And then, as if by unspoken agreement, they started walking after the guards back towards the house, never letting go of their grips on each other.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The search warrant hadn't helped Fin and Munch; nothing had been found in the house.

Calling Casper's phone, examining his bank card information, finding out about his close relatives and almost everything else had also been dead ends. His phone number only said that the number was not in use, the bank card had been deactivated, and his next of kin were either dead or living in Australia. All they were left with was that he owned a black Ford whose whereabouts they had no idea.

Besides, Tucker had been a pain in their asses to say the least. He had stubbornly refused to change the line of inquiry based solely on what had happened to Elliot's car, because "there was nothing to prove that Detective Stabler hadn't hidden his partner somewhere." The atmosphere in the precinct had progressed to the point that Fin had felt his headache intensify every time he glanced at the lieutenant of IAB, so he had suggested to his partner that they go watch over Casper's house for the night, "just in case".

And so, when the sun had set, they had driven quietly to the vicinity of the house, turned off the car, moved to sit more comfortably, and started drinking coffee. For a while they had been able to chat this and that, but eventually Munch's eyelids had started to droop, and they had agreed on shifts.

Fin had been sitting quietly for a couple of hours, leaning back in his seat, deep in thought, fighting sleep, and was just about to wake his partner when he noticed movement in the corner of his eye. He straightened up, blinked, squinted, could no longer see anything, and thought he had only seen hallucinations. But then a dark figure appeared from the shadows of the trees, picked up what looked like a canister from the ground, and started creeping towards the house.

Sleep left Fin's body immediately.

"John!" He hissed, not taking his eyes off the figure walking towards the house. Munch was sound asleep though, and his quiet voice didn't wake him up, so Fin reached out and nudged him hard on the shoulder. "Wake up!"

"Huh?" Munch groaned in his seat, but at the same moment the figure in the yard of the house started pouring something from a canister around the house, and Fin had no time to explain. He jerked the gun from his waistband and reached for the doorknob.

"He's gonna burn the house!"

Munch, still half asleep, understood amazingly quickly what was going on, and as if on command, they opened the car doors at the same time, as quietly as possible, and first glancing at each other, started creeping towards the house and the figure, who seemed to be so completely engrossed in his operation that he did not notice them. Not until they stopped a few meters away, Munch raised his weapon and shout:

"NYPD! Put your hands up!"

The figure turned around in a split second, dropped the canister and, despite the gun, took off running. But Fin was faster, he caught his jacket before he could get up to speed and pulled him to the ground.

Beside him, he heard Munch start to call the fire department, handcuffs clanked, and a vague sense of triumph flashed through him as he lifted the man lying below him up and announced:

"You are arrested on suspicion of attempted arson. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cragen must have defied all laws of physics given the time he entered the precinct. They had greeted each other briefly, and then Fin and Munch had stepped through the door into the interrogation room.

And there they were, interrogating their first suspect in over three weeks, at one in the morning. Munch, who remained standing, opened his mouth first.

"Okay then, we could start with your name," he tilted his head and looked at the man appraisingly. However, he just stared straight ahead. "No? Okay, we'll find it out soon anyway. Until then, I'll call you… Umm… Richard."

That made the man look up for a couple of seconds.

"Hell no. It's Sam."

"Thank you," Munch frowned and folded his arms. "So, you were bored and decided to burn the house down, huh? I see you and Casper must be the best of friends," he snorted.

"I don't know him."

"No?" Fin interrupted the speech. "So you decided to just pick a random house and grill sausages in its flames? Don't be stupid, man."

"I'm serious."

"How do you know Casper Greener?" Munch ignored his protest and took a few steps closer to him. Sam lifted his gaze, and tried to act surprised, but failed.

"Who?"

"The owner of the house."

"I don't know any Casper!"

"Then why did you try to burn down his house?" Fin raised his eyebrows and looked piercingly at Sam sitting in front of him.

"I don't know."

Munch sighed and leaned his arms on the table. "Okay, listen to me, buddy. No matter what you try to claim, you're in big trouble. You were caught in the act, the crime scene investigators have confirmed that the substance you poured around the house was gasoline, and there is nothing ambiguous about this. The only thing you can control is the severity of your judgment," Munch's voice had dropped, he had fixed his gaze on the younger man, and although at first it seemed that his words had no effect, finally, finally Sam looked up, this time showing genuine concern in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Munch pulled his chair from under the table and sat down. "If you help us, we can help you. We can negotiate with the prosecutor for a shorter sentence for you. Okay?"

Sam looked at them in turn, for a long time, considering, but then he sighed quietly and nodded slightly.

"Okay."

"So, let's start again," Fin put his hands on the table and improved his position in his chair. "How do you know Casper Greener?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I need a map!"

Fin's exclamation was pointless, however, as Cragen had already run to his office before they had rushed out of the interrogation room, leaving Sam sitting on his bench. Their captain found the map, swept his desk clean with one powerful hand movement, pens falling to the floor, and he spread the map on the table.

"He said that Casper had once mentioned this place in passing," he grabbed a lone marker from the table that had been saved from falling and drew a wide circle at the top of the map. "But we need a more detailed map, no buildings are shown here."

