The cold wind howled outside the window as the snow began to fall in a blurry rain of white. It blanketed the windows, rattled the roof and brought the inside of the svu unit to a uncomfortable room temperature but it did little to break the concentration of one of the few staff personal of the office that had not gone home for the night. Olivia Benson workaholic detective of the svu unit mid thirties, valuable asset to the special victims unit was checking and rechecking her files, sorting through all the information she had on her latest case, trying to find any cracks that she might have missed. The door to the office opened but Olivia paid little attention to the presence of her partner Elliot Stabler walking to her desk and pushing a paper bag into her sight.
Olivia pushed the bag to the side as she continued to flick through her notes and grumbled as she saw the bag being placed back on her paperwork, "Elliot" Olivia wearily muttered.
Elliot bent over and stared at the mountain of sheets the littered his colleague's desk, "Olivia it's late you finished your shift an hour ago."
"No I haven't finished yet."
"Olivia" Elliot said softly, "remember when I said to you the other day that I know you better than you know yourself."
"You don't miss a thing" Olivia said as she rubbed her tired eyes.
"Do I need to remind you about the importance of self-care."
Olivia gave a light chuckle she was probably the only person she knew that didn't care to much about rest, "do I need to remind you about my policy on rest and vacations."
"Yeah" Elliot said as he crossed his arms and pretended to think hard, "I think you told me one day on patrol, you can rest when your asleep and you can have a vacation when you retire."
"Exactly, now please Elliot I need to concentrate."
"Did you find any new information on the case."
Olivia shook her head she had made ridiculously little progress from the amount of time she had put into her latest case, "nothing that will get that scum put away, I see shit like this every day and I still don't understand how monsters like this get custody of children they have no family relationship with."
"The new system for checking criminal records of foster parents is strong but it's not perfect. Once in a while a man like this slips through."
"Well once I track him down" Olivia whispered as she glared at the documents, "I can assure you there will be no slipping through for this son of a bitch."
"Liv" Elliot said as he put his hand on Olivia's shoulder, "come on eat the donut and get some rest otherwise you'll have no energy for this in the morning."
Olivia was about to protest but her eyes were begging her to rest and she found herself giving in, "your right" Olivia popped the donut in her mouth and putting her notes into assigned folders she stood up to put on her coat, "thank you Elliot."
Elliot gave his partner a smirk, "that's what i'm here for."
"Will you be alright staying here?"
"I've got our leader in the boss he makes me feel safe."
Olivia smiled and giving Elliot a quick hug she picked up her coat, "see you tomorrow" she whispered and left leaving Elliot to smile after her the same way he always did.
Olivia walked down the streets near her workplace as she headed for home. She felt the snow crunching under her boots and her head was telling her the smart thing to do was to find a taxi and save herself the trip but Olivia enjoyed the cold air blowing her face it made her feel alive until she saw something that made her blink heavily in the dark. The lights were dim but with her eyes squinting she could make out a small girl wearing a frayed jumper standing on the side of the road with a small bag in her little hand shivering. Olivia quickly crossed the road and walked closely to the child until she bent down in front of the little girl, "what's your name sweetheart."
The girl looked straight at Olivia eager brown eyes locking into Olivia's eyes, "cookie, buy" she whispered.
Olivia looked at the bag and saw several homemade cookies, "are you selling these cookies."
The girl nodded and pushed the bag closer to Olivia, "please buy cookies." Olivia smiled warmly before she took off her coat and draped it around the girl's shoulders, the girl looked at Olivia with wide eyes, "that's much warmer isn't it" Olivia whispered.
"Are you an angel?" the child whispered.
"No dear i'm Olivia."
"Your a... a biv e a?"
Olivia smiled she knew from experience it was best not to look horrified when working with children she hid her disgust on the inside when she noticed the girl only had a pair of worn socks covering her feet, "no dear Olivia is my name, you can just call me Livy if you like, what's your name?"
"Alisha" the girl whispered.
"Alisha, its nice to meet you are you here by yourself?"
"Noah" Alisha said as she pointed her little finger to her left, "he's over there."
Olivia looked and saw a boy that looked a little older than Alisha wearing trousers and a shirt holding a bag of his own. Olivia could feel alarm bells ringing inside her head, "okay why don't we talk to Noah."
"Okay."
"Where are your shoes?"
"What shoes" Alisha said.
Olivia gently picked the child up in her arms, "are your feet cold?"
"Cold" Alisha nodded as she snuggled into Olivia's arms, "your warm."
Olivia smiled softly as she felt the harsh wind blowing in her hair, "okay we're just going to get Noah and then we're going inside." Olivia walked down the street the boy heard the crunch of Olivia's boots and seeing a woman holding Alisha he ran and grabbed Olivia's arm, "let Alisha go."
