"I'm sorry your friends couldn't come with us," Kathleen said while glancing at the curly haired boy in her backseat.

He only shrugged and kept his eyes out the window. She bit her lip. This car ride would be short but it was already excruciatingly painful.

She returned her focus to the road. She'd leave him alone for a bit. Maybe she could get him to talk when they got into his apartment where he felt more comfortable. Maybe.

At the next stoplight she took a second to watch him. It was uncanny really. He did look like what she'd imagine a child would look like if he was both her dad's and Olivia's. She knew he was adopted, but she didn't really know much else. The few times the topic had come up with Olivia, she tended to back away. She sheltered that boy from anything and everything that might harm him. Her heart warmed when she thought about the trust Olivia was placing in her now. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Olivia had helped her through so much, and she felt grateful to return the favor in a small way.

They made it to Olivia's building quickly. Noah remained silent. He stayed a step ahead of her while he led the way to his apartment. When they arrived, Kathleen used the key Olivia had given her to open the door.

When they pushed themselves inside she smiled. The apartment was perfect, and so Olivia. Beautiful, classy, but also understated.

Noah immediately headed for the hallway, and Kathleen assumed he was going to his room. She followed, only because she hesitated to even let him out of her sight, even in the safety of his own apartment.

To her surprise he didn't walk into the bedroom that was obviously his. He opened the door to what she assumed was Olivia's room. She felt a little stalkerish following him, but she did anyway. She watched as he climbed into his Mom's bed, and threw the comforter over himself.

His blue eyes, so unbelievably similar to her own, wandered to her standing anxiously at the door. "I'm tired," he said simply.

"Okay, she said softly. "You can go to sleep, but I'm going to sit here and do a little work on my phone okay?"

He seemed a little irritated with her hovering, but he humored her. "Okay." He rolled on his side so he wasn't facing her and she took a seat on the ottoman at the end of the bed.

She glanced at him once more, deciding to let him be. She didn't want to push too much conversation. At least not right now. Kid needed rest.

She glanced around the room, and noticed a few pictures of Noah lining the top of her dresser. Would it be creepy to send a picture of a picture?

Her gaze wandered to a sleek night stand on the opposite side of the bed where Noah was sleeping. She smiled to herself when she saw them.

She knew those glasses…and she knew exactly who they belonged to. And if that wasn't obvious enough, she noticed one of her dad's tee shirts on the floor halfway covering a pair of his running shoes.

They were totally together, but she decided to keep her findings to herself for now. It felt like telling her siblings would invade Liv's privacy. She fully intended on giving her Dad crap privately, but she knew Liv was a much more private person than her dad.

Soft snores were coming from the direction of the bed so she knew Noah had fallen asleep. While he slept she couldn't help popping into her chat with her siblings.

K: You will NEVER guess where I am right now….

L: ?

D: Fine… I'll bite- where are you?

K: OLIVIA'S apartment! I'm babysitting little Benson!

L: Woah! How did that happen!?

D: Awww man! I'm working and can't come see my baby brother…

M: Not with that again…

E: It's fine. I'm fine. It's funny. Kinda.

L: How did you land that gig Katie?

K: I want to say it's because she loves me the most, but I suspect it was because I'm not working and she and Dad were desperate.

L: What's going on? Dad mentioned he had Noah because of a complicated case. Did something happen?

K: All I know is that one of Noah's friends went missing this morning.

D: Are you serious?

L: No way

E: You're not joking right? That would be super bad if you were joking.

K: I'm serious. I met them at Noah's friend's apartment.

M: Poor kid. I'm sure he's a wreck.

K: Yeah- he hasn't spoken to me really since I picked him up. Liv said he wanted to stay with her and dad so he's pretty pissed.

M: I'm kind of curious, how does he seem with Dad?

K: Attached. He was apparently pissed at him for making him go with me, but he was still right next to him when I needed to take him home.

M: That's kind of cute.

L: Well I mean he's a little Benson…we all know his mom is kind of attached to Dad too.

E: Why do I always feel like I don't know what's going on?

D: Because you were late.

E: What?

L: You weren't even alive for the "Olivia era"

E: What does that even mean?

D: Don't worry about it. We'll tell you when you're older.

E: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?

M: Stop it Dickie. I don't get why you think you need to tease him about this stuff.

D: He just makes it so easy.

E: You're the worst.

