Amanda held Olivia's with both of hers while Nick kept his hand on the mortal wound. Olivia could feel every needle of pain sent through her, but she was ok. She was in the hands of the people who she cared about most. When she looked at Nick's face, she saw him ready to speak.
"Liv - I didn't mean to - I had to shoot." They were rushed words, words of panic. Olivia swallowed hard as she realized what he was saying.
"I'm sorry." He finished. Then he had said it. He had told her.
The calm in her face startled him again. She shook her head, desperate to let him know that he hadn't injured her. "You didn't."
Amanda glanced away from Olivia, looking across to Nick. They were losing her. Nick furrowed his brow in what should have been relief. He hadn't shot her? In the darkness of the room, he couldn't seen the exact nature of the injury she'd sustained.
"The knife." Olivia moved her hand in Amanda's, pulling them both down to the floor near her waist. She had felt the pain when Lewis had hit her, the knife still in his hand. He'd driven it into her ribs twice before removing it and dropping it as they fell. Amanda didn't touch the weapon that she now saw. Nick wasn't any bit relieved. They were still running out of time. The stab wounds were so deep, and now they knew that there was not one, but two.
The time was going by at a rate that they couldn't stand. They had to move.
"We can't wait up here." Nick moved gently as Olivia lay in his lap. She understood what that meant.
"I'll carry you down the stairs on my back. Then we can both help." The words were coming from somewhere far away from Olivia.
Donald Cragen sat down after brunch with Eileen and turned on the TV in their large room. As he watched a morning show, he grabbed his phone. He had heard nothing. He didn't know. The NYPD website opened quickly and Cragen immediately noticed the red bar at the bottom of the page. He squinted his eyes to read it.
Eileen looked over at him, very aware of what he was looking for. She said nothing.
Cragen's heart stopped. "Precincts in the Brooklyn area be advised. Backup requested at the Red Hook Granary."
That could have been anything, but the former captain knew. He stared at the message for some time, and then he clicked on the news tab on his homepage. A breaking news story was nothing new to New York, but of the newest posts on the page, there was one that confirmed his fears.
"Breaking News: Police Search Red Hook Grain Terminal for missing Manhattan SVU Sergeant."
Cragen felt cold all over. Olivia was with him: Lewis. That horrible man never lost. The older man wanted to cry, and he did - if only a little. Lewis had had too many chances to get at Olivia. The justice system Cragen had spent so many years upholding had failed when he had needed it to succeed most.
Eileen leaned forward, catching the tear rolling down his cheek. She reached over and grabbed his hand.
"Don. What is it?" Her voice was soft and gentle.
He didn't look at her as he replied. "He has her."
Brian felt his mind slipping out of the world he was in. The sun was coming up, lighting the horizon. That didn't make any difference to the darkness he held inside. He had heard the confrontation. He knew what might have happened. From the sound of Olivia's voice, she was hurt. She was hurt badly.
The radio went to static when the other receiver died, but it crackled to life again minutes later. Those moments of waiting were agony for Brian. What would he hear when they radioed back? And then they did.
"We need EMS upstairs. Hurry! Officer down."
It was the sound of Amanda's voice that came across the line. Brian's legs moved by themselves. He threw open the car door and sprinted toward the barricades put in place. There was a news crew already there, more on their way, no doubt. How had they known so fast?
"Sir, we can't let you in there." An officer stopped him by putting a hand in his shoulder.
"I have to. I know her - I - I know her." The last words trailed off into the silence of the morning. That silence was interrupted by the blades of a helicopter beating the air above them.
"They've got her. She'll be coming down soon." The young man assured Cassidy tenderly. There was no annoyance in his voice at all.
The barricades were one hundred or so yards from the back entrance of the building. Brian saw EMS parked inside the boundaries. They were ready for when Olivia came down.
Emily was closing her eyes, squeezing them shut as tightly as she could. The sounds unnerved her. There were so many. It sounded like a whole bunch of tires on the gravel road beyond the piles of equipment and concrete. She couldn't move. She was fearing it was Lewis. There were no sirens, so there were no police.
Emily opened her eyes to look at the badge in her hands. Her small fingers smoothed the edges of its gold surface. Olivia had told her to be brave, and she was trying to. She had to wait. She would wait until Olivia came to get her.
Fin and his men found staircase after staircase, going up and finding nothing. The building was too large. If Olivia was seriously injured, EMS would have little chance of making it to her before it was too late. Frustrated, he picked up his radio.
"Nick, Amanda, you're going to have to get her down here yourselves. We can't find you guys." He spoke rapidly.
The radios of everyone, those outside the barricade and those inside the building, came to life. The press, two cameramen and a news reporter, stood close enough to hear the frantic call. Brian reached out to grab one of the barricade's top wooden edge. He felt it was the only thing he could do to keep from collapsing.
"Please. I'm Detective Cassidy. I work IAB. I need to be in there." His badge was still on him, and he showed it to the officer.
The man contemplated. "IAB?" He questioned.
"Sergeant Benson - " Brian could get nothing else out. He didn't know how to say to the officer he loved her, that he had to make sure she was ok. He had to be in there.
"Brian Cassidy? Detective, how did you not know your girlfriend was missing?" The reporter had noticed him and approached.
Brian didn't turn around. His eyes silently begged the officer.
"What will you do if she doesn't come out alive?" The question hit him hard.
The begging in his eyes got stronger, and the officer nodded, unwilling to give the press what they wanted. "Come on."
