"What's that?" Churlish pointed to the right of Bruno. Sure enough, something pink peeked from the bottom of a bush. Bruno reached down, and brushed the leaves out of the way.
"Scrunchie?" He asked. He had no idea what those things actually were. He pulled out an evidence bag, and tucked the scrunchie inside.
He handed it to Churlish to examine. "Yep." She tucked the item carefully into her pack. "Could be the victim's. Colton said she was wearing a ponytail right?"
"Yes. That's what Abby pulled to yank her back."
They continued walking. "Have you worked on anything like this before?" Churlish wondered aloud.
"Not this specifically. But a child killer? Yeah. Only one other case though." He kept his eyes on the ground. "They are some of the worst types of cases." He shook his head. "Usually there is some satisfaction in locking up a perp, but when the perp is a child…no one wins."
"I haven't worked in SVU long, and I already hate this case." Churlish admitted.
"I think we all do. This one… it's rough." They were approaching the edge of the forest line before the rapid descent into the ravine.
The pair looked around the area, splitting up to search the ravine edge. Bruno took a look over the edge and his stomach dropped. He had to get visions of that little girl out of his head. He couldn't do his job if he stayed distracted by the horror of the case.
That's when he saw it. It just sat there staring at him, and he wondered if it had been there all along. He stepped closer. "Churlish!" He called.
She jogged over. "Yeah?"
"You have some tweezers in that pack?" She probably did. Woman was prepared for anything."
"I think so. One sec." She dug through her bag until she located a pair of tweezers, and handed them to Bruno.
Bruno flipped open an evidence bag, and tweezed a chewed piece of gum from a small gathering of rocks near the dump site. "Hopefully this is what we're looking for."
-000-
"Remember, this is all a big surprise to him. He doesn't know you, and his reaction might not be what you think it might be." Olivia tried to temper the couple's expectations.
The wife appeared to be some mixture of expectant and terrified. Her husband seemed overconfident, and Olivia wasn't sure that mixture of energy would translate into a successful reunion.
"Stay here with Sargeant Tutuola. I'm going to check in with his child advocate, and see how he's doing with all of this before letting you in."
"He's our son! We've waited long enough!" Of course Ethan's father was responsible for the outburst.
Olivia winced, but persisted. "That may be true, but your child is known to be violent, AND doesn't know you. I need you to be patient."
The husband grumbled something unintelligible, and Olivia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "One minute," she affirmed as she opened the door to the children's interview room. Something in her gut told her this wasn't going to go as well as all of them hoped.
-000-
Noah looked up from the book he was reading, "Do you think we can see if Jace and Colton want to do something today?"
They had started to settle into a morning routine. After breakfast, Noah would do some reading, and Elliot would pester Jet for details on the case his team was working on. Elliot glanced up over his laptop screen. "Yeah. Text them and find out if they can." He shut the laptop. "What do you want to do?"
Noah shrugged. "I don't know. I think we should just stay home and play PlayStation or something. I don't think any of us want to go out, but I don't want them to think I abandoned them after everything."
Such a great kid."It's a good idea Noh. Text them and see what they say. We could get a couple tubs of ice cream if you guys want a treat or something."
"Okay." Noah pulled out his phone "Do I need to tell them a certain time?"
Elliot shook his head,"Nah. Whenever is best for them."
"Okay." Noah began typing furiously on her phone. After a minute or two his phone began buzzing as the boys responded to Noah's invitation.
Noah leaned back on the back rest of the chair and sighed. Elliot watched as Noah sat back up and punched out another text.
Elliot was beginning to understand some of Noah's "tells" and he was fairly certain Noah was trying not to cry. Elliot waited for a moment, but Noah said nothing. Elliot decided to prod him a little. "What'd they say," he asked casually.
He observed as Noah swallowed back some emotion and sat up a little more. "Jace wants to come, but Colton wants to stay home."
Elliot understood. He suspected Noah was reaching for some sort of normalcy while simultaneously trying to care for his hurting friend. Colton's rejection probably stung, but Elliot didn't want Noah to give up on him entirely. "Let Jace know he can come over. Ask him if he needs a ride." Noah nodded, but before he pulled his messages back up Elliot added. "Don't give up on Colton. He might not be ready to be with friends right now, but he will eventually." Elliot made sure Noah's focus was on him. "Don't stop inviting him because one day he's going to need his friends and he needs to know you are there for him when he's ready."