D: Yep. I'm totally fine with that.

K: ANYWAY I'm going to get back to babysitting…

L: Keep us posted on the situation with his friend. That breaks my heart.

K: Me too.

-000-

"Did anything abnormal happen yesterday? Anything at all?" Olivia felt like she was grasping at straws. It was like the kid just vanished. He left his phone so they couldn't track him that way. They should have the security footage any time, but she doubted there would be anything meaningful on it. It appeared he just left.

"Just his first therapy session," Ellie said.

"Did you attend the session with him?" Elliot asked the question this time.

"No," Ellie admitted. "I thought he'd be more open if I waited outside. He hasn't wanted to talk to me at all so I thought I should give him a little space."

"Did you speak with the therapist afterwards?" Olivia hoped the therapist had some insights to where the kid's head was at.

"Briefly. She said they kept it light. More of a get to know you kind of thing. They barely touched on the important stuff this time." Ellie responded.

"Are there any places Colton likes to go? Especially places he knows how to get to alone?" Elliot shifted the conversation, much to her surprise.

"They don't go to a lot of places on their own," Jack answered. "We've only been in the city for a little more than a year. We are still getting a feel for what things are safe for our kids."

"Totally understandable." Olivia wanted to ask some more questions about therapy, but Elliot must have changed the subject for a reason so she followed his lead. "How about places you guys go to together? Things that might be in walking distance?" She doubted the kid knew how to get a cab or Uber. He had to have walked wherever he went.

Just then her phone pinged. "Security video," she nudged Elliot, and pulled the video up on her screen.

Sure enough, Colton left on his own. At least they could rule out abduction. At least for now. "Has he ever done anything like this?" Olivia asked.

"Never. He's a pretty cautious kid. Jace is much more impulsive, but I don't think he would do something like this either." Ellie had her arms wrapped around herself, and Olivia could only imagine how distraught she was, having the same kid go missing twice was just…she couldn't wrap her mind around how painful that would be.

"Does he have any access to money of his own or anything?" Elliot asked. She knew he was determining how large of a search radius they needed, and if he could pay for the bus or something.

"A little," Jack answered. "Both boys have their own savings account. We make them save half of what they earn. The rest they usually have in cash so they can buy treats or whatever small things they want."

"How much does he have?" Elliot asked.

"Fifty dollars maybe?" Jack looked to Ellie to see if she had a better idea.

"That sounds right," she confirmed, but then Jace popped his head over the couch.

"He has almost $200 Mom." Jace provided.

Both parents looked at their son in disbelief. "How did he get that much?" Ellie asked.

"He's been saving for like forever. I'm pretty sure I only have like $20, but Colton keeps his money in a jar in his top dresser drawer."

"I'm going to go look," Ellie insisted, darting back to the boys room."

"Was he saving for anything?" Elliot asked.

"I'm not sure." Jace thought for a moment and remembered something. His face dropped a little, "I know he was saving some of it for," Jace swallowed, "Clem's birthday. I don't think he planned to spend it all on her, but I know he wanted to buy her something nice."

Olivia suddenly thought of something. "When's Clem's birthday?" She knew she had a summer birthday, she couldn't remember the day though.

Just then Ellie returned to the room with an empty jar. "He took his money with him." She shook her head, "I had no idea he had that much saved."

Jack turned to his wife, "Do you know when Clementine's birthday was?"

Olivia's heart sank with the use of past tense.

Ellie's face paled a little. "Today or tomorrow." Her eyes watered. "I think it's tomorrow. Her mom called a couple days ago, and she mentioned how she didn't want her daughter's funeral to be on her birthday."

Olivia sighed. Clem's birthday. That would be an obvious trigger. But where would he go? And why run away? None of it made sense.

She turned to Elliot, noting his concentration on the jar still sitting in Ellie's hands. His eyes flicked to Jace who was still discreetly listening to the adult conversation. "Jace," the boy's head popped from behind the couch. Once Elliot had his attention he asked, "Do you know if Clem planned a party or anything?"

"I think so, but she hadn't sent invites or anything out yet."

Elliot nodded, still deep in thought. He turned to Olivia, "You got unis canvassing and doing a sweep right?"

"Yes. They started right after we got here." She raised an eyebrow. He had an idea, she knew that look.

