The body of the woman whom the guards had picked up to carry out "Operation Noah's Ark" the day before.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Olivia didn't have time to stay and examine the body further, but despite the blood freezing in her veins and draining all the strength from her body, she forced her feet to move, turned on her heel, dashed back to the fence and jumped over it just before one of the guards turned to look at her. Heart pounding furiously in her ears, she had to fight to catch her breath, and while she tried to look as normal as possible, the guard started walking towards her, a suspicious look on his face.

"Hey you!" He exclaimed, causing Olivia to straighten her back. Don't reveal what you saw.

"Yeah?" She cleared her throat and started walking towards the guard, who moved his gun to aim at her. She put her hands up and stopped.

"Where did you go?"

"What do you mean?"

The guard stopped in front of her and narrowed his eyes. "I saw you jump over the fence. What were you doing on the other side?"

Shit shit shit….

"I… Uh…" She hurriedly tried to come up with something, but then the guard grabbed her gown and began to drag her back towards the fence. Then he pushed her hard against it and pressed the gun to her forehead.

"Give me one good reason why you disobeyed orders and left the yard without permission?!" He roared, making her grimace.

"I…" She stammered, but then a quick thought popped into her mind: "I was so thirsty, and the pond was so inviting, so I had to go and drink. I'm sorry!" She added quickly, gulping, hoping her explanation would get through. The guard watched her for a moment, but then slowly raised his gaze and began to stare in the direction of the pond, Olivia's heart skipped a beat, and she closed her eyes, waiting, waiting for him to see the body…"

But then the gun came off her forehead, the weight against her lifted, and she opened her eyes just before the guard yanked her forward and pressed the gun against her back.

"I'll give you one piece of advice, you shouldn't drink that water," he grunted, and before he started to push her to walk towards the house, Olivia glanced at the pond and the body floating in the water, confused as to how the guard hadn't noticed it. But the birds were gone, the sun had gone into a cloud, and the body looked like a shadow or a rock exposed from the water.

And Olivia's legs felt mostly like jelly as she started walking towards the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Elliot was already in the room when the guards ushered them in, and when their eyes met, a sudden, indefinable feeling almost made Olivia's knees buckle. The feeling was not new, she had experienced it countless times before; it was like half the weight of the world was lifted from her shoulders the moment his blue eyes locked on hers, and the feeling of loneliness and fear was replaced by support and safety.

And even though she didn't even say him anything, he knew right away that everything wasn't right. Of course he knew, he was the only one who could read her completely, often even better than she could herself.

"What's wrong?" He asked quietly as Olivia slumped down to sit next to him and squeezed her eyes shut.

Everything, her mind screamed, but she couldn't tell him everything. Not now.

"I…" She started, but then closed her mouth, glanced around, and when she was able to make sure no one was listening, she lowered her head to her partner's shoulder to get closer to his ear without attracting extra attention, and started again: "I found a body."

Elliot's body tensed beneath her head, and he turned his head so that his cheek hit the top of her head.

"What?!"

"Shh!" She hissed, took a short break, glanced at the other people in the room, but they seemed to be engrossed in their own conversations, so she continued quietly again: "By the pond. It was the woman who was picked up here yesterday morning."

"But…" She could almost feel Elliot's brain shutting down and trying to restart. "Why? And…" And then his body tensed even more. "What were you doing on the other side of the fence?! I think it is strictly forbidden to leave the yard…" Suddenly she felt his hands on her shoulders, and he pushed her further away, forced her to look at him, and his blue eyes were burning piercingly as he asked: "Liv, did someone see you?! Did they…"

"Calm down, El!" She shook her head and turned again to look at the other people who had begun to look at them with interest. Elliot noticed them too, so his grip on her shoulders loosened, and she dropped her head back onto his shoulder.

"Sorry."

"One of the guards noticed when I jumped back over the fence," she whispered, but before her partner could react, she added: "But I talked myself out of it. I said I was thirsty and went for a drink."

"Did they believe you?"

