broken and she'd been fighting a nasty little head cold, made for tough stair climbing. She got to the door wheezing and gave it a knock while she tried to catch her breath.
"Hello?" A confused voice said from the other side of the door.
"Hi, my name is Casey Novak, I work with Elliot. He says there are papers in here that I need to retrieve," she tried to smile but her whole face hurt.
"I need to see some ID, please," the disembodied voice through the door told her. Casey nodded. Elliot and Olivia weren't taking any chances with the safety of their babysitter or Charlotte. She pressed her ADA badge up against the door and it opened to reveal a sixteen year old brunette who was about five foot five tall.
"Hi I'm Mindy from one floor down. Mr. and Mrs. Stabler didn't say anything about having someone over," she said as she let Casey in and closed the door.
"I do apologize for that but Olivia is in the hospital again and some developments have come up in a case that Elliot is working on so they sent me over," Casey explained.
"Oh no, what happened?" Mindy asked.
"Olivia had a tumble on the stairs," the ADA said.
"And I was right here and didn't even know it, I feel awful," Mindy admitted.
"Not your fault, she was upset about some paperwork that came in the mail and she really shouldn't be taking the stairs but with the elevator out... anyway she said the paperwork was in a big manila envelope," Casey wondered how much that cold medicine was going to her head.
"She must have meant this," Mindy turned and went to the coffee table where she retrieved an envelope.
"Looks about right," Casey nodded.
"Did they say anything about me bringing Charlotte somewhere?" The babysitter asked, assuming that they would want the little one with them. Olivia very rarely left Charlotte at home with the babysitter for longer than an hour or two and right now it had been longer than that.
"I would hold tight for now. I'll give Elliot a call and find out what is going on," Casey promised before thanking her for her help and waving at Charlotte who was happily playing in the playpen.
At Social Services, Nick was pacing, Fin was continually dialing Amanda's number. Each time, it rang, it went to voicemail. Being suspended, they technically couldn't investigate but having friends over at TARU; they were hoping the ping information from her cell phone came through soon.
"Captain!" Nick shouted as his superior came over to them.
"What have we got?" He asked.
"Nothing and the case was handed over to Major Case again," Fin was angry.
"They're keeping us informed but there is nothing we can do here. They won't even let us inside the building. In the meantime, Social Services whisked Calvin off during the commotion," Nick was just as angry.
"I'm making some phone calls," Cragen said.
To Be Continued…