Elliot's eyes flicked from Ellie to Jack, "I think it's time for us to help out with the search." He glanced over to Olivia, and she knew he was silently asking her to follow his lead.

"We should check in with the officer coordinating the search. It's important that you two stay here. There's a chance he just needed some space and he'll be back." Ellie bit her lip and nodded. "Keep your phones close. We might need some more info…for our searchers."

"Okay," Jack agreed. "His voice sounded just as emotionally hammered as his wife's. This couple had suffered too much. They needed to find Colton.

-000-

"Are you going to tell me where we are going?" Olivia asked the minute the car door shut.

"I could be completely off, and it's possible it's a stupid idea…" he put the car into drive.

"You didn't want to get their hopes up," Olivia guessed.

Elliot let out a nervous breath. "When I interviewed Colton at the precinct he told me he was really interested in biology, specifically orcas and marine life."

She knew what he was thinking. "You think he went to the aquarium?" Seemed a little random, but Colton had bonded pretty tightly to Elliot. If this was where his gut was sending him then she'd follow his lead.

"Maybe?" He didn't seem entirely sure of himself. "We've got half the force searching a five mile radius around the apartment." His eyes glanced over to her. "Colton is a planner. He wouldn't just wander around the city. Wherever he went has some sort of significance."

"And he would have planned this out ahead of time," Olivia thought out loud.

"I think so. He's smart, and could easily hop on the bus." Elliot brainstormed.

"I didn't think of that," Olivia admitted. "I just never thought he would go out into the city on his own. He's not the type of kid who does that sort of thing."

"I thought the same thing, but then I remembered the colored pencil incident at camp." Elliot caught her eye for a moment. "He stood up to the school bully to protect Clem."

Olivia began to understand what he was getting at. Colton was a pretty reserved kid, but he could be incredibly brave for the sake of his friends.

"You think all of this is because of Clem, or for her." Olivia wondered.

"I think so. It's the only thing that makes sense." He explained a little more, "Colton mentioned that Clem loved dolphins. She liked ocean animals too."

"Do you think they were going to go to the aquarium for her birthday?" Olivia asked.

"We could ask her mom, but I…" Elliot shook his head, and she knew he was trying to keep his voice from cracking. "Her mother has enough on her plate right now and I don't want to drag her into another crisis."

Olivia nodded in agreement. "So you think Colton went for her birthday."

"Yes, but I think he might have wanted to get her a present there too."

That sounded like something Colton would do. She was impressed over how well Elliot knew these kids. He had only spent a few days with them, but he understood them. She wanted to credit it to all his years in SVU, but she knew it was more than that. It was just a part of him. He was a great dad, and he had this unique ability to connect with children. To make them feel safe.

She reached for his hand and laced her fingers with his. Once again, those three words sat on the top of her tongue. She wanted to say them. She wanted to admit out loud what everyone already knew. She loved him. She loved him so damn much.

-000-

"Churlish!" Fin called across the squad room.

Her eyes widened as her head whipped towards the place where Fin stood. "What's the deal with the stuff you found at the campsite?"

"I haven't heard back from the lab yet…"

"We'll call them and light a fire under 'em." Fin said firmly.

He knew the lab hated when they bagged them, but they really needed something to come back positive with Marcus' DNA if they were going to link him to the case in any way.

"On it," Churlish said as she reached for her phone.

Fin's attention moved to Velasco. "When Ethan's parents comin back." Fin did not look forward to the next train wreck.

"This afternoon," Velasco answered. "Cap wanted us to get a refresher on the abduction so we have good evidence to hand over to Indiana… and the social worker wanted to try for another meeting with Ethan."

Fin wasn't sure that was a great idea. The first meeting went as crappy as anyone could expect. He wasn't looking forward to keeping conflict from exploding.

"Lab said the earliest they can get us the results is this afternoon, but their load is heavy and it might not get done until this evening." Churlish set her phone on her desk after disconnecting the call.

"We'll get on down there. Put some pressure on." Based on Churlish's pained expression, she was not thrilled about the assignment. Unfortunately for her, she sat at the bottom of the totem pole, and she got to do the crap jobs no one wanted.

"Alright." She obediently picked up her bag and headed out of the squad room.

Fin rubbed his temples. He always felt like he was missing a limb when Liv was out of the office. He had no problem picking up what was necessary so she could search for that boy, but he hoped they'd find him soon. For everyone's sake.