Good grief it's been a while since I updated this one! I've had the outline complete for forever, but I struggled with getting into the headspace for this one. But it's back! Enjoy!
"Who'd you leave Churlish with?" Bell asked while leaning against Jet's desk. Jet clicked away at the computer. There were some hoops to jump through before she could be granted access. Access wouldn't have been a problem for Jet, but Bell wasn't sure what they would find, and she didn't want anything excluded if they managed to pull together a case.
"Fin," Jet said simply while keep her eyes glued to the screen.
"And they're going to talk to the mother?" Jet wasn't exactly one to overshare. Sometimes it felt excruciating to get details from her.
"That's the plan." Jet continued clicking away.
Ayanna gave up on fishing for details, and watched Jet work. She fully realized she had no idea what Jet was doing, but she trusted her young detectives process. She was surprised when Jet asked, "How's Stabler and Captain Benson."
"Good I guess. The captain is ready to be discharged, but Stabler," Ayanna shook her head. "They want to keep him longer."
"Made a fuss?" She asked with a little gleam in her eye.
"Yep." There wasn't a more hard headed man on this planet.
"I guess we know he's feeling like himself," Jet shrugged. A screen popped up on the computer and caught their attention. "Looks like we have our prison visitation logs." Jet scrolled and scrolled. The logs were extensive.
Ayanna leaned closer to the screen. "Can you narrow it down to the men we know are BX9 affiliated?" She knew the prison system kept some records on inmate gang affiliation. It was the easiest way to narrow down who shivved who in the lunch line.
"Yeah, give me a sec." She clicked through a few more screens. "I just need to cross reference the prison gang records against the list. The algorithm should highlight the visitation records of the guys we're looking for." As her software ran she asked, "Did anyone over st SVU send the gangs command structure?"
To help them narrow their focus even further. Clever. "No, but I'll call over there and see if someone could send that, and whatever information they think might be relevant for us as we move forward."
Jet tilted her head towards the screen. "Ready for some light reading?" She joked. On the screen sat an extremely long list of visitation records for all incarcerated BX9 members.
Ayanna sighed, "No, but let's get this done. We need to get that target of Stabler's back." Ayanna pulled out her phone and scrolled to find Fin's number. The information SVU had compiled would give them a good place to start. With her phone to her ear, she pulled up a chair and settled in. It was going to be a long evening.
-000-
"Think the mom will actually give us anything." Churlish wondered, her eyes darting around the busy restaurant.
Fin shrugged noncommittally. "Gotta cover our bases." Honestly, he wasn't hopeful.
They stood in silence, waiting for the manager to bring her from the back. Fun rocked on his heels impatiently. Manager should have been back by now.
"Should this be taking this long?" Churlish's gaze continued its sweep over the restaurant.
"Nah," Fin said as he peeked around a booth towards the kitchen. He sighed, "I'll head round back, you start for the kitchen."
They parted, Churlish discreetly worked her way towards the kitchen while Fin pushed open the front door. Despite his light step, gravel crunched beneath his boots as he stepped into the ally next to the restaurant. Nothing appeared amiss, but his hand intuitively drifted to his sidearm.
His eyes drifted to the ground beneath his feet, and he groaned. Tire tracks.The slamming of the back door of the building shot his attention in that direction. Churlish winced at the sound of the door slamming behind her, clearly not anticipating the force of its swing.
"Anything?"
"Nah. You?" He returned.
"Nothing. Just food prep going on. No sign of the mother. Looks like the manager took off too." She got close enough to notice the tire marks just in front of his boots.
"Figured." He kicked the gravel. He wasn't angry. Just annoyed. Every person involved in this thing seemed to slip through their fingers. "Musta left right after we showed up."
The stood in silence for a moment before Churlish asked, "What now?"
"We head back to the precinct and hope Bell and Sloot had better luck than us."
-000-
Olivia's eyes blinked awake, and she groaned at the sound of rhythmic beeping and the smell of the sterile hospital air. She was still in the hospital. She could only blame herself, really. After all, she was cleared to go home. Even as the thought entered her mind she rejected it. If spending another night in the hospital helped Elliot, then it was an easy sacrifice. She rolled her head to the side, fully expecting to see his sleeping form just out of arm's reach from her. She startled when she realized he was awake, and watching her sleep. She rubbed at her eyes while yawning. "You know, watching me sleep is a little stalkerish-" she grinned, "and a little creepy."
A dreamy sort of smile crossed his face. "Sorry." His apology lacked sincerity, just as her accusation lacked malice. "You're beautiful." He chuckled. "I'm sure you know that."
She winced as she rolled herself onto her good side, and smiled. "I've heard it a time or two." Honestly, beyond Noah, it had been far too long. "But I'll never turn down a compliment." Her voice gained a flirtatious note. "Especially from you."
His smile broadened. "I'll remember that."
A moment of silence passed between them and she noticed the bags under his eyes. They seemed darker, more defined than they had an hour ago. He needed sleep. "Can't sleep?" She asked lightly.