Noah blinked back the tears that had accumulated ever since Colton's rejection. "What if he's never ready?" Noah's question felt heavy.
"As long as you show him that you have his back no matter what, that's all you can do." He swallowed his own emotion. "Grief changes people, Noh. And Colton…what he experienced was really traumatic. It's going to take time for him to become more like himself again." If he was ever the same again. Elliot knew that was definitely a possibility, but he also knew that kids were resilient.
Noah's phone buzzed. "Jace said that both his parents are home. They took time off to be with him and Colton this week. His dad can bring him over in like an hour." Elliot silently thanked God that Colton had parents who were present, and had the work flexibility to make their child their first priority. Not everyone had that luxury. Not even a certain NYPD captain who desperately wanted to be with her son right now.
"Let's hurry and grab a couple tubs of ice cream for you guys." Elliot had an idea. "Do you know what Colton's favorite snack is?"
"Yeah," Noah smiled as he caught on to what Elliot was thinking.
"Great. We will send something home for him with his dad."
-000-
Ethan paced the room like a caged animal. A social worker had come at the request of the advocate. Olivia spoke with her in the corner quietly while Ethan paced.
"I'm not sure he's ready for this," the social worker advised in a hushed tone.
Olivia watched Ethan continue to move agitatedly from one side of the room to the other. "I don't think so either, but his parents are insistent."
"You told them what to expect?" The social worker asked for clarification.
"I tried, but…" she shook her head. "I doubt they understand the issues at play here."
The social worker sighed. "Do you think it would help if I talked to them? Or would it be a waste of time?"
"You could try, but I'm sure it won't change their minds. They have waited ten years. They refuse to wait a second longer." Olivia hated how fraught this situation had become. What should be a happy reunion had the potential to explode violently.
The social worker seemed hesitant, but ultimately conceded. "Bring them in, but let's try to keep this first visit short."
That was fine with her. Hopefully they could survive this interaction without incident. She took a long breath as she mentally prepared herself for the interaction. She turned to Ethan who looked like he was going to come out of his skin. "Lucas, I'm going to let them in, okay?" She hoped to mentally prepare him for something no one could ever be prepared for.
-000-
Elliot just pulled out some sandwich meat when there was a knock at the door. "That's Jace!" Noah called and headed for the door. Elliot set the packages down on the counter, and grabbed the package of Oreos he and Noah had picked up for Colton.
He held it out for Noah, and he snatched it as he passed the kitchen. Elliot hung back, but leaned against the wall casually, with his arms folded. Noah opened the door and greeted his friend.
"Hey," Noah said. His voice was a little nervous. Both boys seemed a little hesitant. They hadn't seen each other since they stayed with Fin in that dingy hotel.
"Hey," Jace returned.
Noah's eyes darted to the twins' dad. "Elliot and I got these for Colton." He held out the package for the dad to take. "Can you tell him that I miss him and I hope he can come over again soon."
Jace's dad nodded, and Elliot watched as he held back a tear or two at the gesture.
Noah's attention was almost immediately back on Jace. "Elliot got us ice cream, do you want to do that or play some games first."
Jace grinned, and the ice seemed to have broken. "Ice cream. Duh." There it was. The goofy kid Elliot remembered. Noah and Jace took off, leaving Elliot standing near the door with the twins' father.
It was a little awkward, but Elliot stuck out his hand. "I'm Elliot Stabler. I don't think we have officially met."
The man returned the handshake. "Jack Kelly."
Elliot dropped the man's hand and added, "Nice to put a face to the name." He tilted his head toward the boys who had already pulled the tubs of ice cream from the freezer. "You got a pair of great boys. I really enjoyed spending time with them." Before all hell broke loose…
"Well Jace talks non stop about Noah's…" that damn label. "Okay it's a little funny. He calls you Noah's "Not-dad dad".
Elliot chuckled at that. "Probably the best explanation actually." Elliot smiled. He would happily be Noah's dad, or not dad dad. He would be happy for any label really.
