AN: Yep. I'm laughing at some of the comments/reviews. I have definitely went a little overboard with my bad guys. I started this thing out with a challenge to add as many bad guys as I could, and even I have over whelmed myself. LOL. that being said. It's been a fun challenge. Thanks for riding this far with me if you're still here. I promise to let the story breathe a little after this chapter.

Chapter 11 Trieste Mietitore

The precinct was suddenly filled with a thousand moving pieces. EMTs, officers from other floors, Detectives, Forensics, Jet trying to push through with all of her tech gadgets, Churlish and Bruno managing chaos, the bomb squad unit, phones ringing, a cocafeni of people talking to each other, a brief moment of silence for Rafa, who was respected in the community, and then the slow uptick of it all over again as they all handled the aftermath.

Olivia stood stoic and still as they moved around her in a flurry. Her ears were still ringing, her hands stained with Rafa's blood. She watched as his body rolled past her under that heavy black plastic. Her eyes welled up and she turned away in full fury, grabbed a stack of office supplies on Churlishes desk and hurled it into the wall.

"AAAAAHHHHHhhhhhhhhhh!"

A cry so loud that the entire floor stopped for a moment.

Bruno rushed over to her and walked her to the otherside of the desks. Away from the room everyone was cleaning and investigating.

Eli's face suddenly appeared through the mess of people as he peaked in from the breakroom. His face was more mature than she remembered it. Still, in this moment, she could see him revert back to a time when he was young and scared. Those eyes piercing her from across the way, as if Kathy herself came back from the grave wrecked with fear and concern, judging her for not taking better care of her family. She only spiraled from there into doom and regret. It all felt impossible to mend. She had nothing left to give to anyone. To him, to Elliot, to herself. She could barely stand in her own skin. She averted her eyes from it all and allowed them to close. She had failed. She had failed them all. His face was the evidence.

There was a small part of her mentality screaming to hold it together, but hope felt like a childless notion to her right now. She froze in dark thoughts. She should have let go of this crime weeks ago. She should have listened to Fin and gone back to be with Eli and Noah. She should have laid low and taken the hotel room and the security officer. She should have just sat next to Elliot and held his hand and waited for him to heal like Kathy would have done. But she was too strong for that. She had it all together. She held all the answers and she couldn't just let herself be taken care of. And now they were all put in danger several times over, because she didn't just listen to her own damn advice coming from trusted people that she so carefully trained.

She opened her eyes again and watched her team keep a tight ship. The people around her were quite capable of cleaning up her mess. She had taught them well. They were best in their field because of her.

Her detectives balanced the room. Bruno took the Captain's chair and guided the first responders. Velasco followed forensics, reported accurately to AIB, and immediately took action and phone calls, without once stopping to ask for help.

Churlish, who had warmed up over the last few months working next to Olivia, dropped all of her walls the instant she rounded the corner and saw her resilient Captain, broken and still. She learned she had nuturing instincts that by watching her fearless leader handle every person that walked through the door with the same amount of energy, urgency, and care. And now she would take care of Olivia, the same way, Olivia took care of them all.

"Let's get you cleaned up," she softly said to Olivia.

She then guided her to the restroom room where she stood next to her and cleaned her hands.

Toni tried to tell her some good news as she soaped up her hands and rubbed the blood from her wedding ring and neatly polished fingernails.

"They found Elliot. He's safe. In better care, actually. That's what Fin says. Fin's with him. Says he's awake."

Olivia's thoughts wouldn't allow her to hear. She only knew that Elliot's name was spoken a few times. Her mind continued to spiral deep inside itself.

"Elliot," she mumbled.

"Yeah," Toni smiled. "Should we call him?"

"No," she mumbled. "Take me to him," she lightly said with a glaze over her eyes. "I need him."

"Ah…okay You got it," Churlish nodded apprehensively.

With some juggling Velasco got Eli and Olivia into an SUV and headed out. They dropped Eli off with Noah first. Olivia didn't move when the truck stopped. She sat in the backseat with her back towards Eli, unable to speak.

"Is she gonna be okay," Eli asked Velasco.

"It's been a hard month and half," The detective said, trying to ease the young man. " My mother used to say 'this too shall pass', and I have to believe it will. Best you can do is stay with Noah. Keep him occupied. Buy whatever video game that will keep both of your minds off the situation, and hunker down."

"How long do you think we'll have to live like this? I've already missed half a semester of college."

