And Fin and Munch couldn't help but glance at each other, anxiety and uncertainty swirling inside them, as they started walking after their captain towards the other cops.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Despite the intensive search and investigation, morning had already turned to afternoon, and all they had was surveillance video from the front of the precinct, proving that Olivia had indeed gotten into Elliot's car. After finding themselves useless on the spot, Fin and Munch had let the forensic investigation do their job at Olivia's apartment and had returned to the precinct themselves. So far there were so few leads that their work as detectives was almost impossible, but giving up was not an option.

They had gone door to door at Olivia's apartment, asking each of her neighbors at home if they might have seen anything, but to no avail. They had a list of apartments whose occupants had not answered the door, and just as they had begun collecting the phone numbers of these neighbors to call them in hopes of witness sightings, a blond, blue-eyed woman appeared through the door, a younger woman closely following in her footsteps.

"Kathy? What are you doing here?" Munch automatically stood up and began to approach Elliot's ex-wife and her second oldest daughter. However, Kathy did not have time to answer.

"Where's my dad?" Kathleen's voice was demanding, and with her eyes burning, she stared alternately at Munch and Fin, and Fin shook his head.

"That's a good question. We…" However, his voice trailed off as he didn't know how much he was allowed to reveal, and his gaze shifted to his partner who shrugged lightly. Then he sighed. "All we know is that Elliot and Olivia left the precinct together because he was supposed to take her home. Olivia's phone was found in her apartment, but at the moment, Elliot's car is also missing in addition to them. His phone is in the process of being located, but for some reason it's taking longer than usual."

But instead of the announcement causing concern among Elliot's family members, Kathy folded her arms, looked out the window and shook her head with a snort. And there was no fear in her eyes, instead they were filled with disbelief.

"Should have known that," she muttered, and made Fin and Munch frown. Kathleen also turned to look at her mother.

"What do you mean?"

"What?" Kathy's gaze bored into the detectives. "Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I haven't been aware of how my husband has felt about his partner all these years?"

"Mom…"

"I just tried not to care about it, you know?" Kathy's eyes had filled with tears. "I mean… At the end of the day, he came home to me. He chose me, right?"

Munch opened his mouth to protest, but Kathy shook her head quickly, her voice regaining its earlier assurance. "But I guess I was wrong all these 12 years," irritation was bubbling in her voice. "Because as soon as he gets rid of me, he takes his partner and runs away. He and his precious Olivia, riding off together into the sunset…"

Ed Tucker stepping in the door interrupted her bitter speech, however, and they turned to look at him and Cragen, who was almost jogging behind him. Tucker's eyes were flashing, Cragen's expression was frustrated to say the least, and this time Fin also stood up, muscles tensing.

"What is he doing here?"

Tucker's eyes were on Kathy and Kathleen, though, and he stopped, his mouth tightening into a straight line.

"Who are these?"

"I'm Elliot's wife, thanks for asking," Kathy huffed. "This is Elliot's daughter Kathleen."

"I see," Tucker narrowed his eyes. "I assume that Sergeant Munch and Detective Tutuola have told you why I am here."

"We haven't, because your presence is a mystery to us too," Fin gritted his teeth, even though a quickly growing suspicion started to smolder in the back of his head. He glanced quickly at his captain, whose expression was tired, resigned.

Tucker crossed his arms and let out an annoyed sigh. "Well, in that case, let me enlighten you. I'm here because Detective Benson is missing. And with the information we currently have, we have reason to assume that her partner, your husband…" He looked pointedly at Kathy. "He is involved."

His announcement caused Fin to lose his ability to speak for a moment, but Munch, next to him, cleared his throat.

"Sir, I'm not…"

"I know what you think about it," Tucker interrupted him, his voice sharp. "But that doesn't matter at the moment. The investigation found Detective Stabler's fingerprints at Detective Benson's apartment."

"Sir…"

"You are now investigating the kidnapping of Detective Benson, and Detective Stabler is your prime suspect."

Tucker's announcement silenced everyone for a moment before Kathleen's faint voice broke the silence:

"My dad would never…"

Tucker wasn't listening though, only turning his piercing gaze to Kathy, who was still trying to appear confident, even though the insecurity bubbling beneath the surface had begun to affect her body language and reveal her true feelings.

"Mrs. Stabler, I would like to interrogate you first."

You've got to be kidding me.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Although Olivia had promised her partner to stay awake, she only realized she had dozed off when the hard bouncing of the car jolted her awake. Elliot's weight against her felt very heavy, heavier than before, and for a moment the realization made the blood freeze in her veins.

