Chapter 15 – Final Chapter

I woke up to crying. I could hear a baby crying and it took me a few minutes to realize that I had just been woken up my baby girl. I sat up in bed, rubbed my eyes, and got up to get her. I glanced over and El was sound asleep unphased by his daughter's upset cries. My daughter was now three months old and although I had been depraved of sleep for months, I couldn't be happier. The doctors were able to stop premature labor after the fiasco with Tyler and I had been put on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. Little Margaret Benson Stabler arrived three weeks early and she was completely healthy. El had insisted on moving into my apartment despite my resistance since I had been sentenced to bed rest. I must admit though that us being domesticated has worked out surprisingly well. Just like when we were partners, we were in sync even with living together and I was finally able to admit I was happy.

I had only been back to work about one month after taking 8 weeks maternity leave. I was thrilled to be back and helping people, but I could not wait to get home to her every day. El and I hired a nanny to care for her and it seemed to be working out well. I changed Margaret, fed her, and laid her back down hoping she would sleep some while I got ready for work. El began to stir and I heard him in the kitchen getting coffee ready. I just smiled feeling content that the family I had always yearned for was finally here.

One hour later El was dropping me off at the precinct and then headed to his building. As soon as I walked in, I was bombarded by Rollins and Amaro with a new case. A couple has reported their 7-year-old son missing. Apparently, the father was out of the country for almost two months and arrived home to find out that his son was nowhere to be found. I immediately went to go interview the parents to get caught up on the case and try to find some leads. I found out that their son, Nicky, was adopted from the country of Georgia and suffered from juvenile diabetes. The mom stated that she had driven upstate yesterday with Nicky to visit family and they returned without any problems. She claims that this morning when she woke up, he wasn't in his bed which is when she called the police. The husband had arrived back from being out of the country to find that his son was missing. While speaking with them, someone knocked on the door and I excused myself. Amaro showed me a picture of Nicky's mom driving on a toll road by herself at the same time she was supposed to be driving back with Nicky. I went back into the interrogation room, showed Nicky's mom the picture and demanded that she tell me the truth on what happened to Nicky. I felt sick to my stomach concerned she had hurt or even killed Nicky and then lied to us about him being kidnapped.

Her husband got into in her face, began yelling, asking her what happened. I stepped in between them, looked the mother in the eye, and asked her again what happened. She burst into tears and told me that she was overwhelmed taking care of him while her husband was out of town and had given him to an adoption agency. Fin and Amanda left to talk to the adoption agency to figure out what happened to Nicky. They found out that a couple who have both been convicted of previous sex offenses adopted Nicky. My stomach knotted up even more knowing where this was headed. This couple had to be trafficking kids for child pornography, and I had no idea how we were going to track them down. Nicky's parents then came over concerned that Nicky would run out of insulin which could cause a severe elevation in his blood sugar which would then lead to a coma. I then figured out how we would find them. I told Fin and Amanda to put out an alert to every pharmacy in the area to let us know anyone looking for insulin. I was hoping that Nicky was valuable enough to this couple that they would be willing to get him his insulin to keep him alive.

Less than an hour later, we got a call from a pharmacy about a lady that was trying to get insulin and matched the description of the female trafficker. Fin and Rollins headed to the pharmacy to bring her in. I began interrogating this lady to figure out where Nicky was. She was tight lipped, but I could tell she cared about Nicky. While speaking with her, she indicated to me that she had lost a child of her own previously, so I began to use that to get her to open up. She initially didn't give us anything stating that Nicky was fine and that her husband was taking good care of him. We finally got her to open up by showing her footage of her husband walking through an airport. He was allegedly disabled, and wheelchair bound so this made her finally realize that he is a liar and only cares about himself. She finally gave us an address to a hotel that he was staying at with Nicky.

We all raced to the hotel and got the manager to open the door with his key. I entered the room to find two young girls along with a very sick looking Nicky sitting on the floor. Rollins called for a bus, and I squatted down to try and talk to the young girls. They were so scared and afraid to move or speak. I noticed one of them glance towards a door that must have been to the bedroom. I walked over there, opened the door, and a young teenage girl was standing there. She was also frightened and told me, "Please don't come in here, you will wake him up." I assumed she was talking about the man who took Nicky and didn't even want to imagine why this young girl was in there with him. I pushed open the door further expecting to see a man on the bed, yet it was empty. I looked around the room gripping my gun so hard my knuckles were white unsure of who may be lurking there.

I then heard a soft cry from a baby. I glanced over towards the dresser and noticed the bottom drawer was open. There was movement and I realized that there was a baby lying in the drawer. I gasped, holstered my gun, and ran over to the drawer. The baby was on a blanket and clothed only in a diaper. I immediately picked the baby up and held it close unsure if it was a boy or a girl. I tried soothing the baby and realized that the diaper was very full, so I looked around for supplies and changed the baby. That's when I realized he was a little boy. I smiled down at him and said, "Hey little man, don't worry, I am going to make sure you are taken care of now." I was overwhelmed with emotions and started to tear up. My hormones were still all over the place from having recently given birth and I was still nursing. It broke my heart to think that someone could just leave a baby in a drawer. I then thought of what these three girls and Nicky have had to go through and felt physically ill. I can't explain it, but I felt an instant connection to this precious baby boy. Something in my gut told me this wasn't the last time I would see this little boy found in a drawer.

THE END