"I don't know what to tell you about that. Maybe do some online courses to catch up? But it's not safe right now. For any of you. You'll also need to call all of your siblings and make sure that everyone is safe. We are going to want to send officers to all of their homes to check in on them…or if they're really not feeling safe, we can hold them here with you two until we figure out a long term plan. One of the officers can help you with all of that."

"Wait, what do you mean long term plan?," Eli stopped him.

"Witness protection."

"What? For me too!"

"That's a possibility and a decision you would have to make with your father…or Liv. Once they get their bearings."

Velasco hated giving that kind of news, and he could see it agitated Eli, who was turning flush with rage. He lightly grabbed Eli's arm.

"Listen, Eli, it's a last resort, and I feel terrible that you've been put in this situation. The good news is, if we can take down this perp, it might not be forever."

"Yeah right. Good luck trying to keep my father from leaving witness protection and pissing off a group of psychos. This has all been real reassuring," Eli replied with disdain as he tossed an angry glare at Velasco one final time and walked away.

There was a convenient mist of rain beginning to fall, which oddly comforted Olivia from behind the tinted SUV windows. Her heart beat started to slow down as she therapeutically watched the tiny drops of rain cover the window like a blanket. She could barely see Eli disappear into the hotel with an undercover security officer. He was a blur of color.

The water droplets swirled into the wind as the car pulled away. She could have let herself fly away with them.

The drive to Scranton felt like years. The traffic was slower than usual. Velasco talked off and on with Jet from a cell phone.

"Jet, tell me you got something?"

"We're headed to Barba's apartment. How's Liv?"

"She's…sleeping," He turned to check on her. Her hair covered her face. "She'll be fine once we get them away from all of this. Give me the 411."

"The camera was hard to trace, but I cracked it's history, finally. The cell towers are pointing to an area near Barba's apartment, so a few of us are headed over there now. The EMT's said something that is…well fucked up, as if this could get anymore fucked up, but Barba was severely malnurished and appeared to be tortured…for what looks like months. I called his office and they said he went on sabbatical 3 months ago, and his first day back…was the same day Elliot was shot."

"Jesus," Velasco muttered, looking again at Olivia, who was still and lightly snoring behind him.

"You get that info to Bell?"

"I will," she said. Her voice wavered.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, it's just some days this shit gets heavy."

"You're telling me."

"This job makes single life fucking horrific. I don't know how Benson did it all these years."

"Did what?"

"Lived alone."

Velasco could hear the tears swelling in her voice. She quickly changed the subject.

"Okay, then. I'll keep you posted, yeah?"

"Yeah," he warmly responded. "But…Jet….You're not like Barba. Barba pushed everyone that cared about him away. And you and Liv have one thing Barba didn't."

"What's that?"

"People in your life. You're not alone, Jet."

"For now. People come and go. People...die."

Velasco could tell she was referring to Whalen.

"They do," was all he could think to say. "I'll give you a call after your shift. Make sure you're not being locked in your apartment for three months."

"Ha," she softly grinned. "Thanks."

When they finally got to the facility Olivia moaned and stretched.

"Captain? We're here."

Fin was there to walk her in. She only spoke one word to him.

"Elliot."

"He's in the back. He's doing really good, Liv. They give you some fancy shit when they need to interrogate you for terrorism. I'm starting to think that Italian dick knew what she was doing."

Olivia just looked at him with a confused furrowed brow and waited to be led to his room.

He could see she'd been through hell and didn't dare ask about it.

The doors opened and Elliot was sitting on the edge of his hospital bed. An IV was attached to his hand, and his head was newly wrapped, but he was awake and untethered and surprisingly full of energy and life. He stood up, which was the first time Olivia had seen him stand since the shooting. He didn't have to say a word. She could tell by the clarity in his eyes that his mental state was healthier than it had been.

"Liv," he whispered. He knew her name. The sound of her name from his lips was the miracle she so desperately needed.

She slowly crumbled at the sight of him. Her body melted into his chest as they both grabbed hold of each other. A sob so guttural and aching fell from her breath and he held her like he'd never let her go. His hand gently cradled the hair at the base of her neck and he nuzzled her face with his. He felt the tension in her body slowly release itself.

"It's okay," he whispered. "I've got you. I love you so much."

"I love you," she sobbed and held onto him for a long moment.

His presence was effervescent. He was her drug, her rock, the one person that could get her through anything, even though she didn't like to admit it out loud, but he knew how she felt. She didn't have to say it. She pulled away from him and put both of her hands on his face and grabbed his eyes with her own all encompassing stare. "You remember me," she cried.

