They'd done everything they could. They inserted the tube into her already battered ribs to release the pressure building from the lung that had partially collapsed. The only thing yet to fail was her steady breaths. The beeping on the monitor brought the paramedics the alarm that the breathing was failing. Without saying anything, one of the younger men handed the eldest one the instrument he would need. It was time for them to breathe for her. Olivia's life depended on them, each and every one.
The ambulances bumps and jerks made those in the back very aware of how fast they were going. The monitor continued beating. Her heartbeat was speeding up rapidly, her blood pressure spiking to unsafe levels. It was a battle.
"How far out are we?!" The one pumping the air in and out of Olivia's only good lung felt his brow bead with sweat.
The driver didn't turn around, but continued going along the cleared roads.
"Five minutes." He replied quickly, feeling the same kind of anxious frustration they all did.
"We can't wait that long!"
Brian stepped on the gas harder as he followed the trail of the ambulance. He knew they were ahead of him, but he didn't know what was happening. The worst part of not knowing was the fact that it was left to his imagination to think about what was going on within that vehicle. He had seen Olivia bleeding. He had seen her collapse - again.
So many nights he'd awakened to the sound of frantic noises of panic, finding her sitting up in bed in a terrified sweat. Those were the nights he both loved and hated the most. He hated the fact that Lewis' face plagued her dreams. He hated the feeling of her trembling body in his arms. But as he would hold her, as they both fell asleep together, Brian found himself remembering the unchanged reality that she was still alive. She was still with him.
The buildings of the city raced by the windows as he sped into Manhattan. Every once in a while, a squad car would fly past the window as the officers blocked all roads onto the one the ambulance needed.
Brian himself was about to collapse from exhaustion. It was just too much.
"Emily, Honey, we need to find your parents. You think you can help us by telling us what happened?" Amanda turned around in her seat, still clutching Olivia's badge. It seemed foolish, but Amanda felt Olivia was in need of it back, that she would be waiting for it to be returned the moment they arrived at the hospital.
Emily nodded.
"When did the man take you?" Amanda was gentle with her first question.
Emily's lip began to quiver. "At school." She replied quietly.
"When you were outside?" She nodded in reply to Nick's question.
Amanda glanced at Nick. They needed just one question more to be absolutely certain they knew who the girl was. "
What school do you go to?" Amanda asked.
"Park Terrace."
It was then that it was clear. Emily Haitcamp had been reported missing, an amber alert out for her after classmates had witnessed her approaching a strange man and then disappearing into his vehicle. Not one person had suspected Lewis as the culprit. By the time the girl was reported missing, everyone in the squad had tried to convince themselves that Lewis had long since left the city. A different precinct had been working the investigation, finding nothing to to on.
"I'm going to make sure your parents meet us at the hospital, ok?" Amanda was the only one with the ability to speak. Nick found himself back in the upstairs room as he looked into Olivia's darkened eyes. When would he know if she was ok?
"SVU portable to central - I need detectives to get Greg and Lacy Haitcamp to Bellevue. We found Emily, and we're just going to get her checked out."
Emily's heart pumped really fast in her little chest. The hospital was a scary place. "I don't want to get a checkup." She sounded her fears immediately, bringing Nick back.
"It will be over before you know it. We just have to see if you got hurt." He nodded at her.
She still held uneasiness in her features.
"Your mom and dad will be there." He tried again.
Emily relaxed. That was all she needed to hear.
Police presence only increased as the sun rose just above the horizon into a clouded sky. The rain hadn't started, but it looked like the sky would be ripped open by the moisture at any moment. Lights bounced off the damp walls of the granary as the medical examiner was led up to the place where Lewis had finally been found. CSU arrived soon after, parking inside the barricades that now held out a hundred people, maybe more. The massive building and unfolding breaking news story brought people out, even at 6:00 A.M. on a dim morning.
Lewis' body was lifted onto a gurney and carried away from the place he had died. Workers went about their business as they did every day. The bloody knife, dripping with Olivia's DNA, was photographed and then bagged. The work was far from over.
The ambulance pulled into the emergency entrance at Bellevue two minutes after Olivia stopped breathing on her own. Her eyes remained closed in unconsciousness as the paramedics unloaded her limp body from the ambulance. The smallest paramedic perched himself upon the gurney to keep the oxygen going into her lungs. The doors opened to the emergency room, immediately finding three nurses and another doctor running toward them and helping push the stretcher back into the surgery preparation room.
"Collapsed left lung, two stab wounds. Stopped breathing just a few minutes ago." The men filled the doctors and nurses in.
"Get her prepped for surgery!" A woman yelled.
She stopped when the stretcher stopped, lifting with the others and moving Olivia to a firm bed. One of the nurses took over ventilating Olivia as the anesthesiologist administered the drug through the IV into her veins. The paramedics left, their part of the job finished.