Olivia cried out in pain when Amanda and Nick hoisted her to her feet for only a moment. Nick let her collapse on his back, leaning over a great deal so that she would stay stable enough for him to carry. Olivia let her cheek rest on the back of his shoulder as she tried to keep herself from yelling. She kept her arms around his neck loosely as they began to walk toward the stairs.
The building now had light in it as the morning came. Nick had reached the first step when their radio buzzed again. It was Fin's voice telling them that they didn't have time to search. They couldn't find them. Amanda radioed back as she descended on the stairs right behind Nick and Olivia.
"We're on our way, Fin." She replied simply.
Olivia was limp on Nick's back, but the dead weight was nothing compared to the weight of uncertainty he carried. He didn't know if they'd make it out in time. He didn't know how badly she was hurt. He wasn't sure how real a possibility it was that she wouldn't make it.
They took the corner and found another set of stairs. Olivia breathed slowly against Nick. Her energy was still reserved. She choked out a sudden question. Nick heard the whisper in his ear.
"How did you know?" She asked quietly.
Nick took a deep breath as he took the stairs in stride. "Brian called when he found your note." He replied just as soft.
Amanda, behind them, heard nothing but the crackling of the radio as Fin spoke again.
"EMS is waiting on the west side. All routes from here to Bellevue are clear."
Amanda nodded as she and Nick hit the ground floor.
"Ok Liv. We're both going to help you. Here." Nick stopped and gently lowered so the her feet were on the ground. Amanda put one of Olivia's arms over her shoulder and supported her.
Olivia squeezed her eyes shut as another pain bubble exploded within her. The shock waves went all the way from her toes to her neck. She was steadied by Amanda, standing up. Olivia put a hand to the bloodstain on her sweater. The blot of red around it just kept growing.
"We have to go. Come on, Liv. You're going to be ok." Nick prompted her to take her hand from the wound. Olivia didn't say anything.
Her other arm went over Nick's shoulder. Amanda was pained by the terrible grimace Olivia's face made, but they had no choice other than to keep going. With both of their support, Olivia moved her legs to walk with them. It hurt. Oh god it hurt.
"We're almost there. Hang in there, Liv." Nick said, the fear in his own throat changing his voice.
The doorway she'd come through what seemed like a lifetime before was the one they walked toward. The exit was lit with the faded light of morning. As they stepped out, the sharp bay air hit Olivia with great force.
"The girl - my car is parked in the junk yard." She had to tell them now. She remembered then. "Emily. She's there."
Nick nodded. They had all known that Lewis had used a child to force her hand. It had worked. "We'll find her, Liv."
As Brian moved toward a group of squad cars, still a good distance from the building, the crowd behind them got loud. Now, at least six news stations had cameras and anchors out, reporting live. Even a handful of civilians gathered, despite the fact that the police manning the barricades attempted to get them all out of the area. They knew that the suspect was down, but they also knew that the fight wasn't over.
When he heard the yells, Brian turned toward EMS. Time slowed as he caught sight of Nick, an arm of tan settled around his shoulder. On the other side, Amanda's body moved the same way Nick's did. Brian glanced to the middle. It was Olivia. From the distance he was away, he couldn't make out exactly what kind of injuries she had sustained, but it was clear that she was having trouble walking. His world shattered when the crimson of the blood on her sweater met his gaze.
EMS jumped into action, already running toward them with a stretcher. Brian began his run toward her, but hit two strong officers.
"You can't -" one began as they held him back. They had seen too. They knew how bad it was, and both refused to let Brian through to see the measures the paramedics would take to save her life.
Brian struggled against the two, now held back by two others. "Please - I have to!" He gritted his teeth as the tears of fear, relief, and uncertainty began to fall from his eyes. Olivia didn't move her own feet. She collapsed before EMS got to them.
"She's going to be ok." One of the officers offered Brian the littlest of reassurances. He stopped his struggled and dropped to his knees as the doors of the ambulance shut.
Nick and Amanda were very aware at the weakening of her body that they now carried alone. Olivia was not capable of walking. Her feet took steps every once and a while, but for the most part, her feet dragged in the rocks of the road.
"Help!" Amanda's voice was strangled as Olivia began to lose consciousness.
The darkness was fuzzy around the edges of Olivia's vision. That realm was taking her back. Her body couldn't hold itself. She found it hard to breathe, and with one movement of her body, she felt panic sinking in. She was going to suffocate.
As the four paramedics approached them, Olivia slipped into darkness. Amanda and Nick felt their fears mount as they, with the help of the doctors, laid Olivia down on the stretcher. They strapped her in before moving back toward the ambulance. Nick and Amanda broke into a run with them.
"Route to Bellevue is clear. Go!" Nick and Amanda already knew that they could not go with. Four paramedics was enough. They'd do everything they could for her.
The team have to wait at the hospital, praying that Olivia didn't breathe her last on the way there. Nick turned from the ambulance after they both caught the last glimpse of the paramedics slipping an oxygen mask over Olivia's face.
Amanda took out her radio and spoke. "We need backup in the West gravel yard. Missing girl is in Sergeant Benson's car."
When Amanda turned, she found Brian on his knees still a ways away, his face stern and unfeeling. Amanda broke into a jog, reaching him before Nick even blinked. She took him by the arm and helped him stand.
"She's going to be ok, Brian."
He didn't believe her.
Nick hadn't moved. He was unable to. Olivia had done what she came to do. She had ended it knowing it would end her too. But Nick wasn't ready to say goodbye. None of them were.