"Of course," he held back sobs now too. And they smiled and held each other in an embrace again. Their wet cheeks pressed together. Elliot lightly kissed any part of her that he could reach without pulling away from her. The need to be near her in every way almost made him fall, and she instinctively caught him.

"Sorry," he whispered, catching his balance.

He was still weak, but he was back to his old self.

"You look 100 times better than the last time I saw you," she softly smiled. "I can't even believe it."

"I don't know what these doctors gave me. Some…high tech…off the grid medication…They said what it was. Some new way to reduce brain inflammation, but I don't care what it is. I can remember your name. I can remember all of my kids, Noah…our wedding, Maureen's birth. Our first date. Our first day on the job. Kathy….everything. It's all there."

She looked at him through tears, still guilty for the thoughts she'd been thinking all night about failing him.

"Hey, where'd you go," he asked, noticing her eyes glaze over.

"It's been…hard...without you."

He wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled her lips in for a kiss. She could breathe again as he held her in that embrace. She missed the taste of him, and the feel of his five o'clock shadow, and the soft gentle way that he touched her. Tears poured down her face again.

"Aw, Liv, I love you so much. I can't stop saying it. I'll do whatever it takes to get out of this mess and then you and I can just enjoy life…like-"

"Normal people," she finished.

He nodded. "If that's what you want."

She held his gaze, and he could see the dark circles around her eyes. He'd never seen her so broken. It killed him to see her this way.

"I've never wanted to be more boring with you, than I do right now," she whispered.

**************.

Fin sat on the other side of the door watching Bell, Rollins, and Tia enter the hallway and make their way towards the room.

"Hold up, Italy," he stopped Tia. "They need a minute."

"We don't have a minute," Tia grabbed for the door.

"Whoa! There's always time, La Befana," Fin got in front of her.

"You got a problem with me. "

"Oh shit, what'd I say? Elliot called you that," He backpedaled the joke.

Tia got up in his face. "La Befana is an Italian witch that leaves little kids presents in socks for Festa dell'Epifania."

"Well, he got the witch part right. And also…maybe I do got a problem with you," he stood his ground.

"Well, then have it out with me already?," Tia said with a fiery Italian attitude.

"You could have given us a heads up instead of making half the NYPD go on a wild goose chase looking for Stabler."

"Elliot needed the drugs, this was the only way to get your country to take his case seriously. He should have been brought here and out of that public hospital on day one. I can't even believe he's still alive. The security in that cesspool you call a medical facility is bull shit."

"You could have gotten yourself killed, playing rogue cop. I was ready to take you down myself. And that's my problem," he stopped and thought about it, and then. "And I'm getting over it, cause my boy in there can remember my name. But you're gonna give them 10 minutes or I'm gonna boot you back to the Vatican. Capeesh?"

"Alright," Rollins stepped between them. "That's one too many Italian jokes for my taste. Can we all just drop this for the sake of this case, please. We actually have time sensitive questions."

"I keep trying to trust that woman and she keeps giving me reasons not too," he looked at Tia as he stood in front of the door. "10 minutes."

"We don't have t-," Tia started to bark at Fin, but was quickly put in her place as her eyes caught Elliot's glowing face. She watched as he doted on the woman in front of him. "So that's Captain Olivia Benson."

They all turned to look in the window and caught a glimpse of Olivia who had just helped Elliot onto the bed. She gently curled up against his side. His arm wrapped around her torso. Their fingers linked together and they nuzzled in silence as he traced the details of her hand. Olivia's back was to them, but Elliot's face was in full view. He was soft and beamed with a rare happiness.

"Wow…so that's love," Tia blinked.

Bell stepped in. "5 minutes."

"I just watched Barba die…right in front of me," Olivia blurted out.

Elliot held her broken eyes and listened.

"He was right there, and then he was gone. And I…I don't know what else I could have done. This is too much…I almost lost you and then finding Ameila…in our apartment…your son's face…I can't….do this anymore. I love my job. I love you more."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "So what are you saying?"

"I passed a little house in the middle of nowhere a few weeks ago. It was surrounded by forest, off the beaten path, but not so far away from the town that we'd get rural shock. Rose bushes everywhere. A porch swing. Ten minutes from Noah's brother."

"And you want to move there?"

"Maybe. Or some place like it. Would you hate that?"

"No...no, in fact, I think I might love that."

She lifted her face from his arm and kissed his lips over and over again.

"I lost our necklace," she said, grabbing at her neck. "Somebody came into our home, killed an innocent woman, looked through all of our things, and took our personal life away from us. Took it as easily as they took that necklace, but they took our necklace."

"It's not gone," he replied softly.