It was coming to a close. It was time to give everything they had to saving another life. They couldn't know how important that life was, how important it was that they save it.
Brian slammed on his brakes in a parking spot near the emergency entrance to the hospital. He jumped out of the vehicle and quickly made his way into the busy room. As he stood just inside the doors, the room began to spin. He didn't know why he'd run all the way in. He didn't know why he'd sped to wait agonizingly in the waiting room. Even then as he stood in the same building as Olivia was in, he knew no more than he had before. His presence wouldn't save her.
Brian snapped out of the vacuum he was in when a woman's hand touched his arm.
"Sir." She said it too quietly the first time. "Sir." She repeated.
He tried to form words, but all that came out was her name. "Olivia Benson - Sergeant Olivia Benson -" he couldn't even finish the sentence with the panting he did. Every fiber in him was tired, nervous, anxious.
"She's headed to surgery. Please, you should sit." Her face was concerned for him. He seemed distant and terribly distressed.
Brian didn't sit down, but instead stood by the chair she led him to.
"I will let you know when I know anything more." She assured him.
He collapsed into the chair as she walked away from him.
Amanda got the confirmation call that both Greg and Lacy Haitcamp were awaiting their arrival at Bellevue's emergency room. They were only a mile or so out from the building when Emily spoke up.
She'd been sitting quietly, trying to understand what was going on. She was so tired and so, so scared. What had the man done to Olivia? What would her parents say when she saw them again? Her voice was crackling as she spoke.
"Can I hold it?" She looked pleadingly up at Amanda, who still held Olivia's badge in her palm.
Amanda felt her heart throb again, even more so than it was. She nodded, knowing immediately what Emily meant. "Absolutely."
The little girl extended her arm as she leaned forward, the cuff marks still visible on her wrists. It made Nick so angry. At the same time it broke his heart.
Amanda dropped Olivia's badge in the small hands and watched as Emily leaned back, holding it tenderly. "I should have left it with her."
Emily felt that Olivia needed the badge more than she did. Even the five-year-old rationalized with her regrets. Everyone else knew how that felt. Wishing they could have gotten there sooner, wishing they had never let Olivia out of their sights - it all played over and over again in their minds. Nick felt the lump in his throat return. He wanted to ask her how she'd come to have it, but even if he would have been able to ask, he knew he probably wouldn't have been able to handle the answer.
Amanda asked when she saw Nick could not. "Did she give it to you, Sweetie?"
Fin listened intently, but could barely hear anything outside of the yelling his brain did. His foot needed to push down faster. His knuckled gripped the steering wheel until they were deathly white.
Emily's nod was followed by a quiet reply. "To be brave when I ran."
The words sent images into the minds of the three others who heard them. That's how it had gone. Amanda had to know, but she didn't have to ask. Emily recalled it for them.
"She hit him –" her eyes began to grow wider as she went back to that room. "And she told me to run."
She paused one last time. "And I ran fast – like she said."
Then the little girl fell silent. The other three did as well.
The entrance to Bellevue Emergency was easy for Fin to navigate, even with his hand's tremors. He hardly parked legally, not caring as he shut the car off and jumped out.
"We're going to go see your parents and then talk to the doctor, ok?" Nick unbuckled her, able to move his tongue again.
Fin was the first through the door as Nick carried Emily and Amanda trailed behind. He was the first to see Brian's panicked eyes. Amanda stopped with Fin as she saw an expression on Brian's face she'd never seen before. They both let Nick take the little girl to a nurse, who then led them through the doors to the room where the Haitcamps were standing in wait.
Fin put a hand on Brian's shoulder. Neither knew what to say. Assurances were futile, almost useless. All they could do was wait. Only one person could help Brian in the pain he felt, and once Fin saw Amanda, biting her fingernail, sat down next to Brian, he took out his phone and texted that one person.
Munch slept into the early hours of the morning. He had no idea what was going on in the city as he rested. When he opened his eyes at 6:57 and laid in bed idly, the sound of his phone beeping startled him. With a slow movement of his arms, he grabbed the device off the sidetable. The text was from Fin.
It didn't take any longer for him to sit up than for his blood to freeze. He had known about Lewis' escape, and as Munch opened the message, he already knew what was happening.
"Bellevue Emergency. Hurry."
Olivia: one of his best friends had no doubt been beaten down by the unfair hand of life again.
No, he corrected himself. Beaten down by a man who had unfairly been granted life.
A surge of nauseas horror enveloped him as he stood up on his shaky legs. Already he was mad, but still terrified of what waited for him at the hospital. How much had Lewis taken this time?
Not ten minutes passed between the time he read the message and the minute Munch was on the road. He had to get there. It was always bad if he was left with questions, and he was left with so many. Munch did what Fin told him to. He sped through Manhattan like he'd never sped before.