"I think so, yeah. But that's… That's not the point," she tried to get her thoughts in order again. "Why would they kill her? She was part of this… Why…"

And then the pieces fell into place in her head, and she took a sharp breath, making Elliot turn his head again.

"What?"

"She… She…" She tried, but her thoughts raced wildly in her head, and she couldn't catch them. She could only hear Father's voice in her mind, threatening but indifferent at the same time:

"I kidnapped you so I wouldn't get caught."

"I would have killed you, but then I got an idea to make more use of you."

"Maybe she didn't get pregnant," she finally whispered, her voice thick, barely audible. "And if she can't get pregnant, she's of no use here. But they couldn't let her go, so the only option is…."

"To kill her," Elliot finished her sentence, and then they fell silent. Olivia felt dizzy, her heart felt like it was going to explode, and when she felt her partner's arm wrap around her, her body trembled involuntarily. Suddenly she was painfully aware of the night before, of the change possibly already underway inside her, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

"So that's the deal," she muttered. "Create life or die."

Elliot's arm tightened around her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nothing of note happened for the next three days.

They slept, they ate, they drank, they went outside every day, except for Elliot, and most of the time they sat in their artificially lit room, chatting, trying to get to know other people with little success, and snoozing.

And on top of all that, they hoped. They hoped that their squad would find them, hoped that the next time the door to the room was opened, a group of armed cops would rush in. They hoped to get home, to get out of this hell, back to their family and friends, back to New York.

Elliot was given antibiotics three times a day, and his condition gradually began to improve. Even so, Olivia still hadn't managed to tell him what had happened, and guilt was nagging at the back of her head. But the longer the days went by, the more certain she was that she wasn't pregnant, and the harder it had become to tell. She knew that when her partner felt good enough, they would begin to make an escape plan, and then at the latest she would have to tell him what Father had told her. But she didn't want to do that just yet because she knew he would start to question everything else she wouldn't tell, and she didn't want to risk his health.

But the next time Elliot was taken to the doctor's office, and she was sitting alone in her thoughts in the corner of the room, she felt someone start to approach her and her eyes snapped open. Standing in front of her was one of the women, maybe 10 years younger than her, smiling uncertainly at her.

"Hi, can I sit here?" She asked, and Olivia blinked but then nodded.

"Yeah."

The woman slowly sat down next to her, brought her knees up to her chest and began to look at her hands. Olivia watched her confused, but didn't say anything, and didn't push her to speak either, even though she clearly looked like she was about to say something.

But then the woman took a soft breath and opened her mouth:

"My name is Caitlyn. I'm sorry I didn't come to introduce myself earlier, but we're not… Very used to strangers," she said quietly.

"It's okay."

"Your name is Olivia?" She asked, and Olivia nodded. Caitlyn nodded as well, but then fell silent, and started biting the inside of her cheek as if to gather herself. When she didn't continue though, Olivia leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes again. But then the woman's quiet voice almost startled her:

"I had a child here. A baby boy, I named him Connor," her voice was suddenly soft, sad, and Olivia turned to look at her. "His father is Mike, the one sitting over there," she nodded towards a man, and then looked down at her lap. "He turns one year old tomorrow."

Olivia stared at Caitlyn, a lump starting to rise in her throat, and she didn't dare say anything lest tears well up in her eyes. However, she continued:

"Connor was conceived pretty soon after I came here. I knew I wasn't allowed to keep him, but still…" Her voice broke. "I got to hold him in my arms for 10 minutes before Father took him away, and I didn't see him again. My beautiful baby boy…" She wiped her eyes. "It's been 364 days now, and I haven't given up hope that I'll see him again. And I'm not going to rest until I get him back. But I have had no means because these other people are not going to help me. But then you came here, and you think about things clearly differently..." She turned her eyes glittering with tears to Olivia and whispered: "I know what they did to you there. And I know you want to save your child."

Swallowing hard, Olivia blinked and without realizing it her hand moved to her belly before she nodded.

"So, are you going to help me?" Caitlyn asked, her eyes pleading, tears rolling down her cheeks, and there was not a single resisting cell in Olivia's body as she answered:

"Yes."