She still didn't know how badly he was hurt, or how severe the stab was.

"El?" She whispered and swallowed hard. "El?"

No answer.

No no no no no no no…

"Elliot!"

But then the weight against her shifted, and she felt a painful growl against her shoulder. It made her breathe a sigh of relief, and she had to resist the sudden strong urge to plant a kiss on his forehead.

Such closeness was not typical for them. Physical touch had been more common in the first years of their partnership, but the deeper their relationship had developed, the rarer actual touch had become. She couldn't say why, mostly she had convinced herself that it just wasn't who they were. But the times, the rare times they had broken that unspoken rule, a small, nagging, piercing voice deep inside her had penetrated the lie she was trying to convince herself with and told her, bluntly and pitilessly, what the real reason was.

And it wasn't that they didn't want to touch each other. It was that every touch made them, or at least her, want more of it so much that it was easier not to touch at all.

One more fee that they were able to be partners.

But despite the fact that physical contact wasn't commonplace for them, far from it, Elliot's weight against her and his head on her shoulder didn't feel wrong. On the contrary, it felt almost familiar, natural, like it was something they did every day, and the realization made a vague nervousness bubble up in Olivia's stomach.

It has to be because of this situation.

"How are you feeling?"

"Seriously?" Elliot tried to chuckle, but the attempt fell flat. "I've never been better."

"Very funny," Olivia snorted and discreetly tried to change her position. Sitting in the same position had made her whole body numb, but she didn't want Elliot to lean away from her.

Because despite the situation, his warm body against hers soothed her.

The car bounced again, making him tremble in pain. Olivia had to bite her lip.

"It would be nice if…" He breathed sharply through his nose. "I could get that knife out of my back."

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I know. But it's too dark, and I can't see how deep it is, so pulling it out is too much of a risk. You can bleed out."

Elliot groaned and pressed his head tighter against her shoulder.

"Right now... I wouldn't complain if..."

"Shut up, Elliot. If you say one more time that…"

But then the car swayed, turned, and soon it stopped, brakes screeching. Instinctively, Olivia and Elliot tensed, Elliot's head lifted from her shoulder, and as footsteps began to sound from beside the car, the pain seemed to pause as he moved partially in front of her, muscles tensing.

And then the door opened, bright light flooded into the van, and Olivia caught a glimpse of the knife wedged firmly between her partner's right shoulder blade. Anger flared up inside her, but when she turned to look at the man standing at the car door, she realized she was staring right down the barrel of a gun.

"Good evening," the man didn't seem nervous at all, instead he rested one hand casually on his hip, the gun in the other hand. "Nice to see that you woke up too," he grinned at Elliot, who was slowly starting to move tighter in front of her. "You do owe me one front seat wash, the next passenger certainly doesn't want to sit in your blood."

Even though Olivia couldn't see her partner's face, something in his body language told her he was about to attack. But he was hurt, in pain, they had no idea of the man's motives, and it would be all too easy for him to shoot him before he could get to him. That's why she discreetly grabbed her partner's shirt, lightly but clearly enough for him to get the hint.

"Not now, El."

Still pointing the gun at them, the man got into the car and started approaching them. Elliot's body began to press her against the wall.

"Don't you dare touch her," he growled, his body flinching with pain, and the man stopped, tilted his head and dug a knife out of his pocket.

"That's very sweet, but if you don't want her to stay in the car, I have to untie her," he nodded his head towards Olivia's legs, which were attached to the wall with a rope. Then he crouched down beside them, sawed across the rope and straightened his back.

"Okay then," he stepped back to the door of the van and jumped out. "Come out, and I remind you, I have a gun, and I won't hesitate to use it."

For a few seconds they stayed still, Olivia feeling like her heart was about to jump out of her throat, and then she gently nudged her partner forward. He glanced at her hesitantly, but then tried to stand up, grimaced in pain and dropped to his knees again. Olivia's legs felt like iron bars as she staggered to her feet, but when the man swung his weapon, she swallowed and grabbed her partner's arm.

"El."

And with her help he stood up, breathing shallowly, and slowly they walked to the car door.

"He needs medical attention," Olivia announced. "He…"

"Oh, he'll get it," the man grinned, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, and doubt began to coil in her veins. "Because we have reached our destination."

"Which is…?"

And they stepped out, Elliot leaning heavily on her, and the man slammed the car doors shut before announcing solemnly:

"Welcome to Paradise."