Olivia held on to Alisha tightly as Noah tried to pull Alisha off her, "Noah its alright."
"Let her go."
"Its okay Noah" Alisha said, "she's an angel."
"Don't talk to strangers" the boy looked at Olivia with scared eyes and Olivia seeing how pale the boy's skin was put Alisha down on to the snow and took off her scarf, "Noah your freezing to" Olivia wrapped the scarf around Noah's neck, "not cold" the boy said defiantly.
"Noah your turning blue, your freezing cold put the scarf on and both of you need to come with me."
Noah took Alisha's hand, "Alisha we need to go home."
Olivia could see the fear showing on the small girl's face and her heart softened, "no we can't go home" the child whispered.
"Why can't you go home sweetheart?" Olivia whispered.
"Mr M will get angry" Noah said, "don't worry Alisha i'll tell him we sold all the cookies."
"Noah you don't have to do that you can come with me now and I promise no one is going to hurt you."
Noah looked uneasy, Alisha took Olivia's hand, "she's nice Noah."
"Noah" Olivia said as warmly as she could trying to get the boy to trust her, "I promise I won't hurt you, we should go now before it gets any colder.."
"But" the boy whispered.
"Can we go with Livy Noah" Alisa said with an excited smile, "please."
Noah stared at Olivia with wary eyes and nodded. Olivia smiled and picking Alisha up who happily snuggled back into Olivia's embrace she offered a hand to Noah he just stared at her and Olivia slowly dropped her hand. Olivia led the two children to the nearest late night diner and guided them to the table closest to a roaring fireplace. Alisha snuggled closely under Olivia's arm with a wide smile showing on her face while Noah sat on the other side of the table watching Olivia carefully. A waitress came to the table and stared at the children with a look of shock on her face, "can we please order a plate of buns" Olivia quickly said.
"Sure I mean of course" the young woman said before she quickly walked away and came back a few minutes later with a plate of fresh buns. Olivia watched the children staring at the buns with hunger, "I got these buns for you two you know."
Alisha quickly took a bun and stuffed it inside her mouth. Olivia gently put her hand on the girl's shoulder, "eat it slowly Alisha or you'll choke."
Alisha continued to eat while Olivia turned to Noah and saw him staring straight ahead. "Okay" Olivia said, "so since we don't know each other very well why don't you two tell me why you were outside tonight selling cookies on the street."
"Can Alisha finish eating" Noah said.
"Don't you want to eat something Noah?"
"Not hungry" the boy muttered.
"Noah you look hungry come on eat."
"Alisha is hungry."
Olivia looked at the girl stuffing her face,"i'll get another plate of buns if I have to Noah, please eat something."
Noah shook his head and Olivia took a bun into her hand before she waved it slowly in front of Noah's face, "look i'm yummy and chewy and I want you to eat me." Noah showed a tiny smile and took the bun, "thank you."
"How old are you mate?"
"Eight" the boy said as he took a bite from the bun, "Alisha is five."
"Eight is a big age" Olivia whispered, Alisha burped and looking scared she instantly covered her mouth with her two small hands, "sorry sorry."
"Its okay honey" Olivia whispered.
Alisha started to cry and Olivia feeling alarmed turned to look at her, "what's wrong?"
"Please don't" Alisha whispered.
Olivia saw how distressed the girl looked she gently put an arm around the girl and looked at Noah for an explanation, "Noah what's wrong?"
"Don't hurt Alisha" the boy said.
"I promised you I wasn't going to hurt you or Alisha."
"What will you do?" Noah whispered.
"I want to find out more about you and then i'm going to take you to the police station."
"Police station" Noah whispered.
"Your a police officer" Alisha whispered.
"I'm a detective, do you know what a police officer does?"
The children looked mortified, Olivia tried to rub the little girl's shoulder trying in vain to calm her down and Alisha pulled away from Olivia and away from the table, "they" Alisha whispered.
Noah jumped off the table and hugged Alisha, "Alisha shhhh."
"What is it?" Olivia whispered as she stood up.
"What will you do to us?" Noah whispered.
Olivia bent down in front of the children, "I want to take you somewhere where you can spend the night."
"No you won't" Alisha whispered as tears starting to fall down the girl's cheeks.
"Alisha are you scared of me because i'm a police officer?"
"Police are bad" Alisha croaked.
"Why do you think police are bad Alisha?"
"They eat kids."
Olivia smiled gently, "sweetheart we don't eat kids."
"Yes they do" Noah said as he protectively hugged Alisha, "they lock them away and cook them for dinner."
"Noah we don't do any of those things."
"They hurt people" Alisha whispered, "and they pretend to look nice."
"They're not nice" Noah said, Noah and Alisha started to back away with Olivia slowly moving forward smiling hoping that the children wouldn't run away. "Noah Alisha listen to me, I don't know why you think these things but I promise you I won't do anything to hurt you, I haven't done anything to hurt you yet have I?"