The man's eyes suddenly turned serious. "I've been meaning to thank you,,," Jack started. "For keeping Jace safe, and uh…" he cleared his throat, "and finding Colton. I know it was all a little more than you bargained for, but we are so grateful you were there for Noah and our boys."
Elliot's stomach twisted with discomfort. He appreciated the gratitude, but he still hadn't let himself off the hook for not doing more to keep the kids safe. "I wish I could have done more," he admitted. "And Liv found Colton. I was just there."
"I think we both know he wouldn't have been found without you."
Elliot swallowed the lump in his throat. "I wish I could have done more."
"You did enough," the other man encouraged. Jack looked down at the package of Oreos in his hands. "Noah's a great kid."
"I know," Elliot chuckled, "that's all because of his mom."
"I could say the same about my boys," Jack smiled.
"Thank Noah for me. You know, for remembering Colton" Jack lifted the package of Oreos.
"How's he doing with everything?" Elliot asked seriously.
Jack shrugged. "Good as expected I guess. My wife keeps reminding me that healing doesn't happen on a set timeline, but I just want him to be okay, you know?"
Elliot completely understood. "I get that."
Jack sighed. "It's been hard on Colton, but it's been rough for Jace too. He's used to experiencing everything with his brother. And this?" Jack shook his head. "He can't understand this, and I think it's the first time either of those boys had felt truly alone."
Elliot felt his heart break even more. He imagined his twins, and how lost one would be without the other…particularly at that age. "I can't imagine."
"This will be good though." Referring to the boys hanging out for the day. "Jace needed out, and Noah understands what's going on so Jace felt comfortable coming over."
"Well I'm glad he could come. I think Noah is looking for some sort of normal."
"Jace too." Jack agreed. He glanced at his watch. "I need to grab something from the pharmacy for my wife so I probably should go. Will you let us know when he needs picked up? We don't want him to overstay his welcome."
"He's fine here as long as he wants, but I'm sure you will want him home for dinner."
"True. Let's say 6 unless something else comes up?"
"Yep. Let's plan on that."
-000-
Olivia opened the door and the Campbells stepped into the interview room. Olivia stepped back, and allowed the social worker to mediate this interaction.
"Lucas," the social worker caught his attention and he stopped pacing. "These are your parents."
He started to shake his head. "No they're not," he insisted.
"Ethan," the dad took a step forward but his son recoiled.
"That's not my name. My name is Lucas. Lucas Moore. My dad's name is Marcus. I don't know who you are but I'm not your kid."
Funny thing was, Ethan looked exactly like his mother. The dad dared to take a step closer. Olivia was grateful he didn't immediately crowd the boy. "No," he motioned for his wife, "we are you're parents. He uh," the dad began to get a little emotional, "he took you from us when you were small." His father's eyes focused on his with intensity. "You are our son."
Ethan stepped backward with his arms folded tightly against his chest. Olivia watched his chest rise and fall, and she knew his fight or flight reflex was moments away from exploding. It was time to intervene.
"Maybe we should pick this up later," Olivia's eyes darted between the father and son. She stepped closer.
"But, we just got here." Ethan's mothers quiet voice barely registered.
On hearing his wife's depressed observation, Ethan's dad took another step towards him. "Son," he started, but he couldn't finish his thought because the tenuous hold Olivia had on the situation snapped, and before anyone could intervene Ethan's fist connected with his father's face. Fin immediately burst through the door. He caught Ethan before he could throw anymore punches. "Woah man!" He gripped the child's arms, "slow it down." Ethan's looked like his heart might pound out of his chest, and his eyes were wild with fear.
Olivia rushed to his fathers side. Blood poured from the man's nose. She caught the attention of the social worker, "stay with him, I'm going to get the first aid kit." She turned to Fin. "Get him out of here, please!"
Fin towed the boy out of the room and Olivia rushed for the closest first aid kit. She found a roll of paper towels sitting on a desk nearby so she grabbed those as well. She tried to restrain the frustration she felt. The parents pushed, and instead of a slow meeting after Ethan had acclimated to the idea, they forced a meeting with a volatile child. The outcome should have been obvious.
She handed the kit to the social worker, and pulled some paper towels off the roll and handed it to Ethan's dad to hold against his bleeding nose.
Just as she stepped away from the chaos, her phone pinged. It was Velasco, and the DNA results on the hair were in.
-000-