Elliot felt lucky to have found a flight with a cancellation. He haphazardly packed and Kathy drove him to the airport. He told her he had unexpected work related meetings in the city, and she didn't question him further. He felt a little guilty lying to her, but for now it was easier than fighting about the truth.

After muddling through security he found himself at his terminal a little early. He pulled out his laptop and pulled up his web browser. He typed, Olivia Benson, into his search bar. As much as he dreaded the results he knew he needed to know more about what happened.

He immediately felt sick as photos and news articles flooded his screen. This was national news. How did he miss this?

He skimmed through reports, but there wasn't much more information than what Katie had provided. One article provided photos of the day she was rescued, and he again felt physically ill. The pictures detailed her leaving a beach house being supported by what looked like fellow officers or detectives. The photo wasn't close up but he could see the obvious presence of bruises and burns. Fury burned bubbled inside of him. This monster would pay. The justice system was too good for him. There was no punishment fitting for what he had done to her.

He shut the laptop somewhat aggressively, and dropped it back into his carry-on. He cursed the distance out between him and New York City. He knew the coming hours would be excruciatingly slow. He felt apprehensive at the thought of seeing Liv again, and wished he had case files or something else to give him more insight to what happened to her. He needed to know, before he faced her again.

He glanced at his watch. His flight still had an hour before departure. He pulled out his phone and began scrolling through his contacts. He could call Fin, but there relationship had been volatile and Elliot couldn't be sure he would do anything to help him.

Instead he scrolled to Captain Cragen. He had loosely stayed in contact with his former captain, but they both steered clear of any topics regarding Olivia. He hit the call button and checked his watch. He wanted to be sure he was calling during normal daytime hours.

"Cragen," the voice on the other end responded.

Elliot hadn't actually put much thought in what he was going to say. "Hey Don it's Elliot."

"Oh it's the prodigal son huh?" He chuckled at his own joke. "I haven't heard from you in a long time. How is everyone?"

Elliot wasn't really interested in making small talk right now. "Everyone's fine," Elliot answered, "I'm calling because," Elliot stopped, trying to think of the right words, "Kathleen told me about what's going on with Olivia. I had no idea," Elliot's words came out angry and anguished at the same time.

"Well," Cragen drew the word out, "when you leave the country you miss out on things."

Elliot wasn't in the mood for a guilt trip. He was already being eaten alive by guilt. None of this would have happened he he was there. He knew it. He wished could change the past, but those decisions were already set in stone. "I know," Elliot's voice dropped, "I wish.." he couldn't finish the thought. He decided to get to the point of the call. "I need to know what happened. I don't really trust the information on the internet. I don't know what is actually true or what's sensationalizes. I knew that you could give it to me straight."

Silence met him on the other end. "Elliot, I'm not really sure it's my place to tell you." More silence. "It's really something you should ask her about."

Elliot let out a breath through his teeth. Cragen knew as well as he did that he torched that bridge when it unexpectedly left the force. "Don I'm not sure she'll even talk to me."

"I'm not sure she will either. You screwed up big time. Why the hell didn't you tell her you were leaving? You were supposed to call her and instead you left me holding the bag."

"I know I know." Elliot answered. "It was so stupid."

"Uh yeah it was." Cragen never sugarcoated anything.

"Can you at least send me the case files?" Elliot tried not to sound desperate.

"Come on Elliot, you know I can't send those to anyone outside the NYPD. Especially while the case is at trial."

"You can," Elliot answered. "I have been working in correspondence with NYPD on a international task force targeting terrorism threats. It allows me access to NYPD files." Elliot heard the boarding call come across the overhead. "I have the high enough security clearance. You can check."

Cragen chewed on this information. "Fine I'll send you the files. But Elliot," Elliot swore he could hear Cragen trying to hold back deep emotion, "you aren't going to like what you see, and getting angry and punching walls won't help anyone."

Elliot nodded to himself, "Okay."

"And Elliot," Cragen addressed him like a father would to his son, "She went through the worst kind of hell. We know the details she provided, but the only ones who really know what happened during those four days are her and him." The him slid from his lips with distain. "I won't allow you to hurt her further. Is that understood."

Elliot sucked in a breath. The words hit him with force. He would never do anything to hurt Olivia, but he was beginning to realize his absence hurt her in more ways than he could have imagined.

"Understood." Elliot answered.

"I'll get those files to you now."

"Thanks Don."

"It was good to hear from you again Elliot." The warm fatherly voice was back again.

"You too," Elliot answered and he ended the call.