"No, I know, because you're here now, and that's all that matters. We'll get the boys settled, and we'll move out of the city, and we'll let the NYPD do their job, and who cares about a necklace, but I did. I cared about that necklace."

"No," he laughed. "I mean, yes to all of that, but the necklace. Tia has it. My old partner."

They pulled away from each other.

"Tia?"

"She brought me here. Showed me that locket and then disappeared. I woke up to Fin standing next to me."

Before they could answer each other, Bell and Tia opened the door.

"Sorry, friends, time to focus up," Tia interrupted.

Olivia tensed. She was not ready to jump back into action.

Neither of them answered the women.

"Okay," Tia responded to their silence. "Hi, I'm Detective Tia Leonetti," she put her hand out for Olivia to shake.

"I know who you are," was all Olivia said.

"Great. Yeah. I want to apologize for uprooting your husband, but my Captain in Italy would not take this case seriously, and so I had to do something…well…outrageous to get Elliot out of danger."

"Tia doesn't like rules," Rollins and Bell said at the same time.

Olivia looked at Elliot who confirmed this with a tilt of the head and a face.

"I don't know where they get this notion from," Tia responded. "I am in the business of saving lives. This case has the potential to create world wide Chaos, but I knew the second Elliot was attached to it, that I could stop it all with one big move.."

She tossed some photos on the hospital table in front of them. "This man, you were looking for him right?"

The man in the photo was tall and appeared bald or short shaven. He had a cane and his hand was scarred. He wore a fedora hat, black Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses, a black covid mask, and peacoat. The collar of his peacock was flipped up so that you could only view parts of his face.

"That's the man Flutura and Bx9 guy described," Elliot responded. "You have a better picture of his face?"

"No, but our UC confirmed it was him," Tia continued.

Olivia grabbed the picture from the table and studied it while Tia continued.

"At first we had no idea it was Wheatley. He's been reestablishing his father's old group in Italy. He's insane. People call him trieste Mietitore. The grim reaper. At first, we didn't know who this mysterious American mobster was. We had a UC giving us intel about jewelry smugglers pulling off small bank robberies. But the jobs kept getting bigger. Our guys found hacks to some of the nation's largest bank systems. We kept almost shutting it down, but there was never enough evidence. We couldn't figure out why or how exactly this group was breaking through so many systems. You would have to be a fly on a wall to some of the most powerful people in the world, and then know how to decode the security systems at the same time. We thought, maybe they were bribing some of these bank managers. We even arrested a Swedish ambassador when the bank of Sweden was robbed internally and the money was sent through to his account. This group is ten steps ahead of any national security system out there. They're taking out pharmaceutical companies, and world leaders. The CIA was hacked last year, and three of your best Russian spies were killed on sight. The next day our UC reported that Wheatly was taking credit for it all. Then, we finally get close to taking down this whole operation while investigating stolen jewelry. I found a laptop open. On the hard drive, were hundreds of audio recordings and video of people in their homes. Intimate video. And not just regular people, but presidents, famous billionaires, dictators, and then…one file…the first file read 'Elliot Stabler'. I thought surely I was seeing things or it was a different man, but there you were. I only caught a moment of footage and stopped, but there were hundreds of videos dated a year or so back."

Olivia and Elliot looked at each other.

Olivia thought out loud. "That's when I had the chain fixed."

"Where did you take it?"

"A jeweler about a block or so from my house."

Tia wrote that down and continued. "We coordinated several operations. We even worked with the Americans. But Trieste Mietitore was always planning new things. Our UC was found out…on that last attempt. But before he died he recorded this," she stopped and pulled out her phone.

A man and a woman's voices could be heard.

"The endgame is Stabler, Dana. I have it all planned out like a little nightmare before Christmas. We torture them both slowly like frogs in a slowly boiled pot of water. We take his home, his mind, his love, his freedom….and then we aim for the world."

"Daddy, I know you want revenge, and you can have it. I'll even tie it up in a nice red bow for you, but endgame is a dynasty for what's left of this family…I wish you would focus on us for once. Let me handle Stabler."

"You're sweet, but you know I don't like gifts. I like to watch…. the life drain from his face when he gets everything taken away from him."

"And you will. Look at this footage from Merritt's microchip. The video is shaky but the sound is crystal clear."

There was a sound of a clicking computer and then one of the recordings play for Dana and Wheatley.

"Noah, can you let Elliot in and tell him I'll be out in a minute."

Tia stopped the recording as soon as the sound of Olivia's voice was recognizable.

There was a pause as the group all took in the brevity of the situation.