He quickly tapped on his computer, found a terrain map, and painfully slowly began zooming the map closer to the area Sam had mentioned. Fin and Munch instinctively leaned closer to the screen and squinted.

"It's just a forest over there," Munch commented, but at the exact same moment the map loaded, and their eyes were fixed on a few dark symbols that seemed to be almost hidden in the middle of the forest.

"Are there other houses in that area?"

Cragen shook his head and fumbled for his phone on the table. "I don't know. But we need to get the roads in the area closed as soon as possible, and call reinforcements to search all the buildings in the area. You two…" He glanced at Fin and Munch quickly. "You call Tucker, and prepare to leave. Move that "blessing in disguise" to the cell," he nodded towards the interrogation room.

"Yes, Cap."

And then they turned on their heels, adrenaline storming inside them.

Because Sam had spoken.

He had mentioned that he suspected Casper, who owed him more than 100,000 dollars, was involved in something. Something for which he had frequented the area they were about to check out.

And for some reason, some inexplicable feeling had ignited inside Fin, a feeling that told him that now they were on the track of something big.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Father looked just as unctuous and unconcerned as he had a few weeks ago.

He was sitting in his large armchair, sipping red wine, as the guards pushed them in and closed the doors behind them, leaving only Elliot, Olivia, and a man intently looking at his wine in the room. Olivia and Elliot didn't even move, Olivia could hear her heart pounding in her ears, and she was still clutching her partner's arm as if subconsciously afraid she would lose him if she let go. Even though Elliot hadn't seen the man before, he seemed aware of the seriousness of the situation as he too stayed silent.

But then Father got up, and still without looking at them started walking with his wine glass towards the window. Elliot's body tensed even more in Olivia's grip, even though she hadn't believed it was possible.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Dad's voice almost startled them, and a bad feeling started to grow inside Olivia.

Shit.

"Sorry?"

"Ah, I think you're not stupid either, Detective Benson," he turned to look at them, his voice light but his eyes flashing dangerously, and Elliot moved a few inches closer to her. "Was your appointment with the doctor rewarding?"

"I had…" Olivia started, but Father didn't let her continue, instead he put his wine glass down on the table with unnecessary force, and this time it caused a physical reaction in them too.

"Bullshit!" He roared, took a step towards them, and Elliot raised his arm in front of her. "The doctor was here for health reasons, not because you can march up to him and ask about things that are not your business!"

The doctor.

The gunshot.

Oh no no no no….

"It is my business!" The realization of the situation caused courage to flare up within her for a moment, anger filled her cells, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Elliot turn his head in fear towards her, but she took a step closer to the man who was staring at them in fury. "It is my baby, it grows inside me, everything related to it is my business," she growled, narrowed her eyes, and didn't care about her partner, whose body language exposed the growing fear. Father's eyes flashed.

"It grows inside you, but it is my property, MY! You know it, it is part of the deal."

"What deal?!" Olivia snapped, took another step forward, felt Elliot's hand grab her arm, but she shook it off. "We don't have any deals! We are here because we were kidnapped, I am pregnant because I had no choice, we are staying here because we will not be let out. We have no deal, we are here and in this situation because you force us to!" And then she took a breath, lowered her voice and hissed between her teeth: "And before you think otherwise, this baby is not for sale. It already has parents who won't let anyone take it away. And now you're thinking: 'How can I have that child without that bitch?' Oops, I'm sorry, but I think it's not possible."

And as she fell silent, adrenaline pulsing inside her, the rest of the world seemed to fall silent around them as well, waiting for the coming, inevitable explosion. Father stared at her for a moment, but then his face contorted with rage, he grabbed the hem of his coat, and that's when Olivia realized what he was about to do.

And then everything happened as if at once.

Elliot seemed to realize Father's intentions at the same time as she did, because he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him at the same moment Father pulled a gun from under his coat. He turned around, pulled her into his arms, turned his back on the weapon rising behind them, did the only thing he could; protected her with his body.

But when the gunshot rang out, another one, nothing happened, and Olivia had time to open her eyes in confusion, which she had already closed once, before a scream came from the closed door of the room.

"NYPD!"

Elliot lifted his head, turned his gaze to the door, and the door slammed open. But at the same time, another gunshot was also heard, followed by more, and the cops rushing into the room turned in the direction they had come, met the guards rushing to help their boss, and momentarily the situation turned into a real battleground.

But just as Olivia was about to turn her gaze towards her partner, he swayed against her body and fell to his knees. She fell with him, panic filling her every cell even before she got a better grip on him and realized that there was something wet and warm on his back.

Blood.

No no no no no no...

"El!"

A muffled, pained sound escaped Elliot's throat as he slumped to the floor, tears welled up in her eyes, and when she looked up, she saw Father approaching them, gun still raised.

"NO!" A scream erupted from somewhere deep within Olivia as she leaned over her partner in an attempt to shield him from the danger approaching them, but Father seemed no longer interested in him. Instead, he grabbed her armpit, violently tore her away from Elliot, and growled:

"You are coming with me."

And then he started dragging her towards the door at the back of the room, Olivia tried to protest but fear had paralyzed her body, not a sound came out of her throat. And before the door closed behind them, the last thing she saw was her partner lying on the ground, and only her heart was able to scream as her soul was ripped to shreds.