"No" Noah said, "but..."
"And that won't change" Olivia said with a caring smile, "I don't hurt kids I help them."
"You really promise" Alisha whispered.
"I cross my heart" Olivia said crossing her heart with her finger, "and hope to die."
"Okay" Alisha whispered.
"Okay" Noah said softly.
"Okay" Olivia whispered, "now i'm going to pay for our food and then we'll go, will you wait here for me?"
The children nodded and Olivia standing up to her full height turned her back and started to walk to the counter as Noah whispered something in Alisha's ear. Olivia turned around and saw the boy looking up at her, "miss Livy?"
"Yes Noah."
"Can I go to the toilet?"
"Sure you can its right there, i'll wait here for you with Alisha."
"You won't hurt Alisha?"
"I won't hurt Alisha, is she your little sister?"
"She's my friend."
"Well you seem like a very good friend to Alisha" Noah blinked at Olivia and walked into the bathroom while Olivia walked to the table. Alisha took Olivia's hand and Olivia relaxed feeling that the little girl was starting to trust her again, "once we go to the police station the first thing i'm going to do is give you a pair of shoes so your feet won't get cold and sore."
"Livy" the little girl whispered.
"Yes dear?"
"Sorry" the girl said as she looked at the wooden floor.
"Sorry for ahhh" Olivia cried in pain as the girl bit her hand a second later Olivia felt herself being pushed off her feet by a eight year old boy into the seat at the table. Olivia groaned and she quickly looked up at a door opening she rose to her feet and ignoring the pain in her body she quickly ran out the door into the night. Olivia looked widely around and saw two small shadows running in the distance. Olivia sprinted after them pushing past people, panting in the snow she saw the shadows running into an alleyway and she turned a corner to find a fence and several bins she heard the bins moving and she slowly walked towards them. "Its alright" she whispered, "its alright now" she looked behind the bin and saw a pair of black cats blinking back at her. Olivia sighed and stood up in the snow breathing in cold air and wondering where the children could have gone.
Later that night
Elliot ran his hands through his face as he walked to the front door of his apartment in his jeans and singlet he opened it a crack and saw Olivia's face on the other side, "hey Livy you okay?"
"Elliot I need to talk to you."
"Liv" Elliot said wearily, "its nearly midnight."
"Elliot" Olivia said with pleading eyes, "please its important."
Elliot nodded and released the catch on the door to let Olivia into his apartment.
Fifteen minutes later Elliot stared straight ahead as he drove while Olivia kept her head on a swivel looking through the car windows, "so we're looking for two children?"
"A eight year old boy and a five year old girl, the boy has dark hair and green eyes, the girl has light brown hair and brown eyes both of them are wearing inadequate clothing for this weather and they're carrying small plastic bags.
"And you don't know if they have a home, maybe someone else is looking for them now."
"They do have a home" Olivia whispered, "and that's why i'm worried they said someone named mr M was waiting for them, that's all I know."
"It doesn't ad up" Elliot said as he tapped his fingers on the dashboard, "what would they be doing selling cookies on the street in this weather."
"That's another reason why i'm worried" Olivia tried to think hard about this puzzle she had seen some horrific cases but small children standing on the street in the cold was something she hadn't witnessed before, "Elliot did you think someone sent them out there."
"Who would do something like that?"
"Mr M whoever he is."
"Is Mr M our only suspect?"
"I suspect he's told the children to stay away from police officers, in my mind it is clear as a bell that he did not want the police to be aware of or become involved in his life."
"It seems so" Elliot said as he sighed, "we've gone around this area where you last saw the children twice, and we've seen nothing."
"Pull over" Olivia said, "we'll get out and search."
"Liv" Elliot said as he parked his car on the curb, "we've got a slim chance of finding the children tonight."
Olivia dug into the pockets of her coat searching for her small flashlight, "if they've droped something we may be able to identify it."
"Liv" Elliot started, Olivia didn't hear him she had already exited the car.
Elliot watched her shining her light around her and he opened the door, "Liv its been hours since you saw the children last, the snow would have covered any tracks by now."
Olivia turned around with a fierce determination flashing in her eyes, "Elliot help me or drive home."
"Liv i'm only saying."
"I shouldn't have wasted my time coming to you."
Elliot sighed as he got out a torch from the boot of his car, "you haven't wasted your time."
Olivia nodded feeling guilty she had snapped at Elliot he had always been there for her and he didn't deserve to be talked to like that, "sorry i'm just so worried."
"No i'm the one who should be sorry" Elliot said with a empathic expression on his face, "I know how hard it is for you to see children in this kind of trouble."
"Yeah" Olivia said simply.
Elliot buttoned his coat and turned on his torch ready to begin a night of hunting, "now lets search."