Olivia stood up from the side of the bed and bent over to catch her breath. "I think I'm gonna be sick. Somebody tell me that's not real."

Rollins bent over to hold her. "Liv, let's have you sit."

"I am sorry," Tia responded. "I know that is hard to hear."

"Yeah, think," Olivia shot up. "Why would you play that?! I really didn't need to ever know that…that I've been under surveillance for…god knows how long."

Tia wasn't fully understanding Olivia's reaction, and she continued. "For approximately one year and 6 months. But the good news is that I fixed your compass. We took the microchip out and it is…good as gold," she smiled as she pulled it from her pocket.

Olivia's eyes grew wild with daggers. Amanda had to hold her back. Elliot took the compass from Tia's hand.

"I'll just…take that for now," he said with a twitch in his face.

"So," Olivia pushed away from Rollins to really make sure she wasn't asleep, and before anyone could say a word she and Tia were head to head in what looked like a heated argument. "What you're telling me…excuse me, us, " she pointed to Elliot. "Is that Wheatley crawled out of the depths of a mountainous cliff, slipped into Italy, gathered a band of jewelry thieves, hired another psychopath to…follow me and microchip my personal life…" she choked up at that part, but the rage was too overwhelming for tears. "My…every moment of my life…my son….my work…everything with Elliot…and I mean…..everything…and why are you tell me this….why…," Olivia stopped…walked over to the wastebasket and threw up what little she had in her system.

"Liv," Rollins once again held her. "Okay, we need to stop the questions. This isn't right. Surely we can find this Wheatly and his side kick Merrick without involving them.

"Maybe," Tia continued. "But, Captain Benson, the reason we need you to…how do you say it here… man up, he has planned an attack in New York and we need to find this Merrick-"

"Stop," Bell grabbed at her arm. "We don't need to give them every detail. They've been through enough. Just show Elliot the picture of Merrick and let's wrap this up."

Rollins made Olivia sit on the chair in the corner of the room. The two of them listened from the corner.

Tia placed the picture of Merrick in Elliot's hand. "I came to your hospital room last week to show you this picture, and you couldn't even remember my name or who I was. I knew if I got you to this federal building they would give the highest quality medicine, so I added your face to this picture with Merrick. I am on borrowed time. I had my friend, Doctor Lovette, tell the CIA it would take 3 days for your medicine to kick in. I told them all that I have been checking on you. But in about 3 hours my Captain lands. He and the CIA will be interrogating you in the morning if I don't confess to tampering with this photo, which I will do, but I will surely be sent back to Italy and my badge will be taken away from me…possibly forever. Which is fine…I never wanted that shitty gold watch anyway. So you see," she looked at Olivia. "I am so sorry that I have caused extra trauma, but we need to stop Wheatley and get you both into hiding. And I need to know, if either of you has seen this man Merrick."

Elliot took a long look at him and shook his head in disbelief. "No…can't be. Merrick Rook."

"Let me see it," Olivia said standing.

She grabbed it from Tia's hand. The man was older and bearded, but he was unmistakable.

"Merrick Rook," Olivia said without question.

"Who's Merrick Rook," Rollins asked.

"He's an old sheep," Elliot answered. "A perp we thought had drowned to death 15-16 years ago. How the hell is he still alive, and where did Wheatley cross paths with him?"

"Rafa," Olivia added. "Wheatley's been holding Rafa hostage for a long time. He was practically brain washed. Rafa Barba got Wheatley case files from our precinct. Rafa was being bribed and tortured. That's your answer. Show the picture of Merrick to the Jeweler on 34th and Lexington Ave. See if video survellance can be traced far enough back to get Merrick on tape at that Jewelry store. And, the ballcap that Merrick is wearing in the picture, it says Madison Square Garden on it. Elliot bought us all tickets to Taylor Swift. November 27th. The last time Taylor Swift played Madison Square Garden the city shut down. Nobody could get in or out. It was a huge ordeal and the perfect combination of choas for a bomb."

"Wow, she's good," Tia smiled. "I like her, Elliot."

The room was not having Tia's pleasantries. Elliot uncomfortably nodded.

Rollins and Bell moved in to look at the picture in Olivia's hand. "So you think that's going to be their target," Bell asked.

"Maybe," Olivia shrugged. ", but now that Rafa is dead, and Elliot is still bedridden, as far as they know, who knows if the plan hasn't changed."

"Wheatley's been known to have more than one trick up his sleeve," Elliot added. "But, why don't we play a little trick on him."

"I'm all ears," Tia lit up.

AN: OH man. Part Two coming soon.