Love from Benson and Stabler [ A Bensler Fan Fic]

15

Days went by with little more information on Noah's kidnapping. Every tip that they received was investigated completely, but many of them were just dead ends. Elliot watched as Olivia stopped eating and drank coffee all day in a failing attempt to stay awake and find her little boy.

"Here," Elliot spoke, as he walked into Olivia's office. She sat her mug down and eyed Elliot quietly.

"What's that?" She mused, as Elliot sat an unlabeled bag on her desk.

"Food. You need something other than black coffee with four sugars," Elliot frowned. Olivia hesitantly opened the bag, but her stomach cramped when she smelt the sandwich.

"I can't eat this, I'm sorry."

"Liv, you gotta take care of yourself. If you don't, Noah won't have someone strong enough to support him when he gets back home," Elliot replied.

"I'm going to throw up if I eat that or anything. So leave it be," Olivia frowned. She picked up the bag and tossed it at Elliot, before looking back at her computer.

Elliot sat the bag down on her desk, before walking around to where Olivia sat. He turned her chair to face him and leaned closer to her so she couldn't avoid eye contact.

"You are running yourself ragged, Liv. Noah will come back home and not know who you are. I can already see the exhaustion etching lines into your face," Elliot breathed. Olivia tried to look away, but Elliot grabbed her chin gently and forced her to look at him.

"My little boy is out there somewhere... and I don't know where. I can't go to him, because I don't even know if he's in the state or country anymore. I lost him once before, and I can't lose him again."

Elliot placed a soft kiss to her trembling lips, before running his fingers through her tangled locks.

"You and I are going to take a few hours to get refreshed. Fin can continue to run leads, while you go home and shower. We can take a power nap, eat something light and easy to digest, before coming back here. Okay?"

"What if-"

"If they get a tip that turns out to be something, then we can be back within twenty minutes. Probably even less than that if I run the lights and sirens," Elliot grinned.

Olivia nodded hesitantly, as she pulled Elliot close again. They kissed for several long moments, as Olivia let herself forget about the kidnapping for a few seconds.

///

Noah sat tied to an overstuffed chair inside a cabin that he'd never forget. When he was first taken, he didn't know why someone would kidnap him. If they had been stalking him and his mother as they planned the kidnapping, or if he was taken at random. But every single minute he thought about how to escape or get a message to his mother, he noticed tiny things that gave him information on who took him and why. He was being a detective, and he knew his mother would be incredibly proud of him.

"Here," The man grumbled, as he held a bowl of chicken broth out to Noah. The little boy kept his mouth closed tightly and his eyes were locked on his lap.

The man watched Noah for a long moment before sitting the bowl down. He grabbed Noah's cheeks with one hand and squeezed tightly.

"If you want to starve to death, I have no fucking problem with that... you worthless little bastard," He hissed, spit spraying from his mouth and covering Noah's face.

"You'll have a fucking problem once my Mom finds me. She'll kick your ass," Noah spat, as he squirmed enough that his captor got jostled. He didn't even care if he wasn't supposed to swear, or that his mother may be disappointed that he did.

"You piece of-" The man started, but he stopped the moment a female's voice came from behind him.

"I told you to not hurt him, Stanley," She sighed, as she stepped out of the shadows of a dimly lit hallway.

"Sheila-"

"Grandma," Noah huffed.

"Oh, sweet boy. Aren't you happy to see me?" She asked, an enormous smile growing on her lips.

"I thought you were in the hospital," Noah frowned.

"I was, but I'm not anymore. It's time for us to be a family again. This is Stanley, he's a dear friend of mine and he'll be making sure we get out of here for good."

"For good?" Noah asked, as he tried to keep his fear at bay.

"You are my grandson, Noah. From the moment you were up into foster care, you should have been given to me. Not Olivia. She forced me into the padded cell, and I'm never going back. Okay?" Sheila cooed, as she moved to Noah.

She caressed his shortcut hair, before running a finger over his bruised cheek.

"Mom won't stop until she finds me. She and Elliot won't just let you take me away."

"You are one crazy little bastard," Stanley laughed. Sheila elbowed him hard in the stomach, his laughs turning into gasps.

"Don't call my little boy that, Stan. Now, give me a spoon. We need to make sure you stay strong for when we cross the border."

///

Elliot woke up to Olivia sitting up beside him, her laptop resting on her lap. She was busy watching some sort of video and not sleeping like she had promised to do.

"Did you sleep at all?" Elliot yawned, as he pushed himself up and ran a hand over his bare chest.

"For probably fifteen minutes before I started to think about who could have taken him."

"Liv-"

"What if it's Sheila?" Olivia questioned, as she took her glasses off and squeezed the bridge of her nose.

"Sheila? That's his grandmother, right? The one who took him before?"

"Yeah... She was put in an institution because she's... well, bonkers," Olivia frowned.

"If she's in a hospital, then it isn't her."

"Okay, but what if it is? I can't call and talk to her because of what happened. But maybe she hired someone to take Noah?"

"You won't be able to sleep until we look into this, huh?" Elliot questioned, and Olivia nodded slowly.

"Can you call Fin and have him call the hospital?" Olivia breathed.

"Anything for you, baby."