He blinked slowly, inadvertently proving his exhaustion. "Nah," his voice remained nonchalant. "Knowing someone might come and kill me in my sleep doesn't exactly make me want to close my eyes." She nearly laughed. His tone made it sounded like this sort of thing happened all the time. When she thought about it…it was kind of a regular thing for him.
"You gotta stop painting targets on your back," she faux scolded.
He shrugged. "Better me than someone else."
She knew what he meant. Better him than a member of his team. Better him than innocent victims. Better him than her. She wished he valued his life more. She wished he truly understood how his death would level her to the ground. "I wish you wouldn't do that," she said softly.
He shrugged again.
She wanted to ask when he would let himself be absolved of whatever sin he thought he committed. Why did the lives of every other person on the planet matter more to him than his? She held back, not sure she could handle another emotional conversation.
"I'll be better," he promised.
A smile teased the corners of her lips. Twenty years, and he could read her. The skill had lost clarity over the years, but they still had it. "Thanks." She watched him for another moment until she realized he was actively trying to stay awake. "You gotta sleep El."
"Can't." He reiterated his earlier position.
"There are like a billion hospital personnel out there, a security detail, and two members of our team." She wished she could touch him. Reassure him.
"It's not me I'm worried about," he admitted, slightly abashed.
Oh. He wasn't worried about his safety. He was worried about hers. "I'm fine," she reconsidered her words, "I'm going to be fine."
He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. "I know. I just hate laying here waiting for something to happen."
He felt helpless, and one thing Elliot Stabler had never been was helpless. "We don't know that anything will happen," she reassured him.
He sighed, eyes still on the ceiling. "Yeah I know."
But the sword dangled over their head nonetheless. "Try to sleep. Please?"
His eyes drifted to her, and fell to the pressure of her pleading gaze. "Fine, I'll try."
-000-
At first Elliot wasn't certain what woke him. He hadn't been asleep long, at least he didn't think he had. Hospitals were black holes that stole away any sense of time. He carefully rolled over. Olivia soft even breathing was barely audible over the the hum of the medical equipment.
There was a moment of deafening quiet before all hell broke loose in the hallway.
Liv shot to a sitting position, and her hand darted to her hip on habit. "Damn it.. what's all that?"
He'd hate himself later, but right now the adrenaline coursing through him dulled the pain in his back enough for him to rush to Olivia's side of the room. "Probably our in welcome visitor." He winced a little but positioned himself on the bed next to Liv, placing his body between Liv and the door. He couldn't do much, but he would be the first target if anyone made it through that door.
His hand drifted over Olivia's thigh protectively as the yelling and chaos continued. The sound of a body being thrown against the wall made Olivia flinch.
Clamoring footsteps followed by a shout, "we got 'em!" allowed Elliot's shoulders to relax. Footsteps increased in volume before the door was thrown open revealing Velasco.
"Reyes has him." His expression saddened. "Cap, he's just a kid."
Olivia leaned around Elliot and he shifted so she could see her detective better. "How old?"
Velasco looked over his shoulder, and lifted his hand to rub at the back of his head. "Probably thirteen. Maybe fourteen."
"Damn it," she muttered under her breath.
"Kid won't say anything, but it's not Diego. We're thinkin' it's his friend."
"Fabian," Olivia said the boy's name quietly. Elliot knew the fact that young boys were involved struck a tender nerve in Olivia.
"Yeah," Velasco nodded. "Reyes and a couple unis are gonna take him into the precinct."
"Remember to call child services." Her voice suddenly sounded exhausted. "He'll need a child advocate before anyone can talk to him."
"Yeah okay," he leaned out the door. "I'm going to see if Reyes wants to stay here. I can get things set up with child's services."
"Good plan." Elliot knew Reyes was great with kids, but he didn't have the experience in special victims that Velasco had.
Velasco leaned out the door, "Hey Reyes!" He yelled. He leaned back into the hospital room briefly. "I'll keep you guys posted." He looked over Elliot's shoulder. "See ya Cap."
Olivia nodded in response as Velasco jogged down the hall, letting the door click shut behind him.
Elliot ran his hand over her thigh. "You doing okay?"
She sighed and lowered herself back down into her pillows. She squeezed her eyes shut. "I hate it when it's a kid."
He settled in next to her. Now that the adrenaline began to abate he wouldn't make it back to his bed without help. Not that he felt motivated to do so. "It's tough," he agreed.
She rolled onto her side and draped an arm gently over his middle. "It's times like these I really feel how uphill the battle is. We put a man like Oscar Papa into prison, and his network is still plucking kids off of the streets. It's just.." she sighed and let her head rest on his shoulder.
He pressed his lips to her temple. "Go to sleep. You're exhausted. Sometimes the job beats the shit out of us. You'll feel better after you sleep."
"Mmmkay," her head already felt heavy on his shoulder.
He kissed her temple once more and leaned his head against hers, figuring he should probably take his own advice and rest.
Comments are always appreciated! I need to know that you are all still with me on this one!